When the boys went onstage and everybody else in the Backstreet Clan were sitting around listening to them sing, Ashley went over and sat next to Scott who had placed himself on the couch. She wrapped her good arm around him and looked him in the eyes, causing him to look down at her and smile some.
“Hi sweetheart,” he greeted gently.
“Hi,” she smiled. “You look like a man who is about to become a father for the first time,” she observed.
“That’s because I am,” he beamed. “The Wizard of Oz has given your sister a heart after all,” he teased quietly, causing a pillow to hit his head and she saw in the corner of her eye that Kori had thrown it. Ashley giggled.
“I guess you’re right. She does show signs of caring every once in awhile,” she played along with his joke and she heard Kori scoff. Ashley gently rubbed her hand over Scott’s shoulder as she gazed into his eyes, just studying his mood. She can tell that he is still very much in love with her sister and is struggling with letting her go. Though she’s seen that in him for awhile now, so it’s nothing new really. And anyone who looks at him would be able to see it. She’s going to be spending a lot of time with him though, especially when her sister temporarily moves back to New Jersey only to discover that she wants to come back. So, perhaps she can help him move on. Surly there are a lot more ladies in the world who could have the possibility of healing him. He just needs to open his eyes. Deciding that that could be her new project, she set right to work on it in her mind, trying to think of who is available and who isn’t. Meanwhile, in between the first and second Backstreet song, Harry following orders gently gathered Dakota up in his arms and carried her over to the stage and stood in the doorway where he the boys could see him. Nick looked back at them, before looking at their fans and the boys all looked at him as he spoke.
“All right ladies and gentlemen…we have a real treat for you tonight,” he announced into his microphone, and he grinned as the fans squealed, and cheered and stuff. “My daughter Dakota came to me earlier today and asked me if she could come out onstage and sing with us,” he began explaining, causing the chorus of ‘awes’ to begin from the fans making him grin even more. “So I said sure baby, what do you want to sing? And she told me Jingle Bell Rock,” He shared. “So, here she is now…Dakota Ann, the next big thing” He announced, and he turned to look at the door again to see Harry set Dakota down and Dakota came skipping out on the stage earning immediate attention from the fans as she and Ellie usually do. Elenore, Josh, Chris, and Sarah all rushed over to the door and joined Harry so that they could see the show, as did Ashley who is very anxious to see how Dakota sounds. When Dakota reached Nick, he grinned at her, kissed her cheek and then placed her so she is standing between him and the rest of the guys who had all squatted down behind her making a sort of half circle around her. The music to Jingle Bell Rock began then, and the boys all started out harmonizing first as planned.
Jingle Bell Rock, Jingle Bell Rock, Oh woho yeah
Jingle Bell Rock, Jingle Bell Rock, Oh woho yeah
They sang, and then Dakota immediately broke out into song
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell Rock
Jingle Bell swing and Jingle Bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
She sang, dancing around and hopping as she made the bells on her wrists and ankles ring.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in jingle bell square
In the frosty air
Dakota waved her hands through the air, after singing the frosty part.
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time, it's a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy up, jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the block
Mix and a mingle and a jingling beat
That's the jingle bell rock
She pretended to play air guitar for the first line, then made like she was riding a pony for the horse bit, and finally, she skipped along, weaving in and out amongst the Boys. When she stopped she was standing in between Brian and AJ, and she slid her arms around them both, just as the boys chimed in, snapping their fingers to the beat of the bells on Dakota as she continued to wiggle her hands, and the bells in the song.
Jingle bell rock, jingle bell rock, oh woho yeah
Jingle bell rock, jingle bell rock, oh woho yeah
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time, it's a swell time
To go glidin' in a one horse sleigh, a one horse sleigh
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Giddy up, jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a mingle and a jingling beat
That's the jingle bell, that's the jingle bell, that's the jingle bell rock
The boys then did their part three times, before the song ended.
