ALMEDA CAFE_CROWD DETECTIVE_TAYLOR DR_YOUNG EMERGENCY_SERVICES_DISPATCH EMT_LUMLEY ETHAN ETHAN_JACOB_WESLEY GINNY JACOB KRISTINE KRISTINE_MICHAEL MELINDA MICHAEL MYRA NATALIA OFFICER_HALLOWAY PEDESTRIANS TED TRAVIS VALIKA WESLEY YOUNG_KRISTINE YOUNG_KRISTINE_YOUNG_MICHAEL YOUNG_MICHAEL KRISTINE It's been like this since 1995. YOUNG KRISTINE Come on, come on. Where are you? KRISTINE Back then, I'd wake up in the middle of the night and roll over, and he'd be gone. KRISTINE Over the years we tried so many things to make him feel better but nothing ever worked for very long. YOUNG KRISTINE YOUNG MICHAEL KRISTINE In these moments, all I wanted was to hold him and to take care of him. But that night things were so bad, I realized I was the helpless one. I just had to convince him of that, how much I needed him, that without him, I'd be toast. And so finally, I did what I probably should have done in the first place. I told him to ask me to marry him. And he did. And I said yes. YOUNG MICHAEL I love you. KRISTINE I saved him from himself then, and it's the same thing today, 25 years later. KRISTINE I make him feel needed when really we both know he's the one who's always needed me. And that's why I can get him to fall in line even after the divorce. VALIKA But he talked to the cops about you? KRISTINE Because of his new wife. And look what happened. He went and told a bunch of lies and got himself arrested. VALIKA But I-- won't she try and pin this whole nonsense on you? KRISTINE Nah, she can't give him what I give him. Back in the day when he would have one of his episodes, this is how I'd get him to pep back up. VALIKA KRISTINE VALIKA KRISTINE Shh! VALIKA I mean, you look hot as hell. But Kris, you're not gonna send him one of these now, are you? KRISTINE Val, he's a married man. I would never. But the point is, in the end, I'm the only one who knows how to make him feel like a man. MICHAEL It was 2011, a few months after our trip to New York. MICHAEL I was still looking for work, but basically being a stay home dad, doing housework, doing errands, and really just taking care of Natalia. Somebody had to do this stuff because Kristine had just gotten a big fancy book deal from all of her TV appearances. KRISTINE I just wanna make sure we get everything in, you know? There's just so much. Where do I even start it? GINNY Don't worry, lovie, Myra knows how to write a book. She's the best ghostwriter we got. Wrote two bestsellers for us last year, although I'm not allowed to say which. KRISTINE Wow. GINNY This first visit today is just to orient her in your story and give her enough to go away and get started with, and then she'll be back. I think we've got you, let's see, uh, four visits budgeted over the next few months. Honestly, my biggest piece of advice is just let her into your life. Take her to your favorite coffee shop. Introduce her to your friends. Make her feel like a part of the family. KRISTINE Don't worry, she'll be a Barnett in no time. GINNY Yes, that is exactly the feeling we want from the book. All of us at Random House have fallen in love with your story. KRISTINE Oh, stop. You're too nice. GINNY No, honestly, you were incredible on 60 Minutes last week. You had us bawling. KRISTINE Well, I just wanna help families help their kids. Uh, let me go freshen up, will you? I'll let you know how it turns out. What are you still doing here? MICHAEL Well, you know, it takes me a while to get her out of the house, Kris. KRISTINE Well, just go already. MICHAEL She's in pain. She moves slowly. You know, this would be a heck of a lot easier if I could just plop her in front of the TV upstairs, while you-- KRISTINE No. Not an option. Not taking any chances having her pull any of her nonsense while the ghostwriter's here. MICHAEL What would she possibly do? KRISTINE Oh, I don't know, maybe poison her coffee or put a tampon in her lap. MICHAEL Kristine. KRISTINE This book advance and Jacob's Place has us barely squeaking by. MICHAEL Kris. KRISTINE So until you get a job-- Oh, she's early. Go, go. Keep her quiet. MICHAEL Oh, sure, sure. Yeah, yeah. KRISTINE Welcome to-- I'm sorry. Are you Myra? TED Oh no, ma'am. I'm Ted Jones, and this is Melinda Aguilar. And we're with, uh, Child Protective Services. KRISTINE What? TED Well, we're here because there's been some concern about the safety of the children in your home. So we're gonna have to have a look around. KRISTINE