- Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Chapter One-Hundred-Twenty-Five




The next day, Nick awoke to find both Dakota and Sarah gone, but Ashley still lying ontop of him. He looked down at her to find her staring up at him awake. He grinned a little.



"Morning baby…"



"Morning," Ashley replied, and he leaned down and brushed his lips softly over hers.



"How long have you been awake?"



"Thirty minutes. If you didn't wake up soon, I was going to go downstairs without you — breakfast smells good." Nick chuckled a little and then got up out of bed with her and he set her down, before going over and getting a t-shirt out of the drawer and he tossed Ashley a pair of boxers.



"Here — to save you the trouble of going through my drawer…I'll just give them to you." He teased. Ashley giggled a little, and then looked down at the boxers in her hand.



"Sweet! They are Ninja Turtle boxers. Wait until Ellie sees them." Nick laughed and rolled his eyes, and Ashley put them on. As soon as he did Nick took her hand and gently squeezed it as he brought her downstairs. When they got down there they went into the kitchen to see that everybody was awake — including Kori and Wiley. Kori looked at her sister skeptically as she walked in — ready for the yelling to begin — she had prepared herself for it all morning. Everybody else watched her curiously too, as they've been told exactly what happened last night.



"Good morning everybody," Ashley replied sweetly, noticing the looks Kori is giving her and deciding she was not going to be the predictable one this time and instead, act like being locked out hadn't phased her a bit.



"Good morning Ashley, how are you?" Kori asked cautiously.



"Great — I slept really well last night," Ashley answered as if everything was just fine and she went over to Dakota, who is sitting at the table in a chair next to Elenore and drinking chocolate milk and she kissed Dakota's cheek. Dakota happily reached up for her and Ashley happily took her into her arms and sat down in the chair with her. Kori gave Nick a questioning look and Nick smiled and shrugged his shoulders.



"Just be thankful," he mouthed to her, and she nodded and looked at Wiley who gently squeezed her hand. Nick went over and sat in the chair next to Ashley and he placed his hand to Dakota's cheeks and leaned over and kissed her puckered lips and she giggled.



"I see you showed Ellie her prize," He told her, as he observed the two girls and noticed that they were each holding their stuffed Ninja Turtles — Ellie got Raphael, and Dakota got Donnie.



"Uh-huhs!" Dakota replied, and Nick looked over at Elenore, and he rubbed his hand over her back.



"Is that the right one? Kota said you would want Raphael."



"Yes Nicky, I loves him — thank you," she told him politely, as if that had been well rehearsed. He looked over at Kevin who was grinning at her proudly. Nick rolled his eyes grinning and he leaned over and kissed her on the nose.



"You're quite welcome sweetie." He remembered Sarah then, and he turned and looked over at her, to find her sitting in Brian's lap.



"Did you show Sarah her prize too?" Nick asked, looking down at Dakota. Dakota rolled her eyes.



"I forgots."



"Mhm, I'm sure you did," Nick replied somewhat sarcastically and he got up and went over to Brian and he gently took Sarah from him.



"Come here sweetie, lets go see what I have for you," He told her gently and he cuddled her close and kissed her cheek, before looking over at Dakota who sat there hugging her Donatello and trying to act unfazed.



"Where are the shopping bags honey?"



"In the living room." She answered rather shortly. Nick turned and left the kitchen with Sarah and Dakota scowled and snuggled into Ashley some.



"You know Kota, I remember a certain little girl who used to get treated the same way you treat Sarah and she wasn't very happy about it. Infact it hurt her pretty bad," Howie spoke up suddenly, as he sat there next to Ryan who has his head rested against his shoulder and his legs drawn to his chest.



"Really Uncle Howie? Who might have that been?" Dakota asked innocently.



"Kota…" Brian replied in a lecturing tone, causing her to suddenly shrink into Ashley shamefully. When Brian lectures her it always makes her feel bad because he usually doesn't.



"You know exactly what little girl I am speaking of, and I think you should think back to how badly that hurt her the next time you think about doing something mean to Sarah," Howie replied gently, though making sure she knows how serious he is.



"He's right Kota…you don't want to be the bully…you won't have any real friends if you do." Josh spoke up suddenly. "It's more fun to be nice…and it's not like you to be mean. You are too sweet for that…"



"You didn't always think I was sweet. You hated me once remember…an' you used to have fun picking on people." Dakota insisted stubbornly.



