Crash

"I'm home!" Jimmy called as he shut the door behind him.

"Daddy!" Dawn yelled, running toward the fisherman.

"Hey kid," he returned, picking her up and kissing her cheek. "How was your day?"

"Good," she smiled. "I helped Mommy proofread her article, and I finished my book!"

Jimmy was surprised, "But I just bought you that book yesterday."

"I know, but it was really good!"

Jimmy laughed as he put his daughter on the ground. "I'll have to make your bookshelf bigger then huh?"

Dawn giggled, then she began to jump up and down. "Mom said we're going to the beach?"

Jimmy faked confusion, "Did she? Hm, I don't remember that."

"Dad!" Dawn shouted. "Mom said you and her wanted to go to the beach? Aren't we?"

Jimmy laughed at the look of childish horror on her face. He knelt down and ruffled her hair. "Yes sweetie, we're going to the beach."

Dawn squealed in happiness and flung her arms around his neck. Jimmy grinned and wrapped his arms around her small frame in return.

Abby leaned in the entrance to the living room and watched Jimmy hold her daughter. She knew he loved her. Jimmy would do anything for dawn, he'd raised her. Nothing would ever change that…right?

"Hey," she said, making her presence known.

Dawn and Jimmy turned to look at her.

"Ready to go to the beach?" she asked.

"Wait!" Dawn scurried into her room and reappeared a few moments later, a cloth bag slung over her shoulder. "I'm ready now!"

Abby smiled. Jimmy took the bag off her should and carried it, holding onto the hands of the two most important females in his life. Dawn skipped happily alongside, but Abby couldn't help remembering the last thing she had done on a beach.

She had killed Henry.

As soon as her shoes touched the warm, soft sand, Dawn sprinted ahead of her parents. She loved the ocean. Jimmy had taken her before, but Abby never really came. She'd stop by for a little while, or stay an hour or two, but never the whole day. Dawn didn't know why, but it was like her mother was afraid of the beach.

It's beautiful, the little girl thought.

"Let's sit here!" she called, waving her hand.

"Alright Dawn just hold on," Jimmy laughed. He turned to his wife, "She's so excited."

"Yeah," Abby smiled. She'd decided not to let her dark memories sully her daughter's innocent excitement.

The parents lay the blanket down and gave their daughter permission to go into the water. Dawn took off her shoes and ran into the surf, the crashing of the waves as beautiful to her as any love ballad. She ran and ran until she reached a sand bar, rising suddenly and staring at all sorts of broken shells and sea glass. She smiled and thrust her hand into the water. It was just what she was looking for.

He glared at their backs. They couldn't see him, no, they were too absorbed in each other to notice anything. Jimmy and Abby, sitting on a blanket, watching the water…it was just like before. Did she even spare a thought to him? To the last time she'd seen him? He doubted it. Jimmy consumed her thoughts now, Jimmy and their kid. He clenched his fists. He wanted to rip him away from her, wanted to take her and hide her away. He planned on doing so, but first, he had to secure some details. He began to walk toward the water, where a little girl who looked like Abby was pulling shells from the sand.

Abby and Jimmy didn't notice the man going into the water and heading toward Dawn. Abby had her eyes closed and Jimmy was looking at her peaceful expression. They couldn't have imagined what those brief ten minutes of neglected parental duties would cost them so much.

Dawn pulled out another piece of sea glass. Really, sea glass was a pretty way of saying glass (mostly likely from liquor bottles) that had been in the churning waters so much that it became smooth. She held the blue piece up to the light, and finding nothing wrong with it, put it in her bag along with the rest. She bent down to look for more.

"Hello," a voice, a man's, greeted from behind her.

Dawn was so surprised that she dropped the shell she was holding a spun around, losing her footing and falling toward the water. Before she could hit the water, the man grabbed her arm and she stopped, inches from getting entirely soaked.

"Careful," his tone was warm and friendly, and it sounded somehow familiar, like a voice she'd heard in a dream.

