Chapter Two-Hundred-Ninety-Six
Later on that evening, thirty minutes before everybody leaves for ZooLights, Jerald was walking around when he suddenly heard sniffling and hiccuping. He raised his eyebrow as those sniffles and hiccups sound mighty familiar. He walked backward to the room he heard it in, which just happens to be Kevin and Elenore’s and he poked his head inside. When he didn’t see anybody he went in further and suddenly heard it coming from the closet. He went over and pulled it open and when he did he discovered Elenore lying in the far corner curled up in a ball.
“Ellie…what is it? Whats the matter?” he questioned and he reached in and gently gathered her in his arms before pulling her out. He brought her over to the bed and sat down with her in his lap immediately making her wince as he sat her on her bottom. He raised his eyebrow at her.
“Does your bottom hurt, baby?” he asked confused, and Elenore shook her head. He looked at her for a couple of moments, before turning her over onto her stomach across his lap and he lifted her pink skirt up, pulled down her panties, and just as he suspected, there’s a big hand mark and her little bottom is bruising.
“What the hell…Ellie, who did this to you?” he asked, pulling her panties back up and he turned her around cradling her in his lap. “Was it Kevin?” Elenore shook her head quietly, as tears spilled down her damp cheeks. Jerald stared down at her confused. Who else could it have possibly been? He knows for a fact none of the other boys would do such a thing. They cant even punish their own kids in that way let alone someone else’s. But then again, he never thought his brother would be able to do such a thing either. But then there’s that temper of his…and lately he has been just barely hanging on to it by a very thin thread. Could he have snapped? What if she is just lying for him? Shaking his head, Jerald got up with her. He needs answers and he needs them now. Whoever spanked his niece is getting a beat down. She slid her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder and he carried her out of the room and off in the direction he had seen his brother in. Last he’d seen him; he was in the lobby helping Brooke get bright yellow shirts ready for all of the children. They’ve decided to color code their children so they won’t lose track of any of them and they plan on buying each of them glow sticks and such once they get there. When he got down there, Kevin glanced up when he heard the elevator open and he raised his eyebrow upon seeing his brother and little girl walk out.
“What the HELL is your problem Kevin Scott Richardson?!” Jerald roared, the moment he set eyes on his younger brother, glad that every single child is in the playroom and not in earshot of Jerald. He figures Ellie has heard and said every cuss word in the book that it is no use trying to use sensory in front of her.
“What do you mean what is my problem? What did I do? I’ve been down here the whole time!” Kevin scowled.
“You’re my problem. Now will you please not cuss in front of Ellie? I have a hard time getting her to stop doing it and she seems to like doing everything you do.”
“Surely you did not spank this little girl just because she loves me and wants to be with me, Kev!”
“I didn’t spank her…I would never spank a child in my life!”
“Oh yeah? Are you sure about that?” Jerald asked, looking into his eyes.
“Of course I wouldn’t!” Kevin snapped indignantly.
“Then where did this come from?” Jerald wanted to know, walking over to his little brother and pulling Elenore’s underwear back down so he could see her bruised bottom. Brooke gasped at the sight of it. Whoever spanked her didn’t just give her one swat on the butt. They really went to town. Jerald watched his brother’s eyes and when he saw the horror and shock in them, he immediately relaxed as he got his answer.
“I sure hope it wasn’t you Kevin, because you know how our family feels about spanking. Dad would give you an ear full if he were alive. I was prepared to do it for him just a moment ago.”
“I sure hope you know me better then to really think it was me,” Kevin replied, looking at Jerald again and feeling slightly hurt at the accusation. He would never hit Ellie in his life let alone spank her. He has a temper, but not that big of a temper. And if he ever did slip up and spank her, never would he do it this bad. Gently taking Elenore from Jerald he pulled her panties back up before squatting down on the ground and putting her in front of him. He gently took her hands into his as he looked into her tear filled eyes.
“Who spanked you baby?” Elenore looked away from him as tears spilled from her eyes.
“Honey you need to tell me. Whoever did this to you shouldn’t have.”
