Chapter Ten:
When Nick and Dakota went upstairs to the floor theirs and Ashley’s room was on they were headed down the hall to Ashley’s room when they suddenly noticed Doctor Adams coming out of it. Nick raised his eyebrow concerned and he looked down at Dakota who looked up at him with an ‘uh-oh’ expression on her face.
“Hey Doctor Adams…what’s up?” Nick asked curiously when he approached him.
“Not much, just on my way downstairs right now.”
“Yeah? What’s Ashley up to?”
“Laying in her bed crying like she’s usually doing after me being in her room,” Doctor Adams answered, sounding very unconcerned.
“And why were you in her room?”
“It was time for her medicine.”
“Yeah but… Riley usually does it with you so that she stays calm. You know that.” Doctor Adams shrugged.
“She was busy so I thought I would do it myself. Is this interrogation over now? Cause I really need to get on with my work.”
“Fine. But I would appreciate it if you would at least inform me next time before you go in and frighten her even more then she already is. Riley may have been busy but you could have come and got me.”
“I don’t need to inform you of anything. I’m the doctor I know what I’m doing and you aren’t my boss. Last time I checked Riley and Brooke were.”
“No but last time I checked Riley and Brooke made me in charge of Ashley. Therefore when it comes to her and her best interests what I say does go. It’s my job to see that she gets better and opens up a little more but how am I going to do that with you upsetting her all the time?”
“It’s not my fault the little brat hates me.”
“Actually it is. From what I can see you aren’t even trying to earn her trust. You don’t even want it. You could have had it a long time ago if you had just tried.”
“Whatever…I really need to go now so are we done here?”
“Fine, go. But it would be nice if you’d at least tell me if you succeeded in giving her, her medicine or not. Cause if you didn’t I will have to go in there and do it myself since you failed to have me or Riley go in there and help you in the first place.”
“Yes I succeeded. Okay? And I did it just fine without your help.”
“Yeah but the question is, how upset did you make her this time?” Nick replied, and without even waiting for an answer he walked past Doctor Adams and into Ashley’s room. Doctor Adams waited until Nick was all the way in there and then went and hid outside Ashley’s door. When Nick got in there he found Ashley lying in her bed under the covers and she is crying. Nick sighed heavily and carried Dakota over to the bed and he sat down next to Ashley with Dakota next to him. He gently pulled the blanket down and Ashley looked up at him cautiously but relaxed a little when she saw it was him. Only a little bit.
“Hey honey…what’d he do now?” Nick asked gently and Ashley sat up and slid her arms around Nick’s neck and pulled him close to her for a hug. He carefully wrapped his arms around her waist in return and he rubbed his hand over her back as she cried into his shoulder. After awhile when she had calmed down he pulled back a bit and placed his hand to her cheek to caress it.
“Talk to me honey…what happened?”
“H-h-he gave me medicine…”
“Was he mean to you when he did it? Forceful?” Suddenly Doctor Adams appeared in the doorway as Nick’s back was turned and only Ashley could see him. He gave her a hard look and the fear in Ashley’s eyes grew even more.
“No…”
“What else did he do? Was he in here long before he gave you your medicine? Did he talk to you at all? What did he say?”
“No…he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t in here long…all he did was give me medicine.”
“Are you sure?” Nick questioned once again and he looked at Ashley with concern. He knows that she isn’t telling the truth. He can see the fear in her eyes and in the past few days that he had been observing her he’s learned how to determine when she’s being truthful or not. She’s been very honest with him up until now. As Dakota sat there and watched Ashley she raised her eyebrow. She notices she doesn’t seem to be looking at Nick, but past him. She turned her head to the door and saw a blue sleeve - that is all she had seen before Doctor Adams had quickly moved out of the doorway.
“Daddy…” she said, and turned her head to Nick and Ashley.
“Not now baby,” Nick replied gently.
“But daddy-”
“Dakota honey I’m talking to Ashley okay? It’s important that I find out what she’s feeling.” Nick explained, and he turned his attention back on Ashley and Dakota could hear footsteps going down the hall. Doctor Adams is walking away. Dakota got up and slipped into Ashley’s closet which is identical to Dakota’s and she was completely un-noticed by Nick who was so determined to find out what is going on in Ashley’s mind. She climbed the dresser and stood up on it. She reached for the entrance to the air vent and pulled it open and she climbed up into it and closed the door behind her before quickly crawling off in the direction she heard Doctor Adam’s footsteps go. As she was crawling a long the air vents she peeked out through one to the hallway and saw Doctor Adams heading to the stairwell leading to the basement. Dakota raised her eyebrow but then went to where she knew the air vent to the basement was. She peeked through it and found Doctor Adams enter and he looked around to make sure he was completely alone. When he saw that he was - or so he thought, he turned on his cell phone and dialed a number.
