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Chapter Three-Hundred-Thirty-Eight



Elenore sat there quietly waiting for Josh to come back – hopefully with Dakota at his side so they can work things out. She really misses her best friend. She doesn’t like fighting with her and she doesn’t like the fact that she is causing her pain. She remembers that there was once a time when she could make everything better just with a simple hug. How does she always manage to screw things up? How did she manage to make the best thing in her life – next to Kevin that is, hate her guts? There was once a time when Ellie was the best thing in Kota’s life too. Kota used to tell her so and now she can hardly look at her. A single tear rolled down her cheek at the thought of just how badly she screwed up this time and she began to think that maybe Josh shouldn’t try and talk Dakota into it. Maybe she should just leave her alone and then she won’t hurt her anymore. She doesn’t want to hurt her. She opened her mouth to yell for her cousin when another voice just outside the ball pit spoke up.


“Hey kid” Elenore turned and looked for the source when she saw a man standing there dressed in a Mc Donald’s uniform.


“Yeah?” She asked confused, wondering just exactly why he is talking to her. She knows for a fact that she didn’t do anything wrong – for once in her life.


“You look kind of down…how come? This is Mc Donalds Kiddo, you are supposed to be having all kinds of fun.”


“I did bad things an’ now my best friend hates me,” Elenore vented sadly and she rubbed at her eyes.


“Awww…I’m sure she doesn’t hate you, kids your age don’t hate. I bet she’s just really upset and things will be better before you know it.”


“I don’ts think so…” Elenore insisted softly. “Trouble always seems to find me…no matter what I do.”


“Awww…that’s too bad kid. Hey, how about we leave this pity party behind us eh? We have some freshly baked cookies just out of the oven…I might be able to pull some strings and get you a free one before they start selling them to anybody else. Would that cheer you up?” Elenore perked up slightly at that offer.


“Cookies? For me? Really?”


“Yeah why not? We people at Mc Donalds love to put smiles on our customers faces.”

“Go figures,” Elenore told him thinking back to their old motto we love to see you smile.


“So what do you say?” the man asked ignoring her sarcasm.


“I’ll hafta goes an’ tell Laney where I’m goin” she decided.


“Of course you do. We wouldn’t want him to worry now would we?” Elenore shook her head.


“No ways, he is already doin enough of that” she told him while crawling out of the ball pit. When she was out and standing on the ground she spotted Laney talking to Ryan. She walked over to him and gently tugged on his pantleg. He looked down at her curiously.


“Hey sweetie, what’s going on?”


“That nice man over there offered me a cookie. Can I goes with him to get one?” She asked, pointing over to the guy that she’d been talking to. Laney looked to where she was pointing and regarded the man suspiciously. He may be dressed in a Mc Donalds uniform…but out of all of the children in the area, why did he single out his Ellie?


“Why did he offer you a cookie Ellie?” he questioned.


“Cause he wanted to cheers me up. He saw I was sad an’ lonely.” Laney bent down and gently took hold of her arms.


“Sweetheart how about I take you to buy a whole box of cookies for yourself later huh?” Elenore’s eyes widened in surprise at that offer and she opened her mouth to reply when suddenly Laney's mouth dropped open in shock and pain, as a burning sensation seared through his neck. His body jerked slightly, as he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes, his eyes wide open, his pain and fear etched in them. Standing where Laney had a moment before was another man in a McDonald's uniform, holding a stun gun. He'd decided to take action when the other man in uniform's plan didn't seem to be going according to plan.


“LANEY!!!” Ryan yelled in shock, as fear sheered through him and he rushed to the security guard's side. He'd been playing with his sister nearby, and the other kids had been close to Laney as well. They all knew about staying in sight of security at all times. Elenore screamed abruptly, as the man who'd offered her cookies grabbed her up and headed for the nearest exit. He ran out of the McDonald's with her in his arms and the man with the stun gun right behind him.


“ELLIE!!!!!!!” Dakota shrieked tearfully, when she processed just what was happening before her eyes.


“DADDY!!!! UNCLE KEVY!!! MARCUS!!! COME QUICK!!!!!!!!!” She cried, jumping up from the slide and running to the other room. Just before she made it in there though, all three men whom she had called for, met her at the door with everybody else right behind them.


“Laney, WHAT happened?!” Marcus asked frantically as he rushed to his friend's side and knelt down before him.


"Stun gun…” Laney managed to get out weakly, as he was slowly regaining himself.


“Where's my baby?!” Kevin demanded to know as tears filled up in his eyes, after doing a quick head count and realizing his little girl wasn’t present.


“They tooks her Uncle Kevy – the mean ol’ man who shots Laney an’ another one – they were dressed up in McDonald's uniforms!” Dakota wailed, as she clung to Nick’s leg. "They tooks her an' ran offs! They tooks my Ellie!"


"Why in the world would anyone be after Ellie?" Raul spoke up, as everyone felt more dread than before overcome them.


"One word, Sean," Marcus replied.


"Sean promised her he'd let her stay with Kevin though," Q. reminded them. "And so far, he's kept that promise to the little one."


