by D. Camille
“I know,” Khalil agreed. “I have to meet with Vic for a minute, so I’ll see you later.”
He turned to Danielle. “Can Kyros hang out with you until we leave?”
She smiled. “Of course, take your time.”
Khalil went to his office and found Vic sitting, waiting for him with his head down. He slid behind his desk and looked at the young man.
“What’s up Vic?” Khalil asked gently.
Vic lifted his head and Khalil froze.
“Mr. Lewis, what do you do if your perpetrator was already in jail?”
******
Khalil lowered his head into his hand for a moment. “Vic…”
“All I did was carry a gun, man…to protect myself in these streets,” Vic choked out. “I didn’t hurt nobody…then I got locked up and…” He couldn’t continue.
Khalil stood and walked over to the young man. Quickly, he pulled him into his arms and held him tightly rubbing his back.
“It’s okay, son.” Khalil comforted.
Vic sniffed. “You don’t want nobody to know that!”
“You gotta come out and be hard, you know…be with a whole bunch of females to prove to yourself that’s not you...”
Khalil allowed him to pour out his emotions without interference.
“I don’t want nobody calling me a damn booty boy or thinking that I liked that shit!” he cried. “I just wanted to go home.”
Khalil felt the dampness on his own face as he stroked the boy’s head. Stepping back, Vic wiped his face.
“It’s like I’m not even the same person anymore…” he wiped his nose. “They took something from me.”
“Sit down Vic,” Khalil instructed softly and waited until the young man took a seat. “Stay right here.”
Khalil exited the office and wiped his face. Quickly, he located Mathias still speaking with the group he’d left behind.
“Mathias, I need you in my office.”
“What’s wrong Khalil?” Everyone was immediately on notice with Khalil’s expression.
He looked at Corvus. “Can you make sure Danielle and Kyros get home?”
Corvus looked concerned. “Yeah, I got you.”
“Khalil what happened?” Danielle asked moving to his side.
“I’ll talk to you when I get home. Will you take Kyros?”
She nodded. “Okay.”
They all watched as Mathias took off with Khalil. Kyros looked at the Negus. “Is my Daddy alright?”
The men looked down at him. “You’ll see him soon, everything’s okay little dude.” Lance told him.
“Let me get y’all home.” Corvus said rounding up Kyros and Danielle.
The Negus all walked them out to the car and Danielle couldn’t help but wonder what had happened…
******
Danielle jumped to her feet when she heard the door open and rushed over to Khalil. Throwing her arms around him, she held him firmly.
“Are you okay?” she whispered, nearly out of breath with worry.
Khalil hung his head on her shoulder. “I’m hurt. I’m mad as hell and I’m just tired.”
Danielle lifted his face. “I want you to talk to me, but please talk to your son. He’s worried about you.”
Khalil looked over and saw Kyros standing near the sofa. He walked over and lifted him into his arms. Danielle discretely disappeared to give Khalil time with his son.
“You okay Daddy?”
Khalil nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay solider. How are you?”
“I was worried about you and I was scared,” Kyros told him.
“What are you scared of?”
“The man said that people touch little boys and hurt them.”
Khalil looked at Kyros. “Has someone touched you son?” Khalil asked afraid.
Kyros shook his head. “No, but what about other little boys?”
“That’s who I’m trying to help,” Khalil explained. He sat Kyros on the couch. “You know that if someone does anything to you, you can tell me and I will Black Flag them.”
“I know Daddy, and I can Red Flag them, right?” Kyros asked.
“You can Red Flag the hell out of them, understand me? I don’t care who it is.”
Kyros nodded and Khalil hugged him again just because he needed to. “I love you Kyros.”
“I love you too Daddy.” Kyros pulled back. “I love Ms. Danielle too.”
Khalil smiled. “Yeah, I agree with that. She probably gave you cookies.”
Kyros smiled. “She said because I was upset, you wouldn’t mind.”
Khalil laughed. “Okay, that’s cool. Now you need to get ready for bed so go brush your teeth.” He kissed the boy’s head and sent him on his way.
Danielle looked up from the sofa in the den as Khalil entered the room. “You gave him cookies?”
“Of course.” She said repeating his famous line. “He was worried. Everybody knows you must eat cookies when you’re worried, plus I wanted some, too.”
Khalil made his way over to her and she opened her arms to him. Resting his head on her breasts, he held her close. “You can have cookies Queen.”
“Thank you.” Danielle rubbed his dark hair. “Something shook you tonight. I saw it in your face.”
“Yeah, it did.” He sighed. “You know, it’s amazing that we’re still here as a people. We face atrocities from outside and within. We’ve been taught to hate ourselves therefore we hate each other. We’ve become accustomed to pain and trauma and we inflict them on our brothers and sisters without a thought.”
“There are so many systems in place that are broken, I sometimes wonder, why fight them?”
