SNOWSWEPT

by CuddleFae

Dr. Lauren Lewis has been assigned to oversee the opening of a new hospital. Overwhelmed by all there is to know and learn in an unfamiliar land, she crosses paths with a mysterious woman with a dark past - a past that has caused her to live by one rule. Trust no one. Thrown into a desperate struggle, can they overcome the barriers between them in their fight to survive?

52. Chapter 52: Hard Lessons

A/N: Bringing you another FIRST chapter of a double chapter post – Chapters 52-53

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CHAPTER 52: Hard Lessons

The Beach

Bo sat, staring at her little sister who was sitting by herself watching Lauren, Shannie and Lynnie giving the family surfing lessons. It had been a long day for the youngster, having to sit alone while they went to the city and then watch everyone have fun in the water since they'd come back. Rudy was learning some hard lessons and Bo was learning more and more about her family every day.

She heard the door to the guest house slam and turned to see her brother coming outside. He was dressed in a long-sleeved white linen shirt, long white linen pants and a fishing hat. Shannie had run out to get him clothes for the beach so he would be protected from the sun. He had a surgical mask covering his face since his immune system had – as Bo understood it – been wiped out by the type of chemotherapy he was having done.

She had finally had a chance to talk to the two women and asked why his treatment had been changed to this drug therapy from just radiation therapy. They had explained that his bloodwork hadn't come back clean, so this was the only way to ensure that none of the cancer cells made it back into his body.

She sighed, turning back to greet him, but found that he had detoured his path to their little sister. Bo wasn't sure if Shannie and Lynnie had mentioned Rudy's punishment to him or not, but she did know that he had insisted on joining the search for at least the immediate property.

She smiled, seeing him sit down next to Rudy and throw an arm over her shoulder. They really had become fast friends and Bo was grateful that they had bonded so quickly. She knew well what it was like to have a big brother, so hoped that Rudy would always have him, LJ and Kurt in her life.

Rudy pulled off his hat, rubbing his head, now bald from the treatments. He leaned down and held one of her long locks up to his head, leading Rudy to giggle. He pulled the hat back on his head and pointed at something out on the horizon. The two of them stood, looking out across the water, so Bo looked too. She wasn't sure what they were looking at until she heard Rudy yell towards the family,

"MOM! LAUREN!" she held two hands up over her head as if she was praying, then pointed. Bo wasn't sure what was happening, but Mary and Lauren immediately gathered the family and had them head for shore. They paddled in quickly, Elise being rushed to shore by Mark at Mary's command.

Bo grabbed her crutches and pulled herself to a stand as Rudy came running down the beach,

"Roo?" Bo called, but her little sister waved her off and continued down the beach until she had Elise's hand and was helping her through the current to shore.

When she was steady on her feet, Rudy smiled, "Come on! Let's go see it!"

They raced off down the shoreline, climbing the two steps that led to the ramp to the pier. They hurried out to the end, Rudy pointing when a fine mist shot into the air,

"There!" Elise yelled.

Rudy nodded, "They have calves!"

The two stood, watching as the family walked down towards the pier. Mary and Lauren stopped when they reached Bo who asked,

"What's out there?"

"Whales with at least two calves," Lauren said, pulling her phone from her bag.

"What are you doing?" Bo asked.

"Calling the beach patrol. We're on a private stretch of beach, but if they head towards the public beaches, they'll want to clear the water. This could get ugly."

"Why?" Bo asked.

Mary pointed, "See those dorsal fins that are shorter and more triangular?"

Bo scanned the horizon, finally seeing what her mom was pointing to,

"More whales?"

Mary shook her head, "Sharks. They probably chased the whales into shallower water, so they'd have a better chance of getting the calves."

"They eat whale calves? Won't the whales just kill the sharks and eat them instead?"

Mary sighed, "Sadly, that's not necessarily the case. There will be a fight. One that Lauren will want to be up on the pier for. Rudy has seen such a scene before and understands it's just nature, but for Elise, it could be a quite an ugly spectacle to see given her passion for animals. I've found it even applies to fish – big or small."

"Oh?" Bo asked.

Mary nodded, pulling on her cover up and big hat, "She's not such a big fan of fishing. She doesn't mind reeling them in or casting out the line but baiting the hook and taking the hook out of the fish – cleaning the fish… not so much."

Bo sighed, "I have to respect her respect for life, Mom. It's not the way I live, but I have to respect how she feels."

"Ysabeau, we are a subsistence family. The child has got to learn how to feed herself."

Bo nodded, "And she will, Mom. Remember – this is the kid who survived on canned soups for who knows how long. She's a resilient one."

"Resilient, huh?" Mary smiled, "Word calendar?

Bo nodded, "Yup. I had some catching up to do. Good word, don't you think?"

Mary nodded, "Indeed."

Bo smiled, "I'm going to use it a lot. I like it."

"About Elise…"

"Mom, eggs and beans for protein are just as effective as meat and fish. She's young. She may change her mind about meat, but for now, if she wants to be an obnoxious vegan, it's okay. We'll work around it. Just please just let us take this one step at a time with her."

Mary smiled, "Of course, Child. She's your responsibility now. I suppose we can plant some bean sprouts when we get home."

"Well, she hasn't rejected any foods just yet, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. It seems she just doesn't want to be the one doing the killing. If I hadn't been raised with basic fight or flight instincts, I might feel the same, Mom. The kid has been through so much death – to have no family left… we know how it feels to suffer that loss."

Bo looked over at Tosh, "I mean, I'm happy to have that beautiful man over there for a big brother now, but I'll never forget the three that I lost, Mom."

She turned to Mary, "You never talk about them, but I can only imagine the pain you carry over the loss of your three boys."

She could see her mom's eyes well with tears, "I'm sorry, Mom. I really am. I wish there was something I could have done to sway them. It took me too long to realize who they were. I hadn't seen them for so long. Maybe if I'd recognized them sooner…"

Mary brought a hand up to her daughter's cheek, "Child, I lost my boys long before they left with your father. He was controlling their every thought from the time they were old enough to get behind a team. As much as I miss them, it seems my focus remains on the hatred I feel for James over what he took from me."

Bo was left speechless at the sound of her Father's real name… or maybe it was that she was transported back to a time when her mom would use the name in their home on the North Slope.

"I haven't heard you call him that since… well, I don't know when. I wonder if that's why I didn't recognize who he was for so long."

Mary shrugged, "Does it really matter?"

"I suppose not, but I still struggle with… I don't know… I just thought I was stronger and smarter than… well, what I turned out to be."

Mary shook her head, "It would appear that being left on your own at such a young age caused you to develop unrealistic expectations of your younger self."

"Unrealistic?" Bo asked, "Mom, anything short of what I had to do would have left me dead. I expected to live and so my expectations were set at that bar. But I didn't remember how to hunt or fish on my own. Those memories were lost to me."

She shook her head, "Before I relearned what you taught me so young, there were many days I went without food because I didn't remember how to track an animal or make a fishing rod that wouldn't break. I fished with my bare hands in the river, using my fingers as bait. I slept many nights buried beneath the dogs because I didn't know how to make a shelter by myself."

Heaving a sigh, she finished, "My mind was unfocused, my memories of skills you'd taught me buried. I was consumed with fear and obsessed with awareness of my surroundings. I lived in a constant state of impending doom, ready to fight off an animal or human who intended me harm, freezing to death, losing the dogs… I'd always had you or one of my brothers there to help and suddenly, I was alone with one thought, one voice driving me on…"

"You are a strong, Athabascan Warrior, my Child… you will survive," she looked up at her mom, tears in her eyes, "Be glad my expectations were what they were, Mom. If they hadn't been, I wouldn't be here."

Mary nodded, kissing her daughter's forehead, "You misunderstand, Child. I blame myself for not giving you the skills you needed before I left you behind. I left much sooner than I'd anticipated needing to leave. I trusted that your father would be taken into custody – not that they would need more evidence and certainly not that he would find out I had gone to the federal agencies of the white man. If I had stayed within the laws of our elders, he would have never been brought to justice."

Bo nodded, "Uncle Gemini and Elijah Tarook would have influenced the Council of Elders in his favor."

"Yes. No matter who I was to any of them, they would have betrayed me. Their fear of him was that great."

Bo shook her head, "I'm so sorry, Mom. So many people have let you down."

Mary smiled, "But not you," she took Bo's hands in her own, "I'm so very proud of you, Child - and all that you have become... survivor, craftsman, hunter, gatherer, builder, musher, businesswoman, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, wife and now… a mother. You are an intelligent, beautiful, fierce defender and protector of those you love. You are more than I could have ever dreamed, Ysabeau."

The brunette smiled, "Thank you, Mom. I'm so happy you're back in my life and grateful you've given me such a wonderful little sister."

Mary nodded, "We are truly blessed by the Spirits."

"We are, Mom. We certainly are," Bo nodded, shifting her gaze to the pier at the end of the beach, "Let's go see how those calves are doing."

Mary nodded, slipping her arm beneath her daughters' to help her along, "So, tell me about these friends of your wife that you're going to dinner with tonight."

"Well, Bev is the owner of the shop that Rudy found her way to…"

"I must send her a token of my appreciation," Mary smiled, holding Bo when she stumbled a bit in the sand.

"Her wife is Ronnie – a therapist. They have a quaint little property just about two miles down the road. The bookstore is on the main road, then there's an adorable little garden between the store and their house with what they called a 'She Shed' to the side of the cottage that is their main residence."

"A she shed?"

Bo nodded, "It's a shed much like the one that I use for my fishing, trapping and hunting gear only it's been turned into an office for Ronnie. She sees her clients there, does research, writes her papers and does some of her personal projects there."

"Personal projects?"

"She's a mudder?"

"A mudder?"

"Apparently it's someone who makes pottery."

Mary smiled, "A woman after my own heart."

Bo laughed, "But they don't make their own clay… at least I don't think they do."

"They can make sand pots. Maybe that should be my gift to them," Mary smiled.

"I think they'd like that. We could invite them to come by tomorrow if you'd like."

"Whatever you and Lauren think is best."

Bo nodded, "Well, I'm definitely going to ask them about their chicken run. I wonder if they would survive in Alaska."

"I'm not all that familiar with raising chickens, so can offer only a few points of knowledge. First, specific breeds are raised in Alaska – those bred to endure our cold winters. Second, there are land requirements for the number of chickens you have and finally, you will likely need a way to get heat to their coops and runs."

"Well, It might be an exciting project for the kids this spring," Bo said, putting her crutches in one hand as they scaled the short staircase, "It won't be long until school gets out and we'll need to keep them busy."

Mary nodded, "Don't forget that I will be starting those weekly meetings as Chair of the Iditarod Committee."

"Yea. Lauren mentioned that you told her the meetings would be rotating locations."

"Yes. In the past, the meetings were always held in Anchorage, but that seems very unfair to me. The first meeting is here in town, then they move further out towards the west coast each week until we finish drawing up the new constitution. The new board agreed to Friday meetings so that no one misses work, and they can spend the weekend in one place if need be. The host town is going to ask local hotels to discount or provide free rooms to the board members during their stays. Kenzi has already agreed to provide free room and board for our first meeting, but I told her just to discount the meals."

"Wow. She's going to feed them too?"

Mary nodded, "Your friend is quite generous, Ysabeau."

"She is, but I just want to be sure she doesn't put herself in a bind financially."

"I told her the same thing and I also told the members in my first letter that they should pay full price for their meals if they can afford them. They would, after all, be paying for food if they were at home."

"Sister! Mom! Look! The sharks are swimming away!" Rudy shouted.

Mary smiled, "The calves are safe?"

Rudy shook her head, "That little one got bit. Lauren's worried about the blood in the water, so she called her people back and told them to bring a lift."

"A lift?" Mary asked.

Lauren pointed to the metal structure over head on the opposite side of the pier, "That's a boat lift I had installed for one of my old sailboats. If they bring their pole lift, they'll be able to get the calf out of the water and treat it."

Mary nodded, "I see it's mother is circling it."

"The rest of the pod has moved further away," Lauren said, pointing to the whales she could see, "There, there, there and there."

"Mom – you shoulda seen – there were like fifteen whales over here!"

"Wow. That's quite a pod."

Lauren nodded, "We've seen a great deal of unusual behavior in recent years. From what I've read, most scientists are blaming changes in the climate, water temperature and storm surge."

Lauren pointed out over the ocean, "There are also theories about changes in the ocean currents, though I really know very little about such things. Kelly has a friend who works for the IFAW, so she knows more about it."

Kelly jumped into the conversation, "We've had so many mass strandings here on the Cape, it's horrifying. The Great White Shark population is up to the point where many beaches have emergency closures due to shark sightings now and again."

She shrugged, "The strandings of whales they believe has something to do with the songs they sing and how they change as they get closer to land. There's been close to five hundred strandings each year for almost a full decade. It's unsettling, really. These whales should not be here. Not this close to a pier and not this close to a beach."

Elise pointed to the house, "There's somebody here in a big truck, Lauren."

The blonde nodded, "That's Kelly's friends from the IFAW."

"What's the IF… what did you call it?" Rudy asked, her face scrunched up with confusion.

Lauren smiled, "The IFAW – the International Fund for Animal Welfare. They have a Marine Mammal Rescue Team about thirty minutes from here," she turned to the group, "Okay, everyone. We're going to need to give them room to work. If you can all file down the ramp and keep to the sides, we'll free up the end of the pier for them to do their thing."

The blonde noticed Bo hanging over the pier, "Bo? You alright?"

She shrugged, "I don't know how much a whale calf weighs, but I'm thinking with all of us on here, plus the weight of that lift, plus the weight of the whale and the rescuers, we should probably all head back to shore."

"You're concerned about the pier?" Lauren asked.

Bo nodded, "When was the last time this was inspected?"

"Two years?"

"Every year, Lauren. I have to insist," Bo smiled, though Lauren could see the concern in her eyes. She turned to the family, "Okay, everyone – we're going to have to watch from the beach. I didn't consider the pier's weight limit and that we're going to be lifting a whale up here."

Everyone turned and walked down the ramp, giving greeting to the rescue team as they moved up the ramp in the opposite direction. Kelly and Lauren remained, the younger blonde grinning when she saw her friend,

"Maeve! How are you?"

"Oh, Kelly! It's so good to see you! Why didn't you tell me you were going to be back in town?"

Kelly smiled, "I told Mike, but he said you were on shift every day this week. No days off? What's up with that?"

She held her belly, "Well, after the maternity leave and additional child rearing leave I took, I felt a bit obligated to help out the rest of the team. Sam's wife is due any day, so he wanted to take this week off to be with her just in case. You know how this job is. We could end up three hours away when he gets the call."

Kelly nodded, "I totally understand."

"Who is that guy Kurt?"

"You met Kurt?"

"Well, met isn't exactly the word I'd use. I was walking up the ramp and he stuck his hand out, said 'you must be Maeve, I'm Kurt', shook my head and kept walking."

Kelly grinned, "I described you to him."

"Random Kurt needed a description of me?" she asked.

Kelly shook her head, a big smile stretching across her face as she held up her hand, "Random fiancé Kurt needed a description of you."

"No shit! You're engaged? Free-wheeling, who-will-I-bang-tonight Kelly Chapman is engaged?"

Kelly chuckled, "I know! Can you believe it? Oh, Maeve, he is just… he's my everything! I've barely peeked at another living soul since I met him! We work together as emergency medics on a helicopter in Alaska. My life with him is just so… exciting and new and energizing and… oh, I don't know. I'm learning new things and he's spontaneous and he loves the outdoors like I do… admittedly, the cold took some getting used to, but now I just can't imagine coming back here."

She nodded to her friends, "Shannie, Lynnie and I stayed in Boston with Cara and Sue our first night here. Not one of us got any sleep! I don't know how we ever did. There is so much noise and traffic and so many people and – gawd, I never realized how claustrophobic a city can make you feel with all the tall buildings. I much prefer mountain ranges… and…"

"Whoa, whoa there, Kell Kell! You are talking a million miles a minute. I've never seen you like this. He's really got you, huh?"

"So much, Maeve. So much. I am so in love with that man."

Maeve smirked, "Well, he is adorable. I love the messy hair and his body… sa-weet Lord Baby Jesus save my soul. Is he as gifted down below as he is up above?"

Kelly slapped her friend, "Stop it, Maeve!" she laughed before whispering, "SO gifted."

Maeve laughed before turning to her team,

"We're ready for you, Maeve!"

"Coming Mack!"

"Can you help me out, Kell?"

Kelly nodded, "Just tell me where you need me."

Maeve looked over the end of the pier, "Oh my. He's not long for this world if we don't get him out of there soon, gentlemen," she said, holding up a hand, "Um… wait a minute… I think… yes, I think we have an entanglement situation here. Do you see the net on the calves' dorsal fin? I believe that's why he's on his side. Still, the mother may not realize she's rolling him over and I can't see if his blowhole is clear for him to take a breath."

