Chapter Forty One
After arguing with Chase over the phone for almost thirty minutes, Riley finally hung up with him. She looked up at Brian with tears threatening to fall and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. He brought his lips down on hers in a soft kiss.
"That was the right thing to do, honey. You can't continue to be with him and you can't very well spend the rest of your life cheating on him either. He's no good for you. You deserve way better."
"And I've found better," Riley replied softly, wrapping her arms around his waist in return and resting her head against his chest. "I know it's the right thing to do…I should've left the asshole a long time ago. But it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt…I still loved him a great deal."
"I know that…believe me I spent a very long time envying the man." Riley couldn't help but laugh a little bit and she wiped her tears away.
"Well you shouldn't envy him anymore…because as soon as I get through with this divorce I'm all yours." Brian grinned and he hugged her tight before kissing her forehead, than he brought her back into the playroom, his arms still wrapped around her.
"Everything okay?" AJ asked concerned when they had rejoined them.
"Mm hmm," Riley replied as Brian pulled her into the chair next to him and he rubbed his finger over her hand.
"She's getting a divorce and moving in with me," he announced, looking at everybody with the most happiest look they've ever seen on him before.
"Awww that's great!" Howie replied cheerfully and he got up and hugged Riley tight. "It's about time sweetie."
"Thanks," Riley replied, returning his hug and it wasn't long until AJ and Kevin got up and hugged her too.
"How are you feeling about the whole thing? I mean I know you cared about him quite a bit. You wouldn't have held on this long if you didn't." Kevin questioned.
"Well…I'm a little hurt but I'll get over it and I'm already starting to. I'm just going to need a lot of help from Brian…"
"You've had my help from the beginning baby," Brian replied gently and he kissed her hand softly. She rested her head against his shoulder. Suddenly Brooke, Ashley, and Nick walked into the playroom and over to the group of adults and everybody looked at Ashley and Nick with raised eyebrows.
"Well hey there strangers. To what do we owe the pleasure?" AJ teased and Ashley giggled a little.
"Heh…sorry. We both needed showers." Nick explained.
"All day? I've really only seen you two like three times today, Nick."
"Well we took Dakota and Spencer to get ice cream and then you and I had to go upstairs and see what was going on with the kids and then we kind of just stayed up there for awhile and hung with Kota and Spencer while they played Candy Land, then we took them and Lily to the playground so Lily could go potty and we let the kids play in the rain puddles for awhile…then we took them upstairs for baths. After that Ashley did Kota's hair while I gave the dog a bath, than Kota came down here and we both took turns taking a shower too."
"Okay, I guess your forgiven then," Brian teased and Nick smirked.
"You know you can't stay mad at me forever Frick."
"I can't even stay mad at you for five minutes, dude."
"What's up Brooke?" AJ spoke up, acknowledging Brooke for the first time as she pulled up a chair and joined them.
"Nothing really, just got tired of paper work so I thought I would come see what you all were up to."
"Well we're going bowling tonight….why don't you come?"
"I don't think that I can…I really shouldn't leave this orphanage."
"Surly the Orphanage owner should be allowed a personal life away from her job sometime," AJ replied gently.
"But I have a lot of work to do. What if new children come in while I'm gone and I'm not here to welcome them? What if someone comes to adopt? What if a problem occurs and I'm not here to handle it?"
"Brooke…sweetie. People don't usually come in and adopt at night. Nor do new children come in at that hour either. I think your safe to go out. You do so much paper work you deserve a break. Come have fun with us…" Riley spoke up.
"But what if there is a problem?" Brooke repeated, trying her very hardest to get out of this.
"Doctor Johnson will be here honey, you've had him take over for you before he will gladly do it again in a heartbeat. You tell me I work too hard all the time…I'm beginning to think you're turning into a hypocrite." Riley teased.
"I am not!" Brooke replied, smiling a little.
"You are so. You work way more then I do nowadays."
"Do not."
"Prove it then. Come bowling with us." Brooke scowled.
"Okay fine. But only if Doctor Johnson isn't busy with patients tonight and can take over."
"Oh he won't be busy, trust me." Riley replied. She will make him available herself if she has to. Riley looked at AJ who was sitting there listening in on there conversation with a hopeful look upon his face. Riley smiled at him and winked.
"Thank-you," he mouthed quietly too her and she understood. She reached over and patted him on the shoulder lovingly. Ashley who was sitting in a chair beside Nick suddenly remembered the hair spray in her hand and why she had it. She looked over at Dakota who is still playing blocks with Elenore.
"Hey Dakota," She called out to her. Dakota turned and looked where she heard her name being called and she smiled when she realized that its Ashley.
"Yeah Ashee?"
"Come here for a second sweetie." Dakota got up and hurried over to Ashley and Elenore got up and followed her.
"What's up Ashee?" She asked curiously, learning that phrase from her uncles and daddy.
