Chapter Four:
It took a half n hour before Nick finished talking to Brooke and when he did he went straight upstairs to be with Ashley again like he had promised her. He walked into her room to find her lying in bed face down in the pillow and she has her blanket pulled up and over her head. He went over and sat next to her and he pulled the blanket down to find her looking up at him cautiously. When she saw that it was only Nick she relaxed.
“Hey you…are you okay?” he asked her gently and she shook her head in response as a lone tear escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheek. “Do you trust me enough to lay with you?” Ashley nodded once more and held the blanket up allowing him to crawl under the covers with her. When he did he wrapped his arm around her as she laid her head against his shoulder and he rolled over onto his side so he is facing her. “What’s the matter?” he asked her gently, as he lay there playing with her hair and even more tears rolled down her cheek. “Will you tell me? Whatever it is that’s bothering you I could put a stop to it…but only if you tell me. I can’t help you honey if I don’t know what’s going on.” She looked into his sincere blue eyes for a few moments not knowing what to do. Should she tell him what’s on her mind? What if she says the wrong thing and she gets in trouble for being bad? That always seems to happen to her. She always says the wrong thing and then she gets punished for it. She thought long and hard for a few minutes before saying anything and he lay there patiently watching her.
“Doctor Adams scares me…” she told him finally after a long while, her voice so quiet it’s amazing he even heard her at all. “I know he does sweetie…but if you told us why we would be able to help you better.” Ashley didn’t reply. She only lay there looking at him. “Is he mean to you when he talks to you?” he asked her, hoping to maybe guess what’s going on as he’s noticed he’s not going to get very much out of her. “Does the tone in his voice scare you?” She nodded her answer. “What else about him frightens you? There’s gotta be more seeing as how you cling to us every time he enters the room.”
“He gives me icy glares every time he looks at me…like I had done something wrong. I don’t mean to be bad, I don’t mean to make people want to punish me, and I don’t mean to make Doctor Adams hate me. Maybe if I wasn’t so stupid and worthless people wouldn’t punish me so much. Maybe if I was never born my parents wouldn’t be dead…it’s my fault that they’re dead!” She explained, as she broke down into tears. Nick wrapped both arms around her and pulled her close and she buried her face into his chest and began to cry harder. She just knows she has said too much. Now Doctor Adams is going to hate her even more she just knows it. He lay there gently rubbing her back and not saying a word, just letting her cry. After a long while when she had calmed down and was just sniffling she looked up at him to find him already looking down at her as her head is rested against his chest.
“Honey you aren’t stupid and worthless…and it definitely isn’t your fault that your parents are dead. Don’t you EVER believe that you hear me? Because it’s not true. Don’t you ever let those stupid bastard’s words of poison get to you like that.” He demanded lightly as he looked into her teary brown eyes with so much seriousness in his own. “You’re a very smart person and you’re not worthless. There are so many people in this orphanage that care about you and want to be your friend. You just have to let them. You’re not worthless to me…and I will never stop caring about you either. I will always be here for you… just like I am here for Dakota.”
“That’s what everyone tells me…everyone promises me that they won’t stop caring about me and will always be here for me. My parents…the man who did this to me…I have heard it all before.”
“I know you don’t believe me…I know that you have been hurt so many times that you’ve lost your faith in people. But I promise you that I am not like the man who did this to you. I will be here for you every single day - unless I have a tour to go on but that won’t be for a long time. I am here for you…always. It’s okay if you don’t believe me or trust me but I know that in time you will. I will give you all the time in the world. There is nothing that can change how much I care about you. If you will give me a chance I want to be your friend. Someone you can always turn to. Will you trust me? Forget this caregiver shit I just want to be your friend.” She looked at him for a couple of minutes just thinking about her answer.
“I let you lay in bed with me didn’t I? I don’t know how much more trust I could give you…” She answered and she couldn’t help but smile a little bit. This caused him to smile too and he pulled her closer to him.
