“Close your eyes daddy,” Ellie insisted as soon as Jerald pulled into the driveway and Kevin arched his eyebrow.


“Why do I have to do that princess?”


“Because…I saids so?” Ellie asked in a sweet tone and Jerald chuckled.


“Just humor the kid and do what she wants Bro.”


“Yeah, humor the kid” Ellie added and Kevin smirked and shook his head in amusement.


“Let me guess…Jerald had that wild party of gorillas while I was gone despite the fact I told him not to didn’t he?” Kevin teased and Ellie giggled.


“Nah, I invited the Rhinos instead. The Gorillas couldn’t make it.” Jerald replied as he got out of the car and went around and supervised as his still slightly sore brother got Ellie out of the car. As soon as he did he hugged her close to him and kissed her forehead lovingly and Ellie snuggled back before reaching up and covering his eyes.


“I mean it mister, close those eyes!”


“Okay, okay they’re closed” Kevin chuckled while shutting his eyes but Ellie kept her hand there nonetheless as Jerald slid his arm around Kevin and began to guide him toward the house. When they got inside and Kevin could feel the cool air conditioning of his house and the carpet under his feet he spoke up.


“Can I open them now?”


“No, not yet” Ellie insisted as Jerald led them into the living room. When they were in there Ellie slid down from his arms and Jerald spoke up.


“You can look now.” Kevin opened his eyes only to find himself standing face to face with Tim for the first time since he went home after Christmas. Kevin’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him and Ellie beamed upon seeing the same happiness in them that she’d seen in Jerald’s eyes earlier.


“Well have I died and gone to heaven? You’re here…in Florida!” he said before throwing his arms about Tim and hugging him and Tim chuckled amusedly while hugging him back.


“I think my baby brother getting shot in the gut is worth taking a trip down here for, Kev.”


“Hey, what about’s me?!” Ellie demanded, her hands instantly going to her hips in a sassy like stance. Jerald, Tim, Kevin, Ann and Kristen all laughed and Tim pulled back from Kevin and gathered his niece in his arms for a hug.


“And of course it’s always a pleasure when I get to see my favorite niece too.”


“Than perhaps you ought to come visit more, huh?” Ellie suggested in such a practiced way that Tim has his suspicions that Jerald might have put her up to this. She’s been hinting about him being around more all day long. Tim rest his forehead against hers and she continued. “You know I gets bigger everyday Uncle Tim…you just might miss something important.”


“You think so huh?” Tim smirked.


“Uh-huh I really do” Ellie replied in a matter of fact way and he brought his mouth down to her neck and began to blow raspberries on it instantly causing her to squirm and giggle. Kevin smiled happily at the rare sight of watching Ellie get the chance to play with her Uncle and Kristen went over to him and gently slid her arm around him.


“Why don’t you come sit down honey? The doctor said you still needed to take it easy.” Kevin allowed Kristen to take him over to the couch and after she helped him sit down she went to get some pillows to help him get comfortable only to have him gently wind his arms around her waist and pull her onto the couch beside him playfully instantly making her yelp and then giggle.


“Don’t you want some pillows? You’ve been complaining to me about how you don’t like those hospital beds I was sure you would want to get as comfortable as possible as soon as you got home.”


“And that is exactly what I am doing,” Kevin insisted while gently tilting her chin up and leaning forward to claim her lips for his own and she kissed him back, immediately melting into his arms.


“You’re getting a little bit too comfortable if you ask me,” Jerald spoke up. “There is a five year old present – get a room….sheesh.”


“The five year old doesn’t mind,” Ellie insisted while beaming from ear to ear as she sat in Tim’s lap on the floor and watched them kiss. Tim, Jerald, and Ann all laughed as did Kristen amidst kissing Kevin and he pulled back only slightly so that their foreheads were touching though he looked at Ellie amusedly.


“You’re pretty spunky this evening princess…what did your uncles do to you while I was gone?”


“Let me goes to see Daddy Sean an’ Trevor,” Ellie began. “An’ showed up,” she added before leaning up and kissing Tim’s cheek.


“It is nice when Uncle Tim comes to visit isn’t it honey?” Jerald agreed. “Too bad he doesn’t live right down the hall…then you could be spunky all the time.”


“Jer don’t do this” Tim sighed.


“What? I am only speaking the truth.”


“I have a church to get back to and you know it.”


“There are churches in Florida too.”


“Yeah well…Mom is eventually going to come home, and she’s going to need someone there with her” He insisted, fishing for excuses now and that was the best one he could come up with.


“It’s not like I would ever be alone Tim, I’m not your responsibility” Ann insisted. “I have Jackie and Harold too you know.”


