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Chapter Forty Eight


"Ashee," Dakota spoke up suddenly when Nick, Ashley, Kori, and Laney walked into Hot topic. Nick is holding Dakota still, Spencer is walking at Kori's side holding her hand and Laney walked off to the t-shirts and began looking at them trying to make himself look busy but he stayed very close by just incase.


"Yeah sweetie?" Ashley asked, turning and looking at the little girl that she loves very much.


"I wants you," Dakota answered, reaching her arms out to her. Ashley smiled a little and gently took her from Nick and she held her so that she is rested on her right hip.


"Where should we look first sweetie? Hmm?" Ashley asked her.


"Jewelry Ashee, please?"


"Okay," Ashley replied and she walked over to the display of jewelry. Kori went over and looked at the t-shirts that were a couple of inches away from the jewelry. Nick followed closely behind Ashley and Dakota.


"So what bands are you interested in now, Ash?" Kori asked, trying to come up with a conversation. Ashley shrugged.


"Just the same bands I've always been into…" she answered and she went back to concentrating on jewelry, though she took Nick's hand into hers and squeezed it gently. He took it as a cry for help.


"She's obsessed with The Ramones if you can't already tell. She's turning my daughter into a fan as well," Nick spoke up. Kori laughed a little.


"That's my fault. I got her into the whole punk rock thing…remember when I used to obsess over Sid Vicious from The Sex Pistols Ash?"


"Yeah," Ashley answered softly and she too smiled a little.


"Man, I still think he's incredibly gorgeous…" Kori trailed off.


"I like a lot of the new stuff too though…like My Chemical Romance, From First To last, Green Day, The Used, and Fall Out Boy," Ashley added.


"She told me she's into the 80's stuff too."


"Yeah…still like Guns N Roses Ash?"


"Absolutely," Ashley answered. "Still love Guns N' Roses, still love Slash, and I still want to learn how to play the guitar."


"That's cool. I'm a From First To Last fan too myself… My Chemical Romance is okay, but I'm not too fond of their new stuff lately…" Kori replied. Ashley shrugged.


"I haven't heard much of their new stuff…So I don't know what it sounds like." She replied, and she looked back down at the jewelry again.


"Kota this bracelet would look very cute on you," she announced, pulling bright rainbow colored rubber bracelets off of the jewelry rack. "Want them?"


"Oooh pretty," Dakota replied, taking the bracelets from Ashley and looking at them like she hadn't seen colorful bracelets in her whole life. Ashley laughed a little.


"I like this multi-colored heart charm bracelet too Ashee, can I gets that too?"


"Its up to your daddy sweetie," Ashley replied gently and she kissed the top of her head. Dakota looked at her daddy very sweetly.


"Daddy please? I'm being a good girl."


"Yes you are honey, and that makes me very happy. You can pick out some jewelry, but not too much okay? You already have enough to last you a lifetime."


"You can never gets enough jewelry, daddy." Dakota scolded. Ashley giggled a little.


"Yeah daddy, what are you thinking? Jewelry is a girls best friend."


"I'm thinking my daughter is spoiled enough and your not helping any," Nick replied grinning, as he rested his forehead against Ashley's and gave her a goofy grin. Ashley giggled. She stuck her tongue out at him and then turned her attention on Dakota and the jewelry. Nick raised his eyebrow at her.

"Watch it woman, or I'll pull that tongue right out of your mouth."


"Nuh uuuh," Ashley challenged.


"Try me." Ashley smirked and continued to look at jewelry as she tried her very hardest to refrain from saying what she wanted to say - only because they're in public and it probably already looks bad enough with the two of them flirting with each other. He kissed her cheek and then walked a couple of feet away and began to look at clothes. She looked back at him to make sure he hadn't gone too far and when she knew he was only right there she turned back to Dakota just as she was picking up a pair of star shaped silver earrings. After awhile, Kori suddenly come up to Ashley with red and white striped bow top.


"Ashley you should try this on. It would look very cute on you," she announced, and Ashley looked at the shirt and she raised her eyebrow.


"Yeah it is very cute…"


"Try it on. Please?"


