This will be the extremely intense chapters ever! vampire1031, you'll receive a surprise guest here...

Chapter 19: Taking In

A couple of days has passed by and Jojo was anxiously waiting to see if Jonah, Sam, Hawk, Cyrus and Travis are adopted. He's hoping that they enter into their place and become a family. He looked out the window in his room, just looking outside. He sighed heavily as he looked at the clouds rolling by and the quietness of the room has set in. A knock on the door comes along and he turns around to see his dad there. He asked, "You okay, son?"

"Just anxious." he answered.

"So am I."

He comes in the room and sits down on his bed, just gathering his thoughts together. Jojo could see through his worry as he sits down next to him as well. Ned looks at Jojo and asked, "Do you think I'm cut out for this?"

"Cut out for what?"

"Taking your friends in and being a part of their family."

"Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't you be?"

"I mean...I've never been an adopted father before. I've been a father to you and your sisters for a number of years. It seems so much easier."

"You're gonna do fine, dad. Trust me."

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been much sure of anything. I'm definitely looking forward to having them as my brothers."

"I know you are. You're a good kid."

Ned pats Jojo's shoulder as he got up from his bed and walked out of the door. Ned stops for a while, sighs heavily and asked, "What are we gonna do about Paul, Jojo?"

"I was gonna ask you the same question."

A couple of hours later, the phone rings and Ned comes down to get it. He picks it up and said, "Hello, McDodd residence."

"Is this Ned McDodd?"

"Yes, it is."

"Hey, this is Andrea."

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Pretty good."

"What can I do for you?"

"Well, I came to the boys' house earlier today to interview their stepfather-Paul, right?-and this guy was completely livid when I told him that we're planning on taking his stepsons to your place."

"Oh no. What did he do?"

"He just yelled at me, cussed at me and saying, 'Why would my stupid brats do anything with these people?' I was trying to calm him down, but he was doing the same thing to me as he did to his kids. So I figured that these kids were right. It's not safe there. I'm actually gonna print out those adoption forms to you and send it to you real soon."

"Oh, I'm really sorry that Paul would do something like that to you."

"I know, right? It's like he wants to start a fight with me."

"Well, listen. I appreciate you bringing in those forms to us. It means a lot to us."

"You're very welcome. How's Sally?"

"She's doing fine."

"Well, tell her I'm bring the forms first thing tomorrow."

"Okay, I will. Thanks."

"Bye. Have a good day too."

"You too."

"I hope so. After what Paul did to me, he's lucky I didn't fight back."

"Okay."

They both hung up and Ned was a little relieved that she's bringing in the adoption papers to them tomorrow. And hearing that Paul lost his top on Andrea made him realize that these boys don't need him anymore.

Later on, Sally came downstairs and asked, "Who was that on the phone, Ned?"

"It was Andrea."

"What did she say?"

"She's bringing in the adoptions papers tomorrow."

"Oh, that's good."

"Also, she told me that she was doing an interview with Paul and it ended up with him being really livid and slammed her down hard."

Sally gasped in shock and said, "I can't believe she would do something like that."

"I know. What's that guy's problem, anyway?"

"I don't know why, but I think I'm gonna find out myself."

"Wait, you might need me for this, because I've got some choice words for him that I've hidden for a number of years."

Both Sally and Ned went over to the Mosley house and as soon as they got there, they saw Travis dangling in the tree branches. Ned gasped in shock and said, "Travis!"

Travis looked down and saw both Ned and Sally there and he tried to talk, but his mouth was wrapped with duct tape. Sally brought in a ladder as she climed up there and gently took the tape off his mouth. He took a deep breath and panted heavily and said, "Thanks."

"How long were you on that tree?"

"2 hours."

"2 hours? Paul did this, right?"

"Yep."

Sally untied the ropes off of Travis and set him free. She got him down on the ladder and set him down back on the ground. Travis was totally overjoyed over this and said, "Thanks for getting me down."

"You're welcome."

Ned came in and asked, "Why would Paul do something like that?"

"He found out that I took the music class with Jonah and wanted to 'teach me a lesson'."

"Unbelievable."

"And also about us being adopted by you guys. We really want to live with you guys, because I cannot take being here being mistreated by Paul."

"We understand. You're not gonna have to worry about it, because we'll take you and your brothers in our house as soon as possible."

"You mean it?"

"Of course we mean it." Sally said.

Travis started to smile and said, "Thanks."

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF TRAVIS!"

They all turned around and saw Paul standing there, looking totally livid. Ned looked at him and said, "Meet us at our house. Jojo's there."

"Stay!" Paul shouted.

"We can handle this. Head to our house."

Travis looked at Ned and sees that he's trying to keep him safe, then he looked at Paul, holding a baseball bat on his hand. Seeing that he was gonna be beaten by him, he's taking that risk and ran out of there and into their house. Paul was stammering, angrily and then looks at Ned and Sally and asked, "What did you do that for?"