Mack nodded, "I see it now, Maeve. I think I need to repel down as we bring him up and cut the line between them. We'll have to hang out and see if the mom beaches herself or heads out to open water. If she sees us taking her calf to shore, we're going to end up with two whales on our hands."

"Well, I'd prefer not to separate them anyway. We have the big tank for them now that we freed Fred and Ginger."

Mack nodded, "Okay," he said, pulling on his harness and toolbelt while the rest of the team positioned the pole harness for the whale.

Maeve pulled out her radio, "Alan? Got your ears on?"

"Got ya, Maeve. What's up?"

"We've got an entangled mother with a calf."

"Have you separated them?"

"Working on it now, but the mother is still in the water about twenty-five yards from shore. We only brought the one truck. Do you want to pick up the mother?"

"You'll have to see if she strands herself after you bring her calf on shore. Chances are the calf will call to her and that will be enough to bring her to you."

"I know that, Alan. But I don't want to be in a position where a four-person team is trying to handle two whales simultaneously."

"You don't have a crowd around the beach?"

"We're right in front of a home where there is a family, but there's young kids and…"

"Use them until I can get someone there, Maeve."

"Alan, please get in the truck and come here now."

"I know. I'm just… I was hoping that…"

"Alan! Get your ass in the truck and get here. You took the shift. Work the shift."

"I'll be there."

"Thirty minutes, Alan or I write you up."

"Fine. I'll be there."

"Thank you."

Maeve put her radio down and shook her head. Kelly asked, "What's up with him?"

"Uh, well, he's had some issues since the last time you saw him."

Kelly shook her head, "He had issues before I left. The divorce, the drinking, the cancelled visitations with his kid…"

"Yea, well things have only gotten worse. He's in rehab, but I'm guessing he was heading for a bar before I called him. That or he's in the bar and doesn't want to drive because he's drunk. He knows to tell me if that's the case, so hopefully he's not holding that back."

"Maeve? Got your ears on?"

She shook her head, looking at Kelly, "I'm here, Alan."

"Listen… I know you're gonna be upset and I know this is irresponsible but there was no one here and I was sitting alone and I started thinking about Pamela and…"

"Cut to the chase, Alan."

"I've had three drinks, Maeve."

"Shit!" Maeve said, off air before clicking the radio, "Stay where you are. I'm sending someone for the truck."

"I'm really sorry…"

Maeve clicked off the radio and tossed it onto her gear, looking up at Kelly, "Any chance you and Kurt want to rescue a whale instead of a human?"

Kelly smiled, "I'll be back in a jiffy."

"I owe you one, Kelly."

"Dinner. Tonight?"

"Our place. It'll give us a chance to get to know Kurt. I'm afraid it will be pizza."

"Nothing fancy necessary. Besides, Kurt has just discovered that he loves east coast pizza."

Perfect.

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The team worked quickly to get the calf out of the water, finding that the fishing line that had wrapped around his dorsal fin had a line of hooks attached that had worked their way into the thick skin of the mammal. The shark had, indeed, taken a bite out of the whale, but luckily, he did not get to the crucial liver – a commonly targeted organ for the predator.

The mother had successfully fended off the shark using her mighty tale but had taken some damage in the process. While she had likely unraveled her calf from the net, she had fully encased herself. Other than limited use of one lateral fin and her tail fin, she was barely keeping herself above water.

Maeve and Mack worked quickly to devise a rigging to use Lauren's speedboat to tow her to the lift, then pull her from the water. It would take the entire family to get her down the ramp of the pier to the waiting truck. Just as they thought they'd finished their planning, Bo spoke up,

"Listen. I'm no whale rescuer, but it seems pretty unsafe to carry a whale that distance. I mean, if she slips from one person's hands she could get hurt or possibly land on one of them, right?"

Maeve nodded, "Do you have another idea?"

Bo nodded, "Actually, I do," she turned to her Mom, "Lauren's surfboards. We can lash them together to make a raft, add lifejackets and the life rings from the pool out back all around on the edges for additional buoyancy and bring her to the beach through the water."

She turned to Kelly and Kurt, "You guys know how to hook up a tow line for a sled. Use the same knots at the front of the raft we make. We don't have to get the whale fully on the raft – just her head, right?"

Maeve nodded, "Just enough to get her to shore."

Bo shrugged, "Those two poles with the hammock in the middle – can we attach the big inner tubes we have for tubing to the side to keep her afloat?"

"They probably can't hold her weight."

Lauren shook her head, "My tubes are the tubes from tractor trailer tires. They're much more heavy duty. Besides, you said as long as her head is up, right?"

Maeve nodded, "This could work. Let's do it."

They all worked together, Bo and Mary making the raft, Lauren and Maeve lashing the tubes to the pole lift and Kelly and Kurt making the tow line to the boat,

"I don't know how to drive a boat," Kurt said.

Lauren was shocked, "There's a machine that Kurt Swift can't drive?"

"I'm afraid so," he said.

Lauren smiled, "Well, hop in then. You're going to learn."

"Really?" he asked.

"You have to ask?"

"You don't understand. I've been eyeing those two boats back there since we got here!"

"The sailboat?" Lauren asked.

He nodded, "I've always wanted to know what it was like to be in a boat completely powered by wind. I've seen it in movies and I just think it's so cool."

Lauren grinned, "It is. Very cool."

"Have you always been into sailing?"

Lauren smiled, "Yale University Varsity Sailing Team for four years, before that, sailed all my life. Patrick was my sailing partner."

"No way!"

"I loved it. That was the first boat I ever bought. She's my baby. Maybe we'll be able to go out tomorrow or Thursday. You'll need some lessons first since it's not the kind of boat that really maneuvers the way it can with just one person. If Patrick goes along with us, then you can just sit in the middle and enjoy the ride."

"Awesome!" Kurt grinned, "I'll ask him tonight when we're out."

Lauren nodded, "That's right. It's city night tonight."

"Apparently, we're doing all of your favorite bars according to Kelly."

"Good luck. Drink lots of water the rest of the day," Lauren laughed, "Okay, everything looks good to go. Let's get a move on. Momma needs a ride," Lauren smiled, "This is an inboard boat. No props in the water. Jet powered. Safest boat for someone who doesn't know these waters to drive. This is the throttle… it works like this."

Lauren thrust the throttle forward, launching the boat off the beach and into the air over the first swell while Kurt flew backwards, hitting the bench seat at the rear. She turned and grinned, circling out to sea before making a side circle back towards the larger whale. She spotted the larger pod,

"Family is on the right out there, so keep an eye on them. They may not like what we're about to do."

"Right," Kurt said, "Thanks for the warning."

She slowly entered in a line to the left of the large whale, meeting the rescue crew who were in their inflatable boats, slipping the sling under the whale. Kurt reached in and grabbed the pole, pulling it up and hitching it to the vertical line behind the cross strap that ran under the flippers on either side of the whale,

"Okay, harness secured…" he reached again, attaching the tow line to the center, "…and… tow line secured."

Lauren nodded, cautiously moving her boat forward as Kurt guided the line past the large mammal.

"She's so big, Lauren."

The blonde nodded, "I hope the line holds."

"You know, I have an idea. Your engine is probably going to scare the hell out of her and the last thing we need is for her to try to dive while she's attached to us."

"That's for sure."

He yelled to Maeve, "Can you tow us in using your three boats?"

She gave a wave, tossing lines to him as they moved past.

"Lauren, where do I hook these?"

"Under the bow… and on the dock cleats."

He did as instructed as the boats moved ahead, taking up the slack. Lauren gave a wave and the rescue boats slowly powered up their engines. To keep the strain off her boat, the blonde throttled up just enough to get her boat moving.

"You good, Lauren?" Kurt asked.

She nodded, "Can you stand on the back deck just to give me a little extra weight back there?"

"Sure enough," Kurt said, "It's a good thing you don't have a prop engine."

She nodded, "Definitely."

Progress was slow, but they finally got the magnificent creature to the shallows where the sand would keep her above water so she could breathe, the water beneath would keep her wet, yet they could still work to free her from the tangled net. Rudy and Elise sat on either side of Bo and Tosh up on the beach well away from the animal. Their heads turned right and left as they watched the continual progress of the teams working on the calf and the mother.

Finally, after about twenty-five minutes, Maeve had assessed the condition of both animals and talked to all of the members of the team. She moved over to Mack who was standing near Lauren and Shannie,

"Okay, so we definitely need to transport the calf back to a tank. If we put him back into the sea with those wounds, he's essentially shark bait."

Mack nodded, "Well, calves are already shark bait but at least we can hold onto this one until he's got a fighting chance out there."

"My thoughts exactly," she placed her hands on her hips and looked down at the larger whale, "I think Mom is just tired although I'm not one hundred percent sure she doesn't have a fracture. Her breathing seems labored, but again, defending her young while bound up in that net… well, not ideal."

Lauren nodded, looking up to see Elise and Rudy standing together, pointing at the whale, and talking.

"Maeve, would it be okay if the girls came over here and had a quick little lesson with you before you take her away?"

She nodded and barely had the invitation out of her mouth before the girls were by her side. She taught them about their blow holes, their skin and the species of whale they were looking at,

"Is there a left whale too?"

Maeve chuckled, "Nope. Just a right whale. These guys have been beaching themselves like crazy from here to Canada. We're doing a lot of research to figure out why, but don't really have the problem solved just yet. Hang tight a second, girls."

Maeve raised the radio to her mouth, "Alan? Got your ears on?"

"Maeve, I'm really sorry…"

"Alan, focus. I need a tag team out here. There's a large pod of maybe ten to fifteen whales off the coast from Lauren Lewis' place. The mom and calf we're bringing back to the tanks belong to that pod. If we can tag a few of the whales in that pod, we'll be able to reunite these two once they're ready for release. Can you handle that, Alan?"

"I'm on it, Maeve. I'll call the team now and have them out there in… probably just under an hour."

"Perfect. Someone here will keep spotting the pod. I'll call you with a number that you can pass on to the team."

"Why?"

Maeve shook her head, "Focus, Alan. I need you to get this right. When the team comes out here, the pod may have moved. The spotters will be watching the pod, so they'll know where they are and can point the team in the right direction so they can catch up with them."

"Right."

"Good. Now, why is the team coming out here?"

"Tag the pod that belongs to the two you're bringing in."

"And where are they?"

"Coast, near Lauren Lewis' Beach House."

"Right. Make the call to the team, Alan. Maeve out."

"Alan out."

"Sorry, girls. What was your question?" Maeve asked.

"I learned that whale calves are always getting killed by sharks. Is that what happened?" Rudy asked.

Maeve shook her head, "Actually, that's not true. Usually, sharks will only go after a calf that is injured or left alone by its mom. They don't want to tangle with Mom or any other whales in the pod because they usually lose."

"So, what happened?"

"Well, it seems like mother and son got tangled together in that fishing net we cut off of them. I believe the shark figured out that they were in distress and gave chase, leading the whales to head into these shallows. I'm going to guess that while mom was fighting off the shark, she somehow unraveled junior over there, but unfortunately trapped herself in doing so. I'd also guess the only reason she survived was because the pod protected her."

Rudy and Elise nodded, Elise replying, "So they got really lucky."

"Probably, but sharks don't routinely eat whales. They have some really tough skin so it's difficult for sharks to bite deep enough to do harm. They usually just release them."

Elise looked at the young calf, "So what will you do with them now?"

Maeve smiled, "Well, as soon as Kurt and Kelly get our big truck backed in here, we'll load mom onto that truck and head to the Center for Coastal Studies down the street."

"Can we come visit them?" Elise asked.

Lauren smiled, looking up at Maeve, "This is Elise. She wants to be a veterinarian. She's already working in our kennel clinic with champion sled dogs in Alaska."

"Alaska! My, aren't you a long way from home," Maeve smiled, "I worked on a research vessel up there for a semester during my graduate school days. It's a beautiful state."

Rudy smiled, "It's the best state… next to Hawaii… and Masstachoochets."

Maeve chuckled, "We are definitely the most difficult state to pronounce, huh?"

"Big time!" Rudy smiled.

"Well, we'll ask Meena when she gets here," Maeva looked up at the driveway, expecting to see Kurt and Kelly, but instead saw the Center's truck, "Here comes Meena now."

Rudy and Elise turned towards the truck where a team of four hopped out, carrying bags of gear with them.

"Wow. Quite a crowd. I'm glad you had help, Maeve."

They hugged, before Maeve gave a nod to Lauren, "Look who's home."

Meena smiled, "Lauren! Ohmagosh! How are you?"

"Other than these poor guys, I'm good, thanks. This is Elise and Rudy. They're interested in coming to visit your new friends down at the center if that would be okay."

Meena grinned, "So, you're friends of Lauren's?"

The girls shook their heads, Rudy correcting her first, "I'm her Sister," followed by Elise, "I'm her adopted daughter."

Meena's eyes went wide as she looked up at Lauren who was smiled, slowly allowing her eyes to travel to Maeve's who said,

"Okay. We definitely need a catch-up night."

Lauren smiled, "Well, my wife and I are going out to dinner tonight with Ronnie and Bev if you want to meet up with us at some point."

"I'm there. Text me the time and place. I haven't seen Bev and Ronnie for months. Winter does tend to turn us into strange little hermit crabs," Maeve smiled, "I've gotta text my husband and tell him I'm doing a girls night."

Meena laughed, "A lesbian night. I'm coming too. I want to know how these two precious little gems came into your life," she smiled, looking up at Lauren as it suddenly hit her, "Wait. Did you say wife?"

Lauren smiled, "Yup. Rudy is my wife's sister."

"And Elise?" Meena asked.

"That's a long story. We'll talk later. You ladies have work to do and I want to get these two back up on the beach before you start moving them."

"You'll need to move everyone back. How's the calf?" Meena asked as Lauren turned and began to move her family back up near the dunes on the other side of the driveway.

Maeve shook her head, "Weak. So is the mom," she explained her theory about the modality of injury and then assisted while Meena did another exam that involved treating the wounds, blowhole and tagging the two animals.

Rudy turned to her Mom, "Are they piercing their fins?"

Lynnie smiled, "They're tagging them. That way they'll be able to track their movements and know if one ends up in a different location than the other. They'll also tag the pod so that when they're better, they can release them back to their family."

"So they tag them to follow them and know how they're all doing?"

Elise frowned, "Because one dies?"

"Or they get separated. Calves sometimes get lost, and the ocean is a big place."

"Like Dory?" Elise asked.

The two girls turned to each other and smiled, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming…."

They burst into laughter, stopping only when they heard another big truck pulling in. It was Kelly and Kurt,

"Time to move Momma!" Elise smiled, clapping, "They're gonna take you to the whale doctor to make you better!"

"Then you can do more surfing lessons," Rudy smiled.

Elise shook her head, "I'm gonna wait until tomorrow so you can teach me, Roo. I don't like being out there without you. We can do something on the beach together."

"Really?" Rudy asked.

Elise nodded, "You looked really sad before the whales came in. I want you to have some happy time."

"Thanks, E."

"Sure, Roo."

Elise held Rudy's hand as they watched the rescue workers take care of the whales and eventually take them away. The family gathered, talking idly about the adventure of the day before everyone helped to clean up the beach area. They would then head off in smaller groups for the rest of the day and evening.

One group was going into the city by ferry, one group was going crabbing with Stephen and Betsy before having an outdoor cookout for dinner and Mary was going to stay with Tosh and the home healthcare aid that was coming in another hour to do his last treatment.

Shannie and Lynnie had promised Tosh a trip to the Market Place in Boston so that he could eat oysters and drink beer at the oldest oyster house in the country… that is, as soon as he could stomach the meal and the travel. He was hoping that he would feel better by Saturday.

For Bo and Lauren, it was dinner with Lauren's friends' night. As they showered and dressed, Lauren could see that Bo's mood had changed so she decided she needed to ask,

"Bo? Are you sure you're okay with going tonight?"

The brunette nodded, turning to Lauren, "Sure."

"Sure?"

"Yes?" Bo corrected.

"Bo, you can stay with your mom and Tosh or go into the city with our friends if you'd rather."

She chuckled, "Me and the city, huh? Because we get along so well?"

Lauren sighed, "I'm sorry. I guess this is not the best vacation for you."

"Are you kidding me?" Bo asked, "Hanging out on the beach with my knee up, watching my family and friends have a blast? I love this, Lauren. I'm just not big on the city part. I'll have fun tomorrow."

"Are you up for a sail?" Lauren asked, coming to kneel over Bo's lap, "Or you could be my spotter while I take people out wakeboarding or wake surfing."

"I don't know what either of those are, but wherever you are, I'm there," Bo smiled, tilting her head back when Lauren leaned down to kiss her.

