Divided by Garnet
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The day of the hearing had finally arrived. Garnet did her best to look like a proper parent-type. She chose to wear a simple but nice-looking dress, that was a modest length. She put on just a little makeup, but not so much that she would look over-done.

Keyop had tried to get out of going. It wasn't that he didn't want to be there to support his wife; he didn't want to show any non-G-Force people who would be there that he was still as incapacitated as he was. Garnet was having none of it.

"You're coming," she told him flat out. "I need you there, our kids need you there, and you never know what the judge may want. He may want to ask you questions too."

"That's kind of what I'm afraid of," he replied.

"Dear," she said, "I want everyone to see that these kids have two parents who love them very much and want them to come home. I want the judge to see that we are stable and happy together and that nothing is going to change that. Neither one of us would abandon the other in the face of a serious illness or injury. We have to be the perfect family. Well, we are, but we have to show it to the world." Here she laughed. She knew as well as he did that they were not the perfect family; they probably weren't even the best family on base, but they were good parents and would do the best for their kids that they could. No one could ask for more.

They walked into the courtroom hand in hand and took seats at the table with the lawyer who worked with Anderson on all G-Force legal matters. Several of the other birds had decided to come and show their support and these filed in and took seats directly behind the couple.

Garnet looked across the room. She saw the couple that had been fostering her children for the last six months. She couldn't let on that she knew them since their visits had not been authorized. She gave them a friendly smile but nothing to indicate that she knew who they were.

Keyop sat and fiddled with a pen that was laying on the table. He didn't look around much. He really hoped this would be over soon. This was the longest he'd been away from Neptune Base since he was returned there after his implant had been removed. He had always been shy and somewhat nervous in groups of people he didn't know, and this, while not like a social gathering, required a sense of self-possession that he currently didn't have.

"You Okay?" Garnet softly asked him.

He shook his head and signed, "I'm a nervous wreck. What if they want to ask me questions and find out I can't talk? What will I do?"

"Well, there's a gallery full of birds who can interpret. And if you're worried about what they'll ask you, well so am I. We'll get through this. Look at the support we have. I mean, really, stop staring at the table and look at everyone that's here for us."

He did finally look around and was surprised to see so many people, many of whom he knew only from doing computer tech stuff around the base. "Never knew we had so many friends."

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah, pretty impressive, isn't it?"

At this point the court was called to order. Everyone stood while Judge J.H. Henderson took his seat on the bench.

The bailiff called out the case. "The first case on the docket is case number 331827-5. Interplanetary Child Welfare Services versus Garnet Anderson. Note: her husband, Keyop Anderson has been added as a co-defendant."

Beside her, Garnet felt Keyop flinch when they read his name. She took his hand. "Wonder why we're just now finding this out?"

Their lawyer heard her comment and whispered, "I'm wondering the same thing."

The lawyer stood to ask the question of the court. "You're honor, this addition of my client's husband as a co-defendant was never brought to our attention until this moment. I'm requesting a postponement until we can prepare documentation for his defense."

"No!" was Garnet's whispered exclamation. "We want this done now. We want our children back."

"Request withdrawn," said the lawyer. "My clients wish to proceed."

"Very well," said the Judge. He then turned to the lawyer representing Welfare Services. "Call your first witness."

"We call security office Joshua Milton."

The man approached the front of the room, took the oath and sat in the witness chair.

"Sir," said the lawyer. "Weren't you one of the officers who served notice to the Anderson's that their children would be removed?"

"Yes, Sir, I was."

"What was your observation of the Anderson home and the Andersons themselves."

"Well, um, their home seemed pretty typical of most on base housing. There's was a little nicer, probably because they have a family. Plus, let's face it, we're talking G-Force, and he's Chief Anderson's kid.

"As for them, well, I wouldn't want to get in a one-on-one fight with him, Sir. He may be small, but he's a hell of a fighter."

"So, you're saying he resisted arrest?" asked the lawyer.

"Yeah," answered Milton, "he did. But I have to say, if I'd been in his place and heard something like those charges read against me, I'd probably have flipped out too."

The lawyer frowned. "Strike that last statement. It was opinion."

"Agreed," said the judge.

