Eli: Sorry for taking so long. My computer wouldn't download correctly and
all I got where the funky symbols. So I cleaned up and now, hopefully, it
will work. Now, without further banter, a nice long post for you guys.
Sara shook her head. Was she seeing this right? Was her mind playing games? Or was Ian Nottingham really getting a hug from this adorable little girl?
Eli let go of Ian and tilted her head. Who was this lady? Eli looked up at Ian. He seemed a little worried. It made Eli wonder whether or not this woman was good. She looked like a good person. Eli took a step closer to study her more.
Sara half smiled as she saw the little girl study her. She really was adorable. She looked over at Ian. "Hey Nottingham, Irons giving you babysitting duty?" She asked, partly laughing.
"In a way, Sara." He mumbled. Eli looked at him when he said her name and then looked back at Sara. A pleased look came over her face.
"So YOUR Sara!" Eli announced happily. "Your the girl Ian said he li-" She didn't have a chance to finish. Ian's hand was covering her mouth and the last part of her sentence was blurred.
"That is private information, Eli. Please keep it to yourself." He whispered to her. Eli nodded and pushed his hand away so that she could talk. She went up to Sara and smiled.
"Hi Sara." She said. "I'm Eli."
Sara kneeled down to her level and shook her hand. "Hello, Eli. That's an odd name for a girl."
"It's short for Eliza." She announced proudly.
"So, Eli, how old are you?"
Eli let go of Sara's hand and put up six fingers. "I'm six." She looked at Sara's wrist and stared. "You have a very pretty bracelet."
"Thank-you." Eli wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"It's hot." She turned and looked at Ian. "Ian, can we get ice cream now?" She asked. He nodded.
"Ice cream?" Sara asked.
Eli nodded. "Uh huh. He owes me ice cream for helping him. Can you come, too, Sara? Your nice and I want you to come, too."
"Well," She looked over at Ian. He shrugged. "Alright, I guess I can go with you."
"Cool."
-Ten minutes later-
Eli sat down in between Ian and Sara as she started devouring her fudge brownie ice cream. Sara had a bowl full of Mocha Almond Fudge. And Ian had some green looking ice cream with gummy worms in it. He sighed. He knew he should not have let Eli pick for him.
"So, Eli, why did Ian owe you an ice cream?" Sara asked.
"I saved him from the crazy ladies." She answered, licking some ice cream that had gotten onto her chin.
"How did you save him?" Sara asked amused.
"I called him daddy and we went away." She replied. Sara almost choked on her ice cream.
Sara looked at her startled. Her eyes went from Eli to Ian and back. Could this kid be.... His? Sara mentally shook her head.
"Eli, how long have you been here?"
"Since Friday."
"And Ian has been watching you this whole time?"
"Uh huh. He good babysitter." Eli told her.
"So what have you two been doing all week?" Sara asked.
Eli pulled herself away from her ice cream cone for a minute. "Alot of alot of things! Ian made me train and then he hung me upside down for a long long time. And also, a bad man came and Ian threw a big knife at him and he fell out the window! I had to sleep with him that night. Oh, and I played with the sword and I cut my knee. See!" Eli put her leg up on her chair and showed Sara her knee.
"God!" Sara said, partly horrified from Eli's previous description and partly grossed out by the black, blue and yellow bruise on the little girl's knee. "This doesn't seem like good babysitting to me." She said accusingly.
Ian sighed. It wasn't as if anything he said was going to change her opinion. Eli shook her head.
"No, he good babysitter. He played with me, got me toys, he even had to give me a bath. We got very wet." She announced as she finished her ice cream cone. Ian tried not to recall the memory, shaking his head a little from side to side.
Sara put on her best fake smile and leaned toward her. "Eli, you have ice cream all over your face. Why don't you go grab some of those napkins and go over to that water fountain and get it off?" Eli nodded and did like Sara told her to.
Sara turned to Ian, obviously upset. "Alright, now what the hell have you been doing to that child?" She inquired sharply. Ian looked at her totally confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean." She said coldly, leaning toward him. "Why the hell would an adult male need to give a six year old female child, who by that age knows how to bath herself, a bath?" Before he had a chance to answer, she went on. "And for that matter, why was she sleeping in your bed? And why were you letting her play with a sword?"
