AN: The vacation chapter, I apologise if there is nothing like the place I describe, but this is all in my mind's eye as I tell this tale, so bear with me if you can't imagine it. Also if there is a place with this name, it is coincidence. Also I might have used more English English words than American English ones, sorry.

The Other Side Of Never

Chapter Twelve

August 2010

Saturday

They left early Abby stood over Toby before they left ensuring that he paid a visit to the bathroom as it would be several hours before they reached their destination, of course they would have to stop sometime during those few hours.

They all piled into the car, Abby said she would start the driving and Carter was quite happy to shut his eyes for a bit. He hadn't got in until the early hours of the morning, way after he should have due to a large car wreck on the outskirts of town.

The kids were quite happy as they headed out on their little adventure, Abby knew that later they would probably be fighting after sitting in such a confined space for so long on what promised to be a fine summers day. Hopefully their whole vacation would go well.

They had been driving for about an hour, by this time Abby had had to put a Disney CD on to amuse Elise and Toby as they hadn't planned to stop for a least another half hour. Carter wasn't much help as he had fallen asleep almost as soon as they had left home. Every time he started to gently snore she had dug him in the side, Disney songs, snoring and fractious children didn't mix whilst she was trying to concentrate on the road.

The traffic ahead was moving slowly Abby couldn't see why. She hoped that it wouldn't last long as the kids particularly Toby tended to get car sick when they were part of slow moving traffic, stopping and starting all the time. They had been stopping and starting for an hour which eventually woke Carter from his little nap.

'Where are we?' he asked rubbing a hand over his eyes in an effort to wake fully.

'Middle of nowhere' Abby replied

'What's going on?' he asked

Abby shook her head and suggested 'Car wreck, road works, who knows'

She glanced into the mirror to look at the kids who had gone uncharacteristically quiet. They looked rather pale she decided and there seemed nowhere to pull over at the moment.

'Um John' she started

Carter looked at her knowing that she was going to ask him a favour and wondering what it was.

'Could you get a couple of bags out my purse?' she asked

Carter fumbled around a bit and held out two brown paper bags 'These?' he asked

'Yeah, give them to the kids, I think there are going to throw up'

'Great' he muttered under his breath

Which was just in time for Toby unfortunately though he missed the bag somewhat, while Elise just sat there holding on to the bag for dear life.

'Abby we're gonna have to stop' Carter said

'I see that' she replied pulling over behind a car that had overheated and had the hood raised.

Which was just in time for Abby to get out the car grab Elise and get her to empty the contents of her stomach into the bag.

Abby wiped back the hair from Elise's face, who was still looking rather pale.

'Okay' Abby asked

Elise swallowed and nodded

Abby handed her some water 'Better'

Elise replied ' That feels better'

'Okay, don't tell me you're hungry like you did last time, you can wait a bit first' she said sitting the little girl on the verge away from the road.

Then Abby looked to see what Carter and Toby were up to. Carter had stripped Toby's top and shorts off and was attempting to clear him up with wet wipes.

'You feel better?' she asked him thinking he still looked rather green.

Toby took one look at her before throwing up again, this time all over Carter.

'Obviously not' Abby said 'Don't just stand there' she said to a stunned Carter.

'I'm beginning to feel like I'm at work' he stated

'Don't worry they'll be okay now'

'Famous last words Abby' he replied

'Oh no' she added 'they're usually okay after, in fact they both will want to eat in about thirty minutes or so'

'Really?'

'Really'

A few hours later Carter realised that Abby had been right. The kids had eaten some dry crackers and had some water and had been fine. They had had to travel with the windows open, the air conditioning didn't take the smell away, Carter thought as he drove along that that was most probably because his clean clothes were buried under a mound of stuff and his clothes he had on had a distinct odour about them. They had waited until the traffic flow problem had ceased before starting their journey once more and now they had just arrived at their destination. Carter was dreaming of a refreshing shower more than anything else in the world.

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They past a sign, which read Trayton's Retreat Park and drove down a long winding trail to a large log structure which, housed amongst other things a reception. After booking in they drove down to the lodge that they had hired for the next seven days.

'Looks okay, proper building' stated Carter

'What do you think I'd booked, a shack?'

'Some of the ones back there looked a little rough'

'They're supposed to be 'rough' the brochure called them authentic log cabins for those who wanted an experience of times gone by. This is de-luxe' she told him

They all piled out of the car and headed into the lodge with a front veranda, it was on two floors and consisted of a kitchen, dining and living area with a bathroom and bedrooms above.

