Guest Prompt: Can we see them take Rachel swimming?

Um, hell yes we can see them take Rachel swimming. How's a hot day at the beach sound? Hope it sounds good cuz that's what I wrote and I had a lot of fun with it. I caught myself grinning as I typed at more than one part. I hope you like it as much as I did, and tell me what you think and thank you for the prompt!

Any more prompts, you know what to do!

with love always, hayley

To the Beach

It felt like the hottest day in the whole universe. Shelby was fanning herself, leaning against the counter but Cassandra was like "Forget the damn fanning thing," and had the freezer open, pressing her bare back to it. She had been walking around the apartment in a bikini top and short (VERY short) jean shorts. It was probably the most distracting thing Shelby had ever seen in her life, so she reiterated by wearing a bikini top as well…but skipping the jean shorts and going straight for the bikini bottoms.

It was just too hot to wear clothes—anything just stuck to them. Even seven year old Rachel was walking around in a bathing suit.

"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Shelby said as she checked the temperature on her phone. It was like it was just getting hotter and hotter outside and inside. Their air conditioner could only do so much. They could only afford for it to get a whole lot colder in there. "104 degrees, Cassie. Baby, that's too hot. We need to get out of here."

"It's hot everywhere, Shelbs. We can't just pack up and go to Alaska…" she closed the freezer and Shelby pressed her face to Cassandra's cold back. Cassie jumped forward. "No! It's too hot for this touchy feely stuff!" she laughed and Shelby laughed too, trying to get Cass to go towards her.

"Come on, baby,"

"I love you, but you'd better get away from me," Cass threatened.

"Or else what?"

Cass laughed, "Hell I don't know, it's too hot to make me think."

After Shelby rolled her eyes, Rachel ran into the kitchen towards her mommies and sat up on the bar-like stool in front of the counter. "Can we go swimming?" she asked innocently, fanning herself with her hand like Shelby was moments earlier.

Cass's eyes brightened and she turned to Shelby. "There's a thought," her eyes sparkled at the idea of cool water hitting her body, and splashing around with Shelby and Rachel. "And look, babe, we're all coincidentally already in our bathing suits… of course I'd have to go put on the bikini bottoms…" she raised a suggestive and beggar-ish eyebrow at her Shelby and Shelby rolled her eyes.

"We're not going to the pool, it'll be packed." Shelby protested. It was already hot and frustrating enough, she didn't need to be swarmed by people and trying not to lose Rachel and it would just be really chaotic.

"But we can go to the beach!" Cass protested back, wrapping her arms around Shelby and peppering her face with light little kisses. Rachel giggled at her Mama being silly. "Pleassssseeeeee Shelbyyy?" Cassie asked, continuing to kiss at Shelby's cheeks and chin and just all over her face.

Shelby raised her eyebrows. "I thought it was too hot to hug me and kiss me? Hmm?" she accused.

"But if we went to the beach we'd be cool!" she moved her lips to Shelby's ear so Rachel would definitely not hear her add, "And wet."

With a blush, Shelby pushed Cassie off of her and giggled. "If you want to go to the beach, you'd better go get ready. I'm leaving in 10 minutes." She decided.

And Cassandra was off. Suddenly it was a race to see who could get ready to go the fastest. Shelby grabbed sun tan lotion for her and Cass and sunscreen for Rachel. Cass put on the rest of her bikini and grabbed towels and sunglasses. Rachel sat and patiently waited at the kitchen counter. She was already in her swimsuit, and she knew how to swim, so she didn't need to get anything like a life jacket.

Almost exactly 10 minutes later and they were walking down to the parking garage to get the car. At this point, with the hot sun beating down on the sidewalk and sweat dripping down the side of her back, Shelby regretted agreeing to this beach trip. Wouldn't the beach be just as packed at the pool?! They drove down to the part of the beach they always went to and lo and behold they were actually the only ones there. Shelby could hardly contain her surprise and Cassie tapped her leg lightly.

"Told you it would be fun. Let's go." She unbuckled herself and opened the door for Rachel so she could get out. Shelby undid her buckle and followed her family out towards the water. God did it look heavenly. She watched as Rachel got on Cassie's back and they ran down towards the water. She chased after them, excitedly.

Since they knew Rachel knew how to swim and were confident that she would be okay, after getting into the water (which was so cold Cassie nearly screamed but it truthfully felt amazing), Shelby and Cassie let Rachel swim out past the drop off with them. If she faltered or got scared, one of her moms would hold her and make sure she was okay.

Cassie did a dive and swam out far before popping her blonde head up and letting out an excited yell.

