Chapter One-Hundred-Forty-One
Meanwhile at the Littrell Household, Howie went upstairs to Kevin's room and he opened the bedroom door just on time for a toy to go flying past his head, narrowly missing it by an inch.
"Beware of the flying objects. I highly advise you to enter the room with caution," Brian warned as he sat on the edge of the bed just watching his son roll on the floor and scream for Elenore at the top of his lungs. He decided that instead of yelling at him and trying to get him to stop, he would just let him tire himself out. Surely the kid can't scream all night – and if Kevin is out that long he will kill him.
"I just got off of the phone with Kevin!" Howie announced loud enough for Josh to hear him. "He is on his way home with Ellie right now! They will be here soon." Brian sighed with relief at these words.
"Oh thank god…" He muttered. "You hear that Josh? Ellie is coming home!" Brian replied just as loud as Howie and suddenly the room grew very quiet as Josh suddenly stopped midst tantrum and he looked at Brian and Howie who were standing there staring back and looking none to amused.
"She is? Really?"
"Yes and she misses you very much. She is very tired and is ready to come home and get straight into bed."
"You promise?"
"Mhm."
"So why don't you get in bed and wait for her?" Brian offered gently.
"I want some water…"
"I will go get you some. You let Brian tuck you in first though." Josh got up and went over to Brian and Brian gently lifted him up and placed him back in bed. He reached over and grabbed a tissue and he dried his tears with it before covering him up with the blankets and Howie left the room to go get Josh a cup of water. Brian lay in the empty spot next to Josh and he tucked his hair behind his ear before wrapping him in his arms and pulling him close. He kissed his forehead softly and rested his head next to his and Josh snuggled close to him. Brian shook his head and wondered to himself how he could go from throwing a monstrous fit to being a total sweetheart all in just five minutes. Even though he was acting like a brat Brian still can't help but think he is the most amazing kid ever. He couldn't trade him in for anybody. When Howie returned with the water he promised he brought it over to Josh and Josh sat up and took it from him.
"What do you say Joshua?" Brian asked gently.
"Thanks Howie," Josh spoke softly and Brian rubbed his hand over his back.
"No problem buddy," Howie replied, and Josh took a drink of his water and then gave it back to Howie and he set it on the nightstand. While he did that Josh turned and lay back down and he wrapped his arm around Brian and rested his head against his chest. Brian kissed his forehead softly and he hugged him close to him. Josh couldn't help but smile a little as he enjoys bedtime cuddling with his Brian more then anything. He didn't get it earlier because he was being stubborn and now he very much regrets it.
"I'm sorry Brian…" he spoke softly into his chest. "I'm sorry I was so bad…please don't give me back to the Orphanage…"
"Hey, Hey…" Brian interrupted and he gently placed his hands to Josh's cheeks and made him look up into his eyes. "I wouldn't trade you in for the world Josh…no matter how naughty you act sometimes. I love you too much to ever let you go. I was just telling everybody earlier how amazing you are – huh Howie?"
"Oh yeah, he was just going on and on about how much he loves you. You've got nothing to worry about kid." Josh smiled a little causing Brian to smile back and he wiped a falling tear from his cheek with his finger before allowing him to rest his head against his chest again and Brian rubbed his hand over his back. "I'm going to take you to the mall tomorrow and I want you to show me what you want for Christmas so that I can start planning our first Christmas together okay?"
"Kay," Josh replied softly and Brian can hear the smile in his voice. The two of them laid there together in silence for ten minutes as Howie sat on the floor petting Chance and Lil' Rok and he stayed in the bedroom incase Brian needs anything. After ten minutes they heard Marcus shout from down the hall.
"BRIAN, KEV IS HERE!" Josh sprung up from the bed like a rocket at these words only to have his father lightly push him back down again.
"Oh no you don't. You can wait for him to bring her up here. She still needs to get into her pajamas and everything, so just chill for a few minutes okay?" Josh scowled and crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly as he sat there and reluctantly waited. Howie got up and left the room suddenly. He went downstairs and followed Jackie, Harold, Nick, Ashley, and Riley outside just as Kevin parked the van and got out. He went to Elenore's door and opened it up only to find that she had already unbuckled herself and was standing up waiting for him to get her out. Kevin rolled his eyes some and he gently gathered her into his arms and took her out of the van. He was about to turn around to get her toys from the van when Elenore impatiently slid from his arms.
