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Author's Chapter Notes:

Yes, yes, Lenni again - lol. Yanno, it's kinda fun to post something. I feel like I haven't done that in forever... If only my fics could spark some inspiration.... Anyways, back to this one! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The usual. Or would you like me to repeat myself some more? Lol. Thank-you!

 

When Trevor entered the control room he found Sean standing there with his cell phone placed to his ear and he glanced at the television screens to see the entire FBI team out there.


“What are you doing Sean, huh? What is your plan here? I am sick of you planning things without me so you know what? You are going to tell me!” he demanded and Sean quickly waved for him to shut up.


“How is the weather treating you out there Detective, huh?” He spoke into the phone when Detective Stabler was finally put on. He had called the police station and demanded to talk to him and they had put him on hold while they called him up. Trevor grew very quiet as he listened nervously and he cast a glance at the two security guards – Marcus and Q who currently sat on the floor handcuffed to the desks. Q was watching the television screens and listening to the phone conversation quietly with interest but Marcus however, only had eyes for Ashley whom he could see perfectly from where he was sitting. The fact that she was just fine considering all things and that Denise currently had her and was protecting her made the self pity he had currently been going through disappear and hope surged through him. He needs a plan. He needs to break free somehow and he and the security need to step up and do something. Why haven’t Raul, Laney, and Drew done something? Surely three big security guards should be able to do something. They promised to protect Ashley and now they’re just sitting there? If she doesn’t make it out of this alive he’ll never forgive himself – or them. This is his orphanage and he will die before he lets Sean destroy everyone in it. With that thought now the main focus in his mind Marcus turned his attention on Sean and the conversation for the first time, though Ashley never left his peripheral vision.


“Why don’t you tell me, Sean, I suspect you can see me and everything after all” Detective Stabler replied coolly.


“It looks very wet out there,” Sean stated. “You all should feel very lucky,” He added and Detective Stabler and Marcus both noted the lustful tone in his voice. They both get the feeling that he wishes very much that he were standing in the middle of a hurricane right now…crazy psychopath...


“Is there a reason you’ve demanded to talk to me Sean, or did you call me up just to simply comment on how fortunate we are to be standing out here endangering our lives right now?”


“Aw, come on now Detective. Don’t act like it’s my fault you are standing out there. If it were up to me all of you would just pack up and go home.”


“Yes, that would certainly make things a whole lot easier for you, now wouldn’t it?” Sean merely shrugged despite the fact that Detective Stabler cannot see him and he grabbed Trevor and pulled him closer to him like a little boy reaching for his security blanket. Trevor slid his arms around his waist and placed his ear close to the phone so he could hear too. “Well guess what Sean…we aren’t about to go and make things easier for you when you would never so much as lift a finger to do the same for us…No way. As long as you have all of those innocent lives in there the harder things are going to get for you.” “In fact, you can just kiss your life goodbye after tonight. You had the opportunity to take Trevor and run. You had the opportunity to disappear off of the face of the earth and yet you do this? How dumb can you be?” Trevor gently took Sean’s phone from him and hit a button that instantly put Detective Stabler on speaker. “You’ve pulled stupid stunts before…but this one definitely takes the cake. You know this just makes it THAT much harder for your daughter to save your life. Do you know she wrote a letter to the president to try and save you, Sean? She's doing all of this for YOU, when all you're doing in return is hurting those she loves.” Sean looked away from Trevor then in attempt to hide the fact that his eyes were glistening with tears at those words but Trevor knows better than that. The President? of all the rotten things that stupid brat could do…why does she have to get to him so damned much? While Sean desperately tried to ignore the need to go and punch something or someone repeatedly until all of his emotions went away, Trevor spoke up.


“Leave Ellie out of this,” He snapped.


“Ah…Trevor. Where did Sean go? Hit a nerve did I?” Trevor ground his teeth together and he glanced protectively at his lover who had his back turned to all of them and he could see he was taking deep breaths like he’d taught him. “I didn’t even think it was possible to do that with him,” Detective Stabler went on calmly.


“Well now you know,” Trevor replied, the danger just dripping off the edge of his voice. Trevor took the phone off speaker and covered the phone then and he looked over at Sean.


“Sean, what was the point in calling him?” he asked quietly. Sean was silent for about a minute and then he turned around and walked over to Trevor. He snatched the phone from him and placed it to his ear.


“Call me back in about ten minutes,” he ordered and then hung up the phone and Trevor looked at him incredulously.


“What was the fucking point in that? You call him up, he riles you up and you just hang up on him? What the hell Sean?”


“If you would shut up for a minute I might tell you!” Sean snapped somewhat. Trevor’s eyes narrowed.