"Oh my God!" Was heard from the next table over. A teenage girl in a Good Charlotte T-Shirt moved closer to her mother. She looked grossed out and whispered something into her mother's ear. Her mother, a woman with long blonde hair, looked at Ian suspiciously.
"We'll finish our ice cream in the car. Let's go, Benji." The two of them got up and started leaving. Benji coughed the word 'molester' into her hand as they passed by Ian.
"Benji, don't start." She warned.
"Sorry, mom." She said as they left. Ian shook his head and sighed.
"You gonna answer my question, Nottingham?" Sara asked, getting impatient.
Ian finally started to lose his as well. "Contrary to what all of you seem to believe, I have done nothing but my job since she has arrived." He answered coldly.
"Uh huh, and your job is?"
"To watch her until her father returns. He and Mr. Irons had to leave the country abruptly after her stepmother was abducted from their personal estate. I was informed by my employer to take care of her until they return." He stated. "And that is ALL I have been doing."
"The bath?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You were wrong in thinking that she can bathe herself. She informed me she did not know how, so I had to assist, while she still had her underclothes on! You can ask her yourself, that is all that happened."
"The hanging thing?"
He smiled a little at that. "I held her by the ankles for a little less than a minute. She was laughing the whole time. It was play."
"The man she said you hit with a knife?"
"One of her video games." He lied. She did not need to know all the details.
"And the sword to the knee?"
"She consumed too much sugar and grabbed a sword off the wall without my permission. I took it away before she could further injure herself. I bandaged her knee and it is fine. Anything else, Detective?" He asked.
Sara sat back in her seat as Eli started walking back to the table. "Not at the moment. But if I hear you have done ANYTHING to that little girl, I'll drag your ass to jail." She stated coldly.
Eli looked at her for a second, totally shocked. Sara looked back at her and laughed. Eli got really confused.
"What?" She asked.
"You still have ice cream on the end of your nose." Sara said, trying not to laugh. Ian looked over at her and found that he too had trouble holding in his laughter. Both he and Sara went for napkins on the table. Sara grabbed them before he did and glared at him, daring him to touch Eli. "Here." Sara said, trying to stay calm. She got the spot of ice cream at the end of the young girl's nose.
Eli was giggling and shaking her head. After she got the spot off, she looked at Eli curiously.
"What?" Sara asked. Eli shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing. It's just I know now why Ian won't ask you to marry him." She said innocently. As Sara almost fainted with shock and Ian kept back the urge to hit something, Eli got up and pulled on their wrist simultaneously. "C'mon, let's go back to the park."
After they had somewhat gotten over their shock, they finally gave into Eli's request in going back to the park. Eli was holding Ian's hand as they walked, just like she did at the mansion. She was talking to Sara as they walked. Ian remained silent. Due to certain events, he did not feel like socializing. He sneaked glance at Sara and Eli and tried not to smirk. In less than one hour, Eli had totally won Sara over, Amazon warrior goddess visage and all.
No wonder people considered children miracles.
"Sara, what's your job?" Eli asked as they walked down the street.
"I'm a cop." She answered simply. Eli grinned.
"Cool. Do you get to throw people into buildings and put handy cuffs on them?"
Sara laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I have to do that every once in a while."
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Eli asked. Sara laughed again.
"I think you are a little young to be throwing criminals against walls, Eli." Sara told her. Eli pouted.
"I'm not too young. I'm almost seven!" Eli argued. Sara still shook her head. Eli sighed.
When they got to the corner, Eli grabbed Sara's hand right before they crossed. Sara looked at her confused. Eli noticed and explained. "This is what you do when you cross the street. Didn't they teach you that in school?"
"Uh, I don't remember being taught that. How come you didn't hold hands on our way to the ice cream shop?"
"Because I wasn't standing next to you, Ian was. He was suppose to hold your hand, but he forgot." She looked at Ian. "Don't forget next time, okay?" He just nodded and stayed silent.
On the next block, Eli accidentally crashed into a passing older woman. Eli moved aside to let her through. "Excuse me, Miss." She said sweetly. The woman nodded approvingly.
"That is alright, dear. How very polite of you." the woman remarked. Eli smiled.
