A/N: I would like to thank Erik for President, Christine Elestor, Evelyn Stone, and Araiona Dubois for their encouraging and nice reviews. Well, on to chapter 2!

Erik showed Lauren and Lotte to their bedroom. He fiddled through the white bag and found two bathing suits. He dug around and eventually found the floaties, setting everything on the bed.

"Just yell my name if you need anything," He told them, then shut the door, waiting for them to change.

While he was waiting, Erik went into his room and put on his bathing suit. If those girls were going in the pool, he needed to go in with them. He wasn't going to take any chances. Besides, what if they couldn't swim well? He just wouldn't let them go in the deep end.

Erik got out of his bedroom and waited outside Lotte and Lauren's. He sat there for ten minutes before he decided to knock on their door.

"How's it going in there?" He called out. No answer. Erik stood up and opened the door a crack, peeking inside.

"Need any help?" He asked.

"Yes," A teary voice came. Erik opened the door all the way and saw Lotte standing there, completely bare without her bathing suit on. Lauren was getting her's on on the other side of the bed.

"No need to cry sweetheart, I'll help you." Erik said. Since Lotte's bathing suit was around her ankles, all Erik needed to do was pull it up. He did so and told her to put her arms through the two arm straps. When he was done, he poked Lotte's belly which made her giggle and said,

"There, that wasn't so hard now was it?"

Lotte nodded and extended her arms, like she did to Raoul earlier. Erik smiled and picked her up. He grabbed the floaties that were on the bed and waited for Lauren to finish getting her bathing suit on.

Once she had, they walked downstairs and outside into the pool area. Lauren picked up her floaties and put them on her arms, and Erik helped Lotte into hers. Lauren was the first one in the pool.

Once she stuck her little foot into the water, she quickly snatched it back out.

"It's cowld!" She wailed.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Erik assured her. He stepped down to the 2nd step of the pool and sat down, with Lotte in his arms. Lotte squealed as the cold water brushed up against her pale skin.

"Cowld! Cowld!" She cried and wrapped her arms around Erik's neck. Erik patted her small back reassuringly.

Lauren seemed to set aside the fact that the water was cold and stepped down to the 3rd step. Then, after waiting a few moments, she pushed forward and started to swim around the shallow end like a little puppy.

"Look Ewik!" She cried happily as she swam around in circles.

"Good job, Lauren." He smiled back. Lotte was squirming around in his arms and he decided to let her go, for he knew she wanted to swim.

Since Lotte was too small to reach the 3rd step, she pushed forward too and started to swim around like her sister. Erik watched them from the 2nd step as they kicked and splashed around in the water.

Suddenly, the sky began to get a little dark. Erik looked up and noticed that gray clouds were heading their way, but very slowly. He remembered watching the weather a few days ago and knew that the whole weekend was suppose to be stormy.

"Lotte, Lauren!" He called out. "Come on, it's time to get out!"

"But we wanna stay in here!" Lauren protested. He knew that they were only in the pool for a little while, and he didn't want to ruin their fun, but he also really didn't want them to get struck by lightning.

Lauren and Lotte ignored Erik as they started a splashing fight. Erik was getting quite annoyed. He didn't want to go and carry them out, but he might have to if they wouldn't listen to him.

All of a sudden, a splash of cold water hit Erik in the face. He blinked a few times and noticed Lotte and Lauren staring at him innocently.

"Come on now, it's time to get out." He told them seriously.

Lotte squealed and splashed Erik with more water, as did Lauren. He didn't want to splash them back, so he just sat there and allowed them to splash him.

Erik looked up into the sky as they were splashing him and noticed that the gray clouds were much closer. He heard a very faint crack of thunder in the distance, and he knew that he had to get them out of the pool.

"Lotte, Lauren!" He said. "There is a storm coming and - "

He didn't need to say anything else. Lotte and Lauren started to scream and wanted to get out of the pool. Lauren was out first, and she quickly grabbed her towel and started to dry herself off.

