Chapter Twenty Two
“What do you think Kota, do you want a doctor to take a look at your arm?” Nick asked gently. Dakota nodded, a single tear rolling down her cheek. It hurts and she wants it to stop. Nick thought for a moment, than he stood up.
“Come on Ash…” he said gently and he stood up and held out his hand to her. She took it and allowed him to help her up and she followed him out of the waiting room carrying Dakota. He went up to the front desk and asked the lady sitting there if a doctor was available to take a look at Dakota. The nurse nodded, and as it turned out, Doctor Johnson was available at that moment - since Kori was stable right then.
"What's wrong?" Doctor Johnson asked, as he'd just spoken to them a few minutes ago.
“Elenore, Kota, and Josh got into it this morning on the playground… Josh pulled and twisted on Kota’s arm pretty bad and it hurts for her to even move it. I’m worried something might be wrong with it. Can you maybe take a look at it?” Doctor Johnson looked at Dakota sympathetically.
“Aww…is my little buddy in a lot of pain?” He asked her and Dakota sniffled and nodded as Ashley still held her and her head was rested upon her shoulder.
“Well come here then….Doctor J will have to make it all better won’t he?” he asked, holding his arms out to Dakota. Ashley handed her over to him. He looked at Nick.
“By the way Nick…Kori is awake,” He announced, and Nick grinned and looked at Ashley to see her with a small smile on her face as well at the news. “The minute she found out that Ash was here she was asking for her. Do you maybe want to take her into see her? Kota and I will be okay. I will come get you when I need you.” Nick looked at Dakota.
“Will you be okay sweetie? Doctor J is just going to take you to get some x-rays and when he has the results back he will call me in there to take a look. I won’t be gone too long.” Dakota nodded as she rested her head against Doctor Johnson. If it were some other doctor she would demand her daddy go with her, but it’s her buddy Doctor J so it’s all good.
“Alright,” Nick replied.
“Okay, just let me show you two where to go,” Doctor Johnson replied, and he turned and began to walk back toward the hall he came from and Nick followed, now holding Ashley’s hand again. She walked very close to him as she is very nervous. She has not seen her sister in five years. What is she like now? Is she the same person she was before? She also can’t help but still hold a grudge against her for running away and leaving her to deal with her parents death all on her own. She wants to know why. And she will find out. When they reached the room Kori was in Doctor Johnson stopped outside it and looked at Nick and Ashley.
“She’s in there. I will be a few doors down if she should need me okay?” Nick nodded. Doctor Johnson walked away with Dakota and Nick looked at Ashley.
“Ready?” he asked her gently. Ashley nodded quietly. He then opened the door and brought Ashley inside and the two of them looked at the bed to find Kori lying there. Ashley stood practically hidden behind Nick as she looked Kori over. She looks exactly how she did five years ago except she dyed her brown hair black and cut it to her shoulders. She also looks just a tad bit older now that she’s eighteen and she’s pretty beat up right now from last night but other then that she seems to be the same old Kori. As Nick stood there he also made his own observations of the infamous Kori that he’s heard so much about and was now finally going to meet. He can tell right off that they’re indeed sisters. They both look so much alike… and they definitely both think alike too. Kori sat there staring at the little amount of her sister that she could see behind the tall blonde standing in front of her and she looks just as nervous as Ashley. She’s missed her sister so much, and she did come all this way to see her but she’s scared she hates her. She honestly doesn’t blame her but she hopes she can find it in her heart to forgive her. She never meant to hurt her. Nick gently took Ashley’s hand and pulled her around in front of him and he wrapped his arms around her waist protectively and rested his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back into him comfortably as she is glad to have him there. She wouldn’t be able to do this alone.
“Hey…how are you feeling?” Nick asked, deciding he would have to be the one to break some of the tension in the room.
“A little sore…but I will live,” Kori answered, giving Nick a quizzical look. She has no idea who this strange man who is talking to her is, but he seems harmless. He also seems to be pretty close to her sister too.
