"Maddy!" Rhydian yelled, "I need help!"
Maddy rolled her eyes and passed her plate to Jana, who happily ate the leftover black pudding.
"It's not that difficult, Rhydian!" Maddy yelled in response.
"Have you tried to change a nappy in a tent before?" Rhydian asked.
"Er, yeah, I have actually," Maddy replied, squeezing in next to him in their small tent. Cass was dozing in her crib whilst Rhydian was trying to change Adrian's nappy, the little baby refusing to lie still.
"I'll do it," Maddy said, "But really it isn't that difficult. Just go and get some breakfast. Mum and Dad are planning on leaving for the beach as soon as we're ready. Tell them we'll be sorted in about fifteen minutes."
Rhydian nodded, walking over to the plastic table where two rashers of bacon and several sausages sat in plastic tubs. Naturally there was no black pudding left- thanks to Jana- but there was some cereal. Rhydian grabbed some of the meat and a bowl of cereal and sat down on one of the logs.
"I'm sure Adrian and Cassidy are excited for their trip to the beach," Jana gushed, "They must be loving their first holiday."
"Yeah," Rhydian replied, "Adrian certainly looked as if he was enjoying watching Daddy trying to put up a tent in the pouring rain."
Jana laughed, "It's not that difficult to put up a tent."
"Of course it isn't for you," Rhydian said, gesturing over at Jana and Xander's tent, "Of course wild wolfblood tents are easier to put up, although technically it's cheating."
"No," Jana argued, "It's called making life easier for yourself."
"Whatever, Jana," Rhydian replied, with a yawn, "At least I'm not the one who's going to be called Auntie Yaya or Nana when the cubs get older."
Jana stuck out her tongue, "At least I don't have to change nappies."
Rhydian sighed, "I hope you get pregnant with Xander's children very very soon. You won't be so quick to laugh at me."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen," Jana grumbled. Despite it being almost nine or so months since Kincaid's attack Jana still wasn't ok with being intimate with Xander. She was happy to share a flat with him and even sleep next to him, but she still wasn't ready for anything more than that. She was glad that Xander never rushed her. And it wasn't as if Segolia was any closer to finding a way that wolfbloods and humans could have children anyway.
"Jana!" Xander called out from where he was sitting next to Cadwr at a nearby bench.
Jana raced over to them, a confused expression on her face as she saw three cups and Xander's phone on the table with a video paused on it.
"You've heard of the cups song haven't you?" Xander asked.
"Yes," Jana said with a grimace. She'd heard of the song roughly a year ago, and Shannon had tried to make her learn all of the moves- it wasn't that difficult to learn but Jana had no idea why humans were so obsessed with that particular song.
"I'm teaching Cadwr," Xander explained, "He's a natural, picked it up in five minutes. He told me that Shannon taught you a while ago."
Jana nodded, "It was quite a while ago. I've probably forgotten it by now. And anyway, Emma and Daniel want to be leaving soon."
"Come on, Jana," Cadwr replied, "I'll buy you ice cream when we get to the beach."
"It better have a flake and sprinkles," Jana demanded before taking one of the cups. She slowly went over the moves, remembering them far more easily than she'd anticipated. She soon was carry out the moves effortlessly and without thinking about it started singing the song.
She stopped when she noticed Xander and Cadwr staring at her and Tom and Shannon also looking at her in shock. Rhydian just smiled, Ceri and Gerwyn also smiling.
"What?" Jana asked, "Quit looking at me like that."
"You never told me you can sing," Xander replied.
"I can't," Jana replied.
"Yes, you absolutely can," Xander replied, "That was amazing."
Jana blushed, "It was nothing."
"You don't remember when you were younger," Rhydian began. "About how you used to sing all of the time- about how we used to play Bards and Surfs with Meinir and Aran."
Xander laughed, "I suppose Meinir came up with that game."
"Yeah," Gerwyn added, "You used to sing all the time, Jana. Arianne always said that it was such a shame that being an alpha doesn't call for much studying of the arts. Then again there aren't really many artistic jobs for wild wolfbloods."
"You could always sing with the band," Xander suggested, "We were all saying the other day about how great it would if some of songs on the new album were performed with a female vocalist."
"No!" Jana exclaimed, "Can everyone stop making such a big deal about this? If you want a female vocalist then ask Shannon."
"But Jana you sing really well," Xander protested.
"It was a mistake," Jana replied, "I didn't mean to."
Xander watched as Jana stormed off towards their tent and started to get up to follow her.
"Wonder what that was all about," Cadwr said quietly.
"Xander," Ceri began, "You should probably leave Jana for a bit, just let her calm down."
"I don't understand," Xander said shaking his head, "You heard her, Jana's great a singing, I don't get why she means by it was a mistake."