Jingle bell rock, jingle bell rock, oh woho yeah
Jingle bell rock, jingle bell rock, oh woho yeah
Jingle bell rock, jingle bell rock, oh woho yeah
When Dakota finished her performance the fans went crazy, all of them including the boys, Jerry, Harry, Ashley, and the kids were astonished at how well she sings. Sure she is Nick Carter’s daughter but not by blood so it’s not like it’s in her blood to sing or anything. Could it just be that she’s been around the boys her whole life and heard them sing all this time, so it just rubbed off on her? She wasn’t even shy, she just skipped right on out there and sang her song loud – not obnoxiously loud, it was just perfect – and proud. And she really looked like she owns the place. She said goodbye to the fans on Nick’s orders and then he turned her to face him and pulled her into a firm hug. Dakota returned it before leaning up on her tiptoes and giving him a kiss on the lips.
“Go backstage baby. Ashley is waiting for you. I’ll see you soon,” he told her.
“Bye daddy!” she replied cheerfully, and she turned around and hurried back to Ashley, Harry, Jerry, and the kids and Ashley scooped her up with her one arm causing the little girl to wrap her arms around her neck and hug her. Ashley smiled some, before hugging her back and planting a kiss on her forehead.
“You were amazing Dakota, I am just so surprised, and so proud of you,” Ashley insisted as she was sure her voice would be drowned out by the loud Backstreet Boys music so only Dakota and the people next to her could hear her. And it was.
“Yeah Kota, I am impressed. You have such a beautiful voice for a four year old,” Jerald agreed.
“It doesn’t surprise me too much. She is Nick’s kid after all,” Harry replied.
“Not by blood though.”
“No, but she’s been under Nick’s care since day three. She’s gone on lots of tours with them, and hears them sing, and is very well educated in music thanks to not only the boys, but you as well with your rock music. It was bound to rub off on her,” Harry explained. Ashley smiled some and cuddled Dakota close to her while placing soft kisses on her forehead and she turned and carried her toward her spot on the couch again, Dakota still beaming. She felt such a high going out on that stage that she can’t even begin to explain. She’s been onstage with her daddy countless times before and has always been pretty comfortable there. She likes the attention. She craves for it. But knowing that she was going to get to perform – actually sing for the fans gave her a feeling she’s never felt before and she wants to do it again just so she can feel that new sensation all over again. She doesn’t want it to go away. After sitting with Ashley for awhile, she slid down from her lap and went over to Elenore and Sarah. When she approached them she slid her arms around Sarah from behind putting her arms around her neck and she rested her chin on her shoulder causing Sarah to smile some, and lean back against her little sister.
“Hey miss pop star,” Elenore greeted while smiling some and Dakota beamed. “You should’ve seen the look on Joshy’s face when he heard you sing,” she whispered, making Dakota smile even bigger.
“Was it a good look, or bad?”
“Definitely good,” Elenore answered and Sarah giggled before leaning back and whispering into her ear.
“He couldn’t keep his eyes offa you,” she informed. Dakota blushed and looked over at Josh then who is sitting next to Chris across the room and Josh quickly looked away upon seeing her look and Chris laughed. Elenore just shook her head smiling.
“I’m bored,” she announced after awhile. “I wish we were allowed to bring Lil’ Rok, he’s probably lonely,” she complained sadly.
“Nah he’s not lonely. Uncle Brian put him in my room withs Lily an’ Abbie. An’ Chance. For all we know they could all be having the time of their lives,” Dakota replied.
“What about Tyke?” Elenore asked, and Sarah turned and pointed, causing the other two to look in that direction and they found Tyke lying next to Harry, using his leg as a sleeping post and he appears to be sleeping, though he’s facing in he direction of the kids. So for all they know, he could just be playing watchdog again.
“How come Tyke gets to come but our puppies had to stay behind?” Elenore pouted.