Then they looked out at the mountainous view of lots of trees, a large lake, one or two other cabins in the vicinity and lots more trees.

'It'll be fun' Toby said to Carter moving to stand next to him

'Yeah' agreed Elise 'We really had a good time last year'

'You went here last year?'

'Uh huh' Toby said

'We stayed the other side of the lake though' Elise informed him

'In a semi de-luxe' stated Abby to Carter

'You can keep Mom company while we go and do the fun stuff'

'So Carter and I can't do fun stuff too?' Abby asked

Elise smiled up at her, 'I guess you can'

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Sunday to Tuesday

They filled their days by taking the kids to the children's club in the morning, while they did something together, which sometimes didn't include going out of the lodge for. Then they took the kids out with them someplace in the afternoons.

The kids enjoyed mixing with different children and doing a range of activities from swimming and pony riding to flower pot and T-shirt painting.

'You like mine?' Elise asked Abby

Abby looked at the picture of what she interpreted it to be a princess.

'Very nice, but I don't think it will fit me? She told Elise

'It's too small for you silly' she replied laughing

'Mine's good too' Toby said showing Abby a sort of person, Abby only knew it was Spiderman because of the colours he had used and the big spider he had drawn on the reverse.

'That's lovely' she told him as he insisted wearing it that moment, with an expression of pride written all over his face.

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Wednesday

That morning Abby dropped the kids off, and went to meet Carter who told her he had a surprise for her. He put a hand over her eyes and led her round the park. When they reach their destination he took his hand away.

'You can look now' he said

Abby's eyes widened as she saw his plan.

'You said it would be something I'd enjoy' she said turning to face him 'I never done anything like that in my life'

'It's easy' he replied

'I guess you grew up with this kind of thing?' She asked

'Yeah' he replied 'Not that I was particularly good'

'Then why are we going to do it'

'I thought it would be fun'

'I could break my neck'

'I'll look after you'

'That's what I'm afraid of' she told him 'I mean you can't have complete control of the situation'

He looked at her pleadingly, his eyes hopeful.

'Oh okay' she finally conceded

'Smile, it's going to be fun we'll only be out a hour'

'Let's just get on with it, how do I get up there?'

'Hold the reins and put your foot in the stirrup and I'll give you a boost'

Abby did as instructed and landed with a thud in the saddle on top of a gentle looking horse.

'Ready?' he asked sitting on top of a larger looking horse.

She nodded not really convinced.

'Maybe we should tell someone where we're going?'

'Abby, it's fine, it's all taken care of' he told her as she rolled her eyes in response not entirely won over.

It was a pleasant day as they set off, Abby couldn't say that she was completely comfortable sitting on top of a horse but she decided to humour Carter anyway.

The ride took longer than expected; Abby was worried that she wouldn't be back in time to pick up the kids for lunch as arranged. Carter who thought he knew where he was going managed to get the pair of them slightly lost.

They eventually arrived to collect Elise and Toby ten minutes later than they should have done.

'Mom are you okay?' Elise asked Abby 'You're kinda walking funny'

Abby shot a look at Carter. 'I went horse-riding ' she told them

'By yourself?' Elise asked

'That's dang'rous' stated Toby

'No I went too' said Carter

'Did you fall off?' Toby asked Abby

'No, I just wasn't used to riding a horse and it took longer than we thought' she gave Carter a glare, and he had a look of innocence on his face as he met her gaze.

'How much longer?' asked Elise

'A lot longer. Two hours longer'

'After lunch I'll run you a hot bath and you can have a soak, while I take the kids fishing'

'Fishing?' asked Elise clearly unimpressed.

'Yeah, it'll be fun, just the three of us'

Much to Elise surprise she did enjoy fishing, more than Toby who was still rather young.

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Thursday

The next afternoon Carter and Abby took the kids out in a rowing boat on one of the lakes there. Abby made sure that Elise and Toby wore life jackets, which turned out to be a good decision. They had been on the lake a while and Toby and Elise had started to get bored, which resulted in the pair arguing where they would sit and moving around the small vessel.

When unsurprisingly they eventually tipped the boat over and everyone fell in. Fortunately no one was hurt just wet and rather stunned.

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Friday

While the kids were off on their last fun session with their new friends Abby decided that today she would get her own back on Carter for the horse riding experience.