“Daddy did it,” she whispered quietly after he had gently cupped her cheek in his hand and turned her to look at him. Kevin raised his eyebrow.
“What?”
“At the park…when Joshy an’ I ran off he was there…an’ he spanked us, yelled ats us for wandering away from you’s, an’ sent us back.” Kevin pulled Elenore into him protectively and kissed her forehead softly as he exchanged worried looks with Jerald.
“Sweetheart why didn’t you say anything?”
“I couldn’ts. He told me nots to until we were back at the Orphanage.” Brooke let out a bitter laugh.
“Of course he did.”
“That was very stupid and risky for him to show up there,” Kevin replied. “Brooke I think we should have Detective Stabler search those woods. Sean wouldn’t go too far from his hiding spot, so we had to have been pretty close to him. Elenore looked up at Jerald worriedly then, and Jerald said nothing.
“Daddy an’ I didnts live by the park,” she spoke up, hoping to steer Kevin away from the idea.
“I know sweetie, but he’s moved around quite a bit since then.”
“I don’ts think you’ll find him,” she insisted.
“Why not?”
“Cause he’s my daddy. I knows. He’s nots hiding in those woods.”
“Well I think it’s better to be safe then sorry,” Brooke replied, and she pulled out her cell phone. Kevin kissed Elenore’s forehead softy and looked at Jerald.
“Watch her will you?” he asked, giving Jerald a look. Jerald nodded.
“Mhm…you can trust me.” Kevin eyed him for a few moments and then got up, turned around, and followed Brooke to her office. Elenore waited till the door was shut, and then she glared up at her uncle.
“Why didnts you say anything?!”
“Baby I can’t very well order him not to look for Sean, he’ll get suspicious” Jerald explained while kneeling down to her height.
“Buts now he’s gonna an’ my daddy cant’s be found or they’ll kills him!”
“Ellie I told you I would help you send your letter to the president and receive it but I am not going to protect him from being found. He is on his own in that department.” Elenore crossed her arms over her chest and gave Jerald a sour look.
“Honey if I keep him from being found I could get in trouble for protecting a criminal. Do you want that to happen?”
“No, buts…”
“Sweetheart he has been running from the cops his whole life, I’m pretty sure he won’t have any trouble doing so now.” Elenore sighed, feeling defeated.
“Will you takes me to Sarah please?” Jerald stood and lifted her into his arms and he carried her off to the playroom.
~*~*~*~*~
Later on when they had gotten all of the children onto the number of tour busses that they needed and were headed to the Zoo, Kevin pulled Brian to the side and began to explain to him what happened to his son at the park. Meanwhile Elenore took Sarah and Dakota’s hands and pulled them into the bunkroom, closed the door and crawled under the bed. The two other girls curiously followed her lead.
“What’s up Ellie?” Dakota whispered.
“Will you writes that letter to the president now, Sarah? I’m really scared we don’ts have much time.”
“Mhm,” Sarah replied while opening up her notepad.
“I’m having writers block though.”
“What’s that?” Elenore asked confused.
“Means I don’ts know what’s to write.”
“Well…starts with Dear Mr. Presidents,” Dakota suggested, leaning over and touching her forehead to Sarah’s as she watched her sister write. Wishing she could learn to read it.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile in the other room, Conner was sitting on the couch next to Angel who has Rosalie in her lap and he is watching the two of them color. As he sat watching them, his cell phone suddenly rang. Angel looked up at him immediately as she could just feel him tense up. She watched him as he nervously reached into his pocket and pulled it out and he glanced at the caller ID. When he saw that it’s just Detective Stabler he relaxed, turned the phone on, and placed it to his ear.
“Hey Detective…what’s up?” he asked as Angel rubbed her hand over his arm gently and avoided eye contact with her angry twin.
“Has Sean tried to contact you at all?”
“No, I haven’t heard a peep out of him…which is kind of strange now that I think about it. Why?”
“Any guesses on why he hasn’t?”
“Either he’s giving me my space after I threatened to turn him in…or Trevor is telling him to back off. Probably the second one, cause Sean doesn’t take people’s threats very seriously.”
“Where are you at right now?”
