"Ready to go?" Phillipa poked her head around the edge of the guest room door.

Diana looked up. "Ready when you are." She said, shoving a light sweater into the tote bag she had found in the closet. Phillipa grinned and disappeared, her footsteps headed toward the kitchen. Diana shouldered the bag, following her niece to where Dom squatted in the kitchen, trying to slather sunscreen on a wriggling James' face.

"Dooooon't" James whined. "I don't want it! It's not hot outside!"

"I know it's not hot," Dom tried to sound calm as he stealthily swiped the sunscreen on the child's forehead. "But it's sunny, and when you're outside in the sun all day, you need sunscreen."

"Auntie Diiiiiiii!" James looked plaintively to Diana, standing with shoulders slumped and eyes wide. Diana chuckled.

"Don't look at me, Little Man." She shrugged. James pouted, relenting to his father and whimpering, making faces as Dom smeared the last of the white blob on his hand onto James' cheeks.

"Alright. Ready to go." Dom stood, snapping the sunscreen bottled closed with an air of finality and tossing it into the packed picnic basket on the counter. Picking up the basket, he ushered the kids toward the door, taking Phillipa's hand in his as Diana lagged behind with James, who temporarily decided he was a kangaroo, entering the yard in great bounces.

.

.

Cool, salty winds blew in from the ocean as the four trudged over the beach, the children running ahead, serpentining back and forth, always just out of reach of the waves.

"So what will you do now?" Dom asked, staring ahead of them, keeping an eye on the children.

"I guess I don't know." Diana shrugged, crossed her hands across her chest, rubbing her arms. Her left arm ached more than usual as the cold wind through her long-sleeve t-shirt made her bicep tense.

"Well, you're welcome to stay out here, if you want." He offered. "You can continue research-"

"No." She shook her head, cutting him off. "No, I'm done with that." She stared down the beach, past the children, toward the horizon. "It's a drug, Dom. We can pretend it's not – pretend we're making it "safer" or whatever... altered compounds, totems... but it'll never be safe. We both know that."

Dom nodded. "I suppose you're right." He glanced over to her, smiling. "That's why I'm giving it up, too."

"Yeah?" Diana met his eyes, a half-smile lifting her features.

"Yeah, well... there's got to be some need for an architect around here." He shrugged. "Phillipa, wait for us! Don't run so far ahead!"

"That's great." Diana smiled. Dom nodded.

"A chance at a new life." He said absentmindedly.

"It is." Diana agreed quietly. Her thoughts trailed off, following the sets of small footprints in their wandering journey over the sand to where Phillipa and James stood, running back and forth with the waves, screaming with delight as the spray lunged for their heels, nearly reaching them. She watched them wistfully, a bittersweet fondness for them weighing on her. She chewed her lower lip, choosing her words carefully before opening her mouth to speak.

"Dom..." She began slowly. "How old are James and Phillipa?"

"What?" He seemed affronted that his sister would ask such a question.

Diana stopped, turning in the sand and facing her brother. The wind gusted over the ocean, breaking against Dom's back as he halted.

"How old were James and Phillipa when Mal died?" Diana rephrased the question.

"Four and six." Dom replied, without hesitation, his eyebrows knit in an expression Diana recognized well; the confusion that often led to frustration and anger. She braced herself before continuing.

"And...now?" She raised her eyebrows, nodding in the direction of the playing children. Dom was silent as he watched them, his jaw locking as he grit his teeth.

"You were gone for two years." Diana said gently. "How old does James look?"

Dom watched the playing children, noting his son's stature, his stiff-legged run, the lingering toddler proportions in a boy of about four years old.

"What are you doing?" Dom hissed dangerously, his blue eyes like icy daggers.

The clouds began rolling in quickly from off the the coast, Diana shook her head.

"Nothing, Dom. I'm not doing anything." She said kindly. She glanced down, swallowing before she looked up again. "You ever notice how, when you're dreaming, you can't feel your feet?"

Dom looked puzzled and uncomfortable, as though every fiber in his being wanted to ignore her, but couldn't help but to listen.

"Or how, if you really focus, you can feel something against your back, even if you're standing in the middle of a room?" Diana continued, watching her brother intensely.

The wind blew sharply, whistling past the siblings as the sky darkened. Dom squared his shoulders uncomfortably, trying to shake the feeling of cushions against his back. He looked down, scuffing his feet in the sand, waiting to feel the familiar resistance as he dug his heels into it, trying to feel the discomfort of the grains working their way into the fabric of his socks. He watched. He saw it happening. He thought he almost felt it, but only dimly; the way reading the lice prevention pamphlets Phillipa's school sent her home with each year made his head itch.

"What is this?" The children's laughter seemed to grow distant and hollow as the low clouds roiled overhead, rumbling angrily.

"I know you don't want to see it." Diana kept eye contact with her brother, trying to steady herself, though his glare made her incredibly nervous. "You put me through hell to find you... But try, Dom. Focus."

Dom's features slowly twisted from anger to something resembling fear.

"What's up there?" He asked simply. "What's up there that's better than what I've got here?"

Diana looked at him pityingly. "Your life."

"Some life." Dom spat bitterly. "What, am I going to wake up on a plane? In a warehouse somewhere wishing I'd never listened to you?"

"No." Diana shook her head. "No, Dom. Never again. You're at my house, on my couch. A client fixed your charges. When you wake up, I'll be there. With Arthur and Ariadne."

"If I kill myself?" Dom suggested darkly. "Like Mal?"

Diana's heart broke. "No, Dom. What happened to Mal...We jumped in head first – all of us, without ever really thinking. We never considered -"

"Then how?"

"Just...find your footing." Diana offered a small smile of encouragement to her older brother, who stood on the sand, the world closing in around him, fading into the haze of clouds and wind. "And open your eyes."

Thanks for reading. If you're enjoying what you've seen so far, please leave a comment. More chapters coming soon.