“Because Tyke is much older then the puppies and knows that he is not to run off. Like Dakota he was practically raised on the road. He’s trained very well,” Jerry who had been listening in on their conversation answered. “When Lil Rok, Chance, Lily, and Abbie are trained, well then I’m sure we’ll be lugging them all over the place too.” Elenore sighed, and Jerry went back to what he was doing, while the kids went back to playing. They played for awhile until suddenly the door to the hallway opened just a crack and Lou poked his head in to find the kids near by that he could just whisper to them.
“Hey kids,” he whispered, causing the three girls to turn their heads and look at him curiously. Elenore raised her eyebrow and Dakota narrowed hers.
“What?” she asked in a rude tone that Lou ignored.
“I bet the three of you are pretty bored right about now, huh?” Elenore nodded.
“Yes, very” she answered.
“Well I bet I could change that. How about the three of you come to this room with me and we’ll play games and eat ice cream while the grownups work” he suggested.
“We’ll gets in trouble for leavin’ the room,” Dakota replied.
“Nooo you won’t. Not if you’re with an adult. You will be perfectly safe.” Elenore edged toward Lou then, but Sarah grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
“We don’ts like you. You upset my Ashee,” Dakota accused.
“I didn’t mean to. I apologized and everything is good now. See? Look at her over there, she’s happy.” Lou reassured while suppressing his annoyance. She’ll be the first one he hurts when he finally gets them to himself. Dakota scowled at him.
“I have rocky road ice cream in there,” he informed, as he over heard once that that’s her favorite.
“Come on Kota, how can you turn down ice cream? An’ games? There’s nothin’ to do’s in here…let’s go haves fun” Elenore pleaded.
“That’s right, let’s go have fun” Lou agreed. “I have all sorts of games we can play.”
“Shouldn’t we tells the adults where we’re going first?” Dakota asked skeptically.
“Nah, it’s okay. We don’t want to bother them” Lou replied.
“Yeah Kota, we don’ts wanna bother them. Lets go,” Elenore replied and she took hold of Dakota’s hand while Dakota took hold of Sarah’s, and Elenore pulled them out of the room after Lou. As soon as the door shut behind the girls, Tyke’s little head popped up and he looked around the room suddenly alert. His kiddies are gone. Why are they suddenly gone? Tyke rested his chin back on Harry’s leg, but he stared at the door intently, still very much alert.
~*~*~*~*~
“Where are all of the games?” Elenore asked, as soon as Lou had led them into a completely separate room. An empty room where no one would see what he is about to do. He shut the door behind them, and Dakota heard the lock click and turned and looked at him worriedly. “And the ice cream?” Elenore continued looking around the room for the goodies Lou had promised them.
“I don’t think there are any ice cream or games, Ellie,” Dakota spoke softly.
“Right, you are Dakota. I guess we all know you’re the brains of the three aren’t you? Or maybe not, since you let me lead you in here.” Elenore turned and looked at him with narrowed eyes.
“You mean you lied to us?”
“Yes I did,” Lou admitted casually.
“I want my daddy right now,” Dakota insisted, leaning back against Sarah. “You let me goes back to my daddy!”
“Your daddy is busy and doesn’t need to be bothered by little brats like you. Now if you behave and do as your told, I might let you go back to Ashley in one piece” he told her, and Dakota pushed back against Sarah even more, before turning her face – which is wet with tears around and burying it into a Sarah’s chest. Sarah wrapped her arms around her little sister protectively, as she stared at Lou with wide eyes that are filled with horror. Elenore stood frozen beside them, not knowing what to do. How does she always land herself in these situations? All she wanted was to play and eat ice cream. Lou promised her that they could and that they would be safe. She believed him. And now here they’re in danger…not just her, but her friends. And what is he intending on doing? If he’s planning on doing what she thinks he’s planning on doing, well, he’s got another thing coming. She will NOT let her friends go through that. Not again. Especially if it’s going to end up being all her fault. She is the one who led them into this. They didn’t want to because they knew something wasn’t right. Not Ellie though. Oh no…not Ellie. She just had to go head first – and blind, into another situation that is bad. She just had to take a risk. Test the limits. Why does she always have to do that? She doesn’t ever realize that she is even doing it, until it’s been done and she’s getting in trouble for it. She just does it on impulse. Why is she such a bad girl? Elenore wondered. Putting all herself blame to the side, she began to focus on what is going on in front of her. Dakota and Sarah are in the process of taking their clothes off, and Lou is glaring at Elenore.