"What about Mrs. Anderson?" asked the lawyer.

"Oh," said Milton, "She knew her parental rights, that's for sure. She also knew that my superior officer didn't have the right to seize her husband's G-Force bracelet, or hers.

"As for the kids, I never saw them. They must have been napping at the time."

"No further questions, Your Honor."

Now the lawyer for G-Force, a Mr. Tobias James, stood up. "We have no questions at this time."

The prosecution next called Kayoko Tanaka, the children's foster mother, to the stand.

"Mrs. Tanaka," said the lawyer, "you have had the Anderson children in your home for how long?"

"They have been with us for six months."

"In that time have you noticed anything unusual about them?"

"No, not really," she answered.

"Define, 'not really,' if you please."

"They're normal children who are growing fast and gaining new skills every day, which is typical at their age. They're bright, inquisitive children who are also very loving. They both love animals and their favorite game is hide and seek. The only thing that makes them different than other children is their speech. They have a tendency to add odd little sounds to their words. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. It doesn't seem to affect their language acquisition, just their learning of sentence structure. And, before you ask, yes, it happens in either language they are learning. We have not consciously tried to teach them Japanese, since their native language is English, but we have not discouraged them from learning it along side their language. They are both quite good at both languages for their age. They also do one of the sweetest things vocally. When they are very happy, they make this high-pitched sound." Here she tried to imitate it, rather unsuccessfully.

Keyop got a huge grin on his face and turned to Garnet. "They trill!" he signed excitedly. "I used to do that when I was very happy. I still could, but I tended to purr more than trill around you. Guess that's 'cause most of what makes me happy these days is being with you. You know what I mean. I miss being able to express myself that way." His smile faded.

"I miss it too," she whispered to him. "Soon you'll be able to again." She smiled reassuringly at him and gave him a very quick kiss on the cheek.

The judge saw the little exchange and gave them the slightest of smiles. The prosecution lawyer's frown deepened.

He continued his questioning. "When the children came to you, Mrs. Tanaka, did they seem traumatized in any way?"

"A little, Sir. They had been pulled away from the only family they had known, sent to a facility and tested for something--we were never told what--and then given to a family that they had never seen before. Of course they would appear traumatized."

"Did either of the children show signs of abuse of any kind?"

Kayoko shook her head. "Absolutely not. They had bruises from where they'd been stuck with a needle for a blood draw but that was it. They showed no signs of physical or verbal abuse."

"I have no further questions, Your Honor," said the prosecutor. "I also have no other witnesses to call at this time. I had hoped to call Mr. Preston, the man who had ordered the arrest of Mr. Anderson and the removal of the Anderson children, but he seems to have left the planet after he was fired from his position with genetic research."

"Very well," said the judge. "Does the defense wish to question the current witness?"

"Not at this time, Your Honor," said Mr. James. "I would, however, like to call the first of my witnesses, Sir."

"Go ahead."

Mr. James called several of the members of the Aviary as character witnesses. Several of these the prosecution decided to cross-examine, but, each time, he could get nothing but positive comments about the character and behavior of both Garnet and Keyop.

James eventually called Green to the stand. "You know the family quite well, do you not?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir, I do."

"How close are you to them?"

"I babysit for them a lot. I love kids, and Kadin and Kyla are two of the sweetest I know. They are a lot like their father to be honest. They like to play tricks like hiding at bed time or bath time; or one of them will distract you while the other does something. They are quite a team."

"Have you ever seen either parent mistreat either child?"

"Absolutely not!," Green stated. "Give me a few minutes alone with the scum that accuses them of that and I'll see to it they don't make that kind of accusation ever again."

"So," said James, "you'd say they were typical of most of the G-Force families."

"Yes, Sir. I'd even hazard to say, they are even more loving and protective of their kids than some. After all, they had to go through a lot to have them and they won't have another chance. To lose those babies would kill them I believe."

"Thank you. No further questions."

The other lawyer stood up and approached the witness chair where Green sat. "So," he drawled, "you babysat those kids, huh?"

"Yes, Sir. I watch a lot of the G-Force kids. I love children. Growing up, there were always younger ones to watch. I enjoyed doing it then, and I still do."

"Have you ever shown any of your weapons to the twins?"

