Chapter Three-Hundred-Forty-Seven
“Are you sure you guys don’t mind watching the kids for the night?” Nick double-checked as he stood out in the driveway with everybody, Ashley standing in front of him with his arms wrapped possessively around her waist.
“We’re positive. Tell daddy you love him Dakota and Sarah because you are hanging out with us all day and wont see him till tomorrow morning” Brian explained to the girls and he winked at them when Nick wasn’t paying attention.
“Are you really sure?” Nick asked again as Dakota and Sarah hugged him and he returned each one.
“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to do it Nickolas. Now go have fun with your girlfriend and please stay out of trouble,” Brian insisted.
“Okay, okay” Nick sighed. “Do you have their bags packed and stuff?”
“I’m gonna take them inside now and help them get ready. Shoo Carter!”
“All right, all right I’m shooing…sheesh” Nick replied and Ashley giggled amusedly before pulling her boyfriend toward his car.
“Good man you are Frack. Love ya! Happy birthday!” Brian called out with his signature goofy grin. No sooner did Ashley finally have Nick in the car and driving around the corner did Kevin’s car come driving around the other with Howie, Riley, Brooke’s family, and Brandon all in their own three cars.
“I think Nick felt rather put off,” Brian pointed out when Kevin got out of the car.
“Why?”
“Because we were practically pulling teeth trying to get him to leave and I get the feeling that he really wanted to spend his birthday with all of us.”
“He’ll feel better once he sees this super cool party we’re gonna put together for him,” Peyton insisted as she came skipping on over with Laila in her arms.
“He better,” Brian replied as he waited for the guiltiness to fade. “So! Where’s my favorite little cousin?” He asked, turning back to Kevin.
“In the car being a pest.”
“Well now, aren’t you gonna get her out?”
“She won’t let me. She isn’t on speaking terms with me at the moment” Kevin explained with a shrug. “And quite frankly she’s a lot better off in there with that damn attitude of hers. When she’s in a better mood, I’ll go get her. Otherwise, let her be.”
“What happened?” Brian wanted to know.
“She threw a huge tantrum first thing this morning when she heard me tell Jerald that I was bringing Summer to the party tonight,” Kevin answered. “Jer and I let her be while she threw her little fit, didn’t acknowledge her at all but when it was time to go we simply picked her up, carried her to the car, and forced her into her carseat where she continued. It’s been non-stop calling me names ever since we left the house.”
“I see,” Brian replied seriously, as everyone else had gone inside and started the planning without them.
“She’s been acting up a lot more then usual lately – every single day there is a problem and I just don’t know what her deal is.”
“Maybe, you should sit her down and have a real talk with her.”
“There is no talking to that child.”
“Actually it’s pretty easy,” Brian replied with a shrug of his shoulders. “Have you even tried?” Kevin looked away from Brian moodily, as he’s already been accused by Jerald of not spending enough time with Elenore and he told him he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. “Maybe Ellie is acting up for a reason did you ever think of that cuz?” Brian questioned. “Maybe something might be bothering her and you should get to the bottom of it.”
“I’ve already told her that throwing tantrums and causing problems is not a way to get my attention. Until she learns the correct way I am not going to encourage her behavior.”
“Maybe she’s tried that already and you didn’t listen to her because you didn’t want to hear it.” Kevin crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “She’s five years old Kev, you cant expect her to communicate like an adult all the time especially when she is obviously hurting.”
“What do you know?” Kevin snapped, his words stabbing Brian right in the heart. Brian stared at him for a couple of moments not understanding in the least bit where this attitude is coming from.
“I don’t claim to be a genius, I make just as much mistakes as anybody else but I can tell you one thing that I know for sure. My children both know that they don’t have to cause trouble to get my attention, that they can just come to me. Have you made yourself available for Ellie to come to these past three weeks?” Brian didn’t wait for Kevin’s lie; instead he lightly pushed past him and headed for Kevin’s car.
“Bri I said let her be.”
“If I do that then that poor child might end up sitting in this car all day long and I am not about to let that happen.” When he reached the car he opened it up and unbuckled Elenore from the carseat and he gathered her in his arms. Elenore slid her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck and he felt her tears drip onto his skin. He rubbed his hand over her back and kissed the top of her head.
“Hi sweetheart. How about we go get you a nice bowl of ice cream?” He asked loud enough for Kevin to hear and he narrowed his eyes at him daring him to protest. Elenore tightened her arms around him and nestled into him and he made sure to cuddle with her lots as he headed for the house. “Josh is in there, I bet he would like some ice cream as well. And then after that how about you help me set up a slip n’ slide for you and the children to have during the party tonight?”
“Kay…” Elenore sniffled.
