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Chapter Two-Hundred-Fifty-One



“Looks Kevy! I’m the bubble queen,” Elenore announced, looking up at Kevin and grinning, as she is covered in bubbles from head to toe. Kevin laughed.


“Yup, you sure are.” She giggled and got her hands full of bubbles, and then she stood up to reach him and he automatically reached out and gently grabbed hold of her so she don’t slip and she covered his chin with bubbles and giggled even more.


“Now you looks like Santa Claus!” she chirped.


“Oh goody, now I can really be his helper.” Elenore beamed.


“Which means you hafta helps him bring me sai. Funny how that works out, huh Kevy?” Jerald laughed out loud at this and Kevin shook his head amused.


“Okay you little smart ass…sit down before you fall and crack your head open,” he told her while helping her sit down. “We don’t have time for hospital trips tonight, capeesh?”


“Capeesh,” she agreed, giggling some and she grabbed up her rubber ducky in the palm of her hands and looked up at him smiling. He chuckled.


“Everybody’s favorite bath time duck.”


“After Donalds of course.”


Of course.”


“He can be Donald’s cousin.”


“Just like you and Josh, right?”


“Yes, excepts Donald an’ bath time ducky aren’t as close as Joshy an’ me.”


“And why not?” Jerald questioned, Elenore looked at him and shrugged.


“Does bath time duck have a name, or are we just going to call him bath time duck?” Kevin asked amused. Elenore looked down at the yellow rubber duck in her hand thoughtfully for a few moments, before looking back at Kevin.


“Ronald. His name is Ronald Duck.” Jerald smirked.


“Donald and Ronald. Makes sense.”


“Mhm,” Elenore agreed, and she smiled up at Kevin.


“Kevy can you makes duck voices likes Brian can?”


“I’m afraid not kid. That’s more of his thing.”


“Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…” came Brian’s voice in his Donald Duck impression suddenly. Elenore whipped her head around shocked, just on time to see Brian enter the bathroom.


“Brian!” Elenore exclaimed cheerfully.


“Hiya toots!” Brian greeted again using Donald’s voice and she giggled. “What’s the big idea?!”


“Boy Ellie, you get an entire party to join you at bath time,” Jerald laughed.


“Well, the kid was asking for Donald, so I gave her Donald.” Elenore giggled.


“Looks Brian, my Kevy is Santa Claus’ helper an’ he’s gonna helps Santa bring me sai,” she announced, pointing to Kevin’s bubble beard. Brian chuckled.


“I see that.” Elenore stood up then and before Kevin could protest and tell her to sit back down, she wrapped her arms around him snuggling into him and Kevin chuckled and hugged her back.


“Well miss bubble queen, how about we get you washed up?”


“I don’ts wanna gets out, we still hafta play,” Elenore whined somewhat.


“I never said anything about getting out young lady, I just said we should get you washed up,” Kevin replied calmly and he grabbed up a wash cloth and began making it soapy. Jerald, who had turned his camera off a long time ago, gently grabbed hold of Brian and pulled him out of the bathroom and back out to the sitting room. He knows they should give Kevin some time alone with his little girl as he knows he has some making up to do.


~*~*~*~*~


Meanwhile in Howie and AJ’s penthouse, AJ lay on the couch with his laptop on his stomach as he chats with Brooke on yahoo messenger and Laila lay across his legs watching cartoons. Ryan is lying on the floor drawing and Howie was lying next to him, handing him crayons every once in awhile while quietly watching him. For the past couple of hours he had been designing the slight changes he would be making whenever he was allowed to take over his father’s library – the changes he knows his father had been planning on making. He would never make a change otherwise, because then he would be screwing up a memory that he knows and loves very much.


“Howie?” he asked softly after awhile.


“Yeah buddy?”


“When we get back to Florida…could we maybe go visit the library?”


“Absolutely. Just remind me okay? Being a Backstreet Boy and all, I tend to get caught up in all of the chaos going on around me and sometimes need to be reminded that I’ve made promises. So can you do that? If I don’t bring it up right away, you remind me.”


“Kay,” Ryan replied and Howie smiled at him some. “How about you, Laila, and I go out for some dinner?”