"Okay," Ashley replied, and she took the shirt from her and looked at Nick who was already looking at her because he heard the conversation. Ashley handed Dakota over to him and he went over and talked to the store owner about letting Ashley into a dressing room. He asked for two rooms though because he noticed Kori had a few things to try on also. They spent a half n hour in Hot Topic, Kori and Ashley trying on clothes with each other and both of them actually asking for one another's opinions on what looks good and what doesn't and they even ended up buying most of them. Kori bought Spencer a few outfits too and a few other things that he had asked for and Ashley ended up helping Dakota pick out five pieces of jewelry. Nick wouldn't let them go any higher no matter how hard both girls tried to talk him into it. Ashley also got a ton of more hair stuff too - head bands, head wraps, bandanas, hair dye, hair clips, and many other things. Dakota and Kori had helped her pick them out. When they were finished in Hot Topic Nick paid for all of Dakota and Ashley's things, and Kori paid for her stuff, than they headed for the pet store. When they got there they walked in and back to the puppies where they found Elenore and Kevin inside the big circular dog pen in the middle of the store, with the owner, and Elenore is playing with the pugs. Dakota's mouth dropped as she saw all of the pugs.


"Puppies!!!" She exclaimed, and Nick chuckled. She squirmed from Nick's arms and ran over to the dog pen and she climbed in. She crouched down and began to pet a puppy who had immediately tackled her excitedly.


"Aren't they cute Kota?" Elenore asked happily, as she crouched down next to her friend, holding a pug in her arms.


"Uh-huhs they're. Is that the puppy you've chosen?"


"I thinks so. I wanted to wait till you gots here so you could tell me what you think."


"He's perfect, Ellie!" Dakota gushed, and she pet the puppy in her best friends arms who squirmed about playfully.


"Since when did she decide on pugs? I thought she was going to get a golden retriever like Chance?"


"She changed her mind," Kevin replied, shrugging his shoulders.


"I see," Nick replied, and he suddenly noticed he doesn't have Ashley's hand anymore. He whirled around quickly only to find her near by looking in the little windows at all of the different puppies. Nick sighed in relief and Kevin chuckled as he knows why the younger man was starting to panic. They watched as Ashley suddenly crouched down in front of the West Highland White Terriers window and peered in it to find only one in there. She was lying down relaxing but all of the sudden at the sight of Ashley she jumped up and started jumping about excitedly with a sort of 'pick me! Pick me!" kind of attitude. Ashley giggled a little. Nick grinned at the sound of her giggles. He sure does love hearing them. He then went over to her and she looked up at him and then back in at the puppy. He kneeled down beside her.


"Nicky look at her…she's adorable!"


"Mm hmm," Nick agreed. He placed his hand to her back and gently rubbed it. She looked at the puppy for a long moment, and then at Nick.


"I want her," She announced simply and Nick chuckled.


"Honey don't you think we've got enough puppies in the orphanage already? If we bring anymore back Brooke is going to kill me."


"Please Nicky?" Ashley begged, looking up at him with a pout almost as identical to his and Dakota's and he raised his eyebrow.


"What? Did you think you and Kota were the only ones who knew how to pout?" Nick scowled.


"Baby… Brooke is going to murder me and feed my body to a pack of wolves!"


"Please Nicky? I will take care of her all on my own I promise. I will watch her, I will clean up after her, I will bathe her myself, she'll be my responsibility. Brooke won't even notice the extra amount of dogs in her orphanage…I promise. Please?" Nick looked at her for a few minutes and then he sighed.


"Okay…okay. But you're going to be the one to explain it to her when she has a cow. Alright?" Ashley smiled at him excitedly and she placed both her hands to his cheeks and leaned up and kissed his lips softly and he kissed her back but pulled away very shortly.


"We're in public," he reminded her, and he looked around and was thankful to see that there aren't any teenage girls in the store other then Ashley. He looked back at her.


"I will be right back. I'm going to go see if the lady can get her out for us okay?"


"Kay," Ashley replied happily, and he kissed her nose gently before getting up and going over to the check out counter. He stopped at Laney on the way and Ashley watched him as he told him quietly - though she could still hear him.


"Watch her for me." Laney nodded and turned and looked at Ashley. Ashley quickly turned her head back at the puppy who is still being very playful. Almost as if she's afraid that if she calms down for even a minute, Ashley will change her mind and not want her. A few moments later Nick came back with a lady. She went back into the back and got the westie that Ashley has her heart set on, the only westie that the store has left and she brought her back out to Ashley and Nick.