"Thank you, Miss." She said just as sweetly as before. The woman smiled and looked at Ian and Sara.
"What a charming little girl." She remarked to them. They both just nodded. The woman began to go on, but wasn't far enough for them not to hear her remark "What a lovely family."
Ian and Sara looked at each other and then down. Sara let go of Eli's hand and Ian shook his head as he pulled Eli a little farther away from Sara. Eli, on the other hand, was laughing maniacally like it was the funniest thing in the world.
She looked between Ian and Sara and mumbled the words "Mama" and "Daddy". Then she started cracking up all over again.
Thankfully, they soon arrived at the park. Eli let go of Ian's hand and ran onto the playground. She started climbing up one of the slides, only to fall down again into the sand. She started laughing as she tried again, this time getting to the top.
Sara and Ian were standing in the shade watching her. Neither of them felt comfortable talking, but the silence was even worst. "So." Sara started. "She sure is a handful."
He smirked. "I believe that is the biggest understatement I have ever heard."
Sara shook her head. "She can't be that bad. She's too cute to be a demon child. She has to be an angel." He turned his head to look at her.
"I do not believe that someone getting into your clothes and painting red happy faces on them is work of the angels." He remarked seriously. Sara started laughing, and he smiled just a little, knowing what causes such laughter.
"She didn't." Sara said in disbelief.
Ian sighed and nodded. "She did." He assured her.
Just then, they both heard Eli yelling. "Hey, that's not fair!"
"Live with it, half pint." The teenaged boy sneered at her. Sara started glaring, but before she could move, Ian was already by Eli's side, helping her up.
"Ian, they pushed me off the swing!" She complained. "And they gave me a cut." She said as she lifted up her elbow so that he could see the little line of blood forming there. When his eyes went from her to the two older boys, his eyes just went ice cold and deadly. The two boys both flinched, but didn't move.
"Excuse me, but I believe she was occupying that swing first." He stated coldly. They were kids and not worth the effort to kill. The boys proved their stupidity when they refused to move.
"Yeah, well she wasn't doing nothing on it, so we took it." One of the boys replied, trying to sound like a bad ass, but only succeeded in pissing Ian off. Ian just wanted to kill him. He was just a damn sixteen year old with nothing to do. And him picking on this child was pathetic.
"Give her back her swing." He demanded quietly, staring both boys down. They both backed away.
"Fine, whatever takes the damn swing. But it ain't like she is gonna be able to do anything. The half pint can't even pump." The bigger of the two boys said, mocking her with the last bit.
"That is only what you believe." Ian told them. He bent down to Eli's level and whispered something into her ear. She nodded. She looked over at the boys and smiled wickedly.
"I bet I can go higher than you can!" She told them. They both looked at her and laughed.
"In your dreams." They told her.
"Bet you ten bucks." She added.
The two boys looked at each other and grinned. "Sure."
She nodded. "But I get three pushes cause I'm smaller. And you have to go first." She told them. They nodded as the lighter of them got onto the swing and started pumping. He didn't stop till he was about even with the bar, then he jumped off and landed.
"Beat that, half pint." Eli looked at Ian, a little worried, but he assured her not to worry. He lifted her up onto the swing and pulled her back. The first push was high, the second higher. On the last one, Ian brought her up a little bit higher and pushed hard.
Eli straightened her body out as the swing went up and started to curve. Just as she was beginning to fall back down the other side, she pulled her legs in and pulled away from the swing. As she fell back down, Ian slowed her down so that she wouldn't do so again.
Both boys had their mouths open in shock. Eli smirked and held her hand out to them. They gave her ten bucks and then left out of fear. Eli turned to Ian with a happy smile. "That was fun! Can we do it again? Please?"
"No, I think that is enough for now." He told her. "Why not go play something else?"
She started walking away disappointed. "Okay, but I want flip again later."
Eli ran over to Sara after she jumped off the swing. "Did you see? did you see? I got to flip!" She said excitedly, jumping up and down. Her sugar rush was almost at its peak.
"Yeah, glad to see you enjoyed it." Sara answered, briefly looking over her to check for any new bruises and such. She eyed Ian as she told Eli to go back to the park to play. "You do realize you could have broken her neck, right?"