The blonde whispered, "I can use Tosh as the excuse for why you couldn't do dinner tonight. I really am okay if you don't want to go."

Bo shook her head, "I want to do this, Lauren. I'm just… I'm nervous."

Lauren smiled, "Why didn't you say so?"

"Um… embarrassment, humiliation, social phobia admission issues? Take your pick."

"Bo, it's me – your wife. There is nothing you can't tell me and no reason to be embarrassed. You've just been so social this week – I thought you were okay."

"Meeting your friends in the open air is just different than being in a restaurant."

Lauren smiled, "Well, then you can relax because we're eating at an outdoor restaurant."

"Really?" Bo asked.

"Yup. The place is called Murphy's and you're going to love it."

"Okay then. I think I feel a little better," Bo smiled.

Lauren grinned, "I can make you feel even better if you'd like."

She slid her arm down Bo's chest, over her abdomen and beneath the robe, using her free hand to push Bo back onto the bed, but Bo stopped her,

"Lock the door."

Lauren laughed, shaking her head, "Right. Kid proof sex practices."

She hurried over and locked the door before running back to the bed,

"Okay, wife… brace yourself. Your honey is horny."

Bo giggled as Lauren untied her robe, took a breast in her mouth and simultaneously slipped her hand between her legs. Chills rushed over every inch of her body before a surge of heat followed,

"I will never get enough of you, Lauren Dennis."

The blonde released her nipple with a pop and paused, "I really love being Lauren Dennis. Just Dennis."

"And?"

Lauren nodded, "You are my family, Bo. The Lewis name is a business name only… like Talkeetna Hotel."

"What do you say we table this discussion until after our honeymoon?" Bo asked.

Lauren smiled, "I just wanted to say it out loud. I'm wiping the Lewis name from existence starting with the Lewis-Archer Surgical Center. Dennis-Archer has a much better sound, don't you think?"

"I thought that you were going to wait a year to be sure you transitioned your name. Finances are important to the hospital and the hospital is important to the people, Lauren."

The doctor nodded, "I know. You're right. I just… I can't wait to be just Dennis. Everyone here knows me as Lewis and… well, I just wish I could wave a magic wand, and everyone would know."

"I'm sure one of the tabloids will pick it up – you being you and all."

Lauren nodded, "Very true."

Lauren jumped at the sound of a bang and laughter downstairs.

"I trust nothing broke or there would be silence," Bo said.

Lauren relaxed, "You know I love your family, but we will be taking another honeymoon – just the two of us."

Bo grinned, "Whatever you say, Mrs. Dennis."

"Good answer, Mrs. Dennis."

Lauren kissed her way down Bo's body, savoring her form and scent as she moved. When she reached her thighs, she slid off the bed, kneeling on the floor before lifting Bo's legs onto her shoulder, careful to support her injured knee. With her eyes locked on the brunette's she slid her tongue up between her swollen folds, watching for the moment she knew Bo could take the teasing no longer.

It was then that she captured the hardened nub in her mouth and slipped her fingers deep into her core, thrusting slowly and gently to match the movement of Bo's hips.

The brunette reached down, her fingers tracing the side of Lauren's face, "I love you, Lauren Dennis. I love you so damn much."

The blonde curled her fingers teasing the spot that she knew would send Bo's hips into overdrive… and it did. The frenzied battle between her need to please her wife versus the need to have this moment last forever raged on in the blonde's mind.

Seeing Bo like this was an image she wished she could photograph and hang on her wall. But then, the wave hit and Lauren saw an even more beautiful image as the brunette's mouth dropped open, her perfect lips… eyes… breasts… body freezing as if the world stood still for that singular moment. That was the photograph… that was the moment Lauren wanted to capture.

As Bo came down from her climax, the blonde slowed her movements, eventually releasing the brunette's body from her grasp and settling her head on her shoulder,

"I love you, Bo Dennis. I will love you until my last dying breath."

Bo sighed, her mind thinking of that moment for just a second, "Just make sure that breath is after I take mine. I don't think I could survive if I ever lost you, Lauren. I honestly don't know how I would take another breath myself."

Lauren propped herself up on her elbow, "You would. You'd find a way, Bo. For Rudy. For Elise."

She sighed, laying her head back down on her wife's shoulder, "I guess that's the one downside of a love like ours. At some point, it will end in the most hurtful way. But it's my hope that we'll be ninety-year-old ladies sitting in our rocking chairs on the cottage porch while the dogs play in the yard. Maybe we'll just fall asleep holding each other and not wake up."

Bo smiled, "Yea. Maybe that's how it would happen. I think I could handle that."

Lauren grinned, "Sounds peaceful."

They were quiet for a long moment before Bo laughed, "We're on our honeymoon and I bring up the topic of your death. Why on earth did you marry me?"

Lauren lifted her head, straddling the brunette. She slowly opened her robe and slipped it off her shoulders, revealing her body to the her wife. A wicked grin spread across her lips,

"Because I love the way you fuck me."

"You don't have to ask me twice," Bo said, her eyes glued to the blonde's as she sat up and slipped a hand between Lauren's legs, entering her with a powerful thrust while her mouth savored the taste of any piece of flesh she could find,

"Like I said… " Lauren mumbled as she took control, riding Bo's fingers hard and fast.

Bo hated to release the breast she was enjoying, but she needed to see her wife… to watch her as she took what she wanted. From their first time together, she had admired the blonde for her ability to take without reservation or embarrassment. She was a sexual being and she wore her desire well… so well.

"You are so damn beautiful, Lauren. I am just in awe of you when I see you like this."

Lauren leaned down, capturing Bo's lips with her own, deepening the kiss as she rode her faster and harder, faster and harder…

"If we were alone in this house, I would be screaming your name right now."

Bo leaned back, taking in every inch of the blonde, "I want to remember you like this every minute of every day… this after-hours Lauren. The one who takes with reckless abandon…" Bo said, "…so beautiful…"

Their eyes locked as Lauren's hips bucked wildly, her climax coursing through every fiber of her being until she collapsed, falling forward onto Bo's body… her breathing heavy... her body limp.

Bo wrapped her arms around the blonde, holding her tight, "And now I really wish we weren't going to dinner."

Lauren grinned, "But you're about to have the best seafood dinner you've ever had and then, we're going to come back here and do that again… possibly until morning since we can sleep on the beach until we go out on the boat."

"So, your friend is a good cook?"

"A professional chef, so no, she's a fabulous cook. Honestly, if we could afford to hire her to cook for us all day, I would."

"That good, huh?"

Lauren smiled, nipping at Bo's bottom lip. She lifted herself over her, a curtain of blonde hair falling next to Bo's head,

"Her cooking is almost as good as your bedroom skills."

Bo grinned, "It sounds like I can't turn down this dinner."

Lauren raised her eyebrows, "And I will definitely not let you turn down dessert."

The blonde jumped off the bed, leaving Bo to protest, "Hey! Get back here!"

"The sooner we do dinner, the sooner I get to have dessert… here… in this bed," she said, her laughter echoing through the room until the closed door muffled the sound.

Bo's eyes went wide, "Oh! That kind of dessert!"

She could hear Lauren's giggle as she turned on the shower. The brunette shook her head,

"That woman's going to be the death of me… but it will be a really, really, really amazing death."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Murphy's Seafood on the Wharf

"Welcome to Murphy's," the hostess said, looking down at Bo's crutches, "Do you need special seating?"

Bo shook her head, but did not respond, so Lauren smiled, "No, thank you. We're meeting friends here?"

"Oh! You're Doctor Lewis!"

Lauren smiled, "Doctor Dennis and yes, that's me."

"Oh. I don't have that name."

Lauren nodded, "I'm formerly Doctor Lewis. I'm now married Doctor Dennis."

"Oh! And I take it this is the Mrs.?" she asked nodding towards Bo who gave a small smile before Lauren nodded, taking her hand,

"You would be correct!"

"Well then, congratulations Doctor and Mrs. Dennis," she pointed to the floor, "Doctor Dennis, if you notice the floor boards. Please assist your lovely wife so we don't start your meal off with an accident?"

Lauren noticed the smile that spread across Bo's face and was grateful for it, "Of course. Thank you for looking out for her."

"Of course," she leaned in, "Alicia would have my hide if anything happened to her special guests. She's thrilled to have you here."

Lauren smiled, placing a hand on the small of Bo's back, "We're happy to be here."

"Best food in P-town if you ask me and I eat here ALL the time," the waitress smiled as she led them through the restaurant,

"So is this your first time?"

The pair responded with opposite answers, causing the waitress to turn. Lauren explained,

"My wife is native to Alaska, so it's her first time in this restaurant, though not her first time visiting Boston or P-Town. I used to be a regular for take out."

"Ohmagosh!" she smiled, looking back at Lauren, "You're special order Doc by the Dock!"

Lauren laughed, "I haven't heard that for a very long time."

The woman pointed towards the roof with her pen, "Let me see if I remember… it was a small bucket of soft shells, cup of chowder, veggie of the day and a side of grilled shrimp."

"Wow, you're good," Lauren laughed.

"Alicia said it was how you came down from your surgical high – whatever that meant."

The woman stopped, turning sideways to stare at Lauren from the corner of her eye. She started to turn back, but then lunged at Lauren, wrapping her arms around her. She squeezed her tight before pulling back, her cheeks wet with tears. She hung her head, wiping her cheeks, suddenly flustered,

"I'm so sorry. That was completely unprofessional. Your party is this way."

Bo looked at Lauren, then reached out, gripping the woman's elbow,

"Let's just… take a beat, huh?"

"Alicia would not like me…"

Bo smiled, "Apparently your boss is happy my wife is here. She's not going to mind her having a chat with a hostess who is clearly familiar with a regular customer who has just returned to the island after a long absence."

Lauren nodded her agreement, "So…"

She shook her head, waving Lauren off, "You… you… my parents died in a boating accident when I was only three years old. I was raised by my grandparents. My grandfather died when I was just ten – cancer. That left just me and my Nana. We weren't well off, but we had what we needed, you know? They had a cottage down at the end of Main, so she sold the house on the main land and we moved here."

She smiled, "When I was sixteen, she got sick… I mean, she was tired all the time and just didn't feel right. She went to the doctor and they sent her to you."

She looked up at Lauren, "Heart failure was the diagnosis. Transplant was the only option. It took two years, but the heart finally became available just in time."

Shaking her head, she continued, "She was so pale, her lips were blue and she was on oxygen. She could barely walk from the kitchen to the living room in our little cottage. She would sit on the beach most of the time. She said if God saw fit to take her before a new heart came, she would die on her favorite beach."

Lauren smiled, "Your Nana was Eloise Green."

Her eyes went wide, "You remember her?"

The doctor shrugged, "I remember all of my transplant patients, but your Nana, she was something special. At her worst, she still took the time to ask everyone else how they were. She would knit…"

Lauren reached into her bag and pulled out her hat, "She made me this. I still wear it when I'm here if I get too cold."

The hostess flipped it inside out, "Have you ever noticed this?"

The look of surprise on Lauren's face answered her question. She explained,

"She always put something special in each hat – something to represent her connection to the recipient."

Bo leaned over Lauren's shoulder, "It's a heart."

Lauren nodded, "Yes, it is."

Both women wiped their cheeks as the woman explained, "And that heart is still beating in my Nana's chest. She prays for you every day, Doctor Dennis."

She handed the hat back to Lauren who looked at the heart for a moment before turning it right side out and putting it back in her bag,

"Is she still living with you?"

"Yup. Still at the cottage. She's still knitting and reads more books than Bev can get in stock. We joke that she'll have to start reading Children's Books soon."

Bo smiled, "Well, I'm sure we know two little girls who would love to read those books to her."

"You do?"

Bo looked at Lauren, then back at the hostess, "You're serious?"

"Yes. I mean… she wouldn't want to be a burden. It's just… well, old age is tough. All of her friends have passed on and she doesn't get around as well anymore… arthritis, not her heart. She walks a short distance on the beach every day. My cousin built a short boardwalk in front of the cottage, so she doesn't have to walk down to the water. He's going to build her a back porch so she can sit there to watch the sea. He lives in Montana, so hopefully he'll be able to come back east sometime soon."

"I could build it for her."

Lauren looked at her wife, "Bo, your knee."

She shrugged, "I have LJ, Jake and Kurt here. They can do the heavy lifting, bending, kneeling and squatting. It's an easy enough build once we get the posts in the ground."

"Oh, the house isn't up high."

Bo shook her head, "I have a lot of experience building in sand on a coastline. Erosion is a very real threat to any structure. I'll do a quick inspection of your cottage's foundation and then – if all is well – get the porch done. We're here for a while and – well, look at me – I'm pretty much just sitting and watching my family on the beach."

Lauren smiled, "I'm sure we could go over for a few hours each day," she looked at Bo, "The girls would probably love to read to your Nana."

"You have daughters?"

Lauren shrugged, "One we're adopting and one is Bo's sister. They're soon to be eleven years old. They're energetic, but an absolute joy to be around. I'm sure your Nana would love them."

"I'm sure she would love the company and she would certainly appreciate the deck."

"I'll text Patrick to take care of the legal stuff for me and we'll come by tomorrow," Bo smiled.

"Legal stuff?"

"Yes, well, I'm not licensed to build here, so he'll get me a temporary license."

Lauren nodded, "He's our attorney. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Will you… I mean, this is my job, so I'm far from wealthy. What little money my Nana has, she needs for her prescriptions, food, electric, water…"

Bo placed a hand on the young woman's wrist, "We understand. We have a fund for this sort of situation. Don't worry about the bill."

"Oh, I couldn't let you…"

"Well, it's hard to pay a bill if you don't get one," Bo smiled.

Lauren shook her head, "Don't push her on this. She's going to build that deck if she has to go door-to-door to find your Nana's house. Please, let her do this. It's just… it's who she is."

"One saves her life and the other gives her a place to enjoy the last days of that life. I'm so grateful."

Bo smiled, "Well, if you're really grateful, you'll get us to our table. I'm starving."

The hostess held up a finger, rushing off. Bo and Lauren looked at each other, but turned to find their hostess had returned quickly, carrying a plate,

"Try this."

She held out plate to the girls, Lauren grinning, "I shouldn't… I mean, not until after I eat."

Bo shrugged, "I should."

She took a bite, her eyes immediately looking up at Lauren. Her shoulder's dropped, her eyes rolled back, her head moved in a circle,

"Mmmm, oh my God. That should be illegal! What is that and why is Kenzi not selling it!"

Lauren laughed, "That's fried dough with cinnamon and sugar. Arguably the best dessert – or breakfast, if you prefer – on the island. It's made at a small Portuguese bakery."

"We have to kidnap this baker and take her to Alaska."

Lauren turned to the hostess, "She's kidding."

"She's totally not!" Bo smiled, opening her phone, "This will be Kenzi. Tell her Bo told her to go to this bakery and buy… everything! Tell her where it is. Really! Please?"

"BO!"

"Sorry, Kenz. I'm eating. Talk to…" she looked at the woman who smiled and said her name, "…Katie. She's going to tell you where the most amazing bakery is! You have to get this stuff. It's called…"

Lauren took the phone, "It's called fried dough with cinnamon and sugar, Kenzi. You'll find it at the Portuguese bakery three stores to the right once you turn onto Commercial Street from my house."

Lauren hung up the phone, "She'll go as soon as she gets up in the morning."

"That better be early. You know they sell out of that."

Bo laughed, "Maybe we should send Rudy on that bike."

Lauren shook her head, "Not funny."

"Yea, I guess not."

Katie smiled, "Well, let me get you to your group. It's been nice chatting with you."

"You as well, Katie. I'll try to stop by with Bo tomorrow, but I believe I'll be driving a boat with skiers behind it most of the day tomorrow."

"Sounds like fun."

"We have a very active family, so there's always something going on – except for Bo and her brother who are both recovering. Can you put your address in Bo's phone?"

Lauren opened the address book and handed Katie the phone as they walked to the table.

"Here is your party," Katie smiled, waving towards the group and handing Lauren Bo's phone, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Bo. Again, thank you so much."

"I'm happy to help."

Lauren gave her a nod, turning to her friends. Bev, Ronnie, Maeve and Meera were all sitting in chairs, fishing lines in the water, enjoying their beers,

"Lauren!" Ronnie smiled standing up, "It was Bo, right?"

"Yes," Bo smiled politely, her hands wringing the grips on her crutches, "You're fishing?"

Ronnie laughed, "More than that, we're catching our dinner."

Lauren looked at Bo, "I thought you would enjoy this."

Bo looked out at the sea, "I've actually never fished from a rod in salt water. Should be interesting."

"Come on, Bo. I'll give you a hand."

Bo looked at Lauren as Ronnie turned to walk to the empty chairs where they already had Bo and Lauren set up to fish,

"Great," Bo said, "Will you show me how to bait a hook?"

