Unsung Heroes

“WAAAAH…. WAAAAHHH… WAHHHH!”
“… Ash… the baby’s awake…” I mumbled into my pillow, struggling to wake up.
“Well…” *yawn* “… Babe, I don’t lactate, so unless you have the ability to give me your boobs, I can’t feed him…” Ash was cuddled up to my back.
Groaning, I sat up and glared at the digital clock on my nightstand that said 2:03 am on it. “Fine, I’ll get him.”
“You’re a good mommy, honey,” Ash said, still practically asleep.
“Uh huh,” I mumbled, shuffling over to the bassinet to see my son, Nicolas laying on his back, his little blanket thrown to the foot of it, and he was writhing in his white, long-sleeve footie pajamas and bunching them up around his chubby little arms. His face was beet red and tears were streaming down his face, and his hair was all mussed up and sticking up everywhere.
“Come here, sweetie,” I cooed in Portuguese. “I’ll be really happy when you start sleeping through the night and don’t need to be fed every two hours.”
I sat down in the rocking chair we set up in the corner and unbuttoned the top of my pajama shirt and pulled out my right boob, and brought his around to it. Immediately, he brought his hands around to clasp either side of my nipple and brought it to his mouth, and eagerly started to suckle.
“Oh, the sweet sound of silence.” I heard Ash mumble from the bed. “Remind me again why my grandparents didn’t want to stay in the living room?”
I chuckled. “Well, it’s not like either of them could do this for me, either.”
Ash made a gagging noise and sat up, squinting at me, his hair mussed all over the place. “Thanks for that, now I’m afraid to go back to sleep for fear of that being in my nightmares.”
I laughed and felt Nicolas dislodge, but quickly flipped sides and then brought him back to my breast before he could start, and he desperately reattached himself to me to keep eating.
“Want me to get you some water?” Ash was up and walking slowly over to the door, looking at me over his shoulder.
I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my free hand. “Yes, meu amor, that’d be great, thanks.” I had to keep hydrated pretty regularly, now.
Nicolas was now a month old. Ash had requested time from the band to help me care for the baby since I was basically trapped at home all the time, now. Ash’s grandparents had come to California to help out, but insisted on staying in a hotel to not crowd us, and were planning on leaving when Nicolas was two months old, at the earliest.
Nicolas was growing steadily, and weighed a pound more than he did when he was born, so I now had a nine-pound baby boy to feed, and boy, was he hungry.
Ash came into the room with two glasses of water, and brought one over to me.
“Thank you, baby,” I said, gratefully taking the cup from him and drinking from it deeply. When I was done, Ash took it from me, and put both his and my cups on the dresser.
“How long do you think you’ll be up?” He whispered.
“I don’t know, he’s not stopping any time soon, and I’ll have to change him when he’s done.”
Ash sat on the footstool in front of me. “No, when he’s done, I’ll take him from you and change him so you can go back to sleep.”
I smiled tiredly. “Thank you, Ash, I love you so much.”
He smiled widely. “I love you, too.”
In that instant, Nicolas let go of my nipple and started to push himself away, but wasn’t strong enough to do so.
“Alrighty, little man,” Ash announced quietly, taking him from my arms to prop him up on his shoulder while I wiped my nipples with a wipe and rebuttoned my shirt.
I stood and went to lay down while Ash burped Nicolas, and then laid him down on the changing table next to his bassinet and Nicolas disappeared from my sight, and all I could hear was the unbuttoning of the snaps on his pj’s, and the pull of the glue on the diaper as Ash took it off while Nicolas made soft groaning noises and waved his arms. All the while, Ash was speaking to him in a low voice so I couldn’t hear them. Clearly it was a conversation with his month-old son that was just for the two of them.
“Well, he didn’t piss on me this time, but I think that may be because I covered him with tissues before he could,” Ash told me quietly.
I laughed quietly and turned on my side to watch him be a dad. Ash continued talking quietly to Nicolas, but I couldn’t make out what it was he was saying to him.
“There we go,” Ash said. He picked up Nicolas and cradled him to his chest, cupping his little head and body in his tattooed arms. He moved to place him in the bassinet, tucking him into his blanket to be secure around him.
“See you in two hours, buddy,” Ash said before leaning over to kiss him.
“Wow,” I said quietly, watching.
He turned to me quizzically while walking to his side of the bed to lay down, and he shuffled over to curl around me, his arm over my head.
“What?”
“Well, I just watched you… you know, be a dad.” I turned to look at him in his arms as they curled around me. “It was kind of hot.”