“You can be my slip n’ slide tester. You be sure to tell me if it’s slippery enough because if its not then your cousin Brian will have to do something about that.”
“Slip N’ Slide Bri? In January? Isn’t it just a little too cold for that?” Jerald questioned as he over heard what Brian had said when he walked in the house.
“Nah, they’ll be fine we live in Florida. Its not that cold.”
“Where is my brother at?”
“Out front pulling that stick out of his…” Brian trailed off when he saw Jerald raise his eyebrow amusedly. “Ear…” AJ laughed hysterically and Brian shook his head and carried Elenore off to the kitchen to get her that ice cream he promised her.
“Whats his problem anyway?” He questioned when he saw that Jerald was following him.
“I’ll tell you what his problem is, but not right now.”
“I just need to know one thing. Is Ashley’s gut instinct correct?” Brian asked knowing that a five-year-old couldn’t possibly de-code that question.
“Right on the dot as usual. The girl has sharp instincts when it comes to people.”
“Then why?”
“If you find out the answer to that you let me know. I’ve been fighting with him for a week now and he shuts down everytime I tell him the….” Jerald stopped to think of a good code word. “Apple sauce is no good…” he continued when he spotted a jar of applesauce on the other side of the kitchen. Brian shook his head as he sat Elenore down at the table with her bowl of ice cream.
“Well, Jer, how are things going with you and your applesauce?” He asked, flashing Jerald a teasing grin and Jerald chuckled.
“My Applesauce was friends with Kevin’s applesauce, so my applesauce got mighty peeved when I acted a little snappy around Kevin’s applesauce.”
“So is applesauce out of the picture then?” Brian asked giving his cousin a sympathetic look.
“Not entirely, we’re just not on speaking terms at the moment. She doesn’t believe that Kevin’s applesauce can be so...spoiled rotten.”
“How is your applesauce with my cousin the munchkin here?” Brian questioned protectively and he gently patted her on the head.
“Ellie thinks my applesauce is great and vise versa. No issues there or she would be gone just like that” Jerald explained, snapping his fingers to demonstrate.
“I never knew one could have a conversation about applesauce for so long,” Kori commented as she stood leaning against the counter on the other side of the room. She was working on a grocery list but stopped to listen when the conversation turned interesting and she is standing there with her chin rested in the palm of her hand.
“We’re just talented that way I guess” Jerald replied while smirking some and he leaned forward and kissed Elenore’s head softly before going over and lying on the floor next to Bella and he reverted into baby talk and just plain silliness.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“No – Kota take that off now!” Sarah ordered when she entered her sister’s room and saw what she was wearing.
“No way I likes it” Dakota insisted stubbornly as she admired herself in the mirror.
“But that’s what I’m wearing and it took me an hour to decide on it!”
“It took me an hour to decide too” Dakota told her as she continued to model for her own reflection. Sarah rolled her eyes.
“It did not!”
“Did so!”
“It took you an hour to see what I was wearing but that’s about it you little copycat! Now change!”
“No!”
“What is all of the shouting about in here?” Marcus wanted to know as he suddenly appeared in Dakota’s doorway. The moment he did he saw Sarah dressed in a white long sleeved shirt, a blue denim skirt, white tights, and her black low top converse shoes while Dakota was dressed in a red long sleeved shirt, blue denim skirt, red tights, and black converse shoes. Marcus laughed. “Awww…there is nothing more adorable then a little sister wanting to be exactly like her big sister.”
“Marcus make her change, please!” Sarah whined. “I spent hours trying to decide what to wear and she is ALWAYS copying me!”
“If you ask me I would take that as a compliment honey,” Marcus laughed. “She loves you. She thinks you are the best and wants to be just like you. Did you ever think of it that way?” Sarah scowled.
“Doesn’t mean she has to dress like me too.”
“At least she isn’t wearing the same colors as you.”
“Only cause she doesn’t have this outfit in this color or she definitely would have.” Marcus chuckled softly, still very much amused with this situation.
“Kota honey why don’t you find something else to wear?”
“No I don’t wants to. I likes my outfit an’ I’m sticking to it.”
“I’m sorry Sarah, if she wont change there’s not much I can do about it. She’s a big girl, she dresses herself.”
“Well, I’m gonna goes and have me some ice cream! See ya later Marcus. See ya later Sarah” Dakota replied and she happily skipped on past her sister and the security guard and she went on downstairs. Sarah’s narrowed eyes followed her all the way down the stairs until she could no longer see her and then she stormed into her room. When she got in there she looked around for something that Dakota doesn’t have. When she found her pink star shaped dangly earrings she looked at herself in the mirror on the wall and put them on before pulling her hair up into a messy sideways ponytail – something Dakota did not do. After doing that she pulled her converse shoes off and replaced them with her black 80s boots that Ashley had bought her and put on her black leather jacket deciding she would be 80s child for the day. Dakota can’t copy that, as she doesn’t have her earrings, or the boots. Nor, does she have the leather jacket. Sarah smirked.
