Chapter One-Hundred-Thirty-Nine
Meanwhile at the Richardson's household, after they ate their dinner they decided that they would go sit out on the back porch and look up at the stars while they socialized. Tim and Elenore sat on the deck and put puzzles together.
"Kevy, I miss my puppy…" Elenore suddenly complained when all of the grownups were quiet and Ann had gone inside to do something and she knew it was safe to talk. Kevin had to explain to her a few times that it's not nice to interrupt people when they are talking. He was very patient with her though because he knows she was just very excited to get what she wanted to say out.
"I am sure he is okay precious, I bet Kota is taking very good care of him. If not Kota then definitely Ashley, our other puppy caretaker."
"What is your puppy's name Ellie?" Tim asked interestedly and Elenore beamed ever so proudly at that question.
"Lil' Rok," She answered and Jerald chuckled and Tim just smiled in amusement.
"I bet Brian is so thrilled."
"Oh he is, he was all for it when Ellie suggested it," Kevin confirmed and Tim just laughed.
"What kind of puppy is he?"
"A pug…he is specials to me."
"Aww…well in that case why don't you bring him with you when you come back tomorrow?" Elenore smiled and tilted her head to the side as she looked at Kevin and he nodded his head in approval.
"I wills! Lil Rok will likes to come," Elenore insisted, suddenly very excited.
"That's good because Uncle Tim would like to meet him." Elenore smiled to herself as she looked down at the puzzle she is helping Tim put together and loving the fact that Tim is willing to be her uncle. She's never had an uncle before…at least to her knowledge anyway and if she did, he was more then likely to be one of the many guys that helped her daddy and mommy hurt her. Elenore frowned at that thought and then another one came to her mind. Why is Tim so willing to be her uncle? Would he hurt her too? As far as Elenore knows, that's what uncles do. But then why doesn't Kevin, Howie, Brian, and AJ hurt Kota? Now feeling confused, upset, and a little frightened Elenore got up and went straight for Kevin and she crawled into his lap and snuggled into him. Kevin wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close to him as he looked down at her confused and concerned and Tim frowned, as he became worried that he might have upset the little girl he's grown to love.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asked while looking at Kevin bewildered. Kevin shrugged and looked back down at Elenore as he rubbed his hand over her back.
"Ellie? What's the matter baby?"
"Uncles are nothin' buts big meanie heads…them an' their scary hands…" Elenore whimpered weakly and she clung even tighter to Kevin.
"Ohhh…" Kevin replied, understanding now and he shifted her so she straddles him and lay her back against his legs before placing his hands under her head for a pillow as she looked up at him with fear in her eyes.
"Tim and Jerald are nothing like the mean guys that your father allowed near you…they would never even think about hurting you."
"Of course not!" Jerald added sincerely. "Ellie you're my little buddy I would never dream of hurting you."
"Yeah…and I think you are a very special girl — Ellie you won my heart all in just one hour that you've been here," Tim added and he scooted over and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear.
"You promise?" Elenore sniffled.
"I cross my heart," Jerald reassured and he drew an 'x' over his heart as did Tim.
"Kay…" Kevin leaned down and kissed her cheek and he brushed her tears away with his finger.
"You are safe baby…I promise you, you will receive nothing but love in this family." He told her and he leaned down and placed soft kisses in various parts of her face and she closed her eyes comfortably as Kevin gently rocked her from side to side in his arms like a tiny baby and she eventually fell asleep.
"I'm sorry you guys…she's still very traumatized as you can see…you have to be very patient with her."
"It's fine don't worry about it," Tim insisted.
"It took me a month to get her to see how precious she is to me…and sometimes I get the feeling that she still looks at me from time to time and wonders why I haven't hurt her yet. She always fears I'll leave her too…I can't leave her alone anywhere without her having a panic attack…but that's all my fault."
"Yeah, Brian filled us in on the huge meltdown you had after the kidnapping," Jerald replied as he too sat on the ground in front of Kevin and he gently played with Elenore's hair.
"She means the world to me…and when I almost lost her something inside me just snapped…you know? I felt very unworthy to be Ellie's caregiver…very irresponsible. I don't deserve her."
"Actually it's the exact opposite Kev…if you really love her like you keep saying you do, then why haven't you adopted her yet? This little girl chose you…and god obviously chose you to have her. You are meant to be her father," Tim insisted in a very preacher-like tone and Kevin rolled his eyes playfully.