"Ellie!" He exclaimed, but Elenore paid no attention as she ran off toward the house where she knows her Joshy is waiting for her. Kevin shook his head and proceeded to get her toys and stuff and he turned around to see everybody standing there waiting to help him if he should need it.
"Why are you so late?" Nick immediately interrogated.
"I was stuck in traffic," Kevin answered while handing him Elenore's basket of toys and he reached in and grabbed her teddy bear that she had thrown at his head earlier and her hoodie. "With a screaming, overly exhausted five year old who had a very long day and wants nothing more then to crawl into bed with Josh and go to sleep."
"Well it wasn't much different here except we had a screaming six year old who was refusing to get into bed without Ellie." Kevin shook his head.
"At least you didn't get a stuffed animal thrown at your head."
"No, just a block – but it missed me by an inch," Howie bragged somewhat. Kevin raised his eyebrow and paused midst grabbing things and he looked at his curly haired friend.
"Apparently Ellie has better aim then," he announced and he went back to what he is doing. When he grabbed up everything he shut the door to the van. Meanwhile in the house, when Elenore got in there she ran straight up the stair and down the hall to the room she shares with Kevin and Josh. When she got inside it she found Josh sitting there staring at the door impatiently and Brian still sitting next to him.
"JOSHY!!!" She shrieked.
"ELLIE!!!" Josh exclaimed back and Elenore dove onto the bed and flung herself ontop of Josh before throwing her arms around him and hugging him tight. Josh slid his arms around her in return and hugged her back thankfully. He would have seriously stayed up all night waiting on her if he had to whether Brian or anyone else liked it or not – and if that were the case, everybody would be awake waiting for Ellie all night.
"What took you so long?" Josh asked with slight irritation in his voice.
"Kevy an' I gots stuck in traffic. The cars wouldn't move so we had to sits there."
"Well its way past both of your bedtimes, so why don't I get you into your pajamas Ellie so you and Josh can get some sleep?" Elenore nodded and allowed Brian to borrow her from Josh for a few moments. He carried her over to the dresser and he opened up the drawer that he knows belongs to Elenore. When he did he peered inside it.
"What pajamas do you want to wear sweetheart?"
"Turtles!" Elenore immediately answered and Brian pulled those pajamas out before setting her down and kneeling down in front of her and he helped her into her pajamas. By the time he had finished and was just returning her to the bed Kevin walked in and a grateful expression formed on his face when he saw that Brian had already dressed her into her pajamas for him. He set her basket of toys onto the floor next to her bag of toys and he went over to her outstretched arms and he placed her teddy bear into them before she lay back against her pillow next to Josh.
"Do you want Brian and I to sing to you?"
"No, I wants to sleep."
"Works for me," Kevin replied, not disappointed in the least bit and he went over and kissed her forehead softly before covering her up and Brian did the same with Josh.
"Where is Lil' Rok?!"
"Right here," Brian answered and he bent down, picked up the small pug and he handed him over to her and she smiled and hugged him close to her, giggling as the puppy gave her affectionate kisses.
"I love you Ellie, good night," Kevin spoke up again and despite how exhausted he is he can't help but smile at the sound of her giggles.
"Loves you too Kevy, night." She replied and then wrapped an arm around Josh before rolling onto her side next to him. He took her hold of her hand and the two of them were out in not even a second. Brian and Kevin shook their heads in amusement and then the two of them left the room shutting the door quietly behind them.
"We are going to be dealing with that for the rest of their lives if we don't do something about it," Brian announced as the two of them head downstairs.
"Yeah well, what do you think we should do about it? They are traumatized…it's going to take a lot to get things back to normal."
"I don't know…therapy maybe?"
"Ellie won't talk to strangers."
"So then what about Dr. Huang? She knows him…and she did a pretty good job talking to him last time didn't she?"
"For awhile…until things got too uncomfortable and then she insisted she wanted to stop."
"So then what if we tried a little bit each day? They can talk until she wants to stop we won't force her to talk about anything she doesn't want to. Or how about Elliot…or Olivia? She knows and loves them both very much."
"I don't know Bri…I'll worry about her too much. I don't want to open up anymore wounds than we already have."
"Well we have to do something cuz…otherwise we might as well move in together now and hope to god traffic doesn't get in our way ever again."
"Well I like that a whole lot better then hurting my baby even more then she already is."