"Yes, if she did not listen to what I told her. But she is a good girl and did." He was really starting to get annoyed with her. She was all too ready to think the worst of him, and it wasn't fair that she wasn't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Would you have preferred if I snapped those boys necks? I'm sure that is what you thought I would do." He replied coldly.
Sara was a bit caught off guard with his reply. She raised her eye brow and asked."Since when do you have a backbone, Nottingham?" It was meaner than she wanted, but the spitefire in her stirring.
"Since always. You just never choose to see it. The same way you choose to make everything I do a felony." He replied, both angry and honest. He wasn't thinking before he talked, and frankly, he didn't care. He looked at her and knew she was pissed. 'Let her be angry, no matter what I do, she will be angry anyway.'
Her jaw dropped at his answer. Was this the same guy that had been following her around for the last few months? Was this what he was really like? If so, he had been a wolf in sheep's clothing this whole time. Or was it dragon in sheep's clothing?
Before she could state whatever cold remark she was about to say, they both heard Eli scream for them.
"Ian! Sara!" She screamed.
They turned to look around for her. She was at the top of the spider dome, hanging by her knees. They both went over to her. She was almost in tears.
"I slipped through t-the bar and I thought I w-would fall." She told them. They both got closer to her and she reached out for them to help her down. They were facing each other, almost as if they were in competition. Eli grabbed their shoulders and swung herself down, but not before she knocked their heads together, perfectly getting a kiss out of them.
Eli landed on her feet in a crouch, but the impact made her fall onto the ground. She looked up at Ian and Sara and smirked when they took what she started a step further. She gave them another minute before she giggled at them.
"Now all you need is the tree." She said in between laughter. They both looked at each other and took a step back. It was one hell of an awkward moment. Eli got up and took Sara's hand and started leading her off. "Can you push me on the swings?" She asked cutely. Sara nodded, thankful for an out.
Eli looked back at Ian, who was just getting over the shock of it and was stepping out of the spider dome and smirked. She knew the whole time that she could turn a flip and land safely. But she had seen Ian and Sara arguing and knew that they needed to stop if they were ever going to get married. She shook her head.
Adults were so silly sometimes.
Sara shook her head. Was she seeing this right? Was her mind playing games? Or was Ian Nottingham really getting a hug from this adorable little girl?
Eli let go of Ian and tilted her head. Who was this lady? Eli looked up at Ian. He seemed a little worried. It made Eli wonder whether or not this woman was good. She looked like a good person. Eli took a step closer to study her more.
Sara half smiled as she saw the little girl study her. She really was adorable. She looked over at Ian. "Hey Nottingham, Irons giving you babysitting duty?" She asked, partly laughing.
"In a way, Sara." He mumbled. Eli looked at him when he said her name and then looked back at Sara. A pleased look came over her face.
"So YOUR Sara!" Eli announced happily. "Your the girl Ian said he li-" She didn't have a chance to finish. Ian's hand was covering her mouth and the last part of her sentence was blurred.
"That is private information, Eli. Please keep it to yourself." He whispered to her. Eli nodded and pushed his hand away so that she could talk. She went up to Sara and smiled.
"Hi Sara." She said. "I'm Eli."
Sara kneeled down to her level and shook her hand. "Hello, Eli. That's an odd name for a girl."
"It's short for Eliza." She announced proudly.
"So, Eli, how old are you?"
Eli let go of Sara's hand and put up six fingers. "I'm six." She looked at Sara's wrist and stared. "You have a very pretty bracelet."
"Thank-you." Eli wiped the sweat off her forehead.
"It's hot." She turned and looked at Ian. "Ian, can we get ice cream now?" She asked. He nodded.
"Ice cream?" Sara asked.
Eli nodded. "Uh huh. He owes me ice cream for helping him. Can you come, too, Sara? Your nice and I want you to come, too."
"Well," She looked over at Ian. He shrugged. "Alright, I guess I can go with you."
"Cool."
-Ten minutes later-
Eli sat down in between Ian and Sara as she started devouring her fudge brownie ice cream. Sara had a bowl full of Mocha Almond Fudge. And Ian had some green looking ice cream with gummy worms in it. He sighed. He knew he should not have let Eli pick for him.
