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Back to normal oneshots now, not like the "John And Yoko"/"USSR" deal. Takes place 1929. They'd hit Port Headland, Australia on their way back from her post-birthday trip to Hawaii. Please review!! Oh, and Anya mentions a little "family story"---that actually happened, so you know. (I can't make this stuff up! Well, I can, but....) Author shutting up now. :D

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Somewhere between Hawaii and Paris a decision had been reached that the trip wasn't over. Somewhere between ocean and sky stretched the coast of Australia. As a result, somewhere between the surf and the city, a blanket was spread out on the sand of Eighty Mile Beach, and two people lay on it, side by side, staring up at the sky.

Anya was the first to speak in a long, long time. She half expected her husband beside her to be asleep---he was scarcely twenty-three, but he slept like an eighty-year-old. "Isn't it great out here?" she said, enjoying the warmth of the sun.

Dimitri surprised her by being very much awake---then again, he was constantly surprising her, one way or another. "I would definitely take this over St. Petersburg." Which of course meant that he agreed.

"And the tide," she continued, referring to the calm sound of the ocean lapping back and forth over the sand. "I wish it would just go on forever."

As if they'd rehearsed it, they both sat up at that moment and looked out into the sea. After a few seconds Dimitri turned to face her.

"Why don't we try it out?"

Averting her gaze from the view to look at him, Anya pretended not to know what he was talking about. "Huh?"

Dimitri nodded toward the water. "You wanna go for a swim?"

Anya pulled her hair to the side and added another coat of suntan lotion to the back of her neck, doing whatever she could to avoid the idea. "It's probably too cold," she reasoned, shaking her head.

"Cold? Nah, you could boil an egg in that water. C'mon."

Still she resisted. "Maybe later." In a pool, with four walls and a floor.

Dimitri knew her better than he knew himself, and he knew what she was up to. He sent her a sideways glance, and a grin came over his face. "You don't wanna go at all," he observed.

"It's not that. It's just that...well...."

"Yes?"

Anya rolled her eyes, still hating this story. "When I was little, I got carried out to sea at Livadia and Papa pulled me back in, but I was five and stupid and I thought it was King Neptune, okay?" She sounded exasperated. "I don't swim in the ocean."

"You're afraid of the water!" he realized, trying to be sensitive by not cracking up at the five-year-old story.

Anya picked up a book from beside her. "I don't swim in the ocean," she repeated, obviously preferring to phrase it that way.

"All right," Dimitri said, and it appeared he was leaving it at that. But far from it. He stood up from the sand, pulled his shirt off, and held his hand out to her. "Come on."

She looked up from her book, confused. "Come on where?"

"Out there. You're gonna do this right."

"Dimitri, I don't think---"

"Who was the last person you tried this with?"

Anya squinted as she thought back to her last family vacation. "Olga," she answered.

"There's your problem---you can't get over that kind of stuff with siblings. They'll never let you forget it."

She gave him a playful glare. "Oh yeah? How would you know?"

"I make it my business, remember?" he said with a smile. "Now come on."

Glancing from him to the shore and back again, "Are you sure?" was all she could think to say.

"I'm positive. I'll be right there with you. If anyone wants to drag you back to their undersea kingdom, they'll have to go through me first."

Anya took his hand and pulled herself up, muttering, "I am so gonna wish I never told you that story."

"Probably."

Adjusting the strap of her bathing suit---not something she would have chosen back home, but it got the job done---she stared out into the ocean as she got closer and closer to it. By the time the water lapped up over her ankles, she felt a chicken-out coming on.

"No. Nope. Huh-uh." She threw her hands in the air and turned around. "I can't do this."

But Dimitri was right on her tail. He wouldn't let her give up that easily---that would be like him giving up by extension. "Yes you can. Besides, how will you ever know if you don't try?"

Her reply was obstinate. "I already know. That result was in a long time ago."

Dimitri sighed. "That's it."

Anya didn't turn around, so when he picked her up it was more than a little startling not to be touching the ground.

"What are you doing?"

"Hey, nice shreik, by the way. A little higher and only dogs would be able to hear you." He was walking into the water.

"Dimitri!"

"Yep?"

"Put me down!"

"Nope."

Anya wasn't even bothering to try not to laugh hysterically. "If I drown---"

"Do you ever shut up?"

"---you will be sorry. Do you hear me? Sorry!"

"I can live with that," he joked.

"What if there's sharks out here?"

Dimitri was having fun with this. "Ah, they're harmless. Like big deadly kittens. Just punch 'em in the face, and you'll be fine."

"What?!"

"I'm kidding. Jeez. Give me a little credit." Right about then, he stopped walking, mostly because walking couldn't be done anymore. "Hey. Guess what."

Anya looked at him. "What?"

Instead of answering her, he put her down, and she was surprised to find that the water came up to her shoulders. Her toes just barely grazed the bottom, and the current was calm, the water warm.

Dimitri looked proud of her, amused, and smug at the same time, if that was possible. "See?"

Smiling a bit to herself, Anya nodded, letting herself float a little. "It's not bad," she had to agree.

"Say it."

Knowingly, her blue eyes narrowed and bore into his. "No."

"Say it...."

"Not a chance!"

"I can swim back and leave you out here," he laughed.

"I'm not saying it."

"'Papa,'" he mocked, "'don't let them take me'...."

"All right!" Anya smacked the water and sent a giant splash into his face. "You were right. There. Happy?"

Wiping the water from his eyes, Dimitri gave her that 'I win' look again. "Yeah, I'm good." After that victory, he looked her over. "Are you gonna move some time today?"

"Huh?"

"You're floating. That's only half the point." He treaded water a bit and circled around her, and she spun around, keeping her eyes on him. "Swim," he instructed.

Her hands were on her hips, even though nobody could tell. "Were you raised by fish or something?"

"Can you swim at all?" he countered.

"Yes," Anya defended. "In a pool."

"Trust me. Every summer back in St. Petersburg, me and Vlad would spend the hottest days at the river. That water moved way faster than this, and you didn't even have to suffer the sight of Vlad in a bathing suit. It's not that bad."

Anya listened to what he said, beginning to take the idea seriously. She didn't know a way to say it without sounding like a little girl, but she did anyway. "Will you be right there with me?"

"Yes. I promise."

"The whole time?"

"The whole time."

"Well." She batted her hair out of her eyes, and smiled. "All right. Race you?"

Dimitri gave her a questioning look. "You sure you're up to that?"

"I didn't say I wasn't good," Anya shot back with a grin, and with that, she swam into the waves, managing the water's movement better than she anticipated.

Dimitri splashed up behind her, and with that they were off, competeing with the dolphins for the perfect wave, laughing and shouting until a small boat pulled up alongside them.

"Hey! You there!"

Both of them looked up. To their surprise, the side of the boat read 'Coast Guard.'

"This is no-swimming territory! I'm going to have to ask you to return to public shore at once!"

This time it was Anya who gave the smug, 'I win' look. "Now what, maestro? Great plan by the way."

Dimitri could only sigh, listening to a chorus of "Say it" all the way back to shore.

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Who wins now, pal? XD Okay, after a decidedly sucky hiatus there's the Australia one (and just for fun go listen to Australia by the Shins, which has nothing to do with Australia at all). Soon I'll be adding more European locations, and my updates will be closer together from now on, I promise! 'K, now it's your turn to type for a while. Review please. :)

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