He raised an eyebrow. “So it is weird for me to think watching you breastfeed is hot, but not for you to think me changing a diaper is?”
I giggled. “No, not the actual changing of a diaper, God no; what I mean is, the well, act of being a parent. It looks good on you.”
He smirked. “Oh yeah?” He leaned down to kiss my neck affectionately.
In that instant, my tear scar, though healed over now for a couple of weeks, suddenly felt sensitive, and I remembered the heaviness in my stomach and chest, and the stretch marks and leftover bruises. Not to mention the baby sleeping a few feet away.
“Babe, not tonight. Nicolas is right there and I really don’t feel sexy, right now.”
“Indy, the doctor gave you the all clear, are you okay?”
I hesitated. “Technically, yes, but because I’m very aware of the fact that my vagina is scarred and that I am covered in stretch marks, I kind of want to go to the gym for a bit and regain my muscle before I do anything remotely close to that, right now.”
I heard Ash groan behind me, and he kissed my shoulder. “You know I don’t care about any of that, right? Don’t feel like you have to go to the gym to impress me, or something. I like your stretch marks and don’t care if you have scars. They’re your battle wounds. You tore giving birth to our son, it’s not like you asked for it. He’s a big baby, and it’s really common.”
I turned to raise an eyebrow. “And how do you know that?”
He blushed. “… Read it online.”
I laughed and kissed him hard. “Let me at least go the gym once or twice, first. I’ll feel better once I get back into my old routine.”
He rolled his eyes. “If that’s what you need to make yourself feel better, then fine. But I don’t think you need it.”
I settled into his arms. “That’s because you look like an Adonis.”
He chuckled. “And when you say things like that you expect me not to react?”
I curled tighter against him. “Shut up and go to sleep, Ash, he’ll be up again soon.”
I curled up against his chest and drifted off into a deep sleep.

“Indy, you okay? You look exhausted.”
I glared through half-lidded eyes at Angel, who was sitting opposite me on the couch. I’d just put Nicolas down to sleep and it as around 2 o’clock.
“Well, I’ve been up every two hours for the last month. I can barely stay awake, and he’s still not sleeping through the night, yet.”
Maya walked into the room holding a few beers, handed one to Angel, and then offered one to me.
“No thanks, Maya, I can’t drink while I’m breastfeeding. If I drink alcohol, it affects my milk.”
Maya blushed. “Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot.” She sat down next to me on the couch and turned the TV on, making sure the volume stayed low.
The trial against Mitch was in a few days. Jinxx had to go see his folks for a bit, and so Maya was staying with me and Ash while that was happening.
“Maya, dear, are you sure you want to do this trial?”
Gran came out of the bathroom, drying her hands on her shirt. Her gray hair was tied back, and she looked concerned. She and Gramps were here for another week before they were going to go home
Maya hesitated before she responded. “Well, it’s more for my own sanity than anything else. I don’t want to see Mitch ever again, but he won’t go away unless I do something drastic.”
“So, why did they postpone the trial?” I questioned, taking a sip from my glass of water.
Maya rolled her eyes. “He keeps causing so much trouble in the jail they have to keep waiting. It works out anyway since you just had Nicolas and you’re a key witness as his ex-girlfriend.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, as much as I try to deny those wasted four years.”
Angel snorted. “Girl, with his need to boink the nearest chick, I’m surprised he didn’t try to date Maya much sooner.”
Maya and I simultaneously turned to give her a pointed look as she came to realize what she technically said.
Angel cleared her throat and picked up her beer. “I’m not helping, am I?”
I shook my head. “No, not really.”
Maya rolled her eyes. “Well, regardless, I have to go through with this. What are you going to do about Nicolas while you’re in court? Mitch still doesn’t know you had a baby.”
I looked towards my bedroom door, where my infant son lay sleeping.
“And that’s how it will remain. Mitch will never know that I had a son nor will he ever.”
Gran sat next to me and firmly grasped my knee. “If that’s what you want, dear, then we will make sure that bastard doesn’t get his hands on him.”
Sighing deeply, I picked up the baby monitor and played with it in my hands. The other one was clipped to the inside of the bassinet for better sound pickup. All I could hear was the gentle breathing of Nicolas as he slept peacefully, and the occasional slight hitch as he dreamed.
“Which is why I want him to stay here either with Ash or you, Gran, while I’m in the courtroom.”
Gran nodded slowly. “Gramps and I will stay with him. Ash wants to be there in the courtroom while the trial is going on.”

*One Week Later*
“All Rise.”