“Are you DEAF girl? I said to take your clothes off! Now! Or you will make it much harder for yourself.” Tears slid down Elenore’s face and she began to do as she was told. She had just slipped out of her underwear, when she looked at her friends and saw their tear stained cheeks and their horror-struck eyes. Sarah who was slowly beginning to recover from her last rape looks as white as a ghost. There is no way she’ll be able to handle this one any better. Dakota was just beginning to forget hers, and Ellie thought all her troubles were in the past when her daddy let her go. This can’t be happening again. It won’t happen again. Not if she has anything to say about it. She loves her friends way too much to let her impulses hurt them. She saw Lou reach out and cup Dakota’s cheek then, and she narrowed her eyes.
“NO!” she shouted at him, and she reached out and swatted his hand away. “Kota DON”TS let him hurt you! BITE him Kota, BITE him!”
“SHUT up you little brat!” Lou demanded, and with one swift move, he slapped Elenore hard across the face, knocking her to the ground causing Dakota to shriek and begin crying. “You’re next,” he informed. He grabbed up Dakota then, and he carried her toward the couch.
“Oh no I’m NOT!” Elenore growled, and she got up and dove for his feet. She latched onto his one foot and sat down on it forcing him to stop.
“You little shit!” he roared, and he began kicking his foot in attempt to get Elenore off, but she held on tight as if she were on some ride.
“FIGHT him Kota, fight him! Don’ts let him hurt you! Free yourself, you can do it. I know you are a good girl, but sometimes you just have to be bad! Do it Kota come on. You don’t deserve this” Elenore urged.
“SHUT UP!” Lou ordered again, as he continued his failed attempts to get the five-year-old off his leg.
“I can’ts,” Dakota sobbed.
“Yes you can Kota, I BELIEVES IN YOU! DO IT!” Dakota stared at Elenore through tears, fear still plastered on her beautiful little face only making Elenore’s heart break even more. “Come on do it! You’re my best friend in the whole wide worlds, an’ you’re strong when you wants to be! You can’ts let him take that away from you! Come on, fights him!” Doing as Elenore said, Dakota leaned forward and bit the hand that Lou was using to hold onto her hard and he yelped in pain causing him to let go and drop her to the ground. Elenore let go of Lou then and allowed him to fling her off his leg, and she dove for Kota, grabbed her hand and pulled her toward Sarah who was just standing there frozen in her spot. Her face is still pale as a ghost, tears are flooding her eyes as she relives the nightmare she tries so hard to forget. She grabbed Sarah and steered both girls to a corner and she shoved them both behind her before standing in front of them and holding her arms out wide as if she were shielding them from the monster.
“YOU WILL NOTS HURTS MY FRIENDS!” she demanded. “You will have to kills me first!”
“Such a brave little five year old,” Lou told her, as he walked slowly toward her.
“An’ not only that’s, but I am strong too. I been through lots, I know how to defends myself. An’ anyway, if you kills me…you’re the one who will have to be brave.”
“And why is that?”
“Because nots only will you have my Kevy, Nicky, an’ security to answer to…buts you will have my daddy to answer to also an’ he’s killed lots of people who have made him mad,” Elenore informed. “You messed withs the wrong kid” she added.
“I would like to see him try,” was all Lou said, before zeroing in on them.
