[Closed] Everything You Love Will Burn Up

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani turned her neck from side to side, feeling the stress from the last few hours building itself inside her body and making her stiff. Court had taken a recess. Day one and she wished this was over, almost enough to just drop it completely and try to move on with her life. That wouldn’t be so bad, right? She was on a television show, was recording for Taboo Records, lived with her amazing boyfriend, had the greatest circle of friends she’d ever dreamed possible. Maybe just letting him go would be worth it, just to not have to endure this any longer. He was released on bond , though she did have a restraining order in place so the only time he could be around her was when they were in court. But it wasn’t like he hadn’t broken that enough times already. She watched him at the end of the hallway, talking to his lawyers as they all waited to go back inside. Dani looked over at Jake, wanting to reach down and take his hand but stopping from doing so, just in case paparazzi were anywhere around them. Though, if they found out why she was here she cared far more about that fallout than she did about them finding out she was involved with the co-star that played her brother on a Disney family show. Instead she tried to distract herself, think of anything else. Maybe Ryan would be hungry later. He wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up to cook for him, he knew what today was. But cooking when she was upset was different than cooking when she was angry. When she was angry, she rattled off to Ryan as she cooked. When she was upset she was just silent, bringing food out to Ryan whenever it was finished. Suddenly her lawyer appeared by her, “ It’s time to go back in, Dani” he said quietly, giving a small nod to Jake and Lance who was standing a few feet away from them.

Dani pushed her hair from her face as she made her way back into the courtroom and sat down beside her lawyer. She waited as the judge came in and then looked over to the opposing lawyer. He was supposed to call her father to the stand first but he surprised herself and her lawyer by calling her to the stand first. She narrowed her eyebrows as she looked at her lawyer who clenched his jaw and gave a small shrug of his shoulder and tilted his head towards the witness stand. Dani took her jacket off, feeling the heat from the room like it was suffocating her before she made her way up to the chair beside the judge. She placed her hand on the bible and swore to tell the truth; which she did half-heartedly since there was a verse in Matthew that said to never swear, but to take an oath and to vow that your yes was a yes, and your no was a no. But whatever, she wasn’t going to get into that. It certainly wasn’t what was the most important here today. Dani sat down uncomfortably, avoiding looking at her father before she brought her eyes to the lawyer in front of her. ‘ Miss Cooper..’ he started off dryly, looking up from paperwork before he set it down and offered her a warm smile. ‘ You’ve turned out very successful. An actress, yes?’. Dani could feel herself tensing, not sure what that had to do with anything. “ Yes,.. I don’t know if I would say it was successful, though,” she said , thinking on it. Successful actresses won awards. She was on a Disney show until she could mature and get stronger roles. ‘ Well, successful for your age might be more better put,’ he said, conceding to her definition of success. ‘ And that’s something that you have strived for since you were a child?” he questioned causing Dani to make a confused expression. She still was a child. Seventeen did not make her an adult and if the opposing lawyer was trying to make it look like she was an adult in order to make what her father did seem less cruel, then he was just as sick as the man he was defending. “ Since I was younger ,…yes” she said , growing frustrated with the pointless questions. ‘ Would you say that creativity is a strength all actors and actresses must have in order to hone their craft?” he questioned, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the table his client sat behind. “ … Yes, but what does that have to do with anyth-“ she started before she was interrupted. “ And it seems you were quite creative. You made up a lot of stories to your teachers when you were younger to get you and your friends out of class. Made up stories to coaches in order to get out of sports.. “ he continued before he himself was interrupted by Dani’s lawyer, “ Objection your Honor, what does this have to do with anything? Every child in the world does that.” he said, speaking solely to the judge. But Dani herself was focusing on her fathers lawyer. “ Are you suggesting that I made it up?” she said coldly as she looked at him with hatred in her eyes. “ I made up that he came into my room countless times and put his hands on me?” The opposing lawyer watched her for a moment before he gave one small shake of his head. ‘ No Miss Cooper, I think we all believe that those are things a father is capable of. Coming in to say goodnight to his daughter, brushing his hand over her hair , giving her a kiss on her forehead. What I’m suggesting is that you let your imagination carry itself away and are maybe….exaggerating things a bit. Young girls striving to be actresses have tendencies to want to victimize themselves as a means of spotlight and attention,” he said, causing another uproar from Dani’s lawyer.

