The judge sits down and Jay squirms in his seat, tightly clutching his elephant to his chest. He looks extremely out of place in the little suit and tie they've managed to wrestle him into, last used by Ethan at their father's funeral. He swings his legs, vainly trying to touch his feet to the floor in the too tall chair, but the lawyer puts a hand on his shoulder and he stops, looking straight ahead at the judge.

They talk a lot and really loudly, and Jay pets his elephant, a gift from Daddy before he was born, until they call his name. "Okay… Jay, right?" The judge calls his name and he stands up on shaky legs, nodding. "Come on over to the box. We've got another stool for you."

He runs for fear of walking and climbs up onto the stool, precariously balancing on it for a minute before righting himself, exhaling in relief when he does. "I'm going to ask you some questions", the familiar lawyer said before pointing to another man in a suit, "and then he will too. Is that okay with you?"

He nods because that is what he's supposed to do if he wants the bad man in jail. He's still scared, because he told the Thing He's Not Supposed To Tell, but Mommy and Uncle Dick will keep him safe. They promised a lot and crossed their hearts, just like all of his uncles and aunts. He feels safe, thinking of that, even though the bad man's looking straight at him too.

"What's your name, Jay?" He giggles because that's a silly question.

"Jathon Merrick."

"Do you have any other names? Like a middle name?"

"Mitchell. Like my daddy'th daddy."

"Can you tell them how old you are?" He counts on his fingers, puzzling over the numbers, before looking up again.

"I'm five. But I uthed to be four." There are a couple chuckles that come along with his lisp, but he doesn't mind. There are other things to worry about than people laughing at how he talks. Like how the bad man is right there in front of him and Mommy's home with Nick because he's not feeling too good. But Ethan's right there, which helps a lot, and Ethan waves a little baby wave at him, which also helps a lot.

"Where did you go to school?"

"I goed to thcool at Children'th Houthe, but now I don't 'cauthe I'm in kindergarten." He says it with an air of wonder that's infectious, wrapping its way around everyone in the courtroom.

"You're getting big, aren't you?"

He flexes his arm muscles for the lawyer and sends the whole courtroom into peals of laughter. "Yeah. Real big."

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" That stiffens him right up and the jury looks him over, noting how the mention of assault turns this five year old comedian into a statue. "With the man?"

"He—he uthed to touch me. In the panth. And putted thtuff inthide me. Where the bathroom goeth." He nervously swings his feet again, locking eyes with the lawyer to try and regain his calm. "And he maked me touch him a lot too. In the panth."

"In the pants, huh?" The lawyer's been trained to understand him over the last few weeks, which makes his testimony just slightly more credible. "And did it hurt?"

"Uh huh…" He nods.

"What can you tell me about the green underwear?"

He shudders and that alone is enough to convince some of the jurors. "He… Uh… Uncle Dick camed to pick me up early on one day and he putted me in green underwearth inthtead of my Batman oneth becauthe my Batman ones were… dirty."

"And what happened?"

"I don't like green." He says this with enough conviction to turn an army in his favor. "But Uncle Dick doethn't know that tho he didn't do anything."

"Did you ever get your Batman underwear back?"

"No. He keeped them."

"Okay, that's all I have to ask you." The lawyer high fives him before walking back to the table. "Thanks, Jay."

He nods and waits for the other lawyer to approach him, trying to be as respectful and polite as he can. "Morning…"

"Good morning to you too, Jason." The other lawyer smiles at him and he shrinks away a little. This man is a lot more scary than the man who asked questions first, but maybe that's 'cause the first question man played with the bead roller coaster with him for a long time and let him tell funny jokes. "How are you feeling?"

"Thcared." He swings his feet a little faster. "And I needth to pee."

"We'll call a recess for you in a few minutes."

"Okay." He nods. "Can we do the questionth quick?"

"Don't worry, I only have a few things to ask." He leans in a little further and he smells like mouthwash and finger paint, and even though it sounds a little weird, Jay decides it smells nice. "Want to get started?"

He nods. "We know your name already, but can you say it again?"

"Jathon Mitchell Merrick. I'm five and I uthed to go to Children'th Houthe but now I go to kindergarten at elementary thcool."

"You've got this routine down, haven't you?" He nods, looking past the lawyer at the bad man, who's staring at him just like he used to before he did the bad things. "Did your lawyer tell you to say these things?"

He nods again.

"How about your brother? Does your brother talk to you about the case a lot?" He nods because Ethan does. "Did he tell you what to say today?"

He looks to Ethan and nods, accidentally kicking one of the wooden bars. He pulls his foot up to hold it, and looks back to the lawyer. "He told me that I've gotta tell the truth to everybody. And that even dumb quethtionth can have good antherth."

"I see…" The other lawyer seems disheartened by this and Jay's pumps his fist to let him know he did right. "You said my client touched you 'in the pants', right?"

He nods, accidentally locking eyes with the bad man again. He squirms, uncomfortable, and looks to the judge as if begging to go.

