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Chapter Two-Hundred-Forty



By the time Kevin, Nick, and Scott arrived in Tampa Bay, at the football stadium owned by the Buccaneers and were inside they had twenty minutes to kill and decided they would browse the Gift Shop. Scott and Spencer however, decided that they would wait outside seeing as how they were on Buccaneers Territory, which would mean that everything in the Gift Shop is Buccaneers Souvenirs. Laney stood where he could see inside the shop, and keep an eye on Scott and Spencer all at the same time. As Scott was standing outside the shop, he lifted Spencer up off his shoulders and put him down so his feet were on the ground and took a firm hold of his hand. Spencer pulled on Scott’s hand anxiously as he wants to see out onto the field and Scott chuckled before allowing him to do so. When they got over there, he lifted Spencer back up so that he could see over the railing and he noticed the Steelers mascot Steely McBeam clear across the field.


“Can we goes to meet the Mascot Scott? Please?” He asked eagerly, and Scott grinned.


“Sure thing buddy, lets just wait on everybody else though okay?”


“Kay,” Spencer agreed, and the two of them stood there looking around as they waited. After a little while of waiting, they suddenly heard Dakota from behind them.


“Looks Spencer, check us out!” Scott turned to look and so did Spencer and they found that both Dakota and Elenore now had pom poms in their hands, the both of them beaming excitedly. “Now we’re really cheerleaders!”


“Cheerleaders for the wrong team,” Spencer insisted challengingly. “The Steelers are gonna wins”


“Nuh uhs, the Bucs are. They’re gonna kick your Steelers’ sorry butts all the way backs to Pittsburgh!” Dakota declared, doing the sassy cheerleader thing that she had picked up on from the movie ‘Bring It On’, and the competitiveness that Nick had given her over the past four years of taking her to the games.


“Yeah!” Elenore agreed with just as much attitude, though she let Dakota deal with the insults, as she clearly has more experience with the team bashing then she does. It is after all her first time ever being at a football game. Nick, Kevin, Jerald, Laney, and Scott all laughed.


“Quite the competitive one you are, Kota” Scott commented amusedly.


“She pretty much grew up around Football,” Kevin commented, rolling his eyes playfully. “She was Bella’s age when Nick took her to her first game.”


“That’s right. My baby knows her stuff,” Nick boasted and he gently squeezed her shoulder.


“Bella will too when she gets older,” Dakota insisted as she looked up at the baby in Nick’s arms, who’s eyes were wide and interested as she checked out the noises around her.


“What about Sarah? How come she didn’t come?” Kevin asked confused, as they began to go looking for their seats.


“I don’t think she’s very interested in football,” Nick answered while shrugging. “I think she’s strictly my girly girl.”


“But you did invite her to come?”


“Course I did. I learned my lesson – I know better then to pay attention to one and not the other. She insisted upon staying behind though. Like I said, I think this will always be mine and Kota’s special thing…and that’s okay with me because I’m sure Sarah and I will find something special for just the two of us too.” Kevin nodded in agreement.


“That’s a pretty good system. That way neither of them will ever have a reason to feel left out.”


“Mhm.” Dakota who was silently walking behind Nick looked at Elenore, whom was watching her friend knowing full well of the battles going on through her head. Elenore swung her arm around Dakota’s shoulders and the two best friends walked side by side behind Nick and Kevin with Laney right behind them. When they found their seats Scott whom still held Spencer looked down at him briefly and then at everybody else.


“Spencer was wanting to go meet Steely McBeam and I told him we would but had to wait for everybody else.” Nick and Kevin looked out at the field over on the Steelers side and saw the Steelers Mascot, whose name was Steely McBeam, meeting a group of kids and signing autographs. Kevin nodded.


“Every kid has to meet the mascot of their favorite team. Lan, why don’t you go with them? We’ll be fine here. Perhaps we’ll go find Captain Fear – Kota’s met him several times, but Ellie hasn’t.”


“Why’s he called Captain Fear?” Elenore asked cautiously.


“He’s not really scary Ellie, he’s real nice!” Dakota insisted. “They just calls him Captain Fear, because he’s supposeds to make the other team fears him so ours will win” Kevin reached over and gathered his little cheerleader up into his arms and hugged her close.


