Chapter Twenty-Three
When Brian, Riley, and Josh got up to the floor that Josh and the girl’s rooms are on Josh led the way to his room. When they got there he went in there and knelt down and pulled Elenore’s Ninja Turtles out from under the bed. He held them out to Brian but Brian shook his head.
“No way dude, the deal was that you give them back to her yourself and apologize.” Josh scowled, than he walked out of the room and across the hall to Elenore’s and Brian and Riley followed. When they got in there they found Kevin sitting on the bed with Elenore cradled in his lap and the two of them are watching the Disney Channel.
“Here Elenore…I took them from you…. I-I’m sorry,” Josh said, and he placed the Ninja Turtle action figures onto her bed. Elenore scooped them up into her arms and hugged them close to her.
“Thanks Josh…” She replied softly.
“And don’t you have something else you need to say?” Brian questioned. Josh groaned.
“And I’m sorry for giving you a bloody nose this morning too…” Just then Nick and Ashley walked into the room, Ashley holding Dakota so that she is rested on her right hip. Everybody looked at them and Riley raised her eyebrow at the cast on Dakota’s arm.
“What happened??” She asked in shock.
“Josh broke her arm when they were fighting this morning,” Nick explained, looking at Josh with a not-so-happy expression but he didn’t say anything. Brian turned to Josh again.
“Josh? I think this would be a good time to apologize to Kota too.” Josh looked down at the ground, his hands in his pockets.
“I don’t wanna…” he spoke softly.
“Hmm…okay that’s fine. But you do remember our deal right?” Josh suddenly looked up at Dakota.
“I-I’m sorry that I hurt you Dakota…I didn’t mean to break your arm. I got caught up in the moment and wasn’t paying attention to my own strength…” and with that, Josh hurried on past Ashley, Nick, and Dakota and stormed out of the room. Brian noticed as he left that tears were building up in his eyes. Nick, Kevin, and Ashley were all looking at Brian confused now.
“What’s up with him? What deal did you make with him, Bri?” Kevin questioned.
“Come out into the hall with me and I will tell you. Leave Kota and Elenore in here.” Kevin looked down at Elenore.
“I will just be out in the hall sweetie. Can you sit in here and watch Disney with Dakota? I bet she could sure use the company of her best friend right now.” Elenore nodded. Kevin sat her down on the bed and got up. Ashley sat Dakota next to Elenore and then turned to Nick. He took her hand and brought her out in the hall with him and he shut the door behind him.
“So what’s going on Bri?”
“Josh has a crush on Dakota,” Brian answered, being sure to stay quiet so that Elenore and Dakota couldn’t possibly over hear them.
“What?? But how do you figure that? He’s completely rotten to her.” Nick asked, not believing that for a second.
“That’s exactly how six year old boys act toward girls when they’re completely infatuated by them. They’re still so young they don’t know any other way to express their feelings. He’s mean to Kota to get her attention. And now Ellie because she’s important to Kota and he‘s a little jealous of her too because she‘s best friends with Dakota and he‘s not.”
“I can see what you mean, but how did you figure this out?” Kevin asked his cousin, looking at him impressed.
“Easy, I just put myself in a six year old’s shoes. Like Nick, I too so badly wanted to know what made Josh want to bully Dakota all the time. So ever since the incident in the playroom when Elenore stuck up for Dakota I paid very close attention to Josh. Like you guys, he never even knew that I was watching him. Listening to him talk to all of his friends. They ALL know about his little crush and are surprisingly very supportive of it too. Normally boys that age would find it hilarious and want to pick on their friend for having a crush on a girl but Josh has some pretty good friends. Today when Riley sent Josh up to his room I was up there waiting for him but I was hidden so he couldn’t see me. I watched him sneak into Elenore’s room, take her Ninja Turtles, and go back in his room and hide them. I also watched him go into yours and Dakota’s room, Nick. He was headed for her toys to take something from her as well but then got distracted by the picture of the two of you on your nightstand. He sat there and stared at the picture of Dakota for five minutes. He is completely infatuated by her.”
“But I still don’t get it…he is completely rotten to her. Crush or not…I’ve never seen any boy pick on a girl that badly. And what about this morning? He gave Elenore a bloody nose. How do you explain that?”
“Well…um…I’m not supposed to know this, and I don’t blame the two of them for lying so don’t go in there and get them in trouble for it okay?” Brian started. “Josh didn’t agree to play Ninja Turtles with them. The two of them were playing on their own quite nicely and I’m assuming Josh may have gone up to Dakota and started picking on her. Elenore got mad and stood up for Kota again…and the two of them got into a huge fight and that was how he ended up at the bottom of the slide.”