"Not shown. I've told them about them. It's a little hard to deny you're carrying a knife when the kid sees the hilt sticking out of your boot."

He leaned on the rail next to where she sat. "Now, come on. We've been told that these are curious children, surely one of them tried to take that knife at some point."

"No, Sir. They never did. All G-Force children are taught from the beginning that their family and friends carry weapons as part of their work and that those weapons are never to be handled or played with. Only once has any G-Force child ever tried handling a G-Weapon, and that ended with the child tangled in a whip, but, fortunately, not shocked by the electrical charge it could deliver. And, before you ask, no, it was not one of the twins. This child is much older and is now training to become a G-Force team member.

"Sir, I guard my weapons well when I'm around anyone, including my teammates. None of them are trained to handle them, so I watch my use of them carefully. No one uses a weapon on any team unless they have been thoroughly checked out on it first.

"And as to the safety of the twins at home; neither Garnet nor Keyop use edged weapons on G-Force. They both use throwing weapons that I know they keep safely away from the kids."

"Right," was all the lawyer would say.

Green stepped down from the witness stand.

Mr. James now looked at Keyop. "I know you don't want to do this, but it is important that both of you speak for yourselves in this matter. To not be willing to speak up for yourselves would not send a good message to the judge. I think he's forming a positive opinion of you both and I want to build on that by having him get to know you each as a person through your own statements. Yes, that blow-hard over there will try to shred what you say, but both of you are strong. You're G-Force, for God's sake, show that wuss that you're better than him and better than the people who brought these stupid charges against you."

Keyop took a deep breath and nodded. Garnet smiled. "Thanks," she said. "I knew I'd have to speak for myself. It really will be easier for me knowing we're both in this together."

The judge cleared his throat. "Mr. James, do have any more witnesses to call, or should I retire to render a verdict?"

"Yes, Your Honor, I have two more witnesses to call. I first must request of the court that we have two interpreters available, please."

"Can't one of the Aviary interpret?" asked Garnet.

James shook his head. "They have to be court-appointed. There also has to be two so that what no one can claim that what was said was deliberately misinterpreted."

It took several minutes, but the bailiff was finally able to find two of the courts' interpreters.

Once court was reconvened, James called Keyop to testify.

Keyop was clearly nervous and uncomfortable with the eyes of every person in the courtroom upon him. He was having a hard time making eye-contact with anyone and kept looking down at his hands, which were clasped tightly together in his lap.

Mr. James addressed him. "State your name for the record," he said.

Keyop hesitantly signed, "Keyop Anderson."

"Would you please tell the court what happened on June 16, 2116?"

Keyop told them everything he could remember about that day. He was completelly honest and told them about his reaction when the security team had shown up at his and Garnet's door. He explained that his actions were driven by a need to protect and defend his family, and under similar circumstances he'd do exactly the same thing. "My wife and kids mean more to me than anything, Sir. I would risk dishonor or death to keep them safe. My biggest regret is not how I acted or reacted on that day; it's that I failed to to keep my family safe and together." He quickly wiped away a tear before it could escape his eye.

"I have no further questions, Your Honor."

Keyop knew the worst was yet to come. He still had to face the prosecution. He knew this man would try to push every button and bring out every negative in a person. He only hoped he could get through it without destroying all the work that had been done by the other witnesses to show that he and Garnet were good people and good parents.

"So, Keyop, may I call you Keyop?" asked the prosecutor. Keyop only nodded. To do otherwise would probably only make himself look like a petulant child.

"Fine," the lawyer continued. "Would you mind telling the court how old you are?"

"Twenty-four, Sir."

"Twenty-four," repeated the lawyer. "So, your a relatively young parent. Do you ever find the idea of raising two children overwhelming?"

"I think most parents do, no matter what there age," he answered.

"Has that feeling of being overwhelmed ever made you wish you'd never had children, or has it ever made you angry?"

"No, Sir, absolutely not."

"So, you are saying that that you have never been frustrated with the whole idea of parenthood that you've never over-reacted to something the twins did?. You've never raised your hand in anger against your children or your wife?"

Garnet gasped. She couldn't believe that horrid man was asking her gentle-hearted husband such a mean question.

