~Calleigh's POV~
"Jayden," I called, waiting for the sound of her pounding feet in the hallway.
"Mama!" I scooped her up into my arms.
"Guess what?"
"What?"
"We're going on vacation!" Her mouth dropped open, and I couldn't help but smile.
"Where, where?!" She yelled, flapping her arms up and down in excitement.
"Atlantis!"
"Mama, where's that?"
"It's in—" I was interrupted by Jayden shrieks of delight when Eric walked through the door.
"Papi, we're going on vacation!"
"I know, did Mommy tell you where?" He picked up our daughter.
"Atwantis!" We both laughed at the mispronunciation of the resort.
We ended up showing her a video online, yielding screams of "nemo!" every time a fish passed by. I'd never seen Jayden more excited for anything, and I knew she wouldn't be sleeping much that night.
Eric and I were awake at four, and got the kids up at five. We knew it was going to be a battle getting both Jayden and Landon awake, fed, and dressed in time. Finally, by some miracle, we managed to get to the airport on time.
"Uncle Wyan!" Jayden ran towards Ryan, and he knelt down to the ground to pick her up.
"Hi, Jayden. Are you excited?"
"Yeah! We get to see nemo!" Ryan laughed and kissed her cheek, and I could see the excitement about having a child of his own.
"Aunt Natalia!" Jayden started to say, and Ryan transferred her to Natalia's arms.
"Is there baby yet?"
Natalia smiled. "No, not yet. But we'll let you know when she comes, okay?" Jayden had to be put on the ground to walk through security, but as soon as she got through she ran right back to Natalia.
"It's a girl?!" The look on her face was priceless, and it resulted in laughs from everybody.
"Yes, it's a girl." Jayden started dancing around in circles, and Natalia and Ryan were almost crying they were laughing so hard.
"I wanna meet her, Mommy!" my daughter said, and I sat her in my lap as we waited at the gate.
"I know you do. I think Uncle Ryan and Aunt Natalia want to meet her, too."
"They promised they'd tell me right when she gets here." Jayden crossed her arms and pouted.
"I think they will. We'll make sure we visit them." I exchanged glances with Natalia, who was over the moon excited about the arrival of the baby.
As we boarded the plane, we realized we didn't know where Horatio was. We assumed he had his own means of getting to the airport, but he never showed. I checked my phone and got the answer. "I hope you and the team enjoy your complimentary vacation to Atlantis Resort. All four of you and the kids better get on the plane, or you can consider yourself short of a job. Love, Horatio." I gasped, and showed the text to Ryan, Natalia, and Eric.
"Oh my God…we're not working a case," Ryan said. "He paid for our vacation."
"This is ridiculous," my husband commented.
"Well guys, there's not much we can do now," I said, seeing as we were about to take off.
"I guess we're going on vacation," Eric replied, and started to laugh. Soon we were all in smiles, and we realized that it was a much needed trip for all of us. It would be Ryan and Natalia's last trip before the baby came, and the first trip Eric and I had had in a while.
I realized en route that this vacation wasn't a bad thing, and that Horatio knew we all needed a vacation. Horatio was like family to all of us, and he was a family we would never forget.
~Ryan's POV~
I saw Natalia's face light up when we found out we were staying in The Cove, the same building we stayed in during our honeymoon. Horatio had set it up on purpose, but sent the Delko family to a more kid friendly building across the property.
We went up to our room and marveled at the view, before I lied down on the bed next to her.
"It feels like our honeymoon all over again," she said, smiling before she kissed me.
"I know. This is our vacation before the baby comes."
"Ryan, this is our last get away before we become parents." She sat up in bed and pushed her hair out of her face, clearly concerned.
"Don't worry about it now," I gently urged her back down on the bed. "We have plenty of time to worry." I grinned and kissed her, deepening it before she could object. Just as things were starting to get heated, my phone rang.
"It's Eric," I said, picking it up off the bedside table.
