Author's Note:

Okay, so this will be the last chapter of Child in Need. I had originally planned to put the whole story into this, but now I'm splitting it into two pieces. If you have an idea for the title of the next story, please leave it in a review! I was thinking about calling it Through the Storm, but I want you to have a say in it too. I honestly look forward to updating this story more than I do in any other story I've written, just a lot of positive influence. So this chapter is for all the loyal readers I have. Thank you.

Justice is Served

Doc's P.O.V.

I could barely hold back my tears. Lightning was awake, and I was thankful for that, but he seemed so small in the hospital room. Like too hard of a touch would shatter him into a million pieces. I was worried what this would do to all the progress I had made with him. Would he go back into the little boy who flinched every time any adult lifted their hand or opened their mouth? Or would this just strengthen the trust he had in all of us, make him more likely to come to us with his problems and fears? I hope that the situation is the latter; it would make adjusting to all this a lot easier for Lightning if it was.

McQueen's court day was due in another week and he was lucky I wasn't going to be the judge this time. I would have made sure that man would have been killed on the spot for his crimes. Hell, I would have killed that bastard when he touched Lightning, but I didn't need to be in jail for murder. Lightning needed me outside of those metal doors, not in them.

He smiled at me from his hospital bed and I couldn't help but smile back. How could a child who has experienced so much pain be able to smile? "When can I leave this bed Uncle Doc?" he asked, "I really want to play with Mater and Sally again!"

"You'll be getting out later today buddy." I said, going over to sit on the edge of his bed. "Do you need anything? Or are you all set?"

"I really want Popsicle,"

I reached into my bag and pulled the little toy out. He practically shrieked with delight at the sight of his toy and held it close to his chest. He gave me the same grin his mother used to give me whenever I made her happy, the grin that my father called her 'popsicle grin.' He used to get that grin too when he gave her a popsicle on a warm summer day.

"All the doctors were giving me real popsicles when I asked them." he said, stroking the little toy's fur, "Then I told them Popsicle was my toy and they didn't know what to do. But you knew what I meant, didn't you Uncle Doc!"

I nodded my head. The doctors had called my office while I was giving Sally a check up and said that he had been asking for the toy ever since he had woke up. I just barely remembered to bring it with me on this hospital visit. At least Lightning was getting out today. Everyone had agreed that his arm had healed enough for me to take him home as long as it was in a cast and he didn't get it wet. I couldn't wait to get him home; I had repainted his room and made it more of a child's room. The walls were now covered with pictures of animals of all shapes and sizes and his bed had covers that looked like leaves, like he was sleeping in a tree.

"You'll be back soon to pick me up, right Uncle Doc?" Lightning asked.

"How did you know I was going to leave?"

"You always get this look on your face when you're about to leave."

"I do?"

"You always do Uncle Doc."

"Well, I'll be back once I'm done with a few errands." I said, standing up, "You be good for the nurses and the doctors and maybe we'll get ice cream on the way home, okay?"

"Alright Uncle Doc!" he said, smiling, "I love you Uncle Doc."

That sentence caught me off guard. "I love you too buddy," I said, wiping a tear out my eye, "I love you too."

As I walked out, the clouds moved away to reveal the sun. Then, as I got into my car, I swore I heard Rosie laughing. She was still watching over us. She would never leave.

About a Week Later…

I held Lightning close as the judge and the jury went over the evidence at McQueen's trail. He was up for second or third degree murder, felony child abuse, child abandonment, and endangerment of child/children. Sheriff was here with Mater and Sally, who had both testified the fact that McQueen had almost hit them with his car the day he had abandoned Lightning in my house.

I tuned back into was the prosecutor was saying. "… and all evidence on Mrs. Rosanne McQueen's body points to Mr. Alan McQueen." He said, pointing at the man now dressed in prison orange, "The hand prints that were recovered from the victim's neck matches Mr. McQueen, along with the finger prints we found on the metal bat that was used to beat Mrs. McQueen to death."

He turned around and pointed at Lightning. "There is overwhelming evidence that points to the fact that Mr. McQueen also beat his son." He said, walking over to the jury. "When young Mr. McQueen was abandoned at Mr. Hornet's home he was bloody, bruised, and both his left wrist and right ankle were broken. As a result of an incident two weeks ago when Mr. McQueen was arrested, he broke the poor boy's right arm, which is still in a cast."

He looked at the judge, an old friend of mine from college by the name of Terry Evens, and then back at the jury, most of which I suspected were mothers and fathers themselves. "Now," he said, "would you want this monster walking around in your country? Would you feel safe letting your children go outside to play with this man prowling the streets, knowing that he murdered his wife and beat his child. We might have been too late to stop the murder of this poor, young woman, but we can stop the senseless abuse to her only son. Do not let this man not harm another innocent."

With that the prosecutor took a seat and I could tell he had won over the jury with those sentences. I looked up at Terry and I could see in his eyes that he hoped that they would proclaim him guilty. He looked at McQueen and sighed. "Mr. McQueen, I hope you understand what will happen to you if the jury finds you guilty." He said before turning back to the jury. He nodded his head and the jury left for break.