"First of all, you put poor Travis on that tree branch, tied up for 2 hours, secondly, you had no right to harm our social worker and third, what is your problem, anyway? Why would you treat your stepsons like crap?" asked Ned.

"You ain't gonna take them in your home at all. What do you know about me, anyway?"

"Just one thing-you've been using those kids like they're your punching bags."

"Those kids. Is that all you can think about are 'those kids?' What about me? Do you know what it's like to have a kid that's different than you that they can't even do what you expect them to?"

"Big deal. Our son Jojo is a lot different from us. You don't see us beating the crap out of him."

"What made you so coldhearted and violent?" asked Sally.

"Lady, stay out of my business!"

"Don't talk to my wife like that! She just asked a question and we would appreciate it if you answered her question." Ned said, angrily.

Paul wanted to strangle their necks, but he just sighed heavily and wanted to answer that question. He said, "When I was 9, my stepfather was the worst one I ever had. He would use me, hurt me, and even threaten me at times. He sensed fear inside of me and would put me in the closet for a long time if he saw me breakdown and cry. At one point, I wanted to fight back and when some kids would bully me, I would start fights all the time at school and get in trouble with it. I didn't care at all. So my stepfather was the one who would beat me up and bring bodily harm on me. And one day...when I turned 12, I wanted the abuse to end, so I found a gun that was under my pillow-he gave it to me as a present-snuck in his room...and went out there and ended his freakin' life after what he's done to me for the past! And everytime I look at these brats and how they're afraid of me, I see his face."

Ned could not believe what he's hearing and neither did Sally after Paul told that story. He asked, "So your stepfather used to beat you up when you were younger?"

"Yeah, he did."

"So, you wanted to do the same thing to your stepsons as your stepdad did to you."

"Darn straight I am! I want to make their lives as miserable as I can and somehow, you're trying to take them away from me."

"Because they're not safe there! What possessed you to even think about doing some harm to your own stepsons?"

"Their mother. When I first saw them, they were like little emotional sissies! I can't raise no freakin' sissies who cry a lot and be scared! I hate the sensitivity they've been brought up! When I want to harm them, I want them to feel the pain that I've been feeling!"

"This is the many reasons why they're afraid of you-because you hate them." Sally said.

"Wow! You are smart!" Paul said, sarcastically.

"Are you calling my wife 'stupid'?" asked Ned.

"She has to be stupid enough to even marry you."

Sally was beginning to look extremely ticked and said, "Okay, listen here, buddy! If you think you're gonna talk about me like that, you've got another thing coming! And another thing...your stepsons told me that maybe having you as their stepfather was a stupid mistake."

"They're my stepkids and I'll handle them anyway I want to, just the way my stepfather handled me! And you won't do anything about it!"

"Mr. and Mrs. McDodd?"

Ned and Sally looked on the front door and it's Jonah, standing there. Paul turns around and said, "Get back to the house!"

"Where's Travis?"

"He's not coming back here!"

"Don't listen to him. He's in our house." Ned said.

"Is Jojo there?"

"Yes, he is." Sally said.

"If you go there, I will kill you."

Jonah started walking and he left the house, but as soon as he did, Paul shoved Jonah to the ground and started punching him in the face, throwing him around and continued bringing in all this abuse on him. Ned and Sally were horrified by what he's doing and also Cyrus, Sam and Hawk were standing there in shock. Ned looked at them and said, "Go into our house!"

"No!" Paul shouted.

Hawk, Cyrus and Sam decided to take Ned's word for it and ran anyway. Paul stopped them by bashing them in their head numerous times and Ned tried desperately to stop them, but he shoved him hard to the ground. Jonah got up slowly and saw Paul beating up his brothers and looked scared. Sally looked at him and said, "Go to our house."

Jonah nodded his head and started to run to the McDodd residence. Paul looks up and sees him run away and started to run after him. Hawk, Cyrus and Sam got up and followed Jonah. Paul looked behind and saw them running behind him. Jonah almost got there, but then Paul picked up his gun and fired at Jonah's arm. Jonah groaned in pain as he went down on the ground.

"NOOO!" Ned screamed.

Then, he looked at Sam, Cyrus and Hawk and began firing at them, but missed because they ran in different directions. All of a sudden, Paul followed them and started firing at them several times, hoping that they end up dead. Meanwhile, Jonah laid there in front of the McDodd house as he tried to get up, but he feels a pain in his arm. Sally ran to him and came to his aid. She asked, "Are you okay?"

Jonah groaned softly and said, "My arm hurts."

She looks at his arm and there's blood coming out of it. She carried him up and took him inside to care for him. Sally came upstairs and went into the bathroom and cleaned up his arm. Travis walked by and saw Jonah and he gasped in shock as he saw some blood coming out of his arm.

