Chapter Four-Hundred-Thirty-Eight
"Wi, buddy, why don't you just let her go?" Chris pleaded as the two best friends sat up in the separate bedroom that Kori had arranged for him to have the moment they arrived back at Ramsey. "Can't you see that her heart belongs to someone else?"
"I refuse to believe that," Wiley insisted firmly as he concentrated fully on the video game he was currently playing.
"She's been cheating on you...what is there not to believe?" Wiley was silent for a long moment.
"It's not her fault. That asshole has done nothing but bug her from the start. She tells him that it's over and to stay away and he doesn't listen to her. He's confused her is all. If I can just get her to--"
"--Wiley listen to me very carefully," Chris interrupted and he reached out and hit the off button on the television causing the other man to look at him incredulously. Chris placed his hands to his shoulders and looked his best friend in the eyes, so desperately needing him to understand. "She stopped telling him it's over a long time ago and she stopped meaning it when she tells him to stay away from her a long time ago too. The only reason she tells him to now is because she’s scared of trusting him. She is holding onto you because you are safe. You really need to see that. I know you love her, I know this sucks, and I hate it that you have to go through with this but you need to let her go. Come home Wiley, please. Stop putting yourself through this.”
“Kori still loves me Chris, I know she does.”
“Of course she does. There is no doubt in my mind that she loves you and I know she always will. But not as much as she loves Scott and if you hold onto her like this, even if she does choose you over him her heart is not going to be entirely yours and she isn’t going to be entirely happy. Can you live with that?” Wiley looked away from Chris then, fighting back the tears that wanted to spill out over his eyes. Chris sighed heavily and he sat there staring at his best friend feeling completely helpless.
“Maybe she will choose you, and who knows maybe she’ll come home and be able to give her whole heart to you and move on from Scott. But right now, I think you need to come home and let her figure things out for herself. Let her go…if she comes back, she’s yours. But please…don’t stay here in Florida where you are just going to sit in this Orphanage the whole time with a broken heart.”
“I can’t leave right now Chris,” Wiley insisted, and then got to his feet and walked out of his room before Chris could argue his point any further.
~*~*~*~*~
“Scott where are you taking me now?” Kori wanted to know as they walked through the woods holding hands. He had taken her to do everything that they had done together as teenagers. They had gone to Disney World together and went on all of their old favorite rides, got their picture taken with some of the Disney characters, and he had even bought her a few things out of the stores.
After Disney World, he had taken her to the mall where they walked around and looked through stores but never really bought anything and when they got bored of that, he took her miniature golfing at Golfland where not only did they play miniature golf, but they hung out inside the castle-like building where they played arcade games, laser tag, and challenged each other to a race in the race cars. They had even gone as far as riding the bumper boats!
Now they were walking through the woods together. Kori held Scott’s hand in her one hand fingers laced with his and all and she held her bag of cotton candy from Golfland in her other.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Scott questioned while looking at her with a small grin on his face. “Don’t these woods look familiar?” Kori really looked around then, concentrating for the first time on what woods they were in rather than on the awareness of Scott’s company and it clicked on just exactly where they were going. Before she could form the words to answer him though, their old childhood tree house came into view.
“It’s still standing?” she asked softly. “After all of these years?”
“Of course it is,” Scott insisted while gently squeezing her hand in his.
“And it hasn’t been taken over by other kids?”
“Nope. Just me a very big kid at heart…I come here a lot to think. Mostly when you are on my mind. I came here every single day since you left…sometimes even stayed overnight in it.” Kori stood there quietly gazing at him, feeling a million different emotions at once upon hearing his confession. She felt a surge of happiness, her heart fluttered, and at the same time…it made her feel angry and it just brought up questions that she is too scared to hear the answers to. He brought her hand up and kissed the back of it then before guiding her over to the ladder. He allowed her to climb up it first and she pushed open the door before climbing up into the tree house and Scott followed her. She looked around to see that it is exactly the way it was when she left.
The bookshelf of all of her favorite books are up against the wall next to the desk in the corner, there are a couple of beanbags and pillows, and even a blanket, and the radio she and Scott used to spend their days listening to was sitting on the floor next to a bean bag plugged into the wall with CDs sprawled out beside it. The tree house itself had been painted a light shade of blue on the inside and out, and on the walls Kori and Scott had hung up magazine cut outs and pinups of their favorite bands on the walls, and many pictures of them – there is an entire wall that consists of just them.