Well, you must have the wrong house. MELINDA You are Kristine Barnett and your husband is Michael Barnett? Okay, well, we'll also need to speak with Jacob, Wesley, Ethan and Natalia. KRISTINE Do you know how much longer this is gonna take? I have somewhere to be. Maybe if you could just tell me who called you I could clear up any misunderstandings. Save you all a lot of time. MELINDA I can't go into specifics. ETHAN Mommy, are they gonna take us away like in Lilo and Stitch? KRISTINE No, sweet boy. No one is taking anyone away. MICHAEL That's right. That's right. Nobody's taking anyone. MELINDA Removing children from their homes is never our intention. KRISTINE TED Okay, we're done for today. Uh, there are a few loose ends. We'll follow up after Natalia's foot surgery, you know, see how she's doing. NATALIA Talking to them was so scary, Mommy. KRISTINE You were brave, sweet pea. TED We'll, uh, talk soon. MICHAEL Uh, yeah. KRISTINE Boys, go upstairs. KRISTINE You told them you were having foot surgery. NATALIA I-I w-- I was trying to help. I didn't want you to go to jail. KRISTINE You see this, right? MICHAEL What? KRISTINE Come on, Michael. She called CPS and told them she has to have foot surgery, so now we're on the hook for it. She has us over a barrel and she knows it. MICHAEL Or it was Mrs. Murphy. You know, she-she-she's always complaining about the noise. We don't know. KRISTINE Michael. I have no time for this. Myra will be here any minute. Get her upstairs. MICHAEL Yeah. Come on, sweetie. NATALIA Can you help me, please, Daddy? MICHAEL Yeah, of course I'll help you. Yep. Come on, baby, it's okay. I know you're only trying to help. KRISTINE I wanted to give my kids the kind of childhood I didn't have, where their dreams were encouraged. Where they could each find their spark, the thing that gets them up in the morning. Getting to write this book shows the world that's possible. MYRA Oh my gosh. They're scrumptious. So now I need to know everything about you. KRISTINE We, um, had to crate the dog. She's terrible with strangers. MYRA Ah. KRISTINE But what you need to know about me is I love a latte. I'm gonna take you to Norma's. It's my favorite. MYRA Okay, uh, now? KRISTINE Yeah. MYRA Yeah? Okay. KRISTINE I wanna write about how even in dark times there's hope, and as happy as my family is now, we've had those dark times. MYRA Um, okay. Bye. KRISTINE After you. PEDESTRIANS KRISTINE We're not proud of it, but that first therapist that said the word autism, talking about Jake, Michael fired him on the spot. MYRA Mm. Wow. KRISTINE And I just cried. KRISTINE I guess I just-- I want people to know that, that-that getting a diagnosis for your kid can be scary and destabilizing. DR YOUNG Recovery from clubfoot surgery is long. She's gonna need to be off her feet for a couple months and... KRISTINE And we felt that too, the-the hopelessness, but we got through it together. MYRA I'm impressed that you and Michael seem so strong. CAFE CROWD MYRA It could be such a strain on the marriage to have kids with medical issues. It-- You know, it's a pretty high divorce rate actually. KRISTINE We took our vow seriously. MICHAEL You're crushing this. NATALIA MICHAEL Does it hurt? NATALIA A little. MICHAEL You're doing great. NATALIA KRISTINE I know him better than I know anyone. Probably better than he knows himself. We're a team. KRISTINE MICHAEL MYRA That's very, very inspirational. How'd you two meet? KRISTINE It was a frat party. MYRA KRISTINE I think the theme was, uh, Neanderthal Free for All. Something like that. Basically Mike was, uh, Fred Flintstone. And I guess I was sexy Wilma. It's funny having so much history with someone. We started dating so young. We learned to face life together. KRISTINE I was so focused on Jacob, I'd forget to take care of me, but Michael never did. KRISTINE MICHAEL KRISTINE Sometimes he'd bring home dinner, and after Jake had gone down, we'd spread out a blanket on the living room floor and have a date night picnic. So if anything Jacob's diagnosis brought us closer. MICHAEL KRISTINE We didn't always agree, but we were always each other's port in the storm. NATALIA MICHAEL Really? KRISTINE Our marriage really got us through. MYRA Wow. KRISTINE Um, I thank God every day for Michael. MYRA This is great. It's total gold. You know, I-I hate to say it, but I think I've got most of what I need for one hell of a book. KRISTINE MYRA