"Jana used to sing a lot when she was a little cub," Ceri recalled with a smile, "Mostly the wild wolfblood version of love songs and things like that- well you can probably guess who she was singing them too. When Jana returned to the pack without Rhydian she changed an awful lot. She stopped singing, she didn't play with the other cubs, and she was a completely different person. Things got better when Rhydian lived with the pack for a while but Jana never really went back to the way she was when she was little."
"I didn't know," Xander said, wanting to comfort Jana.
"Jana just needs to deal with the memories," Ceri replied, "At least she knows she has you and Rhydian now and that you'll never leave her."
Xander smiled, "Thank you for stopping me doing something stupid."
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
"Jana, what are you doing?" Daniel asked the young girl.
"Adrian and I are building a sandcastle," Jana replied innocently.
"What?" Emma replied in confusion, before turning to her husband, "Adrian can't build a sandcastle. And just look at the mess he's in. We should tell them to stop."
"Look, Jana's an ex-wild wolfblood," Daniel replied, "And yes at times she can be a bit- well, you know. But she's not completely irresponsible."
"Jana," Tom began, as he walked over to where Jana and Adrian were sat around a crumbling sandcastle. Adrian was squishing wet sand in his chubby hands and had sand all over his baby-grow.
"Hi, Tom," Jana said, "Say hello to Uncle Tom, Adrian."
Jana pretended to make Adrian wave.
Tom rolled his eyes, "You know he's only going to end up eating the sand and then bawling his eyes out."
"But Maddy and Rhydian said I could look after him whilst they went to get the ice cream," Jana protested.
"Well, where's Xander anyway?" Tom asked, "I haven't seen him in a while."
"He's off surfing with Ellie, Bryn and Cadwr," Jana answered, "Apparently he and Ellie learnt surfing on a primary school trip to Cornwall and now he's teaching Bryn and Cadwr. He keeps on saying he's going to teach me too but…"
"What's wrong?" Tom asked.
"Well you know wolves aren't supposed to surf, are they?" Jana began.
"Bryn and Cadwr seem to be okay with it," Tom replied, "It's so weird how Bryn's becoming tame essentially, I mean I know he's leaving soon, but still."
"He's leaving?" Jana asked in surprise, "He hasn't told me… or Ellie."
"I suppose they're going to be in a long distance relationship or something like that," Tom said with a hint of scepticism.
"Yeah right," Jana replied, "How easy do you think it is to stay in a long distance relationship anyway? Even before you take into consideration that we're on about an illiterate and traditionalist wolfblood here. He's going to dump Ellie and he's not even thinking about letting her down nicely."
"Xander will bury him alive if he finds out," Tom said.
"Well Bryn will be protected by the fact he's Rhydian's brother," Jana explained, "But Xander will certainly allow Ellie to beat the living daylights out of him. And as far I'm concerned- right on."
"Jana!" Tom exclaimed.
"What?" Jana asked, "He can't just do that to her. And to think my parents were actually considering marrying me off to Bryn."
"No, Jana, I'm not on about that," Tom said quickly.
"But we were just talking about it," Jana replied.
There was a loud cry and Jana looked to see that Adrian's face covered in sand- he'd obvious tried to eat it.
"Go get some water!" Jana yelled at Tom, before carefully moving Adrian out of his baby chair and holding him in her arms, "It's Adrian, it'll be all better soon, I promise."
Rhydian came racing towards them, a concerned and panicked expression on his face.
"We were building sandcastles," Jana said with a croaky voice, "And… and Adrian tried to eat the sand."
Rhydian chuckled a little bit, "We're on a beach, Jana. It was a little bit inevitable that that was going to happen at some point today."
"But I promised I'd look after him," Jana replied, "I bet he thinks I'm the worst aunt in the world."
"No, he doesn't," Rhydian replied as he nodded in thanks to Tom, "And if you think this is bad. Well I left Cass with my Mum and Dad, so I don't want to imagine. They're probably playing sand fairies or something like that."
"Let us deal with this, Rhydian," Emma began, "Why don't you and Jana go and find Xander and the rest of them?"
"Yeah, we'll be able to handle this," Daniel added.
"Thanks," Rhydian said, "Come on Jana, let's go and find the others."
"I told you we should have stopped her," Emma said quietly to Dan as she started to clean up Adrian.
"It's not Jana's fault," Daniel replied, "I told Maddy it was a ridiculous idea to spend the day on the beach with two little babies. This was going to happen. I mean do you remember Dorset with Maddy when she was three, we blamed ourselves so much for that, but kids will be kids and you can't wrap them up in cotton wall."
"I'm not trying to," Emma replied, "I just don't like the idea of Jana looking after our grandchildren."
"She's not a wild wolfblood," Daniel replied, "Not anymore, and she's not stupid either. Besides, from what Ceri tells me, older wild wolfblood cubs tended to baby sit the younger cubs, so Jana probably has more experience in raising children than Rhydian and Maddy do and maybe even more experience than Gerwyn does."