“Would you like to go meet him baby?” Elenore nodded quietly.


“Okie dokie – Kota? You too? I bet he’ll remember you.” Nick chuckled.


“Probably.”


“Yeah,” Dakota nodded excitedly, and Kevin looked at Scott.


“So we’ll meet you back here before the game starts then?”


“Yup,” Scott nodded, glad that they weren’t going to hover over him the whole game like actual baby-sitters. It’ll make it a lot easier to try and be their friend, if they aren’t constantly watching him like a hawk. If they have to send the security guard with him, he can deal with that. Anything to keep his son safe. The last thing he needs is another repeat of the other day. Especially when he knows its affected Spencer deeply. Eventually after making plans, the two groups went off in different directions. Scott, Spencer, and Laney going off to meet steely, and Nick, Kevin, Jerald, and the two girls going off on a pirate hunt. Bella still safe and snug in the blue baby sling that Nick wore.


~*~*~*~*~*~



Meanwhile back at the Orphanage, when Brian had managed to get all 30 kids into the auditorium he shut the door and locked it after letting Brooke know that they would be in there and didn’t want any interruptions. She questioned him on what he was up to and he just told her it was a surprise and they would tell her later. As soon as the door was shut, one of Josh’s friends Gabrielle ran up onto the stage and grabbed at a microphone and he spoke into it.


“Hellooooo…” And he stopped to listen to his echo while the other kids jumped around and played on the stage. “Brian will be using these? Huh? Huh?” Brian chuckled.


“Not today, but yes eventually. I have to talk to the BSB Sound crew first and see if they can come down here. But right now, I need all of you to bring the ‘Get Well Soon’ cards that you made for Ashley down here and set them on this chair. Right now.” Doing as they were told, all 30 of the kids hurried off the stage and one by one placed their hand made cards in a pile on a chair. When they were all there, they looked at Brian for their next instructions. Brian studied them all for a few moments, trying to decide just exactly what he was going to do with them all. In a way, he is glad that Ashley and Doctor Johnson had gone out onto the playground forcing them into this room, because the stage will come in real handy. After thinking about it for a few moments, he nodded to himself.


“All right. I need three of the older kids to come onstage with me right now. I’m gonna need help moving things,” He instructed, looking at the few ten and eleven year olds that he had managed to gather. Three boys named Jonathan, Anthony, and Ricky all followed him onto the stage and Brian led them over to some bleachers that had wheels on them. Brian grabbed onto the back of them, and the three boys each grabbed a side and began to help him move it to the middle of the stage. When he got it there, he turned and smiled at his group of kids.


“Okay everybody, when I call your name I want you to come up here and I will show you where to stand,” he instructed, and then proceeded to call each kid up two by two and place them all on the bleachers according to size. When he had them all settled, he hopped off stage so he was standing in front of it facing them all.


“Okay, how about we start off with Jingle Bells? That sound good?” He then turned to Sarah, who was sitting in the chair watching. “What do you think Sarah? Want to hear Jingle Bells?” Sarah nodded eagerly and held one thumb up telling him it is a great idea. Brian chuckled and he turned and looked at the rest of the kids.


“Jingle Bells it is, then!” he announced cheerfully, and he began to lead his little choir into song, singing a long with them to help the younger kids stay in tune and remember the words because some of them were having troubles. He told them to just follow his lead, and then he would put an overhead up with the lyrics later with some of the older kid’s help. He lead them through various Christmas song favorites for an entire two hours, practicing the ones that there were frequent mistakes in and by the time they had finished, they accomplished on learning three of them without any mistakes at all. When they finished, they all hopped off the stage and gathered around him for announcements.


“You all did great and Sarah and I are very proud of you. Right Sarah?” Brian questioned, looking down at his silent assistant who was rested on his right hip and she nodded and gave them all two thumbs up.


“Right. So do you have any questions?” Gabrielle’s hand shot up eagerly and Brian chuckled at his little friend – well Josh’s little friend, who is hyper and crazy all the time. He really can’t help it though, as he was diagnosed with ADHD when he was really young and takes medication.


“Yes Gabe?”


“Are we going to practice again tomorrow?”


