Chapter Fifty One
"You've been a very bad girl, Elenore." Tom lectured, towering over the little girl causing her to push herself into a corner so she is trapped. She looked up at him intimidated.
"Nuh uhs. I been good girl all day. I was playin' nicely withs Josh an' Kevy hasn't had to punish me all day."
"You don't know what being punished is like, little girl. Kevin has spoiled you rotten since you've been here. Well you just wait and see. He is eventually going to leave you and the -"
"No he will nots! Kevy says he would never leave me! He makes promises that he wills never leaves me! He tells me he loves me an' that he is my Kevy an' I gots NOTHIN' to worry about!" Tom now angry that Elenore had not only interrupted him, but was also talking back smacked her hard across the face and she looked away from him, placed her hand to her now red cheek and she began to cry uncontrollably.
"You do not talk back to me, you ungrateful little brat! Just wait until your father gets you back. You're in for a very rude awakening. Kevin does not love you Elenore. He is lying to you. I heard him myself, he is planning on leaving you very soon because he can't stand you. You're a very bad girl. Your father knows all about the lies you've told about him, and he is NOT very happy about it."
"You're lying!" Elenore insisted, and she spit in his face. He forcefully grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and he smacked her once again sending her staggering back against the corner of the wall and she cried even harder. Rok who had gotten loose from Elenore's grasp went to the door to the playroom and started to urgently bark in hopes that someone will hear him and come to Elenore's rescue.
"You will not tell anyone that I did this to you. The minute you do and I find out I am going to hurt that precious puppy of yours. Got it?" Elenore nodded her head though she sat there shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"KEVYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Tom let go of her and immediately began to run, getting himself out of sight. All of the adults in the playroom heard Elenore's cries, and Rok's panicked barks and they looked over at the kids, all of them frantic. When they didn't see Elenore sitting with them and they saw Dakota, Chris, Spencer, and even Josh just as worried Kevin immediately jumped up and ran toward the door to the hall. He pulled it open and looked out there to find Elenore sitting on the floor screaming at the top of her lungs and a pug sitting at the door barking.
"Honey what is it? What's wrong?" He asked, and he rushed over and scooped her up into his arms. She threw her arms around his neck, buried her face in his shoulder and she began to sob. He rubbed his hand over her back and held her close to her, the fear evident in his eyes as he looked at all of the adults at the door.
"Honey what happened? Why are you out in the hallway?" He asked gently.
"I's comes to gets Rok," Elenore wailed. "He chase the ball outs here!"
"What happened, Honey?" Kevin questioned, all eyes on him and Elenore. "What made you scream?" Elenore peeked out and looked around, spotting Tom peeking around a corner.
"N-Nothin'..." She whimpered, fear coursing through her body, at the thought of just what he might do to poor little Rok if she told on him. "The door was stucks." Nick frowned upon hearing that, and eyed Kevin briefly before speaking.
"No, it wasn't Ellie. We came through it just fine."
"It was stucks!" Elenore declared, lifting her head some to glare at Nick. "It wouldn't open!" The adults, and even the five children who'd come running out with them, gasped when they saw Elenore's face.
"Ellie, dids Shredder gets you?" Dakota asked, eyes wide.
"I didn't touch her!" Josh yelled, not thinking, as he knew the girls referred to him as Shredder usually.
"Relax, Buddy," Brian told him, squeezing his shoulders gently. "We know you didn't. You were with us." Kevin shifted Elenore slightly, and gently checked her face out, feeling horrible when he saw her wince. Finally though, she jerked her head away some.
"Ellie, tell me. Please."
"I's ran into the door," Elenore told him. "It was stuck an' I tried to open it, an' I crashed."
"Elenore," Kevin said warily, knowing that wasn't the truth. Otherwise, she'd not look so terrified.
"I'S RAN INTO THE DOOR!!!!!" Elenore insisted loudly.
"There's no need to yell, Elenore Ellerbee," Kevin stated firmly. Elenore's face puckered up once again, and her tears began to fall almost immediately. She got hurt, and couldn't tell for very good reasons, and now Kevin was going to be mad at her for something that wasn't her fault. Dr. Johnson approached Kevin and Elenore then, as he'd been standing back some.