"Save your preaching for work bro, okay?"
"For one…a preacher's job is never done, whether he is in a church or not and two I am being serious. I know you see it too that you and Ellie are meant to be. You were right where god wanted you when Ellie was left at the Orphanage. So why not make her officially yours before that horrible man finds some other way to steal her from you?" Kevin sighed heavily and stared down at Elenore with a self-conscious gaze in his eyes. No matter how hard he tries he just can't shake that guilty feeling he's felt since the kidnapping off of his conscious. Suddenly Ann came out of the house in her pajamas and a blanket wrapped around her, and all three guys can tell she just got out of the shower.
"What'd I miss?" Ann asked as she sat down in the rocking chair next to Kevin.
"Not much, just Tim preaching me as usual," Kevin replied rolling his eyes playfully once again.
"Well, that's what you get when you have an older brother who is a preacher," Ann smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "What's the lecture this time?"
"About him adopting Ellie," Jerald replied, flashing Kevin an irritated glance.
"Jer, Tim…lay off okay? I want him to adopt her just as much as the two of you, and we all know he wants to as well but sometimes you need to just step back and let him come to his senses all on his own."
"Orrr his older brothers can pound it out of him," Jerald insisted. "What do you think Tim? We haven't ganged up on our little brother in sooo long."
"Sounds pretty good to me," Tim agreed.
"You two can't hurt me as long as I have Ellie and I can hold her all night if needed, I've had practice." Ann laughed.
"Oh…it's good to have my three sons all together again…"
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile at the Littrell household, when Brian finished putting Josh to bed in Kevin and Elenore's room — with great difficulty considering Elenore isn't back yet, he went downstairs to see that he was the last parent to come downstairs.
"What took you so long, Rok? We all made it down here about thirty minutes ago," Howie questioned curiously. Brian scowled.
"Josh gave me a hard time. He isn't used to sleeping without Ellie."
"I'm sure Kev will be back soon," Howie reassured. "He knows it's bedtime, and Ellie must be getting pretty sleepy." Brian grumbled.
"Yeah well, I hope that dear old cousin of mine is getting the same treatment that I got," he complained, and he slumped down on the couch beside Riley before wrapping her in his arms and kissing her forehead softly and she snuggled into him. Jackie laughed a little.
"Aw, baby duck it couldn't have been that bad. Josh is a sweetheart." Nick laughed at this.
"You haven't seen the real side of him. He behaves around you because he's trying his hardest to win your hearts but he's gotten into some pretty good fights back at the Orphanage…and before he became all sweet and everything, he used to be a pretty rotten kid."
"Not rotten really…just misunderstood," Brian insisted. "And troubled, very troubled. He just needed attention."
"Yeah and lucky you were around to recognize that," Riley replied, as she rubbed her hand over his arm soothingly.
"At first I was just doing it to find out why he was so mean to my niece all the time, but then I fell in love with him."
"Well he shouldn't be feeling like he needs to be a certain way to impress us…he had us the moment we set eyes on him," Harold insisted. "We love that kid very much…troubled or not." Brian beamed with pride at this.
"And he loves you too, I've never seen him take to anyone outside of the little circle we've created at the Orphanage before."
"It's hard not to love Harold and Jackie. They are the two most caring people I've ever met," Nick replied. Meanwhile, upstairs in the security room Marcus, Laney, and Q all sat around doing their own things. Marcus was sitting in a chair with his legs up in another chair and he is reading a book. Laney is watching the cameras while drinking coffee and Q is lying on one of the beds on his back just staring up at the ceiling in a daze. After a long while of watching the cameras, Laney was about to call Q over to take over for him when suddenly he noticed movement on the screen that shows them the gate. Raising his eyebrow, he sat up and became alert as he looked at the screen more closely. Marcus noticed this in the corner of his eye and looked up from his book at Laney curiously. Q however, was still off in his own little world.
"What is that?" Marcus asked when he noticed the movement too and he put his book down and got up and went over by his partner. This broke Q from his thoughts and he sat up on the bed and looked too.
"What is what?"
"That? There is movement on the screen." Marcus looked closer and after a few moments, he realized it was coming from inside the yard and it was something small and white.
"Abbie! It's Abbie! Why is she outside?"
