I stated my name, address, and who I lived with. My attorney had told me to answer yes in regards to Steven's ability to properly clothe and feed our son, so I did as I was told to do. After a series of questions, my attorney finally asked about Oliver's developmental needs and I was able to clear the air once and for all.

"He has high functioning autism," I explained to the judge. "He has echoed speech patterns, meaning he'll repeat what you say to him back. Because of this he's currently in speech therapy. Oliver also gets overwhelmed in chaotic situations. If there's a disturbance to his routine he'll cover his ears and have meltdowns, and he'll kick and flail. That's all common in autistic children."

"Has he been diagnosed by medical professionals?" Mr. Wade asked.

"Yes, two different psychologists."

"What has been Steven's opinion regarding the special needs diagnosis of your son?"

"Steven did not believe he was autistic. He did not want Oliver to be tested. He was talking about how he didn't want our son to have a black mark on his permanent record for something he didn't have. I tried to persuade him and eventually asked for our son's preschool teacher to give a list of symptoms that were autistic that he was exhibiting."

My attorney continued on. "And were quite a few of the arguments and disagreements that you've had of late been surrounding whether or not Oliver is autistic or isn't autistic?"

"As Steven just said, he wants to have another diagnosis done, so I guess that would be yes, for sure, as of today."

"Your honor," Ms. Banks interrupted. "I'm going to object at this point in time. This is supposed to be cross-examination of the affidavits, that's what the Interim Order rules state. Right now it's giving direct testimony."

Steven's attorney pointed a finger at me. "Her affidavit has already been presented to the court. I should be able to cross-examine her on her affidavit, and right now it feels like we are having a full blown trial."

My attorney, calm as ever, looked up at the judge. "Your honor, I believe that I would be entitled to bring my client up to counter statements said about her. And if we are each given an hour and a half, this is the most efficient way of doing that."

"It's a little out of order, but I'll allow it as long as it's within her affidavit or any allegations that Steven has made."

Mr. Wade resumed with his questioning. "Steven has asserted that you've partaken in an extramarital affair during the relationship. My only question is, have you conducted yourself in front of your child in any way, shape, or form that would call into question your moral fitness?"

"No," I said adamantly.

I wasn't lying. I didn't have sex with Salvador and Amber until after Steven had left, and there was no way in Hell I'd ever do anything like that in front of my son.

"Did Steven ever threaten you?"

I regaled past instances of Steven saying he wasn't accountable to me and him threatening to break my belongings and throwing things at me.

"And does he do this in front of the minor child?" Mr. Wade asked.

"He has," I replied in as calm a voice as I could muster.

"What is the most recent instance that you witnessed Steven lose control of himself?"

"Yesterday."

Kelsey Banks blinked in surprise before swiveling her head in Steven's direction.

"When he came to pick up our son," I said to further expand upon my answer. "My sister's friends and I were waiting to exchange Oliver with Steven and his parents. Steven accused me of having sex with my sister's guy friends in front of our son."

I glanced at my ex husband, who was now leaning towards his attorney. They were whispering together, and I was pleased to note the look of shock and anger crossing Kelsey Banks' face.

"Steven's parents were trying to calm him down, and he tried to enter the house and steal Oliver's books claiming that he had paid for them, therefore making them his. He was displaying really inappropriate behavior in front of our son, who is autistic, and will copy those behaviors if he sees it enough."

"What are you asking this court to do today?" My attorney asked.

"I'm asking that Steven only be allowed to have supervised visitations with Oliver."

My attorney had explained to me in an email the day before that even with the videos of my ex husband acting aggressively, there was a good chance it wouldn't be enough for supervised visitations to be granted. Still, we decided to go ahead and try anyway.

I answered even more questions about how Steven having full custody in Florida would be a detriment to Oliver's developmental growth, and how our state had the better special needs programs over Florida.

"All right, I have nothing further to ask," Mr. Wade announced.