“Not tomorrow, because the rest of the Backstreet Boys and I have to go on a short little trip, but as soon as I get back we will. I have to get the other group of kids in here to practice first though.”


“When are we going caroling?” Jessica from Nick’s little fan club spoke up suddenly.


“I haven’t set an actual date yet but I can tell you that it will be a week before I go home to Kentucky for vacation. I will let you all know what day when I figure it out. Anymore questions?” A smaller little girl that just turned Dakota’s age raised her hand and he smiled at her sweetly.


“Yes Michelle?”


“Some of us can’ts read…so how are we gonna be able to practice when you makes the overheads for us when we can’ts read them?” she asked shyly. Brian noticed that she looked almost upset that she wasn’t going to get to read the lyrics and his heart nearly broke. He knelt down in front of her.


“Don’t you worry about a thing, okay? I have that all figured out. Sarah and I are going to go buy a bunch of CDs with all of our Christmas songs on them, and those who can’t read can listen to them and memorize them in the headphones that I will also be providing for you all. So everybody will get to practice whether you can read or not,” he told her, and he smiled at her sweetly. “Okay?” He asked while rubbing his hand over her back and she smiled at him and threw her arms around him for a hug.


“When are we going to get to tell the other caregivers what’s going on? They keep asking us questions,” an older kid about ten asked.


“When I get back from my short little trip, if I feel that you all are ready – both groups, then maybe we will pick out one song that we all like and sing it front of all the caregivers at dinner. Would that be fun?”


“Yeah!” most of the kids cheered excitedly and Brian smiled at them.


“Then you all need to work extra hard on keeping this secret from them until then. You tell them Brian said we’d tell you all when we’re good and ready – no sooner then that. And if they don’t like it, they can come see me. All right?”


“Got it,” Julie, who had originally asked him the question answered while nodding dutifully.


“Anymore questions?”

“Yes, I have one” Josh spoke up, as he sat on the floor with Chance in his arms.


“What’s up buddy?” Brian questioned curiously, turning his attention on his son.


“Can we go have cookies and milk now? All of that singing made me hungry,” he insisted, and most of the kids nodded in agreement. Brian laughed.


“Yes you may. Riley should have it all set out for you in the cafeteria.” All of the kids jumped up then and hurried toward the door with Chance running a long after them and barking and the older kids followed behind them in a slower pace. Brian chuckled and shook his head, and then he got up and followed them. When they all got into the cafeteria, sure enough there was Riley and Harold setting out a big plate of warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven and pouring glasses of milk for everybody.


“Everybody may have two cookies each and a glass of milk. Take a napkin please,” Riley instructed when the stampede of cookie monsters came running in. She watched the kids closely for a few moments making sure they followed the rules and only took two, and then she felt Brian wrap his arms around her waist from behind and she turned and smiled up at him causing him to kiss her nose.


“Are you going to tell me what you’re up to now, mister? You have the whole building talking you know.”


“Nope. All I can tell you, is that it’s going to be very cute when you all finally get to see it.” Riley scowled at him, but otherwise dropped it knowing Brian’s surprises are always worth it in the end.


“What have you been up to?” he questioned, pulling her away from his brother so that they could talk alone. Riley glanced around the cafeteria for Josh and when she saw him clear across the cafeteria goofing off with Gabrielle she looked up at Brian.


“Working on a Christmas surprise for Josh with your brother.” Brian’s whole face lit up then, at the mention of his girlfriend trying her hardest to win Josh over.


“Oh yeah?”


“Yup.”


“Are you going to tell me what it is, or are you going to be like Jerry and Tim and leave me completely out of the loop?”


“Are you going to tell me what you’re up to with the kids?” Riley challenged, and Brian scowled.


“Meanie.”


“Hey, you have your secrets, Harry and I will have ours.”


“At least you’re telling me that it’s a surprise for Josh so I don’t have to worry about other things,” Brian replied while rolling his eyes some.


“Don’t worry babe, Harry isn’t exactly my type” Riley reassured, winking at him.


“Hey! I heard that” Harry called from a few feet away, as he had been standing there eavesdropping. “And just exactly what is your type?” He added, while joining them.


“You’re looking at him,” Riley insisted, never taking her eyes away from Brian. Brian smirked and wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close to him firmly and he brushed his lips lightly over hers. Harold winced and looked away in utter revulsion.