Lauren shook her head, laughing, "Behave."

"Yes, Doctor Dennis. Whatever you say, Doctor Dennis," she placed a hand on her right butt cheek, running it up to her hip, "Just don't forget to stop and pick up some whipped cream and fresh fruit for our dessert party."

Bo gave Lauren a smack on the ass, then turned to walk away. She left her wife pulling down the sleeves of her sweater, balling her fists around the plush material as she swallowed hard at the sight of Bo's firm butt in her black leggings.

"Lauren!"

The blonde turned to see Alicia coming out of the restaurant, "Hey, Alicia! How are you? The place looks amazing!"

The raven-haired woman smiled, pulling Lauren in for a hug, "It's so good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too," Lauren smiled, "So, what's for dinner?"

Alicia laughed, "Whatever you catch. I've also got some of your favorite crabs, some lobster, some of your special chowder…"

"Yes!" Lauren said, clapping her hands.

"So, where's this mysterious wife of yours?"

Lauren took Alicia's hand and led her over to where Bo now had a line in the water, "Bo Dennis? This is Alicia Abbott. An old friend from Yale."

"Correction. I'm a Yale drop out."

Bo moved to stand, but Lauren placed a hand on her shoulder, "She's on crutches."

Alicia nodded, moving to Bo to shake her hand, "Do you need anything?"

"I've got a beer and a line in the water. Life is good."

Alicia nodded, "She's an easy one, Lauren."

The blonde winked at her wife, "Oh, you have no idea."

"So, you dropped out of Yale? I thought everyone that went there had some mandatory parent requirement that they finish."

Alicia looked at Lauren, then back to Bo,

"Not everyone is a member of the Lewis dynasty. My family had no need to direct my career path. My choices were mine. Well, my parents did question them. I set out on a boat to earn marine biology credits one summer and found myself enjoying the fishing for dinner part more than the science. Go figure. I hopped on a commercial tuna boat three weeks later and never looked back."

"Until you found you loved cooking the catch too," Bev shouted over her shoulder, holding up an empty bottle, "Beer me!"

Alicia smiled, pulling another beer from the cooler and tossing it to her friend, "These two are here three times a week. Apparently, they prefer my cooking over their own."

Ronnie laughed, "You wouldn't want my cooking and my dear wife's is only slightly better."

They all turned when they heard the sound of Bo's reel. Ronnie put her reel into the rod holder on the dock and turned to Bo,

"Okay, let her take your line for a bit," she said, watching Bo's hands on the reel, "They'll try to shake the hook, possibly jump out of the water a bit…"

Lauren placed a hand on Ronnie's shoulder, "Bo is a professional, Ronnie. She was just joking when she asked you to bait her hook."

"Seriously?" Ronnie asked, turning back to see Bo standing up and walking out into the breakers.

Lauren nodded, "But she was telling the truth about never having fished in salt water. She also hasn't fishedf from a boat."

"So where does she fish?"

Lauren smiled, "We live on a river that is fed by the glaciers and mountains that surround Denali. It's all fresh water, so we stock up on mostly salmon and trout. Bo retired, handing her hunting, fishing and trapping business off to her great nephew. She had built up quite the client list and with all of her other businesses, she just needed to give something up."

"To make room for wifey?" Bev teased.

Lauren sighed, "I hope not. I mean, I want her to do what makes her happy and right now, that's woodworking, carving and breeding her champion sled dog line. She also has a kennel business and builds custom sleds with a longtime friend who has been an investor in her mushing career for almost seven years now."

Maeve stopped reeling and looked at Lauren, "Wait – dog sleds as in White Fang and Balto?"

"Yes, pretty much. She races, she wins, she gets paid. Her knee injury was suffered in a race a month ago."

Ronnie raised her beer, "Get this – it was the fucking Iditarod! This woman won the big one!"

"Right. They call it America's Last Great Race, right?" Alicia asked.

Lauren nodded, "Some people call it that, yes."

"And you're okay with this, Lauren? I mean, the safety girl doesn't melt down?" Bev asked.

Lauren laughed, "I'll admit, we went a few rounds over her lifestyle when we first started dating last year. She's got more scars on that body from her need to protect people… and her dogs, but I've come to understand her. I guess you could say I've even come to believe in some of the same things."

"So, you'll ride on the sled with her?" Ronnie asked.

"Ride with her? No. I drive my own sled. I've got three dogs I've trained from the first time they've been hooked to a sled – Elsa, Anna and Belle. Then I fill in another eleven to fifteen dogs from Bo's kennel depending on what I'm hauling and how far I have to go."

"You have other dogs?" Alicia asked.

Lauren shrugged, "Bo has over one hundred dogs in her kennels. Most belong to family and friends, but others she'll sell or breed. There's a lucky thirty or so that are part of her racing team. There's Nike and Diana, her champion leads, Aphrodite, Kikkan, Sadie, Keegan, Rosie, Reese, Tyler, Scotty, Muk, Jenna… anyway, Harper is her number one but she's retiring now."

She looked at Bo, then back to the group, "We brought Harper and my three along with us. Harper is likely pregnant, and Bo really doesn't trust anyone else with her. She's been staying with Bo's brother to keep him company while he goes through his last chemotherapy treatment this week. Mine are young, so they've been racing up and down the beach."

"So, you're not practicing medicine?" Bev asked.

"Yes, of course. It's just that I'm the owner and administrator now and, well honestly, I've never really wanted all of the crap that came with the cardiothoracic surgeon title. I'm going back to my first love – Trauma Surgery. We're building a center that will be ready before winter, hopefully."

Alicia looked at Lauren for a long moment, "So this whole Lewis-Archer thing is for real? You took down Evony Fleurette-Marquis and your ex-wife with her?"

Lauren sighed, "Nadia tied herself to Evony after I left."

"You did try to warn her – for years – to keep her distance."

Ronnie shook her head, "All that press and recognition for being the hero was like crack for Nadia. She wouldn't have listened to anyone. Everyone in my psych department knew that. She was an assembly line surgeon. No bedside manner, no consideration for the mental health of the patient. Made me sick."

Bev nudged her wife hard with her elbow, Ronnie shaking her head as she turned back to Lauren,

"I'm so sorry, Lauren. I didn't mean… I mean, I'm an idiot. I'm sure her death was hard on you."

Lauren shrugged, "I talked to her girlfriend. It sounded like she was changing. She was better. I can't imagine watching her cross the street towards you and…"

Alicia nodded, "The memorial service was rough. Nadia's parents basically ignored the chick, but you could tell she was heartbroken. Word had it that they were in pretty deep."

Lauren sighed, thinking about what she and Bo had talked about earlier. It was strange. The thought of watching Bo die was horrifying, but the thought of not holding her when she left this earth was devastating.

"Lauren?" Alicia said, placing a hand on Lauren's shoulder.

The blonde looked up, "Sorry. Got a little lost there for a minute."

She turned to where Bo was now out in the breakers, "What is she…"

"Holy shit!" Ronnie said, "Look at that fish!"

"Is that a striped or…"

"It's a fuckin' tuna!" Alicia said, hurrying across the sand to grab a gaff, then and out into the water to help Bo land the fish.

The other three women ran down to the shore, Ronnie hauling an extra-long cooler with her as Bo and Alicia dragged the fish in, but when they hit shallow water, the brunette struggled,

"A little help, someone? Walking out there is a little easier than walking on the beach without my crutches."

Ronnie jumped in and helped, the pair dragging the fish into the cooler and up on to the beach. Bo waved Lauren over, pointing to the large stick driven into the sand,

"Will that hold?" Lauren asked.

Bo shook her head, "No, that's why you need to bring the fish in. Get your other friend to help you. There's three more on there."

Lauren called to Bev who came down to the water with a somewhat smaller cooler, "This is how we keep fish alive in Alaska."

Bev nodded, "Lauren Lewis, Alaskan fisherman. Who'd have thought."

"It's Lauren Dennis and I should have put it on my bingo card, although I never would have guessed either. I've changed, Bev. I'm happy and… well, I feel free for the first time. I love my life and I love who I am now."

"It shows, Lauren. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks," she said as she began circling the wooden dowel around the three lines until it got too difficult to do with one hand, "Help!"

Bev gathered the lines in her hands and started to pull as Lauren continued to handle the spooling. Finally, the three fish appeared, the line through both the gills and the mouths of the three fish,

"Jaysus! That's a fifty-pound bass!" Bev said, holding up the catch, "Alicia, I think you have enough fish for every customer tonight!"

Alicia shook her head, "Lauren, you know I have to pay you for these fish. I can't…"

"Absolutely not," Bo said.

"Lauren, she doesn't understand," Alicia said, turning to Bo, "I'd pay forty dollars a pound for that monster. It's probably a six-thousand-dollar fish!"

Bo smiled, "Then we'll eat well tonight, and we'll take some tuna to go for salad for the family tomorrow. Or better yet, why don't you bring the fish to Lauren's place tomorrow and we'll cook for all of you?"

Lauren grinned, "Alaska style."

"Really, Bo. I can't let you… Lauren, you understand, right?"

Bo smiled, "I understand that you are all friends of my wife's. I also understand that it's early in the season for this business and having that cash in your pocket instead of mine will put you ahead in your bills this month. I also understand that I just caught four of the biggest fish I've ever caught in my life while sitting on the beach… well, standing in the cold ocean water and had a blast pulling those fish in! Best part of this trip so far!"

She turned to Lauren, "By the way – that water felt great on my knee."

Lauren and Ronnie couldn't help but smile, Ronnie shaking her head,

"I love fishing. I mean, it's my favorite pastime but you are like glowing."

Bo smirked, looking at her wife, "I glow after sex with my wife. This is just pure joy from doing something I've done since I was a kid. In my neck of the woods, if you don't fish, trap or hunt your food, you starve. This is the equivalent of you doing laundry in my life."

Lauren raised her hand, "And now mine too. We live off the land and we take only what we need to survive as we need it. We stock up in summer, so we have enough to last the winter since it's hard to find food otherwise."

"You don't have grocery stores?" Alicia asked, pulling her knife from her sheath.

"We have general stores, but food is really expensive. Alaska is largely tundra, so getting things to our state usually takes a plane."

"Like that show ice road truckers!" Ronnie said.

Bo shrugged, "That's one way of getting things to us. For me, I've got a set of planes, so if Lauren really needs something, I can fly south to get it for her. We go as far as Seattle or Vancouver to get some things."

"Wow. She'll just jump in her plane and fly to Seattle for you, Lauren. That woman's in love."

The blonde laughed, "With flying, yes. Any excuse to go up in her plane, she'll take it."

"How about this one – we take a trip to Alaska and you guys show us around," Meena said, stretching her arms over her head.

"Sleeping again, Meena?" Bev laughed.

"Hey! We worked hard today," she said, nudging Maeve awake.

"How are the whales?"

"Baby whale should make it, but they're a little worried about mom. They're putting the calf in with the mom tonight to see if he can lift her spirits a bit… give her the will to fight to survive. They think there's fluid in her lungs."

"Well, I don't know anything about whales, but that doesn't sound good," Lauren said, "What a shame."

"Well, maybe if your sisters come and visit tomorrow, they'll cheer her up too."

"You have sisters?" Alicia asked.

"Two of the cutest little things you've ever seen, but one isn't her sister. Get this – Lewis is a mom!" Ronnie said.

"The name is Dennis and I'm an adopted mom."

"So, you said you were going to tell us this story?" Bev reminded.

Lauren sighed, "We've got all night. I don't know about all of you, but I'm hungry and Bo's got a hollow leg that constantly needs feeding. The woman burns calories just by thinking. Let's get these fish cleaned so that Alicia can make us all dinner and we'll tell you all about our Alaskan life for as long as we can stay. Tomorrow night, you can meet everyone and hear more stories – courtesy of Rudy and Elise themselves."

"Rudy and Elise?" Alicia asked.

Maeve smiled, "Two cute little girls that are just as curious if not more curious than our friend Lauren."

Bo reached under her coat and pulled out her knife, heading over to the tuna, "Alicia, anything special I need to know about the cuts you want?"

Alicia looked down, staring at the blade that glistened in the setting sun, "Wow. That's some knife."

Bo smiled, flipping the knife over in her hand and spinning the blade in a circle around her index finger,

"I've had it since I was a kid. Well, obviously I've had to repair the blade and the hilt several times, but it was the first knife my mom gave me."

"And that made it through the airport?"

Bo shrugged, "It was in my friend's carry-on bag. She's a Federal Agent."

Alicia grinned, "Nice. Well, let's clean this big momma… unless you want to weigh it. Probably a record for this beach."

Bo looked at Lauren and smiled, "I'm not real big on records. You can snap a picture of it if you want to."

Alicia held up her camera, waving Bo into the photo, but the brunette shook her head, "I'm not big on recognition for stuff either. I've got a better idea," she took Alicia's camera and waved Lauren and her friends together,

"How about all of the P-Town friends get into the picture, so you always remember this night together? Lift that big guy's face up. Come on, fishy, fishy, pucker up those beautiful big lips…"

She snapped several pictures, loving the chance to see Lauren laughing with her old friends. Handing the camera back to Alicia, they set to work cleaning and trimming the tuna while the other five women handled the other three fish and cleaned the rods. It took about thirty minutes, but when they were finished, fresh catch tuna was the start of the night's menu and business was good.

The seven women ate together, talking about everything that had happened in the last year and a half. Alicia had to do a bit of cooking throughout their meal, but she trusted her sous chef to handle the early crowd. When business kicked up, she left her friends to handle the kitchen, occasionally popping back when she was able.

When the restaurant closed, they took a short walk down the beach. On the way back, Lauren noticed Bo struggling to keep up with the group. They were only a short distance from the restaurant, but Lauren didn't want her to push so she spoke up,

"Ladies, we're going to have a seat for a while. Crutches and sand just don't mix."

"Oh, man! Sorry, Bo! I didn't think when I suggested it," Ronnie said, slapping her own forehead.

"Don't worry about me. I just want to be careful. Falling behind in my recovery will cut into the training time I'll have to get ready for next March."

"Come on, let's all sit. Let's find some driftwood and start a fire," Maeve suggested.

Meena pointed back towards the restaurant, "I'll go to Alicia's woodshed. She should have plenty left since our winter was pretty mild here."

As they gathered wood, Lauren helped Bo to the ground, making a mound of sand beneath her knee to give it some elevation, "So you said you have to be ready next March?"

Bo nodded, "Apparently the race will start a week later next year. I just happened to notice that Mom moved the start date on our kitchen calendar."

"Well, it'll be warmer," Lauren smiled.

Bo shrugged, "Which also means more ice and less snow."

"Oh."

"Yea. Whatever. I'll handle it. Always do," Bo said, taking wood from Bev as she handed it to her,

"Let's see those fire making skills," Bev said, sitting down next to Bo and digging out a whole in the sand, "Do you make pit fires in Alaska?"

Bo nodded, "By the river at our house we do, but digging into the ground in most places means digging into permafrost."

"Oh? Is that hard?"

Bo smiled, "Permafrost is frozen soil, so yea, it's hard, but less so in summer."

Bev sat up, satisfied with the pit she'd dug, "Oh. So, you make fires in the snow?"

"It depends on the time of year. At the Iditarod, we use a substance called Heet since the snow and wind are both harsh along most of the trail. Making a fire would mean the dogs have to drag the additional weight of firewood out on the tundra. It's barren land, so you either keep going or you freeze to death. Heet gives you a third alternative for warmth, but it's primarily meant for cooking."

Lauren explained, "It's kind of like our Sterno."

"Oh," Bev said.

Once she piled the tinder and kindling into the pit in a crisscross fashion, she watched as Bo used three pieces of wood, her knife, and a piece of string to make fire, carefully picking up the pile and laying it between two thin pieces of driftwood,

"A little help, Lauren?" Bo smiled.

The blonde leaned down and blew gently, puckering her lips so that a narrow string of air was directed beneath the small flame until the pile of tinder ignited,

"And you have a fire," Lauren smiled, leaning in, and giving Bo a quick kiss on the lips, "Thanks for doing that."

Bo laughed, "Now you thank me for making the fire? You never thank me at home."

Grinning, the blonde shook her head, "I just mean that you're supposed to be on vacation too. Off-duty means you don't have to do any of your usual daily chores. I should have made the fire and cleaned the tuna. I always manage to weasel out of those jobs."

Lauren stood, turning to help find wood, but found all of her friends staring at her, "What?"

"That's a daily chore?"

Bo laughed, "Three or four times a day most days of the year. Much more often in the winter."

"Our house runs on solar power, so we have to be careful what we use electricity for since four of us live in the house."

"So, you what – cook all your meals in a firepit?" Bev asked.

Bo shook her head, "Of course not. We have a charcoal grill for outside cooking and the stove inside heats up with just some kindling."

