Chapter Two-Hundred-Six
Right when AJ walked back outside with Laila rested on his hip he noticed a car pull up and that Jaime was the one driving. Brooke was in the passenger’s seat, and Peyton was in the back. Jaime had barely even parked his car in the parking space before Brooke had the door open and was out of it and running toward AJ.
“ALEX!”
“BROOKIE!” AJ exclaimed, as he held an arm out to her just on time for her to come flying into it. He placed his hand to her cheek before bringing his lips down on hers giving her such a passionate kiss that her knees went weak and if she wasn’t leaning into him she would have fallen. When he pulled back she felt herself become slightly dizzy and she could feel the butterflies in her stomach.
“Brookie!” Laila exclaimed, causing her to look at the beautiful little girl in AJ’s arms whom she has missed just as much as she missed AJ.
“Lailaaa!” she replied with that same exact enthusiasm and she wrapped her arms around both AJ and Laila and hugged them both close to her. Laila hugged Brooke back and gave her slobbery kisses on her cheek. When Brooke pulled back a bit, but not too far back as she still felt lightheaded from the powerful kiss she had received, Laila noticed Peyton and reached for her. Peyton smiled some and she gently took her from AJ.
“Hi sweetheart,” she greeted as she too gave her hugs and kisses and Brooke threw her arms about AJ now that his arms were completely free and snuggled into him, taking in the scent of his cologne.
“Brooklyn Kathleen Morgan, do you have a death wish?” Jaime demanded, as he too got out of the car and joined his sisters. Brooke looked at her brother innocently.
“Not really, no.”
“You could have at least waited until I parked the car!”
“No I couldn’t. Have you smelled this man lately? He smells absolutely beautiful…it was beckoning me…” she insisted as she turned and buried her face in his shoulder. AJ chuckled and slid his arms around her waist as he hugged her close and kissed the top of her head. Jaime shook his head.
“Nice to see you too Jaim,” AJ told him. Jaime rolled his eyes.
“He’s just annoyed because Brooke hasn’t stopped talking about you since the moment you left up until the very second we pulled into this parking lot,” Peyton explained. AJ looked down at Brooke to find her looking up at him innocently and he smiled at her some and kissed her nose softly. After that he placed his arm under her legs before lifting her up and he turned and carried her into the Orphanage with Jaime and Peyton following close behind them. Brooke slid her arms around his neck and closed her eyes as he placed soft kisses on her forehead. Laila who had been watching them made a small noise of delight and clapped her hands. Peyton laughed. When they got inside the Orphanage, AJ put Brooke down on her feet and she rushed on over to Doctor Johnson, jumping into his arms and nearly knocking him over as she hugged him. Doctor Johnson laughed as he slid his arms around her waist and hugged her back lifting her feet off the ground slightly as he did. While Brooke greeted Doctor Johnson and Brandon whom she’s known for a very long time, and introduced them to her brother and sister, AJ stood there watching her with a big grin on his face. He knew he missed her while she was gone, but he didn’t think he missed her this much.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile upstairs, when Nick and Ashley got in their room Nick set their bags on the bed and he began to open them up and unpack while Sarah and Dakota played with their toys and the puppies. Ashley sensing something is bothering her boyfriend, went over and slid her arms around his waist from behind and kissed the back of his neck.
“Nicky we just got here…come relax with me. We have all the time in the world to unpack.” Nick shook his head not even looking at her.
“We should do it now and get it over with.” He gently pushed her away then and he went over and opened up their closet.
“Kota baby, what do you think about painting our room if Brooke lets us? And rearrange furniture…and maybe get you your own bed?”
“I was actually thinking about that,” Brooke’s voice came from the door making Nick jump slightly and spin around to look at her in surprise.
“Brookie!” Nick exclaimed, and he went on over and gathered her in his arms for a hug. Brooke smiled some and hugged him back. “How was New York?”
“Great, how was Kentucky?”
“It was very nice.”
“That’s good to hear.” Nick set her back down again and Brooke took a look around the room.
“Anyway, I was actually thinking the very same thing while I was gone,” she explained as she bent down to Dakota and Sarah’s level and hugged each of them as they came to her. Nick stood there looking at her curiously.
“Since you are Sarah’s caregiver and all, I was thinking about how inconvenient it must be for you to go back and fourth from one bedroom to the other.” Nick nodded.
“It can get a little tiresome…”
“And my personal goal is to keep you here for as long as I possibly can. I am not letting my best employee leave Nick.” Nick chuckled.
“I don’t plan on it unless I have to tour.”
“Well just to make sure, I’m going to help you make these two bedrooms more comfortable for you. So I was thinking…what if we knocked out the wall between the two bedrooms? Sarah and Dakota can share a room and you and Ashley this one?” Nick grinned a little.