“You have a very beautiful smile…you should use it more often.” Hearing this compliment from him made Ashley’s heart melt. No one has ever said anything like that to her before. He caught a falling tear from her cheek and gently wiped it away before kissing her forehead softly. “I will tell Riley what you’ve told me about Doctor Adams and she will take care of it. Okay? Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Kay…” She replied softly, and he lay there rubbing his hand over her back in a slow circular motion as he watched her and wondered what was on her mind. With all the secrets she keeps, and considering how quiet she is a lot of the time he knows there has got to be a lot of things bottled up inside her. He just wishes he could get inside her brain - even if it were just for a little while so he could figure out just what was going on. Suddenly Riley and Brian walked into the room hand in hand and Nick and Ashley looked at them as they did. Nick couldn’t help but smile a little bit as he saw his two friends holding hands. It bothered him so much that the two of them were avoiding each other earlier. It’s just not the same when Riley and Brian aren’t getting along.
“Hey Ri and Bri…what’s up?” Nick greeted them happily.
“Hey,” they both replied as they sat next to Ashley and Nick on the bed.
“How are you doing Ashley?” Riley asked dutifully as she allowed Brian to wrap his arms around her from behind. She leaned back against him, resting the back of her head against his shoulder and he hugged her tight. Nick can tell just by looking at them that they had only just made up not too long before coming into the room.
“Better…” Ashley answered and she looked up at Nick causing him to look back down at her in return and he remembered the promise he had made to tell Riley about Doctor Adams.
“That’s good.”
“Riley Ashley told me something very important about Doctor Adams earlier and I think that it should be taken care of right away.”
“What?” Riley asked curiously and she suddenly pulled away from Brian’s embrace but he kept a hold of her hand and gently rubbed his finger over the back of it. “He not only talks to her in an unfriendly and pushy tone but whenever no one is around and it’s just her, he gives her icy glares like she had done something wrong. That’s why he scares her.”
“Why would he glare at you honey? Doctor Adams is a nice man.”
“Obviously he’s not a nice man to her Ri,” Nick answered for Ashley. “Not when she clings to me the way she does every time he comes near her. Something isn’t right.”
“How do you know Nick? She’s scared of everybody…she clings to me whenever anyone comes near her. She was raped that’s how rape victims are. It could just be her being paranoid.” Riley suggested, not wanting to believe that something was up with Doctor Adams. There couldn’t be. She has known him long before Ashley even arrived at Ramsey and he’s done nothing but great things. Besides…he is after all a doctor and he was one of the many doctors who helped save Ashley. It just doesn’t make sense to her.
“So you’re saying that she is a liar?” Nick asked, not believing that he is hearing her right and slowly becoming irritated with his friend.
“No…I’m just saying that maybe we shouldn’t jump into conclusions. Doctor Adams is a Doctor Nick. He wouldn’t hurt a fly…he’s saved so many lives including Ashley’s. I have known him long before Ashley arrived and I know he wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
“Well maybe you aren’t seeing the bigger picture.”
“I work with him every single day, Nick. He is my co-worker and I see him all the time. I think I would know if something was up with him.”
“You can’t be with him all the time, Ri. Who knows what things he could be doing behind your back?” Riley was silent for a couple of minutes. He had gotten her there. Now that she thinks about it, she hadn’t really seen him at all that day except for at lunch, and when she had paged him and told him to come see her. That was when she asked him to go get Ashley and bring her up for her medication. Other than that she hasn’t seen him all day.
“Look Riley…all I’m asking is that you look into it. He really scares Ashley… doesn’t it make you suspicious in the least bit? Sure, she’s scared of everybody but even you said that he gets it the worst. Think about it. All I know is…the way she was holding onto me earlier when he came into the room, it was like she was holding onto me for dear life in fear that a tornado was going to rip her from my arms and suck her up. Have you ever felt her cling to you like that before?”
“Only when he’s in the room…” Riley admitted softly.
“Well then see? I really don’t think we should just shrug it off like its nothing.”
“Well what do you want me to do about it Nick? Walk right up to him and say ‘are you purposely trying to scare Ashley?’ sure that would be a very cheery conversation. What if he’s not? Then I would feel stupid and I would feel bad for accusing a good friend of something he didn’t do.”