"Your stove has a fire in it?"

Bo looked at Lauren who smiled and explained, "Think of your oven as being divided into three vertical compartments. The left and right compartment are mini cast iron fireplaces that you toss wood and a match into. They get hot and heat the surface burners and the stove in the middle. As long as you feed the fire, you have heat to cook on."

Ronnie shook her head, "How do you know how much wood gets you how much heat?"

Lauren grinned, "Ah that… took some time to learn. Bo's mom is a great teacher, so I do alright now."

Bo smiled, "I don't. I'm the pit master. My mom and Molly use the stove and Lauren kicks butt on the grill, though she is getting very good with a pit fire."

"Change of topic! Hey, Bo! What if we all came out during the Iditarod?" Bev asked, "Would your new friends from the Lower Forty-Eight force you to run and hide your head in shame?"

Bo laughed, "That's a very real possibility if you don't learn how to make a fire."

Lauren shook her head, "Of course, you also have to remember that no one tags along at the race for free. You have to be part of Team Bo which means feeding dogs, cleaning up poop, giving them massages, babysitting Roo and Elise, tracking the split times of all of sleds in the field, and racing from checkpoint to checkpoint so that you can unpack the truck only to wave to Bo as she passes straight through the checkpoint so you can pack the truck back up again."

Maeve smiled, "Sounds like what we do every day. Unpack the truck thinking we're taking a whale back to the aquarium only to find out that we can fix them and send them back… which is a good thing, though. I guess I didn't really have a point."

She plopped down on the sand, filling out the circle.

Lauren shrugged, "Well, if you're all really coming for race season, you'll want to make your arrangements as soon as you can get a flight. Things book up quick."

Bo nodded, "But my best friend owns a hotel, so she would let you book well in advance as long as you're not going to be no-shows. She'll be there tomorrow night."

Maeve shook her head, "Wait a minute, you guys. Going in winter is a big risk. What if our flights are cancelled? Her friend would be left with our rooms no matter how much we wanted to be there."

Meena nodded, "You guys know I hate the cold. I'd rather go in the Spring or Summer. What's it like then?"

Bo smiled, "Well, your flights are less likely to be cancelled if that's what you're asking. Otherwise, it's hard to say if you're asking about weather. Remember that Alaska has one of the most unpredictable climates on the planet and the weather varies from place to place. The weather on one side of the Alaska Range in summer could be forty degrees even though it's ninety on the other."

She nodded towards her wife, "Lauren experienced harsh weather the last two winters – we didn't dip into the minus forties, but the snow in our area was deep and the river actually froze near the shore."

Lauren smiled, "And Lauren also experienced a bad sunburn."

"Uh-oh. She's talking about herself in the third person."

Laughing, the blonde continued, "The sun is hot, but the air is cool so sometimes you don't even realize you're burning. Usually, the further north you go, the colder, but lake ice broke right beneath Mom's sled when we had just arrived at the southern edge of the North Slope."

Bo nodded, "My mom would be dead right now if Lauren wasn't a surfer."

Ronnie's brow knit together, "What does surfing have to do with sledding?"

Lauren grinned, shaking her head, "Remember playing crack the whip when we were kids at the ice rink? I used that concept with… well, let's just say something that I used as a sort of skateboard on the lake. Less surface area, moving with high speed – I didn't fall in. I was able to toss a hook onto the handle and pull them out with us as my friend drove the sled full speed past them."

"Epic move," Bo smiled, grinning at her wife, "I mean, I didn't see it but our friend did and she was amazed… and she doesn't amaze easily."

"I'm not sure I can picture that, but if the champ here says it was epic, I believe her. I just feel like I've met a legend after all I've heard about you tonight."

Bo shook her head, "I'm just a regular person who happens to run into trouble quite a bit," she grinned, "The only person I know who gets into more trouble is my little sister."

Bev laughed, "Why am I not surprised to hear you say that?"

"I can only imagine what it was like for you to spend some alone time with her," Bo smiled.

"I still can't believe she rode that bike all the way from Lauren's to the store. I mean, it's not that far, but she could barely reach the pedals."

Lauren smiled, "I'm just glad she didn't find my old skateboard in the shed loft. She would have been gone for hours before we would have found her."

Bo smiled, "She does tend to get… focused on whatever she's doing."

Ronnie nodded, "I guess that's how the bear incident happened?"

"It's complicated… sledding in the wild," Bo said, "The important thing is that they're moving forward – slowly, but surely."

Lauren grinned, "We all are."

Meena smiled, "Well, I just have to say – I like this new Lauren."

"You didn't like me before?" Lauren asked, "I'm devastated," she said, putting her palm to her forehead like a maiden in distress.

They all laughed, before Meena continued, "You see? You never would have joked like that before. You would have gotten all quiet. Now, you're this… well, you're different. You're so… present for the conversation."

"She's fun," Maeve laughed, "I'd imagine the parties at your house would be a whole new level now."

Lauren could see Bo's face straighten, so she used word that she knew she needed to hear,

"Actually, I wouldn't be this way at home. I'm still a one, maybe two drink gal and we're adopting a daughter. With her and Bo's sister around as much as they are, it's a different kind of fun now. A fun I fully enjoy."

"See? Completely unreserved," Alicia said, having just caught up with the group, "Sorry. I had to finish the books and caught the tail end of the conversation."

"What do you mean?" Lauren asked.

Alicia shrugged, "Before, you would have just nodded at Maeve's comment. We all would have showed up at your house for a wild time at midnight. The booze would have been flowing and you would have been out in the water on your board trying to make sure none of us did anything stupid out there or worse – got dead."

Meena waved her beer towards Alicia, "Yup and now we know the party's over unless we're here. She'll also need a babysitter."

Maeve toasted Lauren with her beer, "Welcome to my life."

"Yea, well your man needs to pull his weight so you can go out for girls night more often. We tried to tell you to marry a woman, but no, you had to go for the dong."

Ronnie shook her head, "No dong."

Alicia agreed, "No dong."

Bev nodded, "We're right though, Lauren. You're more outgoing. You used to sit in the back like a daggone wallflower, only speaking when spoken to. Now it's like you're a little chicken whose hatched out of her shell revealing all of this soft and cuddly goodness. I've never seen you smile so much."

Ronnie rubbed her chin, her eyes set on Lauren, "I know what it is…"

"Uh-oh. Here comes the psychoanalysis!" Alicia laughed.

"Laugh all you want, but I know what it is," she smiled, stating flatly, "No Nadia."

Lauren lowered her eyes, knowing that Ronnie was right, but she also didn't want to speak badly of Nadia. She should be able to be honest, but that social upbringing of hers just wouldn't allow it. Somehow, it just didn't feel right.

"You used to give way to her," Ronnie said, her voice sensitive to how Lauren might feel about what she was saying to her about her deceased ex-wife, "I mean no disrespect to the dead, but she was the mouthpiece for both of you. I didn't realize it until now, but…"

She spun her fingers in circles by her head, "I'm rewinding all of these memories of the two of you together and when you spoke, you looked at her for approval. She would correct you, contradict you but you never did that to her."

Bev nodded, "You're right, Ronnie. I'm remembering the same thing now that you're saying it and she interrupted Lauren constantly when she finally did talk… except for medical advice. That's when Nadia would shut up… again, no offense… and no offense to you, Bo – if it makes you uncomfortable to hear us speak about her."

Bo shrugged, "Lauren knows how I felt about her."

"You met her?"

Lauren and Bo shared a glance, the blonde giving her a nod. Bo took her head, "She didn't like me, so she came to town to mark her territory."

"You mean stake her claim to Lauren."

Bo shrugged, "I suppose. I watched my girlfriend shrink that day, but then, something rose up in her and, well, she fought back."

Lauren nodded, "I found my voice."

Alicia shook her head, "So, you knew all along… what she did to you when you were with us? Is that why you sometimes just stayed at the house rather than come out with us?"

Lauren shrugged, "It was exhausting to argue with her. She was…" she shook her head, "It only took one or two get-togethers for me to learn that she needed to be the center of attention at any beach parties we had. My beach house became party central."

"That's why you bought the condo," Meena said, "So you had somewhere to go when she had the parties at the beach house."

Lauren shook her head, "I bought the condo when I landed my residency. There was an air mattress, a pillow, a sleeping bag and everything I needed to take a shower. Of course, I was rarely there since our shifts were thirty-six hours long. It wasn't worth it to go home between lab hours, studying for boards, studying for surgeries and travel."

"Nadia once told me she hated the beach house – that it was too quiet," Bev admitted.

Lauren nodded, "That's why she had all the parties. I wanted to be there full time, but she didn't and she certainly didn't trust me to be alone out here."

"As if you would have cheated," Bev said with a laugh.

Lauren shrugged, "She never really understood me. She didn't trust me, and she didn't know me. She wanted to control me. She… well, it's over now."

Alicia laughed, "I remember the moving party."

Lauren smiled, "That's when we all first met."

Bev nodded, "We saw the moving trucks pull in and decided to see who our new neighbor was going to be. Little did we know that it was the same woman who had already lived there for three years."

"What?" Bo asked, "You moved into your beach house three years after you bought it?"

Ronnie laughed, "Nope! Nadia moved in three years after she found out it was Lauren's secret hideaway."

Lauren shrugged, looking at Bo, "I needed a space to just… be me. We had shared schedules, shared cars, shared… everything. I was suffocating and… I just needed a place to do me."

"Geezus, Lauren. I had no idea it was that bad," Ronnie said.

"How could you have? I was a wallflower, right?" Lauren shrugged.

"Well, it was one helluva moving party the day we helped you move her in," Bev laughed, "It was the first time Lauren ever got drunk."

"Drunk?" Bo asked, her eyes leaving Lauren for the first time since she admitted how she'd felt when she was with Nadia. She was worried about her wife, but she was also glad she had purged those feelings.

She hadn't talked much about her death and she was aware that both Faith and Anna had tried to get her to talk about it. For whatever reason, she just couldn't. Now, she'd opened up. Maybe she just needed to be with people who knew both her and Nadia.

She turned to the group just as Maeve looked at her, "Bo, it was unbelievable. Nadia started boxing up all of Lauren's things, but when Lauren asked her what she was doing with her stuff…"

"Oh, man! Nadia said she was trashing it or donating it," Ronnie said, shaking her head.

Meena shook her head, "None of us knew Nadia. We had heard her name, but when we finally met her, we understood why Kelly was so…"

Lauren covered her face, "Oh, Kelly. Gawd, she tortured Nadia. Poor kid always ended up in her O.R. because Shannon was with me. She begged Carolyn to put her with any other surgeon."

Maeve laughed, "She told me she was even willing to do gastro."

"She'd rather operate with shit than be treated like shit," Meena said, repeating Kelly's words from one of their many bar nights.

Bev shook her head, "Anyway, rather than argue with her, Lauren took all of the boxes from the trash pile, loaded them into her truck and rented a storage unit."

"That should have been my first indicator that I wasn't in it for the long haul," Lauren said, shaking her head, "I rented a storage unit so that when it was over, I'd be able to move my stuff back in."

She looked up at Bo and nodded, "I always knew it wouldn't last. I just couldn't admit it to myself."

Meena smiled, "You're right. She didn't know you. She tried to toss out all of your furniture, your paintings, hell – even your silverware wasn't right. What did she say, Alicia?"

Alicia smirked, straightening her back and tossing the hair off her shoulders. She cleared her throat and tried to speak with the most sophisticated accent she could muster, but she couldn't keep a straight face at the memory,

"She said… hold on, let me get this right…" she stymied her laughter, "Lauren, I'm going to furnish this house with items more befitting your station. We can't have doctors over for a weekend or lure new donors with the promise of a week's stay in a vacation home on the beach with this old stuff in here."

Bev laughed, "She tried to throw away a Picasso, Bo! A real, fucking Picasso - one that Lauren's grandmother had left her in her Will!"

Bo looked at Lauren who shrugged and waved, so Bo reminded them of who she was, "Uh… off-grid Alaskan girl who lived on the run most of her life here… care to explain what a Picasso is?"

They all looked at each other and then laughed, Ronnie turning to Bo with tears in her eyes,

"Sister, you have no idea how lucky you are to have been raised out of the fucking limelight of the filthy rich and ultra-famous. You will never have to worry about things like a painting worth a small fortune because some dude painted it a thousand years ago and for some reason, it's supposed to be better art than what your sister and daughter could paint!"

Ronnie shook her head, a tinge of anger in her voice, "The painting was worth a cool five million and Nadia wanted to throw it out! She wasn't befitting your station, Lauren!"

Bev elbowed her wife, Ronnie looking at her for a minute before she realized what she was doing,

"Sorry. It's impolite to mock the dead… but there wasn't a time she was around that she didn't treat Lauren like shit and I'm not going to lie about that. Did it somehow make her feel better that she could put Lauren down in front of a group… a group of friends, no less?"

Alicia shrugged, "She wasn't the face and name of the hospital. She had to one up Lauren somehow. You're the shrink."

Ronnie sighed, "Well, if she can hear me, she knows it's true."

The group fell silent, until Bo spoke up, more for Lauren than anyone else,

"So, do you all want to come for dinner tomorrow night? Meet our family and friends?"

"Shannon and Carolyn will be there, probably Kelly and her boyfriend too," Lauren said.

"I'm going to text my husband. I'm not sure if he'll handle the kids two nights in a row and he might have plans for tomorrow night."

"Damn Maeve, you're always handling the kids. The dude's got poker night and his volunteer fireman nights and his Eagle Scout nights – the list goes on forever. He can do two nights."

Maeve nodded, "Yea. Well, tell him that."

Meena pulled the phone from her hand and hit the call button,

"Sam? Yea, it's Meena. Listen, our friend Lauren is only in town tonight and tomorrow night. She got married and would love for all of us to meet her family. You wouldn't mind covering the kids another night, right? I mean, Maeve covers probably four nights out of seven for you. What do you say? A little quid pro quo for your wife or do we have to start trash talking you to all the women around town?"

"MEENA!" Maeve yelled, trying to pull the phone from her hand, but her friend shoved a bar arm in her face.

"I knew you'd see it my way. Love you, Sam!" she smiled, laughing at his reply, before listening to him again as she held her hand out to Maeve, keeping the phone from her.

"I'll tell her, Sam. Thanks again… yea… we'll be leaving in about twenty minutes. Okay. I'll tell her. Later."

Meena hit the 'end' button and tossed Maeve her phone,

"He said sure thing and you should drive home safely. He also admitted he didn't realize how many nights you had the kids when he was out. He told me he would do better. Oh – and he loves you, the big idiot."

Maeve threw an ice cube at Meena, hitting her squarely on the chin,

"Owa!"

"Ohmagosh! I'm so sorry, Meena! I didn't mean to…"

Lauren stood, moving to her friend, "Maeve, hold up your phone's flashlight so I can see."

She looked at the spot and shook her head, "We'll have to amputate at the neck."

Everyone laughed as Meena turned and slapped Lauren, who ran away with Meena in hot pursuit. Bev stuck out a foot and tripped Meena just as Maeve was about to catch up to her. The two women ended up on top of each other in the sand while Lauren cheered her victory from afar.

"You're a dead woman, Lewis!" Meena shouted.

Lauren jogged back towards the group, "You have never been able to catch me, so I doubt that. Besides, it's Dennis, not Lewis."

Meena looked at Bo, "You've created a monster, you know that, right?"

Bo grinned, "Yea, but she's my monster, so I'm okay with that."

Lauren straddled the brunette, planting a long, delicious kiss on Bo's lips, the whole group cheering her on until she pulled back and stood up, leaving Bo falling back in the sand,

"If I said it once, I've said it a thousand times. That woman is going to be the death of me," Bo said, staring up at the sky, "Hey! There's the Big Dipper! And Polaris! The stars are brighter here than I remembered."

Lauren smiled and explained, "The last time we were here, we spent most of our time in Boston, so the stars weren't a big feature of the trip."

"Well, we have to go out on the boat tomorrow night then. It's the end of the lunar cycle so it will be super dark out and the sky will be loaded with stars. There's nothing like floating in the middle of the ocean with the stars overhead."

Bo nodded, "Yea, I know that view. It's fantastic."

"I thought you never fished in salt water," Ronnie said.

"Well, I don't consider commercial crab boats fishing."

"Like Deadliest Catch?" Meena asked.

Bo looked at Lauren who looked to her friends and nodded, "Yup. Bo lived on the Arctic Ocean for her entire childhood, then spent some time on the Bering Sea as a crabber to replenish her kennel."

"From when that man killed your dogs?" Alicia asked.

Bo nodded, looking at Lauren as she spoke, "That man was my father."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ronnie asked.

Bo shrugged, "I wish I was. But he's gone now and because he was who he was, I have a family that I never knew existed until he brought us together with the common goal of taking us all down. Obviously, his plan didn't work since he's the dead one."