"I didn't really know you…and I may have been mean but I was one lonely kid…I had Chris, but even he was annoyed with me half the time. It took one girl to stop me…one girl to tell me that I don't have to be mean to make people respect me…and ever since she told me that, I've tried my hardest to change. I changed for her. I think you know that girl pretty well."


"I don'ts want her to respect me, I just want her to know exactly who's daddy Nick Carter is!" Dakota insisted stubbornly, and she crawled out of Ashley's lap and stormed out of the kitchen. Josh sighed and then started to get up, but Brian reached over and gently stopped him. He looked up at Brian curiously.



"Let her be…she needs to calm down." When Dakota got into the living room she saw Nick sitting on the couch with Sarah in his lap. She is hugging the doll that she's had her heart set on for so long close to her and the two of them are sitting there talking — her writing stuff down on paper and him talking to her — laughing at the things that Dakota assumes was funny. Dakota kept on walking toward the stairs and when she got to them she stopped at the bottom step and looked back at her daddy as her eyes watered up. After a few seconds she turned and ran up the stairs — it wasn't long before he heard their bedroom door slam and he sighed. Sarah looked up at him expecting him to tell her that he needs to go talk to Dakota, but Nick only smiled down at her and carried on with their conversation. He's done all he can do. He's reassured her over and over again that he doesn't love her any less then he did before. He's explained that he's going to be spending more time with Sarah…if it's going to take a few of these tantrums before she finally gets used to it…so be it. But he doesn't know what else to say to make things better. After spending sometime with Sarah for thirty minutes, Brian suddenly peeked his head into the living room and Nick looked at him.



"Breakfast is done."



"Kay…will you go let Kota know? I don't think she wants anything to do with me at the moment…"



"Are you sure? I think she needs you the most right now, Nick…" Nick shook his head.



"Will you please do it? I'm going to go fix hers and Sarah's plate."



"Okay…" Brian replied, and he walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs. When he got up there, he went down the hall to Nick's bedroom and he opened the door and surprisingly didn't find her in there. After searching the entire room, he walked out confused and suddenly Laney came out of the security room.



"Looking for Kota?"



"Yeah…did you happen to see her?"



"We saw her go into Kevin's room on the hallway camera." Brian turned and went down the hall to Kevin's room and he peeked in to find Dakota lying in Josh's place on the bed hugging his Donald Duck close to her. Brian couldn't help but chuckle a little bit, and then he went in there and she looked at him.



"I see you and Josh have a lot in common…he often turns to that stuffed duck for comfort too."



"Do you think he'll mind if I borrows him?" Dakota asked softly, as she wiped her eyes in attempt to make the tears go away, but it didn't work.



"I think he'll be okay with it," Brian smiled some. "Infact he'll be flattered," He told her, chuckling to himself at the thought. Dakota gave him a confused look. Brian became serious then, and he went over and scooped her up into his arms cradling her, as she still held the Donald Duck close to her.



"Come on down stairs honey…before your breakfast gets cold. Your daddy should be done fixing your plate by now." Dakota snuggled close to him and allowed him to bring her downstairs and he kissed her forehead softly. When he got down there, he went in the kitchen, and he went and sat her back in Ashley's lap again, as that is where Nick set her plate and chocolate milk at. Dakota crawled across Ashley and over to Nick and she sat sideways in his lap, before resting her head against his chest and sliding her arms around his neck. Nick leaned down and kissed her cheek as he hugged her close to him.



"I love you Dakota Ann," he reassured her softly. Dakota didn't reply, she only snuggled up with him even more, and he pulled her plate and chocolate milk over so that it was next to his plate instead. "Eat your breakfast sweetie…before it gets cold." Dakota reached out and took a piece of bacon from her plate and began nibbling on it.



"Where should we go on our date today, hmm?" He asked her, and she suddenly smiled up at him a little.



"We're going out again daddy?"



"I told you we would have Daddy and Dakota time every day, didn't I?"



"Can we goes to the park?"




"Mhm…we'll do whatever you want."



"You should takes Donald Duck to the park with you Kota. He'll like that…" Josh suddenly spoke up, as he noticed she was holding his Donald Duck and her Donatello. He knows it's his Donald Duck because he can see the 'J' that Brian wrote on the tag with permanent marker. He doesn't mind that she has it. Infact she is the only one he'll trust with it. Dakota smiled a little bit.