Keyop's jaw dropped and tears welled up in his eyes. "No!" he desperately signed. "I would never do that. Even if I was frustrated with a situation, hurting them isn't going to change it. It would only make it worse. I love my wife and my kids. I'd leave before I'd hurt any of them."

"You're a member of G-Force, correct?"

"Yes, Sir. Right now I'm on inactive status, but I am still considered a member."

"All right. I have two questions about your membership in G-Force. The first one is, have you ever committed acts of violence in your professional career, and have those acts ever resulted in another person's death?"

Keyop didn't want to think about this. He knew that what he did as a G-Forcer was violent and abhorrent to some people, but it was necessary to keep Earth free. Reluctantly, he answered. "Yes, Sir, I have done things that I wish I hadn't had to do. None of us enjoy taking lives or blowing things up; it's something that sometimes has to be done to keep this planet safe. No good soldier enjoys war."

"Next question. Would you please tell the court why you are currently an inactive member of G-Force."

"All members of G-Force have an implant in our brains that enhance many of our skills, especially our physical strength and stamina. Six months ago, when I was arrested, I was taken to a facility and my implant was removed without my permission or that of any of my superiors. I was, and still am, the youngest person to ever receive an implant. I was two when I got it. I had not learned to talk at that point because of a defect in my brain that had gone undetected because the scientists who had raised me to that point had never bothered to try to teach me to talk. Without knowing I was doing it, I used the implant to help myself acquire language skills. I still had an odd speech defect, that my children apparently share with me, and it became almost overwhelming when I was under stress or nervous, but I had learned to live with it. When the implant was removed, it was discovered that it had totally integrated with the speech center of my brain. Without it, I lost all ability to vocalize. I cannot make a sound.

"They did this to me!" He no longer tried to hold back the tears. "Unless the new implant they plan to try to give me is able to integrate as well as my last one, my wife will never be able to hear me tell her I love her and my kids will never hear me laugh at their antics and silly games again. They will never know the dad I was before because they are too young to remember." Keyop covered his face with his hands. He was sobbing, but in silence.

"Now, now," said the prosecuting attorney. "I had no intention of upsetting you."

That was the last straw. Keyop looked the man in the eye and the anger and revulsion he felt toward this man was obvious. "Do you believe that because I am mute, I am also stupid! I know exactly what you are trying to do, and I refuse to play your game any more. I am exercising my right to not answer any further questions."

"No further questions, Your Honor." With that the lawyer withdrew. Keyop got up and ran from the courtroom. Garnet looked over her shoulder and saw Mark rising. "I'll go after him," he mouthed as he too headed for the door.

Garnet was beside herself with anger toward the prosecutor and grief for her husband. There was no way her attorney could put her on the stand like this.

"Your Honor, the defense requests a thirty minute recess to locate and calm my clients, please."

"Recess granted," said the judge. "This court will reconvene in one hour."

"I'm gonna go get lunch," said the prosecutor. All the G-Force members in the gallery glared at him as if he were a Spectran goon.

Mark found Keyop on the courthouse steps. He had almost stopped crying, but he looked dreadful.

"Wanna talk about," Mark asked, settling on the steps beside him.

Keyop shook his head. Mark knew his youngest teammate wouldn't be able to keep everything bottled up for long. He was too open and honest and passionate for that. It took less than a minute for Keyop to decide to open up to his Commander.

"Didn't make a great impression, huh?" he signed. "Rat-bastard attorney's probably laughing his ass off right about now. He probably thinks his case is made. He just proved one defendant unstable. Now, all he has to do is royally piss off my wife and he'll be able to say that, yep, G-Force is made up of unstable and irresponsible brats who are used to getting their way and overreact when they don't."

"I don't think that's going to happen." said Mark. "I think that, if you walk back into that courtroom with your head held high, your tears dried and that sense of calmness we all get in full battle-mode firmly in place. He'll see just how badly he underestimated you, Garnet and the whole team. I think the judge wants to find in your favor--he seems to like the two of you--and calmly facing your opponent could be that last little bit that's needed to sway him completely to our side. Besides, you want to support Garnet, don't you. She sat there through your whole ordeal, you owe it to her to be there during hers."