“No, you will tell me” Trevor insisted and he shoved Sean back hard against a wall making the other man actually wince in slight pain. “I am NOT Shelly Sean Ellerbee! I am your lover, I am your partner, and it’s high time you started treating me like it or—“



“--Or what Trevor are you going to walk away like she did?” Sean challenged. “I’ve only told you that you could countless times now! You are not my prisoner, you can go any time you see fit and I would be just fine with it!”


“I don’t believe that,” Trevor insisted. “And never will and you know it. You also know that I would never walk away from you. But if you don’t start treating me as an equal you can be sure as hell that I am going to launch you across the room so hard and so fast you won’t even see it coming. And you know I have the ability to do so, I’ve done it before!” Sean scowled impatiently.


“You are wasting time. He is going to call back in ten minutes.”


“Well as soon as you tell me what the plan is, I will let you go…easy as that.”


“I was planning on letting some of our hostages go,” Sean answered irritably. Trevor arched his eyebrow.


“Are you out of your mind?”


“No I am thinking quite clearly right now actually. Think about it Trevor we’re out numbered.”


“But as soon as we let them go they’ll tell the police everything, you do realize that?”


“So? They don’t know anything important and besides…what else do we have to lose?” Marcus snorted.


“Not much,” he commented and Trevor rolled his eyes.


“Shut up Marcus.” Sean gently pushed Trevor off of him then and he grabbed his gun and walked out of the control room with Trevor following close behind him. They went back down to the stage where the men who brought the two doctors in were standing guard. Sean ignoring the fact that Nick and AJ were now sporting casts and Kevin wasn’t currently in the room he looked at the rest of his hostages.


“Everybody who isn’t part of Kori and Ashley’s family, line up in front of me – now!” he ordered. When nobody moved Sean looked about ready to shoot someone and Trevor rolled his eyes.


“Everybody who doesn’t consider themselves part of the Backstreet Family, line up in front of Sean.” Again nobody moved, as every single person in that room loves the boys and thinks of them not as co-workers but family. Trevor sensed Sean was going to have a fit.


“Those who don’t spend every waking second with Ashley and Kori and would like to get the hell out of this place GET THE FUCK IN FRONT OF SEAN RIGHT NOW!” With those magic words being said everybody who doesn’t have a close relationship with Ashley and Kori were up and moving and AJ was concerned for them all.


“What do you mean get out of here? What are you doing with them?” He demanded. Ignoring AJ’s question, Sean looked at Trevor.


“Do you know a way out of here besides the front door that will lead them to the playground?”


“Yes.”


“All right…take them there for me and leave them there then. Text me when they are out there and you are safely back in the building.”


“What about the kids?” Brooke spoke up.


“They are just fine where they are at.”


“Sean…we really don’t need them…” Trevor tried reasoning.


“We don’t have time Trevor! We have ten minutes! That’s it! And you still have to get safely inside and text me so get moving!” Trevor arched his eyebrow at him and Sean sighed heavily.


“Please baby, please!” He said in a frustrated tone. “I’ll do something extra special for you if you do you just need to get this done!”


“I only want one thing from you and everybody in this room knows that I’m never going to get that,” Trevor muttered quietly though Sean still heard him and Trevor turned and began ushering people out of the auditorium. Sean ignored Dr. Jekyll who so desperately wanted out just then upon hearing Trevor’s whining and he turned his focus on Ashley who currently sat wrapped in Nick’s arms now that he was better. Nick…the next obstacle standing in his way.


~*~*~*~*~


“Dakota please come out of there,” Sarah pleaded at the door as Doctor Johnson paced the room with Ellie rested on his hip. Her head is rested against his shoulder, her thumb is popped in her mouth and her cheeks are caked with tears. Sarah was met once again with silence from the other side of the door and she sighed in frustration. She’d been trying for a full thirty minutes to get her sister out of the bathroom to no avail.


“Sarah honey, just let her be…she’ll come out of the bathroom when she is ready” Doctor Johnson insisted. Sarah turned to do as she was told when suddenly Bella threw her toy across the room and abruptly began to cry. Sarah started for her when the bathroom door opened behind her and she felt her sister rush past her. She watched as she went over and gathered the infant into her arms in a very Ashley-Like way and hold her close to her protectively. Sarah arched her eyebrow when Bella instantly stopped.


“How’d you do that? That was her I miss my mommy cry.”


“Kota knows exactly how Ashley picks her up and she knows how she holds her too,” Josh insisted as he knows his Batgirl has studied Ashley enough to just simply know. “So Kota is probably the next best thing right now…can you really blame the kid?” Sarah smiled slightly at the way Josh was gazing at her sister with such a look of admiration and Dakota gently walked back and forth like Doctor Johnson currently was, just rocking her.


“I know Bells, I know,” They all listened as she whispered softly in the baby’s ear. “I miss mommy too…” “She’s gonna be fine though,” She reassured her as well as herself. “Daddy will puts the bad man away for goods.”


