Okies, a really long, fluffy chapter that has practically nothing to do with the general story XD But, it shows the early relationship that Vincenzio establishes with his daughter, and why he has to give up so much for her later in the story.Plus, this makes up for all the sadness in the next chapter ;)

Greater Caverns was peaceful first thing in the morning. The sunlight shone its golden glow through the waters, and cast its dappled patterns on whatever it touched. The large kelp fronds gently swayed in the current, the blooms just stretching their fluffy tendrils. Many of the canyons occupants were just waking. Barracudas bringing in the newspaper, eels sleepily collecting their bottles of juice from their doorstep, sharks crunching through their morning helping of Fish Krispies. But one apartment had been awake for hours.

"I told you not to give her sugar first thing in the morning!" Mona shouted over the calamitous crash as Bambi raided the cupboards for noisemakers. She found the metal pans and grabbed two, banging them together as she raced around the apartment in a sugar-rush.

"I didn't give her sugar! It was caffeine," Vincenzio replied, trying to catch the terrible tot. Mona shot him a stunned glare. "I let her sip my coffee, so harpoon me!"

The pair chased the energetic pup all around the apartment. She hid behind things and then crashed her noisemakers, starting the chase again. As Vincenzio would reach for her, she'd dart out of the way and send her father crashing into something. And she was no less forgiving on her mother either. Mona had several bruises and bumps from falling over the coffee table, the TV, the chair, and a whole assortment of Bambi's larger toys. During her mad swimming, Bambi hadn't noticed that her pursuers had disappeared. She stopped in the sitting-room, looking around for her parents. Suddenly, Vincenzio leaped from behind the couch and scooped her up in a blanket, wrapping her tightly.

"AHA! Gotcha!" he declared triumphantly. Mona came from behind the other chair, a reserve blanket in her fin. "Told ya' it'd work," Vincenzio gloated, keeping a firm hold on his wriggling and pouting pup.

"You are a menace this morning, young lady," Mona scolded Bambi, who just continued wriggling and squirming, then hit Vincenzio on the head with the pan.

"Hey!" Vincenzio said sternly, getting an immediate silence from Bambi. She stopped wriggling, but didn't want to let go of the pans, and Vincenzio eventually had to pry them from her fins. Bambi was not impressed and pouted.

"Don't make that face at me, little lady," Mona chastised, ready to take Bambi back to bed. She looked very tired this morning, eyes a little bloodshot and her normally sharp wit was quite dull.

"Honey, why don't you go to your sister's for the day?" Vincenzio suggested, lifting a fin to gently stroke her on the head. "You haven't seen her since Bambi was born."

"Ugh…I can't…I have to stay here for Bambi, she's growing her second set of teeth and she's been chewing everything in sight," Mona sighed, reaching for Bambi, her eyes half-closed in sleep.

"I have the day off, remember. I can stay here," Vincenzio smiled, pulling Bambi back from Mona's reach. She was still silent, but was starting to wriggle again. Mona scoffed.

"Yeah, and see a repeat performance of this morning?" she laughed, referring to the sugar-rush. "I don't think so."

"Look, just trust me. You need the day to yourself. Bambi is six months old now, and you haven't had a single day off," Vincenzio tried to sweeten his wife, gently leading her to the couch and making her sit down. She instantly sighed in relief and a wide smile crept across her face.

"Well…I suppose a couple of hours of pampering couldn't hurt…" Mona mused, eyes shut in a brief moment of rest.

"Right then, its settled. Lemme just get menace tied up and I'll call Saffron for you," Vincenzio smiled, swimming into Bambi's room to lock her in her playpen. As he came out, he heard a soft purring noise coming from the sitting-room. Inside, Mona had stretched out on the couch and fell asleep. Vincenzio laughed and shook his head. "And she wanted to stay here," he chuckled to himself.

Within an hour, Mona's sister Saffron was sat in the kitchen having a cup of tea, waiting for her little sister to get ready. Saffron owned a whole chain of beauty-spas throughout the ocean's reefs, and always loved treating her little sister whenever she could. Bambi was sat in her highchair, much calmer now but also much messier. She had more food on her bib and her belly than in her mouth.