He helped her stand and she found herself staring up at a man with dark eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked, wary.

He held his hand out for her to shake, "I'm John. I'm a lifeguard here."

Oh, well that explained it. He was wearing swim trunks after all, and a T-shirt. "I'm Dawn."

They shook hands, "Nice to meet you Dawn. Why are you out here alone? Where's your parents?"

Dawn pointed to Abby and her husband sitting on the blanket on shore, "There, and I'm looking for shells and stuff."

"Would you like some help?"

The little girl shrugged, although she was secretly happy to have an extra hand, "If you wanna."

John laughed and looked into the water.

It was perfect. He had to hand it to himself. Dawn didn't suspect anything when he'd lied about being a lifeguard. He had known from her room that she liked collecting shells, so he brought along a little memento of his own to give to her. He didn't know if Abby would recognize it. He'd only kept it because he hadn't entirely hated the person it belonged to, he wasn't a monster. He had feelings. He pulled it from his pocket and casually dropped it into the water, then plunged his hand in after it. The child at his side hadn't notice a thing, too enthralled her latest find: an almost whole sand dollar.

"Dawn, what about this?" he asked as he lifted the fake find out to her.

She turned her dark eyes onto him and for a moment he thought it was Abby, looking ten again. She was ten when she whispered those words, those words that gave him hope.

"That's pretty," her child's voice, not her own, interrupted his thoughts.

She gently took it from his hands, studying the pattern on the porcelain. While she did this, he took a moment to reflect on the connection he felt to this child, deep and strong. He was cautious however, and didn't reveal how he really felt.

Dawn brought her finger up and traced the flowery pattern. "I love it." She beamed up at him, "Thank you so much."

He smiled, a real one, not the false mask he wore, "No problem."

They continued to search and talk a little.

Abby opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Jimmy.

"Hey," she whispered. "I must've fallen asleep."

"Yep," he kissed her forehead. "You looked beautiful."

Abby let herself feel the warmth of the moment…before her mothering instincts kicked in.

"Where's Dawn?" she sat up, eyes darting around the shore.

"She's still in the—" Jimmy dropped off suddenly as he saw a man with his little girl. He immediately stood and went to the waters' edge. "Dawn! Get back here!"

He saw the little girl turn. The man turned as well but with the setting sun in his eyes, Jimmy couldn't see his face. Dawn said something to the man, then started toward her family. When she emerged on shore, smiling and unharmed, Jimmy let out a rush of air, relieved.

"Who were you talking to Dawn?" he asked, picking her up so her feet wouldn't get sandy.

"He said his name was John. He's a lifeguard here and he was worried when he saw me out there alone. He was really nice. He helped me find these!" She opened her bag and Jimmy peaked inside, finding all sorts of shells and sea glass.

Jimmy scolded himself for being so paranoid. The guy was probably a college kid who was just doing his job. So what if he had talked to Dawn? She was fine, and no worse for wear, and if she was to be believed, he had in fact helped her. Jimmy walked until they were at the blanket and placed her down. Abby produced a towel and helped her daughter dry her feet, then put her shoes on. Yes, maybe Jimmy had been paranoid…but he had good reason. After all, he and his wife had been hunted down, had watched their friends get slaughtered, were betrayed by a friend, and had to live with being among the sole survivors of such a heinous crime. He may be protective over Dawn, but that was only because he swore he'd never let anyone he loved be hurt again. He'd die first.

He watched their happy family of three leave, making him alone. The only sound he heard were the cries of the gulls, so similar to human shrieks (and he would know), and the endless crashing of the waves…

A/N First Author's Note ever. I wanna say thanks to all who commented and please continue to do so. I appreciate all the feedback. One comment I would like to address however, was the one where someone said I switched P.O.V. The point of view has and will always be Third Person Omniscient, and I wasn't sure what they meant. I'm sorry if things seem squished together but it's all happening in different places at the same moment, and my marker things disappeared. Well, that's all I gotta say. Thank you and keep reading please!