“Yeah and she’s over there every day…or the other way around too” Jerald added. Instead of responding, Tim quietly sat there gently twirling a strand of Ellie’s hair.


“Cool it Jer,” Kevin spoke up after a moment.


“But—“


“—I mean it. Leave him alone…he just got here do you really need to hassle him on his first day here?” When Jerald didn’t respond Kevin spoke up again. “Some of us are just not ready to leave home we’ll just leave it at that.” Jerald sat there in silence for a long moment, and then got up and went over to Tim and he gently took Ellie from him.


“Come on honey…lets go get dinner started shall we?” he asked and then walked away disappearing in the kitchen. Ann shook her head and then got up and went after her eldest son suspecting that they need to have a talk and Kevin looked at Tim who now lay there quietly staring at the carpet.


“Thanks…” he said after a moment.


“You’re not the only one who misses dad you know…I understand.”


“So why can’t Jerald understand? We go through this argument every time I come out here to visit. I’m just not ready to let him go.”


“He misses you a lot more than he lets on,” Kevin explained. “He moved out here for Ellie and I know he loves it and wouldn’t change it for the world but it was also a huge change for him. He misses seeing you every day.”


“He was like that with you when he was home. You coming to visit was always a big deal for him. He can’t be happy either way, can he?”


“He’d be happy if we were all together…I’m just saying,” Kevin shrugged.


“So pack Ellie up and all of you move back home…compromise.”


“It’s not that simple, Tim” Kevin sighed. “I’m pretty much tied down here right now. Everything Ellie has ever known is in Florida, I can’t just pack her up and move to Kentucky and expect her to be okay with it. I’m afraid if I tried, we’d end up with Kota and Josh as stow aways in her suitcase or something.”


“So let’s buy all of your band mates a nice house in Kentucky,” Tim suggested after a moment though he knew as soon as he said it that this suggestion wouldn’t exactly work for everyone either.


“That would work if everything Ashley has ever known and loved wasn’t in Florida too.” Tim thought about this long and hard for a moment.


“I know what we need. What we need to do is get Ellie her own private Helicopter so she can come and visit her friends whenever she pleases – I mean, I’m sure we could pull it off,” Tim teased and Kristen who’d been sitting there quietly listening laughed.


“I’m sure she would love that. I think you would have to lay down the law though so she doesn’t try to sneak off to Tahiti when you aren’t looking or something crazy like that.”


“My five year old is not getting her own helicopter,” Kevin insisted trying not to think of how scary it would be trying to locate her if she should run off. “She’s spoiled enough as is.” Kevin thought about that for a moment. “And don’t you dare tell Jerald this hilarious joke of yours either, because knowing him he’d probably go right out and buy it for her.” Tim chuckled amusedly and out came Ellie skipping happily.


“Kristen…”


“Ellie…” Kristen replied while smiling some.


“Will you play Barbie’s with me?”


“Of course sweetheart but why don’t you bring them down here?” Kristen answered readily.


“I will even help you carry your dollhouse down and everything,” Tim added while getting to his feet. He playfully gathered his niece up and placed her over his shoulder before making a run for it up the stairs causing her to hold onto him tightly and giggle incessantly. Kristen smiled some and looked at Kevin clearly enjoying how happy he is at the moment and he placed his hand to her cheek and gently caressed it.


“So that’s the infamous Tim I’ve been telling you so much about. Did you get a chance to really talk to him and meet him and stuff?”


“Mhm I had lunch with him and your mom earlier. He’s really nice I like him a lot already.”


“Are you sure you aren’t tired of me shoving another family member in front of you every time you turn around?” Kevin asked teasingly and he slid his arms around her waist and kissed her forehead affectionately.

“No, of course not – your family is very important to you. I want to meet anything and everyone that is important to you.”


“Well, that’s good because you still have at least one more person in my family to meet, believe it or not” Kevin said amusedly and Kristen laughed.


“Your Uncle Harold right?”


“Mhm…you’ll either meet him at the rescheduled wedding, or if he decides to drive down here despite Jackie’s wishes.”


“Oh yeah, that’s right. When have they changed the wedding to?”


“They haven’t yet…they’re waiting on Nick to wake up. Brian is really terrified that he’s going to have to go on with his wedding without his best friend…its really heartbreaking watching him worry” Kevin answered uneasily and Kristen pulled him into a hug. “And I’m pretty worried myself…he’s my baby brother. We’ve been through so much together…I can’t even begin to imagine losing him.”


“We haven’t heard from them since this afternoon…you should call them to see if there’s been any update.”


“Yeah, I probably should” Kevin nodded. “Know where my cell phone is?”