“I’m Nick. Nick Carter,” Nick introduced, suddenly sensing her confusion. “I’m Ashley’s caregiver here at Ramsey.” Caregiver? Kori thought. It seems a lot more personal than that. She may not have seen her sister in five years but she knows her enough to know when she’s in love and she can definitely see that she is.
“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. Ashley has told me quite a bit about you.” Kori looked at Ashley then who still hasn’t said a word. This worries Kori. But at least she knows she’s been talking about her. That means she still thought about her. That must mean something good is going to come out of this reunion.
“Hey Ashley…how are you? I’m glad to see that you’re safe…I was really scared that Sean had you…” Nick looked down at Ashley suddenly worried. He knows Ashley well enough now that he knows exactly what upsets her and what makes her happy. And Ashley, who he knows is still holding a huge grudge on Kori, is fighting with herself not to yell at Kori and cry, and say exactly what’s been on her mind for the past five years. He knows just by looking at Ashley that Kori had just hit a nerve.
“Wow, suddenly you care.” Ashley replied sarcastically.
“I never stopped caring about you, Ashley.” Kori replied, remaining calm.
“Oh yeah? Is that why you ran away and deserted me? What about mom and dad…did you care about them too? Where were you when mom and dad were murdered Kori? Where were you when I had to suffer that all on my own?”
“I didn’t know that they were murdered until yesterday,” Kori answered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“That’s right, you didn’t! Because you ran away and deserted us without so much as a single good-bye! And I HATE YOU for that! When mom and dad were murdered I was left by myself with no other family to turn to!” Ashley replied angrily, tears rolling down her own cheeks.
“Y-you don’t understand Ashley...I had to run away. I had to…if I stayed here Sean would’ve murdered me!”
“Yeah, and look how that turned out. He didn’t murder you, instead he murdered the next two people in the house who had nothing to do with whatever it is you’ve got going on between you and Sean! And then when they murdered our parents, I was the only person around so he lured me into living with him. And since I was so young and desperate for someone to take care of me, I agreed to it! And he beat me up and raped me for the past five years because I was your little sister, because I was important to you!”
“Don’t you think that I feel bad enough without you yelling at me and making me feel even more guilty then I already do? I DO still care about you, Ashley! I came all the way back here to rescue you, didn’t I? I thought that you were in trouble so I came back and got my ass kicked to save you! So don’t you stand there and tell me that I don’t care when I do!”
“Well, it’s better late than never I guess.” Ashley replied bitterly, and she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away from Kori. Suddenly the door to the room opened and a nurse peeked in. Nick, Ashley, and Kori all looked at her.
“Nick Doctor Johnson told me to come get you. He needs you to go and take a look at Dakota’s x-ray results.”
“Okay,” Nick replied. “I will be right there. He’s just down the hall right?”
“Yeah, two doors down across the hall.”
“Okay,” Nick replied, and the lady walked out of the room shutting the door behind her again. Nick looked down at Ashley who looked at him.
“Come on Nick, let’s go.” She said, feeling eager to get away from her sister who she is about ready to disown. Too much anger has been built up in her for so long she is not ready to forgive her yet.
“Honey I think that you should stay in here and talk to Kori.”
“Kori who?” Ashley asked indifferently. Nick sighed.
“Come on Ash…please don’t do this. You need to talk to your sister. I know you’re angry at her right now but if you don’t get it all out now and listen to each other it’s never going to get better.”
“Nick…please don’t leave me in here all alone, please. I can’t do this without you…” Ashley begged through tears.
“You will be just fine baby, I promise. I will just be two doors down and will come running in a heartbeat if anything happens. She is your sister Ashley…and you can’t tell me that you don’t love her because I know that you do. Family is the most important thing in your life and she is all you have. So hold onto her…” Nick reassured her, and he leaned down and gave her a quick but passionate kiss before turning and walking out of the room to go see what’s wrong with his baby girl. Ashley scowled after him before turning around and looking at her sister who still lay in the bed and was looking at her with tears falling from her own eyes at Ashley’s harsh words. She knows what she did wrong and she knew Ashley was going to hate her but it still hurts her to hear her say those words. Ashley went over and sat on the floor leaning up against the wall wanting to distance herself from Kori as much as possible but she could still see her and Kori could see her also. Ashley hugged her legs to her chest and she rested her chin on her knee as she tried so hard not to let herself cry.