"Answer it."
I was about to make an excuse to stay in the room with Natalia, until I heard Jayden's voice on the other end.
"Uncle Wyan?" she asked. I smiled and put it on speakerphone so Natalia could hear.
"Hi, Jayden."
"Can you come to the pool with me, and Mommy, and Daddy, and Landon? Aunt Natalia can come too."
"Jayden, who are you calling?" I heard Calleigh's frantic voice in the background.
"It's Uncle Wyan!"
"Hi, Ryan, sorry that she called you before you guys had a chance to get settled in."
"No problem. We'd love to go to the pool with you guys, if that's what you were asking."
"Sure. Is half an hour good for you?"
"Uh, yeah. Nat and I can meet you at the front of your building?"
"Sounds great. Yes, Jayden, they're coming," she whispered to her daughter.
"Yay!" she screamed in the background.
"Alright, see you then. Bye." I looked up to see Natalia laughing, nearly in tears.
"I cannot get over the fact that she calls you Wyan." She burst out laughing again, and I couldn't help but join her.
"What can I say? She loves me."
"Aww. You're going to be a great dad, you know that right?"
"Well you're going to be a great mom." I pulled her in for a kiss, before reaching for our suitcase to unpack.
"We need to make Calleigh and Eric go down that big slide," I said.
"Oh, the one you made me go down?"
"Yeah. I'm sure Jayden will love to see them go down that."
"I know. I hope our daughter's just like her," she said, putting her hand on her swelled stomach. Now, at 28 weeks, her pregnancy was finally noticeable.
"Come on, go put on your bikini. I want to see our little baby grow." She smiled and unpacked her suitcase, but not before I snuck in a kiss.
"Aunt Natalia!" Jayden ran towards us when she saw Natalia and I come around the corner, and the smile on her face was priceless.
"Hi, Jayden!" Natalia swooped her off the ground and kissed her cheek. Every single time I saw Natalia with Jayden or Landon, I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face. I caught my wife's eye and winked at her, and she smiled in return.
"See that slide, Jayden?" Natalia asked as she pointed to the huge Leap of Faith slide. It almost looked bigger the second time around.
"I'm not going down that!" Jayden exclaimed, her expression suddenly changing from excited to frightened.
"No you're not, but your Mommy and Daddy are," I added, smirking at Calleigh and Eric's shocked faces.
"Eric, you can go," Calleigh said as she gently pushed Eric in front of her.
"Mommy you have to go too!"
"Babe, why don't you go with them?" I glared at Natalia, but I knew there was no way out of it. All I could do was follow Calleigh and Eric up the staircase to the top.
"Oh my God…" Calleigh muttered, peering over the edge. "Ryan I can't do this."
"What, the ballistics expert can't go down a slide?" I teased, earning a laugh from Eric. As expected, she narrowed her eyes and turned back around.
"Actually, I think I'll go first."
~Natalia's POV~
"Where's Mommy and Daddy?" Jayden asked, as we waited. I gently bounced her up and down in my arms, anticipating watching Calleigh and Eric fly down the enormous water slide.
"Look, watch that slide. They'll come down soon."
"Mommy!" She exclaimed, just as Calleigh disappeared into the pool.
"Ready Jayden, here comes Daddy!" Just seeing her excitement over such a small thing completely made my day, and I was becoming more and more eager to hold my own daughter. Even now, only 11 weeks away, I was still in awe that there was a baby girl inside of me. Everything seemed surreal; like it was a dream. It was cliché and I knew it, but there were no other words to describe it.
"Uncle Wyan!" Jayden screamed out, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. I laughed as I watched my husband go down that same slide again, the one that we had both been on almost a year and a half prior.
"Aunt Natalia, why didn't you go?" Jayden asked with the sudden realization that I was with her and not with everyone else.
"Remember how I'm having a baby? Well the baby isn't big enough to ride that slide yet, just like you and your brother aren't either."
