Linda consoled Jon in the waiting room at the hospital.
Jon was crying like a baby.
"What happened?" he managed to say through tears.
"The kids found a gun under your bed. J.J. started playing with it and Aiden and Maddy told him to put it down. Aiden tried taking the gun away from J.J. but J.J. accidently put his finger on the trigger and tried to take the gun away from Aiden but ended up shooting him instead," Linda explained.
"Fuck," Jon said.
He buried his face into his hands and cried some more.
"Pull yourself together, Jonathan. You have to be strong for Aiden," Linda said.
Adriana had gotten off of the phone with her parents and went back inside the waiting room. She joined Jon by his side.
Jon managed to stop crying and looked at his wife.
"Get away from me," Jon said.
"What?" Adriana said.
"Get the fuck away from me," Jon said.
"Jonathan!" Linda said. "Don't talk to Adriana like that."
Jon got up and moved away from Adriana. He found a new spot to fume at.
Adriana looked at Jon who ignored her for the rest of the night. Stacey came to sit by Adriana and comforted her as well.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Just give him time to cool off," Linda told her daughter-in-law. "He'll come around."
Or so they thought.
A few days after Aiden had come home from the hospital, Jon turned into a whole different person.
Jon became cold on the inside. And it showed. He was more moody and irritable around the house. Slowly, he was acting like Adriana was acting before she had lost her memory.
Poor Maddy would have to deal with his father's wrath on this particular day.
Maddy was on her bed coloring in her Hello Kitty book when Jon came into her room.
"Didn't I tell you to clean your room?" Jon said. "What did I tell you about these dolls and toys and crap being out of place?"
"I'm sorry Daddy. I'll pick them up," Maddy said.
She put her coloring book down and started to clean her room.
"Madaline," Jon said.
"Yes Daddy?"
"You know I don't like telling you more than once to do something."
"I'm sorry."
"Shut up and keep cleaning."
Maddy obeyed her father and kept cleaning her room. She put away all of her toys where they needed to go. Jon watched to make sure Maddy had cleaned everything up from off of the floor.
"Now that's better. The next time I find a toy out of place, I'm going to spank you. Do you understand me Ms. Madaline Linda Good?" Jon said.
"Yes Daddy," Maddy said quietly.
"Don't "Yes Daddy" me," Jon said. "You're not innocent."
"Jon, don't talk to her like that," Adriana said. She had walked up behind Jon.
Jon turned around and looked at Adriana.
"Shut your fucking mouth," Jon said. "Last time I checked, I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to this little brat here."
"Jonathan! Don't call her names. Please, don't start."
"Don't you tell me not to start you bitch."
"Don't call me names!"
"I can say anything I want to say to you! This is my house!"
"It's my house too dammit!"
"Oh shut the fuck up. You can't remember shit anyway."
"You take that back you bastard."
"No."
"Mommy, Daddy," Maddy said.
"Hey, you shut your mouth," Jon spat at his daughter.
"But Daddy-"
"What did I say little girl?" Jon said.
He went to Maddy and continued scolding her.
"I said to shut your mouth, didn't I?"
Maddy slowly nodded her head.
"So why didn't you?" Jon said.
"I don't want you guys fighting," she said quietly.
"Stay out of our business. You need to stay in a kid's place. Do you hear me!?"
"Daddy, don't yell at me!"
"That's it."
Jon grabbed Maddy by her arm and spanked her on her butt.
"Ow! Daddy, that hurts!"
"Jonathan, quit it!" Adriana said.
"Don't you ever raise your voice like that to me ever again!" Jon yelled.
Adriana went into the room and tried pulling Maddy away from her father.
"Stop it Jonathan!" Adriana said.
Adriana pulled Maddy by her side.
"You don't stop me from punishing the children," Jon said, pointing at Adriana.
"Don't take your frustrations out on the kids. I know you're mad at me over what happened to Aiden. But you can't take your frustrations out on the children," Adriana said.
"The kids need to be punished. I told them about guns and they all knew better," Jon said.
"Jonathan, you already spanked J.J. until you were out of breath. Maddy was actually J.J. to put the gun down just like Aiden was. I know you're mad about this whole thing. You're mad at me. I get it," Adriana said.