Lotte was kicking and splashing so much that she wasn't going anywhere. Erik picked her up and brought her out of the pool. He grabbed her towel and wrapped it around her little body.

Whoops, he thought. I probably scared them.

Lauren quickly wiped herself off with her towel and screamed, running to the back door. Quickly she opened it and ran inside. Erik, still with Lotte in his arms, ran towards the door also and stepped inside, locking it after him.

"Lauren?" He called out as Lotte started to cry. Erik knew it was because of the crack of thunder that had just boomed into the sky.

Erik stepped into the living room and saw Lauren on the couch, hiding under one of Erik's blankets. Her wet towel was on the floor. Erik sighed and set Lotte down. But immediatley when he did, Lotte started to squeal and she grabbed his leg, not letting go of it.

"Lotte, you have to let go of my leg!" Erik said calmly.

"Nooo!" She cried, grasping it tighter. Erik tried to walk with Lotte pryed to his leg, but it was useless.

"Lauren, could you pick up your towel? Lotte!" He cried and picked her up. Once he had, she giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Lauren picked up her towel and folded it, then handed it to Erik. "Here you go," She told him sweetly. Erik smiled at her and took the towel.

"How about you two watch some TV while I go put these towels in the dryer?" Erik told them. He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, immediatley changing the channel to Dora The Explorer. Lotte and Lauren squealed with delight. Lauren ran over to the couch and fixed her eyes on the TV as if it was hypnotizing her. Lotte did the same.

Erik set the remote down on the table in front of them and grabbed their two towels. He walked downstairs and turned on the dryer, throwing the two towels in with it.

But as he was walking upstairs, he didn't hear Dora talking on the TV. Instead he heard,

"Alright now homies, we got da hot and sexy Ciara here today. She gonna play her new song, 'Oh'. Yeeeah!"

And then music started to play, along with tons of people screaming their heads off. Erik ran over to the TV and saw many teenage girls in bathing suits screaming 'Ciara!' and then the camera went over to her. Lil Jon was in the corner, screaming, "Yeeah! Yeeah!"

"Where's the remote?" Erik asked quickly, since he didn't see it on the table in front of him. Lotte was giggling and Lauren was hiding something under a pillow.

"Alright Lauren, give the remote back to Erik." He said.

Erik took a step towards her and Lauren screamed, along with Lotte. They jumped from the couch and started to run in circles around the living room so Erik wouldn't catch them.

Lauren ran into the kitchen while stuffing the remote down her bathing suit. Erik followed her and almost grabbed her when Lotte grabbed his leg again. She sat down and wrapped her arm and legs around his leg. Erik sighed and said to Lauren,

"Give me the remote! You know you're not suppose to watch MTV! What happened to Dora?"

"Dora boring!" Lauren giggled. "MTV is bootywicious!"

"And where did you learn that word?" Erik asked Lauren, completely shocked.

"On MTV!"

Lotte giggled, as did Lauren. Erik was in trouble. If Lauren said that to Christine...oh boy.

"Alright Lauren, give Erik the remote." Erik said, ready to lunge at her, but he knew he couldn't for Lotte was wrapped around his leg and drooling on him. Erik tried his best to walk with her pryed onto his leg, and when he was about to grab the remote from Lauren, thunder cracked in the sky, and lightning flashed.

The lights went off, as did the TV, and the doorbell rang. That always happened when the power went out. Lauren and Lotte both screamed their lungs out. Lauren threw the remote in the air, and Erik grabbed it before it could hit the ground.

Lauren grabbed onto his other leg and wrapped around it. They were both screaming and Lotte once again started to cry.

"Alright now, hush!" Erik exclaimed. "I need you to both go upstairs and get dressed."

"We scared!" Lauren whimpered.

"Don't worry. Just go upstairs, get dressed and come back down. I need to get dressed too, alright?"

Lotte and Lauren obeyed and quickly darted up the stairs and into their bedroom. They shut the door and Erik quickly ran into his room and got dressed. When he went downstairs, Lotte and Lauren weren't down there yet, so he decided to look outside.