"Mona was always like this, she used to take forever to get ready for stuff," Saffron said.

"Tell me about it. I remember waiting an hour for a date," Vincenzio chuckled.

"I remember that!" Saffron nodded her head, laughing. "You can blame my mother for that, she's a tight perfectionist."

"Don't worry – I do blame your mother," Vincenzio replied quickly, earning a silent giggle from Saffron.

"You're not bashing my mother again…" Mona interrupted, finally cleaned up and looking a little fresher. She had a piece of paper in her fin. "OK, this is a list of stuff you need to do today, what to do if something goes wrong, and phone numbers you can get me on," Mona drilled her husband.

"Sis, I'm sure he's perfectly capable," Saffron put in, taking one last swig of her tea. "Now, come on, let's go."

Saffron stood up and grabbed Mona by the fin, starting to pull her out of the kitchen. "Oh, and remember, no more sugar today! And don't use that sea-cherry bubble-bath, it gives her a rash, and – " Mona tried to say before she left.

"Come on!" Saffron yanked her sister out of the door. "Bye Vin! Bye Bambi!"

"Bye honey! Bye sweetie!" Mona shouted back as her sister continued to pull her.

Vincenzio waved them off, and then went back into the kitchen, sighing heavily at Bambi. In the time it took for him to see off his wife, Bambi had emptied the contents of her plastic bowl all over herself and the table. She giggled at her father.

"You're not that innocent, are you?" he laughed. "Come on then – up we go!" he said as he lifted her from the high chair and started wiping some of the mush from around her face. "Looks like you could do with a bath."

Vincenzio softly placed Bambi in the polished coral bathtub, looking around for the bubble bath gel. She was getting restless again and tried swimming out of the tub, but Vincenzio quickly grabbed her by the tail and pulled her back into the tub, a gloating smile on his face.

"You're not getting away that easily," he taunted her. She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him, looking for another way to escape. As Vincenzio battled with the bubble bath cap, Bambi reached for the glistening metallic bubble-jet headpiece. Vincenzio gave a grunt of triumph as the cap finally flicked off, and he was about to pour the gel onto the pup when she sprayed full power bubbles into his face! His fins flailed about as he tried to fend off the jet-stream. When they suddenly stopped, he glared at Bambi, and she started them again. She was in fits of giggles, and only when her father was truly beaten did she stop. He sighed, his mouth blowing bubbles. Bambi just looked all sweet and innocent, laughing at him.

When Vincenzio had finally managed to finish washing her, it was time for her nap. He held her tightly, although she was still a little slippery from the bubble bath. She wouldn't settle in her playpen or her crib, so he took her with him into the sitting room. He laid a soft blanket down on the chair and then laid Bambi down. She had wrapped herself about his fin, so when he leaned back up, she was still attached. He huffed and tried laying her down again. Still attached. He pouted. This was surprisingly tiring, and he felt more in need of a nap than Bambi did.

"Bambi. Let go of daddy's fin," he pleaded, gritting his teeth. She just giggled and squeezed tighter. He slapped his other fin to his head and groaned. Then he felt inspired, and rushed back into Bambi's room, Bambi still attached to his fin. He grabbed a cassette from the side. He popped into the stereo in the sitting-room, smiling widely, but secretly praying that this would work.

"This should send you to sleep," he muttered to himself. A soft lullaby drifted out of the speakers and it had an almost instant affect on Bambi. She yawned, her eyes dropping half-shut and her grip loosening. Vincenzio sighed in relief, and shuffled Bambi about in his fins so that he could lay her down on the chair. He wrapped her up, and even fetched Shiny, the sea-unicorn plushie, from her room so that she had something to cuddle.

Vincenzio slumped into a chair in the kitchen, resting his large head on the table. He shut his eyes for a few moments, smiling as he daydreamed.

"Ow!" he grumbled and looked down on the floor. Something had nipped his tail. "Bambi? You're supposed to be asleep little lady," he said, scowling a little, as he scooped her up. In fact, it was well past lunchtime, and Bambi was just trying to remind him. She pointed a podgy fin to the clock and whimpered, her stomach growling soon after. Vincenzio slapped a fin to his forehead again, sighing.