Dani clenched her jaw, taking in a few deep breaths. It was one thing to have to live through what he had done to her, it was another for someone to try and say she was making it up, that the things that haunted her to this day was just a figment of her imagination, her own fault for letting her mind carry itself away. “ Some girls might exaggerate a fight between siblings, but what he did to me is not something I would lie about,” she said, feeling the heat rush over her again. ‘ So you’re saying.. that in the mind of a child.. there’s NO way that you could have possibly exaggerated what was happening? They were fighting and children often choose to side with one parent over the other, causing you to misread what the other is doing.’ he said calmly. “ I didn’t make it up!” she yelled loudly, surprised by her sudden outburst. “ I’m not lying, and I think about what he did every day. Every time I go to bed and turn the lights out. That kind of horror doesn’t create itself in your mind.” she said, growing flustered and could feel the panic in her chest. It didn’t help that she could look over at her father and see the smug grin across his face. The same one he’d get when he was leaving her room. She closed her eyes, stopping the tears before she licked her lips and looked away. “ Your mother said that you used to pick up on characters.. play roles, commit to them. For days, weeks. This could be one of this instances.” he said, unbaffled by Dani’s extreme reaction. “ This is not a role I would have chosen for myself,” she said, looking at him as though he was a complete moron. ‘ Miss Cooper this trial is going to go on for several months.. any small detail in your story that might change, or somehow lead the jury to believe that it isn’t an entire truth wi-“ he stopped, allowing Dani to scream. “ I DIDN’T MAKE IT UP” she yelled, causing the judge to order silence in the courtroom. The opposing lawyer smiled, seeing how easy it was to make her crack. The weaker she was, the easier it was going to be to win their case. “ I think that’ll do for now,” he said before stepping away. The judge looked over at Dani’s lawyer, ‘Do you have any questions for the witness?’ he asked, causing her lawyer to shake his head. ‘ Not at this time, we’ll call her to the stand at a later period,’ he said, clearly disgusted by what the opposing counsel had just tried to pull. ‘ You’re free to get off the stand, Miss Cooper’ the judge said, looking at Dani with what seemed like an apologetic smile.

Dani stood quickly and made her way back over to the table before her lawyer stood up and called her father to the stand, buttoning his jacket as he stood in front of the table and waited for the reason for this trial to sit down beside the judge after swearing to tell the truth. Dani kept her eyes down, not even able to look at him. “ Mr. Cooper, your defense seems to think that all of this was purely in Dani’s mind,” he said as more of a statement than a question. “ Kids will be kids. They let their minds run wild and have come up with all sorts of crazy things,” he said calmly, with an edge of arrogance. ‘ Yes, but what you are saying is that you never did anything that might be deemed inappropriate by a court of law,”. Her father gave a small shrug of his shoulder. ‘ Every family functions different. Every father daughter relationship is different. You see some who are best friends, hug in public,you see some who barely even speak a word to each other over dinner. Who is to say which relationship is appropriate?” he questioned as he looked at her lawyer. ‘ The court of law deems what is appropriate. Going into your daughters room late at night and laying your hands on her in a way that is claimed as sexual abuse… is a federal offense, not just a product of imagination.” he said, picking up a few papers as he let her father counter back. ‘ It is a federal offense, and it’s also common knowledge, which will be shown here in court, that Dani has always been good at getting what she wants. I believe she wants me put away, but I can’t for the life of me figure out the reasons as to why. Yes, I did go into her room late at night. I also got home late from work and wanted to give her a kiss goodnight before I went to bed. Since when is a fathers love a crime?” Dani felt the nausea rolling in her stomach as she placed her fingers loosely over her mouth, avoiding any and all eye contact with him. ‘ Several psychologists have met with Miss Cooper and not a single one of them believes that her claims are fraudulent.” he said, though her father didn’t seem to be swayed by that at all. ‘It’s been previously stated that Dani is an actress. I’m sure she could make anyone believe what she wanted them to,” he continued . The banter between her lawyer and her father continued, though Dani couldn’t tell you what any of it was. All she could think of was the darkness, how he had trapped her. And how he was going to trap her in the same experience for a period of time now, and if for some reason she didn’t win, he’d trap her for the rest of her life, that smug grin creeping into her sleep.