It was very dark outside. Rain was pouring down, lightning lit up the sky, and thunder cracked every twenty seconds or so. Every time he heard thunder, he heard Lotte and Lauren's screams upstairs. Erik wished he could turn on the TV to watch the weather, but since the power was out, it was no use.

Erik looked at the clock on the wall and saw the time. It was only 2:00 p.m., and it was this dark outside. Erik was even a bit afraid himself. It looked as if it were 9:30 at night outside. He knew there must be a bad storm coming.

Erik tried to think about how he could check the weather, and then he finally had an idea. He could use the battery powered radio that was in the kitchen. Quickly, he ran towards the radio and turned it on.

Thank God, it worked! Erik switched the station to the weather station and listened carefully.

"...and our chief weatherman, Daryn Bradley, is issuing some tornado warnings for Mid Michigan. The storms right now seem to be getting pretty big in Saginaw, Detroit, Gaylord, Charlevoix, and Ann Arbor. Folks who live in these areas, you might want to get in your basement. Remember to stay away from all windows. And more areas where these storms are located are..."

Oh know, Erik thought. They were in Charlevoix right now! Erik looked out the kitchen window and saw that the trees were blowing very roughly, and the rain was coming down even harder. Erik wanted to go to the grocery store before dinner, but maybe if he was lucky the storms would stop before the evening came.

Lotte and Lauren charged downstairs, and they immediatley clung onto Erik's pants.

"Alright now, I need you two to go sit on the couch. Look, Ayehsa is on the couch! I'll be right there."

Lotte and Lauren spotted Ayesha and quickly ran towards her. Erik really didn't want them to hear the weather, so he turned down the volume so only he could hear it.

"...Alright folks, these storms are suppose to be going on for the whole week, so don't plan on going to the beach any time soon! The storms may clear up in the evening for a while, but they are sure to start up again around 8:00 tonight. Tornado warnings are issused until 2:00 a.m. in the morning..."

Well, if the storms were going to stop for a little while he decided that he could quickly run to the grocery store, with Lotte and Lauren with him of course, and get some more food for them and something to eat for dinner. But how could he cook if the power was out?

As if answering his question, the man on the radio said,

"...and we know that the power is out in Charlevoix, Saginaw, and Detroit right now, but the men at Vondette Power Service are fixing that up right now. Hopefully they don't get struck by lightning!"

Ok, they needed a new weather guy on that radio station. Erik turned off the radio and walked into the living room, where Lauren and Lotte were petting Ayesha. Erik noticed that Lotte's shirt was on backwards, and her blue pants were inside-out.

"Uh, sweetheart, your shirt is on backwards. And your pants are inside-out."

Lotte looked down at herself, but didn't say anything. She only shrugged and started to pet Ayesha again.

"Do you need some help getting them on the right way?" Erik suggested. Lotte sniffled and nodded. Erik remembered that Christine said that Lotte wasn't very good at dressing herself, and that Erik would have to help her.

Erik picked up Lotte and was walking upstairs when he called to Lauren, "I'll be right back, Lauren!"

Lauren only nodded and hugged Ayesha.

Erik set Lotte on top of the bed and flipped the light switch up, but remembered that the power was out. He groaned. He walked up to Lotte and carefully pulled her shirt off. He turned it around and pulled the shirt over her head, so it was on her the right way now. Now it was time for the shorts.

"Lotte, could you take your shorts off for me?" Erik asked. Lotte nodded and pulled her shorts off. Erik took them and flipped them the right way, then handed them to Lotte, who put them on very slowly.

When Erik was finished, he picked up Lotte and carried her downstairs. He saw Lauren on the couch, hugging Ayesha, and noticed that she was crying.

Erik quickly set Lotte on the couch next to Lauren and Erik asked Lauren,

"What's wrong, dear?"

"I - I - " She tried to speak, but she was crying too much. Lauren extended her arms as if she wanted Erik to pick her up, and he did so. He patted her back reassuringly and whispered in her ear that everything was going to be okay.

"Are you afraid of the storm? Is that why you're crying?" Erik asked.

Lauren shook her head.

