"Who is it?" Alex hissed as she shoved her husband towards the front door of the cabin. They had not long stumbled in through the back door, madly pulling on clothes. Ryan was still adjusting himself in his pants, stopping to watch as his wife turned on her heels and rushed towards the bathroom.

Ryan took a deep breath and crept towards the window, not entirely understanding the need to be quiet. Peeking through the curtains he let out the breath he had been holding and allowed a small smile to form on his lips. Their timing wasn't the best but he was very glad to see them.

"Alex, did you invite people?" Ryan asked confused not sure if this was part of the arranged surprise.

Alex returned then, placing a hand on her husband's shoulder which only served to make him jump. "Sorry" She murmured softly, pressing her lips to his shoulder, while trailing her hand down his spine. Ryan shook his head in a subtle dismissal, leaning in to ghost his lips over her eyelids, delivering two light, thankful kisses.

Car doors opening and closing had been heard yet the footsteps remained crunching around on the gravel, not muffled by the grass as they would be if their visitors were approaching the cabin. Alex still hadn't managed to look outside but wished she had as her husband's arm around her waist pulled her towards the door. Even before it was open enough for her to see them she had figured out who it was, their familiar voices reaching her ears.

Alex was suddenly overcome with self-consciousness, anxious the new arrivals would somehow sense what they had been up to. From her brief glance in the bathroom mirror she knew her cheeks were still flushed, her hair was a mess and her dress was crumpled and twisted, dead giveaways. But she tried to compose herself either way.

In the split second before the new arrivals noticed them on the porch she tried to smooth her dress and tame her hair, pushing away from her husband as if they had been caught in the act. Her smile was more a grimace than anything genuine when Caleb and Shelby looked over and called out a greeting. "Happy birthday, Grandpa!" Caleb yelled as he neared the porch carrying CJ in his car seat Shelby following closely behind him carrying her handbag and CJ's diaper bag and a gift wrapped in blue for Ryan.

She took a step backward, partially hiding behind her husband so they wouldn't be able to assess her dishevelled appearance as they neared.

"Thank you uncle." Ryan returned as he and Caleb shook hands and Caleb came over to greet Alex once she came into view from hiding behind her husband, but the smirk on Shelby's face made it known that the blond was suspecting something, but her husband seemed oblivious to it which is one thing she was grateful for.

They were still standing on the porch, Alex managed to get CJ out of the car seat and stood with him in her arms as he is babbling away, when another car pulled up, this one cathching Ryan totally by surprise when he noticed his mother and siblings, and shortly behind them Sita and Joey.

"Okay, you didn't mention anything about a party."

"It's called a surprise birthday party that kinda went wrong I think." Alex smiled .

"No it's fine, this is awesome." He said as he and Caleb walked down the porch to get some of the items they brought with for dinner. Alex had to admit that they showed up earlier that she had expected but she didn't mind it. It means more time they can spend together before they have to leave again tonight.

"Well we're glad you could make it" Ryan assured, slapping Caleb on the back in their usual, masculine, greeting.

"Definitely" Alex agreed, moving inside so they can put their things down and wait for the rest to join them. Once Her mother in law and mother and sister in laws were there it seemed like all the women generally gathered around the kitchen and lounge while Ryan, Caleb, Joey and Luca went outside to set up a fire. A text from Natalie saying they will be there in a little while they got into some car trouble but will take a ride with Nimah and Quade.

"Where are the kids?" Sita enquired, looking around not seeing her energetic granddaughter running around.

"Sleeping" Alex supplied, though as she looked over to the bedroom door she could see that was no longer the case. A little hand had appeared on the door frame, followed quickly by the eyes of an inquisitive toddler peering out at them.

"Nana! Gwamma" Phoebe squealed as she raced towards her grandmothers, launching herself into the arms of first one she sees.

"Hey Phoebe" Sita returned calmly, squeezing the little girl tightly before settling her on her hip. "How did you sleep?"