“Or maybe we could add connecting doors? Or a curtain in the middle?”
“Whatever your heart desires. Dakota and Sarah can paint their walls whatever color they want and decorate their room however they want it and you and Ashley can do the same in here.”
“That sounds great Brooke, thanks” Nick replied as he saw both Dakota and Sarah’s eyes light up with excitement. He went over and once again hugged her. Brooke smiled some and hugged him back.
“We’ll get started on it whenever you want. Just let me know when you’re ready and I will hire some people to come down here and do it.”
“Maybe a little after the Christmas holidays? I don’t want to add more things onto your list of things to do, I know Christmas gets very hectic around here.”
“That works,” Brooke replied and she gave him one last hug. “Let me know if you need anything, I’m going to continue my rounds of checking on the Orphanage.”
“Okay,” Nick replied and Brooke left the room. Nick glanced over at Ashley to find her sitting quietly on their bed hugging her legs to her chest and he went to the closet and resumed what he was about to do – hang clothes up. He could see her starting to get upset that he was giving her the cold shoulder treatment but he continued to ignore her. This went on for a half n hour, until Ashley couldn’t take it anymore. She got up and left the room and she went down the hall to Ryan and Laila’s room. When she got in there she found AJ just lying Laila on the bed for a nap and he looked at her with concern, immediately knowing something was wrong. He got up and went over to her and he slid his arms around her waist and pulled her into a hug.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing I’m just bored…”
“Honey you can’t lie to me. I may not be able to read you the way Nick does, but I’m not stupid you know.”
“I don’t want to talk about Nick right now,” Ashley insisted and she went over and sat on the edge of the bed. AJ narrowed his eyes at this announcement and Howie just simply looked utterly shocked. Ashley however, just resumed her typical pout position – she hugged her legs to her chest, rested her chin on her knee and she gazed down at her ring, tracing the diamond with her finger while staring down at it with doubt in her eyes.
“Honey…did you two fight?” Howie spoke up worriedly.
“No…that would require him to look at me.” AJ having a feeling he knows exactly what the problem is let out a low growl and he turned and stormed out of the room. He went down the hall to the room Nick shares with his sister and he walked in to find Nick in there alone. Dakota and Sarah had left to go find Elenore and Josh. Nick looked up at him and then quickly back at the clothes in his hand and he continued to hang them up. AJ went over and grabbed the clothes from his hand, threw them to the ground and then lightly shoved Nick up against the wall.
“What the fuck is your problem?!” Nick exclaimed.
“I was wondering the same thing about you!”
“You’re the one storming into my bedroom and shoving me up against the wall, I was minding my own damn business!”
“Why is Ashley upset? What have you done to her?”
“I haven’t done a thing! She was sitting on the bed and I was hanging clothes up.”
“Why wont you look at her? Why are you ignoring her?”
“I was just trying to get the unpacking done and over with.”
“You were using the unpacking excuse to make yourself busy so that you could ignore her.” Nick looked away neither denying nor admitting to AJ’s accusation.
“All I am going to say to you, is that you better knock it off. She is in my room in her pouting stance and looking down at her promise ring with doubt and hurt in her eyes. If I go back in there and find her crying I’m going to kick your ass. For someone who promised not to hurt her, you’re doing a wonderful job!” Nick shoved AJ away, clearly pissed off and he turned his back on him crossing his arms over his chest trying to keep his emotions at bay.
“You need to get over this. Ashley loves you and you know it. However, she is a girl…girls are always going to have innocent crushes on other people, it’s what they do – they look. You just need to get it through your head that no matter who she thinks is ‘hot’, it’s always going to be you that she wants.” Nick continued to ignore him.
“And I understand why you worry. You’ve been hurt one too many times but you know she’s different then the others, you know it.” When Nick didn’t answer AJ shook his head.
“I’ll give you five minutes to come down to my room and apologize and if you don’t I’ll be back and I won’t be this understanding again,” he threatened and he turned and left the room. He only made it half way through the hall before Nick poked his head out the door and stopped him.
“AJ wait.” AJ turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Send her back here,” he told him softly.
“You could at least be a gentleman and come to her.”
“I want to be alone with her.” AJ rolled his eyes and he turned and resumed going back to his room. When he got there he walked in to find Ashley sitting next to Howie as his arm is wrapped around her and tears are rolling down her cheek.
“He wants to talk to you honey. He’s waiting in your room.”
“No he doesn’t…he only wants to talk to me because you went in there and yelled at him.”
“Sweetheart please…just give him a second chance. He has his reasons…he’ll explain it to you.”
“He can come to me if he wants to talk to me,” Ashley insisted stubbornly. AJ was about to open his mouth in protest when someone else behind him beat him to it.