"What happened?"

"Your stepfather did it." Sally said.

Travis was totally afraid to see Jonah like this. He quivered his lip and asked, "Where are the others?"

"Your stepdad's after them. I hope Ned and the others are safe."

A few seconds later, Ned brought in Sam, Cyrus and Hawk into the house as he locked the doors to prevent Paul from coming in. They quickly ran upstairs and not a few seconds later, Paul burst in the front door with his gun to kill all of five of his stepsons. He went upstairs and saw Travis standing in front of the bathroom. He fired one shot, but he got away afterwards. Jonah heard it and wanted to run for cover with his brothers.

They all escaped the house and Jojo didn't know what's going on, so he followed them and then, he recognized Paul coming in from behind and ran out of there. He fired three shots at Jojo, but missed, cause he took off running out for the door.

"Are you guys okay?" asked Jojo.

"What do you think?" asked Hawk.

"I'll take that as a no."

Paul came out of the house with his gun drawn at them and said, "You're making the biggest mistake of your life for living with them! If I can't raise you, then nobody can!"

They closed their eyes and all of a sudden, he pulled the trigger and an unknown who steps in to step things as he ends up getting shot as well. He fell down to the ground and Paul was ticked that he didn't shoot them all. Jojo quickly ran to him and recognized his face. He gasped and said, "Koa?"

"What? No fair! You all should die!"

Suddenly, he tried to kill Jojo, but ended up punching him in the face and throwing him through the house and fell down on the ground and then, he drew his gun at Jojo and planned to kill them. Paul said, "This is for ever meeting my stepsons and being friends with them!"

"No, please don't kill Jojo!" Sally shouted.

"Shut up! He should've thought about that when he tried to be friends with them! They're miserable stupid brats and that's how they are!"

Then, he turned to Jojo and said, "Goodbye...forever!"

Koa started to move a little and grabbed a baseball bat and whacked him in the head with it several times and he punched him in the face. Paul fell down to the ground and laid there unconscious. Jojo turned around and saw Koa limping towards him.

"Koa? Is that you?"

Koa fell down on the ground and groaned in agony. He looked at Jojo and said, "Yep, this is me."

Jojo was totally excited to see him again as he hugged his old friend. He said, "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Well, I'm here, am I?"

Minutes later, the police came and puts Paul in handcuffs and took him away from there. A few police officers came in and asked Jonah some questions. One asked, "How long has he been abusing you?"

"Since we were kids."

"What I don't know is that why couldn't anyone report it to us?"

"We're new here and that if we did, Paul would kill us, anyway."

"Well, you don't have to worry about it anymore. He won't be bothering you anymore. We've got a warrant for his arrest for assault and child abuse. It's a good thing your brothers called us when they did."

"I know."

"Do you have any parents?"

"Both my mom and my real dad are dead."

"Sorry to hear that, son. Anyone you know that can take you in?"

Sally looked at Jonah and then, went to him and told the police officer, "We'll take him and his brothers in."

"We just need to some adoption forms."

"We'll look at those when you receive them and then you call us."

"Will do."

"Okay, you people have a good night. And if I were you, I'd take them inside now."

The police left there and Ned looked at Jonah and his brothers and they all went inside the house. Koa grunts as he tried to head home by himself, which made Sally stop and turn around.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Koa stopped and said, "I got to get home."

"I just wanted to say thank you for saving our lives, Koa."

"Hey, no big deal."

Sally looked at his leg and said, "You're not planning on going home with an injured leg, are you?"

"Sorta."

"Maybe you can stay with us until your leg feels better."

"Maybe, but what about Mana?"

"Maybe Mana can stay here with you too."

A few minutes later, Mana comes in the house to see Koa and when he entered Jojo's room, he asked, "Koa, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Koa answered.

"Oh, I saw the entire thing from the window. I thought you were done for."

"Nah, they're friends of Jojo."

Jojo comes in and sees both Mana and Koa there. He chuckled and said, "How long have you been here?"

"Just got here. How you've been, Jojo?" asked Mana.

"Fine."

"Your parents said I can stay here until my leg heals." Koa said.

"And you're staying too?"

"Yeah, sure."

"It'll be great."

"By the way, you gotta meet my friends; Jonah, Sam, Cyrus, Hawk and Travis. Guys, these are my friends Koa and Mana."

"Nice to meet you guys." Mana said.

"You too." Jonah said.

"Thanks for saving us. It means a lot." Travis said.

"Your stepfather's mean, isn't he?"

"Really mean and violent."

"Yeah, I can tell when I stepped in save you guys and ended up with an injured leg by that gunshot, but it's all right though." Koa said.

"I think we're all gonna get along just fine."

Hey, vampire1031, hope you like this one! The boys are getting close to adoption. Will they be living in the McDodd house? Stay tuned to find out!