"Lots" The toddler answered quickly, not giving it much thought as there was clearly something far more important on her mind. "Gwamma, Daddy buy-d a lake!" She blurted, twisting around to point out the window at the seemingly endless stretch of water glistening in the early afternoon sun.

"Aunty Shelby, CJ swim wif me?" She asked her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Uuuhhmmm, honey he is still too small to swim." Shelby reasoned and she turned to Nadia an aunt who hopefull won't say no.

"You wanna swimmin' Nada?"

"Maybe in a little bit" She agreed, looking around at the other adults. Nobody seemed willing to make a suggestion of what they would do in the meantime.

"Why?" Phoebe demanded, excitement swiftly replaced by a stern frown.

"Well we only just got here. And you just woke up" She tried to reason, almost knowing before she spoke that it wasn't going to be a good enough reason in her eyes. But hoped it will tame her niece for now.

As if on que Luca came in and Phoebe's attention turned to Luca.

" Lukie, you go swim wif me?" She asked and the look on her face made it difficult for him to say no.

"Okay!" Luca decided not knowing how to say no to her.

"You might need to ask Mama" Luca suggested, he too looked to Alex for approval or disapproval. He was starting to think a swim in the lake was a good idea.

"Pleeeeeeese Mama?" The toddler whined, adding a sweet smile to her pleading look.

"If you want to" Alex answered, holding eye contact with Luca rather than her daughter as she spoke.

"Anyone else feel like coming?" Luca aked, having already made up his mind.

"Why are you so eager to go swim?" Sita asked smiling knowing how much her step son hated starting fires.

"I don't wanna be the joke again because I can't get a fire started." He laughed knowing all to well that they knew the answer.

" I'll get changed and come watch in a little bit" Nadia replied, happy to take things at a more leisurely pace. Luca nodded in acceptance before setting the toddler down and asking her to find her swimmers. The pair rushed off to get ready, leaving the others still sipping their glasses of cold water. Sita and Theresa starting off with some baking, which no one complained about because they sure knew what they were doing whenever they were behind the stove. Ryan came inside to gather some wood and fire lighters.

"Are you going to go?" Ryan asked his wife, feeling as if at least one of them should go supervise even though Luca was a perfectly capable adult.

"Uhhh" Alex hummed as she considered it for a moment, listening for sounds of stirring from the front room.

"I'll stay with Asher" He assured, following her gaze.

"Are you sure?" She queried, not wanting him to miss out on the family fun she had planned the trip for. And he seemed pretty excited when he has with family and he was always in his element with a beer in his hand standing behind the fire

"Go outside, stop acting like a father Ryan. We'll watch out for Asher." Theresa said wanting to make sure her son enjoys herself and that Alex doesn't have to stand around for them all the time.

"Okay mother. Thank you."

"Just, maybe… wear your swim suit this time" Ryan suggested teasingly as he walked past Alex, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek then moving away before she could retaliate.

"Babe!" Alex scolded indignantly, shaking her head even though the smile remained on her face, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.

"I'll just get some of Phoebe's toys for you to take" He called over his shoulder to Luca as he rounded the corner of the hallway. Alex sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before the clink of glass on the countertop reminded her they hadn't been alone.

"Sounds like you had fun" Nadia offered, raising her eyebrows suggestively then giggling softly as she walked away, making Shelby and Simone laugh as they walked outside. "Come on CJ let's go see the water outside."

Alex did her best to ignore the comment, downing the rest of her water then heading to the bedroom to get changed. She was startled when her husband burst in halfway through, initiating a steamy make out session that could easily have become more. Phoebe's shouts soon demanded her presence though and she reluctantly extracted herself from his embrace.

"Ryan, our parents are in the other room." She laughed slightly after pushing him towards the door when Asher started whining demanding attention. Ryan stoked a hand over Asher's back when he left the room taking a deep breath as he got to the door and walked towards the back of the house. Ignoring the smiling looks of his mother and mother in law when he emerged from the room.