“And so Elenore just told us that Josh agreed to play? Wow…sneaky little one…” Kevin commented.
“Yeah, I believe Josh has met his match. She is just as tough as him, just as tall as him, and not afraid to stand up to him either. I think he’s beginning to see he can’t bully her the way he does to Kota or he’ll get his butt kicked by a girl. AND she knows how to do it and not get in trouble too.”
“It kind of surprises me that she is so tough. Cause you know she kind of came to this Orphanage all fragile and scared. It’s kind of weird to see her beat up on Josh.”
“I think it comes with living with parents who abused her for the past five years. It’s made her tough but at the same time scared and cautious. She also loves Kota anyone can see that. She’ll do anything to protect her new and only friend.”
“Anyway…how is Kori doing Nick? Is she awake yet?” Riley asked, looking at Nick as he stood behind Ashley with his arms wrapped around her waist and she’s leaning back against him with her head rested against his shoulder and he has his forehead rested against hers.
“Yeah she’s awake now. She’s a little sore but she’s going to live. Ashley got to go in and see her…there little reunion didn’t start out so great but Ashley has promised me that as soon as she calms down she’s going to give it another try.”
“Well that’s good that she’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah.”
"Kevyyyyy.....?" they suddenly heard Elenore call from inside the room. Kevin groaned.
“I love the girl to death but for some reason she’s being very clingy today - more so then usual.”
“Maybe it has something to do with the fight that her and Josh had this morning. Kota did say he was telling her lies about you.” Kevin sighed, than he opened the door and walked inside with everyone following and they found the two girls sitting on the bed looking back at them.
“Yes little miss?” he asked gently, and she smiled up at him shyly.
“I wants you,” she told him and despite his grumpiness toward Josh right now he grinned at the little girl in front of him. She is definitely very special to him. He then went over and sat next to her on the bed and he pulled her gently into his lap.
“So what are you and my favorite niece watching, eh?”
“Winnie The Pooh,” Dakota answered happily as Riley, Brian, Nick and Ashley also sat on the bed. Nick pulled Dakota into his lap and kissed her forehead affectionately.
“So I guess having a night picnic on the beach tonight and playing in the waves is out of the question since Kota is wearing a cast, huh?” Brian asked disappointedly.
“Doctor Johnson put a waterproof cast on her. I asked him to incase I wanted to take her swimming or something. Why? Were you planning on taking Kota on a night picnic and for a swim in the waves?” Nick asked curiously.
“Well I told Riley that you, Kevin, the rest of the guys and I would take her out tonight so that we could help her get her mind off things and stuff. But she said if Ashley comes a long it would have to be 17 year old appropriate. So I told her that she could just leave that up to me and I would find something that you could even take Dakota to - and Kevin could bring Elenore. So I was thinking maybe we could go to one of those beaches that has an area to build a fire at and we can sit and relax and have a good time and stuff.”
“Well we could always go to my ‘house’ and use the beach that I own. It has a place to build a fire at and we could avoid running into fans that way too.” Nick offered, and he looked at Ashley at the last part. He took her hand into his and kissed it softly and Dakota beamed happily at the small show of affection between her daddy and Ashley. “We could make it a barbeque and stuff and make Kevin cook us dinner on my grill,” he added, smirking at the older man beside him. Kevin rolled his eyes.
“It’s your house, why do I have to cook?”
“Cause you all know that I’m not the greatest at it.”
“Then why do you even own the grill in the first place?” Riley asked, highly amused.
“So that Kevin can cook for us,” Nick answered simply and Ashley giggled. Nick looked at her and grinned and he squeezed her hand gently.
“And I suppose next your going to tell me that I’m gonna have to go shopping for this supposed barbeque I’m cooking huh? Cause since you’ve been living here ever since you got back from tour there isn’t anything to eat there, is there.”
“Nope,” Nick answered. Kevin rolled his eyes.
“Oye vey.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Later on that day when it was time for Riley, Brian, and Nick to clock out at 6:30 at night they made plans for Kevin to go grocery shopping and he would take Elenore with him. As they were getting ready to leave Josh who was waiting in line to go into the cafeteria for dinner looked at them suspiciously. Where were Elenore and Dakota going now? He then walked over to Dakota.
“And just where are you going?” he asked, making sure to stand so that he was practically in her face. Dakota shrunk back a little intimidated by him. Elenore saw this and pushed herself between them so that she was standing in front of her.
