Author's Notes:

Okay, wow, sorry for the delay in posting this. Blame finals, practicum, and my boss being an idiot for the delay. That's all, enjoy!

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In my opinion, the biggest adventure about the place would be surviving the day without being crushed by hoards of people. It was only the second weekend that the park would be open, and it was absolutely full of families with young children eager to ride the roller coasters after a long, hard winter. It was odd, I reflected as I walked along with Lilith and Frederick, that from a stranger's point of view we were yet another family, hitting the amusement park during the kid's spring break. And yet it wasn't awkward at all. The three of us were here, as a family, doing what families do together.

"Can we get cotton candy?" Frederick begged, tugging on Lilith's arm. "I haven't had any in forever!"

Lilith laughed. "Frederick, sweetheart, it's ten thirty in the morning. Don't you think it's a little too early for sugar?"

"It's never too early for sugar!" I refuted. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"All right," Lilith gave in. "But you're going with him on the wild rides."

"Yeah!" cheered Frederick. "Can we go on Demon Drop?"

"That is SO not fair!" I whined. "If I have to suffer, then so do you!"

"Why don't we compromise?" Lilith gave in. "The water rides don't look too terrifying."

"Aw, but I wanna ride the roller coasters!" Frederick complained.

"You can ride them too," Lilith pointed out. "I'm sure your father will go with you if you ask nicely."

Frederick looked at me hopefully. "Please, Dad?"

I couldn't resist that look. He was a master at getting what he wanted from me, and I wondered if all kids knew how to do that, or if he'd inherited that ability from his mother. "Oh, all right," I gave in, wondering what I'd gotten myself into.

"Yay!" my son shouted, hugging first me, then his mother. As uneasy as I was at the thought of risking my life on the aptly-named Demon Drop, I couldn't help but smile to see my son's excitement.

The three of us got in line for the white water rapids ride, which was relatively deserted due to the quickly graying skies overhead. "I don't know about this," Lilith remarked as she cast a glance at the people who were coming off the ride, completely soaked.

"Mom, you promised!" Frederick whined.

"Oh, all right," she gave in as we stepped into the raft and fastened our safety harnesses. "I'm sure it can't be too bad."

The ride started, and for awhile we floated peacefully down the water, getting slightly damp from a little splash, or from passing by a nearby waterfall. I began to relax, and when I looked over at Lilith, I saw her laughing and actually enjoying herself.

"This isn't bad at all!" she exclaimed. "I'm actually having fun!"

Just then the raft surged downwards, and a huge wave of water broke over us. Frederick and I got a little damp, and were able to laugh about it. Lilith, on the other hand, was completely soaked.

Frederick and I burst out laughing at the sight of her. "Mom, you look so funny!" Freddie giggled.

"Laugh all you want," Lilith replied dryly. "We'll see how funny you think it is when you're—"

She was interrupted by another wave of water breaking over her. Freddie and I burst into fresh laughter. By the time we got off the ride, Frederick and I had damp clothes and wet hair. Lilith was completely and thoroughly soaked.

She shook her head. "That's the last time I ever wear a new shirt to an amusement park."

"I'm sure you'd dry off in no time if you took Frederick on Demon Drop," I suggested.

"Yeah!" Freddie shouted. "Demon Drop!"

Lilith held up her hands. "Oh, no. It's your turn to suffer. You take him."

I shook my head stubbornly and sat down on a nearby bench. "No way. You're not getting me on that death trap."

"Ooh, Death Trap!" Frederick exclaimed. "Can we ride that one next?"

I stared at Lilith. "There's a ride named Death Trap?"

"Unfortunately, yes," she sighed. "There are at least a dozen roller coasters in this park, and they all have names that make my hair stand on end."

"No sense postponing the inevitable, then," I sighed, getting to my feet. "Frederick, which ride won't throw out my back or give me whiplash?"

My son thought for a moment. "I heard the Viper isn't too scary."

"The Viper it is, then," I agreed.

