Back at the house, Hannah was surprised to find all her old things in this new house. She wanted to question her father about it, but wasn’t so sure now was a good time. She sat upon her old bed in her new room, and nervously cracked her knuckles.

Kevin entered her room silently and sat next to her on the bed. “Hannah, you’ve gotta understand, this hasn’t been easy on any of us.”

“I know….” Hannah said softly.

“No, I don’t think you do know,” Kevin stated. “I know you’ve had it rough, thinking you were alone and had nobody. But I’ve had it rough too. I had to watch good people die, Hannah. I had to lie to the world, just to keep you safe. Your poor grandmother thought she’d lost me, her baby. It almost killed her, Hannah. I almost killed my own mother with grief.”

“Daddy, you did what you had too,” Hannah told him softly, placing her hands atop his. “You were just tryin’ to keep everybody safe.”

“And didn’t do a very good job of it, now did I?” Kevin retorted.

“Daddy, don’t get mad at me ‘cause you feel stupid,” Hannah said flatly, starting to feel her temper rise slightly. “‘Cause I wasn’t the one who told you to get me locked up, or to worry Momma like that! An’ I didn’t tell you to worry Gramma either!”

“Don’t you raise your voice to me, Hannah Marie,” Kevin said sternly. “Or I’ll give you something to raise your voice about.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Hannah exclaimed, jumping up to yell at him better. “You think you know what I went through, but you don’t! I was arrested for supposedly killing you! An’ now you just come waltzing back into my life, expecting everything to be okay an’ go back to like before! I’m not nine-years-old anymore! I’m not some stupid lil’ baby, who thinks their Daddy is worthy of hero status! I was betrayed by my own Daddy! The one person I trusted more ‘en anybody! Even more ‘en Uncle A.J.!”

“Hannah!” Kevin said warily. “All you keep saying in I. I went through this. And I went through that. It’s not just about you! It’s about all of us and what we all went through!”

“You did the same thing!” Hannah screamed.

“I was getting to the other people! You never even gave me a chance to finish!” Kevin argued.

“Pfft. F*ck you,” Hannah scoffed.

“I’m starting to think, three years without a spanking was much too long for you,” Kevin stated firmly. “You’re reaching the limit of my patience, very quickly.”

“You don’t know shit!” Hannah snapped.

“I know more than you think, Hannah Marie,” Kevin said flatly.

Hannah had reached her own limit, and swung without thinking, slapping her father across the face hard as she could.

Kevin’s head jerked slightly, and he looked up at his daughter through narrowed eyes.

Hannah stood in shock for a brief moment, after hearing the sickening sound of her hand connecting with her father’s face. Eyes wide as saucers, she slowly began to back up some, a bit worried about what his reaction would be.

Kevin grabbed hold of her wrists, yanking her forward and whipping her around. He landed the hardest smack he’d ever given in her in her whole life upon her jean-clad bottom.

Hannah yelped loudly immediately bursting into tears, knowing he’d had to have used as much force as he could to have delivered that single smack. No smack to her bottom had ever stung this bad through her jeans before! Never!

“Oww!!!” She howled as he landed two more good smacks to her bottom though no where near as hard as the first one.

“You will not strike me ever again, Hannah Marie Richardson!” Kevin roared. “Not if you value your bottom, Young Lady!”

“Oww! I’m sorry!” Hannah wailed, as he landed the final two upon her bottom. He’d never given her more than five sharp smacks to her bottom – and never would – but five were definitely enough, as his hand stung like the dickens! “I’m sorry, Daddy! I’m sorry!”

Kevin gently pulled her into his lap and hugged her tight, smoothing her hair back and kissing her head. “Shh….Daddy loves you Princess. Very much. Shh….”

Hannah sobbed into his chest, her bottom stinging like crazy. “Love, Daddy….” She murmured softly through her tears. “My Daddy….”

Kevin rocked her until she fell asleep, then, not wanting to let her go just yet, carried her over to the rocking chair in her room, and rocked her some more. She’d always loved to sit with him in her special rocking chair, and be read stories or sung too or just snuggled like crazy. The rocking chair had always been her favourite spot in the house, and when she was younger, it’d been her time-out chair as well. Though, she always looked so small sitting on the large chair, she still loved to sit and rock. So when he’d bought the new house, and had her room set up with her old stuff, he made sure the rocking chair was in the perfect spot – near the window, so the sunlight and moonlight could beam in and light it up.

Not long after sitting down in the chair to rock his twelve-year-old daughter, Kevin too drifted off to sleep. Neither were sure if things would return to normal again – well, as normal as it could be for a Backstreet Boy – or if things would get even more chaotic. Only time would tell – and time was all they had.