Here is chapter 4. maymist, thank you so much for the review :3 makes me glad that people like this!

The morning started off just like any other, the sun on an upward decent in the crystal azure sky; not a cloud in sight. It was going to be absolutely beautiful, so I decided to let Bessie graze in the pasture for the day. Hopefully she wouldn't eat the whole field away to nothing…

I hopped the pasture fence and wandered to the tool shed. I needed to get my watering can to take care of my new crops. Marlin's words echoed in my head. "Make sure you water them every day."

Drops of water spilled over the patches of earth covering my crops. It had been a few weeks since Marlin and I planted the seeds, yet there was still no sign of life… maybe I did something wrong? Suddenly a voice broke the peaceful silence of nature.

"I see you aren't forgetting to take care of them." Hands in his pockets, Marlin walked up behind me.

I about jumped when I heard his cool voice. Turning, I fired a friendly grin. "Oh, Marlin! What are you doing over here?"

A blank face stared back at me. "It's Monday. I'm off on Mondays, so… I thought I would come over here and check on um… you… and your crops." His eyes flashed to the pasture. "Is that your cow?"

"Yeah. Her name's Bessie. She can be quite a handful."

"She looks fine now…"

I sighed placing my hands on my hips. "Yeah" She looked like she wouldn't be too difficult to work with. Lies.

Marlin's gaze redirected towards me. "Wanna take a walk?"

Everything on the farm was pretty much taken care of. I had plenty of time to kill, so why not. "Sure, just let me put my tools away."

"So, how was your day?" I asked absently, the valley's huge waterfall roaring before us.

"Ehh. Fine I guess."

I zoned out watching the water pour over one of the many mountains that encircled this valley.

"Jill?"

Marlin's voice snapped me back into reality. Wide eyed I looked to the man sitting next to me. "What?"

He smiled simply. "I think you zoned out a bit there."

"Oh, sorry about that… I tend to do that a lot when I'm thinking about things" I chuckled.

His eyebrows lifted with curiosity. "What were you thinking about?"

A heavy breath fled my lungs. "My dad… again."

He lowered his head, knowing that was not a topic I enjoyed talking about. "Oh… are you ok?"

Would I ever be truly ok? No. No matter how much time went by, I was sure that this would always be a tender topic for me. Shaking my head, I lied. "Yeah. I just need to try and not think about it so much."

I leaned back on the warm grass, hands on my stomach. The sky was still fair, now hinting at the inevitable twilight. Marlin leaned back next to me. "It sure is hot here in the summer."

"Yeah but it feels good in the shade here" I responded with an almost toneless voice.

"Jill, I'm glad you decided to come out here."

My head rolled to my right, blushing. Marlin continued to stare up at the sky. "Why is that?"

His eyes rapidly glanced at my face before returning to the vast blue above us. "I-I don't know… I guess I'm just glad to be your friend."

"Marlin…"

"Hmmm?"

"You're really sweet, you know that?"

His face erupted red as he flung himself back into a sitting position. I smiled. It was funny to think that someone so sullen could be so cute.

I slowly pushed myself off of the ground and stood up. "I'm gonna head over to the beach."

"Uh… why?" Marlin's face had restored itself to its normal hue.

My feet carried me down the dirt path. "I want to see the sun set."

"Mind if I come?"

"Not at all."

The water splashed past my feet as I sat on the tepid sand. The declining sun cast beautiful rays on the ocean surface; it was just like a scene from a movie.

I sighed happily. "I love the beach here."

Marlin grunted. "Yeah. Too bad no one here actually swims in it."

"That's unfortunate… Now that I think of it, I don't think I brought a swim suit with me either."

A smile was fighting to manifest itself on the man's hard face. "Don't worry, you won't miss anything."

At that moment, I turned my head to look behind us. A blonde lady in a rather skimpy scarlet dress stared at us, her bleached white teeth glowing as she smiled uncontrollably. "Hey Marlin, don't look now, but Muffy's watching us."

Embarrassment burst onto his face. "R-Really?"

"Yup."

The blonde hurried off as fast as her black heels and tight red dress would allow. I gazed back at the glistening ocean. "Do you want to go get a drink?"

Marlin nodded. "Sounds good."

The two of us entered the Blue Bar to see the giddy girl behind the counter. Her big jade eyes twinkled at us. "Hi there you two!"

I smiled politely in return. Marlin completely ignored Muffy and sat down in his usual seat at the bar. I plopped down next to him and we each motioned for drinks. The rest of the evening was spent drinking and talking about whatever, eventually ending as Marlin and I went our separate ways for the night.

Sorry it was a short one :P anyway, review if you want or just let me know what you think! chapter 5 will be out soon

this chapter wasn't originally in my story plan but i figured that i could use another scene of marlin and jill interactions. because it was not originally a part of the story and the fact that i kinda wrote this quickly, i apologize if it doesnt fit as well as other chapters do, etc.