Chapter Four-Hundred-Twenty-Eight
“Joshua,” Brian called out while walking to the foot of the stairs and looking up there where he knows his son is at in his room. A few seconds later his six-year-old appeared at the top of the stairs in his usual Batman suit that he refuses to part from.
“Batman is being good,” Josh reminded him warily, as he had been doing everytime his father called for him.
“I know that son, but it has also come to my attention that young Batman hasn’t had a bath in almost two days. Do you want to explain to me how that could happen?” Josh shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve been working, Riley and Gramma have been extra busy with wedding plans, an’ I didn’t have a need for one since I’ve been lying around the house.”
“Well, I suggest that you take that suit off right now, throw it down to me so I can wash, and you meet me in the bathroom.” Josh crossed his arms over his chest defiantly at this order and stared down at his father unwillingly.
“March Batman.” Josh scowled.
“Brian you are raining on my parade right now.”
“Which? The smelly parade?” Brian asked amusedly. “I would prefer that one didn’t come to town and I’m pretty sure everybody else in this house would agree.” Josh continued to stand there at the top of the stairs in his stubborn stance and Brian sighed.
“I don’t think Dakota would like it very much if you smell when she goes to hug you.” Josh’s eyes widened in excitement.
“I get to go see Dakota?”
“Not if you are going to refuse my orders to take a bath you won’t. You will stay right here in this house with your Uncle.” Josh scrunched up his nose.
“But I don’t want to take a bath.”
“That’s too bad. Kota really misses you.”
“She does?” Josh asked, his eyes widened with excitement at the mention of his beloved Batgirl. He hasn’t seen her in so long.
“Of course she does. She’s downright miserable right now.” Josh frowned at this information, though he looked at Brian not quite wanting to believe him. For all he knows, this could be a trick. Seeing the doubt in his son’s eyes, Brian pulled out his phone.
“Come here son, I’ll show you.” Josh walked a few ways down the stairs until he reached the middle where he stopped – not trusting Brian enough to go any further. Brian got his phone open to the pictures Nick had been so kind enough to send him and he reached out and held it toward him. Josh grabbed it and he turned it around to look. Brian watched his facial expressions for his reaction and suddenly Josh frowned even more, looking tortured.
“Why was my Batgirl crying?”
“I told you, because she misses you. Nick was telling me that she was going to go as far as throw all of her toys out of her room and lock herself in and ground herself if that’s what it will take for justice to be brought to her Batman.” Josh looked incredulous then.
“She can’t do that! That will ruin all that I worked for to keep her out of trouble!”
“Then I guess the appropriate thing for you to do, would be to surrender the Batman suit and go take a bath so that you can be there and make sure she doesn’t. I thought we’d surprise her and Nick – wouldn’t that be fun?” When Josh didn’t respond right away, Brian continued. “We don’t have much time Josh. If you are going to wear that costume out of the house I’m going to need it so I can wash it.” Josh straightened up importantly then, suddenly looking like a kid on a mission and he stripped himself right there not caring who is looking. When he was in his Batman underwear and socks, he threw the costume at Brian and then ran down the stairs right past him and into the bathroom where he himself turned on the water. Brian shook his head having a feeling that by the time he goes in there, he is already going to have the bubbles set up and be in there bathing. He carried the costume toward the laundry room deciding that before they go to the Orphanage, he would take Josh to the store and they would buy Dakota a nice bouquet of red roses. He’s sure Josh knows exactly which ones she prefers by now – she is very particular, but Josh is also very observant when it comes to her. It amazes Brian even, at how much he knows that Brian never has and he is her uncle.
“Did I hear you right Brian?” Harry asked, following his brother into the laundry room and Brian glanced at him with an arched eyebrow.
“Hear me right about what?”
“That you were going to leave me here to care for a smelly kid while everybody else went out?” Brian smirked.
“Yeah, you heard me right.” Harry scoffed and shook his head.
“You are sadly mistaken.”
“He is your nephew Harry. It’s your job,” Brian told him simply.
“It’s my job to spoil him and rile him up. But when he’s stinky and smelly, that’s my cue to hand him back over to the father.”
“Ha we’ll see.”
“Hmph.”
“Oh get it over it Harry, he took the bait didn’t he? He’s bathing and I’m taking him with me. So chill out.” Harry narrowed his eyes at him, and then walked away and Brian continued to throw Josh’s Batman suit in the washer.
“Well I am for one glad that you are taking him out of the house,” Jackie insisted as she watched him. “It’ll be good for him to interact with some people. How long are you going to keep this house arrest up Brian?”
“Not much longer, Momma” Brian reassured quietly so that Josh wouldn’t over hear him from inside the bathroom. “I figure he could have a break for tonight and go to the orphanage to play with all of his friends and stuff and then tomorrow it would start back up again. Except that he will now be allowed to play in the backyard with Chris and I’ll let Dakota and Ellie - and anyone of our other kids to come over and see him too. But I still don’t want him leaving the house.”
