Chapter Nine

"Good morning Beautiful." Tommy said, the next morning when Kim woke up.

"Mmmm, hi." She coed, wincing in pain as she tried to stretch.

"Oh, don't hurt yourself." He said, "I've got a surprise for you." Kim sat up in bed and waited. Tommy went over to the door and opened it. Sami came in and ran to bedside.

"Mommy!" she squealed, "I met Mickey Mouse and Cinderella and Princess Jasmine and….and…and…..the real tall doggy!" Kim giggled at her daughter's apparent excitement over the whole trip to Disneyland. She didn't show the pain it caused her to laugh though, not in front of her daughter. Tommy noticed that she was holding it back and felt sorry for her because she had to hide. He knew she hated that, having to hide everything, especially from some one she loved; but he also knew that Sami was to young to understand everything that was happening.

"Hey, sweetie, you wouldn't mind staying with Papa and Nana Jan for a little while longer would you?" Tommy asked her. She shook her head and hugged Tommy.

"Thank you for protecting my mommy." Sami whispered in his ear.

"You're more than welcome, sweetie." Tommy said, kissing the little girl's forehead. She smiled at him and then climbed up on Kim's bed to tell her all about Disneyland. Tommy left the two alone in her room together. He went out into the hall with his parents.

"So, how is she, really?" Jan asked a concerned, motherly look on her face.

"She's doing okay. She's pretty sure that they won't bother us again for a while. At least not until after Michael gets out of jail." He said, "The last couple months have been pretty hard on her, you know. I mean she's hurt and feels alone, even with me. Most of the time, I think she's afraid of me; it scares me to think that she might be." Jan put a hand on his arm, letting him know that the mother in her was going to do the comforting lecture thing. When it came to this part, he preferred the drill sergeant that was straight forward, to the point, instead of dealing with the feelings and the love and caring part.

"Well, honey, you have to understand what she lived with all those years, and with a baby. She had to protect her child instead of herself. Most of the time she was probably standing up for Sami instead of herself. Guys like that get irritated with the smallest things. I can only imagine how hard it must be for her to let you get as close as you are." Jan said. Tommy knew that Kim knew that he wasn't going to hurt her, she wouldn't have stayed if she thought otherwise, let alone leave her child with him.

Tommy talked with his parents outside Kim's bedroom for the better part of an hour while Kim listened to Sami's chatter about Disneyland. She loved every second of her daughter's soft voice giggling and whispering about her adventures with Mickey and Minnie and Goofy and all the other characters. Tommy entered at the end of that hour and Sami hugged her mother goodbye and left with his parents.

"Hey, I'm sorry that they didn't stay longer, but…" he began to say.

"No, Tommy, it's okay. I didn't really want her to see me like this anyway. Thank you for bringing her, it really means a lot to me. I just wish I could get out of here." She finished.

"Well, the doctor said that you would probably be here for another week or two and then you could go home." Tommy said. She smiled weakly, not wanting him to know how scared she was of going home, of the fact that they could get attacked again, and mostly of the fact that she knew that Michael would try to get Sami taken away from her. Next to Tommy, Sami was all she had left, and before Tommy, Sami was all she had left. Losing her would tear Kim apart and Michael knew that if he threatened to take Sami away from her she'd come back. How could she not? Sami was her daughter; there was no way she'd let her go. Kim had thought about adoption after Sami was born, if only to keep her from this kind of lifestyle, but Michael wouldn't hear of it, even though Sami wasn't his daughter.

"Tommy?" she said, "What if he calls CPS? What are we going to do if he tries to take her away from me?" Tommy had seen that coming a mile away. The fear was written all over her face, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

"Even if he did, Kim, you've got too many people here that would back you up and say that you're a great mother. Nobody's going to take your daughter away. I promise." He said. He stood next to her bed and she leaned her head against him and let out a small sigh of relief.

"What would I do without you?" she asked, softly.

"I don't know, but even without