"You would let me?" Elenore stifled her giggles.



"Of course. Donald Duck is good at cheering people up." Dakota hugged the stuffed Duck close to her as she smiled — Josh is right, the duck is good at cheering you up — but she secretly has him, only because it's Josh's toy. Later on after breakfast, Josh and Elenore jumped up and went running toward the door.



"Hold it right there you two!" Kevin suddenly said, while grinning some, and Elenore and Josh froze and slowly turned to look at him.



"Where do you think you are going without telling us first? And without a bodyguard?"



"Out in the backyard, of course." Elenore answered simply.


"Not without a bodyguard you aren't," Brian insisted, in the same simple tone as her and mocking the same 'duh' expression she was giving Kevin. Elenore turned and looked at Q with the sweetest look she could muster then. He and the rest of the bodyguards had come down for breakfast also. Q chuckled a little.



"Marcus will go with you squirts. I have to stay behind and talk to the grownups about important things."



"Yaaaay I get munchkin duty — just what I've always wanted," Marcus teased. Elenore smiled at him sweetly.



"Well at least we are fun munchkins," she insisted. Marcus smirked.



"Well, we'll see about that won't we?" He teased and he got up and scooped both kids up in his arms and he looked at Dakota.



"Coming sweetheart?" Dakota, who is still in a somewhat clingy mood right now, snuggled closer to Nick and made a small noise of objection.



"Okie dokie then…we'll be right outside if you change your mind, okay?" Dakota turned and buried her face in Nick's chest shyly. Marcus turned and carried the two eager kids out into the backyard and Sarah slid down from her chair and ran after them and Nick looked down at Dakota as he rubbed his hand over her back.



"Why don't you go play with your friends honey? I bet Ellie wants you to go play with her."



"I don'ts want to." Dakota insisted stubbornly.



"Come on baby, you would have much more fun out there paying with Ellie and Josh."



"No."



"What if Ashley took you out there to play?" Laney asked, wanting to get Ashley out of earshot of the grownup conversation anyway. Dakota who still has her face buried in Nick's chest snuck a peek at Ashley — revealing only one eye.



"Yeah baby, I'll take you to play," Ashley insisted, and she held her arms out to Dakota. Dakota turned her head so her face was no longer hidden and she eyed Ashley skeptically. "I will stay with you the entire time."



"You wont's leave me?"



"I won't leave you," Ashley confirmed, shaking her head.



"You promise?"



"I cross my heart," Ashley answered, making an X over her heart. Dakota looked up at Nick then, who gave her an encouraging smile.



"When are we going to the park daddy?"



"A little later honey. The grownups and I are going to have a meeting…and then Ashley and I are going to go out and spend sometime with each other, and then later on when we get back I promise you I will take you to the park." Ashley looked at her boyfriend, shock clearly evident on her face. He never clued her in on the second plan.



"Kay…" she replied softly, and she looked at Ashley who immediately went from shock to smiling big and she again held her arms out to her. Dakota leaned forward allowing her to take her and she stood up and held her so she's straddling her. She slid her arms around her neck and immediately put a death grip on her, and Ashley carried her outside, smiling some as Dakota kissed her cheek. When she got outside and the door was closed behind her Brian looked at Howie.



"Where'd Ryan go?"



"He's upstairs refusing to have anything to do with the kids as usual…I just went and checked on him, he won't over hear."



"What's he doing up there?"



"He's engrossed in those video games that AJ hooked up for him…it's all he ever does, it's starting to bug me."



"And Spencer?"



"Playing video games with Ryan." Kori answered this time. "He just went up there."



"I thought he was pissed off at him over the whole Ellie thing…" Nick replied confused.



"Yeah well, he was willing to make up with him if it meant being able to play playstation. He's still mad at him though."



"Yeah, so I don't get the whole thing between him and Ellie…what is his problem with her?" Harry questioned confused. Wiley shrugged.



"It's a mystery to all of us."



"He needed someone to take his anger out on, Ellie seemed like the best candidate. Him and Josh got into a huge argument during the car ride up here about her," Kevin explained.



"So anyway…what was so important that you had to get all of the kids — including Ashley to leave the room Lan?" Nick suddenly asked curiously.



"Ellie woke up in the middle of the night last night and came into the security room crying," Laney began explaining, and Kevin raised his eyebrow.