Kelsey Banks stood up and approached the stand where I sat. It was her turn to ask me questions.

"You allege that your husband was an abusive man?" she asked right off the bat.

"Yes, he is to me. He has not been abusive to our son."

"Okay. Would you agree that Steven takes your son ice skating, correct?"

"That's not completely accurate. He took him to maybe two or three lessons."

"So Steven takes him out to the park on numerous occasions to play, correct?"

"Yes," I said, remembering that my attorney had told me to put Steven in a good light in regards to parenting Oliver.

"And they play Lego's together?"

"They do, they have."

"And they do puzzles together?"

"They have."

"And you would agree that Steven wanted to sign your son up for sporting activities in the community, but you said they would not be good for your son, correct?"

"Incorrect," I stated, being careful to keep myself calm.

Kelsey Banks rephrased. "Steven wanted to sign your son up for sporting activities, correct?"

"He did," I confirmed. "But that was not the reason why I said no. Steven would sign Oliver up for things like ice skating and say he'd take him, but then he wouldn't wake up to take Oliver to the practices. So I had to do it."

"To get back to that, Steven had signed him up, and the practices were from 11 am, correct, or somewhere around there?"

"Yep."

"And this was when Steven was working the night shift, so he wouldn't get home until the early morning hours, correct?"

"Yeah."

"So he would be sleeping and wouldn't be able to take him to certain practices, correct?"

I knew what she was trying to do, and it irritated me.

"Incorrect. I took him. It was something that Steven wanted to do with Oliver and he said he was going to do it, and he didn't do it. That meant I had to do it. And I tried helping Steven wake up to keep his promises, and he would not do it."

Steven signed Oliver up for different activities while promising to be involved and take him, but he'd just force me to do it instead. It was a way of controlling me and what I did during the day.

"But Steven is capable of looking after Oliver, yes?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's talk about what happened yesterday, allegedly, that you said he had made inappropriate remarks front of your child?
"He did."

"And where was Steven when this, when he said this?"

"The front yard," I replied.

"And where was your child?"

"The front yard."

"Your child was in the front yard with Steven?"

"We were all in the front yard. Oliver was going to get in the car with Steven and his parents."

"And what exactly did Steven say?"

"Are you fucking with them?" I repeated what my ex had said from the day before.

"And who is them?" Kelsey Banks asked.

"My sister's male friends."

"And why were they there?"

"Basically, in case Steven tried something. Like, he tried breaking into the house to steal Oliver's books."

"So, you believed that Steven would take belongings before coming to your home, so you called your sister's friends to be there?"

"I wanted guys to be there just in case Steven got physically violent, and I'm really glad that they were there."

"But Steven has never been physically violent with you?"

"He's thrown things at me and broken my stuff, and threatened to burn my stuff."

"If I can have one moment, your honor?"

Ms. Banks leaned towards Steven and whispered something to him that was incoherent from where I was sitting. They had a quiet banter for a few seconds before she finally looked up at the judge. "I have no further questions, your honor."

Mr. Yeager peered down at my attorney from his seat. "Mr. Wade, do you have any further questions?"

"Just Ms. Daniel's last statement. He threatened to burn your things?"
"Yeah," I breathed. "We were living in Virginia at the time. When Steven gets angry, sometimes he storms out of the house for, like, an hour or more and won't answer his phone when I call him."

"The first time I stormed out of the house, I walked around the block and came back, and he had all my artwork piled on the ground, and he was holding a match. He was literally waiting for me to walk in the door."

"When I asked him if he was going to burn my artwork, he said no, but that was threat. I'm not allowed to leave the house in anger, only he is."

"With an actual flame?" my attorney asked.

"Yeah, he had a match in his hand it was lit. He was waiting for me to walk in the door."

"No further questions," Mr. Wade said before sitting down.

"Ms. Banks?" Mr. Yeager said while glancing down at her.

"No, your honor."

The meeting was adjourned shortly after.