Val woke up the next morning to Luke wrapping arm around her and his kisses. She groaned trying to push him away, but she knew that it was a fruitless effort. She stretched her body out with a groan feeling Luke's fingers roam her body.

"Will you stop that?"

"Never," he teased as he nibbled on her ear lobe. She giggled trying to squirm away from him, but he tightened his grip on her.

"Come on, stop!" Val squeaked out as his fingers went up the front of her shirt and began tickling her skin just below her breasts. Luke kissed her neck as the sound of footsteps were heard above them signaling that Samantha had woken up. Val sighed looking back at Luke. "Now you're going to have to stop. Samantha's awake." Luke buried his face in her hair gripping her tighter.

"You might want to brace yourself," he mumbled. Val frowned glancing back at him as best she could. She listened as Samantha's footsteps walked around upstairs for a little bit longer, then she listened as they hurried down the stairs and came around to the bedroom door. Samantha opened the door and ran over to the bed and jumped on them.

"Come on, guys, wake up! We're going fishing! Wake up!" Val groaned covering her head with the blanket.

"I don't want to," she complained. She felt the blanket get ripped away from her and Val was really glad that she and Luke had put their clothes back on after making love the night before. She raised her head long enough to pull the pillow out from under her head and flopped her head down on the bed then covered her face with the pillow.

She heard Samantha growl.

"Come on, daddy! Get up! We're going fishing!" Luke groaned rolling on his back.

"I'm up. I'm up." Val felt the bed shift as Luke got up. Val, however, was unmoved. Samantha exclaimed happily and got off the bed as well.

"We're going fishing!" she all but screeched. Val finally lifted her head and looked at the little girl standing next the bed. She had never seen anyone so excited to go fishing in her life.

"Hey!" Val quipped to catch the girl's attention. Samantha looked to her. "Breakfast first. Then fishing." Samantha groaned in protest looking up at her father.

"You heard her. Now get," he said pointing to the door. "We'll be out in a minute." Val waited until she heard the door close before she sat up with a groan. She stretched her arms above her head and let out a yawn. She stayed on the bed trying to clear out the cobwebs.

"What's wrong with you?" Luke asked.

"I'm tired," she grumbled. She stood up slowly rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"Tired?" Luke asked as he started rummaging through his drawers for clothes.

"Yeah," she whispered walking over to Luke and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. She rested her head against his back and let her eyes drift closed. "I'm sure I wouldn't be so tired if someone didn't keep me up half the night." Luke chuckled as he tossed a shirt on top of the dresser and turned around to face Val. Val ran her hands over his chest slowly to savor the ripple of muscle underneath.

"You weren't complaining last night," he teased as his hands ran down her sides to rest on her waist. Val giggled shaking her head.

"No, but that doesn't mean I can't complain now. And now I have to go make breakfast and then we get to spend all day under the hot sun smelling worms and fish. Exciting." The sarcasm that came out with each word was nearly painful. He rolled his eyes turning away from Val to put on his shirt.

"I thought you said you've gone fishing before," Luke countered as he put the shirt over his head. Val took off her shirt and dug around in her underwear drawer for her bikini.

"Yes, but I never said I liked it. I've never been able to catch a fish ever. Brian has tried teaching me, but it's never stuck. The worms are a weird slimy noodle. Not to mention it's completely unsanitary. You sit there all day and nothing happens except sun poisoning and dehydration." By the end of her little rant, she had completely changed into her bikini bottoms and a pair of short shorts and was trying to tie her top, but was losing the battle.

Luke had changed as well and was listening to Val's little rant with the utmost amusement. He waited for her to finish running her mouth before he stepped forward to help her with her top. He tied it around her middle first before tying it behind her neck.

"You know, if you want you can stay here while we go fishing," Luke stated simply as he finished tying her bikini top. She sighed leaning up against him looking down to adjust the bra so her breasts didn't slip out. As much as she was sure Luke would enjoy that type of wardrobe malfunction, Samantha was sure to be traumatized.

"I would love nothing more than to stay here and go back to bed, but I'm sure that me doing that will disappoint Samantha and I don't want to do that."

Luke grinned lowering his head to kiss her shoulder. Her words meant more to him than she knew. He ran his beard lightly against her skin just so he could feel her tighten to hold back a shiver. He loved the way she did it, as if she was trying to take away a power over her that he already knew he had.