“How is that any of your business?”
“Tell me where you’re going. Now!” Josh demanded.
“If you really must knows, we’re goin’ to have dinner at Nicky’s house. We’re goin’ to have a barbeque and plays on his beach.”
“You can come if you want you know.” Brian who had been watching the three of them from where he was standing a few feet away offered.
“Why would I wanna do something like that? As if I would hang out with a bunch of stupid Backstreet Boys and bratty little Dakota.”
“If you say so, man. But don’t say I didn’t offer it to you. Don’t go whining about how Dakota and Elenore get spoiled and such to all of your friends when I offered you to come a long and everything.” Josh rolled his eyes and turned around and he stalked off in a huff toward the line where his friends were standing and watching the entire thing. Elenore turned to Dakota who was frowning and still looked a little frightened. She wrapped her arm around her and walked off with her toward Nick. Brian hung back and listened in on what Josh and his friends had to say.
“Dude, why didn’t you go? You could’ve spent the whole evening with Kota.”
“Yeah and you would’ve gotten to eat barbeque food instead of the same old stuff we eat here every day.” another boy added.
“Are you guy’s crazy? Why would I want to spend the evening with her? She’s just a stupid girl after all.” Josh replied, and he walked away from his friends and went to go find someone else to talk to. His friends rolled their eyes as they watched him go.
“Yo earth to Rok! Are you coming or what?” Nick called after Brian.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming Nick. Chill out.” Brian replied, and he turned and walked over to the group taking Riley’s hand into his. He followed everybody outside.
“Uncle Brian why’d you invite Josh? All he does is pick on me.” Brian thought about his answer for a minute.
“So that he wouldn’t be able to complain about the fact that you and Ellie get to have all of the fun” Brian answered, as he scooped Dakota up into his arms so that she was rested on his right hip.
“Oh,” Dakota replied, and she rested her head against his shoulder.
“Besides, maybe he is lonely did you ever stop to think about that? Hmm?”
“Josh? Lonely? Nuh-uhs! He gots tons of friends. Until Ellie came it was the other ways around.”
“Just because he has tons of friends it doesn’t mean he isn’t lonely. Maybe he picks on you because he’s trying to get your attention.”
“Why would he wants to do that? I’m bratty little Dakota remember?”
“Yeah Bri, why would he want to do that?” Riley asked, interested in how he is going to answer that question without breaking his deal with Josh.
"Maybe he wants advice on how to get such a nice, Daddy," Brian replied quickly, as he set Dakota in the backseat to Nick’s car and buckled her up in her seatbelt. Kevin and Elenore got in Kevin’s car that was parked next to it and they went to the grocery store. Brian and Riley crawled into the two seats left in the back and Ashley sat in the front next to Nick.
“But he hates my daddy…he says that all the time.” Dakota replied, as Nick drove off headed for his ‘house’.
“He just wants to make you think that. But deep down inside he doesn’t.” Dakota sat there looking out the window in silence the entire ride to Nick’s house.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Hey Kori…how are you doing?” Doctor Johnson asked, as he walked into her room to find her sitting there, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared off into space and tears were streaming down her cheeks. She’s been sitting there all day hoping Ashley would come in and talk to her again, but she hasn’t and it’s beginning to really anger her.
“Where is my sister? What is she doing?” Was all Kori said.
“I believe she just left with Nick and a few friends to go have a barbeque at his house. She will be back later on tonight though.”
“Oh…”
“Please don’t be too angry with Ashley…be patient with her. She’ll come around you’ll see. She’s been through hell and back again since you’ve been gone and so it takes her a bit longer to trust people. It took a whole month before she trusted me even. Plus she has a lot of built up anger inside of her…and seeing you again made a lot of it come out all at once and she doesn’t know how to deal with it because she is so used to keeping it in. Ever since Nick came into her life she’s been expressing emotions she never thought she ever could. When she calms down she’ll be back… she loves you I know she does. For the past month that we’ve had her under our care - going on two we’ve learned that we just need to give her, her space and she’ll eventually come to us.”
“I’m not too angry with her…just a little upset. I mean I expected her to hate me…what I did - abandoning her like that was awful…I would hate me too. I made a lot of mistakes…A LOT of them…and I just hope that she can find it in her heart to forgive me some day.”
“Well, stick around Kori… just give her sometime to calm down and see that you aren’t going anywhere and that you have changed and really want fix things and she’ll eventually come to you. She doesn’t hate you at all… just very angry and upset.”
“Kay…” Kori replied softly.
