Chapter Four-Hundred-Eighty-Five
“For the last time Elliot, I was just tryin’ to be a good cop – that’s all” Ellie insisted the next day. They were standing in the middle of her bedroom, Ellie in nothing but her Ninja Turtle panties while Kevin tried to decide which dress to put her in. “You telled me a good cop always calls for backup – an’ that is what I did.”
“And like I said before honey while I appreciate that you are practicing, you chose a really bad time to do it in.”
“An’ like I telled Doofus Uncle Jerry, you can’ts time these things. Will no one listen?” Detective Stabler covered his mouth with his hand and looked away from her as he chuckled inaudibly.
“Well if you are going to be making make believe arrests and calling me up for backup you are going to have to humor me and start timing them. Got it munchkin? I’m a busy detective I can’t just drop everything and play your little games, though I often wish I could.”
“Why not’s? You said you would always be here for me.”
“And I will,” Detective Stabler told her earnestly before sitting down on the floor in front of her and gently taking her hands into his own. “But I have a career to manage too. I will stop by and play with you as much as I can because I enjoy it but when you know perfectly well that I am busy and can’t play at the moment try to keep the phone calls emergency only. Okay? Can you do that for me?”
“That was an emergency.”
“Not the kind of emergency that your Doofus Uncle talked to you about yesterday,” Jerald told her while casually strolling into her room having had heard everything that was said. Ellie scowled at him and crossed her arms over her chest, still feeling slightly pissed off at him.
“Oh look Elliot, its Uncle Doofus. Better keep your handcuffs an’ gun in check.”
“Elliot knows how to use both of those things responsibly, unlike some little girls that I know” Jerald replied calmly and then looked at Kevin who was still going through her closet. “Today would be nice Kev. You have about thirty minutes left before it’s time to get going.”
“I’m just trying to decide which dress to put her in. What’s gotten your panties all up in a bunch? Why are you so grumpy?”
“Nothing, just don’t worry about it and she has every dress ever made for little girls…just pick something. You are taking her to a hearing so I think it’s safe to say you don’t have to dress her in her Sunday best this time around.”
“Well she still ought to look nice, especially considering the people that are going to be there…bad day with the girlfriend?”
“Who is going to be there?” Ellie asked curiously, the tone of Kevin’s voice sparking her curiosity.
“You’ll see,” Kevin answered her while smiling some and Ellie raised her eyebrow and looked at Jerald who still stood in the doorway leaning against the side of it with his hands shoved in his pockets and looking rather annoyed.
“Are you going to answer my question Jer?” Kevin asked his eyes still on the dresses in the closet.
“I said don’t worry about it.”
“Fine then can you please lose the attitude? Stomping around here childishly the way you are is really starting to upset your niece,” Kevin informed, not even having to look at his daughter who is eyeing Jerald to see that she is upset.
“Oh, so only one person is allowed to upset her around here, is that it then?”
“What is that supposed to mean? Seriously Jerald, what is wrong with you right now? Is it time for your man period or something?”
“It means stop preaching to the choir that’s what it means. You’ve had your share of grumpy days and thought it ought to be okay I think it’s only fair that I be entitled to mine,” Jerald insisted before turning and walking out of the room. Kevin stared after his angry brother in silence, his eyebrow raised in confusion and after a moment he looked at a quiet Detective Stabler who was trying to make himself seem more invisible rather than in the middle of a family feud.
“Elliot can you please take over here with Ellie while I go and see what’s up with him?”
“Sure, at the rate you are going I think it’s best that I do anyway or we’ll never get out of here” Detective Stabler replied while standing up and going over to Ellie’s closet and Kevin walked out of the room after leaning over and planting a loving kiss on Ellie’s cheek on his way by and promising her that he will be back to do her hair just as he always does. He knows that she only likes it when he does her hair.
“All right buddy…how about we dress you up in something cute? That way you’ll have the judge…and others…eating right out of the palm of your hand?” Detective Stabler asked once he was gone. Ellie smiled somewhat at him though she was feeling a little upset over the situation going on before her very eyes. She didn’t mean it when she called him a Doofus…he can’t really be that upset over it could he? Jerald knows her better than anybody else…apart from Kevin that is. He ought to know that she says things she doesn’t mean when she is upset all the time. Ellie reached up and rubbed at her watery eyes and worked real hard on hiding her feelings. She’s never had Detective Stabler dress her before and she doesn’t want to ruin it by being upset.
