Hey guys. Sorry about the long delay. This story is coming to an end soon, hopefully before school ends. Thanks for the people who read and for the people who comment. You guys keep me going!

"Vaughn," Sydney said in a firm voice. She had caught him just as he was leaving. He turned to face her smiling slightly.

"Hey Syd. I thought you left an hour ago."

"I wanted to apologize."

"About what?"

Sydney glanced around before speaking again, "The way I acted earlier. I just--I get mad when we do something ahead of Sloane. I've had enough experience to know that whenever that happens, it just means that we missed something."

Vaughn shuffled and then looked back at Sydney. He didn't say anything, he just stared her in the eyes.

Sydney nodded. "You want to catch a movie?"

-----

Samantha smiled at the little girl. "You have grown so much Aaralyn!" She said as she picked up the little girl. The girl wrapped her legs around her mom.

Sark kissed Aaralyn's forehead and her eyes twinkled like the ocean blue. "What do you plan on doing today?" Sark asked as Samantha put Aaralyn down.

"I dunno...I was thinking that I was going to go swimming, but it might be a little late," Aaralyn replied.

"I don't think it'll matter, will it?"

Sark only smiled. He surveyed the little brown haired, blue eyed girl. She was so gentle looking. Her smiled lit up the whole room. Sark could hardly believe that this was his own daughter. "It's only seven. We can definitely go swimming."

"Okay. I'll get changed!"

"Don't be in too much of a rush, we gotta talk for a little while," Samantha shouted across the house as the door to Aaralyn's bedroom closed.

"Alrighty!"

-----

Samantha turned to Sark after Aaralyn shut her door. "You, swimming?"

"I like swimming," Sark responded, meeting Samantha's gaze.

"You never swim. I think the last time I saw you swim for "fun" was six years ago."

Sark didn't have the time to reply for Aaralyn's guardian came into the room with a laundry basked at her hip. She was a fair-skinned, red haired woman with a slim physique. She didn't look like her age of thirty-two. She set the basket down on the couch.

"Lydia, how are you?" Samantha asked, taking two steps forward to give her a hug.

"Ah, well good. How have you two been doing?" Lydia replied, shaking Sark's hand.

"Good. Miss our daughter a lot though."

"We know it's only for her good," Sark said, glancing down at his shoes.

"Yes. Well, I hear nothing from the agency anymore, and that's how it's supposed to be, so I won't ask you how work is going. You two came up for Aaralyn's birthday I suppose?" Lydia asked, folding some towels at the top of the pile.

"Yes, we did." Samantha jabbed Sark in his side, giving him a threatening glare. He looked up at Lydia and smiled gently.

"She'll be seven this year. Time flies doesn't it?"

"It does. It's a shame," Samantha nearly whispered. She smiled sadly. Sark nodded, shoving off the urge to admire his shoes once again.

"Are you off anywhere?"

"We're taking Aaralyn swimming," Sark finally spoke up.

"Oh. Alright. I'm surprised she mentioned it," Lydia stated, handing three towels to Samantha.

She graciously toke the towels and handed one to Sark, giving him a reassuring smile before asking, "Why?"

"She got stung by a dead jellyfish. She was playing with her friend on the beach and didn't watch where she was going and trampled all over one. She hasn't gone swimming since, and that was four months ago."

"Oh, well, uh, maybe she had a sudden desire to swim."

"Maybe. Samantha, I don't think that's it. She knows you're her parents. That has never been a secret. She probably feels safe knowing that fact. But, I could be wrong," Lydia smiled and shrugged, feeling confident that she was right. She placed the folded clothes into the basket and headed to a hall, just as Aaralyn made her entrance.

"Ready?" She asked impatiently.

"Almost. Daddy and I were so busy chatting that we hadn't changed. We're going to go and change quickly," Samantha explained to the little girl.

Aaralyn nodded as she took a seat on the couch.

Samantha and Sark ascended the stairs to the loft which served as their room while they visited.

They each went to their own suitcase and went rummaging through it to find a swimming suit.

They changed in silence. When Sark had finished, he leaned against the wall by the stairs, watching Samantha and waiting for her.

She finished and smiled reassuringly again. She kissed him before descending the stairs before him.

"Let's go hun!"

The beach was beautiful. The sands were white, the ocean blue. Cliffs stood over a hundred feet tall to the east and the wide ocean and elegant sands extended far to the west, where you could see only a handful of houses dotted the shoreline.

There were two chairs and two lounge chairs. In between the two chairs was a small table. Various sand buckets and shovels lay scatted about.

Samantha set down the beach bag on one of the lounge chairs and Sark did the same with the towels. The water seemed inviting.

Aaralyn waited patiently for her parents. When they were both ready to join her, she reached out one hand each. Samantha took Aaralyn's hand without hesitation while she had to smile beckoningly at Sark for him to take the hand. Aaralyn looked up at them both and smiled.

Please comment. I hope you liked. I tried to stay in character. I think the way Sark acts in here is how he would act. I hope.

Midnight, Adriana