"Now now Ash." Alex said trying to calm her son down walking towards the lounge.

"And all this crying baby? Who made you angry?" Theresa asked wiping her hands on the dishcloth before taking her grandson. He stopped crying briefly, and looked at his grandmothers as the kissed him before he decided that his hunger needs has to be attended to first before he pays them any mind.

Alex sat on the couch, one hand stroking Asher's back as the baby nursed contentedly while the other supported his head, allowing her to gaze out across the glistening water. From the confines of the cosy, sun-warmed lounge room. Smiling to herself as she heard the laughter of her daughter and the other members of her family.

"When he is done nursing you can give him to me, I'll burp him." Sita offered as she sees her daughter looking outside.

"And then lay him down ma, not allowing him to fall asleep in your arms." Alex said raising an eyebrow at her mother.

"I can't promise you anything, I will try my best." Sita said walking over to her daughter so she can retrieve her grandson, taking a seat at the kitchen counter so they can be close to Theresa as well.

In the distance Ryan, Phoebe, Clive, Renata and CJ were wading in the water, Phoebe's feet splashing at the surface as the adults swung her by the arms, joyous laughter carrying back to their ears. Simone, Nadia and Shelby sitting on the porch. Luca was much nearer than the others, sitting at the edge of the water with CJ helping him form a messy sandcastle trying to get the baby not to put sand in his mouth.

It was perfect. For a few seconds Alex closed her eyes, breathing in the moment before exhaling steadily and looking at her friends and family having fun, for a moment her troubles are forgotten.

A knock on the door made Theresa get up to go see who it is, as she welcomed Nimah, Natalie, Renata, Clive and Quade. Pointing them towards the outside where the rest were and Amorey sneaking up behind her mother as she said she was too occupied with classes at University and might not be able to come out for the day.

"Hello mamma." Amorey smiled walking up behind her mother making her jump a little as she had not been expected to see her daughter. Not having words to express how happy she was she just kept hugging her daughter.

Outside Ryan's excitement seemed to grow more and more as more people arrive who he was not expecting to see. It wasn't long before all the kids were in the lake with some adults, a few of the guys checking the fore every now and then and the ladies made their way back inside to the kitchen to help with dinner preparations.

As the night time came closer the little ones became fidgety, and Alex decided maybe it was time for a bath to let them settle down. She was gathering Asher's bath things as Asher and CJ would be taking a bath together when Theresa and Sita intervened once again. "We'll bath them. It's an order you two go inside spend time with your friends."

"No Theresa it's really not nessec…"

"We wouldn't have offered if we didn't want to do it." Sita said taking a smiling CJ from his mother as they got ready for bath time. The two mothers surrenedered and went back into the kitchen to help with the last few preparations before dinner was ready.

"So is there anything we interrupted?" Shelby asked looking at Alex, Simone stifling a laugh behind Shelby where she took out greens from the fridge as she knows what Shelby was hinting at.

"Yeah I did notice you were looking quite….how shall I put it….wrinkled." Simone added and the looks she got from Nimah and Natalie made it clear that they wanted to get the whole story.

"You guys weren't supposed to show up when you did we expected you a little later. We were…occupied." Alex said not knowing why she was so ashamed of admitting things like this in front of her friends, she has two kids after all and they weren't created by just kissing and touching. They continued making the rest of the food while torturing Alex for information. Alex turned her attention back to her husband and eldest daughter, walking hand in hand along the edge of the lake. It wasn't long before they noticed her watching, waving happily then quickening their pace to get back to her faster. Phoebe tripped, Ryan consoled then hoisted the toddler onto his shoulders and had her smiling again in seconds.

Back outside at the grill everyone eventually made their way out of the water and Phoebe and Renata came inside both of them shivering as the wind picked up and their mothers tended to dry them off as best as they could before getting them into the bath also.