“I will go get it for you, you stay here” Kristen insisted while getting up from the couch and as she was heading for Kevin’s bags that Jerald had left by the door Ellie came down the stairs with her box of Barbie’s and Tim right behind her carrying her dollhouse.


“I will be right there honey, I promise. Just let me get your daddy’s phone for him real quick okay? And maybe he would like to watch some TV or something.”


“Good idea,” Ellie replied. “Watching TV always makes me feel better when I’m hurt.”


“It does help sometimes,” Tim agreed.


~*~*~*~*~*~


“Did anyone think to call Kevin?” Ashley asked shortly after finishing her dinner as she sat rooted in her spot next to Nick. She knows it’s going to be very hard leaving him when it’s time for the doctor to look him over and such. Everybody froze upon hearing her question, giving her the impression that the answer is no.


“You guys…” Ashley said exasperatedly while fishing for her phone. “He is going to be really hurt that no one called him.”


“Things have been pretty hectic around here lately what with the whole worry over Nick and getting the orphanage back to normal…it just sort of temporarily slipped our minds.”


“Yeah…this is the first time all of us have been able to actually sit down and breathe…and think,” Howie added. Ashley flipped open her phone and pressed a number before putting it to her ear and after a second Kristen answered.


“Hello?” Kristen asked sounding surprised and slightly confused.


“Kris…Hey, it’s Ashley. Can I talk to Kevin please it’s important.”


“Sure, I was just going to hand the phone to him when you called, he was planning on calling you,” Kristen explained and a second later she heard Kevin’s voice instead.


“Hey sweetie…what’s going on?”


“Are you home from the Hospital?”


“Yeah we just got here a little bit ago. Why?”


“Then you should get Jerald to drive you down here as soon as possible if you are up for it...Nick is awake and he really wants to see you.”


“Really?!” Kevin asked and Ashley could hear that he sounds so relieved that he could cry and probably will. “Is he communicating with everybody okay, or is it hard for him? How is he doing?”


“He communicates very well, and I would say he’s acting pretty normal all things considering. The very first thing he did when he woke up was kiss me – not even kidding you.” Kevin chuckled amusedly upon hearing this.


“And that’s supposed to surprise me?” he teased.


“Yeah, yeah…” Ashley replied while rolling her eyes playfully. “Anyway, he just woke up and everybody has just settled down around him to have dinner but we’re missing one important family member.”


“Two important family members,” Dakota corrected while not even looking up from the doll in her arms as she sat there quietly twirling her hair.


“Two important family members,” Ashley added while assessing Dakota’s behavior. The last time the two girls were around each other, it was the next day after the storm and they got into a huge shouting match and looked very much like they could pull each other’s hair out right before they were pulled away from each other and were kept apart ever since. “I think it’s high time a friendship was on the amend…don’t you?” She continued talking to Kevin as she watched Dakota lean into Josh as he sat next to her and snuggle up to him in a very fragile like way.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Kevin replied. “Jerald, Tim, Kristen, mom, Ellie and I will all be down there as soon as we’ve finished dinner all right? I’m afraid mom and Jerald have already started cooking it.”

“Okay that sounds good.”


“Can I talk to Nicky please?”


“Of course,” Ashley answered before handing her phone over to Nick and while he placed the phone to his ear and started talking to Nick Ashley leaned forward and kissed his forehead softly before turning her attention on Dakota who Josh was trying his very best to console.


“Here Josh…let me have a try,” Ashley suggested before gently gathering Dakota into her lap. Dakota slid her arms around her waist and nestled her head against her shoulder as she wore a pout on her face.


“Are you going to invite Ellie back into your circle honey? I think you’ve punished her long enough…”


“She said insensitive things about’s my daddy,” Dakota insisted, using the word Brian had taught her.


“Well if I remember it correctly,” Ashley started while gently tilting her chin up so that she was looking up at her. “You said some pretty insensitive things about her daddy too.”


“Her daddy deserved it that’s the difference. Mine was the victim who was fighting for his life here!”


“That still doesn’t make it right baby and you know it,” Ashley said with a sigh as she could hear her father’s words coming right out of her mouth. Inwardly accepting that she is her father’s girl and that he was right, she went on. “Two wrongs don’t make a right and it’s not Ellie’s fault that Sean is the way he is.”


“But she protects him an’ I’m still mad ats her for the things she said!”


“Okay but saying mean things in return and pushing her out of your circle of friends isn’t going to make things better is it Kota?” Dakota crossed her arms over her chest and looked away stubbornly.


“It would keeps her away from me.”