"Okay, maybe not Sean," Nick spoke, as he scooped Dakota up into his arms, glad Denise had taken Bella when trouble had ensued. "But there are people after him, remember? Elliot's told us that, Scott's told us that, and Sean told Ellie that himself, and she told us."


"That's right, he did and there it is," Raul nodded. "Why we keep forgetting that fact, I don't know."


"Probably because we've been so concerned with keeping Ashley from Sean himself," Drew admitted. "We've been so caught up with that, we forgot that Sean's not the only baddie out there that we have to keep watch out for. Anyone he's pissed off knows well enough that if they want to lure him to them, all they have to do is nab Ellie. Everyone knows nothing pisses Sean off more, than someone harming his own flesh and blood."


"So how do we get her back?" Brian demanded.

"We don't," Marcus began, giving Kevin a look when he saw him about to argue. "Sean does."


“Right. How are we going to get him to do that? We don’t exactly have contact with him” Nick asked sarcastically. Before anybody could answer him though, Kevin turned around and ran toward the door.


“Kev wait! Where are you going?” Q demanded as he ran after him.


“Back to the Orphanage!” was all he said before the door shut behind him. Everybody gathered up the children and a still slightly weak Laney and they hurried after him.


“Do you mind sharing with the rest of us what your plan is?” Brian wanted to know after buckling Chris and a distressed Josh into the back seat and climbing in with them. Jerald sat in the passenger’s seat wondering the very same thing. Kevin said nothing, he only angrily started his car up and sped out of the Mc Donalds parking lot not caring if everybody else was following him or not. It took him five minutes sooner to get to Ramsey then it should have taken him – in other words, Kevin was speeding. When he reached the parking lot he had just barely parked the car when he threw his door open and ran inside, that desperate father look in his eyes. He looked around frantically for what he wanted and suddenly spotted Angel.


“Where is he?!” He demanded.


“Where is who? Kevin what happened to Ellie?” Angel asked, immediately understanding just by that look in his eyes. She’s seen it mirrored on her brother’s face too many times before not to recognize it.


“She’s gone! Where is that boyfriend of yours, I need to talk to him!”


“I don’t know… we aren’t talking…I suppose he’s in his room.” Before Angel could add anything else Kevin was running up the stairs like a mad man on a mission. Just then everybody else made it inside and when Angel caught sight of her brother she ran toward him and lunged herself into his arms without a second thought as the tears spilled from her eyes. Nick slid his arms around her and hugged her close to him.


“I’m okay…” he told her soothingly as she sniffled some and he smoothed his fingers through her hair as he gently placed her head against his shoulder and he kissed her forehead softly.


“Aaron and I were so worried about you.”


“I know, I know…”


“And Ashley…what’s going on with Ashley Nick? We haven’t heard a thing from Detective Stabler since Aaron tipped him off about the Lake House.”


“He, Olivia, and team are searching the house as we speak. They might be onto something but that’s as far as I know. Ellie is missing now as well which adds more to the problem.”


“Yeah I just spoke with Kevin…kind of…he ran up the stairs like a mad man on a mission to talk to Conner.”


“Not a mad man on a mission, a desperate father on a mission,” Nick corrected her.


“What happened? Did Sean take her?”


“No we think it was someone he pissed off. They abducted her in Mc Donalds – a couple of guys dressed up in Mc Donald’s uniforms.”


“Shit…”


“Yeah…”


“Daddy I wants Ellie back…” Dakota suddenly whimpered beside him as she still clung to his leg.


“I know baby,” Nick told her gently and he set Angel down before scooping his little girl up and holding her close. “Conner is going to get her back for us. I promise.”


“I said things I didnts mean…” she told him softly as tears spilled over her eyes no matter how hard she tried to blink them back. “They were the very last words I said to her daddy..."Nick sighed and leaned over and lifted Sarah onto his hip as well before looking at Denise who still has Bella.


“I’ve got her Nick why don’t you see if you can get those two to take a nap? They didn’t sleep well last night with Bella crying all night.”


“We really need Ashley back or there are going to be many more sleepless nights to come…” Nick told them tearfully before carrying his two girls toward the stairs.

~*~*~*~*~


As soon as Kevin got to Conner’s room and saw him with Rosalie it took everything in Kevin not to shove him up against the wall, Rosalie being the only reason for his restraint.


“Hey Kev…you are back…” Conner greeted cautiously when he saw the look in the older man’s eyes. He went over and gathered Rosalie in his arms making it very clear that he is using her as protection incase he decides to attack him like Aaron did. “How is Nick?” He asked conversationally.


“Nick is fine,” Kevin told him managing to keep the dangerous tone out of his voice as to not scare the child. “But you need to get on the phone with Sean right now.”


“Last time I checked you were Ellie’s caregiver not mine. I’m not doing anything with you ordering me around like that.”


“Well you aren’t going to get a please out of me either this is about as nice as I get. You don’t do as I tell you to, and I will have Detective Stabler come down here and tell you to do it for me and I can tell you he won’t be as nice as me given the circumstances.”


“Are you going to tell me what I’m calling the devil himself for? I need to have a reason, I’m not just going to call him up to say hello.”


