Sandy heard the rain starting to fall as sat leaning against the back seat with Kirsten gathered up in his arms, asleep. He hadn't been to sleep yet: the wheezing he heard every time she took a breath worried him, and the whiteness of her face had not softened. Now it was raining, and Sandy began to wonder where Ryan and Seth were; it was half-past one in the morning according to his watch and only a few other cars occupied the car park with them. The rain intensified and the drops hit the car with quite a force. Kirsten moaned in her sleep and clutched at his shirt as she did so. Sandy shushed her, calming her, so that her grip relaxed and she slumped back against him. The peace was interrupted as something hit the car, causing it to shake slightly. Sandy jumped and swore simultaneously and, cradling Kirsten's head and shoulders with one arm, wiped the inside of the window with the other.

'Oh god.' He said quietly as looked outside. 'Seth.'

Ryan and Seth had returned to the car. At least, Sandy could see Ryan standing close to the window looking down at something on the floor, and as Sandy moved so as to see what it was he had already guessed. Seth lay on the ground and Sandy saw with some surprise that he was still conscious after the collision, although he considered whether the fact that his son was pointing at the sky with his eyes closed meant the damage was deeper than just concussion. Ryan looked up and saw Sandy staring in disbelief out of the window of the boot. Ryan stared back with an almost equally surprised expression on his face. Ryan's gaze was torn away from the car as Seth suddenly grabbed his ankle and attempted to bite it. Sandy turned away from the window and wondered his nighttime swim had affected his vision. A few seconds later he jumped again and whipped round to see a hand on the window. A face soon followed the hand and Sandy stayed speechless and motionless for a few seconds until he heard Kirsten's voice.

'Oh my god, please tell me that is not my son.' Sandy turned slowly round to see her face just behind his shoulder and nodded helplessly.

'Honey, we mustn't blame ourselves.'

Five minutes later, Ryan and Sandy had made a combined effort to wrestle Seth into the backseat where he now lay, cackling to himself. Ryan sat in the backseat too, although he had squashed himself as much as possible against the side of the car, trying to get as far away as possible from Seth.

'It was a mistake introducing him to the champagne, then?' asked Sandy. Ryan looked at him:

'If you think he bonded with the champagne, you should have seen his relationship with the vodka fountain.' Sandy raised his eyebrows: 'There was a vodka fountain? If I had known that I never would have brought him.' He sighed. There was a huge crash of thunder and those who were able looked out of the window.

'God, Thunder? And look at the rain, it's like a bloody swimming pool.' There were several rivers of water running along the ground outside the car park and a few puddles that more resembled ponds were briefly visible as a huge fork of lightning flashed.

'Er. Shall we go inside?' asked Ryan.

'Well I'm not going out there. Seth is definitely not going anywhere, and Kirsten has already had her swim for the day.' Here Ryan looked questioningly at Sandy. 'I'll explain another time. But you go if you want to.' Ryan nodded and saying he would return shortly, and after giving Seth one last glance, opened the door and jumped out into the downpour. There was silence in the car again but this was broken quickly as Seth began to snore noisily.

'Sandy? You're not going out there are you?' Kirsten said quietly, her head on his chest.

'No. I wouldn't leave you alone with him, don't worry.' Laughed Sandy, stroking her hair.

'But I think maybe we should shift into the house for the night. I don't think we can drive anywhere in this; the car, sadly, does not have the function to transform into a boat. And I don't think sleeping in the boot is a very good idea either, although we can leave him here.' Kirsten coughed loudly and painfully, and her body tensed up.

'You need to go to bed. You also need a doctor.' She said nothing, but shivered violently. The door opened suddenly and Ryan's soaking head appeared.

'She said we can sleep there tonight. Some other people are there too. I can manage Seth.' He said, wondering how on earth he was going to do this.

'Come on baby.' Kirsten made a small noise like a whimper as he moved from underneath her. He supported her helpless body with one arm while opening the boot door with the other. He swore violently as he was instantly battered by the rain, and attempted to shield Kirsten's curled up body with his own.

'Sandy, please. Just leave me here, please stay here.' He ignored her and scooped her up in his arms.

'Ryan, are you ok? Just leave him there if you want- he's not exactly going to notice where he is passed out.' Ryan grunted in reply as he started to drag Seth towards the house. Sandy slammed the boot door shut and followed Ryan, wincing both at the rain driving into his face and the sound of Seth shrieking: 'Will someone turn the taps off- the bath's overflowing.'

Luckily the occupants of the house were either asleep or too drunk to really notice the fact that Seth was acting like a lunatic or that the bundle Sandy was carrying was in fact his wife.

'We're going upstairs.' Sandy said to Mrs Franklin. She smiled at him and nodded, although Sandy doubted whether she had actually taken in what he said, so he went off to search for a bed. The house was, as Seth had said, very large and the fifth spare bedroom Sandy came to looked relatively untouched and free.

'Ok baby, here we go.' He went over to the bed and lay down thankfully. Kirsten lay across his lap.

'Are we staying here?' whispered Kirsten. She moved her head up to his chest and pressed her lips against his skin. He closed his eyes with the pleasure of her touch, one that he had missed for to long.

'God I missed you.'

'Not as much as I missed you.' She whispered, unbuttoning his shirt. As she gently kissed his stomach, he ran his hands under the hoodie and up over her hips. She sat up to make it easier for him to pull it off, and then leaned forward so her face was close to his. He looked into her beautiful eyes and saw the pain was fading from them. Then she closed her eyes and her lips touched his. As his mouth opened and they kissed deeply, she moaned quietly. His hands ran over her bare back and shivers that were not from the cold ran over her body. He rolled over on top of her, covering her body with his.

'I can't believe you went swimming in the ocean for me.' He laughed gently, kissing her nose.

'Well, it wasn't only Seth who discovered the vodka fountain.' Replied Kirsten, smiling. They kissed again, but she pulled away:

'Wait, Sandy. You have to promise me something.'

Sandy whispered into her neck: 'I love you. I promise.'

She giggled as it tickled her, but immediately became serious again:

'No Sandy, please. Promise you that you'll never leave me.' He drew back and looked at her: her eyes were big and serious. 'I promise that I will never leave you. As long as you don't find someone better like you did last time.' He knew this would upset and infuriate her and, sure enough, she began to retaliate furiously, tears filling her eyes.

'Hey, I was joking.' He laughed, and kissed her gently on the mouth. They slept there until late the next morning, when they emerged as the couple they and everyone else knew were meant to be.