“Uncle Harryyyy!” he suddenly heard Josh call, and Harry turned and looked over at him.


“Yeah buddy?” He asked curiously.


“Come wrestle with us!” Harold chuckled, and then ran over to join the two boys – and surprisingly Sarah in a bit of rough housing. Riley turned her head to see the grown man and three children playing and she shook her head amusedly.


“Harry Littrell, you take that outside this instant before someone gets hurt on these hard floors.”


“Yes ma’am” Harold saluted, and with one swift movement, he had all three children hanging over his shoulders shrieking and laughing and he carried them from the cafeteria. Brian shook his head smiling and then suddenly noticed Chris slip into the room as Harold took Josh, Gabe, and Sarah out and he went over to the plate of cookies sitting on the table, crawled up into a chair and grabbed one and he began munching on it. Brian watched him silently for a few moments, and then he kissed Riley’s forehead, let go of her and went over and sat in the chair across from him casually.


“Missed you at the meeting today,” He commented gently.


“Yeah right. I’m sure you got a long fine without me with Josh the great there,” Chris insisted moodily.


“Josh is pretty great,” Brian agreed while shrugging his shoulders. Chris rolled his eyes. “But you’re a pretty awesome kid yourself and it just wasn’t the same without you. You put life into the choir.” He added quietly so only Chris would hear.


“Yeah, whatever,” Chris replied, attempting to be unfazed by Brian’s warm words of affection, but Brian could see through his act.


“I’m serious. Hasn’t anyone ever told you, you have an amazing voice? I was pretty impressed when I first heard you sing.”


“I’m not like Josh you know,” Chris insisted stubbornly. “A few nice words is not going to buy my love.”


“Okay,” Brian shrugged. “If you insist,” and he got up, ruffled the boy’s hair and walked off leaving Chris gazing after him feeling completely torn. He wants to hate Brian. He wants to be very mad at him and think of him as a horrible person. But he doesn’t make it very easy. Brian went back over to Riley, whom was cleaning up napkins that didn’t get thrown away, and he gently squeezed her shoulders causing her to look up at him.


“How’s it going with him?” She asked quietly and Brian shrugged.


“I’m getting somewhere, but I really have to work at it. If I had known Riley…”


“I know,” Riley replied soothingly, and she rubbed her hand over his shoulder.


“I should have known. I mean those kids were practically joined at the hip before I came a long, and then taking him to Kentucky and not the other…I didn’t even think.”


“Don’t beat yourself up over this…it’s not entirely your fault. Josh never said anything to you…and then to top everything, he made friends with Dakota and Ellie and hardly goes anywhere without them…Chris feels pretty replaced.” Brian stood there quietly for awhile as he watched Riley pick up napkins and toss them into the garbage can that she had pulled over to the table.


“Why is Chris here?” he asked after a long while. “What’s his story?”


“He came here a day after Josh,” Riley began, as she tried her hardest to remember the day in her mind. “Josh was always one step ahead of him in everything, you see. Arriving here, his birthday, comprehending things…everything. Josh was always the leader. His parents were killed in a fire that started in his house but a fireman was able to pull him out just seconds before the house collapsed. He had taken a huge risk going back in for him – he was told not to but he wouldn’t hear of it. If he hadn’t our Chris wouldn’t be here today. But anyway…they brought him here.” Riley who had finished cleaning up turned and slid her arms around Brian as he was leaning against the table and he wrapped his arms around her waist gazing into her eyes quietly, knowing there is more to the story.


“For the first week that he was here, he suffered brutal nightmares about the fire and he cried for his mom a lot. He also shied away from all of the kids at first too. He had a very hard time accepting that they were gone. Josh however, took a huge liking for him almost immediately despite the fact that he had his own demons to get through.” Brian couldn’t help but smile a little bit knowing that, that sounds so much like his son. He always knew he had a soft side to him deep down inside. “Chris wouldn’t let him anywhere near him at first though, of course. So Josh started off by sitting in his doorway all day long and half the night – if we would let him. Though, our orders didn’t really matter much, because after Jennifer would put him to bed and leave, he would be right back at his door again.” Brian chuckled softly as that too, sounds just like his Josh. “But every day he eased his way into the room until by the end of the week they were sharing a bed together. Josh promised he would always protect him and Chris held onto that promise and looked up to him for years. We let them share a bed for a couple of days, but eventually we had to tell him we’d move him next door to Chris in order to get him to part from him. They’ve been best friends ever since. They were such a huge comfort to each other. We were all glad that they came into the Orphanage pretty much at the same time because they weren’t alone in coping. I think that’s why Josh was so drawn to him.”