"What? And you are just telling me this now?"



"We wanted to wait until we could get all of you together and the kids out of ear shot. She had a nightmare…and as crazy as it sounds, I don't think it should be ignored." Q spoke up.



"No nightmares are considered crazy in this group…we are very familiar with Ashley's," Nick replied.



"Yeah, what's up?" Brian asked concerned.



"She dreamt that Sean was going to get her…except he was going to have somebody else do it when we aren't looking. She dreamt that there were two guys hidden outside of the gate out there. We told her it was impossible because we would've seen them and even showed her the TV that shows us outside the gate. She told us we have the camera pointed in the wrong direction and she was able to tell us exactly where the guys were hidden in her dream. They were hidden in the bushes…but when we looked they weren't there."



"That gate does kind of give me the creeps…" Wiley reasoned. "The puppies seem to be drawn to it for some reason."



"Especially Tyke," Brian replied grudgingly, as he looked down at the sleeping Chihuahua in his lap. Tyke's ears perked up at the sound of his name and he opened his eyes, lifted his head up and looked at Brian, titling his head to the side curiously.



"No I wasn't talking to you, I just said your name, chill." Brian spoke to the dog, leaning down and kissing the top of his head, and he rubbed his hand over the small dog's back gently. "You crazy dog…"



"Well we've kept the camera pointing in the direction of the bushes all night and all day…so far we haven't seen anyone, and one of us has always been in that room watching — except for now…we walked away for breakfast, that's it."



"Maybe Tyke isn't as crazy as you've been thinking he is Bri," Nick replied skeptically. "Ashley has had to go and fetch Abbie from the gate before too…and remember that day when Tyke ran out barking and growling — toward the gate?"



"It's possible…remember that car that I saw sitting outside of the Orphanage the night before our trip up here, Ri? And how suspicious it looked?"



"Yeah, but, in the morning before we left, I looked over where it used to be and found that it was gone."



"Me too…but maybe it wasn't really gone. Maybe it was Sean's lackeys spying on us, and since I saw their car and was suspicious of them they had to go and get a new one."



"And they followed us all the way up here," Howie guessed.



"Why didn't you mention them before, Bri?" Kevin interrogated.



"Because I thought he was just being paranoid…and I sort of convinced him that he was…but now I guess the moral of this story is you can never be too paranoid with this group…" Riley defended her boyfriend.



"I sort of have a confession to make too…" Nick spoke up suddenly, and he looked around at everybody sheepishly.



"What?" Kevin asked, looking at Nick warily.



"I know I should've told all of you this sooner…but I was waiting for the right opportune moment…like when Ashley wasn't around…and everything has just been so chaotic lately, there hasn't been time to sit down and talk to all of you…"



"It's okay buddy, what's going on?" Brian asked gently, and he narrowed his eyes at Kevin, silently telling him to be nice.



"On the night before our road trip up here…I got a call from Detective Stabler…" Nick began.



"Wow…a lot of stuff happened the night before our trip, didn't it?" Howie replied.



"-He told me that Sean murdered an innocent girl at a club…that he knew for a fact that it was him because he left a note on the dead girl's body. It was addressed to Ashley…and basically it was a warning to Ashley to keep her bodyguards close, because she is next because we've pissed him off," Nick continued.



"Oh man…" Brian replied softly, and he looked over at Kevin who was restraining himself from lashing out at Nick for not telling them sooner — trying to keep in mind, that there really wasn't much time for him to. "The only person I confided in about this was Marcus…because he was standing out in the hall while I was on the phone with Detective Stabler and he demanded to know what was wrong right when I hung up. It's been bugging me ever since…"



"Well it's a really good thing that we had this meeting…" Riley spoke up.



"Yeah…"



"And you are planning on going out with Ashley later?" Harold questioned.



"Yes…I have to."



"Why?"



"Because Ashley wishes our relationship could be as normal as possible…and normal couples go out. So that is what we are doing. We are going out on a date — even if it's in the middle of the day and nothing is going to ruin that for us — not even Sean's spies."



"Okay, but Nick…you really need to be careful," Brian replied, eyeing his best friend with concern. "And I'm not trying to be bossy…or treat you like a baby, I'm saying this because I care and I am trying to be the best friend that I am, and look out for you."



"I know…"



"Just making sure."