“Beat that little sis,” She muttered to herself.
“Ya know,” Josh’s voice came from the door causing Sarah to spin around and look at him in surprise. “They say talking to yourself is the first sign of craziness.”
“Well, I guess you’d know since you are already crazy.” Josh shrugged.
“Maybe.”
“Why don’t you go downstairs an’ keep your girlfriend busy so she doesn’t bug me?” Josh blushed but otherwise showed no sign of even hearing what she said.
“Are you going to come downstairs before the next year by any chance Sarah? You are missing out on ice cream.”
“Maybe…”
“Well come on already,” Josh insisted before grabbing hold of Sarah’s hand and pulling her out of the room and down the stairs.
~*~*~*~*~
“Are you sure you really want to go through with this?” Trevor questioned Sean for the third time as he listened to his lover go over his next move – something he’s been watching him silently plan for the past three weeks and was finally being let in on it.
“Trevor, if you ask me that question one more time…”
“We still have a chance to move to Mexico you know.”
“Will you get the blasted Mexico idea out of your head? It’s not going to happen yet.”
“It’s not going to happen at all if you go through with this. You are going to throw our life together out the window and it will all be over.” Sean turned his back on Trevor, pretending to busy himself with papers on the desk. “Of all the stupid things you’ve ever done Sean, this would have to be the mother of all stupid things combined.” Sean remained silent as Trevor plunged on in his lecture. “Is your hatred toward Kori worth losing your life over? Because if you go through with this, that is what’s going to happen – death. You are not going to survive long enough to enjoy your revenge, because the death penalty has long since been your sentence.”
“Just do what you were asked to do Trevor, let me be.”
“You promised Ellie you would take care of yourself,” Trevor informed. He didn’t want to play that card but he is running out of cards to play and time. “And most importantly you promised her that you would always be around to help Kevin keep her safe. I stood there and watched you make that promise Sean. Now I know you have a heart in there somewhere so you cant tell me that doesn’t effect you in the least bit.”
“Do as you were told Trevor, now.” Sean ordered in a low dangerous voice. Trevor stared at his back for a moment in painful silence before picking up the maps that Sean had given him. He started to walk away but paused and looked back at Sean.
“I hope you die during this mission. Not because I don’t love you because you know I do with every fiber of my being but I know that if you don’t you are going to have to live with the regret of breaking your daughter’s promise and heart. You can’t tell me you won’t feel it because I know better then that. I wouldn’t be able to handle watching you live through that.”
“You won’t have to,” Sean told him softly. “I’m sentenced for the death penalty, remember? So if I don’t die during the mission then the government will get me and you will be fine. So quit whining and go do what I asked you to do.”
“Maybe I was wrong about you after all,” Trevor whispered, and even with his back turned Sean can picture the tears rolling down his lover’s face. “Maybe you can’t be saved after all,” he added and then finally turned and walked out of Sean’s office. Sean closed his eyes as he kept his back turned.
“No one asked you to save me Trevor,” he whispered back unaware that he was gone as he can still feel a presence in the room. “I always knew after I got my revenge Id die. That I would finally be able to tell my mom I’m sorry. Ellie has Kevin now…she’ll get over it eventually. She’s young.” When Trevor didn’t answer Sean sighed.
“Trev don’t be like this. Its what I’ve wanted from the beginning,” Sean pleaded. When Trevor still didn’t answer Sean turned around to reason with him only to find the room empty. Sean raised his eyebrow. But how is that possible? He felt his presence behind him, he knows he did. But then, lately he always feels a presence even when he is completely alone. He always gets this overwhelming feeling of emotions. One moment he’s feeling oddly sad, the next minute he experiences this huge anger wave – at one point he even threw a chair across the room and when Trevor demanded to know what’s wrong he couldn’t explain no matter how much he tried. Then other times he experiences this feeling of pride…like he is extremely proud of something – usually when Trevor is in the room oddly enough. They won’t even be talking to each other; they’ll just be in the same room moving about and doing their own thing – comfortable with each other’s company and all of the sudden he feels damn proud. What he feels proud about, lord knows. Sean shook his head at the thought.
“I must be losing my mind, that’s it…” he muttered quietly to himself. “It’s the only rational explanation,” He insisted and as he went back to clicking around on his laptop (the one he had to steal after his was found and taken over by the police), the room suddenly felt empty.