~Doctor Adam’s Phone conversation~
“Hello?” came a male’s voice on the other end when someone finally picked up.
“Hey it’s me - Trevor.”
“What’s going on man? Did you do it?”
“Yeah, I did it.”
“And?”
“I think it got to her. She knows better than to give out anymore information now.”
“What all did she reveal? Because she swore to me she wouldn’t tell anyone who I was. Nobody knows who I am do they? Because if they do she knows I’m going to come back and murder her in a way no one’s murdered anyone before.”
“No, no one knows who you’re…yet. I’ve been keeping an eye on her though. Whenever she even gets close to telling them I give her a look and she gets scared and doesn’t do it. All they know about is Kori and Thomas.”
“Shit…” The other man cursed on the other end. “How did they find out about them?”
“The little bitch told them of course. The night you attacked her she told the Backstreet fag all about Thomas being in a car accident and so of course the next day Riley and Steven researched him and found out the truth. Then later on that day Ashley had a nightmare about Kori and told them she was being attacked and now they’re looking for Kori in hopes to get information out of her.”
“Not if I find her first and murder her before they can even get to her.”
“You’ve been trying to find her for five years now boss… no offence but I am starting to give up hope that you ever will. She’s hidden herself well.”
“I am going to find her even if it is the last thing I do, Trevor.”
“Okay, okay…” Doctor Johnson sighed. “But I’ve gotta go boss…my break is almost up.” Dakota who sat there listening to the entire thing in complete shock turned around in the air vent and she quickly - but quietly crawled back to the vent to Ashley’s closet. When she got there she opened it up and climbed out and she jumped down from the dresser and ran into the bedroom.
“DADDY!!! DADDY I HEARDS HIM!! I HEARDS WHAT HES DOIN’!” Nick looked at his daughter in complete shock for a minute not exactly sure of what she means but Ashley on the other hand looked even more scared then before and she clung to Nick tightly.
“What did you hear baby? Who’s doing what?” Dakota ran to the door and shut it and she locked it, then she went over to Nick and spoke more quietly.
“Doctor Adams! I was listening to him in the air vents like you told me to! You wouldn’t listen to me earlier when I tried to tells you he was standing outside the door listening to you talk to Ashee and that’s why Ashee wouldn’t tells you what he was doing!!” Nick raised his eyebrow.
“What’d you hear baby? Tell me?”
“No Kota please don’t tell, please…” Ashley suddenly begged, and she began to cry all over again. Nick turned his attention on Ashley.
“Ashley she has to tell me honey. If I don’t know what’s going on I can’t help you.”
“He’ll kill me…he’ll kill me if you find out. Please…” Ashley sobbed. Nick gently grabbed onto Ashley’s arms and he looked her in the eyes seriously but with so much love in his own.
“Honey he’s not going to kill you. I won’t let him kill you I promise. I am here to protect you but I can’t do that unless I know what it is that I am protecting you from.” Ashley threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest where she continued to cry and he rubbed his hand over her back as he patted the bed in front of him for Dakota to sit. Dakota crawled up in front of him and sat down.
“Tell me baby… what did you hear?”
“He was down in the basement! He was on the phone with some guy.”
“What guy?” Ashley’s head suddenly shot up and she looked at Dakota in panic. Nick gently placed his hand at the back of her head and made her lay her head back against his chest again and he raked his fingers through her hair as he kissed her forehead.
“I don’ts know…he never revealed his name.”
“What all did he say?”
“Well all that I could hears was his end of the conversation, but I know that the guy asked him if he did it. He said yes he did and he said that he thinks it got’s to Ashee because Ashee knows better then to give outs anymore information now.” Nick suddenly looked down at Ashley who sat there holding on tightly to Nick and she is sniffling.
“Ash, honey…I’m going to once again ask you what he did to you earlier when he was supposedly giving you medicine. I know he was doing something so please just tell me. If you want me to keep you safe I need to know.”