“Hmm…” Brian replied thoughtfully, as he could feel the wheels turning in his head. Riley’s story had given him an idea. Riley picked up on this right away.


“What?” She asked curiously, gazing up into his eyes trying to guess what is on his mind. Brian shook his head and kissed her forehead softly.


“I’ll be on the playground with Josh okay?”


“Kay,” Riley replied curiously, and he pulled away and walked out of the room looking very much like a man on a mission. Riley shook her head amusedly and she looked around the place to see that there were only a few kids in the cafeteria now. She shooed them all out and then went off to do some more work.


~*~*~*~*~


“YAY!!!! GO BUCS, GO BUCS!!!” Dakota hollered excitedly as she watched hers and her daddy’s team score a touch down for the second time since the game started, and she jumped up and down while standing in her chair. Jerald laughed a little as he sat next to her grasping onto her hoodie ready to catch her if she should fall, and he was having fun watching daddy and daughter cheer on their team together. Sometimes he wonders how she can only be his adopted daughter when they are so much alike. Elenore sat on the other side of Jerald clutching her autographed picture of the Buccaneer’s cheerleaders, and her photo that she had taken with Captain Fear in her hands while also cheering on the team. Jerald was holding onto her too, as she insisted upon jumping up and down wildly as well. Several other Bucs fans – and even a couple of friendly Steelers fans were really getting a kick out of watching them. After awhile though, when the action began to calm down, Elenore’s attention began to wander and she noticed a guy walking down the steps selling cotton candy and her eyes widened in surprise. Kevin who had spotted the guy too, was watching her warily knowing it was a matter of time before she would too. She turned to look at him and smiled sweetly when she saw him watching her. After a few moments of contemplating he sighed heavily, deciding he would take the tantrum-free way out. He would rather avoid a huge tantrum in front of everybody today. He called to the cotton candy salesman, waving him over. Dakota turned to look and her eyes widened too.


“OH! CANDY! Daddy please?”


“Sure princess,” Nick smiled.


“Spencer? Do you want some too?” Kevin asked, and Spencer looked up at Scott. Scott smiled at him.


“Go ahead buddy,” he told him and Spencer grinned at Kevin.


“Yes please! I wants blue.” Kevin, Nick, and Scott handed their money over and in exchange were handed one bag of pink cotton candy, and two of blue and when he was gone Nick and Kevin handed them out.


“You will not eat this entire bag today Ellie, I’m warning you now,” Kevin insisted.


“We’ll sees,” Elenore insisted and Kevin raised his eyebrow at her and Jerald stifled a laugh the best he could. Kevin leaned forward, placing his forehead to hers.


“No, you’ll see. I will be cutting you off from it when I see fit no ifs ands or buts about it little missy.” Elenore stuck her tongue out at him stubbornly and he gently grabbed hold of it.


“AH! KEVY!” she squealed, except his name came out as ‘evy’ instead with him holding onto her tongue. Kevin chuckled and let it go.


“You’re lucky I don’t have scissors, child.” Jerald laughed amusedly.


“I love it how you try so hard to be tough with her when deep down inside you and her both know of the softy that you really are.”


“Well, she’s gonna learn not to stick her tongue out at me. She can stick her tongue out at anybody else, but not me. Especially when she’s talking back. It doesn’t work with Kevy.”


“He’s tellin’ the truth kid,” Nick warned. “He used to grab my tongue all the time too until I got too tall for him.” Scott started to laugh, but then was cut off in the shouts of encouragement’s from his fellow Steelers fans and he looked to see the quarterback about to score a touchdown and he jumped up and began cheering a long, Spencer doing it too. He hadn’t been paying attention and doesn’t quite no what’s going on because he was too absorbed in Ellie, but it had to be good if Scott was cheering. Cause in his eyes, Scott knows all.