I13DT - In Another's Territory

[Allison Rogers]

Allison was actually whistling as she knocked on the door to Sam and Nailah's apartment. She had a folder of papers in one hand and went back to twirling a pen with the hand she'd used to knock on the door.

[Samantha McManus]

Samantha finally answered.

"...you're in a good mood, it seems."

[Allison Rogers]

"Had a pleasant evening," she said. "Sorry to bother you on a weekend, but I wanted to get the two of you to sign some papers so I could file them on Monday morning."

[Samantha McManus]

"Ah, come in if you like," she says, stepping aside.

[Allison Rogers]

"Everything going alright?" She asked, moving over to their table and flipping the folder open to shuffle through the papers, sorting them into a couple of piles.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well enough, I suppose."

[Allison Rogers]

"Good, good," she said, moving one set of papers over. "These are for you. Stating your intention to claim parental responsibility for Miranda."

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye. Sorry to have such an odd situation for you to deal with," she says, reading them over.

[Allison Rogers]

"It could be worse I suppose. At least she seems to want to be with you guys." There was a lot of standard boiler plate language in the documents about evidence that Sam was the father of the minor child identified as 'Miranda Savage' and copies of that evidence were attached.

[Samantha McManus]

"Quite awkward being listed as the father, but I suppose genetics is what it is."

[Allison Rogers]

"That's what the expert at X-Corp swore to in his statement, so I have to stick with his terminology unfortunately. I would have listed it differently myself. Will you two want to change her last name when we finally make this all official?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Her last name was fairly arbitrary to begin with, but I'm not certain what the best course would be there."

[Allison Rogers]

"From a legal standpoint, once you two are legally her parents, the choice is really up to her and the two of you. Might be worth putting on your to-talk-about list at any rate." She leafed through the other stack of papers. "There's some papers in here for Nailah to make her the primary decision-maker in the school's guardianship of Miranda as well as some other papers similar to the ones you have."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm sure she'll be by soon enough. If not, I'll make sure they're on your desk Monday morning."

[Allison Rogers]

"Assuming I don't get shot on my way to the court, the guardian thing should be in place on Monday."

[Nailah Weaver]

And that's when the front door opens and Nailah's voice comes from the hallway. "Sorry I'm late."

[Samantha McManus]

"You? Late?" She chuckles. "We've a guest."

[Nailah Weaver]

"I know." she says as she walks into the room. "Good evening, Allison."

[Allison Rogers]

"She probably saw me coming," Allison said with a chuckle. "Evening, Nailah."

[Samantha McManus]

"Have to pretend like she didn't, or she gets headaches."

[Nailah Weaver]

"More or less." she says, walking over.

[Allison Rogers]

"Just some paperwork you need to sign to set you up with Miranda's guardianship and do the initial filing for parental responsibility."

[Samantha McManus]

"Also mentioned that we ought to talk to Miranda as to whether she wants to take either of our last names."

[Nailah Weaver]

"That's... a good question." she says. "And just point me to where I have to sign."

[Allison Rogers]

"Here, here, and..." She flipped through some more of the papers, "Here. Still sure you want to do this?"

[Nailah Weaver]

"Absolutely." she says as she goes through the papers, singing them.

[Samantha McManus]

"Going to be official soon, then," she says with a smile, passing her signed papers over.

[Allison Rogers]

"Well, 'soon' is a matter of court dates and such, but you'll at least be able to make the important decisions for her if, gods forbid, something should happen."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Let's hope that'll mostly be symbolic."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well we've got someone good on our side, aye?"

[Allison Rogers]

"I'll do my best. We're blazing completely new trails on this one."

[Nailah Weaver]

"Just let us know what we can do to make this easier."

[Samantha McManus]

"Aye, it's complicated enough as it is."

[Allison Rogers]

"We'll probably want to meet after Christmas to go over some testimony. I can't imagine they'll give us a court date until at least January or February, though I am asking for special consideration."

[Nailah Weaver]

"That's faster than I generally expect paperwork to move, so that's good."

[Allison Rogers]

"I'm counting on 'novelty' to keep things moving."