“I know you have a good relationship with Doctor Adams honey, but Nick is right and you know it. The situation can’t be shrugged off like it’s nothing. Ashley may be a rape victim, and I may have only known her for a day but I do know from the little time that I‘ve been observing her that she doesn’t get scared over nothing.” Brian spoke up for the very first time. “There’s gotta be a good way to bring it up to him without being so accusing about it.”
“Well bring it up sometime soon because I promised Ashley everything would be okay and I do not trust him at all.” Nick replied, as he hugs Ashley closer and she rested her head against his shoulder. She had been sitting there listening to them argue the entire time and she is thankful to have Nick there to argue on her behalf or no one would ever believe her.
“Maybe for a couple of days we should just watch him with her and see how he acts. Don’t leave Ashley alone with him.” Brian suggested.
“But that’s the only time he ever does anything, is if she’s alone with him.” Nick protested. “Would he be brave enough to do anything in front of Dakota?” Nick asked curiously.
“I don’t know…why?”
“Well maybe we could have a little four year old detective running around the orphanage.”
“I don’t think so Nick…if Doctor Adams is up to anything he knows Dakota would run off and tell you the minute she saw it.”
“He doesn’t have to know that she is there. She could secretly follow him around as he’s doing his work with one of her walkie talkies in handy incase she needs to get a hold of one of us. Plus…she may not be my daughter but I did raise her for the past four years so I think I have taught her well. She can be sneaky when she needs to be.” Brian and Nick looked at Riley for her answer hoping that she would be okay with this.
“What if he does end up seeing her?”
“Kota knows this place better than any of us do I know that for a fact. She doesn’t have any friends so she spends many hours trying to entertain herself when we can’t do it. If anything she probably knows how to get into places we don’t. She’ll be fine.”
“Well… it will give her something to do I guess…she’s always complaining that she’s bored and wants to help.”
“So we can do it?” Nick asked, suddenly excited that he may get to play detectives with Dakota.
“Yeah…I guess…” Riley replied reluctantly. Nick grinned.
“Sweet! I will talk to her about it tomorrow then.” The four of them sat there in silence for awhile, and then Nick looked down at Ashley as she is still wrapped in his arms.
“You should probably get some sleep honey, its 2:30 in the morning.” He told her.
“Will you sleep in here with me?”
“I would baby but I have to go sleep with Dakota. She wakes up screaming for me sometimes.”
“Okay…” Ashley replied softly. Nick can tell by the look in her eyes that she is frightened at the thought of being in the room alone. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, than he covered her up.
“You’ll be okay I promise. I will be right next door if you should need me. You can come wake me up at anytime okay?” Ashley nodded and she watched as Nick got up and left the room before looking at Riley.
“Riley…”
“Yeah sweetie?”
“Will you stay in here with me until I fall asleep?”
“Mm hmm…Brian and I aren’t going anywhere. We will sit here and watch over you.” Feeling better at Riley’s reassuring words, Ashley got comfortable with her pillows and blankets. Nick went into his and Dakota’s room feeling awful for leaving Ashley alone. He went and crawled into bed with his sleeping angel and he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. He rested his head in the palm of his hand and watched her sleep for a few minutes as he played with her hair. After a few minutes of thinking he got up and took Dakota gently into his arms cradling her and he managed not to wake her up. He carried her next door to Ashley’s room and Riley, Brian, and Ashley all looked up at him as he walked in. Ashley smiled at the sight of him and Dakota, causing Nick to smile too.
“Mind if Kota and I join you for a slumber party?” Not replying, Ashley held the blanket up for him and he went and crawled into bed beside her. Riley and Brian got up and left the room holding hands and Nick lay Dakota in bed between him and Ashley and got her comfortable. When he finished doing that he pulled his shirt up and over his head before tossing it to the floor and lying back against the pillows. He wrapped his arm around Ashley and pulled her close. She turned on her side and wrapped her arm around him in return and he rested his forehead against hers.
“Feel better?”
“Yes…”
“Good. Go to sleep okay? You had a very trying day and need your rest.”
“Kay…” she replied softly and she lay there gazing into his beautiful blue eyes for awhile before drifting off to sleep. He lay there just watching over her, until he finally fell asleep as well.