“For how long?”
“A week. I promised Angel she could baby sit him and that I would pay her for it – she was excited about that so I will need to stick with it. People can come here, he can go out in the backyard – and maybe the front yard too but he doesn’t leave this house unless deemed necessary.”
“Well that’s fair enough I guess, let the privileges come back slowly.” Brian nodded quietly and he slid his arms around Riley, pulled her close to him, and he kissed her forehead softly while lightly backing her up into the counter. She smiled up at him some and slid her arms around his neck and he rested his forehead against hers.
“Shouldn’t you be going to check on your son mister?” Brian thought about that for a second.
“Joshua, make a sound to let me know you are all right please,” He called toward the bathroom.
“Batman is fine – though highly vulnerable without his suit!” Josh called back, sounding highly annoyed at having to admit that. Brian chuckled softly and Harry shook his head.
“Even Batman has to have a bath and his laundry done once in awhile. No one wants a stinky super hero saving their butts.” When Josh didn’t respond to Harry’s comment, they listened carefully and were reassured when they heard him playing with his toys. Brian turned his attention on Chris then, who was sitting at the table helping Audrey who he has become surprisingly close to since she arrived.
“You’ve bathed today, right Chris?”
“Yup, I’m the good one.” Brian rolled his eyes playfully.
“You’re both pretty good when you want to be. I can honestly say I am pretty lucky to have you two as my sons. You have your moments, but you are still really great kids if I do say so myself.” When Chris didn’t respond and was visibly mulling over Brian’s unexpected kind words, Brian turned his attention on Riley again, who cupped his cheek in her hands and gazed up at him proudly. Brian slid his arms around her waist and his hands into her back pockets and he grazed his lips lightly over hers while she was still pressed up against the counter. “How are you? Huh?” he asked her quietly between kisses.
“I’ve been better to be honest,” She answered and Brian pulled back slightly and frowned as she stood there continuing to cradle the back of his head.
“What’s the matter?”
“Between work at the orphanage, the kids, and wedding plans you and I hardly ever get a minute to ourselves anymore. I miss you.”
“Well then,” Brian replied, before rubbing his nose lightly over hers. “I’m just going to have to take care of that won’t I?” He asked when he heard the emotion in her voice. He knows she has a secret fear buried inside her that he’s going to grow tired of her some day like Chase had and bury himself in his work. Or even worse, cheat on her which would be so easy for him to do if he didn’t love her so much. And with her emotions running at top notch these days, the fear is beginning to surface and show its big ugly face. That is the last thing they – or the baby needs right now. He brought his hand up and gently cupped her face in it and placed little tiny kisses on various parts of her face. Riley closed her eyes in comfort and when his lips found hers he kissed her tenderly while holding her delicately in his arms. After a few moments he pulled back and glanced at Harry who was pretending to busy himself with looking in wedding magazines and not watch them.
“Harry will you please take Uncle Duty and check on Josh every few minutes? He can pretty much take care of himself…just make sure he doesn’t drown or get hurt or anything, and tell him to get out in about ten minutes.”
“Sure,” Harry replied readily, more than willing to give Riley sometime alone with her fiancée. He knows how bad it would be if she continues to stress. Brian turned his attention on her, gathered her up into his arms with one swift movement so that he is cradling her, and he tilted her chin up with his forefinger and thumb before leaning forward and kissing her. He brought her downstairs to the basement not having enough patience to take her up to their room. Harry went to the bathroom door then, standing just outside it knowing Josh isn’t comfortable with anyone but Brian or Jackie being in there with him and he spoke to him.
“Josh buddy, you have ten minutes. Why don’t you start doing some washing up now?”
“Kay,” Josh replied and Harry watched him making sure he was doing just that before walking away, though keeping one eye on him from a distance all the same.
~*~*~*~*~
“GO KRISTIN, GO KRISTIN!” Ellie cheered excitedly while jumping up and down and waving her arms. She had run inside and grabbed up her pom poms and all but threw her Bucs Cheerleader Uniform on.
“Are you proud of yourself Kris? You’ve turned my daughter against me” Kevin teased as she stood with her back to him dribbling the ball and he nearly had his arms wrapped around her trying to steal it from her. Kristin laughed and with very little effort she dribbled the ball around him and threw it up in the air toward the hoop and he dove after it only to miss it by mere inches as it flew right into the hoop easily.
“Its not my fault she prefers the winning team,” She teased right back and Kevin scoffed.
“You are only winning because I am letting you,” He insisted and Jerald laughed right along with Kristin this time.
“Kev, don’t even go there.”
