Disclaimer: The only thing I come close to owning is Madison's personality, but that doesn't much count. So, nope, not mine. And Horatio still hasn't called. Neither do I own Kash'n'Karry, but someone else does because the one by my parents was just sold; however I don't know the new name of the grocery chain.
A/N: I'm back from my sister's wedding and am happy to say, I now have a niece and nephew of my own. Here is a little bit to tide you over while I get some more written on their trip to the beach. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and I will try to answer emails that come my way. In the meantime, if you want more, go browse my LiveJournal at reportergirlkes.
"Yes," Horatio patiently told the director of Madison's daycare. "She won't be coming in today or for the rest of the week." Pause. "Yes, I know her registration is by the week. Madison – uhm – Madison is not feeling up to school." Pause again. "I will let her mother know, thank you."
He finally hung up the phone. That woman – Miss Lane – was persistent. He understood her concern, since he was not Madison's guardian. However, having to explain – twice – that Madison was not coming to daycare should not have been so difficult.
Horatio rubbed at his face. The beach. He was taking a five-year-old girl to the beach. He was taking a five-year-old girl and an inflatable dolphin to the beach for a day. How did his life come to this? And was it possible to blame Alexx for this?
He took a breath. Probably not.
"Squeak!"
Horatio jumped, spinning around to find Madison with her hands held like little paws. "Squeak! Squeak!"
Horatio smiled, not sure how she had managed to crept up on him. He put his hands on his hips and looked down at his niece.
"And, what are you today?"
"Squeak!" she squeaked. "I'm a mouse."
Horatio chuckled. "And so you are."
Madison tried to wiggle her nose and managed to scrunch up her face instead. She scurried around him in a circle, squeaking.
"Go put on your swimsuit, little mouse," he told her. "We have an adventure waiting for us today."
"Yipeee! Squeak!" Madison scurried off to her room. Horatio watched her go and shook his head. He went to pack a beach bag for the day, tossing in a book he had been meaning to read for the past year. They would stop at Kash'n'Karry for subs and drinks for lunch. There was still sun block, at SPF 35, that both of them could wear for the day. Instead of a suit, Horatio had opted for khaki Bermudas and a short-sleeve button down. It had been so long since he had gone to the beach to just be there – rather than retreat for solace at sunset – that he wasn't sure what was customary for dads to wear while taking their daughters to the water.
Let alone uncles with nieces who squeak.
"All set, little mouse?" he asked when Madison returned, wearing her suit with a pair of shorts and carrying her beach towel and the dolphin.
"Yep," she replied. "Can Tim come, too?"
"Uhm," Horatio glanced toward the lanai where the gecko currently lived. "I don't think, I don't think geckos like going to the beach. Too much sun for them."
"Okay," Madison drawled, disappointed.
Horatio looked her over, nodding. "Where are your sunglasses?" he asked.
Madison tilted her head. "I don't have any."
"You don't have any?" he asked in surprise. Madison shook her head 'no.' "Well, we'll have to do something about that." Horatio shouldered the beach bag. "Let's go."
Madison skipped ahead of him and out to the car. Horatio followed, again shaking his head. No, he wouldn't blame Alexx. He didn't think he'd blame anyone, after all.
MttS
Their first stop, Kash'n'Karry, was around the block from Horatio's house. Dolphin waited in the car while they ran in for lunch and sunglasses. They found the sunglasses in a stand near the pharmacy. One panel of the display contained sunglasses obviously for children, plastic, in a variety of colors and decorations.
"Okay," Horatio spun the display around so Madison could see the sunglasses. "Which pair do you like?"
Madison surveyed the shades, a finger pressed to her lips as she thought. She pulled a pink pair with little flowers at the hinges off the display and tried them on, looking at herself in the warped mirror. She frowned and put them back, taking a green pair with sea shells printed on them from the rack. She tried them on also and didn't like them.
The third pair she took off the rack were blue without any design. She held them so she could see the front and turned them over before putting them on. Madison peered at herself in the mirror, her tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth. Then she looked up at Horatio and grinned.
"I like this pair!" she said happily. "Can I have these?"
Horatio smiled. She was grinning and the blue showed off against her bright red hair. "Yep," he told her. "They're yours."
Madison clapped her hands.
He guided her around toward the deli. "Let's get our sandwiches and drinks now."
The woman making sandwiches smiled to see them coming and took their orders. Madison stood on tip-toe, holding her sunglasses in her hand, to watch the woman at work. From there, they added potato chips and cans of soda before heading to the checkout.
Stepping outside, Horatio took his sunglasses, hanging by one arm from the second button of his shirt, and slipped them on with both hands. Beside him, Madison took her new blue sunglasses in both hands and copied his every motion.
MttS
Crandon Park beach was already crowded by the time Horatio and Madison arrived. The ocean water sparkled under a sun-washed blue sky while families with small children, teenagers showing off in bikinis and adults in wide-brimmed hats milled through the park and out on the beach.
Horatio shouldered the daypack and carried their small cooler with lunch in one hand. Madison opened the car door on her own and slipped out, struggling to pull the dolphin with her. He watched her concentrate for a moment, then maneuver around to better hold the toy and successfully pull it out the door.
"Stay close, Madison," he told her, instinctively scanning the parking lot and the picnic grove between them and the beach. He estimated fifty people in the general vicinity, nothing looking suspicious.
Madison slipped her small hand into his and looked up at him through her sunglasses. "Okay," she said eagerly.
Horatio glanced down at their joined hands. Impulsively he gave her hand two gentle squeezes. She grinned and squeezed back.
"Alright," he said, "let's, go to the beach."
The beach was teeming with activity and punctuated by squeals from playing children. They walked down the boardwalk before taking a turn down sand walkways surrounded on both sides by sea oats. Even though they were at the narrowest part of the beach, they had to walk almost a mile before getting to the water.
When they arrived at the beach itself, Horatio picked out a clump of coconut palm trees for them. Both he and Madison, as red-heads, were fair and tended to burn easily in the sun. Madison helped him to spread out the beach blanket he had brought, weighing it down with the small cooler and their shoes. He helped her shimmy off her shorts and t-shirt and quickly braided back her hair. He handed her the sun lotion and watched as she smeared it on her arms and face, before he applied a coat of it to her back and shoulders.
"Go play," he told her. "But stay where you can see me at all times, okay?"
Madison bobbed her head and grinned. She leaned over his seat on the blanket and kissed his cheek before running off to the water. He watched her reach the water's edge before splashing into the shallow waves. She giggled and waded in, the water barely reaching her knees.
Horatio scanned the beach again before digging into his bag for his book. The day was bright and the breeze from the sheltered lagoon beach was comfortable. He looked up to see Madison talking with a little boy about her age. The child's mother waved to him from her spot under another clump of palm trees. He waved back and then checked his cellphone for messages. There was one that had opted to go straight to voice mail. He pushed the buttons to dial and listened to the recording. It was from Alexx.
"Horatio," she ordered. "Don't even think of calling in to check on things today. Calleigh is handing the unit fine. Spend it with Madison. I mean it, sugar. You call in and I'll recommend to the senior commander that you need more time off. Have fun."
He clicked the phone off and shook his head. How was it that Alexx always seemed to know what he was thinking? Horatio settled back on the sand, glanced up to see Madison digging at the water's edge with two other children, the boy and a new girl, and opened his book.