“Come here baby please?” Nick pleaded and AJ whirled around to find him standing in the doorway. Ashley crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. She was not going to give into him so easy. No one ignores her the way he did, and then expects her to give in so easily when he wants forgiveness. Nick went over to her and he gently gathered her into his arms so he is cradling her and he carried her out of the room. Ashley continued to look away, her arms crossed over her chest as she stood her ground. When they got back to their bedroom he brought her inside and shut the door before taking her over to their bed and he lay her down. He sat down next to her and was about to lay on his side next to her when she suddenly got up and moved so she was sitting on the edge of the bed. Nick sighed heavily and then sat up and moved behind her before wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the back of her neck softly.
“I’m sorry baby…can you please forgive me? Please?”
“What’s it to me?” Ashley asked softly.
“We could lay in bed together and relax after our long trip…”
“I’ve already tried that and you gave me the cold shoulder treatment for reasons that I don’t know about. I don’t even know what I did wrong,” Ashley replied, the last part he heard her voice crack as she tried so desperately not to cry. It didn’t work though; he saw her eyes flooding with tears. Nick gently pulled her back with him so that they were lying against their pillows and he pulled their blanket up on them before rolling onto his side facing her and he wrapped his arms around her before resting his forehead against hers.
“You didn’t do anything wrong, it was all me. I was an asshole.”
“I’m still waiting on your explanation,” Ashley told him in a somewhat moody tone trying to be angry with him so that she wouldn’t cry.
“I get really insecure sometimes…” Nick answered softly. “I’ve been hurt and used so many times in the past that I tend to get very protective about what’s mine…and jealous over small stuff…like when you say other people are hot. It scares me…”
“So it was my fault then…” Ashley replied softly and she attempted to roll away from him but he held her closer.
“No-no…I just…”
“Nick you should know by now that I love you and could never ever hurt you…”
“I do know that—“
“—Then why would you even doubt me?”
“I told you I get insecure…it’s not something I mean to do, it just happens. Just like you can’t help but be scared of new people.” Ashley lay there looking at him quietly for a few minutes still feeling slightly hurt. When she looked into his eyes though and saw the fear in them it softened her hard gaze a little bit. She gently rolled them over then so she was ontop and she straddled him and cradled his head in her hands before leaning down and kissing him on various parts of his face. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held tightly in fear that if he didn’t she might disappear.
“I love you Nicky,” She told him softly but she made sure to emphasize the meaning in her tone.
“I’ll be completely honest with you. There are quite a few celebrities out there that I find hot. Hell there are quite a few regular people that I find hot too…I’m a girl, I’m only human. But I know you look at your fans a lot of the time and check them out too and I have to force myself not to feel jealous,” she explained while resting her forehead against his and gazing into his eyes. “Sometimes I look at myself in the mirror and I wonder how I managed to get so lucky. Out of all of all the girls you could have…you picked me. Sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve you…that you would be better off with someone ten times as beautiful then I will ever be…someone who you would find on the front cover of cover girl. I get jealous too…but I hold it in because I know at the end of the day it’s me you come home to. It’s me who you love on, and it’s me wearing the promise ring. That’s what I keep telling myself.” Nick opened his mouth to protest to her confession, not believing she would think such a thing but she lightly placed her finger to his lips stopping him. “You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me. You make me so unbelievably happy that you give me a reason to live. You help me get through each day feeling confident and strong and I love you for that. No matter who I look at…no matter who I think is hot…it’s you that I love, it’s you that I want to spend the rest of my life with…I want you to know that.”
“Do you ever think I am hot? The way you think Brandon is?” Nick asked softly.
“No, I don’t.” Ashley answered flatly and Nick’s face fell. Ashley lightly caressed his cheek with her finger as she titled his head back so he was looking up at her. “I think you’re beautiful.” Nick smiled up at her some as a single tear rolled down his cheek.
“I think you’re much more beautiful then I am. And if you ask me…I think you deserve to be on cover girl if you wanted to.” Nick insisted.
“I think you’re full of it at the last part,” Ashley insisted as she wiped his tears away and rested her head against his chest allowing him to envelope her in his arms.
“I’ll prove it to you if I have to. I have connections you know.”
“Don’t you dare.” Nick smirked as he could already feel the wheels inside his head turning. Ashley looked up at him then and he placed his hand to her cheek as he leaned down and brushed his lips lightly over hers.
“I’m sorry that I hurt you,” he told her softly.
“Just don’t do it again Nicky…promise me. My heart can only take so much…”
“I promise…” Nick replied looking her in the eyes. “I won’t hurt you intentionally.”
“Thank-you,” Ashley replied softly as she snuggled into him.
~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile downstairs, when Elenore and Josh had gotten outside with Detective Stabler and Q as supervision, Josh spotted Chris standing under a tree with a group of boys. Josh squeezed Elenore’s hand gently and he went on over to his best friend.