Bo's tone had the women looking at Lauren, but Bo calmed herself and finished,

"I don't dwell in the past. It's not our way. My life is incredible, and I am so grateful for all that I have now."

"Bo's mom and sister were in the FBI's Witness Protection Program for almost a decade. Bo's mom left town when her life was threatened. She thought she'd set up care for Bo with a local teacher, but and neighbor, but…"

"He had them killed, too," Bo said, her voice cold as she stared out into the darkness of the night seas, "So I was in my young teens and alone. His people sold my family home out from under me while I was away trying to find my mom."

She looked down at her hands, her memory ripe with scattered events of her time alone on the tundra, running from town to town, odd job to odd job, dodging thieves, horny men and worst,

"My brothers took all the dogs except my mom's team and her old sled. I cleared out what food we had in our cache, gathered all the clothing, salves and supplies I could carry and set out with a large team of dogs to find my mom."

Ronnie shook her head, "So you were just a kid? You raised yourself?"

Bo smiled, "I was a really smart kid. I loved school so much. My mom wanted me to be the first one in the family to go to college and I was completely on board with the idea… until I found myself alone in the world."

She shook her head, "People told me she was dead, but something in me just knew she was alive. Eventually, I found my way to a small native village. The Elders allowed me to stay there despite I was part Athabascan. It helped me to develop my trapping and fishing business. Eventually, I got hired on for construction jobs. I finally saved enough money and earned respect of the guys I worked with to open my own company."

Bo looked up at Alicia, "Do you have a bathroom?"

She smiled, "Of course. Straight up the steps, turn right. Katie should be there, she'll point it out if you don't see the sign."

Bo grabbed her crutches and Lauren moved to stand with her, but she shook her head,

"I'm good. You stay with your friends. I haven't had a beer for a while. It's going right through me."

Lauren nodded, but Bo leaned in and whispered, "You can tell the rest. I know they'll be curious. It's okay. I just don't want to have to tell it. I'll see you in five."

She whispered back, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Bo looked at her, kissing her lips softly, "I'm good. Honest."

Lauren smiled, kissing her once more before Bo made her way to the down the beach to the deck.

All of the women sat, watching Bo walk away, Ronnie turning back to Lauren,

"Is she okay, Lauren?"

The blonde nodded, "She gets better every day, but as you can imagine, she carries quite the burden. She asked me to tell you the rest, so I will and then we'll drop it for the night?"

"Lauren, we don't have to know…"

She smiled, "She wants you to know. That's how you'll understand her… understand us. There will be a magazine article, news articles and possibly a book. I think she'd rather you hear it directly from us. I think she also doesn't want you to hold anything against her family since you're going to hang out with them tomorrow night."

Ronnie nodded, "She'll get no judgement from me, Lauren."

The rest of the women nodded their agreement before she continued, a small smile on her face,

"Oddly enough, one of Bo's biggest supporters in town was the Sheriff. Her dad – he was known as Big Jim – well, think of Old Man Potter in It's a Wonderful Life…"

Lauren continued on, giving them the highlights of Bo's background and how she came through it all. She was honest about the fears she had of Bo intitially given who she was then versus now and they all hung on every word, asking questions on occasion. Her friends were protective of her and she understood that. They didn't want another Nadia in her life, so it was only natural.

She explained the incident with Rudy and the bear, Bo's need to live outdoors and her own fears about Bo's racing career and how she was trying to learn how to have healthy coping mechanisms for that.

She talked about Bo's family and how she had come to know about them. She talked about their friends – both old and new as well as the new doctors that had become friends.

She told them all about Patrick's new boyfriend, Jake and about Stephen and Betsy's new adventures. She told them about how she'd come to the adoption of Elise. Naturally, they were horrified by what the youngster had gone through and understood why Lauren wanted to adopt.

Finally, she told them about what had happened with her parents and what was likely to come in the news, papers, magazines and social media. Naturally, they were all appalled, though not necessarily surprised.

Bo emerged from her trip to the bathroom. She sat on the arm of Lauren's chair and turned to the group,

"I must sound like one fucked up woman, but I assure you, your friend is in good hands with me. I would never hurt her, I will never leave her, I will never try to control her and I will never take her voice."

Lauren slapped her hands on her thighs, sitting up, "Well, I think that's enough of the heavy for one night, don't you?"

Alicia shook her head, "My head is spinning. I just have to say, you two are the strongest women I know."

She moved to Bo and hugged her, "I trust you to protect, love and cherish my friend. Thank you for busting her out of her damn shell!"

Lauren turned to Ronnie and Meena, "Any chance you can bring your boats along tomorrow? We could take the whole family out for some star gazing."

"Will you take the sailboat out?" Bev asked.

Lauren shrugged, "We'll see. I promised our friend Kurt that I would take him out if Patrick would go along."

"I'm in," Meena said and Ronnie agreed as well.

Lauren smiled, "Great," she looking down at her watch, "Well, it's after midnight, so I think we'd better be heading home. Rudy and Elise will be up early so it's downright dangerous for us to stay up too late."

She helped Bo up who turned to the group, "It was nice to meet all of you. Thanks for sharing some of Lauren's most embarrassing moments. It was fun."

They all gave Bo similar replies until Alicia asked, "So what time tomorrow and can I bring fish?"

Bo smiled, "We'll catch more fish tomorrow. You keep that for your restaurant. Between five and six o'clock?"

They all nodded their approval, Lauren adding, "I'll set the anchors tomorrow so you can dock offshore."

Ronnie raised a finger, "Just please don't use that blue buoy – it's too hard to see."

Lauren nodded, "Noted. We'll go for orange or yellow. Hey, I meant to thank you for making calls about getting us into the aquarium and science centers. If we can't get there tomorrow, will they give us a rain check?"

Maeve shrugged, "I don't see why not. There are some great movies there right now. Rodney is at the Science Center – your old high school buddy. You have his number?"

Lauren nodded, "Still the same?"

Meena nodded, "Of course. Rodney doesn't like change, remember? Creature of habit, that one."

"Okay, so everything is good to go?" Lauren asked.

Everyone nodded, Meena offering the only verbal reply, "Perfect. See you all then. Again, Alicia the meal was incredible. Thank you."

Bo and Lauren offered a similar sentiment before the couple headed back home, satisfied with a fun night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Bo and Lauren arrived home, they were exhausted. Bo's knee ached, but she had to admit, it was a fun night,

"I liked your friends."

Lauren smiled, "I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how you would respond to them."

"They seem to think you've changed a lot."

The blonde shrugged, "I have in their eyes. They were right."

"That you've changed?"

Lauren nodded, pouring two glasses of water and getting Bo's anti-inflammatory drug and her salve. She brought everything over to the couch, slipping a pillow under her wife's knee and removing her brace.

"About Nadia. I guess I've been so worried about speaking ill of the dead, as Ronnie put it, that I wasn't willing to finish processing our relationship. Even in death she found a way to shut me up."

Lauren chuckled, but she knew it wasn't funny.

Bo took the water, downing her pill before propping herself up on her elbow, "Shut you up?"

She watched as Lauren set to work on her knee, flinching at the first stroke down the side. The blonde looked up,

"Still sore, huh?"

"Just when you hit where he made the incision on that side."

"Well, at least you're not screaming like a baby when I hit that spot anymore," Lauren chuckled.

"That was the first time, and you didn't warn me about what you were doing! You dug your thumb in like you were trying to make one of your pies!" Bo's eyebrows raised, "Speaking of pies, spring is coming. Isn't it time for you to start baking?"

Lauren chuckled, "I suppose, but we've been just a little busy."

Bo smiled, "But you promised me we would go to that store that has everything all in one place," she smirked, "And you promised Rudy, Elise, Molly, Mark and Tosh, too."

Lauren laughed, "I can see the General Store becoming a Walmart Supercenter now. Alaska will never be the same.

"Well, you said they have groceries so can't we get apples there? And coconut?"

Lauren laughed, "You want coconut custard pie?"

"You don't make it that often and it is our honeymoon. Don't you want to give me a special honeymoon gift?"

"I got you whipped cream and strawberries on the way home."

"But that's a shared gift! Don't you want to give me something just for me?"

"Oh, I see. So, I'm baking you the pie and you're not going to share it?"

"Hell no! You hardly ever make it! As a matter of fact, I can't remember when the last time was that you did make it!"

Lauren grinned, "Last spring after you won the Iditarod."

"Well, I won again, so doesn't that mean that you should continue the tradition of my victory pie?"

Lauren smiled, leaning over and kissing her wife, "I'd rather make you my victory pie."

"But you didn't win," Bo smiled, pulling Lauren on top of her by her butt cheeks.

"But I did. I won you…" Lauren kissed her neck, "…as my wife."

Bo smiled, "I loved how insistent you were with your friends that they call you Lauren Dennis."

Trailing kisses along her collar bone, down her chest into the valley between firm mounds of flesh, she mumbled,

"It's my name now. It connects me to you in the only way I haven't been connected to you… until now."

Bo smiled, "So that's what the name is about?"

"What did you think it was about?"

"I guess I thought it was more about ridding yourself of your parents than connecting to me."

Lauren looked up, seeing Bo smiling down at her, "I'm glad it's more about our joining."

The blonde stopped, moving to sit next to Bo on the couch, facing the large picture window that overlooked the ocean,

"Can we sit outside?" Lauren asked, "I mean, if you're too tired…"

"Lauren…" Bo said, sitting up, pushing the curtain of blonde hair back behind Lauren's ear, "… whatever you need… any time, any place, in any way possible… I'm there. Come on."

They stood, Bo taking Lauren's arm. The blonde moved to grab her brace, but Bo shook her head, "It's just a short walk. I'll hold onto you. It's nice to have it off for a while."

Lauren looked down at the leg, "You really need to start taking it off on the beach. Those tan lines are hideous. They're ruining my perfect image of you."

They laughed as Lauren unlocked the slider, pushing it open with some effort and then cursing the door. Bo looked up, pulling her phone out and clicking on the flashlight to take a look at the track,

"Just needs a little oil. I'll fix it tomorrow."

"You're on vacation."

Bo smiled, "Lauren, this house has been sitting here empty most of the time. It needs a little TLC when we come, otherwise, it'll turn into a broken-down shack. We really should come here more often."

"Really?"

Bo nodded, "I handled the plane rides, and I even handled the ferry. No panic attacks. Not one. A little nervousness and, well the MRI machine was rough but otherwise, I was fine. And now, my memory of this place is… well, it isn't about…you know."

"Me with a bunch of naked women partying hard on the beach and inside my house."

"Right."

Lauren smiled, "That was a rough night," she took Bo's hand, helping her into the chair on the deck, "I thought I'd lost you."

Bo nodded, "Me too."

They sat, looking out across the sky, "The stars will be brilliant tomorrow night," Lauren said.

Bo nodded, "So tell me, Lauren. What was your relationship with Nadia really like?"

The blonde sighed, her eyes traveling to the rocks of the long jetty that extended out from the shoreline, protecting her beach from erosion due to the current,

"I remember the day they came here to build that jetty. Nadia had insisted that our beach was too narrow compared to other properties in the area. She went down to see Meena and Maeve to ask them how to rectify that," she turned to Bo,

"Of course, she knew that they were environmentalists, so she didn't ask outright. Instead, she manipulated the answer out of them, pretending she was interested in protecting our beach. Apparently, it was one week later that the first delivery of granite came and within three weeks, that monstrosity was built."

She shook her head, "I was away on a business trip in New York City that became an extended stay when Evony 'rented out' my services to a hospital there and then flew me to a children's hospital in Philadelphia to do a transplant on a three-year-old."

"Phila-what?"

"Philadelphia? The Liberty Bell? Signing of the Constitution? Rocky Statue? Philadelphia Freedom the Elton John song? Cheesesteak wars, Pats vs. Geno's?" Lauren asked, running off just a few of the things the city was famous for, "The site of my first Regatta Championship?"

"Regatta?" Bo asked.

Lauren smiled, "Rowing. On a river?"

"Like the Tina Turner song?" Bo asked.

Lauren grinned, shaking her head, "This is rowing, more 'row, row, row your boat' only it was singles and doubles sculls. Anyway, I'll show you when your knee is healed. Betsy was a rower too… still is, actually. She's great in a sailboat too."

She was rambling and she knew it. She looked out over the vast seas again, taking a deep breath. She exhaled and continued,

"When I got home about three and a half weeks later, I went straight to the condo, but Nadia wasn't there, so I went to the hospital to check in with my patients. Most had been discharged by Nadia, but I ran into the girls, so we went to a bar and hung out."

She shrugged, "Mostly, Kelly caught me up on the gossip, Lynnie ran me through anything Nadia had done with my patients that she disagreed with, and Shannie caught me up on Evony's evil deeds. When they all got quiet, I knew there was something they weren't telling me, so I bribed Kelly with a free drink, and she told me that all they knew was Nadia had done something major at the house."

She looked at Bo, "Apparently the whole neighborhood was talking about it but they didn't know what the 'it' was."

Lauren shook her head and heaved a sigh,

"I was served six weeks later just after Meena and Maeve came to help me with a beached dolphin. As soon as they saw it, they… well, let's just say they felt betrayed. They said they had to report it and then pretty much stormed off. I kept telling them I had nothing to do with building the jetty, but they insisted I had to know. I tried to explain, but they just weren't open to listening. The jetty betrayed everything they worked for in our waters."

"When you say jetty, are we talking about that big, long pile of rocks?"

Lauren nodded, "Yup. In court, Patrick showed all of the phone calls, billing information and my travel and business receipts to prove I was not involved with the work, but since it was my property, they held me responsible."

She could see Lauren's jaw clench as she continued, "I paid 3.2 million dollars in damages and Nadia didn't pay a cent of it. She pulled the whole 'what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine, so it all comes from the same place' bit."

Bo nodded, "I'm sorry, Lauren. I just don't understand where the damage is."

The blonde stood, walking inside and bringing out Bo's crutches, "Come to the beach with me and I'll explain."

Bo nodded, walking with Lauren down to breakers where Lauren had her put her feet in the water.

"Okay, stand still. Now pay attention to the currents – both the one beneath your feet pulling at the sand and the one on the surface, pushing on your legs when the waves come ashore."

Bo concentrated, feeling the push and pull of the water before she suddenly looked up at Lauren,

"They're moving in two different directions."

Lauren nodded, "The water – before the jetty was put in – was coming down the coastline and cutting on an angle towards my property, therefore causing my beach to erode over time. If the jetty wasn't here, my house would probably be gone by now or close to it," she chuckled,

"Ironically, Nadia probably saved my land by doing what she did, but that didn't make it right."

Bo shrugged, "So you have a bigger beach now. I still don't understand the problem with that, Lauren."

The blonde nodded, "Come with me."

They walked away from the inlet at the end of Lauren's property and headed up the beach towards the rows of massive houses, each one seemingly trying to outdo the next. Bo shook her head, laughing,

"I just can't understand all of these fancy fixtures and synthetic building materials used by people in the Lower Forty-Eight. What's wrong with wood?"

Lauren smiled, "Well, that melting permafrost issue we have in Alaska comes partially from the number of forests that were leveled due to mankind chopping down forests and building houses. So, to stop deforestation and to make homes more resilient so they aren't in a constant state of repair, synthetic materials were developed."

"But here, you could plant bamboo and grow so much wood! More wood than you could possibly need. It's mold resistant, pliable, attractive and termites won't eat it if you paint it with dissolved boron salts."

"Boron salts?"

Bo nodded, "Well, to clarify, bamboo is a grass, not a wood, so you would actually be growing grass and leaving the trees to grow as they may. As for the termites, they eat cellulose which is in trees, yes, but it's also in bamboo."

She grinned, "So, to make the bamboo less tasteful for the little critters, you soak boron salts in water, let the water evaporate and it leaves the salts inside the bamboo. A termite takes a taste and runs away, tells all of his little termite friends the food is bad and they head off to another termite restaurant."

"Termites have restaurants?" Lauren asked.

Bo nodded to the large house up on the hill, "That one's a feast."

Lauren laughed, "I'm sure I'll dream of little termites chewing on my house tonight."

"I can paint your house tomorrow."

Lauren smiled, "We have other plans, but thank you. You're building a deck now, remember?"

Bo nodded, "So, why are you dragging me out here at two a.m.?"

"Look out in the water."

Bo turned, looking out at the ocean, "Okay, what am I looking for"

"Docks."

"Docks?"

Lauren nodded, "Docks – like the one that my boat is tied to."

"There aren't any."

Again, Lauren nodded, "They're there, it's just high tide, so you can't see them. They're basically just piles of rubble now. My jetty caused the currents to hit this stretch of beach, push off the jetty and carry the sand out to sea. Twenty years from now, my jetty will likely be surrounded by a small island of sand."