She bit her lip to hold back the shaky breath that was threatening to escape. She hated when he did that. As soon as the hairs on his beard tickled her skin, her skin almost instantly heated up. Her hair stood on end as if she had just touched an electric fence, but instead of one fast jolt, it seemed to spread through her body in slow motion. It was enough to make her melt and make her bend to his every will. And it pissed her off because she knew he knew it.

"I'll go make coffee," Luke whispered in her ear. He stepped past her and left the room to leave her to slump down on the edge of the bed to collect herself. It took everything in her power not to throw herself back on the bed and go back to sleep. She stood instead and grabbed one of her tank tops and put it on before walking out of the room.

Luke had showed Val an EpiPen and told her about how Samantha was deathly allergic to bees. Val already knew how to use one so Luke didn't bother to show her how to use it. He had told her about how they had figured out that she was allergic to bees when she was three years old and had been stung while playing out in the yard. Her throat had closed up instantly and she had passed out. They had rushed her to the hospital and with them knowing immediately what was wrong with her, they were able to treat her and save her life.

Samantha followed Val around in the kitchen like a shadow wanting to know everything that she was doing. The look in her eye when Val handed her some eggs to crack into a bowl was absolutely priceless. When she cracked them into a bowl, there was a couple pieces of the shell that had fallen into the bowl, but it was nothing that Val couldn't pick out with her nail. Val went ahead and added the milk to the eggs for fear of Samantha spilling the milk everywhere, but she did let Samantha mix the eggs after putting in vanilla and cinnamon.

Val showed Samantha how to dip a slice of bread into the mix and put in into a pan to cook. Samantha watched closely as Val flipped the slice of bread to the other side and let it cook until it was done then picked it up and slid it on a plate that she had out for them.

Val watched Samantha as she dipped another slice of bread into the egg mixture and put it in the pan. Samantha was so excited that she was actually making french toast and that there was someone actually letting her.

Luke watched from his spot at the dining room table with a grin on his face. He was happy that Samantha approved of Val and that they were able to get along. Sure, that was subject to change in later years when Samantha hit puberty, but he still had a while before that happened. He could remember years ago when his mother had brought home a man and Luke hated the guy even though he was so good to his mother. He had felt threatened by the man and lashed out any chance he could. It even had driven the poor man away. At the time, it had made him happy that he was gone, but later in life, he had regretted it because he knew how much that man had made his mother happy.

Samantha had made some pretty good french toast, Luke had to admit, but he was glad that they had managed to make it out onto the lake before it got too late in the day. Val spread a towel out on the back of the boat putting on tanning oil while Luke and Samantha readied their fishing poles.

"Samantha, come here, you need sunscreen," Val said waving the bottle in the air for emphasis. Samantha groaned in protest, but walked to the back of the boat anyways so Val could put sunscreen on her face, shoulders, and chest.

"Why do I need sunscreen? My skin is pretty dark already." Val chuckled as she tossed the sunscreen on top of her bag.

"Well, my skin is pretty dark too, but I still get burnt, just like I know you do," Val said placing some of the stray hairs behind her ears. Samantha huffed.

"Then why doesn't daddy need sunscreen?" she asked with a little stomp of her foot. Val chuckled shaking her head then glanced up to Luke who had cast out. He was pretending not to listen to their conversation, but she knew better than that. Val reached down and grabbed the bottle of sunscreen and held it out to Samantha.

"I tell you what, if you can get your dad to put some of this on, then I'll give you five bucks." Samantha looked back to Val to see if she was serious and Val nodded a confirmation. They turned their attention to Luke to discover that he was glaring at Val. Samantha giggled and hurried to the front of the boat as she waved the bottle towards Luke.

"Here daddy! You need this!" she said waving it up at him. As soon as he looked down at her, Val could see it in his eyes that he had melted. He sat down on the bench seat a little close to the edge so she could get in behind him so she could put sunscreen on him. Val went ahead and took it upon herself to lay out on the back of the boat so she could nap.

"Are you not going to fish with us?" Samantha asked. Val put her hands behind her head after draping a towel over her face to block out some of the brightness of the sun.

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart," Val said simply.

"Why not?" she inquired curiously.

"Because I'm no good at it," Val said truthfully.

"I could teach you how," Luke piped up. Val lifted the towel from her face and rolled onto her side and propped her head up on her elbow.