"Can I put some hairspray in your hair sweetie? It'll help your hair stay pretty all day."
"Okay," She replied.
"Kay, turn around." Dakota did as she was told and turned so her back is to her and Ashley sprayed a little bit of hairspray into her hair.
"You did a really good job on her hair, Ash." Riley commented, smiling a little.
"Thanks," Ashley replied proudly.
"Can you makes my hair looks pretty too, Ashee?" Elenore suddenly asked, wanting to feel pretty too all of the sudden.
"Of course honey. What do you want me to do with your hair? Anything in particular?"
"I don'ts know. Something new." Ashley chuckled a little.
"Boy you can really tell you girls are best friends. Okay I'm going to go upstairs and see what I have. Want to come up with me?" Elenore turned and looked at Kevin for approval. He smiled at her lovingly.
"You can go with her if you want sweetie. I will be right here the whole time I promise."
"Kay," Elenore replied. Ashley stood up and took her hand and she looked at Dakota.
"Want to come Kota? Maybe you can help us pick something out."
"Okay," Dakota replied, and she took Ashley's hand too and she led both girls out of the playroom. Brooke laughed a little.
"Ashley the hairstylist." Nick looked after her slightly shocked.
"And she's going up there without me too…" Riley laughed a little.
"Well you two have been together all day, she's gotta do SOME things alone you know." She teased.
"No its not that. It's just that she's usually terrified to go where she can't see me."
"Well I think that since Doctor Adams is gone and she's finally getting comfortable with the people who work here, she's starting to feel more safer then she used to. Which is good because maybe if she gets comfortable enough she'll start talking some more."
"Yeah…but I wouldn't count on it too much. I think she's pretty much done giving us information…unless another traumatizing event or nightmare forces is out of her. Kori is probably your only hope now." Nick replied.
"I just have a feeling that there is so much more to this that only Ashley can answer…and it's driving me crazy Nick. I think you should concentrate a little more on being her caregiver and not just her boyfriend."
"What do you want me to do Ri, force it out of her? She's scared."
"No, but you have a special way with her Nick. You can get her to talk to you willingly without even trying. That's why the job was given to you."
"Which means maybe you should give her a little more time to talk besides just making out with her all the time," AJ replied.
"For your information, we have not been making out all day. We've done that twice - and maybe a little bit at the park but the rest of the time was spent either with the kids or talking to you guys. She's had plenty of time to talk to me."
"I'm just saying maybe you should try a little harder. We need more information Nick, we're running out of time. Yeah, Kori is a big help and has been completely honest with us. But Ashley was with Sean for five years and knows a lot of things that Kori doesn't."
"Fine…I'll try harder. But I just wish you guys would stop getting on my case about making out. Just because we spent the whole day doing our own thing that doesn't mean we spent it all making out." Nick replied irritably.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile upstairs, when Ashley and the kids got up to the second floor they were walking down the hall when they came across Kori and Spencer who were just on their way down.
"Hey Ash…where are you three headed?" Kori asked curiously.
"To mine and Dakota's room to find some cute hair stuff. Ellie wants me to do her hair for her like I did for Kota's."
"Likes my hair Kori?" Dakota asked suddenly, and she twirled around so Kori could see her. Kori laughed a little.
"Wow sweetie, you look very cute. Ashley did a good job." Dakota beamed happily and hugged Ashley's leg. Ashley was silent for a few moments as she looked down at the girls, as Kori stood there not knowing exactly what else to say.
"Um…you want to come with us?" Ashley asked softly, Nick's words telling her concentrate on the good things about Kori repeating over and over again in her mind.
"Sure," Kori replied, smiling a little and she took Spencer's hand and followed Ashley down the hall to her room. When they got in there Ashley went into the bathroom. She opened up the drawer and pulled out all of her hair stuff that she had gotten from Hot Topic and her curling iron and she walked over to the bed and set it all down. Dakota and Elenore crawled up onto the bed to see and Spencer took Lily from Dakota and sat on the floor to play with her and her toys. Kori sat on the bed too.
"So you still shop at Hot Topic?" Kori asked, trying to come up with a stable conversation that wouldn't end up leading them into awkwardness.
"Yeah…when I get the chance. Nick took me there a while back ago and it was the first time I've gotten to go there in five years. It was fun…"
"That's cool. I do too…maybe we should go shopping together sometime. Do you want to?"
"Sure…but is it okay if Nick comes? He can't exactly let me go alone…its kind of his job to be with me."
"Yeah sure. Its up to me to get to know my little sister's boyfriend a little better right? Make sure he's treating you okay? I've got a lot of catching up to do," Kori replied, smiling at her a little.
"Me? What about you? Who is this Wiley guy Kor…" Kori shrugged, but was suddenly smiling really big at the mention of Wiley.
"Just a friend I met in New Jersey…nothing more."
"Yeah. Right. Didn't look that way…"
"I promise Ash, we aren't dating. If we were you'd be the first to know."