I took a quick look at Lightning to make sure he was okay. He was pale and shaking, but he managed to throw a smile at me. I still felt guilty about what had happened earlier in the trail. I could never forgive myself for putting Lightning through that.

Two Hours Earlier…

"Doc, Lightning's going to have to testify."

I just stared at Terry. Everyone had agreed that Lightning shouldn't get up on that platform. McQueen's presence could make Lightning lie about what happened and there was no way I wanted to let that man get away with hurting my nephew. "I thought you said he wouldn't have to." I said, "You told me there was more than likely enough evidence to put him behind bars without Lightning's word."

"I know that Hornet," he said, rubbing his temple, "but the defense somehow managed to get some of that evidence off the case. Claimed it wasn't relevant to the charges against them. Don't know how a picture of a boy covered in scars isn't related to child abuse but it's enough to get him off the hook. As much as I hate to do this Doc, we need him to tell us what happened."

I looked over at Lightning, who was currently being hugged by Mater and Sally. They all looked tired and it didn't make letting Lightning put up his own word against his father's. He looked at me and came over to my side. "What's wrong Uncle Doc?" he asked.

I got onto my knees and looked into Lightning's eyes. "Your father managed to get some of those pictures we took off the case bud." I said, feeling the fear roll off of him in waves, "He could still go to jail, but no one would know that he hurt you too. Now, you don't have to do anything, but it would help if you could tell the men and women in the courtroom about what he did. Do you feel like you can do that Squirt?"

He looked terrified at the thought of telling them what happened, but that faded and he looked at me with the same determined eyes his mother used to have. "I'll do it Uncle Doc." He said, "I don't want him to hurt no one else.

End Flashback.

They had spent a good hour asking Lightning questions about his life living with McQueen. They had asked him where he slept, how often he ate, what kind of chores he had to do about the house. I was completely horrified when he said that he had to clean the stove and the one time he missed a piece of macaroni on the damn thing McQueen had turned on the burner and shoved forehead onto it. He had even shown them the scar that had been left over. He had only been four at the time.

The more he spoke, the sicker and angrier I got. Who the hell pays another guy to bring his son over to beat on his own son? Then actually beats his kid for not being able to fight him off? Who the hell in their right mind would do that?

The defense attorney even had the guts to say that I had forced Lightning to tell them those things and that the words coming out of that boy's mouth were nothing but lies. Thank god Terry had been there the entire time I had been talking to Lightning about what he would have to do or reliving those memories of his would have been for nothing. If I didn't hate McQueen before the trail, I hated him now.

They only stopped when they asked about his mother's death. The poor kid had seen his father kill his mother. He told them everything that he had seen, which matched the report from the forensic lab about Rosie's cause of death. It was obvious they wanted to ask him more, but by the time he had finished he was in hysterics and I refused to let them ask him another question.

"He's going to go to jail forever right?" Lightning asked his eyes full of tears but his face full of hope.

"He should be Squirt." I said, holding him closer to my chest.

The jury came back within another five minutes, which gave us enough time to clean up Lightning's face and straighten out his clothes again. All of the kids were holding hands as the jury went back to their seats. Sheriff and I shared a look and I hoped that none of the people on jury were going to let McQueen off because he was famous. No one else needed to die to put this man behind bars.

Terry looked at the jury. "Have you reached the verdict?" he asked.

"We have your Honor," a woman in her late thirties said, "and we proclaim that the defendant is guilty."

I smiled at that. Karma was definitely getting pay back on McQueen.

Terry looked at McQueen and gave him the legendary Evens death stare. "Mr. McQueen," he said, "due to overwhelming evidence you are to be charged with felony child abuse which, in the act of committing this crime, you killed your wife Mrs. Rosanne Daisy McQueen. This moves your second degree murder charge up to felony murder. You are also charged with child abandonment and three different accounts of child endangerment. You shall spend the rest of your life in prison without chance of bail or parole. Custody of Mr. Lightning Alan McQueen is to be transferred to Mr. Alexander Hudson Hornet. Court dismissed."

I had to hold myself back from jumping up and doing a little victory dance. I was getting enough pleasure watching the guards lead McQueen out of the courtroom to the car that would take McQueen to his new permanent home; three concrete walls and metal bars. Lightning was laughing and crying into my shirt and both Mater and Sally were dancing in circles around Sheriff. "We finally got him Doc." Sheriff said, pulling me into a hug.

"We did, didn't we?" I said, watching the children run around and hearing about how they put the bad guy behind bars, "Now, let's get home. We're done here."

With that, we grabbed the kids and started the long drive from northern California to Arizona.

Another Author's Note:

So, everything I wrote about the court case is according to what information I managed to collect on the internet. For those curious about how second degree murder turns into felony murder, it's pretty simple. If you commit a felony crime, such as robbery or felony child abuse (it's a felony if you kill or seriously injure a child), and kill someone while committing the felony crime, the murder is bumped up to felony murder status. At least, that's how the internet explained it. If you find something wrong, tell me for future reference, but don't expect me to go back and fix my mistakes. I spent three hours going over this and I'm sick of court already. Remember, leave a little review at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think the sequel should be called. I really want your opinion on it.

~Aunna