"WOOOO! Come on, slow pokes!" she had a huge grin on her face and Shelby found it absolutely adorable how much fun she was having. With Rachel behind her, they swam out to Cassie and splashed her. Cassie dropped her mouth in protest as Rachel threw water at her face. "2 against one is definitely not fair!" Cassie shrieked, trying to splash them back.

Shelby laughed and grabbed Cass by the waist, dragging her underwater. When they resurfaced, they were greeted with a splash in the face each by Rachel who was giggling uncontrollably. "I got you!" Rachel squealed, splashing them again.

"Oh really?" Cass raised her eyebrow before picking Rachel up into her arms and pulling her out deeper.

Rachel squealed louder. "No, Mama!" she laughed loudly.

"You gonna splash me again little one?" Cassie tested her.

"Probably," Rachel laughed.

"Then yes, Mama!" she laughed back, tossing Rachel up into the air and Rachel screamed giddily and plugged her nose before crashing into the water in front of Shelby. She surfaced and glared at Cassie menacingly.

"It's on!" Rachel announced.

"Oh is it now?" Cassie said, amused that her daughter was challenging her. "Bring it on, sweetheart."

As she spoke, Shelby swam up under her and she screamed. Suddenly she was on Shelby's shoulders, holding tight to the top of Shelby's head so she wouldn't slip. "What are you doing?" she laughed.

Shelby shrugged, making Cassie move. Cassie about screamed. "Having fun," Shelby smirked.

"Don't you DARE drop me!" Cassie shrieked with a giggle. "Or I swear to god, Shelby, I'll—"

"You'll what?" Shelby challenged.

"I don't think you want to know what I WON'T do," Cassandra threatened her, trying to hold on as Shelby moved. Quickly, Shelby grabbed hold of Cassie's shins so she wouldn't fall. Rachel laughed at her mothers.

"You two are funny."

"Glad we amuse you," Cassie grinned down at her. She was also very thankful that Rachel hadn't caught on to the reference she had just threatened Shelby with—good thing their little girl was only 7 and still had the purest of minds. Cass hoped more than anything that mind would stay pure, even though she knew with a sadness that Rachel was getting older and older and that her mind wouldn't stay very pure for much longer.

Rachel laughed again and jumped up, grabbing Cassie's foot. Shelby tried to hold her steady but Rachel, being silly, tried pushing Cassie's feet up so she would fall. Cass had told her to bring it, right? Cass screamed and tried to hold on, and Shelby did too, but their skin was just too slippery to keep her from falling. She flipped backwards and went under the water. When she came back up she glowered at Shelby and stuck her tongue out. "I thought you loved me," she pouted, pretending to be upset. "Apparently my threat wasn't threatening enough."

"Your threat was PLENTY threatening." Shelby assured her. "And I DO love you."

Rachel grinned and started to swim away from them, back towards shore. "I'm gonna go build a sand castle!" she announced.

"Alright, stay where we can see you!" Cassie yelled after her.

"Kayyy!"

The shore was so far away from where they were that they could see Rachel's body outline, which told them where she was, but Rachel couldn't see them. Shelby pulled Cassie closer to her in the water and Cass wrapped her legs around Shelby's hips, pressing up against her. Now that they were cooler, they could stand to be near each other without sweating to death, and now that Rachel was out on the beach, they could have a little private time with just each other. Cassie slid her hands up Shelby's arms and Shelby pulled her face closer, planting a sweet kiss on her cheek.

"You weren't being super serious about that threat, were you?" she asked, pleadingly.

Cassie laughed, teasing her. "I don't know, Shelby, how do I know I can trust you when you just let me drop like that?"

"You slipped!" Shelby said.

Cassie started laughing harder and Shelby stuck her tongue out at her. "You perv," she laughed, kissing her again. Cass didn't even fight back this time, she just melted into Shelby's touch. The two women bobbed up and down as the waves crashed against them.

"I love you," Cassie told her, taking her lips against hers warmly. "I really do. So much."

"I love you too," Shelby told her, treading water to keep them both up.

. . .

Later on and they were all lying on the beach, Shelbs and Cass trying to make the most out of the sun and get a tan and Rachel working on her sand castle. It kept getting knocked down by waves.

"Build it closer to the dry sand, Rach," Cass suggested.

"Then it doesn't stick!" Rachel complained.

Shelby laughed. "Do you want our help, baby?"

"No!" Rachel said sternly. She could be so stubborn sometimes.

10 minutes later her castle had fallen again and she was begging for help, so Cass and Shelby spent an hour or so building a castle with her. It was a pretty epic castle, as far as they were concerned. They took a bunch of pictures with their proud creation before rinsing the sand off of them in the water once more and drying off, deciding it was about time to go home. Even though it was still super-hot out, they were cooler than they were.

And Cassie hadn't been too serious about her threat.