“I can’t tell you…”
“Yes you can. You can tell me anything. No one is going to hurt you sweetie. No one.”
“No…I can’t.” Nick sighed in frustration and he looked at Dakota.
“Kota…what else did you hear? Anything?”
“Yeah…but I hafta tells you in private.” Nick raised his eyebrow at her for a couple of minutes, than he nodded.
“Okay,” he replied and he got up from the bed and reached for Ashley’s hand.
“Where are we going?” Ashley asked softly.
“Down to Riley, Brian, Howie, Kevin, and AJ. One of them is going to keep an eye on you while I talk to Riley and Brian. That is…unless you want to join us and maybe clue us in on some things.” Nick explained, trying his very hardest not to let his frustration show. Ashley shook her head and let Nick take her hand and help her up from the bed. When he did this, the blankets fell to the floor and he noticed a blood stain on the bed.
“Hmm… whatever he was doing to you, he didn’t hide the evidence very well, did he.” He looked at her for a couple of minutes in hopes that she would cave and tell him at least something. ANYTHING would be good…a hint or a clue. When she didn’t, he looked at the bed. He thought for a couple of minutes and then crawled onto it and he leaned down and sniffed it. When he did he smelled something odd on it and he had a bad feeling in his stomach all of the sudden. He then grabbed a hold of the bed sheets and he began to pull them off the bed. When he finished he held them under one arm and took Ashley’s hand in the other.
“Come on Dakota,” he said and she followed him out of the room and to the elevator. When they got down to the lobby they ran into Doctor Johnson.
“Hey Nick…what’s up?” he asked curiously, when he noticed the stray tears on Ashley’s cheeks from when she was crying earlier and her bed sheets in Nick’s arms.
“Where is Riley and everybody do you know?”
“Everybody except Kevin and Brooke are in the cafeteria getting it set up for lunch. I just now left Kevin and Brooke in the hospital building where they have our new child Elenore being examined. We discovered some brutal bruises and cuts on her that may still have a chance to be healed.”
“Oh.”
“So what’s going on?” he asked, indicating toward the bed sheets.
“Follow me… I’m about to tell Riley the whole thing. It’s a very HUGE problem.” Nick answered, and he began to go to the cafeteria as he still held Ashley’s hand and Dakota followed close behind him. Curious, Doctor Johnson decided to follow too. When they got in there they found everybody setting up tables and chairs but they all looked at them as they entered.
“Hey Nick… what’s up?” Brian asked curiously.
“I need someone to watch Ashley for a minute. Brian and Riley I need to talk to you. It’s very important.”
“I’ll watch her,” AJ volunteered and he walked over to Nick. Nick placed Ashley’s hand into AJ’s instead and he turned and headed way over to the other side of the cafeteria with Dakota, Brian, Riley, and Doctor Johnson following.
“What’s going on Nick?” Riley asked.
“Dakota and I went up to check on Ashley earlier like I told you we would and on our way down the hall we discovered Doctor Adams coming out of her room. I asked him what was up and he told me nothing, that he was just headed downstairs. I asked him what Ashley was up to and he told me crying, just like she always does when he goes into her room. I asked her what he was doing in her room in the first place and he told me giving Ashley her medication.”
“What?” Riley asked confused.
“Her medication. It was 11:00 in the morning and that is usually the time you give her, her medicine right?”
“Ashley’s been off of that medicine since the day after your concert Nick. She doesn’t need to take it anymore.”
“Well he was up there giving her something then because that’s what he told me he was doing. After arguing with him for a little while on how he should’ve informed me or you that he was going to do this I went into her room to check on her and she was under her covers crying. When I had gotten her to come down she confirmed that he was giving her medicine. She wouldn’t tell me anything else - only that he was giving her medicine. Well what I failed to notice was that Doctor Adams had been hiding behind the door and when I went and questioned her about what else he was doing to her, and if he was mean and forceful to her, and all this other stuff he appeared in the door way and gave her his looks and made her scared so she lied to me and answered no to all of those questions. That he was just giving her medicine. Well Dakota not being fooled one bit noticed Doctor Adams there and tried to tell me but I wouldn’t listen to her. So when he had walked off she snuck up in the air vent and followed him into the basement where she over heard a bunch of serious stuff.” Nick explained, and he looked down at Dakota.
“Go on and tell them what you heard baby.”