"Ryan did Caleb tell you about him getting arrested last night?" Quade asked seeing the look on his friend's face as Caleb begged him not to tell the story but Quade was not going to stop.

"Why would you get yourself arrested?" Ryan asked confused, yes his friend makes stupid decisions once in a while but he was an FBI agent and was supposed to know better than getting caught up on the wrong side of the law.

"Jo, can you please tell them to stop busting my balls, it's not even worth telling." Caleb looked for backup but Jo was just as eager to learn about what it was Quade had to say, and the crowd grew larger as Luca and Clive were now also joining waiting for the story to start.

Caleb groaned but ended up telling the story regardless. "Okay fine, Shelby and I tried role play to keep things fresh in the bedroom. I decided to be a security guard. Long story short I got out at the Ikea to buy some dinner, when I got stopped at the entrance because I didn't have a proof to show that I'm not a guard. And on top of that they accused me for not paying for the items I bought and I got arrested."

"Did you ever do role play again?" Jo asked trying to hide the amusement from his face but failing terribly at it as Caleb shook his head.

"And I asked the wrong person to come bail me out." Caleb said pointing towards Quad who kept laughing at the situation.

"You should've seen him, whenever the officer asked him to say why he had the uniform on when he wasn't a guard. He had no idea how to explain himself."

During dinner outside on the porch everyone gathered and ate the food that was prepared, and as usual there were a bunch of tales going around. One specifically that caught the attention of everyone was when Theresa started telling them about the small church they attended back home when Ryan was a toddler. "I'd always tell them to use their inside voices whenever we went to church, it wasn't big so generally the children sat with their parents during mass. And whenever they got upset about something their father would tell them to calm down. "

"Mom please I was two I didn't know about church rules back then." He said hoping his mother wouldn't tell this story.

"No please Theresa, do tell about what grandpa did." Caleb said happy to find out that they can bust someone elses balls for once and let him off the hook.

"I was so proud of him that day because he actually sat still not saying a word, so well behaved. Until the preacher raised his voice to accentuate his main points, towards the end of the sermon. Ryan stood up and yelled "Calm down sir - inside voices!" The preacher ended the service there and then.

It was dusk, the light fading in swirls of orange and pale purple at the horizon, but Alex didn't have the chance to admire the view. Dropping the half peeled potato into the sink she stepped out the back door in order to yell at the strange shadowy figure appearing at the edge of the woods.

"Luca, that might be enough" She tried to reason as the young man dragged an entire dead tree across the thick lawn between the back of the cabin and the lake. A second, much smaller figure, Phoebe, appeared a second later pulling a branch that looked like little more than a twig in comparison, followed by Renata. So much for them being bathed and then went back outside.

Alex wasn't sure who had made the suggestion, but one minute they were calmly playing cards on the back deck and the next everyone was rushing in opposite directions. Caleb headed for the woods with Phoebe and Renata trailing behind, Quade to the sandy lakeshore to arrange driftwood while Simone had driven into town for marshmallows.

The quiet night with dinner, baths and cuddling the little ones had quickly been replaced by grand plans for a bonfire and roasting marshmallows. Open flames and an overexcited, overtired toddlers seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Ryan pushed past his wife, muttering something along the lines of 'biggest bon fire ever' and Alex let out am audible groan before returning to making dinner. It was her one victory, no fire or marshmallows were permitted before everyone had eaten a proper meal. There were no complaints, or compliments, as they ate hurriedly on the back porch, everyone so keen for dessert they took little notice of the food.

"I got bug repellent" Simone announced, the first to stand once everyone had finished eating.

"Oh good" Natalie agreed, helping Theresa and Sita stack all their dishes into a single pile to be carried inside. While they had sat outside to eat most of the insect life had been too busy dancing about the light to bother them.