“Is there anything that I can do for you in the mean time? To make your stay here more comfortable?”
“Can you call my friends in New Jersey? I miss my son…and I’m lonely.”
“You have a son?” Doctor Johnson asked confused, as Detective Stabler never mentioned this bit of information.
“Yeah…” Kori answered softly. “He’s five years old…and I left him with a friend. I really miss him.”
“Alright well I am going to need a number so that I can call them.” He told her, and he pulled a notepad from his pocket and opened it up to an empty page and he handed that to her as well as a pen. She wrote down the number.
“You have a TV in here…do you maybe want to watch some TV or something?” Kori nodded.
“Alright, well the buttons to the TV are right there on your bed,” he answered and he went over and showed her which ones. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. I’m going over to the Orphanage to get some dinner. Do you want me to bring you something? And maybe if you want I could sit in here and keep you company while we eat.”
“What are they having?”
“I don’t know, I think it’s Spaghetti night. They have breadsticks and stuff to go a long with it.”
“Yeah…that sounds good.”
“Alright. I’m just going to call your friends, then I will go over there to get it.”
“Thanks.” Doctor Johnson nodded, and he walked out of the room. Kori turned on her TV and she began to flip through the channels to find something to watch.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, Kevin is pushing Elenore around in a cart at the grocery store. She'd been quite excited when asked if she wanted to ride in one - she'd never been to a grocery store before - least, not without being dragged along harshly and yelled at, or left all alone in the car. Kevin smiled down at the little girl in front of him. He was making sure to include her in every decision he was making, as to make her feel helpful - which she seemed to be enjoying rather immensely.
"What's that?" Elenore asked suddenly, pointing to vegetable oil. "It a drink?" Kevin chuckled.
"No, Sweetie. It's cooking oil. You use it to make pizza and other things."
"Oh," Elenore said softly. "So, you don't eat it like that, right?"
"Right," Kevin agreed, pushing the cart along. "Would you like some cookies for later?"
"Really?" Elenore asked. "We can gets cookies?"
"Why, of course!" Kevin smiled. "Every picnic needs cookies! In fact, I insist!" Elenore giggled, as they made their way to the cookie aisle. Kevin made silly faces at her, as he turned into the cookie/snack aisle. "How about we get some stuff to make s'mores too."
"What're s'mores?" Elenore asked curiously. She'd never heard of them before.
"Well, in that case, we'd better get some s'mores stuff," Kevin stated. "You'll love them - trust me." Elenore flashed him a small smile, still kind of pondering the trust bit when it comes to him - because of Josh's words. While they were looking at all the stuff in the cookie/snack aisle, they were spotted by some fans, who had recognized Kevin almost immediately. Kevin glanced up when he thought he heard a squeal, and spotted four teenage girls running towards him excitedly. He sighed softly, but he smiled, as he was happy to see them - he just hadn't wanted Elenore to be exposed just yet.
"KEVIN!" The girls shrieked.
"Hi, ladies," Kevin replied, greeting them warmly. "How are you this evening?"
"GREAT!" They exclaimed.
"More so now that we've found you," one girl giggled.
"What can I do for you?" Kevin asked, remaining polite, as they were his fans and he loved them for that.
"Like, oh my gosh! Can we, like, have your, like, autograph?" Another girl questioned. "It'd, like, mean, like, the world to, like, us!" Kevin chuckled.
"Why, of course you may." Elenore watched silently from the cart, as Kevin took a pen from one of the girls and began to sign whatever object they decided to pass him.
"I'm Alanna," one girl stated. "And these are my friends, Alexis, Linda, and Candy."
"Nice to meet you all," Kevin grinned, handing Cindy back her bandana that she'd practically ripped off her head for him to sign.
"Like, who's, like, your, like, friend?" Linda wanted to know. "She's, like, really, like, cute!"
"Thanks!" Candy exclaimed, taking her bandana back and placing it back on her head once more - his autograph tucked safely on the inside of it. Kevin cast a sidelong look at Elenore, who was sitting quietly, watching him with her head cocked to the side and her thumb in her mouth. He'd never seen her suck her thumb in the few days he's known her, so he's a little surprised.
"This is...." Kevin began, only to be cut off by a small voice.
"Kevy?" Elenore squeaked around the thumb she'd placed firmly in her mouth. She had only recently turned five not too long ago. "Who are they?" Kevin smiled at her.
"They're my other fans, Honey. You know, just like you're a fan? Well, they're fans too."