"So, Eli, why did Ian owe you an ice cream?" Sara asked.
"I saved him from the crazy ladies." She answered, licking some ice cream that had gotten onto her chin.
"How did you save him?" Sara asked amused.
"I called him daddy and we went away." She replied. Sara almost choked on her ice cream.
Sara looked at her startled. Her eyes went from Eli to Ian and back. Could this kid be.... His? Sara mentally shook her head.
"Eli, how long have you been here?"
"Since Friday."
"And Ian has been watching you this whole time?"
"Uh huh. He good babysitter." Eli told her.
"So what have you two been doing all week?" Sara asked.
Eli pulled herself away from her ice cream cone for a minute. "Alot of alot of things! Ian made me train and then he hung me upside down for a long long time. And also, a bad man came and Ian threw a big knife at him and he fell out the window! I had to sleep with him that night. Oh, and I played with the sword and I cut my knee. See!" Eli put her leg up on her chair and showed Sara her knee.
"God!" Sara said, partly horrified from Eli's previous description and partly grossed out by the black, blue and yellow bruise on the little girl's knee. "This doesn't seem like good babysitting to me." She said accusingly.
Ian sighed. It wasn't as if anything he said was going to change her opinion. Eli shook her head.
"No, he good babysitter. He played with me, got me toys, he even had to give me a bath. We got very wet." She announced as she finished her ice cream cone. Ian tried not to recall the memory, shaking his head a little from side to side.
Sara put on her best fake smile and leaned toward her. "Eli, you have ice cream all over your face. Why don't you go grab some of those napkins and go over to that water fountain and get it off?" Eli nodded and did like Sara told her to.
Sara turned to Ian, obviously upset. "Alright, now what the hell have you been doing to that child?" She inquired sharply. Ian looked at her totally confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean." She said coldly, leaning toward him. "Why the hell would an adult male need to give a six year old female child, who by that age knows how to bath herself, a bath?" Before he had a chance to answer, she went on. "And for that matter, why was she sleeping in your bed? And why were you letting her play with a sword?"
"Oh my God!" Was heard from the next table over. A teenage girl in a Good Charlotte T-Shirt moved closer to her mother. She looked grossed out and whispered something into her mother's ear. Her mother, a woman with long blonde hair, looked at Ian suspiciously.
"We'll finish our ice cream in the car. Let's go, Benji." The two of them got up and started leaving. Benji coughed the word 'molester' into her hand as they passed by Ian.
"Benji, don't start." She warned.
"Sorry, mom." She said as they left. Ian shook his head and sighed.
"You gonna answer my question, Nottingham?" Sara asked, getting impatient.
Ian finally started to lose his as well. "Contrary to what all of you seem to believe, I have done nothing but my job since she has arrived." He answered coldly.
"Uh huh, and your job is?"
"To watch her until her father returns. He and Mr. Irons had to leave the country abruptly after her stepmother was abducted from their personal estate. I was informed by my employer to take care of her until they return." He stated. "And that is ALL I have been doing."
"The bath?" She questioned, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You were wrong in thinking that she can bathe herself. She informed me she did not know how, so I had to assist, while she still had her underclothes on! You can ask her yourself, that is all that happened."
"The hanging thing?"
He smiled a little at that. "I held her by the ankles for a little less than a minute. She was laughing the whole time. It was play."
"The man she said you hit with a knife?"
"One of her video games." He lied. She did not need to know all the details.
"And the sword to the knee?"
"She consumed too much sugar and grabbed a sword off the wall without my permission. I took it away before she could further injure herself. I bandaged her knee and it is fine. Anything else, Detective?" He asked.
Sara sat back in her seat as Eli started walking back to the table. "Not at the moment. But if I hear you have done ANYTHING to that little girl, I'll drag your ass to jail." She stated coldly.
Eli looked at her for a second, totally shocked. Sara looked back at her and laughed. Eli got really confused.
"What?" She asked.
"You still have ice cream on the end of your nose." Sara said, trying not to laugh. Ian looked over at her and found that he too had trouble holding in his laughter. Both he and Sara went for napkins on the table. Sara grabbed them before he did and glared at him, daring him to touch Eli. "Here." Sara said, trying to stay calm. She got the spot of ice cream at the end of the young girl's nose.