Meanwhile, when Kevin caught up with his brother at the top of the stairs he grabbed his arm stopping him from going down there and spoke quietly so that Ellie wouldn’t hear them from down the hall in her room.
“What is going on with you?”
“What part of don’t worry about it do you not understand?”
“You bugged the hell out of me when I went through my bad month I’m going to do the exact same thing to you.”
“Is that what you call my caring about you? Bugging the hell out of you? I’m really sorry that I am that big of a pest to have around. I will leave if you would like – move back to Kentucky and never bother you again.”
“Where the hell is this coming from Jerald?” Kevin watched as Jerald’s gaze went to Kevin’s closed bedroom door whether it was on purpose or not and they lingered there for a long moment before he shook his head.
“I would rather not tell you. Just go back to taking care of Ellie,” Jerald insisted and then yanked his arm free of Kevin’s grasp and went downstairs.
“Oh I see what’s going on here,” Kevin replied while following him. “You know Tim told me what you had to say about Kristin yesterday.”
“Well Tim ought to learn how to keep his big mouth shut from time to time,” Jerald replied before shoving the kitchen door open and going in there and allowing the door to swing shut in Kevin’s face. Kevin twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open before following him in there and shutting the door behind him. He watched as Jerald walked around the kitchen slamming things shut and onto the counter tops as he busied himself with making something to eat.
“I can understand that you are scared and that is why you are upset, but do you really need to throw a temper tantrum in our kitchen?”
“Where else would you like me to throw it? Would you have liked me to have it out there where she might hear us?”
“It would be nice if you acted your age and didn’t have one at all. We are trying to teach Ellie that this kind of behavior is bad.”
“Well, Ellie isn’t here to watch me so I guess it’s all good.”
“How about you just tell me what’s gotten you so upset now so we can fix it and move on with our lives? We have thirty minutes to get ready – I still have to do Ellie’s hair.”
“I told you I didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Well this kind of behavior is upsetting Ellie. Would you like to live with that knowledge for the rest of the day?”
“If you want to preach to a choir why don’t you change career paths?”
“I know I upset Ellie very badly when I went through the whole Summer ordeal and I swore to myself I would never let anything hurt her like that again. I swore to myself I would make things better for her. Tension between the two of us is not going to make things better.”
“Then maybe you should remove it.”
“Kristin isn’t going anywhere, I love her and I love you too, so you are just going to have to learn to deal with it.”
“That is fine, but we both agreed that she wasn’t going to move in didn’t we?”
“Ah, so we’ve finally reached the root of the problem.”
“She has been here and slept over every single day since the day after you were admitted into the hospital. I bit my tongue while you were in the hospital because Ellie wanted her around. It was extra comfort for her and we needed the extra person around to keep an eye on her. I bit my tongue when you were released because you still needed taking care of. You are better now though and she is still here – sleeping with you in your bed, showering with you, and most of her stuff has been brought over. She has practically moved in has she not?”
“It’s just been convenient for the time being. Things have been pretty chaotic lately and I wanted her around to help try and keep things at least somewhat in order in Ellie’s life.”
“And what am I, chopped liver?”
“I just thought that she needed a woman’s touch too. Yes she has mom and its great having her around and I’m going to miss her when she eventually goes home, but Kristin…just…offers a whole different touch to Ellie’s circle of caregivers.”
“So if Kristin is so great then why don’t I just go home? I am obviously not needed here anymore.”
“What and break Ellie’s heart? Would you really do that to her…?”
“I’m sure Kristin will have it all healed up in no time, won’t she? Since she’s come into my life and completely taken it over the way Summer has and everything.”
“She has not. You’ve deluded yourself into thinking that because of this ridiculous fear you are holding onto. How many times do you want me to apologize for the Summer thing and reassure you, Jer?”
“Probably forever,” Jerald informed softly before turning his back on Kevin so he wouldn’t see his eyes watering up. “You don’t know how much it hurt.”
“You are one of the most important people in Ellie’s life.”