"Why don't you bring her over to the Hospital side, and I'll check her out just to be on the safe side." Kevin nodded.
"Alright." He turned to Dakota then. "Kota, can you watch Rok for Ellie, please?"
"Kay," Dakota nodded eagerly.
"No!" Elenore shrieked suddenly, her head bolting up, though she was still crying. "I's want Rok! Rok hasta come withs me!"
"Ellie, Kota's going to take good care of him, don't worry," Kevin assured her.
"I'll holds him tight 'till you gets back," Dakota promised her friend.
"NO!" Elenore screamed. "ROK COMES WITHS ME!!!!!"
"Elenore," Kevin began, only to be cut off.
"NO!" Elenore screamed, bawling her hands up into little fists and beating Kevin with them. "ROK COMES WITHS ME, KEVY!!!!! HE HASTA COME WITHS ME!!!!!!" Kevin struggled to grab hold of the flying fists, that were pounding into him as hard as they could.
"Elenore Edna Reena Irene Elaina Ellerbee! Enough!" He snapped warningly, finally managing to wrangle both her wrists into his hand.
"Kev, maybe you should let her take him," Brian piped up then. "I mean, she has to have very good reason for wanting him to come. Otherwise, I'm sure she'd let Kota watch him no problem."
"Brian, he's staying here. End of discussion," Kevin replied shortly, as he was becoming more and more frustrated with the whole situation. Brian thought a moment, then went and looked Elenore in the eyes.
"Ellie, what if I keep Rok in my pocket? He can stay in there while Tyke plays with Lily, Chance, and Abbie, okay?"
"You's promise you'll keep Rok in there 'till I comes back?" Elenore asked, whimpering and hiccupping.
"Cross my heart," Brian vowed, crossing his heart. He then went and scooped the little pug up into his arms. They'd left all the other dogs back in the playroom, so Rok was the only one who needed a lift. "See? He'll be right in here," Brian said, gently sticking Rok into the pocket Tyke usually kept occupied. Rok yapped, and poked his head out so that he could still see Ellie. He was so small, his tail couldn't stick out the other end like Tyke's could; though you could see part of Brian's front pocket moving back and forth, as the puppy wagged its tail.
"Kay," Elenore replied softly, and Kevin looked at Doctor Johnson.
"Ready?" Doctor Johnson asked, and Kevin nodded and began to follow him toward the hospital wing, Q also going with them.
"I'm gonna go talk to Brooke," Riley announced, and she walked away headed toward Brooke's office. Nick who was standing there holding Ashley close to him, took her hand and looked down at Dakota, Josh, Spencer, and Chris.
"Come on kids, come back into the playroom so we can keep an eye on you all," he told them and he, Brian, Howie, and AJ began to usher the kids into the room again, shutting the door behind them. Dakota went over to the other puppies and Spencer followed as did Josh and Chris. Dakota sat down crossing her arms and she doesn't look happy one bit.
"Kota are you okay?" Josh asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," Dakota replied shortly. "But Ellie's not." Spencer eyed Josh curiously.
"Since when do you care if Kota is okay or not?"
"I don't!" Josh insisted, immediately becoming angry to cover up his mistake.
"Sure seems like it." Spencer replied indifferently and he sat next to Dakota and took Lily into his lap.
"You don'ts know what your talking about. I could care less if stupid Dakota is okay! I just don'ts want anything else bad to happen!"
"Whatever you say, Josh." Spencer replied, seeing right through him. He saw and heard the sincerity in him when he had asked Dakota if she was okay. He knows he isn't as tough as he lets on.
"Well I don'ts!" Josh demanded, becoming even more angry that Spencer doesn't believe him and he scooped Chance up and walked away. Chris rolled his eyes and then followed. Dakota sat petting Abbie for a few minutes, than she got up with her and she took her over to Nick and Ashley. Spencer got up and followed. When she got over there she crawled up into Ashley's lap still cradling Abbie. Ashley wrapped her arms around her as she rested her head against her shoulder.