They're already on me to send in the draft. They wanna fast track this one. KRISTINE That's good news, right? MYRA The best news. Um... one last ask. I would just love to spend more time at your house for color. Uh, aside from the first day, I-I haven't really been there. KRISTINE It's such a mess. MYRA I love a mess. I'm a mess. And a mess is what grounds the story. Let's go. KRISTINE Okay. Just... no judgments. MYRA KRISTINE Here we are, back at the living room. Pretty standard stuff. KRISTINE Oh, look at this. Did I tell you Jacob has been accepted to the Perimeter Institute for graduate work? MYRA Oh, is that the one in Pasadena? KRISTINE No, it's in Canada. Super prestigious. MYRA Oh, personal question. How do you pay for Jake's schooling? I know that you have the book advance and Jacob's Place. Does Michael bring in a lot? KRISTINE Well, Michael's been out of work for a while. MYRA Oh, that must be really hard. Your career's taking off as his is struggling. KRISTINE You know, Mike's always been a dabbler. He's into music and writing and cars. MYRA Mm-hmm. KRISTINE Retail was good for him until recently, and probably not what he wanted to do. It's maybe not his dream. MYRA Mm. Mm. It seems like he never found his spark. KRISTINE Hmm. MYRA Hmm. KRISTINE You know, in our wedding vows, I said that Mike makes the impossible possible every day. MYRA KRISTINE What do you think about that, for the dedication for the book? MYRA Has a nice ring to it. Really sells a romance. Oh. Changing gears-- JACOB Dad! Dad! KRISTINE Jacob, what is it? JACOB Mom, you have to come now. KRISTINE Why? What's wrong? What's wrong? JACOB Natalia. KRISTINE Where's your dad? JACOB I don't know. MYRA Who's Natalia? KRISTINE Wes! Ethan! WESLEY 6Natalia, what are you doing? That's my toy. KRISTINE Natalia! WESLEY Natalia! KRISTINE Stop! Wes. WESLEY No. KRISTINE Wesley, don't! Wesley! NATALIA We were just playing. KRISTINE Stay away from us. MICHAEL Kris, what the hell? KRISTINE Hey. Where were you? MICHAEL Mrs. Murphy's battery died. It just took one minute. KRISTINE Well, that's all it takes. NATALIA MICHAEL It's okay. Yeah, I got you. KRISTINE I don't like to hide things. KRISTINE It's not in my nature. KRISTINE I just didn't know how to tell you. We're in such a hard situation. MYRA I can see that. KRISTINE I want the best for Natalia. I do. We adopted her because of how much I care about these kids. But this book is supposed to be an inspiration for families. And if I write about Natalia, it might discourage people. So please don't tell your editor, please. MYRA Kristine, I've written books for all sorts of folks: athletes, politicians, billionaires. Natalia would hardly be the first secret kid that I have buried. You decide what's in this book. You are the author, not me, and not Michael, not Natalia. You. But if this is the version of the story that you're going to tell, make sure everyone around you is telling it too, or might come back to bite you. MICHAEL Hey Kris, what-what are you doing? Wait, wait, where are you going? KRISTINE I'm taking the boys to my mom's. MICHAEL Wait, for how long? KRISTINE I don't know. MICHAEL Wait, hold on. We don't-- W-We-- Let me just talk to her. We don't even know what happened yet. KRISTINE She tried to kill our boys. I'm not sticking around so she can succeed next time. MICHAEL Kris, don't-don't do this. KRISTINE Like I said, she belongs in an institution. MICHAEL No, you don't just lock people away because they're suffering. What are you-- What are you-- Y-You're gonna-- You're gonna commit me every time I'm having a-a low. Is that it? KRISTINE If you try to kill our boys, yeah. MICHAEL Kris, wait, wait, wait, wait. Kris, please come on. Just gimme some more time, okay? I swear I can figure this out. KRISTINE Michael, she's been with us for two years. You had your chance. You made your choice. I'm leaving. MICHAEL Wait, wait, wait. What? I-- I heard you talk to the writer, y-you know? You said I-- I make the impossible possible. KRISTINE Oh, Michael, I said that for the book. It's not true anymore. KRISTINE Okay. ETHAN Grandma! ALMEDA Get over here over here, you little . WESLEY Grandma! ALMEDA Hello. Hello. Oh! Boys, you're in the upstairs bunk room. WESLEY I call top. JACOB I call bottom. ETHAN JACOB WESLEY ALMEDA I got your room all ready for you. I'll clear out the closet tomorrow. KRISTINE Not moving in, Mom. It's only temporary. ALMEDA Uh-huh. NATALIA Do you think they're coming back? MICHAEL What? Don't be silly, sweetie. It's just gonna be a few days. MICHAEL Come on, let's get you in bed, uh, before you turn into a pumpkin. NATALIA Okay, Daddy. MICHAEL Okay. MICHAEL MICHAEL MICHAEL KRISTINE Hi, you've reached Kristine Barnett. If you know me, you know I'm most likely on the other line. Leave a message at the beep. MICHAEL Hey, did you hit ignore? 