Leon was sitting in a lounge chair on the small beach; eyes closed, shoes off, no shirt, and entirely relaxed. It had taken him about five minutes to assemble his tent, and now he was taking in the sunshine, listening to the sounds of the waves hitting shore and the nearby unseen crickets. Nothing could ruin this moment.

"Hey Kennedy!"

Leon sighed and lowered his sunglasses over his eyes.

Next to him, Jill sat on a vacant chair. "How can you be relaxing at a time like this? It's setup time, don't you know?" she said.

"Tent's up, fire pit's ready, and I lost Claire, so I don't know what else I should be setting up," said Leon.

Jill raised a brow. "You lost Claire?" she asked.

"Yep."

"How so?" asked Jill.

"Well she ran off when I started getting stuff out for the tent. I guess she knew I was planning to ask for help," Leon said. He lifted his sunglasses and looked over. "So I finished my own work and came out here to enjoy the sun. What've you been doing?" he asked.

"Pissing off Chris...it seemed better than helping," said Jill. She looked around and sighed. "So, where is Claire anyways?"

Leon shrugged and put his sunglasses back on. As though on cue, Claire stepped out from the woods, kicking some sand around as she walked towards them. "Hey guys, what's going on?" she asked.

"Sure, NOW you appear," said Leon.

"What do you mean? I was around the whole time, just looking for fire wood," she said.

"And did you find any?"

"Well, no...There's none."

"It's a forest, Claire."

"Okay I didn't look," confessed Claire. "Besides, there's already a whole bunch in the pit."

Leon sat up and turned to look at her. "No shit, I put it there after you ran off!" he said.

"I didn't run off, I just went to see what Chris was up to!" she said.

"Are you two fighting?" asked Jill. They both looked at her and she shrugged. "Just asking."
"No, we're not fighting," said Leon, sighing.

"I hope not, he's the one who told me to leave when we were getting the tent up," said Claire.

Jill grinned. "Why would you do that?" she asked, looking to Leon.

"She was distracting me!"

"How was I distracting you!" yelled Claire.

Leon shook his head. "Okay, lets' recap," he said.

-Earlier that day-

Chris grabbed a duffle-like bag out of the Jeep and tossed it to Leon. "Go find a clearing and set this up, will you? I mean, if you can handle it," he said, grinning.

"It's a tent, not a stadium, I think I'll manage," said Leon.

"Well, Claire can help you, she knows how," said Chris.

Leon shook his head and started towards the woods. "Are you sure YOU won't need the help? Make sure you follow the instructions well, wouldn't want that thing caving down halfway through the night, huh?" he said, grinning as he walked.

Chris glared at his back as it disappeared into the woods. "Why is he here again?" he asked.

Jill kept unloading stuff from the Jeep. "Claire wanted to bring him along," she said.

"And...I said yes?"

"Yes, Chris, you did. Are you planning on being all anti-Leon for the whole week?" asked Jill.

Chris turned and looked at her, then sighed and picked up the bag with the second tent. "I'll be nice," he said through gritted teeth.

Jill couldn't help it. She reached up and ruffled her hand through his hair like a child. "That's my boy! Playing nice with the other kids and all!" she said.

Chris shook his head and walked towards the other clearing they'd found. "Come on, you're about to see a record-break for setting up a tent!" he said.


In the other clearing not so far away, Leon tossed the bag on the ground with a heavy sigh. "Your brother still hates me, and will always hate me," he said.

Claire looked up from her search in the giant cooler. "Why would you say that?" she asked.

"Because, he always tries to make me look stupid or useless," said Leon. He opened the bag and started pulling out tent poles and pegs.

"Chris is like that with everyone, don't take it so personally. Hey, didn't we bring any sodas?" she asked, once again rummaging through the cooler. "There's just beer in here."

"Yeah, that would be the point of a beer-cooler, Claire," said Leon.

"So where's the soda?"

"There is no soda."

"So what am I supposed to drink?"

"I don't know...beer?"

"I'm underage, Leon."

Leon sighed. "We're in the middle of the woods, I don't think anyone will mind," he said.

"I should make Chris drive to the nearest town and get some sodas."

"Claire, forget about the drinks for a second...can you give me a hand with this pole?"

Claire grinned. "My my, mister Kennedy... alone for less than five minutes and you already need help with your pole? No wonder Chris hates you," she said.

"Hey, you said he didn't hate me!"

"I lied."

"You suck. Are you gonna help me, or not?"

"I am helping...I'm keeping you company!" she said.

Leon sighed again. "I guess that's fine...Just don't distract me," he said.

"How would I distract you?" asked Claire, stepping closer.

He looked at her and couldn't hold back a grin. "Gee, I wonder," he said.

"You mean, if I do something like this?" She reached up and kissed him, trying not to laugh.

Leon pushed her back. "Yes, exactly like that," he said.

"Oh come on, the tent can wait!"

"Go away, Claire, I want this done before it gets dark or Chris won't stop making fun of me," said Leon.

Claire sighed and turned away. "Okay fine, I'll go see what the master of tent-pitching is up to," she said.

Leon looked up but she was gone before he could say anything. He felt bad sending her off, but knew nothing would get done if she stuck around. That thought made him laugh, until he remembered there was way too much work to be done for just one person.