"So the baby's just like me?" Her eyes widened and a huge smile appeared across her face.
"Yes Jayden, the baby's just like you." I laughed and placed a kiss on her forehead. Just then, Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan all came around the corner, laughing and smiling at the pure exhilaration of the slide.
"See, it wasn't that bad," Ryan said to Calleigh, who looked the most relieved of them all.
"I'm done, I'm done," she replied, and I couldn't help but laugh. The same woman who worked with guns all day didn't like a simple water slide.
"Mommy guess what?"
"What, princesa?"
"The baby and I are friends because she can't go down the big slide and I can't go down the big slide either so we're the same!" I almost felt like picking her right back up and giving her a huge hug after that declaration.
"Yeah, maybe she'll even look like you too," Calleigh mentioned, winking at me. It was no secret that Calleigh and Ryan were both Caucasian, while Eric and I were both Hispanic. It was possible that my daughter and Jayden could look alike. However, it was much more likely that they would look completely different.
Eric took Landon out of my arms while Calleigh tended to Jayden. Calleigh and Eric had allowed Ryan and I to spend a lot of time with their kids, and I was finally getting used to carrying a child in my arms. I hadn't spoken to Ryan about it, but I figured he was feeling the same way.
"Eric, did you put sunscreen on Landon? And we have to change him, and then he'll need a nap…" Calleigh went on and on, and at that moment I realized I was in no way prepared for a baby at all. At times I thought I was, but reality always came back to bite me.
"Calleigh, I think I need baby boot camp from you sometime soon," I said as she expertly took care of her son.
"Oh yeah, don't worry I'll tell you all you need to know," she smiled, knowing exactly what I was feeling.
"Mommy I want to go down a slide," Jayden exclaimed, frustrated that she wasn't playing in the pool.
"Okay princesa, one minute."
"Do you guys want to split up? You can take the kids to wherever, and Nat and I will just meet you back here in a little while?" Ryan suggested.
"Sure, we'll text you in a bit," Eric replied as he took Landon from his wife's arms.
"Bye Aunt Natalia, bye Uncle Wyan!"
"Bye Jayden, we'll see you soon," Ryan said as he kissed her cheek. Once they were gone, Ryan and I were left standing together.
"Are you good?" He asked automatically, just checking to make sure everything was alright.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Remind me to talk to you about something later, though."
"Is it important?" I alarmed him with my statement.
"No, babe, everything's good." I smiled and took his hand, heading towards the adult only pool. We had fond memories of our honeymoon in that pool, and I was excited to go back. He sat down on one of the ledges in the pool, and I slid on his lap.
"I love you, Natalia," Ryan whispered out of the blue, and I smiled and kissed him.
"I love you, too." We stayed like that for almost an hour, chatting, laughing, and sneaking in little kisses. After a while, when the Sun was at its highest point, we decided to ditch the pool and go in search of Calleigh and Eric. We found them eventually, sitting together by the children's pool dutifully watching their kids.
"Hey, we were just about to call you guys," Eric mentioned when he saw us.
"Oh, good. We're going to head up to the room for a while, but dinner tonight?" I asked.
"Definitely. We might show the kids some of the fish this afternoon, if you're up for it."
"We'd love to!" Ryan answered, and I knew it was because he wanted to spend more time with Jayden and Landon.
"Okay, we'll get in touch with you later," Calleigh said as Ryan and I turned to leave.
After we had both showered, dressed, and were just relaxing, Ryan rolled over on the bed and draped his arm over me.
"Nat, what was bothering you earlier?"
"Oh, it's nothing, never mind."
"Are you sure?"
"Well I was just thinking, maybe we should re-read that What to Expect book or something. Because watching Calleigh with Landon this morning, I really don't have any idea."
"I brought it with us," Ryan said.
"Really? Wow good—" He cut me off with a kiss.
"Can we read it now?" I asked, and smiled when he grabbed it off his nightstand.
"Of course."