Kori instantly went over to the wall and quietly gazed at the pictures, every memory of how they were taken coming to her mind like it had been just yesterday and while she did that, Scott went over and sat on the bean bag and he just watched her, leaving her alone with her memories. With their memories. After a long while when she had seen them all, she finally turned to look at him and she went over and sat down beside him on the same bean bag his him. She lay down resting her head against his shoulder and sliding her arms around his waist fighting back the questions she wanted to ask but was nowhere near ready for the answers. She just wants to live in the now and not have to deal with the hard stuff just yet. She doesn’t want to fight with him right now she just wants him to hold her.
“We have to bring Spencer here sometime,” she told him softly. “He would love this tree house.”
“Yeah,” Scott grinned. “Who knows, maybe someday his and Ellie’s pictures will make it up on one of these walls.” Kori couldn’t help but laugh a little.
“Maybe, but I think our son might have a little bit of a competition when they get older and realize they like each other…”
“How so? Ellie is completely hung up on him and vice versa.”
“Yeah, but she is also pretty into Ryan too. He may be a tad bit too old for her now but there will be no stopping her when she’s older. Kevin is going to have some trouble with that girl.”
“Poor guy,” Scott laughed. “He’s already having so much trouble with her now. She’s wild now…I can’t even imagine how she’ll be when she’s a teenager.”
“Yeah,” Kori replied and she looked up at him and cupped his cheek in her hand. “We’re all going to have to help him out and keep an eye on her. I would hate for her to follow in Sean’s footsteps.”
“With the right kind of guidance I think she’ll be just fine. She wants to be a cop…the exact opposite of Sean. We’re off to a good start at least.”
“Yeah well…you and I are just going to have to be there for him to be an extra set of eyes. Just incase…”
“You and I huh?” Scott couldn’t help but ask and he placed his hand on top of hers as it rests against his cheek.
“I am always going to be around for Ashley, Scott…” Kori answered indifferently as to not let him get his hopes up. “And I’m assuming you will be too – the two of you have developed a pretty close relationship I don’t see you leaving her anytime soon.”
“You are right, I won’t” Scott insisted. “She is always going to have me.”
“Good…then while you are hanging out with her it wouldn’t hurt you to keep an eye on Ellie…and I always will through Ashley.”
“You can keep an eye on her yourself when you come to your senses and realize you aren’t going to move back to Jersey.” Kori heaved a sigh.
“Can we not do this? Please?”
“You are the one who started it.”
“Fine, and now I’m ending it. I don’t want to fight with you, I don’t want to talk about me making any kind of decision, I just want to live in the now with you. Would that be okay?”
“Live in the now?” Scott asked, wanting her to define that.
“Yes. The now. Right now, I am in the arms of my best friend and I’m enjoying it and nothing else besides that matters.”
“So…” Scott began softly. “If said best friend were to kiss you…in the now…that would be okay?” Kori looked up at him for a couple of seconds, incredulous that he had even bothered to ask. He knows better than that. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed his chin and pulled his lips down on hers in such a powerful kiss that took his breath away and she shifted so that she was straddling him, cupping his face in her hands. He slid his arms around her waist and kissed her back appreciatively in response.
“We can live in the now if you wish,” he told her between kisses, before bringing his lips down on her neck. “But by the time I get through with you there will be no doubt in your mind who you love.”
“Prove it to me then baby,” Kori whispered softly as she enjoyed his lips on her skin as he kissed her neck. “Take my fear away.” So she admits it Scott thought to himself. It is fear that is holding her back. Well I will take care of that. He rolled her over then so that he was on top with her head rested against his arm and he claimed her lips for his own planning to erase all of her fears. The thought that they had been doing this very same thing in this very same spot at this very same time, on a cold murky night like this one when Spencer was conceived locked away in the back of his mind.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, when Kevin and Ellie pulled up in the parking lot of the Orphanage, Kevin had barely parked his car in his usual spot when Ellie had noticed Kristin’s car was right next to it and she squealed excitedly. Kevin chuckled and shook his head in amusement and when he had finally parked the car completely, Ellie unbuckled herself and was out of the car and around to his side in an instant and Kevin frowned slightly before gathering her in his arms protectively.