"Can we do a scarier one after that?" Frederick begged.

Lilith and I exchanged glances. "Let's see how this one goes," she told him.

After waiting in line for half an hour, the moment finally came for us to climb into the little car on a track that looked far too rickety for my taste. There was only room for two people in a row, and Frederick pleaded to be allowed to ride alone, so Lilith and I climbed into the row behind him and nervously gripped the safety bars strapping us in.

I looked at her. "Are you scared?"

She tried to laugh recklessly. She didn't succeed very well. "Not at all. You?"

"Danger is my middle name!" I announced, wondering how my voice could sound so bold while my stomach felt so scared.

Lilith smacked my shoulder. "No it's not, it's Winslow."

"Winslow?" Frederick snickered from the front seat. "Your middle name is Winslow?"

"At least it's not Gaylord!" I retorted.

"Aw, Dad!" Freddie complained. "That's not fair! You can't give me a middle name like that and then laugh at it!"

Just then the roller coaster started, and I tightly gripped the bars in front of me. We climbed for what felt like forever until we reached the top, and I had a brief, beautiful view of the park and the ocean beyond that before we plummeted down towards earth.

The wind whipped across my face as the track twisted and turned. I was certain I'd left my stomach back before that first drop, which was lucky since I certainly would have thrown up otherwise. In the seat in front of me, Frederick was cheering in delight, and I felt Lilith's hand tightly clutching my right arm.

Three terrifying minutes later, the three of us were safely out of the car and back on solid ground. Frederick, of course, wanted to go on another roller coaster right away, but Lilith and I agreed that we needed to do something tamer first.

We finally decided that it was more than time to eat lunch, so we headed south toward the food booths. Lilith and Frederick went to save a table while I stood in line and forked over twenty dollars for three hamburgers and three orders of fries.

"These prices are unbelievable!" I exclaimed to Lilith when I returned. "It just seems like yesterday you could get an entire meal for three dollars!"

"Yeah, back when dinosaurs roamed the planet," Frederick snorted, taking a bite out of his hamburger.

"Oh come on," I whined. "I'm not *that* old!"

"You won't even try Demon Drop!" Frederick insisted. "You've got to be old if you don't think that's fun!"

"All right, fine," I said flippantly. "We're riding it as soon as we're done eating. Riding it twice, even, if you can handle it."

"Frasier, are you sure about this?" Lilith asked, putting a hand on my arm. "You don't want to hurt yourself."

"Lilith, it's just a roller coaster," I insisted. "Thousands of people ride it every day, and they don't get hurt. How bad can it be?"

She rolled her eyes. "Says the man who whined about that exact ride for the entire morning."

I swallowed the last bite of my hamburger and stuffed my last two fries into my mouth. "I'm ready whenever you are."

"Yeah!" Frederick cheered, leaping out of his seat and tugging on my arm. "Come on, Dad, we've got to get there before the line's a million miles long!"

I must have been out of my mind, because I let my son drag me halfway across the park to a roller coaster that looked as if it were about to collapse at any moment. When we got there, Lilith quickly said that she felt like sitting this ride out, and promised to take a picture of us when we were at the top of the giant loop. The line was long, but moved fast, and all while we were waiting, Frederick repeatedly insisted that there was no way I could make it through this ride, while I argued that oh yes I could, I had a lot of life left in me yet.

It wasn't until we reached the platform and were strapped into our seats, our legs dangling below, that my senses returned to me. I was about to risk my life on this torture machine, and for what? To impress a nine-year old?

No, it wasn't for that, it was to impress my son, who was sitting beside me, his eyes shining and his face clearly showing that he had the coolest dad in the world.

Never mind the whiplash. This ride was worth it already.

The platform dropped from under our feet, and we were jerked into the air.

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I sat on a bench and watched as the roller coaster twisted around the tracks. Someone was screaming loudly every time the coaster dropped, and I quickly realized with amusement that it was Frasier. I was torn between feeling bad for him and looking forward to teasing him at a later opportunity.