"Here you go sweetie," the lady said, handing the puppy over to Ashley and Ashley happily hugged the puppy close as she wriggled about happily in Ashley's arms, excited that she got picked. Nick grinned at the sight before him. Despite how much Brooke is going to kill him, she can't deny that this is exactly what Ashley needs. A puppy to make her happy and feel loved.


"It's a good thing you're buying her," the lady said to Nick. "We were having such a hard time selling her."


"Why?" Nick asked curiously.


"Because she was the runt out of all the other ones, and the others were a lot more playful then her. Everybody chose the other puppies out of her, and when they were all gone, other customers just didn't pay attention to her at all."


"That's sad," Ashley replied sadly, as she hugged the puppy close and let her give her kisses and she giggled a little at the feel of her tongue on her skin.


"That's kind of weird…because when Ashley and I were looking in at her she was the most playful puppy we've ever seen."


"She must've really wanted you then," the lady replied, shrugging her shoulders. "She came from abusive people. Her current owners were driving down the road one day and just threw her out of the car - while it was moving. Who knows how long she was lying on the side of the road, but when I drove up to her and found her hurt, I immediately took her in - I used to work at a vet so I knew what to do. I took care of her, and then kept her here in hopes we could find a home for her."


"Aww…poor thing," Ashley replied, gently rubbing the puppies belly as she lay back in Ashley's lap comfortably, enjoying the love that she is receiving from her. Nick can tell she really needs a lot of it. The puppy's story reminds him of Dakota's.


"Well we're definitely buying her," Nick replied, looking over at Ashley and Ashley smiled up at him happily. He grinned back


"Well come on up to the check out counter and I'll help you out then," The lady replied, grinning.


"We'll go up there in a few minutes. We're actually waiting on our friend over there," Nick replied, motioning toward Kevin.


"Ah okay, well when you're ready." She told him, and she walked back over to the check out counter. Ashley got up from the floor cuddling the westie close to her and she walked over to Nick. She leaned up on her tip toes to kiss his cheek.


"Thank you Nicky, I love you." She told him quietly.


"I love you too baby," He replied and he wrapped an arm around her as he brought her over to Kevin who still stood there watching Elenore and Dakota play with the puppies. Kevin looked at them and he raised his eyebrow at the westie in Ashley's arms.


"Nick…you didn't." Nick smirked.


"Nope, I did," He replied, reaching over and petting the westie.


"Are you insane? Brooke is going to kill you."


"People do some crazy things when they're in love," Nick replied as he pulled Ashley close to him. "She begged and pleaded and I just couldn't say no. Besides…if you heard this puppy's story you would have bought her too."


"What story?" Kevin asked curiously, and Nick began to explain it to him. They stood there and watched the kids, and Kori play with the pugs for awhile, then Kevin told Elenore that she should make her decision now, because they've gotta get back to the Orphanage on time to set up lunch. Elenore chose the puppy that she was holding earlier when Dakota walked in and the lady put all of the other puppies back. Kevin took the puppy from her and went to go pay for her and when Dakota climbed out of the dog pen and looked at Ashley her jaw dropped and both Nick and Ashley laughed.


"Hey sweetie…come and meet Ashley's new puppy," Nick told her. Dakota ran over to them excitedly and Ashley crouched down and allowed her to pet her.


"Hi puppy!" she greeted, and she hugged her.


"Awww…" Nick grinned and he leaned down and kissed the top of her head before going and paying. He once again asked Laney to keep an eye on Ashley as he did. When Kevin and Nick were finished buying both puppies, Nick looked back at Ashley and Dakota to discover Elenore, Spencer, and Kori playing with the puppy now too. Kevin walked over to them and handed Elenore her puppy, than they all headed out of the mall making plans to meet up at Petsmart because Nick had promised Dakota they'd go there. When they went there Nick bought Lily a pink heart-shaped collar with her name on it and Nick's cell phone number incase she should ever get lost and a few other things that she needs. He also got Ashley's puppy a collar that is identical to Dakotas, except red and it says 'Abbie' on it because that's what Ashley decided to name her puppy. He got some more dog food, since they would now be feeding two dogs and he got Abbie a dog bed, and some toys. Kevin bought a blue collar for Elenore's dog that says 'Rok' on it. She kept her promise to Brian and named him Rok. He bought him some toys, a dog bed, and food as well. When they had everything that they needed, they headed back to the Orphanage.