“And what good does that do when you miss her so much?” Ashley wanted to know and she gently turned her face around so that she was looking at her again and she leaned down and rested her forehead against hers. “Huh? Are you willing to go on missing your best friend forever just because you can’t get over your anger toward her? What about all of the good times you’ve had together? Does that not count for something?”


“My daddy means everything to me.”


“And hers means everything to her. You are never going to see eye to eye in this situation, so how about you agree to disagree and just move on?”


“Are you going to help Ellie fights for Sean’s life?” Dakota wanted to know, causing everybody who’d been listening with one ear on them while the other was on the conversation they were having all stopped to listen now as they were all very interested in what she had to say about that – all of them except for Marcus, who already knew of course.


“Why don’t you let us grownups worry about that and you just concentrate on being a kid?” Ashley said after a moment, and Dakota studied her face for a moment.


“You are, aren’t you?” Dakota accused, suddenly looking very annoyed with Ashley for the first time in all the time she’s known her. “How could you do that’s when you’re supposed’s to be on daddy’s side?!”


“Because Daddy wants her to, that’s why” Nick spoke up. He was no longer talking to Kevin anymore and had been sitting there listening to the whole thing. He took one look at his girlfriend’s face and suddenly understood everything. The decision she made while he was currently in comatose, why she made it, who she went to right after she made it…the whole deal.


“But daddy—“


“—Two wrongs don’t make a right Dakota Ann. We’re very forgiving people here, I really want you to learn that,” Nick interrupted.


“But daddy he could’ve taken you away from me! He could’ve taken Ashee!” Dakota argued as tears formed in her eyes. “I will never forgets that, I won’t!”


“And I won’t either,” Nick told her while gently taking her from Ashley with help from her. He cradled her face in his hands and looked at her as blue eyes stared into blue. “None of us ever will…it was a really scary thing that we all went through…but it’s in the past now, he’s being punished for it, so we need to just forgive and move on.”


“But Ellie—“


“—Is your best friend and you love her. I’m glad that you feel the need to be loyal to me but I don’t want you to in this situation. I want you to forgive your best friend because I know you miss her and won’t be happy until you do.”


“And it’s not Ellie’s fault who her father is and how he acts. She loves him and feels the need to be protective of him just as much as you are of your own,” Brian added. “Like Ashley said, you are never going to see eye to eye on that, so just agree to disagree. Don’t worry about it…let us grownups take care of it and you guys be the kids okay?”


“Ellie is always going to worry about it until she knows he’s safe, Uncle Brian” Dakota reminded while wiping away her tears.


“So let her be…he is her father. You would be too in her situation, I know you would. It was pretty scary not knowing if your daddy was going to wake up or not wasn’t it?” Dakota nodded quietly while looking down at her hands and Brian continued. “She’s hurting really badly right now…she needs you to be there for her. You don’t have to agree with her…but you can at least let her know that you love her and that you are there for her. That’s all she is asking for. You wanted someone here with you too when you were scared.” Nick gently pulled Dakota into a hug and kissed her forehead affectionately as she snuggled with him.


“I love you Dakota Ann.”


“I love you too daddy,” Dakota whispered and Nick rubbed his hand over her back gently. A few seconds later Doctor Smith walked in with a nurse and he looked around at everybody. When he saw that everybody was done eating he spoke up.


“Hey everybody…I told Ashley that as soon as you were all done eating I was going to need some time alone with Nick to do some testing and make sure he is one hundred percent okay. So would it be all right if I had that time now?”


“Sure,” Brian agreed readily, and he got to his feet before gathering both of his boys into his arms. Everybody got up and said their goodbyes to Nick and started heading out of the room and AJ got as far as the door before stopping to look at Ashley who still sat there beside Nick with all of the kids.


“Ashley, he meant you too honey...” Ashley looked at Nick then, feeling conflicted. She just got Nick back and already she is being asked to leave him. Nick gently cradled her face in his hands and brought her lips down on his in a soft kiss.


“Go on baby...I will be here when you get back I promise.”


“What if he finds something wrong with you?” Ashley wanted to know after Brian had come back and taken Dakota and Sarah for her.


“He’s woken up from his coma and with the way he is communicating with us and almost acting completely normal I would say he’s pretty much out of the water honey. It’s just a precaution, that’s all.” Doctor Smith reassured. Ashley looked back at Nick worriedly and she delicately smoothed her fingers through his hair and caressed his cheek.


“See? Everything is going to be fine,” Nick added. “I will see you in a little bit.”


“Kay,” Ashley replied softly and he pulled her in for one more kiss before allowing her to get up. She did just that with Bella and went over to AJ who wrapped his arm around her waist.


“I love you baby,” Nick reminded.


“I love you too,” Ashley insisted and she reluctantly allowed her brother to pull her out of the room.