“Nah, its fine Jer. If that’s what he needs to tell himself then who are we to stop him?” Kristin asked while snatching the ball from him and going for another score. He jumped forward however, and knocked it away from the hoop sending it flying and he got it before whirling around and making a slam dunk himself before giving Kristin and Jerald both a very indignant look. The battle continued on like that, Jerald cheering for Kevin just because he felt the need to be loyal to his brother and Ellie cheering for Kristin. There was a lot of dribbling, throwing, scoring, and a lot of situations where Kevin ended up with his arms around Kristin – in which she seemed a little smug about, so Jerald couldn’t help but wonder if she’d been doing it on purpose.
When there was just a few seconds left in the game and it came down to one of them making one more shot to be the winner, Kristin who had the ball in her hands threw it up toward the hoop causing Kevin to jump after it. Not having this, Kristin jumped onto his back in attempt to stop him from blocking it. Kevin yelped in surprise and laughed and made an attempt to go for the ball anyway, but as he got closer she did too – with the advantage of her being on his back and they both reached for it. He grasped it in his hands but she smacked it with her palm sending it right out of them and into the hoop. Kristin threw her hands up in the air in victory.
“YEAH!” she and Ellie yelled together and Kevin just gaped at the hoop incredulously not believing his eyes. Feeling exhausted by the number of games he’d played in one day and all out of breath, and with Kristin still on his back, Kevin felt himself wobble and sway underneath her. Kristin looked down at him aware of what was going on and made to climb down and help him study himself but it was too late. He was already falling and he took her with him right into the grass and the two of them burst into a fit of laughter and Ellie began laughing too. She ran over to them and hugged them both so she could be in on the action too and Jerald just stood there leaning against the tree looking highly amused by the whole thing and even laughing a little bit himself.
When they all calmed down and were just lying there, Ellie who lay on top of Kevin’s stomach leaned up and kissed his cheek.
“You did good daddy, I love you.”
“Thank-you baby, I love you too” Kevin replied with a small grin on his face and she leaned over and hugged Kristin too.
“Congratulations on the win Kristin.”
“Thank-you sweetheart,” Kristin replied while smiling also and Jerald spoke up.
“Hey Ellie, how about we go get you in the bathtub huh?” he asked, deciding Kevin and Kristin deserve a little time alone since they’ve had him and Ellie with them every second of the afternoon. Ellie looked at her uncle, looking about ready to protest but when she saw the hintful look he was giving her, and saw him motion toward the door, she caught on rather quickly for a five year old. “We’re going to the Orphanage in a couple of hours honey…don’t you want to be clean?”
“I guess so,” Ellie replied, and she heaved a sigh before getting up and going to Jerald and she allowed her Uncle to gather her into his arms and take her inside.
“Come on beautiful, maybe we’ll put our swimsuits on and I’ll join you” He insisted trying to make bath time seem more appealing to her and the two of them disappeared in the house. Feeling very grateful of Jerald’s subtle way of leaving them alone, Kevin turned his attention on Kristin who lay there quietly, both of their breathing finally even again as they caught their breath. She smiled at him some when she noticed his attention on her and she lightly nudged him in the arm.
“For someone who was letting me win, you certainly tried very hard” she teased and he chuckled softly.
“I guess that was pretty pathetic of me to say huh?”
“Kind of cute actually,” Kristin admitted and Kevin lay there looking at her sheepishly.
“Well, I have to admit that I am highly impressed. I didn’t believe it when you said you could play basketball so well…where did you learn to play like that?”
“My brother. I jumped on your back out of habit – I’ve been doing that to him since I was Ellie’s age.”
“I bet that drives him crazy,” Kevin chuckled.
“Oh yeah. He tries to tell me that it isn’t cute anymore but I beg to differ.”
“Typical younger sibling act,” Kevin insisted while shaking his head and Kristin laughed.
“I find it very funny that you are a younger sibling too, yet with an exception of last night when you were driving Jerald nuts I would never know it. You seem so serious.”
“That’s because while I’m the youngest of Jerald and Tim, I also have the luxury of dealing with four bandmates who are all like younger brothers to me. I just think of them and how annoying their antics can be sometimes and it ruins the whole joy of being a younger brother for me.”
“Yet you were driving Jerald crazy last night.”
“Sometimes I can’t help it,” Kevin smirked. “Especially with Jerald. He hates when I’m too serious…but sometimes after being the father-figure of four bandmates and a real father to Ellie, its just hard to turn it off. But Jerald just knows how to push my buttons and bring the younger brother side of me out naturally.”
“You talk about Jerald like he is your favorite brother.”
“It sounds kind of bad to say favorite…but yeah I guess you can say I am the closest to him more then I am to Tim. Tim is the middle child – the peacemaker – he deemed it his job long since any of us can remember that he should be the one to keep me and Jerald grounded. He’s the glue that holds the three of us together…and he’s needed to believe me. While Jerald and I are close that also means we fight – a lot.”