~*~*~*~*~
“I know you are here,” Trevor insisted as he sat on the deck of an abandoned boathouse that they managed to find on a lake surrounded by trees, which kept them well secluded. “And I know that you know I know it, so what I don’t get is why you’re keeping yourself so goddamned hidden.” He looked around the area as if expecting Lindy to appear at any moment. Much to his dismay, she remained hidden. Trevor grabbed up a stone and bitterly threw it into the lake.
“I’ve given up on your son. He is a lost cause so you might as well stop bothering me.” Trevor reached down to grab at one of Sean’s maps to get to work when suddenly he felt a wave of anger rush through him. He fought it with his own anger.
“Don’t you pass your anger vibes onto me,” he snapped. “I know you are the reason Sean threw that chair last night. He pissed you off didn’t he?” He felt the anger deepen. “Yeah well you and me both lady. Thing is I’m tired of fighting with him. He’s going to do what he wants to do. If I can’t get through to him, you can’t get through to him, then no one can.” He looked down at the maps then, opened up his red pen, and had the pen hovering just over the map when suddenly it flew into the water.
“What the fuck did you do that for?? Are you trying to kill me? I know it wasn’t the wind it’s not strong enough!” He reached for the second map when suddenly that shot into the lake as well.
“Fucking A!” Trevor cursed. “How am I going to explain this? Its all fine and dandy since your invisible and all, but hello! I’m not!” Suddenly he heard the door open and he whipped his head around to see Sean coming out.
“What is all of the shouting for Trev? Do you want people to hear you and find us?”
“Sorry…I’ll be a little more quiet. I got carried away with talking to myself. Go inside baby everything is fine.”
“How are those maps coming a long? Have you finished marking down all of the best areas?” Sean asked inching closer.
“Not yet – go inside and I’ll have them to you soon.” Sean narrowed his eyes.
“Whats the matter with you? You seem a little tense.”
“Nothing, nothing. I’m fine. Go inside.”
“Why do you want me to go so bad?” Sean asked suspiciously.
“Because…I just feel like being alone.”
“So you can just talk to yourself?”
“Yup. That’s it. I just want to talk to myself for a bit – it helps me concentrate.”
“You know what’s really great about our relationship Trev?” Sean questioned while walking toward him.
“What?”
“We both know each other so well that we could write a book the size of a dictionary about one another” Sean answered.
“Yeah…I bet we could…”
“Where are the maps Trevor?”
“The wind…kind of…blew them in the lake.”
“What wind?” Sean asked, looking around them at the trees pointedly.
“The wind that died just before you came out.”
“I see,” Sean replied in a surprisingly calm tone. Too calm. Trevor backed up as far as he could and suddenly felt sheer panic rush through him. Why is he feeling so scared? This is his lover he is talking to. Sean would never hurt him no matter how angry he gets and even Sean knows that so why on earth does he feel so terrified that he is about an inch from falling backward into the lake? And its not even that, that is terrifying him, it’s the sight of Sean’s rage, its the fact that Sean is cornering him and he has no way around him. Which is ridiculous because Trevor knows he is just as strong as Sean is. If he wants around him, he’ll push his way around him he is not as powerless as he so oddly feels. Then an idea suddenly hit him as he felt the strong desire to keep Sean safe, the familiar feeling that he has been feeling ever since he met him in elementary school. That Sean is the only thing on this earth that matters and he wont rest until he knows he is going to be okay. Trevor gently grabbed hold of Sean’s shoulders and turned him around so that Sean’s back was facing toward the deck and as he gently grabbed hold of Sean’s hands he felt the fear vanish. He raised his eyebrow.
“You really gotta stop doing that…” he muttered.
“Doing what?” Sean snapped angrily. “You are the dickwad that decided to sit by the lake with important papers!”
“And it looks like it’s a good thing I did, because now we cant go through with your life-threatening, life altering plan!”
“Oh yes we are,” Sean snapped. “Draw them again” He demanded before pushing past him and walking toward the house.
“Fuck no.”
“Do it Trevor…because otherwise, I’ll just go in there without knowing. Which would you prefer?” Sean threatened, before going inside and slamming the door behind him. Trevor scowled, and then suddenly remembered that awful feeling of fear that he just felt. That fear that can only be from one thing – Lindy. Sean must’ve looked very much like his father at that moment and Trevor standing at the edge of the dock about to fall in the lake must've taken her back and she panicked and showed him just exactly what she was feeling the moment she died. The exact feelings that had kept her earthbound to Sean. And she knew it would get to him too, because he feels the exact same way even though he had just been trying to deny it a moment ago.
“Fine,” he snapped. “I get it. You win!” he told her before turning and storming off after Sean to try and make him see reason.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