"Wow. Talk about bad neighbors."

Lauren nodded, "Well, they're all aware of what happened now and that's one of the main reasons Nadia stopped coming to the beach house. They trashed her on social media, so I went door-to-door with checks for twenty neighbors on top of what they got in the settlement."

"You didn't."

"As Kenzi would say, I was Lord Gutless of Nobsburg. I should have stood up to her and had her pay the settlement and pay to have the jetty removed. I did neither and everyone knew what those currents would do. However, when I took the checks to them – with Patrick next to me – I did inform them that if she hadn't gone behind my back to do the research on my land and put the jetty in, I would have lost my entire property and once mine was gone, they all would have suffered a similar fate eventually."

"So, you did them a favor."

Lauren shrugged, "Essentially, yes. Patrick had talked to Meena and Maeve about what had happened since they weren't talking to me at that point. He explained the land survey he had done and that I would have lost everything in less than twenty years. A shorter jetty would have been the better solution but since their lawyers went for the money, they didn't have any money to fix their own problems. Leaving their docks to be taken by the sea was the simple fix. The money they received paid for granite stones next to each dock, so they essentially each have their own jetty. The water gets pushed out to sea or into the inlet."

"Problem solved," Bo smiled.

Lauren nodded, turning them around so they could head back to the house. They walked along, talking about their day, the stars, their family and their plans for their future together. They sat on the dock and talked about the cottage and how they would decorate it.

One thing Lauren knew for sure was that Bo would allow her to have a say in everything they did in their new home. Elise would decorate her own bedroom and there would be a bed in the room for Rudy too. They knew there would probably be a lot of sleepovers throughout the summer at both houses.

They finally decided sleep was necessary, so they headed into the house, Bo smirking when she grabbed the strawberries from the refrigerator, deciding she would send Lauren back for the whipped cream, but when she reached their bedroom, she found Lauren standing over two little girls snuggled tightly under their sheets.

Bo shook her head, "I'd love to be angry with them right now, but they're way too adorable."

Nodding, the blonde agreed, "Elise is going to break your little sister's heart one day, isn't she."

Bo shrugged, "I don't know, Lauren, but if she does, we'll be there to help her through it."

Lauren wrapped her arm through Bo's elbow and nodded, "Yes we will."

Bo sighed, "Sleep on your boat?"

Lauren shrugged, "I haven't been in the cabin for over a year, Bo. I have no idea what we're going to find in there. It's been dry docked so…"

"We're going to sleep in it, Lauren. Not go for a ride."

"Okay," Lauren smiled, grabbing a few blankets before they headed towards the back door, across the large yard and towards the boat shed in the back.

When they entered, Bo's eyes went wide, "Oh my… Lauren, you told me you had a boat but… you're a boat collector!"

Lauren shook her head, pointing to each watercraft overhead and in front of them,

"I'm a boat racer, Bo. You knew this. Did you think I raced surfboards?"

"No, but… I mean… I guess… I never asked," she said, hanging her head, "There's so much I don't know about you because I've been so caught up in my own shit that I never asked. This is… these are truly amazing," she turned to her wife, "Can you… introduce me?"

Lauren smiled, "Of course."

They walked along the large boat house, Bo commenting that she hadn't realized from the outside how truly massive the boat hold was. It was bigger than the kennel.

Lauren thumbed over her shoulder to the outside dock across the lawn,

"Well, you knew I had the speedboat outside… I have this one as well, but she needs some work."

She pointed, "This is my baby, my go-to sailboat… the cruiser where we'll sleep tonight. That's a small catamaran for sailing in big wind and my original wave runner for wake surfing – Rudy would love that. Up there is my singles sculling boat that I was told you about earlier, my kiteboard, two ocean kayaks, and my newest wave runner."

"Why have two?" Bo asked.

"An old colleague was moving his family to Florida, so had to get rid of it right after he bought it. He's a professional rider, so it was free to him and so free to me. I'd like to ride that one soon – actually, I'd like to surf behind that one soon."

"Rudy would spend all day in here," Bo laughed, "Probably my mom too."

Lauren grinned, "Well, maybe we'll pull some of these toys out tomorrow. I'll need Patrick to help to get them tuned up, but these engines are pretty simple."

"You work on these engines?"

"I'm a surgeon. Of course, I work on these. You can't take a boat out without knowing how to fix the most common problems or you'd be stranded a lot. They're much easier than a truck engine."

Bo nodded, "Okay then. Just another side of my wife."

"You see? You're not the only one who's full of surprises."

Bo grinned, holding up the strawberries, "Hungry?"

Lauren walked to the cruiser, pulling down the ladder and climbing aboard, the dry-docked boat, "Just keep in mind that rocking this boat too much would be a disaster… an expensive disaster. So, let's do the slow groove version of hungry."

"You'll get no argument from me, lover," Bo grinned, one-legging it up the ladder and taking Lauren's hand to climb into the boat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Next Morning

"Rudy!" Elise whisper-shouted, "Roo! Wake up!"

Rudy rolled over, facing Elise, "What? I'm tired!"

"Roo! Bo and Lauren didn't come in last night."

Rudy sat up, rubbing her eyes and looked around the room, "Maybe they slept out on the deck."

Elise stood up, going to the sliding door and looking between the spindles on the deck. Rudy followed her, rubbing her eyes, sighing when Elise said, "Nope. Nobody out there."

Rudy looked around, walking to the corner of the deck. She looked around the corner to the yard and noticed the outdoor light on outside of the building they weren't permitted to go in,

"Why's that big door open on the big building?"

Elise shrugged, "Dunno. I thought maybe it was Lauren's lab or a hospital place since we're not allowed in there."

"Let's go look!"

"Did you hear me? We're not allowed in there! You can't get in trouble again, Roo!"

"The door is open. I'm just going to look inside. We don't actually have to go in."

They pulled on their slippers and rushed out of the room and towards the back door, but Rudy stopped,

"Wait! I gotta pee!"

"Me too!" Elise said, the two girls running into the bathroom, taking turns using the toilet.

"I still think it's really cool that she has a toilet that flushes in her house. I wish we had a flush toilet. We used to have flush toilets in Hawai'i."

Elise nodded, "Do you think they'll put a flush toilet in the new cottage?"

Rudy shrugged, washing her hands, "Dunno. Sister doesn't really want to run pipes to the river to get water for the house. She said it would be super expensive to dig into the permafrost, but the cottage has that big pit thing that the truck comes and sucks the poop out of. You wouldn't have to dump the sawdust bucket."

Elise nodded, "Well, you'll only have to dump the bucket half the time now."

"Huh?"

"Less people in the house, less poop."

Rudy nodded, "Maybe my mom and I will use separate bathrooms. Then I only have to do my poop! Hers are much bigger."

"Big people, big poop."

The two girls dried their hands and headed out the backdoor, across the yard, through the gap in the bushes and into the bigger building with the old boats next to it.

When they got inside, their eyes went wide, "Whoa. I don't think this is Lauren's building."

Elise nodded, but then held up a hand, "Wait… that boat over there. Lauren told me her boat was named Isotopes. That's her boat!"

Rudy started to run, but Elise stopped her, "You said we weren't going to go inside! We're inside!"

Head down, Rudy sighed, "Okay. We're just going to go over and look at it. We won't actually go on the boat."

They ran to the boat that had the blue cursive name on the bow and smiled, "It's SO big!"

Rudy pointed up to towards the ceiling, "It's a sailboat! See the mast?"

"Wow. It's huge!" Elise smiled, "Will she take us for a ride?"

Rudy shrugged, her wide eyes now spotting the numerous items in the rafters, "She said we were going out in the speedboat today."

"I wanna sail. Can you imagine?"

Rudy shook her head, "I wanna do whatever that big board is."

"What is that?" Elise asked.

"Dunno, but it's a surfboard and a sailboat. Lauren's two favorite things!"

"What's that big, long thing?"

"Dunno."

"She really likes boats," Elise smiled, "There's a ladder! Let's check it out!"

Rudy followed, deciding since it wasn't her idea, she wouldn't get in trouble. The pair climbed up the ladder and into the boat, checking out the mast, the sails, then finally, the steering,

"Look at how big this steering wheel is!" Rudy said, reaching up to the large circle of wood and moving it back and forth, "Here comes a big wave!"

Elise laughed, "Woosh!" she laughed, falling backwards. When she sat up, she noticed the door down a set of stairs, "Hey! There's a downstairs or something."

Rudy smiled, "Lauren said you can sleep on this boat! Maybe she'll take us out and we can sleep out on the ocean overnight!"

"Cool!" Elise smiled, the two running down towards the door, throwing it open to find four bunk beds that led to a large bed at the front of the ship. Rudy rushed forward, but stopped suddenly,

"Oops! Naked Sisters! Naked Sisters!" she said, turning and running away.

Elise stood, her eyes locked on Lauren's who had sat up, hair disheveled, confused before she grabbed a pillow and covered herself. Elise raced off, following Rudy leaving Lauren shaking her head,

"Shit."

She looked down at her wife, "Bo!"

"We just went to sleep."

"Bo!"

"What!" she said, pushing up on her elbows, angry.

"The girls just saw us. Like this!"

Bo looked down, noticing that they were laying stark naked, no covers, on the bed.

"Shit."

"Get dressed. I'll run after them. Please be careful getting out of the boat. You don't have your brace on."

Lauren dressed quickly, running up the stairs, ready to head for the ladder, but instead, found the girls sitting together at the helm. She sighed, walking towards the pair, desperately trying to figure out what she was going to say. Taking a seat in front of them, she chose a different tact,

"Questions?"

Rudy looked up at Lauren, "Why are you guys naked?"

Lauren smiled, "Do you remember when we talked about how babies are made?"

Elise looked at Rudy, then back at Lauren, "You're making us a baby sister?"

Lauren offered a tight smile, "Well, two women don't have the right parts to make you a baby sister… or brother but we can do the things that help us to communicate how much we love each other."

Rudy sighed, "The kissy stuff?"

Lauren laughed, "Yes, Roo. The kissy stuff."

"Do you want to make us a baby sister?" Elise asked.

"Or brother?" Rudy added as Bo came to sit beside Lauren.

The blonde looked at Bo who smiled, "We do."

"So, if you don't have the parts to do it, how will it work?"

Bo smiled, "Lauren's friend Patrick is going to give us the boy cells and Lauren will give the girl cells and together, they'll make a baby."

"So, Patrick will be pregnant?" Rudy asked.

Lauren shook her head, "Boys can't get pregnant. I'll be the one that's pregnant."

"You're gonna have a big belly?" Elise asked.

Lauren nodded, "Eventually, yes, I will. We're not going to make a baby for a while though. We just got married."

"Oh," Elise said, clearly disappointed.

Bo smiled, "By the time you have a little brother or sister, you will be old enough to hold them and babysit them, take them for walks in the stroller and to feed and change them."

"Change them?" Rudy asked, "Change them into what?"

Lauren shrugged, "Babies poop, so babies wear diapers that have to be changed."

"More poop?" Rudy asked, "It's everywhere!"

Bo and Lauren looked at each other, Bo asking, "What are you talking about?"

Elise leaned forward, "You have a flush toilet here and Mark and Molly have flush toilets. We have flush toilets at school too. It's just at the river houses that we don't have flush toilets. We were just saying that it's nice to flush the poop away instead of having to dump the stinky sawdust buckets."

Lauren grinned, "I agree. It's not a fun chore, but do you know how much water a flush toilet uses?"

Rudy sighed, "I guess a lot?"

"Gallons each time you flush. Water's a pretty important resource, Roo. Plus, to run pipes to the lake would cost a lot of money. Remember, we own all of the land from the house to the sidewalk in town. That means running that pipe is on us to pay for, plus the pipes that would have to go from that pipe to all of our houses."

"Oh."

Bo nodded, "That's why they call it off-grid. The grid is where people can connect to the central access point for electric, water, gas and cable."

"But we have cable and electric," Elise said.

Lauren smiled, "That's because of all of those big solar panels on our roof and by the river."

"Why don't we use hydropower or windmills?" Rudy asked, "Our teacher at school is reading us a story about a boy in Africa who got water to his house with a windmill. It's really cool."

Lauren smiled, "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, right?"

"That's it!" Rudy said excitedly.

"Well, I was lucky enough to meet him at a convention."

"You met William? The real William?" Elise asked.

Lauren nodded, "William Kamkwamba. Yes, when I met him, he was quite the innovative young man and had ideas for how to decrease energy needs of hospitals by using solar energy. So far, the ideas have no been put to use since surgeons and patients must have access to continuous electricity, but maybe someday his ideas will solve our reliance on fossil fuels."

"But using a windmill and hydropower for electricity is an interesting idea. I think you just gave me an idea for my next project, Roo!" Bo smiled.

Lauren shook her head, "As if you need a new project."

Bo shrugged, "I like to keep busy."

"No surprise there," Lauren said, "Anyone want to go for a morning sail?"

"Really? In this boat?" Elise asked.

Lauren nodded, "I have to give her a good look first. If there's any issues, we can take the smaller sailboat out. It's in the yard under the portable garage."

"Cool! Can we help?"

Bo nodded, "You can go brush your teeth, wash your face, and eat some breakfast. Make sure you put on your sunscreen."

Lauren nodded, "Pack a backpack. You'll need lunch, sunglasses, and hats. Ask Mary and Molly if they want to come along too."

"Yes!" Rudy smiled, the two girls moving to the rail of the boat where Lauren lifted them one at a time onto the ladder.

She turned to face Bo, "Kid-proof bedroom."

Bo shook her head, "Or at least, never fall asleep naked."

Lauren sighed, "I just hope they're not scarred for life."

Bo sighed, "Well, should we go shower?"

"Yes – with the door locked."

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Bo had gone to Katie's cottage, as promised, taking Mark, LJ and the girls along. They were very excited to read their new books to a Nana since neither of them had ever had a Nana before. Everything had gone well and they had promised to return the next day to continue the work. The girls and Katie's grandmother who they had all taken to calling Nana, were excited to return for reading time too.

The brunette had come back about an hour before the rest of the group to check on Tosh and help Lauren if needed. Instead, she found the blonde had everything in hand. Watching her on a sailboat, Bo supposed, was akin to Lauren watching her prepare a sled.

Bo had reached a whole new level of admiration for her wife. It had taken her the entire morning to clean and treat the wood on the boat, but it shined like it was brand new. She'd watched her check the hull, and all the other parts that Bo didn't know by name, leaving nothing to chance.

Once Lauren decided the boat was still seaworthy, she backed her pickup truck to the boat hitch, towed it to the boat launch, put it into the water with expert precision, dragged the boat to the dock, drove the truck back up onto land, tested the engines and all the systems before setting to the task of replacing the less than ample batteries.

She made quick work of scaling the mast where she released the sail before sliding back to the deck. Once down, she carefully unfolded the sails to checked for holes. Finding none, she moved to check the equipment on deck,

"Do you remember learning about these?"

Bo smiled, "The coffee grinders!"

Lauren nodded, "Very good! I'm surprised you remembered."

"Are you kidding? My arms were killing me after cranking those things."

She paused, unsure if she should ask. Certainly, the blonde would have told her, but she decided to ask just in case,

"Have you talked to him?"

Lauren was silent as she continued to take a wrench to a loose grinder. She re-thread the line and gave it a few quick cranks, satisfied it was working properly before moving around to other equipment that Bo didn't know much about.

Finally, she freed the boom and checked the points it was attached to. Bo noticed Lauren rubbing what looked like wires with an oily rag… rubbing them quite enthusiastically before she moved to lower the main sail, lock the boom and do a final check of the jib sail. When she was finished, all of the sails were tied down and the lines in their proper places. She walked back to the helm and sat next to Bo,

"I take it you're talking about Elijah?"

Bo nodded.

"I asked Patrick and Penelope to check on him."

"Did they?"

Lauren shrugged, "Don't know. I didn't go into Boston with them yesterday."

Bo nodded, "Do you want to call him?"

"I won't lie, Bo. I miss his friendship. Taking this boat out – well, it brings back memories. Patrick and I raced this boat together for years with Eli as our third. It's just sad that he's not here. He should be, but he just couldn't find a way to be who I needed him to be."

"A friend?" Bo asked.

Lauren nodded, "Just a friend. I just don't understand it sometimes. I mean if a person has love in their heart for you… I mean, they really, really love you, isn't that more about what they want for you than what they want from you?"

Bo smiled, "I think that's why we parted ways for a time, Lauren. I think we both had expectations for the other person based on our own needs. When we came back to each other, we had recognized that we just needed each other in our lives – that regardless of what we needed, we wanted more for each other than from each other."

"We don't place demands on each other, Bo. And I think that's what makes it work. If you didn't want the intimacy part of our relationship, it would hurt and I would still want you but I couldn't not have you in my life at all."