'Cause that's not cool, unless you're sleeping. Um, in which case, I guess that is cool 'cause it's late and people need their sleep. Anyway, um, when you do get this, gimme a call. You're gonna-- You're gonna laugh 'cause this is classic me. Big Skype interview tomorrow, T-Mobile. And I-I can't find my lucky red tie. I know what you're thinking. I would lose my head if it wasn't screwed on straight. Um, but I-- do you have any idea maybe where it is? Um, the tie. I mean, not my head, because that's on my shoulders while I'm leaving you a message here. Um, it's the-- it's the-the silk one with the little, tiny little dots on it. You got it for me in Chicago. Um, I don't know if you remember. It was that last trip we took right before we had Jacob. And I was a doofus and I spilled wine on my first lucky tie, which was the one that I wore at our wedding. Um, anyway, and I, um, I looked everywhere. I looked in the hall closet and I looked, uh, in our closet and I can't find it anywhere, so, um... MICHAEL You know what? I'm sorry. This is stupid. Uh, you don't need to, um, worry about this, 'cause I'm a grownup and I've got this, and we're good here. And, um, it's awesome sauce, is what it is. And, uh, I'm gonna wear another tie that's just as good. It's a great tie. And I'll talk to you later. Oh, you're so fucking stupid. A fucking tie. Come on. Come on, Michael. Come on. You got this. Come on, Michael! Come on, Michael! MICHAEL You got everything you possibly need, okay? NATALIA MICHAEL Now, listen, Natalia, I have to ask you something. Natalia. I'm sorry. Can you stop please? The humming is really... Okay. Thank you. Look, this interview is very important, and I just need-- How do I say this? Uh... MICHAEL I need you to promise me that you will-- Uh, no funny business, okay? Hang out quiet in here until Daddy's finished. NATALIA MICHAEL No jumping out or scaring, or harm-- NATALIA I'll be good. MICHAEL It'll be an hour tops. NATALIA Good luck, Daddy. MICHAEL Thank you, sweetie. You know what? If this goes well, I think the whole family's gonna-gonna come back. Everything's gonna go back to normal, right? Okay, here we go. TRAVIS Sounds like you're pretty good on your feet. MICHAEL Thanks. TRAVIS Can you tell me about how you deal with conflict? MICHAEL Good question. Conflict. Gosh. Um, well, I avoid it. Who likes conflict? You know what I mean? Anyway, well, that's-- I was joking. Um, serious-- Um, o-one of my tasks at Circuit City, uh, was being a team builder, making sure this was a place where-where everybody-- You know what? There is somebody at my door. People-- People knocking down my door trying to hire me. Um, I will be right back. Don't go anywhere. One second. TRAVIS Okay. MICHAEL So, sorry. Fucking shit! TRAVIS I can still hear you, man. MICHAEL Jesus Christ. What? Oh, I'm-I'm sorry, officer. OFFICER HALLOWAY We've received several 911 calls from this address. Is this your house? MICHAEL It is, but I was just on an important Skype call, so I wasn't-- OFFICER HALLOWAY What about her? MICHAEL Uh, that's my daughter, Natalia. Wait, Natalia, did you just call 911? NATALIA I wanted pizza. You-- Uh... I'm sorry. Apparently pizza constitutes an emergency. You know how it is. OFFICER HALLOWAY You think this is funny, sir? Folks die when 911 is busy. MICHAEL No, I didn't mean that. I-I-I'm so sorry. Listen, man, I-I just-- I became a single parent all of a sudden. My wife just left me like yesterday and I'm unemployed and I was on this job interview, which is why I'm dressed like this. And we're just really-- we're just having a really hard time, okay? And-- And man to man, if you could please just-- could you let-let this one slide? OFFICER HALLOWAY Man to man, you need to get your act together for your kid. MICHAEL Okay. Yeah. Thank-- Thank you, thank you. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Okay. Coming. I'm-- MICHAEL Wait, no. No! Goddammit. NATALIA Are you mad at me, Daddy? MICHAEL Natalia, that was very... What the heck was that? NATALIA Uh, I was hungry. You were busy. MICHAEL S-So you call 911? That doesn't make any sense. NATALIA I was bored. MICHAEL You were-- Well, which was it? Were you bored or did you want pizza, 'cause you-- Wait, did you call CPS like Mommy thinks you did? NATALIA Why would I do that? MICHAEL I told you how important that interview was to us! What the hell are we supposed to do now? How are we gonna get the family back? NATALIA I don't want them to come back. I want them to die. MICHAEL What? Don't say that. You don't mean that. Shit. ETHAN JACOB WESLEY KRISTINE Boys, be careful. The fence is on. JACOB Okay, Mom. ALMEDA KRISTINE Let me do that. ALMEDA I would be doing it if you weren't here. KRISTINE But I can do it faster. ALMEDA ALMEDA You know, I hate that you and Michael are having trouble. KRISTINE No, you don't. ALMEDA Oh, what do you want me to say? The man's an empty shirt. KRISTINE Ha! Michael's not empty. He's completely full of it. ALMEDA But the thing is, honey, you let him know it. Ask me, I think that's what sent him into that girl's arms. KRISTINE Mom, that's revolting. ALMEDA Get your mind out of the gutter, Jezebel. I am saying that you gave him an ultimatum, and look who he chose. She makes him feel big. You made him feel small. You think you're better than everyone else. KRISTINE That is not true. ALMEDA No? Isn't that why you left home? You thought you were better than us? Now you're out there writing a whole book about how you are a better mother than I am. KRISTINE My book has zero to do with you. ALMEDA Oh, please. It's always about the mother. KRISTINE If you wanna talk about what kind of mother you were, I didn't leave home because I thought I was better than you. I left home because you didn't make it safe. ALMEDA You're always so dramatic. KRISTINE What about when he tried to make us eat only saltines and sugar water for a week? ALMEDA Oh, for Pete's sake, you were chubby. It's called a diet. KRISTINE Okay, what about when he tried to make us eat glass? Was that a diet too? ALMEDA See, now this is what I mean. You think that you have all the answers, but it wasn't so easy. Do you know how hard I fought to keep our family together? KRISTINE You should have fought to keep us safe. Daddy was sick. He was seeing things, and you saw nothing and did nothing. ALMEDA Don't be ridiculous. I kept the worst of it from you. Nobody really ate glass, did they? KRISTINE You should have cut the cancer out and divorced him. Maybe you tried to keep us together. But look at you now, you're alone. WESLEY Mom! Mom, we found a turtle. ETHAN Can I hold it, Wes. JACOB And Dad's here. WESLEY Nope. ETHAN Why? MICHAEL Hi. KRISTINE The boys are inside. I'm gonna go talk to her. NATALIA Mommy. KRISTINE Nope, don't "Mommy" me. Tell me what it's gonna take to make you go away, to leave us alone. NATALIA You want me to go away? KRISTINE You manipulated us into paying for your surgery. What else do you want? Money? NATALIA Why would I want money? KRISTINE What are you doing this for then? Just torturing us for fun? NATALIA What do you keep saying all these mean things about me? KRISTINE I am not going to keep putting my children in danger. I'm not going to let you keep doing this. NATALIA It hurts my feelings. Why don't you love me, Kristine? MICHAEL What's up, my dudes? Hug attack. JACOB The plastron is flat, not concave. MICHAEL Whoa. Is that a turtle? Love turtles. That is awesome. ETHAN He's so cute. WESLEY Cool. MICHAEL Missed you guys so much. Come here. Gimme a hug. Come on. ETHAN No. WESLEY No, Dad. MICHAEL Yeah. WESLEY It was just one night. I saw you yesterday. Chill, Dad, chill. KRISTINE Ow, Natalia, what are you-- Michael, help! MICHAEL Oh! Oh my God, Kris. EMT LUMLEY The main thing is to make sure you keep the burn clean. MICHAEL But she's okay? EMT LUMLEY Yeah. Yeah. We were super lucky the voltage was low on the part of the fence where she fell. But in the meantime, keep drinking that Gatorade. Okay, Ms. Barnett? MICHAEL Okay, thank you so much. KRISTINE MICHAEL Thank you. EMERGENCY SERVICES DISPATCH MICHAEL Kris, I'm so glad you're okay. KRISTINE You do realize I didn't fall, right? You do realize she tried to kill me, again. What is it gonna take for you to believe me? Does one of us have to die? MICHAEL No. Kris. No. I'm so sorry. You're not alone. I'm so sorry I doubted you, but I believe you. I believe you. Just please, please