Luke cringed and let out a slight grunt at the sudden stinging sensation he felt on his back as the hot water of his shower poured over him. He reached his hand back running his hand over the skin on his back as best he could. He scoffed a smirk across his lips as he felt small welts and the roughness of scabs on his back.

He had lost count how many times he and Val had made love the night before. After they had taken a short nap after their first time, they couldn't stay off each other. It had been Val that ended it all saying that she was just too sore to continue. He tried not to think about all the sounds that she made as they made their way into oblivion together. He tried not to think about how she called out his name. He tried not to think about her perfect body pinned under his. He tried not to think about how she ran her fingers through her hair as she sat on top of him working her hips.

He got out of the shower and dried off with a towel before wrapping it around his waist. He stood before his mirror with his back to it to see what kind of damage Val had done to it. His back looked like he had been mauled by a cougar. He had scratches all over his back from his shoulders down to his lower back. He grinned as he thought about each one and what he had done in order to get them. He turned to face the mirror and shook his head. He had a bruise in the perfect shape of Val's teeth on his right shoulder. He remembered as soon as Val's teeth clamped down on his skin as she tried to stifle the screams that was still escaping her throat, but being so caught up in the moment, he hadn't realized that it was going to leave that kind of mark.

He walked out of his bathroom, but stopped as soon as he saw Val still sleeping soundly on his bed. She looked so beautiful with the sheet wrapped tightly around her body showing off every little curve on her perfect body. He dropped the towel around his waist before crawling back into bed with her. She immediately rolled into him and hummed.

"You're really warm," she whispered kissing his skin slightly. He grinned wrapping an arm around her.

"I just got out of the shower," he said. She hummed again opening her eyes slightly. She smiled at him as soon as her eyes met his. Her eyes wandered down to the tattoo covering his left shoulder and his left pectoral. She ran her fingers over it slowly. She took in its intricate design wanting to take in every little detail of it. She had no idea what the story was behind the tattoo, but it was magnificently done.

The only tattoos that Val had was a small camel on her big toe that she had to get when she had lost a bet with Jesse many years before. He would have gotten the same tattoo if she would have won. She had a tribal style tramp stamp that she had gotten one drunken night at spring break. Her final tattoo was on her thigh of a rose that she and Mia had gotten matching sister tattoos forever ago. Her tattoos were no where near as amazing as Luke's, but she was missing where that part mattered.

She leaned forward kissing his skin gently running her fingers across his skin gently. She felt the soreness of her thighs showing proof that the night before was not a dream.

"Last night was wonderful," she said blissfully. Luke chuckled running his fingers through her hair. "What time is it?"

"Early," he responded. Val grumbled in disapproval.

"I have to go home," she said, but made no move to do so. Luke frowned in question. Val yawned rolling onto her back. "I have work clothes to wash before I have to go back to work and I'm sure there's dishes in my sink." She felt his hand run across her stomach sending chills down her body.

It had taken them a couple more hours to get motivated enough to even get out of bed. Luke had driven them over to her house so she could get her chores done. Luke had felt his ego soar when he noticed the slight limp to her step.

At one point during the day, Mia and Brian had showed up with Jack much to Val's enjoyment. As soon as Jack's eyes landed on her, he began to squirm in Mia's arms until Val took him from her. Jack began jabbering away to his aunt making her laugh at him. She began to walk back to her laundry room so she could change out a load of laundry. Mia hurried after her. Once they were in the privacy of her laundry room, Mia slipped in real close to Val.

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night?" she hissed. Val handed Jack off to his mother giving her an odd look.

"What are you talking about?" she asked as she opened her washer to transfer clothes to her dryer. Mia huffed.

"Oh please, like I'm supposed to look over the fact that you're limping," she snapped. "Now, tell me, is he… you know… proportionate?" Val grinned looking away from her. Mia giggled uncontrollably.

"You really need a hobby," Val said throwing the rest of her clothes into her dryer before starting it up.

"So, how was it?" she asked completely ignoring Val's statement. Val grinned again unable to control herself causing Mia to giggle all over again. "High five!" she said holding up her hand. Val rolled her eyes, but obliged her sister anyways.

"Like I said before, 'hobby'."

It had been two weeks when Luke had finally asked her if she wanted to meet Samantha. She wasn't sure if she was excited or nervous or maybe both. It was a huge step in their relationship. She knew and understood that as soon as she found out that Luke had a child that he was a "package deal" as it were. That part she was perfectly fine with, but what if Samantha didn't like her? What if she couldn't live up to the standards that she knew his daughter had set for her? If she didn't approve, then what would happen with their relationship?