"As much as I love you and all Kevin…I am sorry but I don't want to live with you forever and our kids can't stay traumatized forever either, I want them to get through this and be happy and healthy. Don't you want that for Ellie?"
"Yes, but…I don't know Bri…just let me think about it for awhile okay?" Brian nodded and dropped the conversation as the two of them reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Are the kids asleep?" Jackie asked curiously.
"Yes…finally…" Brian answered stressfully. "I have a headache…"
"Aww…poor baby…" Riley suddenly replied, and she got up from the couch and went over to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him sympathetically. He gave her a weak grin and leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers.
"Is there any chance that Caregiver Riley could take care of a very needy kid at heart?"
"Hmm…I think it's possible," Riley smiled and she took hold of his hand and started pulling him toward the stairs again.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile in New York, AJ and Brooke were still lying in AJ's bed together – the main light off and the small lamp on the nightstand dimmed. Brooke was half-asleep in AJ's arms as he just lay there watching her and placing delicate kisses on her forehead every now and then. He is way too happy to go to sleep and he doesn’t want to miss any movement Brooke makes at all through out the night. Plus, he needs to be awake bright and early to make sure Brooke makes it back to her bedroom before Jaime wakes up too. He likes having Jaime's trust and he doesn't want to do anything to lose it. Jaime's trust is almost even more important then Brooke's trust because without Jaime's trust, there is no way he would be allowed near the woman he loves. AJ rested his forehead against Brooke's and he allowed himself to close his eyes for a while. Everything was going just fine, until suddenly he felt movement beside him – Laila. AJ's eyes shot open and he looked at the little girl beside him to see her tossing and turning about. AJ raised his eyebrow, as he recognizes these symptoms – his little girl is suffering a nightmare. Brooke seemed to have felt the two year olds movements too because she opened her eyes and was now looking at her with concern. She reached over and rubbed her hand over Laila's back in a slow circular motion and AJ watched with interest, as Brooke seems to know what she is doing.
"Sing to her Alex," Brooke spoke quietly and AJ looked at her curiously. "Just trust me…sing to her." AJ looked back down at Laila and he tucked a strand of her sweaty blonde curls back behind her ear before beginning to sing softly to her.
"I guess you were lost when I met you
Still there were tears in your eyes
So out of trust and I knew
No more of then mysteries and lies…"
As AJ sang The One to Laila and Brooke continued to comfort her by rubbing her back, the little girl instantly began to stop tossing and turning and was soon back to sleeping peacefully as if nothing was wrong. AJ sang the entire song and by the time he finished he lay back in his spot again with his head rested against the pillow and he looked down at Brooke curiously. She smiled a little bit and rolled over so she was lying on her stomach ontop of him and she rested her head against his chest.
"How did you know that would calm her down?"
"They don't call me the headmaster of Ramsey Orphanage for nothing, you know. Kids are kind of my specialty." She reminded, and she smiled up at him. He chuckled a little.
"I knew that," he insisted, and she placed her hand to his jaw, before pulling his face down closer so she could kiss his cheek. "Well good thing you are here then. I wouldn't have known to do that and she probably would have woken up crying."
"Yeah…I wasn't going to risk Jai waking up and busting us," Brooke replied and she snuggled closer to him. "I like it right where I am and I don't intend on moving."
"Well I like you where you are too…but by daylight, you do need to get to your room before he wakes up…I don't want to lose his respect."
"It's very unlikely…I've never seen him let his guard around me down so quickly before…not even to Thadius."
"If he catches me in bed with you, he'll be on me in a second with a baseball bat."
"He will have to get through me first. All we are doing is laying here…its not like we're having sex." AJ grinned a little and he slid his arms around her some more before rubbing his hand over her back and he kissed her forehead softly before she buried her face in his neck and closed her eyes.
"He ought to know that I wouldn't be lying here with you if I didn't trust you. He needs to know that I feel safest with you and I think we should make that statement right now."
"I think we should wait until he gets to know me a little more honey, he has only known me for three days…do you really want to go into the whole brother hates little sister's boyfriend thing? What if he forbids us to be together?"
"Id laugh in his face and tell him to fuck off…I'm a big girl now – twenty two years old to be exact." AJ chuckled a little.
"Just humor me okay? Give it a little more time before we start rebelling…alright?" Brooke sighed.
"Okay…if you insist." AJ smiled down at her and rested his forehead against hers as he hugged her close to him.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