"You're right. I'll do what you suggest."

"Good," answered Mark.

About that time, they were surrounded by the rest of G-Force that was in attendance. "Lunch," said Tiny. "One hour recess to calm everyone down," added Lee. "Yeah," said Amaya, joining the rest of the group, "much more of that guy and I was going to go into damage control mode; meaning, I'd damage him if one of you didn't control me." Green gave her a small smack. "You'd make a half-decent ninja, girl, if you weren't such a hot-head."

With the tension somewhat relieved, they headed out in mass to find something quick to eat.

After lunch, they all headed back to the courthouse in much better moods than they had left it. They had even got Garnet to laugh during lunch, so they were feeling much more confident than they had.

Once the judge was back in place, the proceedings resumed.

"I call Garnet Anderson to the stand," said Mr. James.

"Mrs Anderson, please tell the court the circumstances surrounding the birth of your children."

"Do you mean everything we went through to have children?" she asked.

"Yes," James replied. "Tell us the whole story."

She proceeded to tell everyone there of the year of trying, the finding out that, even with in vitro, they'd probably never have children, of the joy of learning they'd beat the odds, of the months in Medical trying to maintain the pregnancy and finally of the twins early birth."

"Thank you," said the their lawyer. "Once the twins were here and you knew they were going to survive, did you have any moments of doubt that you could parent two infants at once?"

"I think, every parent has moments of doubt, even with one baby. You want to do the best job you can. I don't think I had any abnormal doubts, if that's what you mean. I wondered if I would be able to feed them, and change them and deal with all the little things you have to deal with babies, either at the same time for both, or fast enough that one didn't feel slighted. I've talked to other mothers of multiples and it's a common fear. And, thankfully, usually I had a second set of willing hands to help with most things. Keye was very involved with them from the beginning."

"I have to ask this, mainly so my counterpart doesn't feel compelled to, have you ever hit your children?"

"No! we correct and discipline them, but not by hitting. I can't believe that anyone would hit a child this young if they really cared. You redirect kids at this age."

"I have no further questions," said James.

The prosecuting lawyer sidled up to the witness stand. "So," he said in a mock-casual way, " let me see if I get this straight; you insisted, when you had in vitro done, that they use your husband's potentially defective sperm. Now, why would an intelligent woman, like yourself, do something as risky and possibly unethical as that?"

"We weren't thinking in logical terms, Sir," she began, but he kept talking.

"You could have had a known donor with a record of healthy offspring, but you chose not to."

"Like I tried to say, we just wanted these to be our kids. Keyop never had..." She was stopped in mid-sentence as he rambled on.

"Now, really, wasn't it because you were ordered to bear children that carried your husband's DNA, by Chief Anderson himself? To be honest, is there even any of your DNA in those children?" Aren't these the first in a new generation of artificially created life? All the wonderful stories of love and devotion I've heard today ring hollow in my ears. It is the belief of Interplanetary Child Welfare that this is all a ruse to make us look away as Anderson, Rafael and others use that constructed male to create a new race. Any of these females here could have been the first on chosen, it just happened to be you."

"That's not true!" Garnet burst out. "Keyop and I fell in love six years ago."

He tried to interrupt her again, but she was ready. "You, Sir, will shut up and listen while I refute your words."

"Your Honor," he whined.

"Mrs. Anderson," said the judge, "you will watch your tone of voice or I will hold you in contempt of court. And you, sir, will not antagonize the witness. Please answer the questions, or as many of them as you remember, Mrs. Anderson."

"Keyop and I fell in love six years ago. We were young and it was his first real love. We had our good moments and our bad, as any couple does, but we eventually worked through things. Everyone on base was protective of us. I didn't learn it till much later, but, apparently, whenever a new bird joined the Aviary, they were warned not to mess with us. This was not some order from on high. It was an attempt not have anyone play head games with Keyop. He needed to learn what this whole relationship thing was about without being caught in the middle of a cat fight--or in this case, bird fight--and he needed to figure out what he wanted from a girl, whether it was me or someone else. I guess he was pretty happy with what he had because he asked me to marry him. There were no orders. There are no other children running around Neptune Base with any of his DNA. Do his genes show dominance in our kids? I'd say yes. Do any of mine show up? I certainly hope so. We didn't want the kids tested, not because we wanted to hide some deep, dark secret: we didn't want them tested because we wanted to be like every other parent we know and be able to say things like, 'he's got your eyes' or 'I think she gets that from you'. That's all. If there was a serious problem with their health, we'd have them tested in a heartbeat if we thought it would help.