“What about AJ?” Ryan asked curiously, glancing over at the man he was slowly learning to love and he for the first time ever looked away from his conversation with Brooke.


“I have a feeling he wants to stay here. Am I right?”


“Absolutely,” AJ grinned, glancing toward his webcam that sat safely in his bag and Howie rolled his eyes.


“I’ll bring something back for you. I think I’m gonna take them to Peter Piper – that okay with you?”


“Yup, sounds good. Just take Marcus with you please…if he isn’t busy with Ashley. I want him to help you with Laila.”


“Okay.”


“Call me before you come back. Like before you’re even in the lobby.” Howie raised his eyebrow.


“Alexander James…I think Marcus should stay behind and baby sit you!”


“Nah, he should go with you. Laila is no Ellie, but she can still be a handful when she wants to be. Trust me D, you’ll need him.”


“Laila handfuls,” Laila repeated, looking at AJ curiously and AJ nodded, looking at Howie.


“See? She agrees! Have fun D.” Howie rolled his eyes.


“I honestly think he should stay with you.”


“He’ll just be bored…really bored,” AJ insisted, and Howie scowled and was about to argue when his cell phone rang interrupting him. He pulled it form his pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and saw that it says ‘Lindsey’ on it. He looked at Ryan.


“Ryan buddy, go get your shoes on and we’ll go. Take your sister and help her okay? Make sure the both of you put hoodies on.”


“Okay,” Ryan replied, and he got up and reached his hand out for Laila.


“Come on Laila,” he ordered gently. Laila took hold of his hand and allowed him to help her up off of the couch releasing AJ’s almost numb legs and he took her to his bedroom just as Howie flipped open his phone and placed it to his ear.


“Hello?” He spoke into it, and he walked out of the hotel room so he wouldn’t be over heard.


“Hey…it’s me…” Lindsey replied, and just by the tone of her voice he can tell she is crying.


“What’s the matter?” he asked concerned.


“I really do love my kids Howie,” she insisted firmly, wanting to make him understand. Howie sighed heavily.


“I know you do Linz…”


“Then you have to know that you can’t take them from me.”


“I don’t want to take them from you,” Howie reassured. “I want you to get better and come get them from me…really bad. I mean, I love them very much they’re amazing kids and they really brighten up my life. But they belong with their mother. I’m not going to take them from you.”


“You promise?” Lindsey sniffled.


“I didn’t mean to upset you as bad as I did, I was just trying to get you to see how serious the situation is.”


“But you promise?” Lindsey persisted, needing to hear him say it.


“Come get them from me Lindsey, they’re all yours. Like I said…only you can get them back.” Lindsey remained silent. “Okay?” he asked when she didn’t answer him.


“Kay…”


“I’m gonna start visiting you without the kids on a regular basis. I’ll still bring them in to visit you but I’m going to make separate visits without them…to kind of encourage you to get better. Would that be okay?”


“If you promise not to act like a jerk.” Howie couldn’t help but chuckle a little.


“I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”


“Well as long as you try.”


“Are you feeling any better now?”


“A little…”


“Good I’m glad. But I really need to go now okay? I promised the kids I would take them out for pizza and I’m kind of on a tight schedule today. We’re having an early dinner.”


“Is that show of yours going on tonight? The Jingle Ball?”


“Mhm. It’s going to be on Television…you should watch it. You just might see one or more of your kids sometime in the middle of it.”


“I’ll see what I can do. I don’t exactly have my own TV though, so I might have to talk a few other patients into handing it over when the time comes.”


“It starts at seven.”


“Okay.”


“But anyway, I really have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”


“Kay, bye.”


“Take care of yourself Lindsey,” Howie replied seriously, and he hung up the phone, slipped it back in his pocket and he opened the door and stepped back in to find Ryan standing in the living room and AJ zipping Laila’s hoodie up.


“What did momma want?” Ryan asked instantly. Howie narrowed his eyes at AJ, and AJ shrugged innocently.


“Don’t look at me, I didn’t say a thing. The kid just knows, D. He’s not dumb.”


