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Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Chapter Two-Hundred-Forty-Three



When they arrived at Mc Donald’s Nick brought Ashley over to a table that had chairs on one side and a big long booth on the other side with five other tables next to it. He helped her sit down in the booth before placing Bella’s carseat next to her with Bella inside it and Dakota and Sarah crawled up into the booth too, sitting at the other table side by side.


“What do you want to eat baby? I’ll go get it,” Nick questioned.


“Chicken nuggets and fries.”


“Should I just get us all the family meal?” Nick questioned, knowing Dakota and Sarah are going to want chicken nuggets too.


“Sure,” Ashley answered softly and he gazed at her concerned, knowing some thing is bothering her right now. And he has a feeling that he knows what that something is, as it’s bothering everyone right now. But he’s very much afraid that it affected her the most apart from Elenore. That it changed her view on Kevin and he doesn’t want that. Because he loves Kevin and knows that he just snapped is all. He would never really intentionally hurt anyone. But he can see how she could be afraid. Kevin can’t go all psycho like that around people who have dealt with abusive relationships – fathers in the past. Sure Elenore deserved to be punished and he had a right to yell – but to a point. And Kevin was not going to stop and he was really afraid for him – and Elenore. Sighing softly, Nick turned and headed to the counter where everybody else is. Ashley watched him go for a few moments and then she heard Bella fussing causing her to have to tear her gaze from him and look at her. Knowing that it’s her hungry cry, Ashley looked at Marcus.


“Help please.” Marcus hurried to her side and he unbuckled Bella from the carseat and got her out as Ashley scooted back against the wall as she sat sideways in the booth and she bended her legs together and looked at him expectantly. Marcus gently lay Bella against them and he turned to the diaper bag where he saw Dakota had already got the bottle out and was scooping the right amount of formula into it with Sarah’s help and was in the process of shaking it up. Marcus stared at her beyond impressed for a few seconds, amazed that a four-year-old could make up a bottle for an infant and then snapped out of it by the time she handed it to him. He gave it to Ashley then, who gently placed the bottle into Bella’s mouth with her good hand and she sat there holding it. After a short while of waiting, one by one everybody eventually made their way back to the table. Jerald who still held a very upset and clingy Elenore, sat the furthest away from Kevin as he could get knowing Elenore would freak out if he was anywhere near him, and he isn’t exactly pleased with his brother at the moment either.


“Ellie come on…please eat,” he heard Jerald plead five minutes after everyone had sat down and were eating while keeping up quiet chatter. Kevin looked over at the two people he cares very deeply for and saw that Jerald was holding a chicken nugget in his hand and was trying to get his future niece to take a bite. Elenore, white in the face, shook her head in protest as tears cascaded down her damp cheeks and Jerald sighed, put the chicken nugget down, and stared at her feeling completely helpless. He rubbed his hand over her back in slow circular motion as he looked over at his brother after noticing he was being watched. Jerald narrowed his eyes and gave Kevin a ‘do something’ kind of look. Kevin gazed at Elenore for a few moments and then he got up and walked over to the booth Jerald was sitting in and he sat next to him. Elenore’s watery eyes widened in terror, and she threw her arms about Jerald and buried her face in his shoulder. Jerald could feel his shirt becoming soaked with her tears.


“Ellie…” Kevin spoke gently, and as he reached over and rubbed his hand over her back in slow circular motion, he felt her tense up. “Baby I’m sorry I scared you,” he insisted with so much sincerity in his voice. “But you have to understand that you scared me.” Elenore kept her face hidden in Jerald’s shoulder, the only sign that she even heard him was her sniffles and short in takes of breath.


“Come here,” he told her softly, and he gently took her into his lap despite her whimpers and protests. She started to reach for Jerald but Kevin turned her so her back was to Jerald and that she was sitting sideways in his lap. He cradled her and slowly rocked her as he kissed her forehead softly. “I love you very much. I would never intentionally hurt you. I just snapped Ellie…you’re way too important for me to lose.”


“Buts you didn’ts lose me…Joshy an’ I were fine” Elenore insisted, all the while still sniffling.


“But we didn’t know that Ellie. We woke up and found you gone and were terrified beyond imagine – we didn’t know where you were at. For all we knew, you could’ve been hurt, you could’ve been stolen from us, and then what would we have done? You can’t disappear like that I thought you knew better.”


“Buts daddy wouldn’ts takes us again, he promised” Elenore insisted softly. Kevin doing his best to keep his anger at bay that Sean had gotten so close to his baby without his knowledge Kevin hugged her closer to him.