"So, unless you have evidence that both my children are complete copies of their father, you'd better keep your mouth shut and get out of law. If such evidence exists, which I know it doesn't, you were legally obligated to disclose that to our attorney long before this trial started. Believe me, I've had plenty of time over the last several months to do a lot of research into genetics, bioengineering and the law. If nothing else, I'm a more knowledgeable member of G-Force than I was. I know what I'm talking about, so don't think your little ploy to overwhelm me going to work. You really must be dense, Sir, if you haven't figured out that I have a bird of prey as my call sign for a reason. I'm quiet and a caregiver by nature, but piss me off and I will use my talons."

"No further questions," he said and sulked back to his seat.

This court is in recess for fifteen minutes," said the Judge.

There were hugs, high-fives, kisses and applause among the Aviary. They knew, without even hearing the verdict, that they had won.

When the judge returned 15 minutes later, he was smiling. "It is the ruling of this court that all charges against both Garnet and Keyop Anderson be dropped and that their children, Kyla and Kadin Anderson be returned to them as quickly as is reasonably possible." He rapped his gavel once. "Court Adjourned."

Now the party started in earnest. There were hugs all around and plans being made to celebrate. In the chaos, Garnet grabbed Keyop's hand and pulled him with her away from the crowd of their friends. "Come on," she said. "There's some people you need to meet."

He followed her to where the people who had been the twins' foster parents sat watching the spontaneous celebration. He could see that, while they seemed happy about the outcome, they were sad that they would be losing the children.

Garnet introduced them. "Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka," she said, "I want you to finally meet my husband. Keyop, this is Mitsuo and Kayoko Tanaka."

Keyop looked at his wife critically. "Haven't you paid attention to what Green has taught us?" he asked. "Family name first, given name second."

"Yes, Dear, I know. They gave me permission to use the Western form of address."

"Oh, so that was the problem," said Mitsuo. "I wondered what was being said. Sadly, while my wife and I are bilingual, we do not know any sign language, other than the secret signs of the Black Hawk."

Keyop signed and Garnet interpreted. "So, you are Black Hawk," he said. "That is reassuring. I was worried about what kind of family they had given our children to. I know Garnet had said she had met with you and seen the children more than once, but I still worried. I am relieved to know that they were not only loved, but well protected too."

"No one has come near them without first being approved by the Black Hawk," answered Mitsuo.

"Now, though, it is time to return them to their rightful family, but, know this, they are and always will be part of ours. All G-Force are a part of the Black Hawk and so are their children. We are especially fond of these two, and they show much promise. While we have not made a conscious effort to train them in the ninja way, they have been careful observers. They have seen training sessions and have tried to copy simple moves. They are quiet and clever. We would like to offer, and encourage you to accept, assistance from the clan in finding appropriate education for these two. They are old enough, if you approve, to begin basic martial arts, and in a few years, they will be ready for formal education. We have access to more than one school that could potentially meet their needs."

Garnet and Keyop looked long at each other. While the thought of having their children go to school that was far from home was hard to handle right now, they knew that this could be an excellent opportunity for the twins. "We will seriously consider your generous offer," Keyop finally answered, and Garnet nodded her agreement.

"Now, we must return Ka-kun and Ky-chan to you," said Kaoko. "I will miss them. They are wonderful children.

"We don't want to pull you away from any celebration your friends might be planning, but maybe we could meet at our home tomorrow. We could have dinner and then you could take them back with you then."

"Part of me hates to wait another day," said Garnet, "but maybe that would be a good idea. They're used to your home, and it would be a lot calmer for them for us to come there. As much as I want my babies back, I don't want them traumatized as much by their homecoming as they were by their removal."

"You really are good parents," was Kaoko's response.

Mitsuo wrote down their address and handed it to Keyop. "Until tomorrow." With that the couples bowed politely to each other and went their separate ways.
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