The ride was fairly uneventful, and while Ian would have enjoyed it far more if he'd been by himself, at least he and Sammy were far enough ahead of the Romanian girls that they couldn't pester him. Sammy wasn't terrible company, the New Yorker admitted. He didn't chatter nonstop; in fact, he was so intent on not falling off the pony and making sure that she was going where he wanted her to go that he didn't speak much at all. Which was fine as far as Ian was concerned.

The pony behaved perfectly. She was a steady little creature that didn't shy when a slight wind picked up about halfway through the ride and blew some leaves across their trail – although Laptop did, and it took Ian a minute to make sure the gelding wasn't going to try anything stupid.

Sammy grinned excitedly to see the horse rear a little and dance, but Ian had him under control with a quick curse and a gentle touch, and the rest of the ride went off without a hitch.

"That was great," the little boy said when they'd reached the corral and dismounted – still far enough ahead of the girls that they were able to pretend they weren't part of the group, even though they were.

Ian nodded, and stripped the saddles off their mounts before turning them loose in the corral. As he was doing this, the others were coming into view, and several of the girls shouted his name, waving excitedly.

Sammy scowled. He didn't like the girls paying so much attention to Ian when he'd only had him to himself for just a little while. Luckily, Ian was equally unwilling to get stuck hanging out with the girls – especially their counselors – so he just gave them a noncommittal wave and then looked down at the boy.

"Let's go see what the others are doing."

"They're probably still skiing," Sammy said as Ian gave the wranglers a wave of thanks and then the two of them headed for the camp. Sammy didn't hesitate at the thought of going to the water. He already knew that Ian wasn't going to make him get wet if he didn't want to – which he didn't.

"Maybe." Anything was better than being where they were, though. "We can watch them if they are."

"Okay."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The first thing they saw when they reached the little hill behind the main building that headed for the waterfront was that the ski boat was docked. Which meant that the kids were done skiing. It wasn't hard to find them, though. River was standing on the diving board and his bright swimwear was a beacon that Ian was certain could be seen from the space station. Sure enough, Sammy spotted him immediately as well.

"There's River on the diving board."

"Yeah."

Now that they knew to look for the boys on the docks, Ian spotted not only all of the Australian boys and their counselors, but he also found Sam, Janet Fraiser and Jaffer – who was standing at the edge of the dock watching the boys intently, and probably just biding his time before he jumped in as well. Until he saw Ian coming, that is. Then he trotted down the dock and came over to meet him and Sammy as they made their way across the little beach, swarming the boy under with a cheerful greeting that combined a lot of tail wagging and whuffling.

"Let him up, Big Dog," Ian told Jaffer, smiling. Sammy might have been afraid of the water, but he had no problem at all letting Jaffer use him as a play toy. Confident that they'd follow – but not all that concerned if they didn't, since Jaffer wasn't going to let anything happen to Sammy while he was with him – Ian headed for the dock where Sam and Fraiser were stretched out, soaking up the sun.

"Ian!" Chance yelled, waving his hand frantically as the New Yorker walked onto the dock. "Watch!"

He ran out onto the diving board, looked over his shoulder to make sure Ian was still watching, and then did a front somersault off the board. It was ugly and he almost landed on his stomach, but for a kid who'd learned to swim only a couple of days before, it was pretty impressive, Ian had to admit.

Chance came up, his arms paddling the water in a sloppy doggie paddle and his grin about ready to split his face in two.

"Did you see it?"

Ian nodded.

"That was great, Chance."

The boy beamed, and paddled over to the side of the dock where Ian was standing.

"Are you coming swimming?"

"I'm not dressed for it."

He was in jeans and a t-shirt; dressed for riding, not for water.

The rest of the boys clamored around, too, all telling him about how they did skiing, and about how great River was at it. Ian sighed. So much for sitting on the dock and relaxing.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam smiled as she watched the boys crowded around Ian, all talking at once and yelling to be heard over the others.

"Think we should rescue him?" she asked Janet, who was lounging beside her.

"He seems to be doing okay."

"He looks ready to push them all into the water." Or to simply drown himself.

Janet smiled, but she was actually watching the New Yorker far more intently than she appeared to be, looking for signs that would tell her that he was doing too much to soon. He looked a little tired, but only if you knew what to look for, and Janet decided that he'd just get annoyed if she tried to tell him to go a little slower, so she didn't say anything.

Jack came walking up to them just then as well. He'd been sunning on the other dock, with a fishing pole in one hand – although he hadn't been using a hook, so there was no chance that he'd get a bite if he'd have left the pole unattended.

"How was the ride?" he asked, breaking up the kids who had almost ringed themselves around Ian.

"Uneventful."

"How'd you manage that?"

"I didn't have you anywhere near me."

Jaffer came trotting up just then, with Sammy trailing at a much slower pace, carefully walking in the exact center of the dock. Distracted, Ian reached down to scratch the lab's ears, and felt something hit him in the middle of his back. Overbalanced, he went into the water, and came up sputtering, turning around in the water to look up at the people on the dock.

It wasn't hard to figure out who had pushed him in; the boys were all grinning – except Sammy, who looked worried – but Jack had an innocent expression on his face that told Ian all he needed to know.

"Oops."