~*~*~*~*~
“So…what now?” Riley asked, looking at Brian. “Should we go do bedroom checks? You know…make sure kids are really sleeping?”
“Ri…It’s almost 3:00 in the morning. Shouldn’t you be getting home and in bed?”
“I don’t want to go home to an empty house Bri…I would rather just stay here and work.”
“Honey you have been working all day.”
“So?”
“So you should probably take a break.” Riley scrunched up her nose in disgust as she looks up at Brian.
“I’m fine. I’m like the energizer bunny I keep on going, and going, and going…”
“Yeah and that’s what worries me.”
“Well quit worrying honey because I’m fine. Come on…help me do bedroom checks.”
“No Ri, I mean it. You’re taking a break. Come on, I’ll take you out for dinner. I’m sure Denny’s is still open at this hour” He insisted and he began to lead her toward the elevator. Riley groaned.
“Okay, fine…” she surrendered and she allowed him to drag her out of the orphanage.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day Nick awoke bright and early and looked down at Ashley to find her snuggled close to him and she is sleeping peacefully. From the looks of it, Dakota had already woken up and gone downstairs. He lay there thinking for a few minutes, than he grinned and kissed the top of Ashley’s head before carefully crawling out of bed and he managed not to wake her up in the process. He went next door to Dakota’s room and got the walkie talkies that he usually uses when Dakota is sick and he can’t be with her all the time. He brought them back into Ashley’s room and turned them on before putting one down on the nightstand and clipping the other one to his pants. He grabbed Ashley’s notebook and turned it to an empty page and he wrote where he’d be at and to just use the walkie talkie if she should need him. After doing this he went downstairs to the lobby where he found Riley, Doctor Johnson, and Brian who is holding Dakota.
“Nicky!!” Dakota exclaimed happily.
“Hi baby,” Nick greeted while grinning at her. She waited until he had come closer, than she sprung from Brian’s arms and into Nick’s. Nick chuckled as he caught her.
“You’re lucky that I caught you, you little monkey!” He told her with a silly grin on his face as he rested his forehead against hers and looked into her eyes. She giggled at him and he kissed her cheek before looking at Brian and Riley.
“So what’s up? What are you all talking about?”
“Well… Doctor Johnson and I did some research on this Thomas O’Ryan guy that Ashley was telling you about and he didn’t die of a car accident. This Thomas O’Ryan guy, he was connected with some drug dealers. Apparently he pissed them off and he died in a much more morbid way then a car accident…”
“How?” Nick asked, almost being afraid to know.
“I can’t tell you right now… Kota will have nightmares.”
“Is it really that bad?”
“Oh yeah, Nick. It’s horrible…” Brian spoke up.
“Well then here…take Dakota for me while I talk to Riley.” Nick handed Dakota over to him and she rested her head against his shoulder and popped her thumb into her mouth as he carried her off to the playroom where all the other children are at.
“He was found in a dirty house with so much cigarette smoke that you could barely see as you walked through it. There was furniture thrown around, blood everywhere, and he and his girlfriend were found upstairs in the bathroom, which was flooded with water from an over flowing bathtub. They were both leaning over the bathtub with their backs facing upward, both with no shirt on and the drug dealers wrote ‘thief boyfriend’ and ‘thief girlfriend’ on their backs with a knife.
“Holy shit…” Nick trailed off, and he had a disgusted look on his face.
“Yeah…disturbing huh?”
“Well then why would Ash tell us that it was a car accident?”
“That’s probably the story that she was told…Doctor Johnson talked to the police about her connection with this and they said if we could get any more information out of her it would be great. You’re the only person whose been able to get her to talk so far, so I’m leaving that job up to you.”
“Well I can’t promise you anything… you know how traumatized she is.”
“Just be really patient with her like you’ve been doing. That was great how you got her to talk a little bit about it last night, I was very impressed.”
“I wasn’t even trying to. I was just talking to her and she brought it up.”