“I heards him talking on the phone. He was saying that he did it and that he thinks it gots to Ashee and she won’t be giving away any more information. Then he mentioned how you knows about Thomas and researched him and that you also knows about Kori. He tolds him how you found out about her too - that Ashee had a scary dream about her and told you all abouts her. He told her you were trying to find her so that you could get’s information out of her. And he was silent as the other person talked and then he said that he was giving up hope that he will finds her because he’s been trying for five years and she hid herself well. He also reassured the person that you don’ts know who he is yet and every time Ashee gets even close to saying who he is he scares her by giving her mean looks and then she doesn’t.” Dakota explained.
“Who he is…you mean the other man that Doctor Adams was talking to, right?” Riley asked very seriously. Dakota nodded.
“And when Dakota came back to tell me Ashley panicked and started crying and begging Dakota not to tell me because he would kill her if I knew. I reassured her over and over again that no one would kill her because I wasn’t going to let them. But If she wanted me to protect her I needed to know what I am protecting her from. So against her wishes I had Dakota tell me but she couldn’t tell me about Kori because…well you know if Ashley found out we are looking for her she’d throw a fit and turn against me for sure. So she said she needed to tell me in private. So when I pulled Ashley out of bed to bring her down here I discovered a big blood stain where she was laying.” Nick explained, and he unfolded the bed sheets in his arms and pointed to the blood stain. I also smelled them and they have a weird smell on them. I don’t know what it is but it smells funny. If I were you id take them down to a DNA person right away.” Doctor Johnson nodded.
“I’ll do that,” He volunteered and Nick handed them the bed sheets.
“Nick you and I will need to go and talk to Brooke about all of this. You know she is going to want to know.” Riley spoke up.
“Yeah… I am going to have the pleasure of watching her bust that stupid bastard.”
“Well, honey, she can’t really do much until the DNA comes back and proves him guilty.”
“No, but she can pull him into her office and yell at him and suspend him until it comes back and that will be good enough for me.”
“I think that she should wait until the DNA comes back before she says anything, Nick. And I think he’d be better off in this building until he can be locked behind bars too. Otherwise he could run off to this guy he was talking to on the phone and Ashley would be in grave danger.” Brian replied.
“She’s in grave danger either way. Those bed sheets as proof.”
“Well at least now we know better and can make it a strict rule that Ashley doesn’t go anywhere without either you or a trustful adult by her side.”
“Oh don’t you worry. I’m not leaving her out of my sight for anything. I wouldn’t have earlier if I wasn’t busy rescuing my little girl. Doctor Adams sure did pick a good time - right when the two of us were busy.”
“Yeah he did…” Riley replied, as she can’t believe she had been wrong all a long about Doctor Adams. She really thought that she could trust him. Riley sighed and shook her head.
“Come on… lets go over to the hospital and tell Brooke.” Nick nodded and he looked down at Dakota.
“Kota baby…why don’t you go and hang out with Ashley and AJ? I will be back by the time it’s time for lunch okay?”
“Kay,” Dakota replied and she turned and headed over to AJ and Ashley. Nick looked at Riley and Brian and the three of them left the cafeteria and headed toward the hospital. When they got there they asked the receptionist at the front desk where to go and she told them and they went to that room to find Kevin and Brooke with a doctor and they’re checking on Elenore.
“Hey…how’s Elenore doing?” Riley asked gently, as she came up behind them.
“A lot better. It turns out that most of her cuts and bruises are curable,” Kevin answered.
“Aww that’s great,” Riley replied, smiling down at the little girl being treated by the doctor and Elenore gave her a small smile back.
“Kevin has informed me that he wants to be here every day to help take care of Elenore. I asked him if he just wants me to hire him and he told me no, he doesn’t want to be paid he wants to do it just because he cares.”
“Aww that’s really sweet of you Kevin.” Kevin grinned and he looked down at Elenore and took her hand into his and he gently squeezed it as he watched over her.
“Anyway, Brooke, we need to talk.” Riley announced after a couple of minutes.
“Everything okay?”
“No, not really…but this isn’t a safe place to talk about it. So can you come back to the Orphanage with us or do you need to stay here?”
“No I can go,” She replied and she looked at Kevin who was now looking at her again.
“Are you okay with her Kev?”
“Yeah I’m fine. When the doctor gives me permission I will bring her back to the Orphanage for lunch.”
“Okay,” Brooke replied, and she followed Nick, Brian, and Riley out of the room and they headed back to the Orphanage.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