“Just because he’s willing to leave you alone, it doesn’t mean all of the baddies are. Hide n Seek or not, we need to know where you are at, at all times. If you don’t start telling us, then I’m going to punish you Ellie, end of story.” Elenore stiffened at those last words, and she looked up at him warily.


“Not the way I did today honey, don’t worry” he reassured softly. “Like I said…I lost control for a little bit there…”


“Daddy losts control all the time too…”


“You listen to me right now Elenore Ellerbee,” Kevin replied firmly, though he made sure she could hear the sincerity too.


“I am not your daddy and I never will be. The difference between him and me is that when I lose control, it’s because I love you and my whole world would come crashing down if I ever lost you. Do you understand?” Elenore looked away from him as left over tears spilled from her eyes and he cupped her cheek in his hand forcing her to look back at him.


“I love you Ellie,” he told her with so much intensity as he so desperately wants to make her believe him.


“I loves you too…” she whispered. He gazed into her watery eyes for a few moments, and then enveloped her in a hug, rocking her slowly. He sat with her for a long while until he knew she was calmed down and was going to be okay, and then he pulled her back a bit and looked at her food.


“Why don’t you sit with Jerry and eat your food before it gets cold?”


“I wants you…” Elenore insisted quietly.


“I’ll come sit with you in a bit. I have some other people that I need to check on first…”


“Kay…” she replied and he bent down and kissed her forehead softly, hugged her one last time, and then handed her over to his brother who gladly accepted her back. Kevin glanced over at Ashley then, who he is most concerned about after Elenore. He had seen the looks she had given him earlier – he had seen that look of admiration that she usually had when looking at him disappear and it would kill him if it was gone permanently. He always treasured being the one she looked up to very much. When he looked over at her, he noticed her lying back between Nick’s legs with her head rested comfortably against his chest and she has Bella lying against her legs and is holding the bottle in her one free hand as she is finished eating. He got up and went over and sat next to her in the empty space in the booth and he looked at her with concern in his eyes. She sat there staring at him quietly and Nick felt her nestling into him some more. Kevin leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek before wrapping his arms around her for a hug, though he made sure to be careful of Bella.


“I’m sorry I scared you,” he told her softly. “I know I turned into just about everything you’re afraid of earlier…but it would just about kill me if I lost your trust. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”


“Well you were pretty scary…but I understand,” she replied softly and she wrapped her arm around him and hugged him back the best of her ability.


“You’re pretty lucky at just how understanding she is,” AJ spoke up suddenly. Kevin looked at him for a short moment and then back at Ashley as he pulled back from her hug.


“Yeah…I don’t deserve it.” Ashley reached up and brushed a tear off of Kevin’s cheek. A tear that he didn’t even realize was there.


“Nonsense,” she insisted. “You panicked…it happens. It may have frightened Ellie now, but when she grows up and looks back on it she’ll understand just how much you love her.”


“She did deserve that…to some extent,” Nick added. “I was just really scared you weren’t going to stop. I’ve never seen you like that before Kev.”


“Where are Kota, Sarah, and the rest of the kids?” Kevin asked, not wanting to think about what he would have done if Nick hadn’t stopped him. “Is my niece okay?”


“They’re all fine…they ran off to play a short while ago. Kota was a little upset but I took care of it,” Nick explained. Another question popped to Kevin’s mind, but he glanced around at everybody and noticed Raul was gone and that answered his question, so he just sat back and hugged his legs to his chest.


“Aren’t you going to order any food?” Howie spoke up.


“I’m not hungry.”


“Kev eat. Once we go and get involved in BSB stuff you aren’t really going to get to for a long time.”


“No,” Kevin replied stubbornly. Howie sighed and rolled his eyes and he got up and went to go order his friend some food knowing exactly what he would want without having to ask. He’ll shove it down his throat if he has to but he is going to eat.



~*~*~*~*~


Meanwhile in the Mc Donald’s Playland, Josh, Spencer, Ryan, and Laila were all up in the second part of the play structure running around playing while Sarah, Dakota, and a stranger – a girl about Sarah’s age sat in the ball pit. Sarah had gone in there, and Dakota had simply just followed her for the mere fact that she didn’t have Elenore with her – or was it? The two girls were having a ball fight, completely enjoying each other’s company – which that alone is surprising all by itself when the girl had joined them, jumping purposely right near Dakota causing balls to fly at her.


“HEEY!” Dakota had laughed, and a full-blown war broke out amongst the three of them. By the time the ‘war’ had ended all three girls were just lying there giggling with multi-colored balls covering everything but their faces. When they had all calmed down, the strange girl sat up and looked at the two girls she had been playing with.