~*~*~*~*~


“Bella was just crying,” Ashley whispered softly in Nick’s ear as her hand was placed to his cheek as he currently cradled her.


“How do you know that baby?” Nick asked warily and he looked down at her confused.


“I can feel it. I may not have given birth to her but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a connection with my daughter. I’ve developed one over the months.”


“At least that means you know she is alive,” Denise whispered and Ashley nodded quietly. Nick leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers for a brief kiss and he tucked a strand of her hair back behind her ear. Meanwhile, Sean’s phone went off telling him that he has a text message. He opened it up and read it and a second after he had, it rang. He hit the talk button and placed it to his ear.


“Well?” Detective Stabler asked as soon as he had. “What are you up to, Sean?”


“Don’t say I never lifted a finger to make things easier for you. Go to the playground, you will find some hostages waiting for you. I’ve let them go,” Sean explained and then hung up before Detective Stabler could say any more. Nick sat there watching Sean as he stood there waiting for his Trevor to return so that he can then turn his attention on what hostages he has left. Now that he’s let some of them go and no longer feels overwhelmed, Nick has a feeling things are going to get a lot worse from here. He gently tilted Ashley’s chin up with his finger so that he was looking into her eyes and she stared back at him. He leaned forward and gave her a deep kiss instantly taking her breath away despite the situation. Ashley kissed him back, sliding her fingers into his hair and gently tangling them in it and when he pulled away somewhat, he rubbed his nose lightly over hers lovingly.


“Don’t look at me like that,” She demanded in a quiet whisper. “Don’t look at me like you are saying goodbye.”


“I couldn’t bear to say goodbye to you baby,” he told her quietly. “So I won’t. But I will say that I love you. No matter what happens I need you to know that.”


“You know that I know that…and you are going to be telling me this when it’s all over too.” Nick lightly caressed her cheek with his finger wiping away her tears in the process. “Remember what I told you the other day when you, Marcus, and I were down in the basement. You know what I am talking about right?” Ashley nodded tearfully. “Don’t ever forget it. Hold onto it with your whole heart…and there’s one more thing I need you to know.”


“Nick, don’t.”


“No Ashley, it’s important.”


“So tell me afterwards when you don’t feel like time is up,” Ashley pleaded.


“It will give me peace of mind to tell you now, baby. You were the one who was always telling me we have to be ready for everything…”


“Nick, please…”


“…If anything should happen to me, I’ve talked with my lawyer and I’ve made all medical decisions up to you.” Ashley stared up at him in stunned silence as tears flooded her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “And you and Brian are to take the kids. Promise me you will baby, promise me you will take care of them if anything should happen to me.”


“You already know that answer Nicky, you don’t even have to ask. Your kids are my kids…they always have been.” She slid her arms around his neck then and buried her face in the crook of it. “Nothing is going to happen to you baby, I won’t let it” She promised him along with herself.


“I just need you to hold onto what I told you with all of your heart no matter what anybody else tells you.”


“If you haven’t noticed I hold onto everything you say. It’s what keeps me going. I need you to promise me that no matter what happens by the time this is all over you are still going to be here to say things to me Nicky.”


“I don’t know if I can make that promise…” Nick told her tearfully.


“Please…give me something to hold onto. To fight for…I need it.” Nick rested his forehead against hers and quietly gazed down at her feeling terrified that this might very well be the last time he gets to hold her and talk to her and look at her. If that’s the case at least he would die while doing the very thing he promised he’d do – protect her. Better him then her. The world just doesn’t make sense without her. She has brightened the lives of each and every person in this room…himself the most and to take her away from them would be downright cruel. He couldn’t live in a world where she wasn’t. “Please don’t take my hope away from me,” she pleaded. “You’ve been keeping me hopeful all this time don’t stop now. Promise me you will still be here to talk to me in the end.” Nick searched desperately for a promise he could make her that would be true no matter what happens.


“I will always love you – no matter what. There has been no love stronger than ours…you and I can make it through anything no matter what struggles get in our way. Hold onto that…”


“I am already holding onto it. Promise me that you are holding onto it too.”


“I promise baby…I am holding onto it like a lifeline,” Nick insisted. “Your love keeps me alive.” He gently took her hand into his and placed it to her heart. “As long as you keep me in here.” Ashley nodded quietly and she shifted so that she was straddling him before sliding her arms around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder and he rubbed his hand over her back. She will be damned before she lets Sean take her happiness away from her. He took her mother, he took her father, and hell he even drove her sister away from her for awhile. But he will not take Nick away from her no matter what struggles he throws their way. That she is absolutely sure about. Their love conquers all. Nobody has ever quite understood that the way she and Nick does, but they’re about to very quickly here. Even if Ashley has to make them understand herself - starting with the idiot trying to pull them apart. He is in for a very rude awakening as far as she is concerned.