Luke had said for her to come to his place and to bring a bathing suit. She had went to her brother so he could calm her down for the meeting. He was a little shocked upon learning about Luke's daughter, but he had done what he had done best and calmed her nerves.

She sat in Luke's driveway for a few minutes before grabbing her bag and walking up to his door. She wasn't sure if she should knock or walk right in like she owned the place. She had never been to Luke's without him so she had never had to worry about knocking. Thankfully, Luke had met her at the door.

"She's in the pool," Luke said closing the door behind her. She bit her lip slightly looking through the house towards the back. She took a deep breath looking up to Luke as his arm wrapped around her waist.

"I'm really nervous," she admitted quietly. Luke chuckled.

"She's not that scary." Val gave him a flat look. Luke grinned at her and led her through the house. The smell of Luke cooking out on the grill filled her airwaves and her stomach growled. She wasn't even hungry, but just thinking about Luke's cooking was enough to make her hungry.

Samantha was in the pool splashing around, but stopped when she heard them walk out onto the back deck. She swam to the steps and got out of the pool to come meet Val. Val swallowed the nervous lump that worked its way up into her throat.

"You're Val," she stated giving her a quick once over. Val grinned looking at the small child.

"And you're Samantha." Samantha grinned looking up to her father.

"She's really pretty." Val felt her cheeks heat up as Luke's arm wrapped around her again. "Did you bring a bathing suit?" Val nodded. "Then go put it on. I want to go swimming." Val felt Luke's arm fall from around her shoulders so she could go back inside to change into her bathing suit. It was just a simple white bikini but the way it contrasted to her tanned skin made her feel sexy. Not that sexy was something that she needed to really go for at that moment, but it was the only outfit she had to wear in the pool.

She grabbed herself a towel and walked out back so she could get into the pool. She watched Luke out of the corner of her eye as she made her way to the steps. He watched the same way. In moments like that was the only time that Val was more than happy that she didn't have any children. She was still able to wear bikinis without having to worry about stretch marks scarring her body. She remembered when Mia would wear skimpy clothing all the way up until she got pregnant with Jack. Now she refused to wear anything that would have a chance of riding up and showing her belly.

She slowly got into the pool, the cool water causing little bumps to raise all over her body. She went under to wet her hair before coming back up. Samantha swam over to her with a grin on her face.

"Do you have kids?" she asked. Val gave her a sad smile. She figured that Samantha was hoping she did so that was she did have someone to play with that was her age. Luke had never mentioned that his ex wife had anymore children so she was just assuming that there were no other children running around.

"Not that I'm aware of," Val replied.

"Why not?" Val watched Samantha as she swam in a circle around her like shark would before attacking its prey. All that she needed was a dorsal fin and the Jaws Theme playing in the background. Val gave a slight shrug of her shoulder.

"Just never really got around to it." Samantha was quiet as she continued to circle Val.

"Will you and dad have kids?" Val nearly choked at her question.

"Samantha," Luke said with a warning tone.

After Luke had finished with dinner, they ate out on the patio. Val felt as if she was on the verge of tears as she tasted the burgers he made. The only thing Val had cooking skills for was breakfast since she had made it literally every morning since she was old enough to see over the stove. After that, if it didn't have step by step directions, she couldn't cook. It had always been Mia that cooked dinner in the evening since Val was always busy cleaning up the grease stains all over the house that her father had left behind.

"I'm telling you, Luke, you are in the wrong profession. You could own your own restaurant with this stuff," she said sipping at her beer. Luke grinned at her unable to answer since he was chewing his own food.

"I've tried telling him," Samantha said sending a playful glare to her father.

"Yeah, and what would I possibly have on the menu?" Luke asked looking between them.

"Honey, you could serve mud and people would flock from miles around to eat it," Val said before taking another bite of her burger. Luke looked across the table to his daughter who was smiling at him.

The three at the table frowned when Luke's phone began to go off. Luke reached for it and checked to see who it was. He let out a sigh glancing back to Samantha before standing up stating he had to take it. As soon as he shut the door behind him Samantha sighed looking down at her food.

"It's work," she said lowly. Val gave her a small grin. Val never took into consideration how a job like Luke's would affect Samantha. Luke and Val wasn't even dating at the time and Luke being gone was more than enough to rattle Val's nerves to no end. Val reached across the table and placed her hand gently on Samantha's hand. Samantha looked to Val and returned a sad smile. "I like you, Val. You make my dad happy." Val leaned back in her chair with a sigh. Just hearing those words come from her mouth lifted an unknown weight off her shoulders. She had wanted to impress the girl and she had succeeded.