Dani looked up as she realized that court for the day was over, leaving the jury to talk for a bit before they could all go home and determine the next date for when they would return. She was thankful as the restraining order remained in place. But when the judge hit his gavel against the wood in front of him and stood up to make his departure, everyone started standing, preparing to make their own exit. Her father shook hands with his lawyer and Dani turned over her shoulder to look for Jake. She just wanted to get out, to leave. Being here was making her skin crawl. The sooner she could get home and lay on a couch with Jake, or into a kitchen and cooking for Ryan the sooner she could go back to pretending this wasn’t her life. ‘ Dani,’ a voice said behind her and she instantly felt like ice cold water rushed through her entire body before she turned around to face her father. “ You’re not supposed to talk to me,” she said, taking a step back. ‘ We’re in court’ he said with a quick grin. ‘ Look.. eventually you’re going to realize that you wanted what happened just as much as I did. And the court will see that I was perfectly right in my actions. You brought this on yourself… It’s going to be a long process, Dani. Months. Day after day, remembering what happened between us, princess. And I’m going to love every minute of it,” he said, giving her a cold smile as he kept his eyes focused on hers. Dani was fighting to look away, but for some reason she couldn’t, frozen in fear until she felt Lance’s hand on the inside of her arm.

[Lance James Renner]

Lance sat beside Jake in the courtroom, watching at the circus that was unfolding. It was one thing for her fathers defense to try and protect himself and say that was innocent, that was to be expected. But Lance was actually surprised that they were trying to say that Dani had completely made it up. That was bullshit, he’d seen her break down over it way too many times. He looked from Dani on the stand over to her father, clenching his jaw tightly at the look of arrogance across his features. There was a certain amount of hate he had for the man he’d never even met. When he met Dani she’d been fifteen and had emancipated herself from both of her parents. So he hadn’t actually met either of them, ever. He knew that Dani’s mother didn’t believe her and he understood why she would want away from both of them. The monster, and the woman who stood by and did nothing. And here was the court calling her a liar, just like her mother had. He felt a sense of relief as she left the stand, watching her as he wondered what was going through her mind. There was a time where he would have been the main supporter, the person she would turn to. But his eyes drifted to the person sitting beside him. Jake was that person now, just in the same way he was that person now for Kiersten. But that didn’t mean that he had quit caring about Dani. He’d always care about her, it was just one of those things that didn’t change. He knew that when he and Kiersten had started dating she often wondered about the relationship between him and Dani but it wasn’t even romantic at this point. He had loved her, that much was true. Now he had this overwhelming need to protect her- the same way he felt about all of his friends. Thankfully, Dani and Kiersten had bonded and though Kiersten didn’t know where exactly Lance was today, he was glad that she trusted him enough to be comfortable with the choice he was making. He wanted to tell Kiersten, but he also had this overwhelming sense that it wasn’t his thing to tell. Dani didn’t want a lot of people to know. Leaving it between himself, Jake and Ryan. Oddest group of people to know a secret, but it seemingly worked for Dani, which was the only thing that mattered.

Lance tightened his eyebrows as he watched her father on stand. What kind of monster put someone through that hell, and then made them look like a liar on stand. It wasn’t enough to make her feel vulnerable in her own room, but now he had to make her feel that way in front of the rest of the world? There was a darkness that used to creep inside of Lance, that was troublesome at the time for how young he was. Violence, drinking, drugs. He didn’t grow up the way his parents had wanted him to , ‘modeling’ after his older brother. He held no ill will towards Logan over it. It wasn’t his fault that everything he touched turned to gold. But Lance had acted out, had countless things put on his record, and suddenly landed his ass in a school overseas just because his parents didn’t know what to do with him anymore. Not even old enough to drive and he’d been forced into rehab, isolated from his family. Now he was back and the one demon he’d had to face strongly was alcohol. Yeah he still smoked weed, but he’d stayed away from all the other drugs that had gotten him in trouble before. It wasn’t worth losing Kiersten over. It was weird that even with his past, he could mingle into the high society of the upper east side and still have parents ooh and awe over him like he was the next coming of…well, Renner. Had to be in the genes. Those Renner boys, they were just so charming it was hard to believe they were capable of anything that wasn’t the highest of demure and honor, at least that’s how the rest of the world chose to see them. Lance Renner, the troubled youth who had battled a past of violence, drugs, sex, near-overdoses. Logan Renner, the man who had slept his way through a lot of women, had an affair with country bumpkin Blake Parker, knocked her up and married her before she was out of highschool. But no, .. they were so charming. He looked up in time to see Dani’s father making his way over to her, for the first time in a long time he’d felt that anger inside himself that he thought he had buried a long time ago. Even finding out that his best friend and his girlfriend at the time had kissed, ending in her leaving him to be with said best friend, had not angered him this much. The only time he’d felt this since coming home, coming out of rehab in London, had been when he found out what had happened to Kiersten. He vowed if he ever saw that guy, he’d kill him. And as Dani’s father made his way towards her, he had the same desire to take his life away, too. Lance stood, moving past Jake as he walked up, catching the last of what was said by Dani’s father before he placed his hand on the inside of her arm. “ Why don’t you go find Jake” he suggested as more of an order than a question, keeping his eyes locked on her father.

