"Mr. Burr, do you really think this is going to work?"

I was sitting in Mr. Burr's formal office, looking over the evidence we had for the lawsuit. My father's summons sat on the edge of the desk, glaring up angrily at us.

He sighed and looked down at the notes we had been working on.

"Honestly, I've got no clue. You know your father, Philip, once he's sunk his teeth into any case, especially one that he is invested in, he won't let go until he's got what he wants. Which, in this case, is you."

I grumbled and peered over the files again. "What if... what if we use that against him?"

"How would you go about doing that?"

"Well... he's going to expect us to go at him, right? You especially, since you're the professional lawyer."

Aaron nodded, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair as he listened.

"So, there's got to be some loophole that allows me to speak for myself, right?"

"You're a minor."

"I'm the one hiring the lawyer, aren't I? I'm technically the client, and clients can represent themselves. In this situation, I'm representing myself, I've just taken the precaution of hiring someone to make sure I'm not saying anything incorrect."

"That... might work. We'll have to figure out the logistics of it beforehand."

I nodded. "And of course, we've got jury nullification on our side."

"Not really." Mr. Burr shook his head. "Most people don't know anything about jury nullification... I had a lawyer friend who used it once or twice to get out of jury duty, because a lot of times when you mention that you know that a jury can completely ignore evidence and find a defendant not guilty, or vote in their favor, just because they don't agree with what's going on in the case, even if it makes sense to vote the other way."

I frowned and sat up, paging through the notes again. "Well then I guess that I'll have to do a good enough job convincing them the first time around... and hope that someone in the jury knows about that."

"Of course, they're likely to rule in our favor anyway." Mr. Burr shrugged. "You're fighting for your mother, and in divorce cases where parents are battling for full custody, the mother will end up with custody based on the fact that she is the mother... sometimes it's a bad call on the court's part, but a lot of times it works out best for everyone."

I nodded and checked my phone as it buzzed.

"Oh shoot... Mom's calling me."

"Go ahead and answer." Mr. Burr smiled. "We've been sitting here for almost two hours anyway, I'll reorganize all of this."

I got up, answering the call.

"Hi Mom."

"Hello, Peanut. How's it all coming over there?"

I sighed and walked out in the hallway to give Mr. Burr a bit of quiet while he worked. "It's stressful. We're going through what Pops is probably going to bring up, and trying to devise counter-arguments to all of it. It's harder than we thought it would be, but we're working on it."

"Well I'm glad you've got something to occupy you. I was just wondering if you wanted to invite Mr. Burr and Theodosia over for dinner tonight?"

"That would be great! I'll ask Mr. Burr when I go back inside, and I'll text you the answer. I'll have to text Theo too, and ask her, but I'm sure she'll say yes."

"Sounds good, sweetheart. I'll start getting something ready for us all to eat."

"Thanks Mom. I'll let you know when we're done and heading in your direction."

"Alright, I'll hopefully see you soon. Love you."

"Love you too, Mom."

We hung up and I called Theo right away.

"Hi, Pip!" She chirped happily when she picked up.

"Hey, how are you?" I smiled at her excited voice.

"Fantastic, how's work going with you and Dad?"

"Tedious and slow, but we're working through it. Hopefully everything will work out right."

"I'm sure it will, you're both really smart and he's got a lot of experience in the legal field. I think you'll be fine."

I chuckled. "I think we will too, but no guarantees yet. Pops is quite the fighter, especially when he thinks he's in the right."

"You'll get it, I believe in you."

"Thanks, darling. I should probably go talk to your Dad some more, and ask if he wants to come to dinner."

She laughed. "Good luck with that too. He can be stubborn."

"Psh, I'll be fine. Love you."

"I love you too, Pip."