I stood next to Ash in the seating area of the courtroom as the judge, an older woman entered and made her way over to her seat.
“Judge Robeson presiding. Please be seated.” The bailiff, a young man said from his seat.
“Good afternoon everyone. Calling the case of Maya Winters versus Mitch Black. Are both sides ready?
Maya’s lawyer, an older man in a stiff brown suit stood. “Ready for Maya Winters, Your Honor.”
Mitch’s lawyer, a young woman, stood. “Ready for the defense, Your Honor.”
The clerk approached the jury, made up of a number of men and women watching with careful eyes. “Will the jury please stand and raise your right hand?” He waited for the jury to do so. “Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you, God? Please say “I do”. The jury simultaneously said “I do.” The clerk started to move away. “You may be seated.”
Maya’s attorney stood up for his opening statement. “Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant has been charged with trespassing of private property and violation of the restraining order placed against him by my client, as well as domestic abuse against my client while they were romantically involved. It has been shown in recent history that Mitch has an alcohol abuse problem as well as a temper, and is unable to control himself.
After Maya’s lawyer sat down, Mitch’s stood up. In her opening statement, she basically made up a bunch of bullshit about how Mitch was heartbroken and Maya was accusing him falsely.
“I would like to call my first witness to the stand, Your Honor,” Maya’s lawyer said. “Ms. Indigo Graham.”
“Would Ms. Indigo Graham please come up to the stand?”
Swallowing hard, I stood slowly and felt everyone’s eyes turn to me. Making my way out of the bench, I walked over to the stand to where the bailiff stood. “Please stand. Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
“I do.”
“You may be seated.”
I sat at the stand next to the judge, and I could feel her eyes boring into the side of my head.
“Please state your first and last name for the record.” The reporter said from where he sat.
“Indigo Graham.” I said clearly.
Maya’s lawyer stood up. “Ms. Graham, you were the first person Maya went to after running from Mr. Black. For what reason did she leave him?”
I looked at him calmly. “Mitch was abusing her physically, and she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She was covered in bruises and welts. She was terrified of him.”
“You were the one who took the initial photos of her injuries, as seen here,” he gestured to a board and propped a poster with the images of the bruises covering her arms, legs, torso and face when she came to my house. “Please describe Ms. Winters’s behavior at this time.”
“She was a domestic abuse victim, and she was acting like one. She was shaking and I could barely go near her without her trembling. After I took the photos and got her cleaned up, she spent all of her time in my guest room, only coming out to get food and go to the bathroom.”
“Did Mr. Black try and get in touch with Maya following this?”
“Do you mean before the restraining order was put into place?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, he did. And he was drunk. He threatened to sit outside my apartment building waiting for us to come out, and I had to get our landlord to make him leave. Once, when I was working, he came in, drunk, and demanded I told him where she was.”
“I have no more questions for the witness.”
Mitch’s lawyer stood, and I took that moment to look at my psycho ex closer.
He looked exhausted, and he was a mess. His blonde hair was growing out, and his face was covered in a light buzz of facial hair. There were deep, purple bags under his eyes. He was glaring daggers at me, and his arms were crossed.
“Ms. Graham, isn’t it true that before Maya and Mitch dated, you were in a long-term relationship with him, and that you two were living together?”
I breathed deeply through my nose. “Yes, it is. We met in high school, and dated for five years.”
“And why did you break up with him?”
My eyes met with Maya’s, and she smiled gently. “He cheated on me with Maya.”
“So, Maya and Mitch were supposedly in love during all of this?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, see, I wouldn’t know that. All I can say is that because we never had sex, he decided that instead of breaking up with me and dating someone who would, he cheated on me with one of my best friends.”
“If she betrayed you, why would you defend her?”
I scoffed at her. “Because she’s my friend first, and I would have never forgiven myself for allowing her to go back to him after what he did to her. It did take me a while to forgive her, but after seeing what he did to her, it became a lot easier to do.”
“So the fact that you broke up with Mitch and stopped speaking to Maya had nothing to do with any of that?”
I glared at her. “Maya was my friend before I dated Mitch. And beyond that, I would never have forgiven myself for turning her away in her time of need. It was difficult, but I forgave her for her transgression.”
Maya gave me a small, grateful smile.
“Your Honor, I have no more questions for the witness.”
“Ms. Graham, you may take your seat.” I stood gratefully from the chair and stalked past Mitch to sit back down next to Ash. Jinxx, who was sitting in front of us, turned and gave me a thankful smile.
Maya’s lawyer stood. “Your Honor, I’d like to call Mr. Jeremy Ferguson to the stand.”