He looked at her. “Then I look at my son, and my Queen,” he placed a hand on her stomach. “And the Kings and Queens to come, and I fight because nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”
Chapter 20
Danielle sat in her chair, presiding over her courtroom. The case today was a father suing for joint custody of his daughter. She sat back listening to the attorneys argue their individual cases. In this instance the father, who was current in child support and apparently had been playing a large role in the girl’s life wanted joint custody, which the mother was fighting.
“Your honor, Mr. Burris has been supporting his daughter since birth. Initially he’d agreed to visitations, but Miss Campbell has been denying him access. “
“In what way Counselor?” Danielle asked.
“On the dates that Mr. Burris is scheduled to see his daughter, Miss Campbell has made other arrangements not to have the girl available.”
Danielle turned to the opposing attorney. “I’d like to hear your response to this.”
“Your honor, Miss Campbell is struggling to make ends meet even with the minimum child support she receives,”
Danielle held up a hand. “This is not a support hearing Counselor. I want to hear why the child is not available on her father’s scheduled time?”
The other attorney intervened. “Miss Campbell has made it clear to Mr. Burris that unless he gives her more money, he won’t see his daughter.”
Danielle removed her glasses. “Please tell me this is not true Counselor,” she said to the opposing attorney.
“Miss Campbell has requested additional help from Mr. Burris,” the lawyer admitted.
“Through the courts?” Danielle questioned.
He nodded and Danielle continued. “And what was the outcome?”
The father’s attorney spoke. “Mr. Burris is currently paying the daycare for his daughter in addition to providing her health insurance through his job. He also pays a percentage of his check, set by the court according to his wages. He’s never missed a payment because he works every day, so the days he takes off to be with his daughter are important to him.”
“Miss Campbell,” Danielle said looking at the woman. “I’d like to hear from you.”
The mother shrugged. “I ju
st feel he should be doing more.”
“More of what Miss Campbell?” Danielle asked.
“If he wasn’t spending his extra time with his new woman, then he could be working more,” she answered. “And he could give me some more money.”
Danielle put a hand to her head and looked at the two young people. Putting her glasses back on, she looked down at her file and noted they were in their early twenties. Neither were mentally prepared to be parents, since they were both nearly children themselves, but they had a daughter and she was Danielle’s first priority.
“What does that have to do with him seeing his daughter Miss Campbell?” Danielle questioned and the young woman remained silent.
Danielle continued, “You are that child’s mother and this is her father. You have no right to keep him away from her. Now, whatever happened between the two of you, is not the concern of this court. My concern is for your daughter and making sure that she has the best environment for her growth and development.”
Picking up her pen, Danielle shook her head. “I am ordering that Mr. Burris receive joint custody of the child in this case. If Miss Campbell pulls another stunt, I will hold her in contempt of court, arrest her and grant full custody to Mr. Burris.”
Danielle looked up at the woman. “Black fathers are dragged through the mud every day and sometimes justifiably so, but I won’t sit here and let you keep this man, who’s doing everything he can for his child, away from his daughter because of childish antics.”
“She didn’t ask to be here, but now that she is, it’s your responsibility to raise her,” Danielle continued. “I want you to look at that man across from you.”
Miss Campbell looked at Mr. Burris angrily. “He is her protector, he is the image of the man she will look for in her life, and he plays an integral part in who she will become. You want her to have the most positive image possible.”
“Mr. Burris, this is your child’s caregiver, she is her nurturer and her role model. You want her to see how a man treats a woman, especially the mother of his child.”
“I think you both love your daughter, now grow up and be parents,” Danielle finished and hit her gavel.
Picking up her paperwork, she walked out of the courtroom and headed to her chambers. Cases like this used to aggravate her to no end when she’d thought that she could never have a child of her own. She would wonder how parents could act so foolishly, without regard for the care of the young life in their hands, especially when there were those like her, who would have loved to look into a face like their own.
Touching her stomach, she smiled as she walked down the hall. Inside the room, she was hauled into two strong arms. Smiling, she wrapped her arms around his neck and welcomed his kiss.
“Hello Queen,” Khalil said softly.
“Hello yourself,” she whispered happily. “You’re early.”
He surveyed her for a moment. “I wanted to see you in your judge look.”
“You can see this outside of the courtroom anytime you like.”
Khalil touched her face. “It reminds me of the first time I saw you. Although I was hardly thinking about trying to get with you at the time.”
“You were focused on keeping your son and that was more attractive than any line you could’ve tried to feed me,” Danielle told him.
“I don’t have any lines,” he told her firmly.
Danielle smiled. “You really didn’t need any.”
“Are you ready to go?” Our flight leaves in a few hours and we have to get the kids,” Khalil relayed.
Danielle walked to her desk and began to make some notes on her file. “I know, they’re so excited to be traveling together.”
“When Kyros told my family he was going to Disney, they all looked at me wondering if you had put some type of spell on me,” Khalil told her.
Danielle looked up and smiled. “I did.” Closing her file, she put it in a tray on her desk then turned her attention to the handsome man before her.
“I’m excited for you and Kyros to meet my parents,”
Khalil came to her and placed a large hand on her abdomen. “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”
Danielle placed her hand over his. “I don’t want to say anything about this until we’re much further along.”