Eli was giggling and shaking her head. After she got the spot off, she looked at Eli curiously.
"What?" Sara asked. Eli shrugged her shoulders.
"Nothing. It's just I know now why Ian won't ask you to marry him." She said innocently. As Sara almost fainted with shock and Ian kept back the urge to hit something, Eli got up and pulled on their wrist simultaneously. "C'mon, let's go back to the park."
After they had somewhat gotten over their shock, they finally gave into Eli's request in going back to the park. Eli was holding Ian's hand as they walked, just like she did at the mansion. She was talking to Sara as they walked. Ian remained silent. Due to certain events, he did not feel like socializing. He sneaked glance at Sara and Eli and tried not to smirk. In less than one hour, Eli had totally won Sara over, Amazon warrior goddess visage and all.
No wonder people considered children miracles.
"Sara, what's your job?" Eli asked as they walked down the street.
"I'm a cop." She answered simply. Eli grinned.
"Cool. Do you get to throw people into buildings and put handy cuffs on them?"
Sara laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I have to do that every once in a while."
"Can you teach me how to do that?" Eli asked. Sara laughed again.
"I think you are a little young to be throwing criminals against walls, Eli." Sara told her. Eli pouted.
"I'm not too young. I'm almost seven!" Eli argued. Sara still shook her head. Eli sighed.
When they got to the corner, Eli grabbed Sara's hand right before they crossed. Sara looked at her confused. Eli noticed and explained. "This is what you do when you cross the street. Didn't they teach you that in school?"
"Uh, I don't remember being taught that. How come you didn't hold hands on our way to the ice cream shop?"
"Because I wasn't standing next to you, Ian was. He was suppose to hold your hand, but he forgot." She looked at Ian. "Don't forget next time, okay?" He just nodded and stayed silent.
On the next block, Eli accidentally crashed into a passing older woman. Eli moved aside to let her through. "Excuse me, Miss." She said sweetly. The woman nodded approvingly.
"That is alright, dear. How very polite of you." the woman remarked. Eli smiled.
"Thank you, Miss." She said just as sweetly as before. The woman smiled and looked at Ian and Sara.
"What a charming little girl." She remarked to them. They both just nodded. The woman began to go on, but wasn't far enough for them not to hear her remark "What a lovely family."
Ian and Sara looked at each other and then down. Sara let go of Eli's hand and Ian shook his head as he pulled Eli a little farther away from Sara. Eli, on the other hand, was laughing maniacally like it was the funniest thing in the world.
She looked between Ian and Sara and mumbled the words "Mama" and "Daddy". Then she started cracking up all over again.
Thankfully, they soon arrived at the park. Eli let go of Ian's hand and ran onto the playground. She started climbing up one of the slides, only to fall down again into the sand. She started laughing as she tried again, this time getting to the top.
Sara and Ian were standing in the shade watching her. Neither of them felt comfortable talking, but the silence was even worst. "So." Sara started. "She sure is a handful."
He smirked. "I believe that is the biggest understatement I have ever heard."
Sara shook her head. "She can't be that bad. She's too cute to be a demon child. She has to be an angel." He turned his head to look at her.
"I do not believe that someone getting into your clothes and painting red happy faces on them is work of the angels." He remarked seriously. Sara started laughing, and he smiled just a little, knowing what causes such laughter.
"She didn't." Sara said in disbelief.
Ian sighed and nodded. "She did." He assured her.
Just then, they both heard Eli yelling. "Hey, that's not fair!"
"Live with it, half pint." The teenaged boy sneered at her. Sara started glaring, but before she could move, Ian was already by Eli's side, helping her up.
"Ian, they pushed me off the swing!" She complained. "And they gave me a cut." She said as she lifted up her elbow so that he could see the little line of blood forming there. When his eyes went from her to the two older boys, his eyes just went ice cold and deadly. The two boys both flinched, but didn't move.
"Excuse me, but I believe she was occupying that swing first." He stated coldly. They were kids and not worth the effort to kill. The boys proved their stupidity when they refused to move.
"Yeah, well she wasn't doing nothing on it, so we took it." One of the boys replied, trying to sound like a bad ass, but only succeeded in pissing Ian off. Ian just wanted to kill him. He was just a damn sixteen year old with nothing to do. And him picking on this child was pathetic.