'Where are we going?' he asked

'Just wear long pants' she told him as he eyed her suspiciously

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'You're not serious?' he asked her and they joined a group of people

'What?' she asked 'you made me go horse riding, now I would like to try this'

'You can try this, don't expect me to join you'

'That's not fair, besides you might even enjoy yourself and it's safer than the horse riding you get to wear a harness and a hard hat'

He looked up 'It's a mountain'

She rolled her eyes exasperated with him 'It's not a mountain it's a small rock face in the side of a mountain'

'Oh, I thought you meant we had to climb to the top'

'Even I'm not that stupid, come on if I can horse ride you can do this. It can't be that difficult surely'

Carter grudgingly followed her and accepted the harness, watching the instructor as he explained how to wear it.

'It's not particularly comfortable' he told Abby, who gave him a look that said stop whining you're worse than the kids.

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Carter held on to the rock for dear life, wondering how on earth Abby had persuaded him to do such an activity, the sweat poured from his back, he tried not to look down as that made him feel rather queasy.

'You're doing great' she told him from the top, which at this point was only just out of his reach by several feet.

He was unable to form a reply and just cursed to himself as he followed the instructors advice, and he slowly made his way up the rock face, collapsing on to the ground at the top with relief and then crawling away from the edge.

'I didn't think you were afraid of heights'

'I'm not' he managed 'I just have never had a desire to ever do that'

She sat down next to him neither of then said anything for a while and he used the time to get his breath back.

'Thanks' she said eventually

'Not sorry?'

'No thank you, I realise you didn't want to, but you did'

'Yeah well I made you go horse riding'

She smiled at him 'You know ' she said 'this has taken less time than the horse riding'

'And?'

'We've got time to...' she said smiling and shrugging at the same time 'If you've got the energy' she paused for a moment then said 'if not I....'

He silenced her with a kiss and said 'The quicker we're there'

He stood and pulled her up and said 'Now what's the quickest way down this hill?'

Unfortunately for him the quickest way was back the way he had come, although he found going down was much faster.

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They chose to have a quiet afternoon with the kids playing outside the lodge.

Carter and Abby sat on the veranda while Elise and Toby played on the grass.

Toby tired of playing sat down.

'My legs are tired' he said as an explanation to Elise who sat down beside him sighing.

They sat there in silence watching a family with three young children, the youngest crawling across the grass.

' 'Lise?' Toby said

'Mmm' she replied

'Boy of girl?'

What?'

'Baby bro...brother or sister?' Elsie looked at him puzzled 'pick one?'

'Oh you mean, what if Mom and Carter had a baby?'

Toby nodded.

'As I've already got a baby brother, I'd like a sister this time'

'I'm not a baby, and boy babies are better' He didn't bother to try and pronounce brother again it was too much like hard work

'They could have two, together, a boy and a girl'

'At once?' Toby said making a face

'Yeah, it's called twins' Elise told him, trying to sound really grown up that she knew this.

'You sure?, I've never heard of that' he replied shaking his head

''That's because I'm a big sister and you're a baby brother'

He jumped up and said rather loudly 'I'm not a baby'

'Are too' she said

'Not' he said

'Are too, you still wear a diaper to bed'

'You suck your thumb'

'You cry lots when you fall over'

'You..you...'

'Hey, what's going on?' Carter asked coming over to the pair, sitting down on the grass and taking Toby on his lap.

'Nothing' said Elise crossly

'Doesn't sound like nothing'

'Well it is'

'You shouldn't be fighting then, you want to make up'

Elsie looked over at Toby and begrudgingly said 'Sorry'

Toby replied 'Sorry'

'Good' said Carter 'There's nothing you want to talk to me about?'

Toby and Elise looked at each other and decided that the conversation they had prior to their argument was best not talked about with Mom or Carter so they just shook their heads.

'You ready for dinner then?'

They both nodded and he pulled them up as they went into the lodge together.

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The kids were in bed and Carter stood with his arms around Abby watching the sunset together.

'You know I really enjoyed myself this week, except for the rock climbing adventure' Carter told Abby

'I didn't enjoy the horse riding much. You could have gone diving or something'

'Oh but I would have been alone, not much fun with you lot'

'Us lot?'

'Well especially you' he said with a grin

'That's what I thought you meant' she replied smiling

He turned he around in his arms to face him 'You know there's still several hours left before we need to leave' he said in a suggestive manner.

'Let's just stay like this a while first though' she replied kissing him softly on the lips before turning round to look at the dusky view before them.

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