"Hey Little One…was that jungle there before?" I ask the baby raptor as I look out of a large bay door that leads into a tropical jungle.
'I don't think it was in the description…oh well…better get my baby some food, and maybe a special treat.' I think and move to the kitchen carrying my Little One, like a baby.
Cooking and cutting up a massive porter house steak into little tiny pieces for Little One, moving to sit down on the large leather couch with Little One standing on my lap and the plate on the cushion.
I grab a piece of meat and experimentally try to feed her one piece at a time until she turns her head away when I offer her more.
"Are you full?" I ask her and am slightly surprised and a little confused at how she is so gentle and cautious when taking the cut up pieces of meat from between my fingers.
"You're such a good girl Little One." I coo at the adorable raptor who's stomach is bulging slightly from her meal as she curls up on my lap like a cat.
I find myself starting to drift off to sleep between the comfortable couch and Little One's content snoozing sounds, 'Come on man, you gotta get up, people will notice if you're gone for too long.' I say to myself and groan as I stand up from the couch doing my best not to wake Little One and set her down on her bed near the door.
"I hope I at least get a few more months of being able to baby you Little One." I murmur as I run my fingers along her spine and channel my desire for her to be healthy and strong, I feel a pull from my abdomen and feel a warm gentle energy course through and out of me into Little One.
"Sweet dreams, sweet girl." I murmur and open the door back to the hospital, and start looking for Ellie…the air between us needed to be cleared and the truth was…I wasn't just mad that she was flirting with Malcolm while with Dad…I was jealous because I still have the smallest of crushes on her from my past life, and I have a crush on her from this one too but it was tempered by love for my father and a desire to see him happy.
And it honestly took me the copter ride with her cuddling my side for me to realize that I was mad because if she was going to be interested in or flirting with anyone it should be me, yes I know this is mostly teenage hormones talking…
Finding out from a nurse that Ellie has left the building after what looked like a fight with a man I share some resemblance to, I find out that a nurse recommended a bar close by where she could both find a drink and a man.
Glaring at the nurse while getting directions to the bar, it takes me about five minutes to get there at a brisk walk.
'Huh, you know it's both not a bad idea and a bad idea to have a bar so close to the hospital.' I think as I enter the bar that is playing Lynyrd Skynyrd.
With people hooting and hollering walking inside I find Ellie knocking back tequila shots while a good looking guy strips on the bar that has a pole between it and the ceiling.
Ellie finishes her shot and then climbs up on the bar and starts dancing with the male stripper, 'Okay you know what, I'm starting to not want to deal with her right now.' I think and I feel myself scowling. Ellie turns her head towards me and freezes. The many other female patrons of the bar also turn towards me and I receive multiple cat calls.
"Dance Dance Dance." Someone shouts at me, and then it becomes a chorus. Some of the women chanting are chanting in languages I don't know.
Ellie starts to blush and develops a mortified expression as she tipsily gets off of the bar, I walk over to her, pick her up and throw her over my shoulder getting catcalls and awes of sadness.
"Hey, Alec put me down!" Ellie cries out mortified at some of the suggestive things some of the women speaking English are saying.
Carrying Ellie out of the bar as she wiggles futility on my shoulder before finally giving up with a sigh, away from the bar and hospital I set Ellie down on her feet.
'She's crying…why is she crying?' I wonder and then Ellie is hugging me as she cries.
"Ellie what's wrong?" I ask her and feel uncomfortable at the hug because a small part of me likes and even craves being close to her and it's all a confused mix of platonic familial love, guilty desire and lust.
"Everything, I-I gave Alan an ultimatum, I wanted an answer to whether or not he could raise a family with me…he didn't even consider it he just said a flat cold no.
And then there's you, you came to save me I thought I was dead…I'd lost all hope, and then, and then you were getting torn apart by those raptors, but you were healing too, your g-guts were all over the floor but you were still fighting, fighting for me." Ellie's words are broken up by powerful sobs.
I do what feels right. I hug Ellie back and start rubbing her back, "It's all gonna be alright Ellie, I promise…Dad's just being stubborn, he's afraid he's going to get left again and stuck raising another kid alone is all."
"No, he doesn't want the same things as me, I want to have kids while I'm young and able to keep up with them…my relationship with your father always had an expiration date, He didn't even get jealous when I flirted with other Malcolm, just to show him I had options…to make him jealous."
"And-and I saw it you were mad at me, Alec you were mad at me when your father who I was actually dating wasn't…do you know how much that hurt?" Ellie just keeps going letting words tumble out but her crying has stopped and her voice is taking on a hint of anger.
"Yeah, I was angry…though I think I might have misunderstood my own feelings…about why I was angry…you flirting with an older man, while treating me as a kid…I thought I was angry because it seemed like you were going to cheat on Dad…but."
"Alec, I would never…" Ellie says as she pulls back and looks up into my eyes with a tear stained face, "Oh…OH!" Ellie murmurs.
"It's dumb…you're like the closest thing I've ever had to a mom…like a big sister…but…"
"Alec." Ellie's voice is a soft understanding murmur, "It's okay, Alec…it's natural." Ellie murmurs and I can hear something else in her voice. I look away from her because the look in her eyes is damning, the smell of alcohol and bad decisions on her hot breath.
"It's okay…I understand…I felt the same way seeing how close you and Alexis have gotten in such a short time." Ellie murmurs and I turn to look at her and suddenly I feel her soft lips against mine. I can taste the tequila on her lips.
I find myself kissing Ellie back, and then a feeling of guilt hits me, but I can't seem to stop myself. My hands go from offering comfort to hungrily exploring Ellie's body, grabbing her firm ass, up shirt to her slight breasts.
"Stop!" I groan and push Ellie away.
"I'm dating Lex." I mutter and go to step away from Ellie but she nearly falls to the dirty pavement so I catch her, and steady her on her feet.
Ellie snorts, "She's little more than a frightened child clinging to her hero." Ellie says dismissively.
'Can't the same be said about you?'
"Ellie…" I say her name but don't know what to say, "let's get back to the hospital." I mutter and support Ellie's drunken walk.
"Fine, play at being a boyfriend to a little girl that doesn't know what she wants, don't expect me to wait around for you like I did for your father!" Ellie starts to cry after attacking me verbally, 'Is she feeling guilty too, or is it because I hurt her feelings by what I said?' I wonder, but shake it off, Ellie but I had crossed a line one that shouldn't have been crossed and I doubted that there was any way to come back from it.
Ellie tries to push me away but neatly ends up fast first in the concrete, "Stop being a pain in the ass." I grunt and keep her upright.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Alec." Ellie is a complete and total mess by the time we make it back to the hospital, and I can't help but blame myself for it. My feelings of guilt grow even worse seeing Tim at a vending machine by the entrance with his and Lex's Mother Lisa.
Lisa walks over hugs Ellie, and takes a small package of cleenex tissues from her purse and gives them to her, before turning to me and hugging me tightly.
"Thank you, thank you so much for keeping my baby's alive. They told me everything and how you were willing to sacrifice yourself to keep them safe, thank you so much." Lisa cries as she kisses my cheeks and hugs me.
"It was just the right thing to do." I offer up while feeling a little awkward because one Lindsay Lohan look-alike, two I just cheated on her daughter within the first day of becoming her boyfriend...with my father's girl-ex-girlfriend.