just don't leave me. I want-- I just want us to go back to normal, okay? I'm-- I'm an idiot. I'm so-- I'm so sorry. KRISTINE It's okay, baby. You are not an idiot. I'm the idiot. I let her break our family apart. You were just trying to keep us together. MICHAEL That's all I wanted. KRISTINE It's okay. It's okay. MICHAEL KRISTINE But Michael, what are we gonna do? MICHAEL Oh, Kris. You were right. She's a freaking psycho. We can't take her home. KRISTINE We can't. MICHAEL Okay, so what? I don't know. What, do we call the police, or...? KRISTINE No, we can't call the police. MICHAEL Okay. KRISTINE If we do that, she can spin the story and make us the bad guys. MICHAEL Yeah. KRISTINE And that's why she called CPS. MICHAEL Yeah. KRISTINE So we have to have her committed. MICHAEL Okay. Okay. Yeah. You take the boys home and-and I'll take her to Providence. KRISTINE How did it go? What the heck happened? MICHAEL The kids wing at Providence was full. They said maybe try this other place in Larue in the morning. KRISTINE What do we do tonight? Do I bring the boys back to my mom's? MICHAEL No. No. I-I-I have an idea. NATALIA I know you can hear me. Hey! KRISTINE Are we sure this is okay? MICHAEL I-I-I mean she has everything in there she needs, you know, and it's just one night. KRISTINE No, I mean, can she get out? NATALIA MICHAEL O-Oh yeah, no, I took the garage door off the tracks. The garage door button doesn't work. She is-- I-It's fully secure. We just gotta keep watch, I guess, you know, take turns tonight. KRISTINE It's just one night. NATALIA MICHAEL Exactly. It's just one night. NATALIA ETHAN Mommy. KRISTINE MICHAEL MICHAEL What do we tell the boys? KRISTINE I'll be right there, sweet boy. MICHAEL KRISTINE We're gonna tell them the truth. That we are getting Natalia the help she needs, and that they're safe. We are gonna take care of them. NATALIA I know you can hear me. I hate you. I'm gonna kill you. Let me out of here. KRISTINE Can you go try and get her quiet? The neighbors. MICHAEL Yep. NATALIA Let me out of here! I hate you. Let me out of here. Somebody help me. ETHAN Mom! KRISTINE It's okay. Just power went out. That's all. It will be fine. It'll come back on. JACOB What about Natalia? KRISTINE She's fine. JACOB But it's quiet. KRISTINE Daddy must have talked to her. WESLEY Is that at the front door? JACOB I-I think it's the police. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Sir, I'm Detective Taylor. Do you live here? MICHAEL Uh, I'm Michael Barnett. This is my wife Kristine. We live here. Yes. DETECTIVE TAYLOR We received a complaint from a neighbor, they said they heard screaming. Sounded like a child. MICHAEL We-- We-- We can explain. DETECTIVE TAYLOR I'd like to take a look around. KRISTINE Our boys are upstairs in our room. The storm's got us all a bit jumpy. DETECTIVE TAYLOR I don't wanna be out in this either, but we've received multiple complaints at this address. There's an open CPS investigation and now sounds of a child screaming. KRISTINE I think what our neighbor heard was our adopted daughter, Natalia. She's not well. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Where is she now? KRISTINE Well, we-we have her isolated from the rest of the family. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Where? KRISTINE In there. In-- In-- In, uh, the garage. I-In here. It's-- It's a-a finished room though. MICHAEL Yeah, i-- We're-- It's just temporary until we get her a room at a hospital. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Okay, I think I'd like to hear what she has to say. KRISTINE Well, you have to understand she's dangerous. She's hurt me and my boys, and she's lied about who she is. Her papers are all fake. DETECTIVE TAYLOR What papers? KRISTINE Everything: birth certificate, immigration. Go get the folder. MICHAEL Yeah. DETECTIVE TAYLOR How old is your daughter? KRISTINE Well, that's the problem, officer. This is gonna sound nuts. I mean like horror movie nuts. But she's an adult. She's a sociopath. She's impersonating a child. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Have you called the police? KRISTINE We can't. As soon as I got suspicious, she called CPS, and now there's a file on me. All she has to do is call the police and say I've abused her, and the state will take my boys away. I mean, she's got us trapped. Wait. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Ma'am. KRISTINE I-I just-- I know how this looks, and I'm just telling you, I'm a mother and I'm a teacher and I'm a Christian, and all I'm trying to do is keep my family safe. DETECTIVE TAYLOR I'm going in there now. KRISTINE Okay. Okay. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Natalia, you in here? It's okay. I'm Detective Taylor. Can you come out from there? KRISTINE This is her birth certificate. It's in Ukrainian. And this is everything we have. But this is what did it for me. Look, that's not her. DETECTIVE TAYLOR KRISTINE What did she say to you? DETECTIVE TAYLOR About what you'd expect. She denied everything. She said it was you who tried to hurt her. KRISTINE All we've ever tried to do is help. MICHAEL That's right. DETECTIVE TAYLOR You know James 1:27, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: visit orphans--" KRISTINE "...and widows in their affliction." Yes, exactly, exactly what we have tried to do. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Seems to me she took advantage of your faith and generosity. KRISTINE Yes, that is exactly what she's done. DETECTIVE TAYLOR You have evidence, not of a crime per se, but I can tell that she's much older than what she says. Like here, she hasn't grown at all since she came to the US four years ago. If she's a kid, she would've grown, right? KRISTINE I-I didn't even think of that. MICHAEL Yeah. So w-what can we do now? KRISTINE Yeah. DETECTIVE TAYLOR Well, why not, uh, dissolve the adoption, give her up to the state? KRISTINE Well, but then she could just go and con another family. DETECTIVE TAYLOR It hurts my heart that you felt like you couldn't come to us. If you're good people and keep to the law, we're here to help you. You know, there's a legal process to correct someone's birth date. We did it with my sister-in-law's parents. They're from Tanzania and their birth certificates we're off by a few years. Got tricky with social security. MICHAEL Wait. So you can just do that? DETECTIVE TAYLOR It's basically just correcting a clerical error. Then you can make her legal age match the age she is. And because of her disability, you could probably stay on as her guardian and make sure she doesn't target anyone else. It's a simple process if you have documentation. KRISTINE What kind of documentation do you need? DETECTIVE TAYLOR Probably just what you have here. Maybe a letter from a doctor reviewing her records. I can recommend a lawyer if you need. Gal I know from church. KRISTINE That would be great. Thank you. KRISTINE This probably feels quite sudden to you. We were surprised at how quickly things moved once we got started, but eventually the truth was always gonna catch up to you. While you've been away getting the help you need, we met with a bunch of doctors and lawyers. They looked through all your records and agree, you're an adult. One of the doctors wrote a letter for us and we took that to a judge who signed an emergency petition. So it's official now. We've taken care of everything for you, but you're gonna have to start living on your own as an adult. It's time. MICHAEL We got you an apartment. It's really nice inside. The kitchen's full of your favorite foods. The closet's full of new clothes. MICHAEL Kris even bought you some new makeup. We also got you a bus pass, a new ID and an EBT card so you can buy food. KRISTINE The court encourages some adults with disabilities to have legal guardians, and because we want what's best for you, we've agreed to do that. MICHAEL So even though you'll live on your own, we'll make sure rent and bills get paid and check up on you. But otherwise you're pretty much all set up and-and-and good to go. KRISTINE It may feel strange telling the truth after so long lying. So if anyone asks, you can tell them you look young, but you're actually an adult. You're 22 years old. So no more tricks, no more little kid act. It's right there in black and white. You're 22. KRISTINE I know this must be overwhelming. You've been telling this lie a long time, but this is a clean slate, a new beginning. Do you have anything you wanna say? NATALIA No. MICHAEL Okay, well, um MICHAEL Voila! There you go. KRISTINE Go on, Natalia. We talked about this. Take care of yourself and focus on staying out of trouble. KRISTINE MICHAEL You okay? KRISTINE Yeah. I love you. MICHAEL I love you too. KRISTINE We're gonna be okay. MICHAEL Yeah? KRISTINE Yeah. We're going to be okay.