“I already know that,” Jerald insisted. “That’s not what I need to hear.” When he was sure his eyes were done watering up he turned and looked at Kevin. “You are always making it very clear that I will hurt Ellie if I leave, Ellie will be upset – it’s your favorite guilt trip because you know it works every time. What about the brother that I came here to spend time with and ended up spending all this time fighting with instead?”
“Jerald if I told you how much I love you and would miss you any more then I already do I’m afraid it might start sounding like incest. I mean really, you need to get past this somehow. How far would you like me to go to prove it to you?” when Jerald didn’t respond Kevin went on. “Because I’m not really into the whole incest thing…so if you are waiting on an invitation to join me and Kristin in bed to satisfy your jealousy it’s not going to happen.” Jerald arched his eyebrow. “Cause I mean, I love you bro…but not that much.”
“Do you realize how gross that sounds?” Jerald asked before sliding the plate of left over Mac & Cheese away from him. Kevin sighed in relief.
“I was hoping you would think so. I was going to be worried if you didn’t,” he informed with a small grin and Jerald chuckled somewhat. “I just wanted you to realize how ridiculous your jealousy was getting.”
“You and Ellie are the only happiness that I have in my life right now,” Jerald insisted, and then paused for a brief moment. “In a non-gross way I mean. Since my divorce and…my distant son I sort of attached myself to you guys to get rid of that pain.”
“I know that,” Kevin replied. “That’s why I try to take it easy on you when you go crazy and spoil Ellie…it’s not always easy though.”
“And this is the most time I’ve seen you since. Before Ellie, you coming home from tour was like Christmas to me – even when it wasn’t. And I don’t mean that in an incest sort of way…family has just become very important to me. I hate it when we aren’t all together. And I just don’t want anything coming in here and taking that away from me – it’s come close to happening once already.”
“I can only reassure you so many times that Kristin isn’t going to. You tell me how I can get you to believe it and I will. Because I’m seriously at a loss here…I love her and all I want is for my favorite brother to see that and understand it and love her too. I want it more than anything else. Can’t you try to do it for me?” Just then, Detective Stabler walked in with Ellie who was wearing a light blue dress, with a light yellow bow that wraps around her waist & ties up in the back and decorated with a little bit of lace around the bottom seams. Elliot had dressed her in her little black Mary Jane shoes with white socks that adorned little yellow flowers on them and frills at the ankles. She was carrying her hair stuff and a brush and she went over and crawled into Kevin’s lap.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything but we have fifteen minutes,” Detective Stabler announced.
“Did you get a chance to talk to Ellie and prepare her for what’s about to happen?” Kevin asked while taking the brush from Ellie and running it smoothly through her damp hair. That had been the original reason why Detective Stabler was with them. He wanted to tell her what was going to happen and how she needs to behave and all kinds of other stuff to prepare her.
“Yeah I told her. She promised me she would be under her very best behavior and I told her if she was very good I would take her to work with me again someday.”
“Okay,” Kevin replied. “Will you do me another favor then?”
“Sure,” Detective Stabler replied readily.
“Go knock on my bedroom door and see if Kris is ready yet.”
“Will do,” Detective Stabler replied and then walked out of the kitchen and Kevin glanced at Jerald while concentrating on Ellie’s hair at the same time.
“She’s coming too?” Jerald asked softly.
“Is that okay with you?” was all Kevin said and Jerald shrugged his shoulders.
“What choice do I have?”
“She was in the Orphanage too…she saw how Sean acted I think she ought to be there and have her say too. And besides…Ellie is going to need someone to play with at the park when you and I go there to play some basketball afterwards. That is, if the hearing goes the way we want it to.”
“Basketball at the park…? Wow, that’s pretty fancy.”
“It was Kristin’s idea, you know. She thought you would like that instead of just playing in our driveway like we always do.”
“Well, I do have to admit she does have good ideas…”
“She has another idea too, if you are willing to listen” Kristin replied while suddenly walking into the kitchen and both of the brothers and Ellie looked at her.
“And what is that?” Jerald wanted to know as Kevin silently gazed at her in her long sleeved dark purple shirt and dark gray dress pants. To complete her attire she has on matching dark gray heels. Her hair is pulled back and even with very little makeup on, she still looks so beautiful in his eyes.