“I know he’s not dumb, J.” Howie sighed, and he looked at Ryan again.


“She was upset and just needed some cheering up. I took care of it.”


“Why was she upset?” Howie thought about this answer for a moment. When it took him a moment to answer, Ryan narrowed his eyes.


“What did you do?” He accused.


“I wasn’t very nice this morning…but I apologized and everything is good now.” The look on Ryan’s face softened then…but only a little bit.


“You be nice to my Momma,” he ordered sternly. Howie chuckled slightly.


“I don’t mean to be mean, I just tend love you and Laila very much and tend to get pretty defensive when I feel things aren’t going well for the two of you. I’m sorry Ryan, can you forgive me?”


“Is she feeling better now?”


“For the most part yes.”


“Then I forgive you,” Ryan replied lightly.


“Well thank-you buddy, that means a lot,” he replied while grinning some and he looked at Laila who was sitting comfortably in AJ’s lap. He walked across the room to him then and held his arms out for Laila.


“Come on Laila, lets go bye-bye,” he told her gently and AJ gladly handed her over, Howie noticing slight irritation in his eyes – an irritation that has nothing to do with Laila, but something entirely different. Howie narrowed his eyes at him and mouthed the word ‘behave’ before grabbing Ryan’s hand, Laila’s diaper bag and leaving the room with them shutting the door behind them. AJ jumped up from the couch then and he ran over to the door, locked it, and then dove toward his bag, hurrying to get his webcam out. He had told Brooke to make sure she had hers on because he would be seeing her soon. When he had it all hooked up, he turned it on and beamed when he saw his beautiful girlfriend sitting at her desk working on some papers.


“Hey love,” he spoke in his raspy voice, making Brooke flinch slightly, as she totally wasn’t paying attention.


“Holy shit Aje…don’t do that.” AJ chuckled.


“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he told her sincerely. “What are you up to?”


“Work, as usual.”


“Well, I can take your mind off of that,” he told her, wriggling his eyebrows at her and she narrowed hers.


“Forget it.”


“Aw, come on Brookie you can’t do this to me – not after the way you were teasing me in yahoo conversations. It’s hardly fair.”


“I’m at work, Alex.”


“So? Riley and Brian do it at work all the time. Just lock your door.”


“I’m not ready to go that far in our relationship, Alex. You know that,” Brooke replied softly, and AJ could hear the slight fear in her voice.


“It’s not like I’ll be touching you. It’s digital sex. Completely harmless.” Brooke bit her lip nervously.


“Come on baby…I love you. You know I wouldn’t hurt you – even if I was there.”


“I’ve never had digital sex before…let alone real sex since Thadius stole my virginity from me. I wouldn’t know what to do…” she admitted softly.


“I’ll lead you through it.”


“Because you’ve done it so many times before and are expert at it right?” She asked, snapping slightly, as she is nervous. AJ gave her a ‘do I have to answer that’ look and she sighed.


“I’m sorry,” she replied quietly.


“No, I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t pressure you,” he admitted gently, and she noticed the pout on his face and couldn’t help but feel a tingly sensation rush through her, as she has always thought it was sexy when he pouted like that.


“Lock your door,” she told him softly.


“Are you sure?” he asked raising his eyebrow. “Brooke we don’t have—“


“--Lock your door.”


“Already done.”


~*~*~*~*~*~


“Where is Brian?” Josh questioned, when he walked out of his and Elenore’s room and found only Riley and Harry there.


“He went down the hall for a little bit with Jerald. He’ll be back,” Riley answered.


“Kevin and Ellie?”


“Finishing up their bath.”


“Oh,” Josh replied softly.


“Anything I can help you with?” Riley asked gently, and Josh shrugged.


“I’m hungry,” he answered, shuffling his feet in the carpet.


“I think Bri is planning on ordering Panda Express when he gets back. Can you wait that long?”


“I guess so,” he shrugged again. He was silent for a few moments. “I can’t find my Donald Duck. I think Ellie might have done something with it, because she had it last.”


“Want me to help you find it?” Josh looked at her for a few moments in silence, considering her question, and then he nodded quietly before turning back to his room. Riley smiled some and got up and followed him.