“Hey Chris, what’s up?” he asked cheerfully. Chris looked at him a little taken aback at seeing him and then his face turned to indifferent.
“Hello Joshua. How was you trip?”
“Good…I had fun.”
“Good, I’m glad.” Chris replied shortly and he turned his back on Josh and resumed his conversation with the other two boys. Josh suddenly looked taken aback and confused.
“I thought you would be happy to see me…”
“You mean you actually thought about me?” Chris asked astonished, and he whirled around to stare at Josh with his mouth wide open showing his shock.
“Of course I did…I thought about you the whole time.”
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“I don’t know…I guess I just…”
“You were just busy with your new best friends, right?” Chris asked, indicating toward Elenore with disgust.
“No…but we had a lot going on…with Thanksgiving and stuff…”
“Tell someone who actually cares, Josh.”
“Chris…”
“Go away. Go on…run a long and play with your spoiled rotten girlfriends…” Josh glared at him now.
“Ellie and Kota are not spoiled!”
“Hmph! Sure fooled me.”
“You take that back, Christopher!” Josh demanded through clinched teeth.
“No, I will NOT take it back! You know there was once a time where you actually agreed with me Joshua!”
“Well things change…”
“No, only you changed,” Chris argued.
“For the better…can’t you see that I am happy now Chris? Why can’t you be okay with that?”
“I guess I didn’t expect to lose my best friend.”
“But you didn’t lose me! I’m right here!”
“Stop kidding yourself. Ever since you became friends with them you’ve never had time for me! You didn’t even think about me the entire time you were gone! You didn’t even bother inviting me to come with you! Or call me when I was all by myself! SOME friend you are!”
“Chris…please…I can’t be friends with one and not the other. If you want to spend time with me you have to learn to accept Dakota and Ellie too. It’s just the way it is now…”
“Well then if that’s the way it is, I pick nothing at all. You can stick to your stupid spoiled bratty girlfriends for all I care…I’ve gotten a long fine without you.”
“I’ve asked you not to call them that!”
“I don’t care! SPOILED ROTTEN LITTLE BRATS WHO ARE NOTHING BUT FRIEND STEALERS!” Josh shoved Chris hard and Chris shoved him back in defense.
“I hate you Joshua! I hate you and I don’t care if we aren’t friends anymore!”
“Fine then, I hate you too!” Josh yelled, shoving Chris up against a tree. Chris shoved him off of him pushing Josh against the ground and he dove at him and began throwing punches forcing Josh to fight back in self-defense.
“You leaves my Joshy ALONE!” Elenore demanded, and she dove ontop of Chris joining in on the fight. She grabbed at Chris’s hair in attempt to pull him off of Josh but Chris only retaliated throwing her off of him against the ground and he began hitting her instead.
“STOP IT! STOP RIGHT NOW CHRIS!” Josh shrieked in horror as he noticed blood forming in Elenore’s nose. He grabbed Chris by the shirt yanked him off of her and was about to throw him against a tree when suddenly a pair of arms pulled him away and another pair of arms grabbed hold of Chris. Josh looked up to see that Detective Stabler had him and Q had hold of Chris. Josh growled in frustration and he dove toward Chris who was doing the exact same thing, the both of them wanting nothing more then to continue hitting each other. But no matter how hard they tried neither of them could free themselves of their restraints.
“Just what exactly is going on here?” Detective Stabler demanded.
“Yeah Josh, we were so proud of you for not fighting in Kentucky, and the first thing you do when you come home is what…start a fight?” Q added.
“I DIDN’T START IT!” Josh shouted indignantly and he pointed at his ex-best friend. “HE did! I was only trying to make things right!”
“WELL you can’t make things right JOSH! Nothing will ever be right again because you chose them stupid girls over me and you got adopted by Brian and left me ALL alone! I HATE you! I hate you and those girls SO much that I hope you all disappear off the face of the earth!”
“CHRIS I DIDN’T—“ Josh began as tears welled up in his eyes.
“-I HOPE YOU DIE!”
“FINE THEN! I HOPE YOU DIE TOO!” Chris made another attempt to dive at Josh and Josh did as well but they were only held back even more.
“I HOPE YOU STAY MISERABLE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! I HOPE YOU REGRET BEING ADOPTED, AND LEAVING ME ALL ALONE, AND I HOPE YOU REGRET CHOOSING THOSE STUPID GIRLS OVER ME! I HATE YOU AND I WISH YOUR FATHER WOULD HAVE HURT YOU VERY BADLY SO THAT YOU COULDN’T COME HERE!” Josh couldn’t take it anymore. He broke down into sobs, and he turned around and ran toward the Orphanage door. Howie turned and went after him and Detective Stabler tended to Elenore who was lying on the ground sobbing with a bloody nose. Q grabbed up Chris and he walked to a private area with him so that they could have a serious talk.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