"Oh...." Elenore said softly, reaching to grab the one bag of cookies they'd placed in the cart - which she hugged protectively with her free hand.
"Kevin, would you mind if we got pictures too?" Alexis asked. "Please? I've got my cell phone."
"Oooh! Get him to say something on video!" Alanna exclaimed. "Then we can show everybody!"
"Sure," Kevin smiled, enjoying himself, though keeping a sharp eye on little Elenore. The girls all took turns taking pictures with him and posing in different poses. They were having a grand old time, as Kevin was taking more time than necessary to make this moment quite memorable for them. Elenore watched silently, not liking the fact, that the older girls were hogging Kevin, one bit. Besides, weren't they supposed to be going to the beach? Or was that just something they'd said, so that they could up and leave her at the grocery store all by her lonesome? Maybe Kevin was going to go off with the bigger girls, because they were noisier than she was, and because they were prettier and nicer and not such babies. Maybe Josh was right - maybe Kevin really didn't care for her - maybe he only made believe that he did. She watched as he laughed along with the girls and posed for pictures, never once loosing his grin. Nor once having any of the girls let go of him - not if they could help it. She frowned around the thumb in her mouth, as he said something sweet as well as something funny for the girls to record on their video phones. He hadn't even introduced her - they'd asked, and he'd distracted them. Well, she'd show him! Elenore's face turned into a scowl, as she grabbed a food item she'd deemed less important - which happened to be the hot dog buns - and threw them to the floor as she began to scream. Soon, she was throwing all the non-important food items - so she deemed them - to the floor in a fit of rage and fear. She was scared he was going to up and leave her, and scared she now might be in big trouble - but she was also angry he was paying more attention to the bigger girls than her. Kevin whirled around in shock and worry when he heard the shrill scream come from behind him, as well as the sounds of food hitting the floor. He was quite surprised to see Elenore throwing a fit, midst throwing items in their cart to the floor. He watched for a moment, pondering just what to do about the situation he now seemed to be in. He cast the four girls an apologetic look, as he quickly made his way over to Elenore, carefully and gently grabbing hold of her hands, so that she could no longer throw items out of the cart.
"Ellie," he said softly, but firmly. "Ellie. Calm down, Sweetie." Elenore kicked at him, causing him to dodge her little feet quickly, as to not get kicked in the groin.
"Elenore!" Kevin exclaimed. "I'm right here. It's okay!" Elenore just kept on screaming and kicking, as she squirmed about, trying to free her hands of his firm grasp.
"Elenore Edna Reena Irene Elaina Ellerbee!" Kevin stated sternly, giving her a bit of a Look as well. "Enough!" Elenore paused briefly, staring at him in shock, wondering just how he knew her full name. She'd never told him, as she couldn't always remember all of it or pronounce it all correctly. "Relax, please," Kevin told her, knowing her full name as he'd read her files. "I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere without you." Elenore started to cry as she reached up for him, scared and seeking comfort, even if she feared she was in trouble now. Kevin sighed and lifted her up and out of the cart, and rocked her gently, as she sobbed into his shoulder. He was surprised to see the four girls he'd been conversing with, putting his things back into the cart for him. "Thank-you," he told them.
"No problemo," Alexis smiled. "You made our day, least we can do is help you get yours back on track."
"Like, what she, like, said!" Linda giggled, still awed by the fact that it was indeed the Kevin Scott Richardson of the Backstreet Boys, standing there before them. Kevin nodded, then resumed comforting Elenore. He decided they could discuss this outburst once at Nick's, so she'd hopefully remain calm for the rest of their shopping experience. Once everything was back in the cart - luckily, Elenore hadn't thrown any breakables or anything other than cookies that would crumble easy - the girls gave Kevin their phone numbers, just because, then went on their way as they were running late for dinner as well. Kevin sighed as he pushed the cart, while carrying Elenore, who'd put a death grip on him and refused to let go - her one thumb set firmly back in her mouth. Not too long after Elenore's outburst, Kevin placed the groceries and Elenore into his car - Elenore in a booster seat he'd had Howie get for him, in case he ever decided to take her out somewhere. He kissed her head softly, then closed the door, opening his and getting in right afterwards - she was sitting behind him so that they could keep eye contact via the rearview mirror. Elenore sat in her carseat, sucking her thumb and clutching a little stuffed yellow duck she'd managed to get in hopes of calming her down. She'd also gotten one just like it for Dakota - at Kevin's suggestion. Kevin smiled at her in the rearview mirror, then turned the music on, as he headed off to Nick's house for the barbeque that he was now late for.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
