Alexander's POV
Whitmore looked at me across his desk like I'd asked him to set the file on fire.
"Walk me through this again," he said. "You want to formally withdraw the evaluation request, the records requests, all of it, and pursue what, exactly? There's no legal category called 'gradual paternal relationship.' Courts want structure. Petitions. Something they can rule on."
"Then help me build something informal first. Supervised visits, an agreed schedule, no lawyers standing over every exchange." I leaned forward. "I don't want a ruling, Whitmore. I want a relationship. Those aren't the same thing, and I spent three weeks pretending they were."
"You understand what you're giving up. Right now you have leverage. Voluntarily standing down looks like weakness to opposing counsel, and