“Honey please don’t do that again. If you are going to get out of the car without me, please do it on this side. I don’t want you walking around the car by yourself like that.”
“Why not daddy? It is not’s like my father is going to grabs me.”
“Yeah, but he still has enemies who would love to get back at him Ellie and that wasn’t what I was worried about. People don’t always pay attention when they’re driving I just don’t want you to get run over.” Ellie rested her head against his shoulder and popped her thumb in her mouth and he rubbed his hand over her back while heading toward the orphanage. When he got in there and the both of them had gotten through security, he asked Q where Kristin was and then finding out that she was in the playroom, he brought Ellie in there. They found her, Howie, Lindsey, AJ, and Brooke in there as well as Dakota, Sarah, Spencer, Chris, Ryan, Laila, and Josh. Ellie’s eyes set on both Kristin and Josh and suddenly she didn’t know who to be excited over seeing first. When Josh’s eyes met with hers though, he decided for her.
“ELLIE!!!!” he exclaimed happily.
“JOSHY!!!!” Ellie replied, and Kevin chuckled and set her down and she made a run for it toward the six year old in the batman suit and Josh ran toward her in return meeting her half way and she tackled him in a hug, knocking him backward onto the floor making him yelp and then he was hugging her.
“You’re here! Out of your house! In the Orphanage! Did Cousin Brian takes his happy pills this morning?” She asked causing all of the grownups to laugh.
“No, Dakota simply called him up and told him she wanted me at her sleepover tonight and when he told her no, she started crying and he changed his mind.”
“You should just have Kota spring you for good then, cause she’s certainly good ats it.”
“I would if I could,” Dakota spoke up from where she is at. “Uncle Brian is being very unreasonable.”
“At least he was reasonable enough to let him come to your sleepover Miss Dakota Ann,” AJ reminded gently and Ellie turned her attention back on Josh then.
“Still wearing that batman costume Joshy?” she asked amused.
“He wears it everywhere except in the bathtub – though I am sure he would if Brian would let him get away with it,” Chris replied while rolling his eyes playfully. “He draws as much attention as Brian does every time we go shopping. It’s annoying.” They then heard a smacking sound and Chris yelped.
“OW!”
“You leave my Batsman alone Christopher.” Josh and Ellie looked back at them to see that Dakota had whacked him in the back of the head with her Barbie doll and Chris narrowed his eyes at her.
“You are lucky Josh would kill me if I laid a hand on you, Dakota.”
“If you don’t have anything nice to say to or about my batsman then don’t say it ats all,” Dakota lectured. Ellie giggled and Chris scowled.
“Joshua, you had better get over here and protect her before I do something rash.” Josh and Ellie both stood up and they went over and joined their friends and Josh pulled Dakota into his arms protectively.
“Kota have you not learned a thing about picking on people that are not your age or size?” he lectured gently.
“He won’t hurt me. There are just things siblings don’t do and that is mess with their brother or sister’s important things an’ I’ve discovered long time ago that I am important to you so he won’t dare.”
“That doesn’t mean you should play the let’s see how strong Chris’s will is game, Kota” Josh insisted while rubbing his hand over her back.
“If he is going to say mean things about my Batsman he’s not’s going to gets away with it.”
“I can take it, I promise. You just leave it up to me okay? It’s Batman’s job to do the protecting, not yours” Josh insisted. “An’ we don’t want to risk you getting in trouble either.” Dakota slid her arms around him and turned so her face was buried in his chest and she hugged him.
“We’re a team now. Batsman had just better get used to that. You have my back, I have yours.”
“Fine,” Josh replied in amusement. “But Chris is mine. Deal?”
“Deal,” Dakota sighed and he grinned and rested his chin on her shoulder while looking at Chris who was sharing a moment with Ellie – the two of them were quietly teasing the love birds in front of them. Just then Nick and Ashley walked in the playroom with Baby Bells and a bag from blockbuster that is filled with movies for later. Dakota noticed them and smiled some.
“Daddy?” She called out to him.
“Yeah baby?”