“I’m sorry Ashley… I’m really truly sorry… and I know that, that doesn’t add up to all of the mistakes I’ve made in the past but just know that I am and that I love you and I never stopped.”
“Then WHY did you run away, Kori? Why did you leave me and mom and dad? Why did it take five years for you to come running back and only when you thought that I was in trouble?”
“I ran away because I had to. I was in trouble Ashley…big trouble. If I had stayed Sean would’ve murdered me. I was involved with some very bad people and I made some very wrong choices when I was younger. That is why I never let you hang out with me and my friends. I never let you be apart of that because I was trying to protect you. When things got bad I ran away because I didn’t want you, mom, and dad to get involved. I thought that I was protecting you. I lived five years of my life thinking that you all were safe!”
“You could’ve stuck around Kor… you could’ve warned mom and dad about Sean so that we could get the police involved and none of this would’ve ever happened!”
“It wasn’t that easy… I have my own share of things that I’ve done wrong Ash… if the police were involved I would’ve gotten in huge trouble too.”
“Like what? What could you have possibly done that would get you in so much trouble? Isn’t it better to face your punishment instead of having to run your whole life?” Kori fell silent at Ashley’s question. What did she do wrong? A lot…is she willing to reveal that part of her life that she had tried so hard to move on from over the past five years? That she doesn’t know. Could she still get into trouble for it after all these years if she told? She can’t afford to do jail time. She has a son to take care of who she loves more then life. She had done everything in her power to forget about her past demons and become a better person for her and her son, and now this happened.
“Kori?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. It was the past Ashley…I couldn’t afford to do jail time. Just leave it at that.”
“Yeah well because of your stupid mistakes from the past Mom and Dad are dead.” Ashley replied, her voice cracking as she tried once again not to cry but it didn’t work out so great. “And that Kori, I can never forgive you for.” She added, and she got up and stormed out of the room. She went down the hall to the room Nick said he’d be in and she walked in to find Doctor Johnson putting a cast on Dakota’s arm. It turns out that Josh had broken it. Nick and Doctor Johnson looked at her to find her standing there crying.
“Ashley? What’s the matter what happened?” Nick immediately asked. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her to him and she buried her face on his shoulder finally letting all of her emotions pour out.
“I hate her Nick! I hate her so much! She killed my parents, because of her stupid mistakes from the past our parents had to die! Because of her I can’t have my mom and dad anymore and it’s not fair! It’s…it’s not fair!” Nick hugged her close and he rubbed his hand over her back. “She could’ve warned us and then maybe we could’ve prevented it from happening but instead she ran away to save her own ass! I HATE her Nick!” She exclaimed, and she dropped to her knees on the floor sobbing. Nick sat down in front of her and he pulled her into a hug. He sat there holding her and just letting her get it all out. “Why did they have to suffer? Why did they have to die? It’s not fair…I miss them so much.”
“Honey Kori didn’t know that Sean was going to murder your parents. She was long gone already she had no idea that it was going to happen. You can’t really blame her… she didn’t run away to save her own ass, she ran away thinking she was saving yours and your parents.”
“But it was because of Kori that Sean and his friends were even in our house that morning Nick…they wanted Kori not my mom and dad…they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and we had no warning! No warning at all because Kori decided to bail out on us.”
“I’m sure that if she knew it was going to happen she would’ve warned you. Think about it this way Ashley…her heart was in the right place. Maybe not her mind…but that happens when you’re panicking… sometimes people just don’t see the bigger picture.” Ashley didn’t reply, she only looked up at Nick sniffling. He wiped away her tears with his finger and tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear.