"We'll get the fire going, if you want to get Phoebe sorted" Ryan told his wife, balancing the fine line between telling her what to do and making a suggestion.

"Or you could lead by example" Alex encouraged, knowing it would be far easier to coat Phoebe in insect repellent if it was something they all had to do.

"It might take a while to get it going… and the smoke will keep the bugs away" Luca contributed with a hopeful smile.

"As long as you don't complain when you're covered in bites" She shrugged, watching both men's eyes light up with childlike excitement. The moment they had permission they were off, trying to maintain a calm exterior as they just about ran out into the darkness of the backyard.

After bundling Asher up and bribing Phoebe with marshmallows in order to slather her in insect repellent they were finally ready to join the men outside. The smell of wood smoke had already carried to the cabin. Orangey flames flickering in the distance made it easier to navigate towards the edge of the lake.

Ryan had been thoughtful enough to edge the fire in sturdy pieces of driftwood, a physical barrier to Phoebe, and set a few extra pieces further out for them to sit on. Once he was happy with the size of the fire, already larger than Alex had anticipated, they settled in. Everyone sharing logs while the babies were wrapped up and sitting with their mothers. All of them taking in the moment. Phoebe stood watching the fire in awe.

"Phoebe, you wanna help me get sticks?" Simone asked after a few minutes, it was nice to just relax and watch the fire but the bag of marshmallows on her lap seemed be getting heavier as temptation slowly overwhelmed her.

"More fires?" Phoebe questioned curiously, particularly interested in feeding the flames to make the fire bigger.

"No, for the marshmallows" Simone explained, only then realising she probably had no idea what they were about to do.

"Umkay" Phoebe accepted, following Simone around the fire to the pile of wood she had helped Luca collect. Simone began snapping off lengths of wood so Phoebe and renata copied her, the toddler not quite strong enough to break the branches.

"Could you hold these?" Simone suggested when she turned and saw Phoebe struggling.

"Yeah" Phoebe answered confidently, holding her arms out for the three straight, sturdy sticks Simone had tested and selected for their very specific purpose.

"That should be enough" Simone murmured, handing Phoebe another but keeping two more herself as spares.

"Put 'em in?" The toddler enquired as they neared the fire,

"No, no Phoebe" Luca answered, beckoning the toddler closer before Simone appeared out of the darkness that surrounded them. He guided Phoebe through the process of choosing a stick, piercing a marshmallow on the end and extending it out towards the flames, crouching behind her as he let her hold it in place. Avoiding the flames and rotating regularly resulted in a perfectly roasted marshmallow after only a few moments.

"Yummy!" Phoebe celebrated as she licked her sticky fingers, her mouth full of gooey warm marshmallow.

"My turn" Caleb informed, just managing to catch the marshmallow Nadia tossed him as his hand searched the ground for another stick. He wasn't nearly as careful as Phoebe had been with Luca's help and within seconds the marshmallow caught fire, charred and melted by the time he blew it out. Rather graciously he offered it to his wife, Shelby peeling off the burned outer layer before enjoying the centre. "I said for better or worse right?" She shrugged when everyone laughed at the fact that she was willing to eat the firey marshmallow.

With one arm around his wife and the other holding Phoebe as she lounged against him. The fire crackled before them while the starlit sky seemed to wrap around the contented family like a blanket. "Thank you for this. Hands down the best birthday gift ever." Ryan whispered to his wife, he might have been skeptical about them coming out and wasting money on a weekend away, but it was all worth it.

Hey guys, Thanks for reading! I know I said I will update soon but I am currently busy with my exams and this was the first chance I got to continue writing the chapter. I hope I didn't disappoint you guys too much with this one and that you enjoyed it as much as the previous one. Also I have some relationship drama that resulted in a breakup, so now I am even more depressed. Any tips for helping me get over a douchbag of a guy would be appreciated! DM them to me. Anyway enough about me now, I hope all of you are still enjoying the story.

Lovies-S