“Ellie is missing,” Kevin told him icily. “That a good enough reason for you?” Conner raised his eyebrow, knowing Sean is going to go ballistic over this information.


“What do these kidnappers look like?” Conner asked while reaching for his phone but never putting Rosalie down once. He won’t risk it. Kevin opened his mouth to answer, and then paused realizing he doesn’t know. Just telling him that they were in Mc Donald’s outfits isn’t exactly a very helpful description. He held a finger up to tell Conner one minute and then reached for his phone in his pocket when suddenly Dakota – just the very person he wanted to talk to came walking in the room with Nick in tow.


“The guy that gots Ellie had kinda long messy black hair that came to about his ears in the back an’ in the front it hung in his eyes. He was tall – kinda skinny an’ the other guy that hurted Laney had brown hair that went past his ears an’ covered one eye.” Conner nodded at her suddenly understanding whom she is talking about.


“Quentin and Cameron…” he muttered before flipping open his phone and turning it on. He hit the number 2-speed dial button and placed the phone to his ear.



~*~*~*~*~*~



“I thought you wanted her death to be slow Sean,” Max pointed out as he and Trevor stood down in the tunnels watching Sean lower Ashley in the water and bring her back up again when he pleases.


“I do, dumbass.”


“Then shouldn’t you slow down some? Her body isn’t going to take much more.”


“He’s right Sean,” Trevor insisted. “I’m a doctor I know these things,” he added as he watched Ashley rest her head back against the board and she is having a hard time keeping her eyes open.


“Just a little longer,” Sean insisted eagerly as he didn’t take his eyes off of her. Trevor sighed and leaned against the wall as he watched him trying to figure out why this excites him so much. What is the point in all of this? God he really wishes he knew. Just as Sean was about to lower her again his phone rang.


“Damnit! That had better be important!” he informed knowing right off that it’s Conner calling him from the ring tone he had customized for him. Plus, Conner is the only one who would call him seeing as how the other two are in the same room as him. He looked to Trevor who was still watching him.


“Watch Lindy – I mean Ashley for me while I take this call,” Sean ordered before flipping the phone open and walking away while talking into it. Trevor raised his eyebrow as he watched his lover walk away. Lindy? What the hell? Why would he accidentally call Ashley by his mother’s name? That isn’t even an easy mistake. How do you get Lindy from Ashley? He had to be thinking about her…but why? Why now when he was standing there just now drowning Ashley? Then it hit him. The pictures, the drowning newspaper articles in the tree log, him calling Ashley by his mother’s name. Could Lindy be tied to all of this? But how? She ran away…didn’t she?


“What do you want? This had better be important!” Sean snapped the moment he had answered the phone.


“Well we sort of have a problem here…and it concerns you,” Conner spoke into the phone cautiously, preparing himself for the blow up.


“What is it? Like I said, it had better be important.”


“Oh it is,” Conner spoke softly, making it sound like he is talking to him in private in order to keep his cover.


“Well get on with it then if it’s so important. I have a money craving whore to drown ya know?” Sean snapped, causing Trevor to rack his brain even harder. That’s what Sean’s father always referred to Lindy as.


“Elenore has been kidnapped.”


WHAT?!” Sean roared, causing Trevor to whirl around and look at him alert and ready for anything. “By Cameron and Quentin. They abducted her at the Mc Donalds here in Florida. They were dressed up in Mc Donalds uniforms – one of them used a stun gun to make the security guard go down and the other grabbed her and they ran off.”


“FUCK!!!!”


“I just thought you should know…”


“FUCKING A…”


“What, what’s going on?” Trevor demanded to know, rushing over to his lover’s side.


“Quentin and Cameron are on my shit list that is what’s going on!”


“Why what have they done?” Max asked.


“They took Ellie! FUCK!!!” he yelled, turning his phone off and he raised his arm to throw it across the room but Trevor quickly grabbed it and brought it back down.


“I know you are angry baby but don’t take it out on your phone. We can’t replace that one.” Sean let out a low growl and ran his fingers through his hair before turning and looking at Ashley who looked wide awake and alert upon hearing an update on what’s going on at home. He stood there thinking for a couple of moments, and then turned and looked at Max while grabbing Trevor’s hand and pulling him across the bridge.


“You are to stay here and guard the bitch with your life. Got it? We’ll be back soon.”


“What if I need to get her down for some reason?”


“You won’t have to,” Sean snapped.


“But what if for some reason I do?” Sean opened his mouth to argue with him when Trevor placed a light hand on his shoulder.


“Babe there is always that what if possibility. Hear him out.” Sean groaned and stood there quietly for a moment before reluctantly handing over the key to the cuffs.


“If I come back and you’ve taken her down for no reason at all you are a dead man,” he warned before pulling Trevor toward the stairs.


“Trev we’ll need our guns.”


“I know” Trevor told him while following dutifully like a soldier going into battle. Max looked at Ashley who looked away from him pointedly and she rested the back of her head against the board. She watched in the corner of her eye as Max went over and sat down against the wall and then she closed her eyes, her mind drifting back home where she so desperately wants to be.