"If you somehow manage to teach me how to catch a fish, you will have accomplished something that Brian has been trying to for years," Val said in a tired voice. All she really wanted to do was lay back and nap in the sunshine. She wasn't at all interested in going fishing.

"Tell you what, if you manage to catch a fish today you'll have to double," Luke stopped when Samantha leaned forward and whispered something in his ear. "Triple what you owe Sam here for getting me to put sunscreen on." Val narrowed her eyes and bit her lip as she thought it over. It felt like a trap. And in her world, if it quacked like a duck, and looked like a duck, it was probably a trap.

"Deal, but I'm only agreeing to this because if, for whatever reason, you manage to teach me to catch a fish, I'm going to rub it in Brian's pretty little face," Val stated sitting up on the back of the boat. Luke and Sam glanced at each other with a grin then fist bumped. And it that moment, Val regretted agreeing to anything.

By the time that Luke had Val set up with her own fishing pole, Samantha had caught a fish. It grossed Val out a little while Samantha pinched her fingers into the bass's lip and all but tore the hook out of the poor thing's mouth. It was only about six inches long and didn't really weigh that much, but the look of utter joy and pride on Samantha's face was worth it. Samantha tossed it back into the water and the little fish swam away.

"Okay, your turn," Samantha said beaming up at Val. Val shrugged and was about to cast her line out, but Luke stopped her before she could. He eyed the shoreline carefully before pointing to an area that had some roots and branches from fallen trees in the water. Val did her best to cast out to it. The small white and red bobber floated on top of the water for a few moments before it jerked underwater for a split second.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," Val said with wide eyes. Sure enough, the bobber went under again, but this time, it stayed under and Val felt a small tug on her fishing pole. She jerked the pole a little and began to reel it in.

"Ha ha!" Val exclaimed once the fish was in the boat. "I actually caught a fish!" It was a small fish, but a fish no less. It was only around four inches long, but that didn't matter to Val because she caught it. Luke told her that it was a bluegill. She took a picture of her with the fish so she had something to send to Brian so she could rub it in his face.

"Okay, now you gotta get it off the hook and put it back," Luke said crossing his arms. Val stared at him for a moment then looked down at the fish that was still dangling from the hook. Its dorsal fin was spread out and its gills moved quickly as it tried to breathe without water. She touched it with her finger just to see what it felt like, but the fish went crazy flopping around. She held it out away from her so it didn't smack her.

She looked up to Luke desperately, but he had turned away from her to cast his line out into the deeper part of the lake for bigger fish. She glanced at Samantha who was still smiling at her. Val reached out slowly and gripped the fish by its belly since its mouth was too small to pinch it with her fingers. It tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but it was no use. She cringed at the slimy feeling of its skin. She wanted to gag. She tried not to think about all the germs that was now on her hand.

"Ew! Ew! Ew!" she repeated as she pulled the hook from its mouth. It was a strange ripping pop as she finally worked the hook free and tossed the fish back into the water. She shivered and looked down at her hand still covered in the fish's grimey germs. "That was disgusting. What do you guys see in this? Those things are covered in germs and bacteria."

"I thought germs and bacteria were the same thing," Luke said glancing over his shoulder at her with a grin. Sure, technically they were the same thing, but that was besides the point.

"Shut up," she hissed getting into the cooler to grab a bottle of water. She heard Luke chuckle and Samantha giggle behind her. She poured it over her hand and washed off as much of the grime as she could. She made her way to the back of the boat and laid back down.

"Are you done already?" Luke teased from the front of the boat.

"Yup. Fish are disgusting. Though it was exciting to finally catch a fish," she admitted putting the towel back over her head and rested her hands behind her head. She heard Luke chuckle once more. She slowly began to doze off listening to the conversations that Luke and Samantha was sharing. She told him about school and her friends. She talked about some sleep overs that she had with her friends.

Luke told her about some of the missions that he had went on and what he had to do in order to bring down the bad guys. He told her that about Val's first encounter with Brenda and Carl without telling her about the pot brownies that Brenda had slipped her. He told her about the project that Carl was currently working on for Brenda. Samantha mentioned about wanting to go and see Brenda and Carl, but by that time, Val was going in and out of sleep.

The slow rock of the boat lulled her off to sleep. The warmth of the sun seemed to comfort her down to her very soul. She felt completely relaxed and felt like she was being whisked away on a cloud to dreamland.