“ You don’t need to talk to her,” he said quietly, this conversation didn’t need to get out of hand. Dani was still in the courtroom and he didn’t want to upset her anymore. ‘ On the contrary, its in my right to talk to my daughter.” her father said, looking down at him. “ That right was taken away from you by the court incase you’ve forgotten. Don’t speak to her,” Lance said, trying to remain calm. “ So you’re the British one she dated… her mother told me about you. Reading about you in the gossip blogs. Must’ve been serious. You took her on vacations, you two seemed very smitten with one another,” he said with slight amusement in his eyes as he watched Lance. “ I care about her deeply, enough to protect her. Unlike some of the other men in her life,” Lance said, directing his comment towards him. ‘ Yes but my point is that is pretty serious for a pair of young adults. Sixteen years old. Having the money to whisk her away on romantic vacations. Tell me.. does she still like it when you whisper in her ear?” he questioned and that was all it took. Lance hadn’t even realized his body was moving in motion until he felt the impact of his fist against her father’s face. He looked down, realizing he had grabbed her father by his shirt and pulled him into the punch, the blood from his nose pouring onto Lance’s hands. It seemed just as quickly the security was pulling them apart, her father yelling things out at Lance and Lance not caring enough to listen, but enough to flip him off with the same finger that had her fathers blood on it. The judge didn’t seem to want to, but since it was the law he had to put Lance in a cell since her father had shouted about filing assault charges. Interesting, now he supported assault charges.

Lance laid his head back against the cold wall, looking down at his hand and flinched slightly as he tried to bend his fingers. At least it had been a good punch. But the downside was that he’d been doing so well. Not drinking, not being violent. This could only be seen as a step back, but the weird thing was.. Lance himself didn’t see it that way. It wasn’t like he was getting in a fight for the hell of it. He wanted to protect someone he cared about. He waited patiently until one of the guards came over, “ One phone call, kid” he said, pushing the sliding bars over to the side and gestured for Lance to stand up and head over to the phone. Lance put his hands to the side of the bench, pushing himself up before he walked over to the phone and stared at it, giving a small sigh before he picked up the phone and started dialing Logan’s office number. That had to be where he was at. “ Hey..” he said, hearing Logan’s secretary. “ It’s Lance, can you connect me to Logan?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the guard standing behind him. “ He’s in a really important meeting, Lance. Can you call back in like an hour?” she questioned, the sound of typing coming from her end of the phone. “ Not really, I kind of need to talk to him now. “ he pressed. He understood how busy Logan was, so his secretary knew that Lance wouldn’t just say that for the hell of it. “ Just a minute, Lance,” she said and he waited for a few moments, what he could only assume was her going in to tell Logan that there was an emergency and Lance was on the phone. When Logan finally picked up, Lance bit the inside of his lip. He wasn’t going to tell Logan on the phone what exactly had happened, so his brother could probably only assume that he had ‘fallen off the wagon’ for a lack of better term. But either way, it was his brother and there wasn’t anyone else he was going to turn to. Kiersten was too young to bail him out, though she could probably convince Mackenzie or Riley to. “ Logan, it’s Lance… look I need you to come pick me up, I’m in jail,” he said with a somewhat apologetic tone.