Bambi was a complete mess again after lunch, but at least he didn't have to give her another bath. One mouthful of bubbles was enough for one day. He cleaned her up, wiping all the mackerel mush from her mouth and nose. Crunching on his lunch, he ferreted through the cupboards looking for a treat for Bambi. He pulled out some tiny, fish-shaped cookies.

"Hmm…I suppose she can have some of these, and if she does go hyper again, I have the energy to play," Vincenzio mused to himself, mouth full of cod.

Bambi, did indeed, get quite active again, wriggling about in his fins as Vincenzio brought her into the sitting-room. But, he was prepared. Not only had he laid out most of her toys, he'd also rearranged the furniture into an obstacle course for her, with tunnels to swim through, things to swim over and a number of random objects from around the apartment to make noise with and move. Bambi was delighted, and made quick work of all the tunnels. Vincenzio turned it into a game of peek-a-boo, and kept catching her out, making her squeal in delight. When she'd settled a little, and was content with her toys, Vincenzio restored the chair and flopped down into it.

"Oohhhh…that's good…" he sighed. He fumbled about on the coffee table for the stereo remote and clicked some music on - ReelFM, famous for its updates of fishing hook locations. As the latest Aerofish hit sounded out of the speakers, he heard a strange but quiet noise, like humming. He looked around, hoping it wasn't a sea wasp. Nasty little stingers they were. But he spied Bambi wiggling in time to the music. He muted the stereo, and Bambi instantly stopped and looked about in a distressed manner, as if to say ' Where did the music go?' Vincenzio turned the volume back up, and watched Bambi start wiggling and humming again. He chuckled to himself.

"Alright Bambi, you wanna dance. I'll teach you how to dance," he said excitedly, getting up energetically and clearing all the furniture away from the centre of the room. Bambi looked at her father blankly, wondering why he was so excited over dancing. Then he rifled through his and Mona's cassette collection for all their classic dance hits. He put a cassette in and turned the volume up.

"OK, Bambi…let's dance!"

Mona came home to the sound of the 'Macarena' filtering from her sitting-room. She waved her sister off, and proceeded to enter her lair. She peeked in the kitchen. Everything was clean and in order, not a dirty pan or misplaced plate in sight. Mona nodded, impressed. Even Bambi's room looked relatively tidy. She had expected the aftermath of a hurricane. When she came to the sitting-room, she burst into snorts of laughter.

There was Vincenzio, his back turned to Mona, swinging his tail to the music, moving his fins to the 'Macarena.' A pair of jet-black sunglasses rested on his snout. What Mona found funnier was her daughter, sporting the same type of sunglasses, only comically large on her small snout, following Vincenzio's dance moves. Thinking quickly, she went to get her camera from underneath her bed, ready to snap the two as they realised they had an audience. She waited silently, the camera perched in front of her eyes, her fin ready to click the shutter. As the pair turned around, the flash went off and Vincenzio knew they had been caught. His face flushed a bright shade of red and he quickly removed the sunglasses, as Mona stood there laughing hysterically. Bambi just giggled and swam to her mother for a cuddle. She scooped her up, taking the sunglasses off and nuzzling her little nose affectionately.

"Well, who's a little dance-star then?" Mona cooed to her daughter, shooting a glance to Vincenzio as he swam over. She couldn't hide her smile or stifle her giggles, and just made him feel more embarrassed.

"Well, she seemed to like music," Vincenzio shrugged.

"I'll bet," she giggled. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you like to dance as well?" she smirked. Vincenzio glared at her, giving her a playful slap on the tail.

Bambi had managed to stay awake long enough to see her mother get home, but promptly fell asleep in her fins. Mona gently laid her daughter in her crib, covered her with the blanket and kissed her on the head.

"So, what was it like being a full-time mom?" Mona asked, laughing as she got an instant groan from Vincenzio.

"I have a funny story about the bubble jet-stream," he laughed, sitting down with a heavy sigh. "Do you think Saffron will let me come spend the day at the spa next time?" he joked, getting a laugh from Mona.