"Yeah. This is your fault. As a matter of fact, you can leave," Jon said.
"What?"
"You heard me."
Jon pushed past Adriana and went to their room.
He went inside the closet and whipped out a suitcase. Jon opened the suitcase and started shoving Adriana's clothes inside of it. Adriana then walked into the room and saw what Jon was doing.
"Why are you packing my clothes? Stop it."
Adriana took the suitcase and pulled her clothes back out of it.
"I want you out!" Jon yelled at her.
"What the fuck did I ever do to you!?"
"Every goddamn thing! I swear, almost every fucking day I feel like complete and utter shit if any damn thing happens to you or the children! And you like to make shit harder on me!"
"What do you mean make things harder for you!?"
"If you hadn't climbed the damn tree at the park like you were some fucking spider monkey and if you didn't slip and damn near break your skull, I wouldn't have to help you regain your memory. But as soon as you got amnesia, I have felt like the ultimate fuck up. I keep telling you that it fucking hurts me deep inside if you or the kids get hurt. Now Aiden is in the bed recovering from a gunshot wound. From your gun. Now that's another thing to worry about. Ugh, just get the fuck out of my house!"
"I'm not going anywhere," Adriana said.
"You're leaving," Jon told her again.
"I'm not."
Jon grabbed Adriana by her hair and lead her out of the room.
"Let go of my hair!"
J.J. heard his parents in the hallway. He jumped up out of his bed and went to open his door. He saw his father dragging his mother by her hair.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" J.J. asked.
"Shut up and take your ass to bed," Jon snapped at him.
Maddy saw Jon yanking Adriana by her hair and followed after them. She quickly grabbed onto Jon's leg.
"Daddy, stop it! Stop hurting Mommy!" she cried.
Jon ignored her and kepy yanking Adriana's hair.
"Let me go!" Adriana screamed out.
"I want you out of my house!" Jon said.
J.J. had ran out of his room and saw Jon leading Adriana to the door. He then bolted to the front door and stood in front of it.
"J.J., get the fuck out of the way," Jon said.
"No," he said.
"I'm going to tell you one more time. Then I'm knocking you out," Jon said.
"I don't care," J.J. said.
Jon let go of Adriana's hair and shook Maddy off of his leg.
"Daddy, don't hurt J.J.!" Maddy said.
Maddy ran up to Jon and tugged on his shirt.
Jon looked down and pushed Maddy to the ground. She hit the floor hard and started crying even harder.
Jon turned his attention back to J.J., who was willing to accept his fate.
"I'm tired of you and your sister back talking me," Jon said.
Jon raised his hand and was about hit J.J. when Adriana grabbed his arm.
"Stop it!" she yelled at him.
Jon then focused his attention on Adriana.
She was willing to take all of the hits, bruises, and any other injury Jon would be willing to inflict upon her in rage. She refused to let Jon take his frustrations out on the children. Adriana sacrificed herself so that the kids wouldn't have to suffer.
Jon slapped Adriana across her face.
J.J. and Maddy watched in horror as they saw their mother hit the floor. Blood was coming out of her mouth.
"Daddy, stop hurting Mommy!" Maddy screamed at her father.
Maddy got up and ran to defend her mother. Even though she was tiny, she stood between her mother and father.
Jon looked into the eyes of his daughter and immediately felt guilty about everything.
"Daddy, please don't hurt Mommy again. I hate seeing you upset," Maddy said.
Jon knew he had fucked up big time.
Jon turned and walked out of the door and into the night.
Maddy turned and gave her mother a hug.
"Oh Mommy," she said.
"It's okay baby. It's okay," Adriana said.
Adriana managed to put the kids to sleep after calming them down. She also rocked Jasmine back to sleep. She was woken up by the commotion and was very fussy. Adriana then double checked on Aiden to make sure he was okay. Luckily, he wound was healing fast.
Adriana cleaned up the mess Jon had made then laid back down in the bed.
She waited and waited and waited for Jon to return but he never came back to the house.
Adriana felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier. She tried to fight her sleep as best as she could to remain awake but she failed.
She knocked out for the rest of the night.
Author's Note: Wow.