"Uh, sir?" Ethan stands. "Can I give him something real quick? It'll calm him down so he can answer the questions."

"It's unorthodox, but after I look at it, sure." Ethan runs up to the judge's stand and jumps up so he can hand the piece of paper over. "That's not going to sway testimony in the least. Go on and give it to him."

Ethan hands the paper over to Jay, who reaches out for a hug. He gets his requested hug, along with a kiss to the top of his head. "Be good, Jay."

"Be good, Ethan." He parrots it back and Ethan smiles.

"I will. Now go on, answer." Ethan runs back to the prosecution's table and sits down next to Uncle Dick.

Jason hugs the picture of his parents and Uncle Dick that Ethan's handed him to his chest and nods.

"He touched me in the panth for a long time."

"What do you mean, a long time?"

"I wath three when he told me I was thpethial and then I wath four." He shows the man in the suit three on one hand and four on the other to explain. "And he liked touching me during nap time. 'Cauthe everybody could hear but they couldn't at the thame time."

"I see." The man in the suit looks worried, like he needth to pee too.

"Do you need a potty break too?" He looks to the man in the suit, cocking his head to the side just slightly. "'Cauthe you look like you do." He gets another few chuckles from the jury and he settles down again, seeming to give himself a tiny pep talk under his breath before readying himself for questions again.

"That's all, your honor." The man sits down, a hand rubbing at his temple and talks to the bad man a bit.

"Alright, Jay, you can go." He hops down from the stool, running to Uncle Dick before clambering into his lap, burying his face in his chest.

"It's alright, baby boy. We've got you." Uncle Dick rubs his back and Jay calms down a little, enough to look up and see Ethan walking to the stand, pulling at his tie to loosen it just a little.

"And what's your name, young man?"

"Ethan Allen Merrick." Ethan's calm once he sits down in the box, hands neatly folded in his lap and back straight as he answers the questions thrown at him. He looks a lot like their mother in that moment, exuding an air of poise that leaves people either stunned or worried.

"How old are you?"

"Eight, sir. Almost nine."

"So you're four years older than your brother?"

"Almost, sir. A little less."

"So it's safe to say that you were able to communicate when something was wrong by the time he was born."

"Yes, sir."

"Your father passed away when Jay was young, correct?"

"Right on the day he was born, sir." Ethan takes a deep breath to steady himself. "Huntington's."

"It's a terrible disease. Wish the world could be rid of it."

"Same. But for now, all we can do is fight." He has the stern expression of a much older man, and the lawyer gets the clue, quickly changing the subject.

"Did that make you want to take on your dad's role in your brother's life?"

"A bit. I was only four, so my involvement really consisted of putting diapers on backwards and tucking him in sometimes." He nods. "I did feel really protective of him though, but that's just 'cause he's my little brother. I've got to look out for him."

"So what's Jay like at home?"

"Usually really loud. When he was younger, he liked to wake us up really early in the morning to tell us things he thought of in his dreams or just interesting shadows on his wall. Really anything that caught his fancy. About a year and a half ago, though, things changed."

"How so?"

"He started wetting the bed again, even though he practically potty trained himself at one and a half, which was a bit weird. He refused to let anyone help him with baths or putting his clothes on and really stopped hanging out with our stepdad, which I found odd too since they're really close."

"For the record, your stepdad is Richard Dryden."

"Yeah. We usually call him Uncle Dick, but yeah."

"And how did Jay act toward your mother?"

"He's close to both of them, really, but he started ignoring her as much as he ignored Uncle Dick. Told her he hated her whenever she asked him what was wrong and kept saying things about… Being loved and not feeling right. He started getting really angry and throwing things and cursing. Jay's one of the sweetest kids I know. It just didn't sit right."

"So how did you think to solve this?"

"I kept telling Uncle Dick that something looked odd and we took him to the doctor a couple times and nothing was really wrong medically. They just sort of came to the conclusion that Jay had… mental problems. But I didn't think so, so on a noon dismissal day, I came to pick up Jay."

"You could do that?"

"I had a written note from my mom, who was pregnant with Nicky at the time."

"Right. And what did you see?"

"The second teacher told me that the defendant would help me look for Jay, since I couldn't find him in the classroom, and I found them in the staff room."

"Doing what?"

"…Coitus-ing."

"I don't think I've heard that word anywhere before."

"It wasn't a word until now."

"I see."

"But yeah. He had Jay naked and on his knees and was… doing things. The ones that only adults should do."

"And what did you do?"

"I called 911, told the other teacher to call recess for the other kids so they wouldn't get scared and got Jay into the ambulance and the defendant to the police."

"Sounds like you stayed calm."

"That's the only way you can save someone. It's how it happens in the comics. Disasters are averted only by superheroes who stay calm until after the fact."

"That's all, your honor."

The second man in the suit comes up to the stand and offers a sickeningly sweet smile to Ethan, who returns a curt nod, looking him over carefully.

"So, Ethan, I have a few questions to ask you. Have you ever lied?"