"But you ARE attracted to him."
"…Maybe just a tiny bit. Who wouldn't be though, Ash? He's gorgeous! And that accent of his drives me insane."
"How come he has an England accent when you met him in Jersey?" Ashley asked curiously.
"Cause he's originally from England. Him and Chris both. They were going to school in Jersey though."
"So they go to college then?"
"They were but graduated. Now they just work at my diner."
"Doing what?"
"Chris is a waiter and Wiley cooks sometimes - but most of the time he's either working the cash register or he's being a waiter."
"Hmm."
"What?" Kori asked, raising her eyebrow. "Don't you like them? They aren't bad guys."
"Oh sure I like them…they're nice…I just don't know them."
"Is that your only reason your interrogating me? You seem like you don't care much for Wiley."
"No I like him, he's cool…" Ashley replied, looking down at the hair stuff.
"You're lying to me. If its just about the fact that you don't know him, then maybe you should spend more time with me and get to know him."
"I like him Kori okay? I like him. Calm down." Ashley replied, looking up at her sister irritably.
"Then what is your problem??"
"Nothing is my problem, okay? Goddamn!"
"Then what is with all the questions?"
"I told you I don't know him! I was just trying to get to know him, okay?"
"Fine. Whatever," Kori replied, and she got up and stormed out of the room. Spencer looked after her confused and worried for a couple of minutes, than he got up and hurried after her. Ashley sighed in frustration and forced herself to hold back her tears as she looked down at the kids.
"See anything you like Ellie?" She asked softly.
"Ashee are you okay?" Dakota asked concerned, and she took her hand into hers.
"I'm fine sweetie…I'm just having some communication problems with my sister right now…I'll be alright though. Why don't we find something to do Elenore's hair with and go back downstairs okay?"
"Kay," Dakota replied softly.
"These silver butterfly hair pins would look cute in your hair Ellie…and maybe I could do your hair up in a bun and make little ringlets hanging down next to your face. I bet that would look very adorable."
"Okay," Elenore replied, smiling a little. Ashley gathered up her hair pins, a brush, and her curling iron and she stood up. Elenore and Dakota got up as well and followed closely behind Ashley as she took them downstairs. When she got down there they went into the playroom and Ashley looked around for an outlet. When she found one she grabbed two chairs and an empty table and she pulled them over to it. She plugged in her curling iron and looked at Elenore.
"Come here sweetie." Elenore did as she said and went over to her and Dakota went over and crawled into Nick's lap. The moment Nick saw Ashley come in he could tell right off that something isn't right.
"Kota…is something wrong with Ashley?" He asked, and Dakota looked up at him sadly.
"Yeah…"
"What? I knew I shouldn't have let her go up there by herself…"
"She's having communication problems withs her sister. That's what she tells me."
"Did her and Kori get into another fight?"
"Uh-huhs…over Wiley."
"Hmm…" Nick replied worriedly, and he kissed Dakota's forehead and handed her over to Brian.
"Here Bri…take her for me will ya?"
"Mm hmm," Brian replied, hugging Dakota close. Nick got up and walked over to Ashley, taking a chair with him. When he got over there he sat the chair next to her and sat sideways so that he is facing her. She didn't even look at him, she only sat there concentrating on Elenore's hair.
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing Nicky, I'm fine."
"No you aren't. I for one, know you better then that and two Dakota just told me you got into a fight with Kori. So why don't you just tell me what's going on?"
"We had a communication problem that's all…we were talking and stuff…everything was fine, than the subject changed to Wiley. Since I don't know him very well I started asking her questions about him and I guess she felt like I was interrogating her and that I am not too fond of him. I'll admit I'm a little skeptic of the man, and I am a little biased to Scott because I liked him a lot when I was little and think he's a great guy - an idiot for giving up Spencer, but a great guy nonetheless. But like I tried explaining I don't know him and I was just trying to get to know him by asking her questions and she got all angry with me and got up and left the room."
"How was your tone when you were asking them? Did you sound annoyed at all or anything like that?"
"Not that I am aware of…I thought I was being nice about it but I guess not."
"Well don't give up honey…the more you talk, the more things are going to get easier I promise. You just need to learn more about each other."
"Yeah…she wants to go to the mall sometime…I told her you'd have to come with me and she's okay with it."
"That sounds fun. Maybe we'll go tomorrow how's that? And I will be there as a mediator if any fights should break out between the two of you. And if an awkward silence should come our way…don't worry I know how to fill those up very easily. I've done countless interviews I'm very good at starting up conversations. We'll get you understanding each other in no time I promise."
"Kay," Ashley replied softly, and he took her free hand into his as she's using her other to brush out Elenore's hair and he kissed her cheek. He sat there in silence as he watched her do Elenore's hair and he sat there watching her just incase she feels like talking. Just so he can prove that he does give her a chance.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