Jinxx stiffened and rose to go to the bailiff, swear on the Bible, and sit behind the witness stand and stating his legal name for the record.
“Mr. Ferguson, please describe your relationship with my client.” Maya’s lawyer said, going to stand a few feet from him.
Jinxx blushed. “Maya and I are romantically involved.”
If steam could come out of Mitch’s ears…
“Does Maya ever speak about Mitch to you?”
Jinxx shrugged. “Not unless she feels she has to. When we first started talking, she explained to me that she’d gotten out of an abusive relationship. She told me about what Mitch used to do to her, and most of the time, she could barely get it out without crying.”
“Maya called you when Mitch violated the restraining order, yes?”
Jinxx nodded. “Yes, because she was in the house she and I share and he was looking at her through a window in the backyard.”
“Have you yourself ever spoken to Mitch?”
Jinxx shook his head. “No, I didn’t and still don’t feel like I need to. Nor do I ever want to. The fact that I have to sit in the same room with him makes my stomach turn.”
Maya’s lawyer nodded. “Your Honor, no more questions.”
Mitch’s lawyers stood. “Mr. Ferguson, you say you never spoke to Mitch?”
Jinxx rolled his eyes. “Yes, I believe I said that not even a minute ago.”
“And you believe Maya was telling you the truth when she said Mitch hurt her?”
I felt the blood leave my face as the crowd broke into shocked murmurs and whispers.
Jinxx flushed. “Excuse me?”
“Maya came to you claiming she was abused by her ex-boyfriend. Who is to say it wasn’t self-inflicted or caused by something else, and that her boyfriend was an easy target?”
Maya gripped the table and her lawyer immediately stood up. “Objection!”
Jinxx looked like he was going to explode. “I’m sorry, have you seen those pictures? How in hell could she have caused any of those? If you’re so blind as to think that anyone would buy that than you’re an idiot!”
The judge banged her gavel against the stand. “Order! Order! Mr. Ferguson, another outburst like that and I will have you thrown from this courtroom!”
Jinxx reclined against the seat. “I’m sorry. But I refuse to answer questions about my girlfriend’s honesty in such a matter!”
The judge nodded. “I understand, Mr. Ferguson, and you will not be pressed to do so. Ms. Brownson,” she addressed the lawyer. “We are here to decide the fate of your client, not falsely accuse Ms. Winters of faking her bruises.”
She looked up at him. “I understand, Your Honor, I was only presenting the possibility that Mr. Black has been falsely accused of hurting Ms. Winters.”
“Well, it’s pretty clear that that isn’t true, and the jury is instructed to disregard the accusation.”
Jinxx was excused from the stand and he walked by huffily, glaring at Mitch and his lawyer before throwing a reassuring look to Maya and sitting down next to us.
“Jury, since there are no more witnesses, you may begin your deliberations.”
The jury stood and walked into the back room.
Until the jury came back, we could talk to each other.
“Oh my god,” I said quietly. “Did she seriously try to accuse Maya of lying?”
Jinxx grit his teeth. “Can I hit her?”
Ash put a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, man. The judge told her off for trying to do that, and the jury was told to not even consider it. Mitch is gonna go to prison, and you don’t have to worry about him, anymore.”
Maya looked back at us, looking to us pleadingly. Jinxx shuffled over to lean over the railing and put his hands on her shoulders comfortingly.
Mitch turned around in his chair, and glared daggers at me. The bags under his eyes were dark and it made his eyes look so sunken.
I glared right back and then made a motion with my hand I used to signal to him when we were dating and in a fight that meant if he kept looking at me, I’d castrate him in his sleep. He at least had the decency to look away.
It didn’t take long before the jury came back in. They mostly looked calm, but I could see a few send scathing looks at Mitch.
“Has the jury reached a verdict?” The judge asked.
“We have, Your Honor,” one of the jurors said, standing up. “We find the defendant guilty on the charges of domestic abuse and violating the restraining order.”
I felt myself relax and saw Maya sag in relief. Mitch ran his fingers through his hair. Jinxx made a noise of relief and triumph.
The judge looked at him seriously. “Mitch Black, I am hereby sentencing you to three years jail time and two years probation.” She banged her gavel.
Mitch whipped around and jumped up to point at Maya. “You’re fucking dead, bitch!” And then he turned to me. “You too, fucking whore! You and your spawn!”
My face went numb as the blood left my face. How the fuck did he know about Nicolas?!

Notes

Mitch's trial finally happens!
How the hell did he know about Nicolas?!

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BlackIris