“On my way to the ZooLights with the Orphanage. And I’m not about to leave because Rose is excited and I want this event to be special for her. She doesn’t get to do stuff like this very often.”
“After you all get back from the Zoo I need you to come down here to the station and we’re going to set it up so that all of your phone calls from Sean will be recorded.”
“Can’t you come to me? Max will see me go in there and get the wrong idea.”
“Fine. I’ll go to you. But I have to go now, so I will see you later.”
“Bye,” Conner replied, and he hung up and looked around to see all five boys staring at him.
“Whats going on?” Nick was the one to ask, as he is the only one speaking to him at the moment besides Angel and Kori. Conner looked around at all the windows and was happy to see that the shades are pulled down. So if Max is following the bus he wouldn’t have been able to see that he was on the phone with someone other then Sean.
“Detective Stabler is coming by later tonight to set my phone up so that all of my conversations with Sean will be recorded.”
“Well that’s good,” Nick replied, and Conner nodded. When they arrived at the Zoo everybody gathered their groups of children together and led them all off of the bus. Kevin gently grabbed Elenore by the arm and knelt down in front of her. She looked at him curiously as she noticed him holding a monkey backpack that she’s never seen before up until now.
“What’s that Kevy?” she asked curiously.
“Your new friend,” Kevin answered evasively. “You will be seeing a lot of this everywhere we go from now on,” he explained.
“How come?” she asked as he turned her around and placed the backpack on her shoulders and an amused Jerald knelt down and began to do the buckles in front of her.
“Well, we need something to carry your snacks and such in don’t we?” he asked. “And at the same time you’ve gained a new furry friend other then Lil’ Rok” Tim replied, knowing Kevin is refusing to call it ‘a leash’ in front of Elenore. He has this fear that he might scar her for life or something crazy like that.
“Do Josh, Kota, Sarah, and Spencer get furry friends too?” Elenore asked after watching Kevin grab hold of the monkey’s tail and she looked over at all of her friends. She noticed Nick putting a unicorn backpack on Dakota, a frog was being put on Josh, Chris was given a horse, Spencer, a cow, and Sarah was given a pink lamb. AJ had gone and bought one for everybody knowing Kevin would cave eventually and he insisted upon the others having one too so Elenore wouldn’t feel like a freak because she’s the only one who has to wear a leash. He even bought a yellow lamb for Laila incase he wanted to take her out of his kid backpack and let her walk. After Jerald finished with buckling up Elenore’s harness buckles; he stood up and stayed dutifully by Kevin’s side. He is on a mission to earn his youngest brother’s trust back. When everybody was ready, they began to lead their groups inside. Kevin and Jerald have Ellie, a little girl named Julie, a girl named Hannah, and a boy named Kyle while Brian has his own group of kids – his two sons, as well as Holly and Gabe. Nick has his two girls as well as two others named Jessica and Britney while Ashley decided to have her own group during this field trip too. She has her baby Bella of course and four other children – Ally, Gavin, Andrew, and Michelle. Howie and AJ who are counting themselves as one have their two foster kids, as well as two others – Jade and Anna. Jackie, Harold, and Harry are tagging along with Brian while Ann and Tim are staying with Kevin and Jerald. Q’s group is Aaron, Stacy, Angel, Conner, and Rosalie. Marcus has been given Ashley duty, and the rest of security will just go wherever they’re needed.
“How are we supposed to handle all of these children?” Ann wondered out loud as they stood and waited for Brooke to finish buying their way in. “We all know the five of you aren’t going to leave each other, and that equals up to a lot of children.”
“AJ pretty much took care of all of that,” Kevin replied and he turned and looked at his tattooed friend who suddenly walked up to them. With him he has enough wagons to fit every kid from the five of their groups in. “Brooke told him we weren’t doing this unless he found a way to keep all of our kids intact and that no emergencies will happen” Brian added. “So as you can see he did a lot of shopping because he was extra excited about taking the kids to ZooLights. He bought the ‘fluffy friends’ and provided us with wagons.” When AJ arrived he handed a wagon to Brian and Kevin and the two of them began ushering the unleashed kids into them as he walked around passing out the other three. When Brooke finished paying their way in all of the groups headed inside and caregivers were going off in different directions with their groups, all of them feeling confident with AJ’s security technique for the six trouble makers and their groups. They’re starting to actually feel like this field trip might work. When they were inside, Dakota suddenly caught sight of the many things that glow on display. Everything from glow sticks, to glow swords.