~*~*~*~*~
Just then in the other room, Tyke could hear screaming from a distance. Distressed screams of his little girls. Well, they might as well be his little girls sometimes, because he watches over them like they were his puppies. He jumped up at once and began whining.
“What’s that Tyke? Timmy is in the well? Oh no!” Harry teased, not thinking anything of it at first. Jerry however, heard the distress in the little Chihuahua’s cries and raised his eyebrow. He looked toward the corner of the room where he had been hearing the boys play all this time, and assumed the girls were over there too. When he didn’t see them, he looked around the room and when the girls were no where to be seen he stiffened.
“Oh shit. Where are the girls?” he asked, panic rising in his voice. Tyke looked over at him and began to whine even more, before rushing over to the door to the hall and barking.
“Oh god…” Ashley replied softly, and she sat up slightly.
“Stay there,” Jerry told her.
“But –“
“-- Ashley I’m serious. Who knows what mess they’ve landed themselves in.” He told her, and with that he and Harry were up and hurrying toward the door where Tyke stood yapping. Jerry opened the door only to have the Chihuahua dart out and run in the direction he hears the girls in and Jerry and Harry followed him, as they can hear them screaming now too, now that they’re away from the music. Ashley was right behind them, despite their orders. These are her girls they’re talking about. She is not going to just stand by when they’re obviously in trouble. Just then, Tyke stopped in front of the door and began clawing at it while whining and barking and the screaming was much louder now that they were outside the door. Just then Marcus came running around the corner, as he could sense something was wrong, even when standing in the arena keeping crazy fans from jumping on the stage.
“What is going on?” He demanded.
“The girls are in there and they’re in trouble! We cant get in, the door is locked” Harry explained, as he had tried twisting the knob open.
“Stand back!” Marcus ordered. Harry gathered up the upset Chihuahua before stepping aside so he is standing next to Jerry who had wrapped his arms around Ashley from behind and was holding her back incase she decided to go all mom on them and rush in without knowing what she is rescuing them from. For all he knows, Sean could be in there. When everybody was out of the way, Marcus stepped a few feet back, got a running start, and then dove forward toward the door, slamming into it causing the door to go flying open and slam against the wall. When he did, they found Dakota and Sarah naked and huddled in the corner sobbing while Elenore stood in front of them and she was doing everything she could to keep Lou away from them. Everything from biting, and kicking, and hitting, and even ninjistu. Clearly, Lou chose the wrong kid to try and molest.
“What the HELL is going on in here?” Marcus roared, causing Lou to take a few steps back from the children.
“That man there was trying to hurts us!” Elenore explained, pointing an accusing finger at Lou. “Buts I wouldn’ts let him. You gets him Marcus. You have Detective Stabler arrests him cause he’s a bad man.” Jerald shook his head and despite the situation, he couldn’t help but smile slightly. His future niece really would make a good detective some day with some practice and more experience.
“Of all the children you could try to molest, you chose Ellie Lou?” Marcus asked, shaking his head and he went over and grabbed him by the arms so he couldn’t get away. Ashley went over and knelt down in front of the girls then and Dakota and Sarah threw their arms around her and continued sobbing. Jerald grabbed up Elenore and hugged her close to her and she slid her arms around her Jerry and rested her head against his shoulder as tears fell from her eyes. She hopes she doesn’t get into too much trouble though she will admit that she deserves it. She put her friends in danger because of her stupid impulse actions. She really hates herself right now. She deserves any kind of punishment they give her and she’ll take it. All she knows is, she has to stop. She has to stop getting into trouble or who knows what more danger she’ll put them in. She just wishes that she knew how. She wouldn’t blame Dakota and Sarah one bit if they didn’t want to be her friend anymore. She knows this was all her fault. Just then, Nick, Brian, AJ, Howie, Kevin, and the rest of the gang came rushing in with absolute panic on both Nick and Kevin’s faces.