“Are you done talking about scary stuff now?” Brian asked, while walking up to the group still holding Dakota. “We weren’t having very much fun in the playroom.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” Nick gently took Dakota from Brian and cuddled her close to him instead. She hugged him back and rested her head against his shoulder, her thumb still in her mouth.
“What’s the matter Angel? Why weren’t you having any fun in the playroom?”
“Josh was in there… and he was giving me unfriendly looks. And he and all the other kids were saying mean things. Brian said to ignore them but I couldn’t. They were being very loud about it…” Nick sighed in frustration as he hugged Dakota tighter. Josh is really starting to frustrate him. He tries so hard to understand him, he really does. He just doesn’t get why he insists on picking on Dakota. She never bothers him or anything, she doesn’t do anything to provoke him, he just does it to be mean. He’s tried sitting him down and talking about it but all the kid does is sit there with his arms crossed over his chest and looking down at the ground in anger. He’s also the only kid in the orphanage that refuses to go near Nick and Brian and neither of them understands why.
“Well baby, Brian is right…just ignore him okay? I know it’s not easy but you just have to try.”
“Kay…” Dakota sniffled.
“But anyway… I know something that might cheer you up.”
“What?” Dakota asked, raising her eyebrow at him curiously.
“I have a job for you…a special job.” Dakota’s frown suddenly turned into an excited grin in a matter of seconds just hearing the word ‘job‘. She is always begging to help out whenever she can.
“What is it??” Nick grinned at her mysteriously and he looked around the lobby cautiously. She did the same, a curious look on her face than he brought her behind Riley’s desk, Riley, Brian, and a confused Doctor Johnson followed. He doesn’t know about the secret meeting his co-workers had last night in Ashley’s room. Nick put Dakota down and then crouched down in front of her. Brian rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at how quick Nick turned from a 20 year old to a little kid playing a game. He then crouched down with them and Riley did the same playing a long. She pulled Doctor Johnson down with her. Now no one could see them at all.
“Nicky why are we hiding?” Dakota asked, the suspense making her even more excited then she already was.
“Because what I am about to tell you is very secret Dakota. You have to promise not to tell anyone what we are up to okay? It will be our little secret. Only you, Brian, Riley, and Doctor J can know about it okay?”
“Okay, I promise.” Dakota replied dutifully.
“Okay good. We’re going to play a little game of detectives. You know what a Detective is, right?”
“Uh-huhs”
“Okay, what is it?”
“It’s a person who finds things.”
“Yeah, what kind of things?”
“Information about other peoples.”
“That’s right and I need you to pretend you’re a detective and find some information out for me, can you do that?”
“Uh-huhs.”
“Okay then this person I need information about, is Doctor Adams.”
“Doctor Adams? But how come?”
"Because he scares Ashley and we want him to not scare her anymore. But we need to know why he scares her, okay?"
“Kay.”
“Alright so what I want you to do is follow him around as he does his job whether it’s here in the orphanage, or in building A where the hospital is. But the important thing is, you must not be seen by him or anyone else. Can you do that?”
“Yes, I know great hiding places that no one else knows about.”
“Good. I will give you a walkie talkie and if you should need any of us, you can contact us through those okay?”
“K, when do I start??” she asked him anxiously.
“After breakfast…don’t get caught okay? Remember that is very important.”
“Okay I won’t I promise.”
“Good girl.”
“And one more rule Dakota,” Riley spoke up, still feeling skeptic about this whole thing. She, Nick, Brian, and Doctor Johnson all looked at her curiously.
“If Doctor Adams goes outside at all and unless it’s the playground do not follow him there. Those are your boundaries. The hospital and Orphanage are connected so you shouldn’t have a problem with that. Got it?”
“Yes Riley.”
“Okay,” she replied, feeling a little better about the whole thing - but only a little bit. The five of them were all silent for a couple of minutes, than Nick suddenly heard Ashley’s voice over the walkie talkie that is still hooked to his pants.
“Nicky…” she whimpered.
“Speaking of sleeping beauty… there she is now.”
“Good go get her then,” Riley replied, relief washing over her. She doesn’t like her up there by herself. Not after what happened last night. Nick got up from the floor and walked out from behind the front counter and he headed upstairs to get Ashley.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