The ride ended and I went to meet Frasier and Frederick. My son ran up to me and began talking excitedly about the ride he had just taken. Frasier limped up to us, his face pale.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he croaked, grabbing onto a fencepost for support.

"Frasier, you look terrible!" I exclaimed, grabbing his arm and leading him over to the bench. "Are you all right?"

"My ears hurt," Frederick complained. "Dad screamed too loud."

"I'm fine," Frasier winced. He took a few deep breaths, and some of the color began to return to his face. "And I wasn't screaming."

"Yes you were," Frederick insisted. "You were screaming like Uncle Niles did when he saw that cockroach."

"I was *not*," Frasier insisted. "I was merely...cheering enthusiastically."

"Very enthusiastically," I grinned. "I thought you were going to rupture your throat on that last drop."

"You're both mean and unforgiving," he grumbled. "You're always teasing me."

"But you're so much fun to tease!" I laughed.

"There you go again," Frasier pouted.

"Weren't you the one bragging about how roller coasters didn't scare you at all?" I pointed out.

Frasier looked at me pitifully. "Haven't I suffered enough?"

"Yes, you have," I gave in. "I'll buy you an ice cream cone, how's that?"

"Hey, I want ice cream!" Frederick protested. "How come he gets ice cream just for screaming a lot?"

"We can all have it," Frasier amended. He eased himself onto his feet, wobbled a bit, and straightened himself.

He held his hand out to me, and helped me to my feet. My hand lingered in his for a moment and he squeezed it tightly before dropping with a reluctant glance.

I understood. Not in front of Frederick. Not yet.

We walked together, our son running in front of us, off to get ice cream.

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We returned home that evening sunburnt (except for Lilith), stuffed with junk food, exhausted but happy. While Adventure Island would never be my favorite place to go, it had been somewhere where Lilith, Frederick and I were able to spend a day together as a family.

It felt good to have a family again.

Of course I had Dad and Niles in Seattle, but it wasn't the same. I loved my father and my brother, but they didn't make me feel like Lilith did when she shot me one of her beautiful smiles, or when Frederick looked at me like I was the greatest dad in the world. I'd missed out on so much of my son's life, all the day to day activities, and I regretted it every day.

Frederick said goodnight early on and retreated to his bedroom, first hugging me and Lilith and telling us that he had a great time today. I watched him climb the stairs to his room, and once he'd disappeared out of sight, I put my arm around Lilith's shoulders.

She smiled at me. "It went well today, didn't it?"

"I think it did," I agreed. "I even had fun."

"Especially on the Demon Drop," she teased. "Your throat's going to be sore from that tomorrow."

"Hey, at least I tried it," I retorted. "I didn't see you risking your life on that metal horror."

"When you have three doctorates, you know better," she replied smugly.

"You always bring that up," I sulked. "Looking down on me and my two degrees."

"Oh, all right, I'll stop," she gave in. "Although you're so much fun to look down on."

"You're evil," I complained. "I may not have three degrees, but I can do this!" And with that, I picked her up and carried her across the room. She was too surprised to struggle, and when I set her down, she remained motionless, her eyes staring into mine.

"I want you to stay with me tonight," she whispered. "I know you can't, but I want you to."

I kissed her lightly, against my better judgment. Fortunately (or unfortunately) that kiss didn't lead to anything more. "Soon," I promised. "When Frederick's back at school."

She caught her breath. "You mean it?"

I nodded. "Remember that inn in Connecticut?"

"The one we went to for New Years the first year we were married?" Of course she remembered. It had been an unforgettable four days, and even now, the memory made me blush.

"That's the one," I answered. "Why don't we take a little vacation there for a couple of days next week?"

She kissed me. "I love you, Dr-Dr Frasier Crane."

I laughed. I couldn't help it. "That's enough. I'm going to bed."

I climbed up the stairs, turning around once to look at her in the doorway to the living room. She blew me a kiss, and I smiled to myself before continuing on my way.