"It's that gate — she must know they are out there and she won't alert us because she likes them." Q explained, and he got up and went left the room and Marcus followed just incase two security guards will be needed. When they got downstairs everybody looked at them curiously when they saw the frantic looks on their faces.
"Q? Marcus? What's going on?"
"Nick I need to talk to you outside. Like right now," Q answered, and he gave him the look he understands. Nick got up from the couch and Ashley started to follow, as it just comes natural to her now after all these months but Nick gently pushed her back down.
"No, you stay." He told her gently and he followed Q and Marcus outside as did Howie and Harold. When they got out there Marcus shut the door and Nick looked at him curiously. Marcus motioned toward the gate and Nick looked over there and raised his eyebrow when he saw Abbie sniffing around it.
"Abbie! Get over here!" Abbie turned and looked at him momentarily and then went right back to what she is doing.
"RIGHT now!" He demanded more firmly, but the dog continued what she is doing as if she hadn't heard.
"I think someone should go get her," Howie insisted, and he looked to Marcus and Q. Marcus nodded and then went out in the yard toward the gate. Q stayed behind just incase he'll need to grab Harold, Howie, and Nick and force them in the house for any reason. When Marcus reached the stubborn puppy at the gate he scooped her up in his arms and held her close to him protectively and he looked outside the gate toward the bushes. He can't see anybody there, but he doesn't know if he should risk actually going out and looking in the bushes. He may be bigger then both those guys put together but he has no chance if they should point a gun on him. He looked down at the ground where Abbie was sniffing and he suddenly noticed something. He knelt down and picked it up to examine it and he realized that it's a dog treat. Marcus looked down to see that there are several of them there.
"Oh jeez…" Marcus muttered and he picked them all up before standing again and he looked back toward the bushes.
"If you bastards are out there…I suggest you stay away from this gate — and more importantly our puppies. If you know what's best for you, you will stay away. If anything happens to these puppies, to Ashley, or Ellie, I will personally see to it that you pay for it." He warned and with that he turned around and brought Abbie back to the house. When he did he handed her over to Nick and Nick placed his hand to her face gently and made her look at him.
"You are a VERY bad puppy. That gate is a no no Abbie! BAD gate! You need to stay away from it." He told her firmly.
"It's not really her fault Nick, they're luring her over there." Marcus replied, and he held his hand out so he, Howie, Q, and Harold could see the treats. "This is why she is so friendly with them. She knows them and they are giving her stuff."
"Well she still needs to learn that, that gate is bad," Nick replied stubbornly and he looked back down at Abbie. "Very bad! not acceptable!" He told her, pointing his finger at her as he did.
"As long as you don't call her bad…she doesn't know the difference," Howie insisted.
"Ashley is going to want to know why Abbie was out here. What do I tell her?"
"The truth. She got out some how and was sniffing around the yard. Though I would really like to know how Miss Houdini dog did it. The dog door is in the back door, so how did she get out here?" Howie questioned.
"A very good question…which Marcus and I will investigate a long with these dog treats. But for now, lets get her inside." Nick nodded and he opened the door and went inside the house and everybody followed. When they got inside, Ashley, Brian, Riley, and Jackie all looked at them concerned. Ashley with a raised eyebrow at the sight of her puppy in Nick's arms. He didn't have her before so that must mean he got her from outside.
"What was my puppy doing out there?" Ashley immediately asked and she got up and went to Nick and she took her from him and held her close to her.
"She got out somehow…Marcus, Laney, and Q saw her sniffing around the yard on the cameras." Nick answered and he is glad that, that was the truth. She would know if he were lying to her almost instantly. But Abbie did get out and she was sniffing around the yard, she just doesn't need to know where and why. The less Ashley knows about the gate the better. He does not want her panicking and she already knows better to stay by his side so as far as he knows there is no need to tell her.
"Where are all of the other puppies?" Q questioned and he stayed calm, making it sound like it was a normal question he'd ask.
"Tyke is right here," Brian answered, and he looked down at his dog that was lying across his lap and Riley was in the middle of petting him. "Chance is upstairs with Josh and so is Lil Rok. Dakota has Lily."
"Okay," Q replied. "Marcus and I are just going into the kitchen to get some sodas," he added and he and Marcus went toward the kitchen and they both disappeared inside it. They went straight to the back door and Marcus closed up the dog door before the two of them went out into the backyard to investigate.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