He kissed her cheek. “Everything is going to be fine Queen.”
She kissed him back. “Just until we’re out of the danger zone.”
“Okay, but I don’t want you worrying,” he said firmly. “We can tell them when they get to Detroit for the wedding.”
Danielle smiled. “This is surreal.”
“What is?” Khalil asked taking her in his arms.
“You, this…” she touched her belly. “A wedding.”
She looked into his face. “Over a month ago, I was ready to walk away from all this.”
“But instead, you walked into my life,” he told her. “And you brought everything that I didn’t know I was looking for. You challenge me to see the world outside of my own thoughts and you’ve shown me that my son, although knowing who he is, is still a little boy.”
“In my efforts to prepare and protect him, I forgot how I was a little boy too. You’ve made both of us very happy, Danielle,” Khalil finished and saw her eyes water.
“No, don’t do that,” he admonished.
She sniffed. “I can’t help it. I love you both so much.”
“I love you my Queen. You protected me and my son from the start and then you showed us the type of love that we both needed in our lives,” Khalil said softly.
Danielle wiped her cheek. “See, that’s why I’m crying. They’re happy tears.”
“Okay happy tears,” he wiped her face gently. “I need to get you on the road.”
She nodded. “I’m ready.”
******
On the plane, Kyros and Kam wanted to sit next to each other, so Khalil and Danielle took the seats across the aisle from the pair, who were switching from looking out of the window, to playing games, to talking about everything they could imagine.
Khalil smiled at his son’s happiness. Although it was his first time on a plane, he’d had no fear and Kam was there to keep him entertained during the flight. He looked over at Danielle who was staring out at the clouds, deep in thought. Taking her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it gently.
“Are you okay?” he whispered.
She turned to him. “Yes, I’m very okay.”
“Do you need anything?”
Danielle glanced over at the kids, then looked at Khalil. “No, everything I need is right here.”
Khalil looked at the two little ones and sighed. “You know it’s April now.”
“I know.” Danielle squeezed his hand.
“I’m worried for the children who are unaware,” he said quietly.
Danielle rubbed his arms. “It was a great idea to educate all the parents at the Center on National Child Abuse Prevention month. Many of them had no idea.”
He sighed. “Hell, I didn’t either until this.”
“But look at all you’ve done since then,” Danielle said. “You’ve gotten a support group going for the young men who have suffered any type of sexual abuse. You’ve educated the children and the parents. You’ve gotten some therapists to donate their time at the Center, and you have the police in addition to the courts more aware and prepared to handle this type of crime. Baby, you’ve done more than anyone could’ve ever expected.”
Khalil looked at her. “You know, I saw Vic every day for months and I never had a clue what that boy had suffered.”
“How could you? That’s not something he would share,” Danielle told him.
“So instead they walk around, a shell of themselves…living in their own private hells, still trying to navigate these corrupt systems that continue to abuse them.” Khalil closed his eyes and put his head back.
Danielle placed a hand on his chest. “But you’ve gotten Vic the help that he needed and
he was able to trust you enough to confide in you. He’s going to be alright and he’s going to come out of this equipped to move forward, because of you.”
He opened his eyes and looked at her. “I know I can’t save them all, but I wish I could.”
She smiled. “That’s because you’re a soldier, who’s training more soldiers.”
“That is my goal.”
Danielle laid her head on his chest. “And my goal is to make sure that this soldier is happy and safe.”
The four landed in Orlando and Khalil packed them all into the rented Minivan and drove them to Danielle’s parents’ home. They were greeted with all hugs and smiles. Happy to see their granddaughter, the Baxters also fell in love with Kyros immediately and were so impressed with his wealth of knowledge to be so young.
Kam asked to play in the backyard and the two kids ran out of the door to the playset outside. Inside, the adults moved to the sunroom to talk and keep an eye on the pair.
“So, Khalil,” Danielle’s father began. “It’s wonderful to finally meet the man who wants to steal my lovely daughter.”
“It’s nice to meet you too, sir.”
Larry Baxter lifted a brow. “I see you have been raised.”
“My parents were members of the Black Panther Party and I uphold the Panther ideals and standards,” Khalil explained.
Larry nodded. “That’s interesting, damn shame how they did the Panthers.”
“I agree.” Khalil stated. “The systematic demise of a group of people who chose to protect themselves and their community because of white fear…and it still continues today. They’re offended when we say our lives matter, but don’t blink an eye as we’re being slaughtered.”
“You’re a smart man, Khalil.” Larry complimented while Betty Baxter sat watching the children.
“Your son is very smart too, and has been raised as well,” Betty commented. “I see how protective he is of Kam, making sure that she doesn’t hurt herself. Lawd, that girl is as wild as they come.”
Khalil glanced to the backyard. “Kyros is my little King.”
“And you’ve raised him all alone?” Betty asked.
“Not really, I’ve had my twin sister help me since he was born and then when I moved home, I had a large support system.”
