Thanks for the reviews! I appreciate them! There won't be a sequel to Part of Your World or The Next Generation. Sorry! :-( Anyway, R&R! Enjoy! :-)

Chapter 7

Kenny's POV

I knock on Red's door and she answers. "What happened to you?" She asks as looks at me in shock.

"Craig hit me." I tell her.

"Why? Are you ok?"

I nod. "I'm fine, it didn't hurt. I wanted to kick his ass so badly!"

"What happened?"

I walk in and Red closes the door. "Where's Sadie?"

"She's in my room taking a nap. Now tell me what happened."

I plop down on the couch. "Tammy wanted to take Johnny to meet her kids. I didn't want to let him go and Craig got involved and slammed me into the wall multiple times."

"So where's Johnny now?"

I sigh. "He's with them."

"I see."

"I didn't want to let him go, but he begged me and I would've looked like a dick if I said no."

"You did the right thing."

"Did I?" Red nods. "So then why do I feel like such a fool?"

"Aww, you're not. You're a great man and a great dad!"

"I feel like I'm letting Tammy and Craig get the upper hand."

"Not at all. When Johnny realizes what's really going on, he'll respect you more for the way you handled it."

"If you say so." I feel a sharp pain in the back of my head. I put my hand on my head.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"No you're not." She examines the back of my head. "Kenny! You have a bump in the back of your head."

I shrug. "Probably from Craig slamming me into the wall."

"You should let me take a look at that. I am a nurse after all."

I shake my head. "It's fine, it will go away."

"Will you at least let me put some ice on it?"

"You're not going to let this go until I let you, are you?"

She shakes her head. "You know me better than that!" She goes into the kitchen and gets an icepack. She hands it to me. "Here, put this on the back on your head."

"Yes nurse!" I do what she tells me.

"I think you should lie down for a few."

"Oh come on!"

"You could have a concussion!"

"I told you this shit doesn't hurt. Craig is weak as hell!"

"Then why do you have a bump in the back of your head?"

I shrug. "I guess he got lucky."

"Like I said, you should lie down."

"It's going to take more than a baby bump on the head to keep me down. I'm going to talk to Sadie."

"You're going to wake her up?"

I nod. "Yeah, I mean she does have to go home."

"What's the rush?"

"I need to make sure Sadie is ok. Remember, my kids have to come first."

Red puts her hands up in defeat. "Fair enough."

I walk in Red's room and see Sadie lying on the bed. "Sadie?"

She turns over. "Hi daddy!"

"Did I wake you?"

She shakes her head. "No, I've been awake."

I sit down on the bed. "Good. Now you know you're not supposed to leave the house without telling me first, right?"

She nods slowly. "I'm sorry. I just didn't want to be around mom and Craig."

"I understand that, but you had no business leaving. Do you know how scared I was? I thought something bad could happen to you!"

"I'm sorry. I really am."

"Please don't do that again."

"I won't, I promise. Why aren't you upset with mom?"

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"You seem ok with everything."

"I'm pissed off. She abandoned us and had more kids. Why wouldn't I be upset?"

"But you just stood there!"

"You'll never see me go off on them. I've made that mistake before."

Sadie smiles. "I wouldn't have cared. I don't have respect for either one of them."

"But Johnny does."

"Why?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I mean he's still young and doesn't really understand what's going on."

"He's not that young!"

"Cut him some slack Sadie."

"I'm trying, but he has to realize what they did is wrong. Where is he?"

"He went to meet his new brother and sister."

"You let him?"

"There wasn't much I could do to stop him."

"Sure you could! You could've said no!"

I shake my head. "He was begging to go. If I said no, it wouldn't have looked good on my end."

Sadie crosses her arms. "So they win again!"

"They're not winning anything. Your mom and I will get divorced and we'll move on with our separate lives."

"So you and Red are still getting married?"

I nod. "But it's going to have to be postponed."

Sadie rolls her eyes. "I hate them so much! I don't care if you guys are married or not. Red is my stepmother!"

I smile. "That's sweet of you." I give her a hug. "Well let's head home. I'm not sure what time they're bringing Johnny back." She smiles and we head out.

Tammy's POV

I head to the Social Security office to inform them that I'm still alive. I'm a little nervous as I know this is going to come with some consequence. Hopefully it won't be too bad. "Now serving number 434." That's my number. I let out a huge sigh before heading back.

"Hi, I'm Ellen David, how may I help you today?" The lady asks me.

"Yes, my name is Tammy McCormick and it's come to my attention that your records have me listed as deceased." I lie.

"Do you have your social security card and a driver's license or passport?"

"Sure." I hand her my social security card and passport. I would give her my driver's license, but that's expired so it would make it hard for her to buy my story.

"Thank you. This will take a moment." She begins typing. I notice her scrolling up and down on her screen and then she looks at me.

"Is there a problem?" I ask.

"According to our files, your death certificate was filed five years ago."

I gasp in "shock". "Five years ago?"

"By your husband, Kenneth McCormick. This may be a police matter." She reaches for her phone.

"Wait! I may be able to explain."

"Uh huh?"

I blink my eyes really fast to make them tear up. "I was in an abusive marriage." I notice she moves her hand away from the phone. "My husband would constantly yell at me and threaten me when our kids were around. When they weren't, I was his human punching bag." I sniffle. "I was terrified of him. I mean, he looks scrawny and weak, but he's tough. He's a lot stronger than I am." I wipe my eyes. "One day, I got tired of his abuse and I left. That was five years ago. I left him and my kids, which was so hard!"

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"Because he said if I did, he would hurt our kids. I couldn't let my babies get hurt!" I burst into tears.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. McCormick. But I'm afraid this is a police matter."

"Why?"

"Not only because of your abuse allegations, but there's a possibility that your husband committed insurance by declaring you legally dead."

"He's also getting ready to get married!" I sniffle, wiping my eyes again.

"So I guess bigamy might be added to that." She picks up the phone and dials a number, I'm presuming the police. I look away from her and smile. The next part of plan seems to be working!