“What’s your name?” She asked curiously, looking directly at Sarah.


“That’s Sarah – I’m Dakota,” Dakota spoke up when she noticed Sarah was having a hard time finding her notepad.


“Cool,” the girl replied. “I’m Hilary. Do you want to see my cool Barbie that my mom bought me today?” She asked eagerly, again looking at Sarah. Sarah smiled interestedly and nodded.


“Cool! Lets go,” Hilary replied, and she got up and began crawling out of the ball pit. Sarah took one last look around the balls trying to figure out where her notepad had fallen to. When she saw that it was no use, she frowned slightly, but followed Hilary out of the play structure anyway and Dakota went with, sticking herself to Sarah’s side like glue. When they arrived at a table that was located next to a group of grownups, Hilary grabbed up her Barbie Doll that she was very fond of and she turned to Sarah and showed it to her. Sarah gaped at it, as it was the brand new Barbie Doll that she herself has had her eyes set on for quite awhile now and was hoping Santa would bring to her. It’s Holiday Celebration Doll which was dressed in a shimmering crystalline gown and wore a silvery tiara and long delicate tendrils. It’s a collectors doll, and was only for the girls who were willing to take very good care of it. Hilary beamed, obviously very pleased with Sarah’s reaction.


“She’s sooo pretty huh?” She asked, and Sarah just nodded, staring at the doll in admiration. Dakota grinned.


“She’s gorgeous. Sarah has been wanting that doll for awhile now,” she spoke up, and Sarah looked at Dakota in surprise, shocked that she noticed. Dakota shrugged her shoulders.


“What? You have, haven’t you?” Sarah nodded her answer, but she continued to stare at Dakota in surprise for a few moments, before looking at Hilary who spoke up again.


“Lets go back to the play structure now and find something to do,” she said and Sarah nodded eagerly, liking the fact that someone was taking a liking to her – even if she didn’t talk. Someone outside of the Orphanage. Hilary placed her special doll on the table next to a woman who Sarah assumes must be her mom and then she linked her arm with Sarah’s and together the two of them headed for the play structure – Dakota tagging along. Soon enough they were inside the play structure and were climbing up the stairs to the second floor. Sarah and Hilary made it up there first. Hilary started to crawl off but stopped when she noticed Sarah had, to wait on Dakota.


“Why does she keep following you?” she whispered quietly to Sarah, unaware that Dakota could hear her. “Is she your sister?” Sarah shrugged her shoulders, neither denying the fact that she is her sister, or answering her question as that would require her to talk and her voice has been left somewhere at the bottom of the ball pit so that’s not happening.


“Do you like her following you?” Hilary asked trying to hide her irritation but it didn’t work out too well. Sarah nodded her head in response. Not only is Dakota her spokesperson at the moment, but she does enjoy her company despite how mean she used to be in the past. All she’s ever wanted was for her to accept her. There is no way she’d push her away now. Sure, they’ve been fighting all day non-stop up until the point where Kevin exploded…but that’s what sisters do right? She knows it’s only a matter of time before Nick adopts her. She knows he is only waiting on Dakota’s permission. So, yes, she is pretty much her sister. When Dakota finally made it up to the second floor where Sarah and Hilary waited, Sarah gave her a small smile, took her hand and she followed Hilary through the tunnels. Dakota…slightly taken aback fought back the lump in her throat as she was suddenly overcome with emotion and she followed. She had expected Sarah to take Hilary’s side. To be mean to her like she has to her for the past two months. But she’s not…she’s instead being nice. Why? She doesn’t deserve it after all. Maybe it’s because she lost her notepad and needs her to talk for her. That has to be it. She is just using her…pretending to be nice. The three girls eventually found a big round open space in the play structure – it was like a round little room with a comfy mat as the floor and they ventured on into it.


“I know. Let’s play tag,” Hilary suggested. Sarah smiled and nodded and looked to Dakota with questioning eyes. Knowing what Sarah is trying to ask, Dakota gave a false smile and nodded.


“Sounds fun,” she replied.


You can be it then” Hilary insisted. Dakota shrugged unfazed. If that was how it was going to be, then fine. Miss snobby Hilary doesn’t know her. “Okay,” she replied, giving Sarah a look with her eyes. She may be using her right now, but that doesn’t mean they can’t communicate with one another secretly. Sarah gave her an encouraging smile, understanding exactly what she is trying to tell her.