"You miss mommy and daddy?" Lotte asked.

Lauren shook her head.

"Can you tell us what's wrong?" Erik asked her calmly.

"I - I was wooking outside, and - and I saw a man! He was wearing all bwack and he scared me!"

Erik's eyes opened wide of shock. Was someone trying to break into the house? Erik looked out the window, but saw nothing.

"Lauren, I need you to tell me where you saw this man."

"He was ober dare!" She pointed across the street. Erik inspected the outside of the house and noticed a window was wide open. The neighbors that owned that house were on vacation right now, so they wouldn't know someone broke in at the moment.

Erik walked over to the table and still with Lauren in his arms, and picked up the phone to call the police.

Damn! The phone didn't work either. When would the power be back?

Erik hung up the phone and knew that it wasn't very safe at the moment. A tornado warning was being issued, the tornado siren was on outside, and a man was breaking into the house across the street. He could be next.

Erik didn't want to think about it.

"Alright, we're going to go in the basement and play a game, okay? Doesn't that sound fun?" Erik asked, trying to sound cheerful.

Lotte and Lauren stared at him as if he were some crazy physco dude.

"Okay, let's go in the basement." Erik said in his normal voice. He carried Lauren downstairs and Lotte followed, along with Ayesha. Luckily Erik had board games down here. There wasn't very much, but there was enough.

Erik set Lauren on the couch and Lotte sat next to her as Erik fiddled through all of his board games. Checkers, Chess, Jigsaw Puzzles...yeesh, there wasn't anything in here that they would understand.

"I wanna pway this game!" Lotte squealed.

Erik quickly darted his head towards Lotte's direction and saw that she was carrying Guess Who over to Lauren. Lotte set it down on the ground and took the top off.

Erik raised his eyebrow. How did she find that? He almost forgot he had that game. He helped them set the game up and pick a card and when they were about to play, Lauren asked,

"Ewik, you can come sit by me!"

"No!" Lotte shrieked. "He wanna sit by me!"

"Neoo! He wanna sit by me!" Lauren yelled back.

"Me!" Lotte shrieked back.

"Me!"

"No, me!"

"Me!"

"Me!"

"HUSH!" Erik yelled. They both fell silent.

"I'll sit in the middle and I'll watch you both play, how about that?"

"Nooo! Sit by me!" Lotte asked, almost tearfully.

"No, me!" Lauren pleaded.

"I'll sit in the middle or I won't watch at all." Erik warned. Lauren and Lotte agreed.

Erik watched them play two rounds of Guess Who and it was during the middle of the third round when he suddenly heard the rain stop. Erik checked the clock on the wall and saw that the time was 4:00 p.m. Maybe they could get to the grocery store before the storms started up again?

"Alright you two, we need to go to the grocery store real quick and then we'll come right back here, okay?"

"But we wanna finish!" Lotte told him.

"I know, but we have to get to the store before it starts to rain again, okay?"

"Oh tay." Lotte said. They both cleaned up the cards that were on the floor and set the two boards back in the box. Then they all went upstairs and Erik looked out the window.

It was still dark outside, but the rain had stopped. Erik grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. Finally, it was working! He then turned it off and wondered if he should call the police or not. He looked across the street and didn't see anything. Either the man had gotten away, or he was still inside.

Erik led Lotte and Lauren towards the garage, and he opened up the garage door. When Lotte and Lauren saw his shiny black car, they immediatley called out "Shiny!"

"Yes, it is shiny, isn't it?" Erik chuckled. He opened up the car door for them and they climbed inside. Erik got in his seat and looked behind him to see if they were buckled in. But they weren't. Instead, they were just sitting there innocently, looking around the car.

"Dears, you need to buckle yourself up!" Erik told them.

Lauren buckled up her seat belt, but Lotte was staring at Erik instead, as if he were speaking a foreign tongue.

"She don't know how to get her seat belt on." Lauren told him.

"Ah, I see." Erik said. He reached over towards Lotte and buckled her seatbelt for her. Now, they were off to the grocery store.