Luke stepped back outside and took his place back in his seat. Samantha looked to him expectantly. Luke took a sip of his beer staring at her.

"I leave in three days." Samantha perked up looking to Val.

"That means we can still go to the Santa Monica Pier tomorrow! Val do you want to come too?" Val glanced to Luke who was too engrossed in his burger and thoughts to see what was going on.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

The day was so perfect for a day at the pier. There wasn't a cloud in sight. They had started off by grabbing lunch at one of the restaurant there then went looking through some of the shops. Samantha literally dragged Val everywhere.

Luke was more than happy that Samantha approved of Val. He wasn't sure what would have happened if she didn't like Val. Would he have ended their relationship? He wasn't sure if he would have been able to go through with it so he was glad he no longer had to worry about it. Part of him worried that Samantha was annoying Val as she dragged her from store to store to look at all the merchandise, but the smile on Val's face took all of his worries away.

Luke tried to enjoy himself just as much as Val and Samantha, but he had the current job on his mind. He was going to be traveling to multiple parts of the world for a while trying to track down the culprit. The man, at least he thought it was a man, was running a sex trade all over the world. They would wait for men and women to be traveling alone and kidnap them before selling them to the highest bidder. The job would keep him busy for a long time until it was finally closed.

The dossier that was delivered to him didn't have much information since the case was just recently opened. There was a profile on a few lower level ass holes whose only job was to be kidnapping new merchandise. It wasn't much, but it was a nice start. At least he actually had a lead with the case. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be gone with the case, but it would be off and on until it was all over.

The night before, he found himself in his living room studying the dossier hoping to find something somewhere that would give him a little more of a lead. The kidnappings were sporadic in different parts of the world which would make his job so much harder.

It was nearly two in the morning when Val came shuffling in, her eyes bleary from sleep. She didn't say a word as she came over to him and grabbed his hand. Luke watched her curiously as she pulled him up from the couch. She began to lead him down his hallway towards his bedroom.

"I have to go over that file," Luke protested, but made no move to pull away from her.

"Shut up. It's weird being in your bed without you. You're coming to bed." Luke didn't argue. He felt like he was starting to see double anyhow.

Samantha had demanded that they go to the aquarium. Luke wasn't sure what it was with her and the aquarium, but every time they came to the pier she insisted that they go to the aquarium. Val was finally able to fall back and be with Luke as Samantha ran around looking into all the tanks. She laced her fingers with his leaning into him. It was an odd sensation as he wasn't much on public affection, but he welcomed it.

"You're being quiet," she said as she watched Samantha run across the room to another tank to admire whatever it was inside. "You're not thinking about work, are you?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I wasn't?" Val scoffed looking up at him.

"No." Luke grinned down at her. She stopped him turned him towards her. "Look, I know you're getting ready to leave to go and save the world, but you have to think. You don't know when you're going to be back. It could be weeks even months. That's a long time to go without Samantha." Luke glanced to his daughter as she darted to another tank.

"What about you?" he asked pulling her to him. Val grinned wrapping her arms around his waist.

"What about me?"

"It's a long time to go without you, too." Val chuckled.

"You just like me for my body," she teased. Luke grinned tilting his head slightly to the side.

"It does help." They separated just in time for Val's arm to be nearly yanked off by Samantha as she dragged her away to look at the seahorses. Luke decided to take Val's advice and forget about work so he could enjoy what little time he had with them. He knew Val was right. He didn't know when he was going to be back. It could be a long time before he seen either of them again.

It was well after dark when they pulled into Luke's. Samantha had fallen asleep on the way home so Luke carried her to her room to put her to bed. Val was wore out. Samantha had ran her ragged throughout the day. She plopped down on the couch and leaned her head back. She had worked countless hours in the ER taking care of anything from a woman in labor to someone who had been stabbed at an ATM to multiple people coming in from a gang fight practically all at the same time and she never felt that tired when she finally walked through her door, but that child exhausted her.

She felt herself being lifted up and her eyes shot open as a sudden shock shot through her system. She looked up to Luke who was carrying her through the house to his bedroom to lay her down. Luke laid her down then crawled in behind her wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Samantha said I was allowed to keep you," Luke whispered kissing her shoulder. Val began giggling as she grabbed his hand to force him to hold her tighter.

Author's Note: Alright guys, another chapter is up! Thanks to all my peeps that went and left a review, thank you so much for that, but it's still not enough. Come on guys, let's get this story up to a 100 reviews!

Love you all!

Aven