“The Road to El Dorado is in theaters right now and my niece and nephew have been begging me to take them to see it. I’m pretty sure that Ellie would enjoy the movie too…so while you two hang out at the park all day why don’t I take the kids to see it?”
“Are you sure?” Kevin asked while getting up after finishing up on Ellie’s hair which he had done up in a braid and after handing her over to Jerald, he went over to Kristin and slid his arms around her waist pulling her near. “I know you’ve been taking care of Ellie and me and everything and we really appreciate it, especially my mom. She just goes on and on about how much she adores you. But I just don’t want you to feel like the hired help, you know? You are my girlfriend, not the nanny. I thought you coming with us to the park would take some of the responsibility off of you – you could play with Ellie and keep her company, but at the same time we would be nearby and the one’s in charge.”
“I don’t mind doing it. I want to give you and your brother some time alone and what good will that do if I’m there?”
“That’s sweet of you Kris,” Jerald spoke up after a long moment and Kevin and Kristin looked over at him in utter surprise. “But you’ve done so much for us all ready and like Kevin said we all do appreciate it,” he added sounding very sincere and by the look in his eyes Kevin can see that he truly means it. “I appreciate it,” he amended. “But why don’t you take your niece and nephew and make it their day? I bet they would love that. I will take Ellie to see The Road to El Dorado some other time, maybe this weekend or something. Kevin is right though, you are his girlfriend not the nanny.” Kristin looked as though she could cry at Jerald’s kind words toward her. She’d worked so hard and for so long to hear them she can’t believe it’s finally happening.
“What about Ellie though? She is going to want to play, who will keep an eye on her while the two of you are bonding on the basketball court?”
“We’ll bring Brian,” Jerald replied after thinking about it for a moment. “Brian, Riley, and Harry…maybe Riley will bring Brooke to keep her company. A nice afternoon in the park will do her some good.”
“We’ll work it out either way,” Kevin spoke up again after dealing with his overwhelming pride in his brother at the moment. Did he finally get through to him after all this time? “Spend the afternoon with your niece and nephew. I’m insisting.”
“It’ll be my first time apart from you in days,” Kristin pointed out while sliding her arms around him and he rested his forehead against hers and grinned slightly.
“I know…I’m beginning to finally understand why Nick has such a hard time parting from Ashley. But I always told him that time apart makes the heart grow fonder…so before I become the biggest hypocrite in the world, I’m going to have to tough it out.”
“That makes one of us. I’m not that tough.”
“Oh on the contrary I think you are very tough. It takes a real woman to keep me in line the way you do.” Kristin blushed slightly and Kevin smirked at his success before tilting her chin up and brushing his lips lightly over hers. “We have the morning together though…even if it’s going to be spent in court.”
“That is if we make it there on time,” Detective Stabler spoke up in the doorway and Kevin peered at him over Kristin’s head to find him standing there looking amused. “It’s time to go Kev.”
“Okay, okay we’re coming” Kevin replied while rolling his eyes playfully and he looked back at Jerald who stood up with Ellie in his arms and while Kristin followed Detective Stabler into the other room Kevin lingered until Jerald was walking next to him and he spoke quietly.
“Thank you…that was really nice of you.”
“I want to be invited to your wedding in the future.”
“Keep it up and you’ll be the best man.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ask & you shall receive =)
We've been getting requests to post more chapters, so I figured I would post a few. Plus I just really wanted to let you guys know that we're indeed still alive and haven't given up on getting this story back up and kicking again. We lost a lot of chapters when my computer went through a series of crashes, so we're in the progress of digging through our yahoo conversation archives to recover as much as we can and re-write what is lost. You can find new chapters here in the mean time though: http://forever-rebel-fanfiction.webs.com/no-matter-what.html
Anywho, here's the next chapter
Enjoy =)
We've been getting requests to post more chapters, so I figured I would post a few. Plus I just really wanted to let you guys know that we're indeed still alive and haven't given up on getting this story back up and kicking again. We lost a lot of chapters when my computer went through a series of crashes, so we're in the progress of digging through our yahoo conversation archives to recover as much as we can and re-write what is lost. You can find new chapters here in the mean time though: http://forever-rebel-fanfiction.webs.com/no-matter-what.html
Anywho, here's the next chapter
Enjoy =)