“She was in big trouble…so she went into panic mode just like anyone would’ve done. All she could think about was that she needed to get away fast and she needed to protect her family from it. She was willing to run away to protect you, her sister that she loves so much. She loves you Ashley…I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you. She missed you. And I know she feels terrible about what happened to her parents I know she misses them just as much as you, and I’m sure it must be pretty painful that she just found out about it yesterday. And even more painful that she wasn’t there to stop it, or that she wasn’t there to protect you from falling into the hands of Sean and Doctor Adams. That is a lot of guilt to live through for the past five years…I know you’re angry and upset with her but I think you should at least consider those things.”
“I don’t want to go back in there Nick…I don’t even want to look at her right now…please don’t make me…”
“I’m not going to make you do anything you don’t want to do. You can go in and talk to her when you’ve calmed down and are ready. Okay? She’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
“Don’t be so sure about that…she could just up and leave in the middle of the night without anyone knowing about it.” Ashley replied grudgingly.
“I don’t think she will this time sweetie. She has grown up and matured quite a bit. She’s not that same 13 year old anymore, and she really wants to make things right with you.”
“Plus she’s still very sore right now and couldn’t move even if she wanted to.” Doctor Johnson added, as he still tended to Dakota. Nick turned his attention back on Ashley and she looked up at him again. She wrapped her arms around his waist and scooted closer to him and he placed his hand to her cheek and leaned down and kissed her lips softly. When he pulled away he looked into her watery eyes as he caressed her cheek.
“Everything’s going to be okay…you’ll see. It’s just going to take some time is all.” She then rested her head against his shoulder and he kissed her forehead as he rubbed her back.
“What’s wrong with Kota?” she asked softly a few minutes later. “Why is my favorite little girl wearing a cast?”
“Josh broke her arm…” Nick answered, looking at Dakota sadly. “I’ve made it a mission of mine to figure out why he is the way he is. I need to know so that I can put a stop to this constant bullying. It’s gone way too far.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile out on the playground over at the Orphanage, Brian walked out there with Riley and he noticed Josh shooting hoops over on the basketball courts. He looks like he is still very grumpy from his punishment he received earlier. He then walked over to him but stood a few feet away not letting his presence be known as he watched him. He seemed to be taking the anger out on the basketball. The more he missed the hoop the angrier he became. After a few moments of watching him, Brian spoke up.
“Maybe if you calmed down a little, it might be easier to play.” He told him gently. Josh turned around to see who was talking to him, and he saw Brian standing there. He glared at him.
“I don’t need advice from any stupid Backstreet Boy, thank-you. Especially Backstreet Boys who are uncles to bratty Dakota.”
“Hmm…well that’s pretty much all of us.”
“Exactly,” Josh replied, and he turned his attention back on what he was doing. Brian went over and grabbed another basketball and he walked over to the same basketball hoop and he began to throw his ball up there too, forcing Josh to share it. Josh scowled at him, but since he’s an adult and one of his caregivers, he can’t do anything about it.
“You know Josh, I’ve been wondering. If you think Kota is so bratty…and hate her so much why is it that you take the time out of your precious life to pester her? When she doesn’t do anything at all to provoke you? Like today for instance…Kota was minding her own business. She wasn’t bugging you at all. All she was doing was playing a game with her new friend. Then you came a long and bullied her like you always do.“ Brian questioned, as he stood there dribbling his basketball. Josh looked up at Brian with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, Josh. I know you didn’t volunteer to play Ninja Turtles with them. I know when my niece is telling the truth or not, and I know you would never be caught dead playing with ‘bratty’ little Dakota. Right? But that doesn’t mean you didn’t deserve the punishment you got. You still harassed them. You still started it. So whatever they did that caused you to land at the bottom of the slide…I’m sorry but you had it coming to you. So my question is this… why? If you hate her so much, why do you even bother with her? Wouldn’t you want to ignore her? If you hate her so much, you would be off playing somewhere else and your constant concern wouldn’t be about what Dakota is doing. So it makes me think Josh….that maybe deep down inside you secretly like her. Am I getting closer at finding a piece to the Josh-Puzzle here? And just maybe you might want to be her best friend too. But you’re afraid you can‘t be because she has Elenore now and so you‘re a little jealous of Elenore. And that’s what makes you act so horrible toward her now. She means a great deal to Dakota, so picking on Elenore is another way to get Dakota‘s attention. Cause correct me if I‘m wrong here Josh…but the other night when Elenore first attacked you, wasn‘t it because you had come over to see who Elenore was? When you saw that Dakota was extremely happy and having so much fun, you just had to come over and see why. Didn‘t you?”