“Daddy! Daddy! I wants one of those pretty wands!”
“Oh don’t worry baby, I am dressing you from head to toe in glow. People are going to think you are part of the Christmas decorations when I get through.” Dakota giggled and headed toward the glow sticks tugging on the leash to try and urge her daddy along. Soon enough just as Nick promised Dakota was wearing a glow necklace, glow bracelets, and holding a wand in her hand. He even bought her some pink glow earrings. Everybody got the same thing, except Elenore and the boys insisted upon having swords too.
“Ellie if you hit anybody with that sword not only will I take it from you but you won’t get sai for Christmas either,” Kevin threatened when Jerald had handed over hers. “Capeesh?”
“Capeesh,” Elenore answered innocently as she admired her pretty new toy.
“Well at least now you can’t lose them,” Harold commented amusedly as Brian and Howie suddenly returned with hot chocolate for everybody and handed it all out and they all headed off to see the Christmas lights. “You couldn’t possibly. ‘Fluffy friends’, bright yellow shirts, and glow sticks.”
“And that was exactly our goal,” Nick replied, feeling quite proud of their accomplishment.
~*~*~*~*~
“Hey Sean?” Trevor asked, coming down the stairs and he saw his lover in the office browsing on the computer. He went over and poked his head in while leaning against the wall.
“Hmm?” Sean asked, looking up from the computer and at Trevor to see him standing there in a leather jacket. He raised his eyebrow. “Going somewhere, love?”
“Yeah I am. I called Max though, and he’ll be here shortly so you won’t be alone.”
“Trevor I’m a grown adult, I don’t need a fucking baby-sitter.”
“I love you to death baby, but I’m sorry to say that you do.” Sean scowled at him.
“Where are you going?”
“Not very far. I’ll be back soon I promise. I told Max to watch you like a hawk, so don’t try anything that I wouldn’t do.”
“Fuck you.”
“No thanks, I have you for that” Trevor winked. Sean grabbed the penholder off the desk and threw it at Trevor hard and he moved to the side smoothly causing it to crash into the wall and pens went flying everywhere.
“You could at least tell me where you are going.”
“I could, but I won’t.”
“What is with all of the fucking secrets lately? First you call Shelly behind my back, and now this?”
“You have your secrets, I’ll have mine” was all Trevor said until suddenly he heard the front door open. He turned to look and saw Max walk in. Trevor went over and kissed Sean on the cheek.
“I’ll be back.”
“I hate you.”
“Well I love you.”
“Whatever.”
“Now who is being the drama queen?” Trevor asked as he walked out of the office.
“Careful, I just put him in a foul mood” he warned Max. “I’ll be back in thirty minutes tops. Promise.”
“Take your time,” was all Max said before settling himself on the couch and Trevor walked out the back door, closed it behind him, and headed for the woods. He walked five minutes until he was suddenly standing in front of the place he hasn’t been in since he was a teenager. Sean’s trailer home. He can’t believe the place is still standing. After staring at it for a couple of moments, he took a deep breath, and then went inside. He took a look around and was surprised to see that everything is just the way it was years ago. Smelly and trashed.
“Okay Seany…what are you hiding from me?” he asked the empty house. “What happened here in the past that I don’t know about?” He walked across the trailer to the bedroom that used to belong to his lover and he pushed the door open and went inside. He took a look around and spotted a picture of him with his mom when he was four years old. It’s framed and everything. Trevor raised his eyebrow, finding this very odd. Why would Sean keep a picture of the bitch that abandoned him? But then again, he’s been carrying a picture of Caleb around long since the asshole passed away. Shaking his head, Trevor went to the messy closet where he knows for a fact Sean used to keep all of his junk and he proceeded to go through all of it. He is going to find out what happened in the past. Even if it takes him a week to look or a month to look.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
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