"Are you alright baby?" Nick asked gently, as he had noticed the troubled look in Dakota's eyes.
"I'm worried bouts Ellie, daddy."
"I know honey…so are we."
"Do you by any chance know who could've possibly done it Kota? Are there any kids here in the Orphanage that maybe don't like Ellie?" Brian asked gently, racking his brains on trying to figure this situation out.
"No…just Joshy buts Joshy didn't's do it…"
"Hmm…" Brian replied.
"She seemed very scared about leaving Rok behind…that was a little suspicious." Ashley spoke up as she sat there petting Abbie. "Whoever did this to her may have threatened to hurt him do you think? Sean used to threaten to kill me all the time if I told anyone what he did to me."
"Yeah…it's possible…but the question is who. We got rid of Trevor…so he couldn't have done it."
"That's not entirely true," Nick replied softly. "Remember he's not locked up anymore…he's out there running around with Sean god knows where…you never know he could even be lurking about in this building…"
"But that doesn't make any sense. If it was him, why wouldn't he have just taken her? Sean is trying his very hardest to get her back." Howie pointed out.
"True…but I have a feeling this has SOME kind of connection to him…everything bad that happens around here does." Nick replied, as he reached over and rubbed his hand over Ashley's back.
"You know, I'm kind of suspicious about Tom," Brian spoke up again and everybody looked at him curiously.
"He was being completely horrible to all of us earlier at the meeting, including Ellie. It's clearly obvious that he does not like her one bit. What if it was him?"
"Tom? Really? I mean sure he's an asshole…but would he really actually hurt a kid?"
"You never know with him…" Brian replied.
"How long has he been working here?" AJ asked, also very suspicious of Tom now that Brian brought it up.
"Not sure…why?"
"Did he start working here around the same time as Trevor? Maybe even the same time? If so, then he could be another one of Sean's spies."
"But…wouldn't Ashley be terrified of him then?" Nick asked curiously.
"Maybe she didn't recognize him?" AJ asked, looking over at Ashley. "Maybe he kept his identity on the down low. Maybe he was just here for backup incase Trevor was caught."
"But if he works for Sean, and Ashley didn't recognize him, I definitely would have…wouldn't I?" Kori spoke up suddenly after just sitting there and listening to the discussion.
"Unless he started working for Sean after you ran away." Nick replied.
"But wouldn't we have seen Trevor talking to him then?" Brian asked suddenly. "All those times that he sat at the table by himself on the phone talking to Sean, or where ever it is he ran off to and hid to talk to him?"
"Down in the basement," Dakota, who was sitting there listening intently spoke up. She wants to be apart of the mystery too. She helped solve the Doctor Johnson mystery, maybe she can help with Tom too and save her best friend at the same time. Cause she just knows she is in danger right now and she does not like it one bit. Nobody messes with her best friend and gets away with it. "When I listened to him talks on the phone, he was down in the basement. Tom wasn't withs him."
"Was he ever with him Kota? Remember that day when I had you play detective? The day of our homecoming concert?"
"No I never seen him withs him at all."
"Okay, then that's a little weird," Nick replied. "If he's connected with Sean he would've communicated with Trevor in some way - if not in public, then definitely in private."
"I think we should ask Riley when he started working here."
"Do you need me to plays detective again daddy?" Dakota asked importantly. "Spencer can helps me out this time."
"I don't know about that honey…things are a little more dangerous this time now that Trevor is loose."
"We'll be careful daddy…please?"
"Baby I don't know…"
"Please daddy? I wants to help protect Ellie."
"It might be okay for her to do it Nick…she and Spencer are little, they can fit into places that no adult can…and while Trevor knows this place pretty well there isn't anyone who knows it better then Dakota." Brian reassured.
"I don't know…I'll talk to Riley and Brooke and see what they think. But if I let you do it there is no way you two are going to without walkie talkies. You're going to keep in contact with us the entire time." Dakota smiled and exchanged excited looks with Spencer. They're both excited that they may get to help solve the mystery and protect their best friend.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter
It was co-written with Lenni
Enjoy =)
It was co-written with Lenni
Enjoy =)