“Will you buy me a Bat girl costume, please?” She is serious about them being a team. Josh can rescue her when necessary, sure, but she does not want to be the damsel in distress – she wants to kick butt too every once in awhile and that is exactly what she is going to do. Nick chuckled as he noticed her wrapped in Josh’s arms for the first time and he nodded.
“As soon as possible baby.”
“Are they batman and batgirl, or Beast and Belle? It’s hard to keep up sometimes with the little games those kids play” Howie commented when Nick and Ashley had joined them.
“Both I guess,” Ashley shrugged. “Whatever Josh is, Kota follows. And Josh’s obsession with Batman has been crazy lately…so yeah. They’re Batman and Bat Girl at the moment.”
“When are you going to get your play going honey huh?” Brooke asked curiously. “You have the cast all figured out, now what?”
“Brandon and I are going to discuss creating the set tomorrow. He’s going home Monday morning but he’s going to create a group of kids and give them all assignments until he can come back next weekend.”
“Oh I see.”
“And of course he is going to work on stuff in Oklahoma too. But his main focus tomorrow is going to be painting Sarah and Kota’s room.”
“I figured he would’ve started painting their room today, he’s usually very excited when he gets special projects like that” Brooke replied.
“Yeah but Steve and Annabelle are having Annabelle’s parents over so they can make the big announcement and Brandon is cooking for them. So he had to do a lot of shopping and spent the whole day cooking. He didn’t really have much time today.”
“Oh yeah that’s right,” Brooke replied. “That’s probably why I haven’t seen my sister all day too.”
“Yeah, I thought that was a little strange,” AJ replied. “She’s usually with you all the time.”
“Yeah…I’ve seen Jaime though. Plenty of Jaime,” Brooke replied, sounding slightly irritated. “We really need to find him a girlfriend so he can be away a lot of the time too.”
“Actually Brooke,” AJ replied. “He has been around a lot lately, but have you noticed he seems to be a little preoccupied lately? He’s been…I don’t know…less annoying then he normally is. And happy. Very happy… I mean he’s always happy; he’s not a depressed or angry person really…but he’s been chipper. Peyton kind of chipper.”
“I have noticed, come to think of it. It’s been weirding me out.” She thought about that for a moment. “I heard him singing in the shower the other day when I got home too…he never sings in the shower.”
“What was he singing?” Howie asked amused.
“All I Have To Give. He seems to be listening to the Backstreet Boys a lot lately. I heard I’ll Never Break Your Heart coming out of his headphones when he was listening to his iPod earlier before I told him to turn it down before he becomes deaf.” Ashley laughed.
“Either he’s developed a huge liking for the boys since being around them all the time or your brother is in love.”
“In Love? Jaime?” Brooke asked incredulously.
“Yeah, why not? He has the symptoms…chipper mood, love songs, singing in the shower…”
“But with who?” Brooke asked confused.
“I don’t know have you seen him hanging around any women lately?” Brooke thought about that for a moment.
“Just…Jennifer…but they’ve only ever been around each other very briefly never for very long period of times and they don’t flirt or anything like that.” Ashley smirked.
“Brooke, I think we have an undercover romance going on in this Orphanage right now.” Brooke arched her eyebrow.
“Jaime and Jennifer? No…”
“Why not baby?” AJ asked amusedly. “It’s not that hard to believe. J & J make a cute couple if you think about it.”
“Yeah…but she is still so hung up on Steve. And when they’re together it’s very brief.”
“When there are people around yeah. Like I said, it’s an undercover romance…who knows what they’ve been up to behind closed doors or in private” Ashley replied. “But think about the songs he’s been listening to. I’ll Never Break Your Heart totally describes her situation. Maybe he’s been helping her get over Steve…”
“Now that I think about it…” Brooke replied. “They were both very chipper the day after Steve came in late for work and she and him got into a huge fight. She should’ve been upset but she was abnormally happy and so was he. He was here late that night and everything…”
“Because they were together that night after the fight, that’s probably what happened,” AJ insisted and he looked very amused all of the sudden. “It would explain why he’s been so easy on me lately, that’s for sure.” Brooke sat there in silence, just mulling this new information over. If it’s true, she is happy for the both of them. But she just can’t believe that her brother managed to keep this secret from her. She is highly amused.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