“Ready, set, go!” Dakota called, and Sarah and Hilary began running. Dakota made a big act of trying to get the both of them and failing miserably for a few moments, and then when she noticed Hilary looking kind of smug thinking she picked the right person to be it, she darted toward her with full speed. Hilary who at this point was just standing around being cocky, widened her eyes as she saw Dakota coming at her and she turned around and fled from the little circular room crawling through the tunnels with great speed. Dakota was right on her tail, but she waited it out for a few moments, rolling her eyes at how too easy it is. After a few moments, she reached out and grabbed Hilary’s foot and yanked on it causing her to fall flat on her stomach and she shrieked.


“TAG! your it!” Hilary looked back at Dakota in shock and Dakota shrugged.


“I may be little…but don’t underestimates me. I plays football with the boys,” she bragged, and with that she turned and crawled back to the circular room. When she got back she walked in with her nose up in the air and smiling in victory and Sarah laughed and patted Dakota on the shoulder. Seconds later, Hilary walked in the room feeling defeated.


“I’m it,” she announced sullenly, and they started another round of tag. They played that game until all three girls were it and then they moved onto other games such as hide ‘n’ seek, follow the leader, and much more until they were all three beat and were lying back in the circular room then trying to catch their breath. After awhile when Hilary recovered she got up and crawled out of the room. Sarah and Dakota exchanged curious glances, and then got up and followed her. When they caught up to her they noticed her sitting at the top of the slide talking to a boy. Sarah grabbed Dakota by the arm gently and they hung back to listen.


“Hey Jake.”


“Hey sis, what have you been up to?”


“Playing with a couple of girls that I met,” Hilary shrugged.


“You don’t sound too happy about that.”


“Well, the one girl – who is my age – her name is Sarah…was fun, but I can’t seem to get her alone. Her little sister – four years old, keeps following us everywhere and she’s annoying Hilary vented in a snobby voice that Dakota only ever heard on television. She never thought anyone could actually be that mean though. She looked down at her hands then fighting the overwhelming feeling inside her that made her want to cry. Sarah frowned and wrapped her arm around Dakota and hugged her close to her.


“Why is she annoying?”


“It’s just the fact that she is everywhere we go. And she is always talking for Sarah too – it’s annoying.”


“Why doesn’t Sarah just talk for herself?”


“I don’t know…it’s weird. She’s weird. She doesn’t say a word though, she just nods – or shakes her head – or shrugs. I never asked her why though, because I thought it was the polite thing to do. And she was fun to play with too. She would be even more fun if her sister weren’t around though.


“Ah…yeah I can see how that could be annoying,” He replied while rolling his eyes playfully, as he can recall numerous times where Hilary had followed him everywhere he went. Hilary knowing what he meant stuck her tongue out at him and he just laughed, ruffled her hair, and then slid down the slide. Sarah leaned over and looked out the little round window and she watched him walk back to his and Hilary’s parent’s table. Sarah looked down at Dakota next to her and noticed a single tear rolling down her cheeks. Sarah narrowed her eyes at this, pissed that Hilary would say such mean things. Who does she think she is? What did Dakota ever do to her? Nothing! Sarah hugged Dakota once more, and then she got up taking Dakota’s hand and together they walked around the corner into view of their so-called ‘new friend’. Hilary turned and looked and was surprised to see them there.


“Oh! There you two are!” She greeted in surprise, trying her best to sound pleased. Sarah however, was tired of tolerating her. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her and Dakota stood beside her staring up at her in confusion wondering just exactly what she was going to do. Hilary looked worried all of the sudden.


“What’s the matter Sarah?” Sarah didn’t reply – of course. All she did was walk straight up to Hilary and smacked her across the face. Hilary’s eyes filled with tears and her hand flew up to her cheek, which stung from the blow and was bright red. Dakota’s mouth dropped as she gaped at Sarah in shock - not believing that sweet little Sarah would ever do such a thing.


No one picks on Dakota like that except me, you superficial brat! What did she ever do to you? NOTHING! She can be annoying at times but there is no one that I want by my side more then her! So BACK OFF!” She insisted firmly, speaking for the first time since the incident where Elenore had lost control with the life savors. She gave Hilary one last dirty look, and then she spun around and looked at Dakota who continued to stand there in shock, though she had tears rolling down her cheek as her accusations had just been proven wrong. Dakota could feel that lump back in her throat and the overwhelming emotion rushing through her again as Sarah wrapped her arm around her shoulder and walked off with her leaving Hilary behind, who finally reacted and began to cry. She slid down the slide and ran to her parents sobbing. All the while, Sarah and Dakota went back to the circular room to hide, the two of them once again sharing a secret look: That didn’t happen. How could it? Sarah doesn’t talk, and she wouldn’t even hurt a fly. That’s their alibi and they’re sticking to it.