"Give her back her swing." He demanded quietly, staring both boys down. They both backed away.
"Fine, whatever takes the damn swing. But it ain't like she is gonna be able to do anything. The half pint can't even pump." The bigger of the two boys said, mocking her with the last bit.
"That is only what you believe." Ian told them. He bent down to Eli's level and whispered something into her ear. She nodded. She looked over at the boys and smiled wickedly.
"I bet I can go higher than you can!" She told them. They both looked at her and laughed.
"In your dreams." They told her.
"Bet you ten bucks." She added.
The two boys looked at each other and grinned. "Sure."
She nodded. "But I get three pushes cause I'm smaller. And you have to go first." She told them. They nodded as the lighter of them got onto the swing and started pumping. He didn't stop till he was about even with the bar, then he jumped off and landed.
"Beat that, half pint." Eli looked at Ian, a little worried, but he assured her not to worry. He lifted her up onto the swing and pulled her back. The first push was high, the second higher. On the last one, Ian brought her up a little bit higher and pushed hard.
Eli straightened her body out as the swing went up and started to curve. Just as she was beginning to fall back down the other side, she pulled her legs in and pulled away from the swing. As she fell back down, Ian slowed her down so that she wouldn't do so again.
Both boys had their mouths open in shock. Eli smirked and held her hand out to them. They gave her ten bucks and then left out of fear. Eli turned to Ian with a happy smile. "That was fun! Can we do it again? Please?"
"No, I think that is enough for now." He told her. "Why not go play something else?"
She started walking away disappointed. "Okay, but I want flip again later."
Eli ran over to Sara after she jumped off the swing. "Did you see? did you see? I got to flip!" She said excitedly, jumping up and down. Her sugar rush was almost at its peak.
"Yeah, glad to see you enjoyed it." Sara answered, briefly looking over her to check for any new bruises and such. She eyed Ian as she told Eli to go back to the park to play. "You do realize you could have broken her neck, right?"
"Yes, if she did not listen to what I told her. But she is a good girl and did." He was really starting to get annoyed with her. She was all too ready to think the worst of him, and it wasn't fair that she wasn't willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "Would you have preferred if I snapped those boys necks? I'm sure that is what you thought I would do." He replied coldly.
Sara was a bit caught off guard with his reply. She raised her eye brow and asked."Since when do you have a backbone, Nottingham?" It was meaner than she wanted, but the spitefire in her stirring.
"Since always. You just never choose to see it. The same way you choose to make everything I do a felony." He replied, both angry and honest. He wasn't thinking before he talked, and frankly, he didn't care. He looked at her and knew she was pissed. 'Let her be angry, no matter what I do, she will be angry anyway.'
Her jaw dropped at his answer. Was this the same guy that had been following her around for the last few months? Was this what he was really like? If so, he had been a wolf in sheep's clothing this whole time. Or was it dragon in sheep's clothing?
Before she could state whatever cold remark she was about to say, they both heard Eli scream for them.
"Ian! Sara!" She screamed.
They turned to look around for her. She was at the top of the spider dome, hanging by her knees. They both went over to her. She was almost in tears.
"I slipped through t-the bar and I thought I w-would fall." She told them. They both got closer to her and she reached out for them to help her down. They were facing each other, almost as if they were in competition. Eli grabbed their shoulders and swung herself down, but not before she knocked their heads together, perfectly getting a kiss out of them.
Eli landed on her feet in a crouch, but the impact made her fall onto the ground. She looked up at Ian and Sara and smirked when they took what she started a step further. She gave them another minute before she giggled at them.
"Now all you need is the tree." She said in between laughter. They both looked at each other and took a step back. It was one hell of an awkward moment. Eli got up and took Sara's hand and started leading her off. "Can you push me on the swings?" She asked cutely. Sara nodded, thankful for an out.
Eli looked back at Ian, who was just getting over the shock of it and was stepping out of the spider dome and smirked. She knew the whole time that she could turn a flip and land safely. But she had seen Ian and Sara arguing and knew that they needed to stop if they were ever going to get married. She shook her head.
Adults were so silly sometimes.