"Everyone does."

"About something big."

"I think the biggest lie I've told to date is telling Jay I didn't want to go outside because I'd burst into flames and die. Which I likely would, considering I need SPF 50 to get to school in winter."

"I see. And does Jason lie often?"

"Nearly never. The biggest lie he's told is technically not one at all, I guess. For my seventh birthday, he got up on a stool and set all the clocks back an hour so we could play Zelda a little longer."

"And how old was he then?"

"Three. Likely just before the defendant started…"

"Alright. And, going back to you, have you ever felt like you've tried to gain attention? Your father died, regrettably, when you were very young. Have you ever felt unnoticed?"

"Between who my father was and the reason he died, I get a lot more attention than I'd want. I see no reason to lie in order to put the focus on myself, since that's what you're trying to make me say. You want me to say that I framed your client because I wanted people to notice me." The man in the suit splutters for a second before composing himself.

"Objection, your honor, the witness is—"

"Sustained." The judge laces his fingers together, almost amused by the drama unfolding.

"Molestation is not a joke, sir. If I wanted to get attention, it would be more than enough to say Jay farted in the car or something. There's no need to accuse someone of a crime." Ethan's practically fuming, or as close as he gets to it. "The fact of the matter is, I love my brother. I would do anything for him. But trying to punish an innocent man is not one of them. I know what I saw and he'd be better off to stop denying it."

"…That's all, your honor." Ethan gets down off the chair and goes back to the table. He lifts Jason off his stepdad's lap to hold him instead.

"The prosecution would like to call Richard Dryden to the stand." Uncle Dick straightens his tie and walks up to the stand as if he's just going into a board meeting or something similar.

"State your name for the record?"

"Richard Rhys Dryden."

"Age?"

"Thirty-one."

"Occupation?"

"I run a life insurance company. Dryden Incorporated."

"Right. You've been called here as a character witness for both boys, as well as to present what you saw. You understand that, right?"

"Completely."

"On to the questions then. How long have you known the boys?"

"Both of them since they were born. Their mother, their father and I were childhood friends."

"And how did Ethan take his father's death?"

"Very hard. But he's a very pack up and move on kind of kid, so he channeled his grief into making sure Jay got all the care he needed and helping Grace and I with anything necessary."

"Grace is their mother?"

"Yes."

"And the two of you are currently married."

"We have been since Jay was about two years old."

"You have a son with her?"

"Nicholas. He's about a year old."

"He's walking?"

"He was born running." Dick smiles. "We're sticking Ethan on protective detail. We'll see how that works out soon."

"So Ethan's the protective type."

"Definitely. He'd die for his brothers."

"Do you think he'd try to frame someone Jay didn't like, in that case?"

"Jay loved his teachers and school, actually." He looked to the defendant, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I can't imagine why, after this past year, but he's a young boy. They tend to attach to whatever they find comforting."

"So Ethan wouldn't do anything wrong to do something he perceived as protecting Jason?"

"He's the only writer for whom everything isn't a shade of gray. Very moral guy." Dick nods.

"I see."

"That'll be all, your honor."

The defense lawyer walks up and asks practically the same question with different spins on it and the judge calls a recess. Dick walks back to the table and Jay starts squirming again as the bad man is led out, handcuffed and chained.

"I wanna go." Jay stands up, shivering slightly as he tugs at his sleeves. "Can I go home?"

"You can." The lawyer nods. "The boys can go, but if you'd like to stay, you can." Dick frowns and nods. "The verdict will be out today?"

"Likely. There aren't any witnesses for the defense other than the other teacher, who I think is probably being paid to do so." Dick stretches and yawns.

"I'll drive them home. Hold them off until I get back?" Ethan grabs Jay's hand and leads him out the door, closely followed by Dick, who piles them into the car.

"Can I wear my dinosaur shirt at home?" Jay has a finger stuffed up his nose, which he then wipes on his pants. "The red one?"

"Sure, buddy." Dick nods, keeping his eye on the traffic. "Mom's going to be so proud of you for being that brave."

"Me too." Ethan ruffles Jay's hair. "Lots."

"Are you Zelda proud?" He looks hopeful beyond any limit and Ethan laughs."Definitely. Just ask Mom. Nicky isn't doing too hot."

"Fiiiine." Jay hops down from his car seat when they pull into the driveway and runs ahead, kicking off his dress shoes and socks before running to the lawn, rubbing his feet in the grass. "I don't like suits."

"Me either." Ethan picks him up under one arm and pulls him to the door to meet Grace and a less fussy Nicky. "It's done for us, at least."

"Good." She smiles and Jay runs in under her arm.

"I need to go back." Dick pecks her cheek before going back to the car. "I'll see you as soon as the verdict's out or dinner, whichever comes first."

Ethan tugs Grace and Nicky in, saying something about the cold hurting Nicky's immune system, and Dick starts the car, going straight to the courtroom.

"Ethan! Player Two!"

"I want Player One!"

And just like that, things are back to normal.