TITLE: Angry All The Time
Chapter Three: Coming Home

AUTHOR: Lucky Star (JjsLuckyStar@aol.com)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the 7th Heaven characters, but as a writer I claim the right to alter facts and fill in blanks as needed...Please don't sue me. I'm writing only for fun. Any unfamiliar faces are figments of my twisted imagination.

CHARACTERS: The Camden family and a few other familiar faces. Possibly some new faces. Features Lucy in the lead role

SUMMARY: Lucy has left Kevin and is making her way back to Glen Oak with her four kids (Kevin Jr, Caroline, Brian, and Rory Anne)

SPOILERS: None, really.

ARCHIVE: Sure, just let me know

FEEDBACK: Definitely! JjsLuckyStar@aol.com

WARNING: This fic deals with domestic violence. Please do not read if you think you will be upset by such issues.

Angry All The Time
Chapter 3/?
A 7th Heaven Fic by Lucky Star

I had to believe I had made the right choice, not only for myself, but for the children as well. They were tired and cranky, no longer excited about a cross country trip to visit Granny and Grandpa Camden. They were instead missing their friends, and the comforts of home. Was I acting selfishly to uproot them like this, without giving them a choice? Without letting them say good bye to their father?

Brian and Rory Anne fussed and argued constantly until one of them fell asleep, and the one left awake turned to Caroline for entertainment. Caroline complained about one thing or another every few minutes, and muttered under her breath in between. She more than once told me she hated me because I didn't bring her headphones so she could listen to her music.

Kevin Jr ignored them all, preferring to keep his head bent over a word find puzzle book he bought with the lunch money he didn't use at school last week. His moods fluctuated rapidly, swinging from approval and understanding of the situation to ignorance and confusion.

"Mom?" Kevin Jr sat up straighter and turned a little in his seat to look at me.

"Yeah baby?" I glanced at him, but kept my focus on the road.

He didn't say anything for a long moment. Silence reigned in the back seat. Brian and Rory Anne had both fallen asleep, giving Caroline some peace. She sat slumped over with her forehead pressed to the window.

"I don't want his name."

"What do you mean?"

"Kevin. Kevin Jr. It's his name. I want my own name." He sounded so sure of himself, so grown up. My little boy. Twelve years old going on thirty.

I nodded. I didn't want to name him Kevin Jr in the first place. Kevin insisted upon it. He would have named them all Kevin if he could. "Do you have a name picked out?"

"Will you let me change it?" The little boy was back, hesitant and unsure.

"We'll talk about it."

He looked down at his hands twisted together in his lap. I could almost see the wheels turning in his head. After a moment, he looked up at me again.

"I was thinking about Vincent, because it still has part of Kevin in it, but it's still different."

I nodded, and pushed a hand through my hair. Vincent. Not a bad name. A strong name. A good, masculine name. Not Irish, like the names his father preferred, and not Biblical like I would have chosen, but a nice name. Vincent Kinkirk. It had a nice ring to it.

"You know it will take time for everyone to get used to it."

"I know."

I reached across the seat to pat his knee. He reached down and clasped my hand. I had definitely made the right choice.

"He hurt you bad sometimes, didn't he?"

I checked the children in the back. Caroline's head had fallen back, her eyes closed in sleep.

"Yes. Sometimes," I answered, and hoped he didn't expect details. How do you discuss something like spousal abuse with a twelve year old boy?

Kev-Vincent returned to his word seek puzzle, but seemed unable to locate a word. After a few silent minutes, he looked up and stared out the window. "I'm glad you left. And they will be too, when they're old enough to understand what happened."

"I hope so." I felt my throat tightening, and tears filling my eyes.

"You'll be safe with Granny and Grandpa. They won't let him hurt you anymore."

I nodded, and the first tears fell. Such a smart, brave boy. Such a wonderful, beautiful boy.

"I won't let him hurt you anymore, Mom," he added under his breath, so I let it go without comment because I knew he didn't mean for me to hear.

We would be in California soon, and hopefully to my parent's house by the next evening. I wanted to push myself, drive all night to get there as soon as I could, but the children needed to get out and stretch, and I needed to rest.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

End chapter three. Please R/R and tell me what you think! Thanks! Lucjy Star (JjsLuckyStar@aol.com)