"They're all still cubs aren't they?" Emma responded, "Maddy, Rhydian and Jana aren't exactly completely grown up."
"I don't expect them to be," Daniel replied, "And neither should you. But I think we should make more of an effort with Ceri, Gerwyn, Bryn and Jana. We got off on the wrong paw with them the last time round. And we're pretty much related now so we should at least try, for the cubs' sake."
Emma nodded, "Okay, I'll try."
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
"Cadwr, that's brilliant!" Xander yelled, "Come on, Bryn, the water's not that cold!"
"Wolfbloods aren't supposed to swim anyway," Bryn replied, as he walked towards the beach, "They only reason Cadwr and I know how to swim is because Cadwr and Gwyn's old back taught them, and because Meinir pushed me in a river, so I had to learn the hard way."
"So wait, Jana doesn't know how to swim?" Ellie asked, laying her bright pink surfboard down on the sand.
"Of course not," Bryn replied, "Alpha's have far more important things to do than swimming."
"So that's why she didn't want to go surfing," Xander said with understanding, "I thought she was still upset about earlier."
"You should teach her," Bryn suggested, "Jana will probably love surfing, it's actually quite fun."
"See, I told you," Ellie replied, "Xander and I used to go surfing all the time before the accident. I'm glad to see that I can still beat him."
"Oh, shut up!" Xander answered, "That's only because you stuck to the smaller waves."
"I still beat you," Ellie replied, "Hey, it looks like Rhydian and Jana are coming to join us."
"Hi, how's surfing going?" Rhydian asked.
"It's actually pretty cool, if totally unnatural," Bryn said, "And Cadwr's pretty much obsessed with it now."
"I want to go to Newquay for my birthday," Cadwr announced, "It's where all the pro surfers go."
Rhydian ruffled Cadwr's hair, "I'll talk to my Mum and Dad about it."
"Thank you, Rhydian," Cadwr replied.
"I can teach you how to surf if you want," Xander said to Jana.
"Thanks, but I'm not sure I'd be much good at it," Jana replied.
"Look, Bryn told me about how the wild pack prioritises activities," Xander replied tactfully, "I know they didn't put much emphasis on swimming lessons, but I can teach you, if you want."
"I… I'm not sure," Jana replied, "I don't like the idea of learning to swim out here in the ocean."
"I understand," Xander answered, putting an arm around Jana's shoulders and hugging her to his side, "If only they sold coffee at that ice cream stand."
"They have cappuccino flavoured ice cream," Jana suggested.
"It's not really the same thing," Xander replied, "And anyway I'd need the black coffee ice cream, cappuccinos are far too weak for me."
Jana smiled, "It's only one day without coffee."
"Yes, but you're not a caffeine addict," Xander argued, "The things I do for love."
"OMG Xander, Stop quoting the King-slayer," Ellie complained, "You know how much I hate the Lannisters."
"You know Sansa is technically a Lannister now," Xander argued, "And team Stark is well, not really existent anymore."
"No she isn't," Ellie argued, "And at least Robb wasn't off having demon babies with some crazy woman."
"Don't you dare insult Stannis the Mannis," Xander replied, "He's the one true King of Westeros, the Seven Kingdoms and the Andals."
"Do you have any idea what they're on about?" Rhydian asked Jana.
"Unfortunately, yes," Jana replied, "Xander and I spent every Monday evening for the past two months watching Game of Thrones, it's a really big deal. He's even made me convert to team Stannis."
Rhydian laughed, "Apparently that's better than being a Lannister."
"The only reason you're team Stark is because you have a crush on the actor who plays Robb," Xander argued.
"Well, maybe," Ellie admitted.
"But I thought you were my girlfriend," Bryn said in a miserable voice, "You can't have crushes on other men."
"Bryn, it's not like that," Rhydian tried to explain, "A lot of girls have crushes on actors, it doesn't actually mean they want to go out with them or that they love their boyfriends any less."
"Are you on about the fact that Maddy is a Cumberbabe?" Jana replied.
"Girls can be very confusing at times," Rhydian replied, "Now come on let's get back to the others."
BREAK_BREAK_BREAK_BREAK
Adrian and Cass dozed next to each other in their cot which was illuminated by the dim sunset light. Jana was perched silently in front of them trying to take photos, but her hands were shaky and the pictures so far had been blurry. She pressed the button again, and cursed as the flash came on, waking up the babies and they began to grizzle.
Rhydian laughed, "Come on, Jana, there'll be plenty of time for photos later, let them sleep for a bit."
"But they looked so cute together then," Jana replied, "I had to take a photo."
"Well save some room on your camera for the rest of the week," Rhydian replied, "Remember it's your birthday tomorrow, so make sure you get enough sleep because we don't want you going all morwal on us."
Jana laughed, "Good night, bro. Good night little cubs."
"Good night, Jana," Rhydian replied.