Bo shrugged, "Well, that's easy to say since you have me. I think it's about endurance."

"Endurance?"

Bo nodded, "Day in, day out, always having me there but not being able to give me the physical love you want to give me. Knowing that when you look at me and I look back at you, that it's not the same gaze you know now – that it doesn't have the same meaning."

She shrugged, "And then there would be the possibility of having to watch me date and possibly fall in love with someone else. Holding their hand, kissing their cheek or their lips, knowing that when we leave a social engagement that we're going home to share the same bed… to share each other's bodies. How long do you think you could endure that knowledge?"

Lauren sighed with only a nod to offer in reply, "Could you?"

Bo shook her head, "I would be making myself scare when you were with your new partner. I don't think I couldn't watch that."

They heard giggling and turned to see the girls coming out of the house with Patrick, Molly and Mary. Bo turned to Lauren,

"If you love him, Lauren, call him and check on him. Don't just send a messenger. Give him a chance to see you if it's what he wants. You're the one that closed the door on him. I can't imagine he'll allow his pride to come knocking under the circumstances."

Lauren nodded, "Thank you, Bo."

"Of course," Bo smiled, "My wisdom is free to you any time. Now, we're about to be boarded."

Lauren laughed, standing up and stepping onto the dock to greet the group. She stood, giving Patrick a wink as he walked past her and turned to take everyone's gear for the day. He said to Bo,

"I heard we're taking a group out before dinner too?"

Bo nodded, "Your friends are coming. Um… Bev, Ronnie, Alicia, Maeve and Meena?"

"Oh! Great group! It will be good to see them. Are the nurses coming too? They'll be up for that group."

Bo smiled, "I think Maeve was going to call Kelly. I'd think Kurt would go with them too, right?"

Patrick shook his head, "He wants to go now so that he's not the only guy on the boat."

"Understood," Bo smiled, as they turned their attention to Lauren while Patrick helped Mary and Molly onto the boat.

"Now, you can't go for a ride on a sailboat because sailboats don't use an engine. That means, we have to move the parts of the boat to catch the wind to push the boat forward. Otherwise, we'll just be sitting still in the water and that's not fun for more than a few minutes."

"What do we have to do?" Elise asked.

Lauren smiled, "First, you have to know the parts of the boat so that when Patrick or I ask you to do something, you know exactly how to do it."

Rudy nodded, "Like sledding."

"Right!" Lauren smiled, "So, let's start with the outside of the boat," she pointed to each part as she explained,

"This is a racing sailboat, so it's built to go fast. That means, the shell of the boat – what we call the hull – is a certain shape to allow it to be fast. However, many of the races that Patrick and I race in are based on the boats' classification. So, I have different boats that have different types of hulls."

"What's inside the hull?"

Lauren smiled, "That's a good question. It's empty, but it has air inside and that is what gives the boat something called 'ballast' which keeps the boat from tilting too far right or too far left... that's called listing."

"Capsizing!" Rudy shouted.

Lauren was surprised, "That's when a boat rolls over because the hull floods. In a boat this size, that usually only happens if the boat hits something or gets caught in a supersized storm."

Elise looked worried, "Are we gonna hit something?"

Lauren shook her head, "No, sweetie. We're going out in the ocean where there's nothing but water."

"And there won't be any storms?"

She pointed up, "Bright sun, no clouds. We're good and the weather looks good. We'll keep an eye out though. You'll always be able to see land, so if a storm kicks up, we'll get to safety."

Lauren pointed towards the front of the boat, "Now, if you look below the water line, you can see that this boat has what's called a planing hull which is designed to rise and glide on top of the water."

"It doesn't look risen right now," Elise said, her head upside down to see the bottom of the boat.

Lauren tried not to laugh, but her adopted daughter really was adorable, "That's because there's no power behind the boat, so it acts like what's called a displacement hull. They're hulls that are round on the bottom and they're designed so that when you put them in the water, they sink a bit, pushing the water out of the way or displacing the water."

"So, because they sink down deeper, boats with those hulls are slower?" Elise asked.

Lauren nodded, "Exactly, my smart girl!"

"So that's why you didn't buy a displacement hull? Because you and Patrick would lose all your races?"

Lauren smiled and nodded, "Right again!"

Rudy was laying on the dock hanging over, her hair barely grazing the surface of the water, "It's flat but then it has a little 'v' in the middle."

Lauren nodded, "Now, you might have seen two other boats in the boathouse. I have a small monohull and then a catamaran that has two hulls with either a deck or a trampoline in between. If I'm racing, I use the deck and if I'm just out for fun with friends, I use the trampoline."

"A trampoline? Like the thing you can jump on?" Rudy asked.

Lauren nodded, "Exactly. You can lay on it and you feel the rush of the water underneath you. It's great on a really hot day. It's my favorite place on that boat."

"So, what kind of hull do those boats have?" Elise asked.

"The monohull is a flat bottom, so it's super-fast."

Patrick smiled, "When she races that one, she spends most of her time with one whole side of the boat out of the water, so she has to hang off the side to keep the boat from flipping over."

"Ohmagosh! Have you ever flipped over?" Elise asked.

Lauren laughed, "Lots of times. It's impossible to control the wind or the sea, so one mistake and it's all over. Unfortunately, I'm not immune to mistakes. But today, we're taking the big boat."

"So, we're not gonna go fast?" Elise asked, "Not at all?"

Lauren smiled, patting the side of the boat, "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how fast old Isotopes can go."

"Why did you name the boat Isotopes?" Rudy asked.

"Because I was working on my thesis on the monograph regarding the rhizome repellant gradient of canine blood compared with human blood especially when suspended in an isotonic solution and… well, it had to do with certain isotopes that I couldn't get out of my mind so when the salesman asked what name I wanted put on the boat, I said Isotopes."

Rudy and Elise frowned, trying to understand, so Patrick simplified it,

"She said that she was doing her doctoral paper on Isotopes and since they were always on her mind at the time, that's what she named the boat."

"Oh," they said together, Rudy adding, "That's a weird name for a boat."

"Rudy!" Mary scolded.

Lauren smiled, "It is unusual to most people, but with my love for science, it's perfect. But your mom is right, Rudy. I would hope that no one would ever judge you for your choices. After all, it's not your boat, right?"

"I'm sorry."

Bo gave Rudy a nudge, "What did we say about having to say sorry?"

"To think before I speak or act so that I don't have to say sorry," she looked up at Lauren, "I'm sorry that I didn't think before I spoke."

"I know you are, Rudy but that's the sort of thing that kept you on land all day. How would you feel if your mom said you couldn't go sailing with us right now?"

Lauren could see Rudy turned to her mom, her bottom lip quivering,

"Please, Momma."

Mary nodded, "You'll sail now, but you will have to give up something next week."

"Momma!"

Mary shook her head, "Or give up the sail now, since I hear you also went into the boathouse that was off-limits and walked in on Bo and Lauren's private moment."

Rudy sighed, looking up at Lauren, "Please put a piece of tape over my mouth and handcuff my feet together so I don't say or do anything stupid again."

Lauren moved to the child, squatting down in front of her, "First, we don't use the word stupid in this family."

"See? I'm just always saying things I shouldn't!" Rudy said throwing her hands up in the air.

Lauren smiled, "Well, I have an idea about how we can start to work on that. Let's just have some fun for now and we'll start tonight, okay?"

"Okay."

Lauren pulled out her phone, making a note to do a little drill with Rudy later on, then turned back to her boat,

"Okay, now let's talk about the keel of the boat. All sailboats have a keel. It's the flat blade that sticks down into the water from the sailboats hull."

"Why do you need a keel when you have a hull?" Elise asked.

Lauren explained, "Well, the keel provides counterbalance when turning. When the sail is filled with wind and trying to push the boat over, it also holds the boat's ballast and so it helps to keep the boat from capsizing."

She used her hands to explain, "So you're going to feel the boat lean from one side or the other. That feeling can be scary if you're not used to it, so don't worry. The keel and its ballast counteract the movement and so the boat doesn't tip over even though it feels like it's on its side. This boat has a fin keel which is smaller than the other type called a full keel. A fin keel gives our boat less water resistance, so it moves faster."

She thought of Eli and their last conversation about changes he'd wanted to make to her boat,

"There's a new feature called a winged keel and another called a canting keel which might make this boat perform even better. But, since I'm not racing anymore, there's no real reason to make any modifications. This boat runs like…"

"A well-oiled machine with the prettiest crew on the sea," Patrick said with a smile.

Lauren nodded at her friend, returning his smile, "Is it ever," she said before she continued, "Now, all the way at the back is the rudder…"

"That's for steering!" Elise shouted, "Like on Rudy's surfboard."

Lauren nodded, "That's right, although on a board, it's called a fin. Back there is the big steering wheel that controls the rudder. Let's hop on the boat and I'll show you the things that are really important to know."

Bo gave a nod to Molly and Mary, "This is what you'll have to know, so listen up."

"Now, the helmsman is the person steering the boat."

Patrick nodded, "That will be Lauren."

"In smaller boats, like my monohull and catamaran, it's a stick made of wood or metal that's attached to the top of the rutter. In a boat this size, we use a wheel because it provides better leverage for turning since the boat is heavier and will encounter more water resistance."

She opened her hands, "If you let go of the steering wheel, the water will take the rudder in the direction of the force, so you can never let the wheel just swing back unless you're ready to move the sail as well."

Patrick explained, "So when Lauren says to do something to the sail, it's important that we do it quickly and efficiently."

Lauren placed her hand on the mast, "This big, tall pole is the mast. Patrick and I can both scale this in under thirty seconds which is important if there's an unexpected storm, a tear in the sail or a change in the wind. An old friend of mine sails a tall ship, so he has multiple masts for many, many sails. This boat is smaller by comparison, so only needs the main mast. The other sails all connect to it in one way or another."

She pointed up, "So, the mainsail will be attached to this pole and is what propels the boat forward. The boom here controls the angle and the shape of the sail, so this is the most important navigational tool on the boat."

She walked under the boom, "Now, it's important to know that the boom is free while we're sailing and if the sail moves, the boom moves too. It moves with enough force that if it hits you, it will knock you into the water, so it is really, REALLY important that you duck under the boom and not get hit by it."

"Whoa," the two girls said, Rudy adding, I'm staying away from that thing."

Lauren smiled, "I'd like to hope so, but if you look around, you'll notice you can't really move on this boat without the boom reaching you. That means anytime you are walking past the boom, expect it to move and you won't have anything to worry about. It's meant to be away from the centerline of the boat, so will always be slightly to one side or the other while we're traveling."

She continued, "This is the boom vang which exerts a downward force on the mast to help control the shape of the sail or what we call the trim. Up there is the topping lift and it pulls the sale upwards."

"So, it's the opposite of the boom fang," Rudy nodded.

"Boom vang. Yes," Lauren smiled, "Now, most boats also have a jib and/or a spinnaker. This boat has both, but we'll likely only use the jib unless the winds change. The jib helps us to tack or turn left and right…"

"Or what we call port and starboard," Patrick explained, "But we'll do our best to use right and left to be sure you all understand."

Lauren nodded, "The spinnaker is specifically for sailing off the wind on a downwind course. We may need that on the way back. We'll see."

Patrick smiled, "It's the best sail because it fills up with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it's deployed. We call it 'flying' and that's exactly what it feels like."

Everyone grinned in response to Patrick's enthusiasm.

Lauren's smile was wide, "Patrick loves the 'pop' of the spinnaker when it opens. It's like a big parachute opening at the front of the boat and it really is cool."

Elise smiled, "I hope we get to open it."

"Me too," Rudy said.

Lauren continued, "There's also a genoa, but we definitely won't need that today. Now this is the backstay. It's a standing rigging that runs from the mast to the transom at the back of the boat. It works against the forestay and the jib to help the mainsail's shape and the headsail."

She walked to the back of the boat, "Most boats either have a permanent backstay attached to the top of the mast or a running backstay that's attached about two-thirds of the way up the mast and sometimes at multiple locations along the mast."

She pointed as she spoke, "Now, while most favor a permanent backstay, this boat is unique in that it actually has a running combined with a permanent. It just gives us more maneuverability options."

Lauren smiled, "Finally, this is the forestay and it's a standard piece of rigging that actually keeps the mask from falling backward. It has multiple points of attachment at the back, mast and front of the ship and will have a sail attached to it. For us today, the jib."

She threw her arms out to the sides, "That's the boat. Now, while I get us ready to sail by checking our course points and the wind, Patrick is going to show you Bo's favorite job on the boat."

"What's that, Sister?"

Bo smiled, "I love being a grinder, Roo. It's a great workout for the arms and I can do it just by leaning right here. Finally! Something I can do without worrying about my knee!"

Lauren gave Bo one of those 'that's not true' looks, but the brunette just shrugged and grinned while Patrick began the lesson with the four girls.

"Lauren! Need another hand?"

The blonde looked up to see Shannie waving from shore, "That would be great, Shannie! Grab your gear and some grub!"

Mary shouted to Shannie, "Scratch the grub! I packed like a mom!"

"Thanks, Mary!" Shannie smiled, running back into the guest house.

Lauren was grateful for the extra experience on the boat when she looked down and saw the current wind readings. It was going to be a windy ride and while she relished the idea, she didn't want the girls to be afraid. There was no way to know how they were going to react to this. She could only hope that they trusted her and would love the speed of the boat the same way they loved the speed of a sled.

About twenty-five minutes later, the lifejackets were on, the deck hands had all practiced their roles, Molly and Mary had been instructed what to do should anything go wrong and were assured that Shannie and Patrick would get to the girls no matter what.

No one wanted to think about the bad things that could happen, but the reality was, things did and Lauren was not the type to ignore that point. She would always make sure that anyone who went out on her boat had at least basic knowledge of how to handle an emergency – most of all, not to panic.

With the girls, she was sure panic was the first thing they would do which is why she hand instructed Patrick and Shannon to watch out for them first and foremost. Lauren could steer out of the wind to stop the boat if it came right down to it. She could also release the mainsail from behind her – it was a safety rigging she had built into the boat from a very young age.

She turned on the small engine that would power the boat out of the inlet, the crew waving to Tosh, Kelly and Lynnie who were sitting on the deck.

Tosh had his last treatment yesterday, so was not doing so well today. That was what had led two nurses to stay behind. A nurse from the hospital would be by later to remove his port because it was causing him a great deal of pain.

Kelly and Lynnie had expressed concern about his cell counts from the last round of bloodwork they'd sent to the lab, so a transfusion might also be necessary. They hadn't told Bo yet, but she was the only familial match to his blood type, so they were hoping she would be willing to give up a pint of plasma before they hopped on the plane on Sunday. If not, Tosh would not be approved for air travel, and they would have to spend another few days in P-Town.

None of them minded. Lynnie had expressed a willingness to stay so that they could spend a little more time with friends. Of course, they wouldn't find out until later in the day that their friends were coming to Alaska in the not-so-distant-future.

Tosh turned to Lynnie, "So, did you pop the question?"

Kelly couldn't help herself, "No, because she's a chicken shit."

"You had the perfect opportunity!" Lynnie said.

"I don't know you guys. It's Bo and Lauren's honeymoon. It's not our show."

Tosh shook his head, "Fine! Then ask Bo and Lauren first."

"They won't say no even if they want to. They're too nice," she argued.

Kelly smiled, "You have worked side-by-side with Lauren for going on ten years, Lynnie. If she's the least bit unsure about it, you'll know. Ask her. She'll talk to Bo and you'll know when she gives you the answer."

Lynnie nodded, looking out at the boat, "They're at the edge of the inlet. The sail will go up at any moment."

Tosh smiled, "God I wish I could be on that boat."

Lynnie grinned, "The good thing is that you'll be alive to go for the next ride on their anniversary."

He looked at the nurse and nodded, "True. One thing I can say for you three is that you've really helped me to keep all of this in perspective. Thank you so much. I mean, you two could be on that boat now too. I appreciate you giving up your time for me."

Kelly laughed, "Don't be too flattered. We're making overtime pay right now."

They all laughed, Lynnie shaking her head, "We're actually making a stipend for this trip, so don't believe her for a second, Tosh. We wouldn't have offered if we didn't want to do it. They could have just as easily brought along a nurse for the whole damn trip and paid her."

"Well, thank you for not leaving me with nurse Ratchet the whole time. That woman's got as much finesse with a needle as Bo Dennis with a hammer and nail."

Again, they all laughed, knowing Bo as they did. Just as their laughter died down a bit, they saw the mainsail go up the mast. The wind catching it perfectly before the boat began to pick up speed.

"There they go," Kelly said, "Now, I'm going to go grab my iPad and show you some footage of Patrick and Lauren racing two summers ago at the Memorial Day race. They crushed the competition."

She ran off, leaving the two watching the boat as it headed out for open water.

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