“Tim sounds like he’s a really nice guy. Id like to meet him someday.”
“Id like you to meet him too, but knowing him we would probably have to make a trip to Kentucky. That’s our hometown…where we grew up with dad. He doesn’t like leaving it for very long and he is also a preacher…so that pretty much has him tied there. Brian and I think that maybe if we have Ellie guilt him into coming back here to visit with my Uncle Harold though…he might. Ellie can get anyone to do anything – all she has to do is be cute.”
“Tell me about it,” Kristin replied in agreement and she smiled some. “You have a special little girl Kev…don’t ever let her go okay?”
“Oh believe me, I won’t” Kevin reassured. “I’m finally just beginning to realize what a wonderful gift I have. Everything is about her now…everything.” Kristin rolled over onto her side then so she was facing him, causing Kevin to do the same. He reached out and gently tucked a blonde strand behind her ear so it was no longer hanging in her face and blue eyes met with green. She lay there quietly thinking about their conversation, just mulling things over. It must be hard to have the weight of being a father figure to four goofy bandmates and a real father to a five year old (who seems to have a reputation that she still hasn’t yet seen) on his shoulders.
She can tell he loves it – that the job means everything to him and he wouldn’t trade it in for the world…but she also noticed the stress in his eyes as he talked about it too. It suddenly made her want to take on the responsibility to help him stay relaxed through it all. To always be there to make sure that while he is being the one in charge that he also gets a chance to smile, and to laugh, and to just plain have fun sometimes…because he deserves it after all of the things that he seems to do. She wants to be the one to help him keep the joy of being a younger brother alive at the end of the day when his job of being the oldest bandmate is done for the evening. She wants to be the happiness in his life…well the part that Ellie doesn’t already have claim to that is – because she can see that nothing could replace that – not this time and she would never want to try. Because that belongs to Ellie, and Ellie deserves to be happy too. She wants to help give Ellie the kind of life that Kevin tries so hard to give her – very badly. She wants to see the light in his eyes that she saw earlier in the kitchen when he finally let go in front of her and had a flour fight with her – and played basketball with her. She doesn’t ever want that to go away, because it’s beautiful.
“What’s on your mind?” He spoke up after a long while of just watching her lay there gazing at him. He can tell she has her mind on a number of different things right now. If there is one thing he knows about women it’s that when they get quiet it usually means they are thinking about something important – or they are upset. But he knows it’s the first option because the beautiful smile on her face tells him that she is not unhappy in the least.
“You,” Kristin admitted honestly and he smiled some, very pleased about her answer.
“What about me?” he asked her quietly.
“Just about how happy it makes me to see you so happy. This is the best mood I’ve seen you in since the day I met you.” Kevin stared at her in silence for a long while and she was quiet too as they just gazed into each other’s eyes. After along while though, he spoke up.
“Did you bring extra clothes?”
“I have some in the car. Why?”
“Would you like to use the bathroom here to wash up? We both got pretty sweaty from the game…and we’re also both still covered in flour too.”
“It would be a pretty good idea if you’re wanting to take me to the Orphanage to meet everybody. That’s still your plan right?”
“You know it,” Kevin answered while reaching out and lightly caressing her cheek and he thought about how just showing her to his friends and family is not enough. He wants to tell the world just how much this woman means to him. And the best part is…he really could too.
“Then yes if you don’t mind I would like to get cleaned up.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Kevin replied gently and he got up before reaching his hand out to her so he could help her up. She took it and allowed him to do so and she kept hold of his hand while going to her car and getting her backpack out of it, and then the two of them went inside, all the while still holding hands.
“I think Jerry and Ellie are still upstairs in the public bathroom. Why don’t I show you which room is mine and you can use the bathroom in there? While you are doing that I’ll clean up the kitchen and then when you’re done I’ll have my turn.”
“Kevin don’t you dare clean up the mess that I helped make without me,” Kristin protested. “You should let me clean it all up.”
“Nonsense,” Kevin argued gently. “You’re the guest Kristin, don’t trouble yourself.”
“But—“ she began, but Kevin gently cupped her chin in his hand instantly silencing her. The skin on skin contact is making her absolutely crazy.
“-Stop,” he told her gently. “Don’t worry about it okay? Go have your shower I don’t want you troubling yourself.”
“At least let me clean up the cookie mess – that part I did all on my own – well with Ellie’s help, but still.” Kevin thought about that for a moment.
“If I let you do that will you no stress over the flour mess?”
“I guess not…” she sighed. Kevin stood there delicately rubbing his finger over her cheek for a few moments while gazing quietly into her eyes and then he took her hand again and brought her up the stairs so he could show her to his room and get her a towel and such.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
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