“Don’t be stupid! I will never like Dakota!” Josh replied, suddenly becoming angry once more.
“I’m not so sure if I believe that, buddy. The five stages to acceptance are Denial, Anger, bargaining, and then acceptance. You’ve just gotten through both step 1, and step 2. You’ve denied you like her and you’re pretty angry with me right about now.”
“I do NOT like her! Why do you think I pick on her so much? Its to show her that I hate her.”
“Really? Well I think it’s because you’re afraid to show how you really feel. So to cover up for it, you bully her.”
“Well you don’t know what you’re talking about, obviously. You’re very stupid…”
“If you say so Josh. But you know…your secret is safe with me. I won’t tell her that you secretly like her. That is if you are willing to make a deal with me in return.”
“I am not going to make any deal with you, because I DON’T like her!”
“Really? So then you don’t mind if I tell her that you’re crushing on her big time? And you think that she is so beautiful and you want to hold hands with her, and be her best friend? If I tell her that, it won’t phase you at all in the least bit?”
“Nope, because I DON’T like her.”
“Hmm. Okay,” Brian replied. “Then I guess I’m going to have to go find my niece and tell her all about your undying love for her that you secretly have and won’t confess to me.” He then put his basketball down and started to walk away toward the Orphanage door. Josh stood there staring at him for a moment. He wouldn’t really tell her would he? Tell Dakota all of his deepest feelings that he has tried his very hardest to keep to himself. Yes, it’s true. He is totally crushing on Dakota and it kills him that Elenore is her best friend and not him. He didn’t mean to hurt Dakota as much as he did. He got so caught up in provoking Elenore he wasn’t paying attention to his own strength. He even didn’t mean to start such a big fight with Elenore either. She attacked him first he was just defending himself and got carried away.
“Okay, okay stop!” Josh quickly called after him. Brian smirked and stopped where he was. He turned and looked at Josh.
“Yes?”
“Don’t…don’t tell her that. It’s not true! But just don’t tell her…I wouldn’t want her to go getting the wrong ideas and start crushing on me or anything! That would be gross!”
“Oh, but of course.” Brian replied, playing along. “Girl cooties and everything, right?”
“Exactly…cooties. So…so I will make the deal with you…. Just don’t tell her.” Brian grinned.
“Alrighty then, I want you to go upstairs to your room and get Ellie’s Ninja Turtles out from under your bed and give them back to her. She is missing them very much. And I would like you to apologize to her and Dakota for hurting them this morning too. Do we have a deal?” Josh looked at Brian in shock. Brian rolled his eyes.
“Yes Josh, I even know that too. Not too much gets past Uncle Brian here. I see all, hear all, and know all. I even have eyes in the back of my head too. I watched you go into Elenore’s room, take her Ninja Turtles, and hide them in your own room this morning when Riley sent you up there. When she found them gone she was very upset. She’s up there right now crying in Kevin’s arms. So I would appreciate it if you went and gave them back now. You do that and Dakota will never know about our little secret unless you tell her yourself. Got it?”
“Yes sir…” Josh replied softly, and he dropped his basketball on the ground, before walking past Brian and going toward the door to the building. Brian followed him and he took Riley’s hand as he followed Josh inside.
“Wow…that was very smart of you. I’m impressed,” Riley told him quietly as they trailed behind Josh. Brian smirked. “How come I’ve never seen the eyes in the back of your head before?”
“Cause they’re top secret. They only come out when they sense something fishy going on.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