Val came to by hearing Luke saying Samantha's name in a panicked tone. She shot up all sleepiness leaving instantly. She saw Samantha slumped over on one of the bench seats with her eyes closed. Luke was knelt in front of her with his hands on her face trying to get her to wake up. Her skin was flushed in patches while she was having trouble breathing and Val knew exactly what was going on. She jumped up and dug around in the dry bag until she found Samantha's EpiPen.

"Hurry up, Val!" Luke snapped over his shoulder. She finally found the yellow plastic tube and handed it to Luke. He plunged it into the skin on her thigh and held it there for a few seconds before tossing it to the side. Val knelt down next to him and every part of her wanted to push him away so she could asses the girl, but she knew that doing that would be like signing her own death warrant.

Luke grabbed Samantha's face again watching her with helpless terror waiting for the medicine to take hold. Samantha's breath became easier and she slowly opened her eyes. She stared at Luke with wide eyes then glanced to Val. She hissed in pain looking down at the spot on her arm where the bee had stung her and tears began to fall. Luke wrapped his arms around the child and pulled her to him. He wrapped her up in his comforting embrace letting her sob into his chest. He shushed her quietly,

Val rested a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder and leaned into him while her other hand rested on the top of Samantha's head. She could feel Luke's quick breaths as he tried to calm himself. The entire thing had happened within a matter of forty five seconds, but it felt like it had been hours.

"We need to get her home," Val urged. Luke gave Val a sideways glance and nodded slowly. He pulled away from Samantha and gave her a reassuring smile. "I've got her," Val said in a calm tone and began to tug Samantha gently away from Luke. Samantha shifted her body to where Val could cradle her in her lap while Luke shot up to pull in the lines and anchors.

Samantha's skin felt hot, but Val figured it was where it was mostly from the sun and the adrenaline. Val held her tight rocking her slightly as Samantha whimpered. She was trembling. Luke had them back at the docks in a matter of minutes. Luke jumped off to tie the boat off while Val stood with Samantha in her arms. She carried her to the edge of the dock and allowed Luke to take her.

"Leave the stuff, we'll come back for it later," Luke said hurrying off the dock to head back to the cabin. Val darted past him so she could get some allergy medicine ready for her before the EpiPen wore off. She left the back door open for him while she rushed into the bathroom to find what she needed in the medicine cabinet. She found it with no problems since allergy pill bottles usually had the familiar pink writing on it.

She carried it back into the living room where Luke was sitting on the couch with Samantha in his lap. Val gave her one of the pills which Samantha swallowed with a little trouble. Val reached out and felt Samantha's throat to check for swelling and tenderness. It still felt a little swollen to her, but it was nothing to really worry about.

"Let me see your tongue," Val said. Samantha opened her mouth so Val could see. Her tongue was a little swollen as well, but again, it was nothing to cause for alarm. "Do you think you can eat something? Like soup?" Samantha nodded slowly with a small sniffle and cuddled further into Luke's embrace. Val glanced up at Luke who was staring down at his daughter with pain in his eyes. "Would you like something, too?"

Luke shook his head. Val reached out and touched his cheek lightly before standing up and made her way into the kitchen to make Samantha some soup. It was light and easy to swallow and would hopefully bring a little relief to her throat and tongue. She put it in the microwave instead of cooking it on the stove so she could get it to Samantha before the side effects of the allergy medicine kicked in and she fell asleep.

Samantha was only able to eat half of her soup before she said she wasn't hungry anymore. Val wished she would have eaten more just to have something on her stomach, but she could make due.

Luke stayed quiet, his eyes never leaving Samantha for even a moment. Val could see the guilt and worry in his eyes. She clung to him as if her life depended on it and he held her tight against him as if protecting her from all the dangers in the world. Val had never seen Luke in such a state. He looked so helpless since there was nothing he could do to take his daughter's pain away. Val never would have dreamed in a million years that she would see him in such a state. She would have never dreamed that Luke Hobbs could be so vulnerable.

Slowly, but surely, Samantha fell asleep in Luke's arms. Luke gently adjusted the child in his arms so he could stand with her. He stood slowly so he didn't disturb her though she was so tired from the experience then the allergy medicine it was going to be hard to wake her up period.

"I'm going to go lay down with her," he muttered walking back towards their bedroom.

"Okay, I'm going to go get everything off the boat then I'll be in," Val said to him. He acted like he didn't even hear her. He still watched Samantha with unwavering eyes. Val hurried down to the boat and unloaded it. She had to make multiple trips because the cooler was too heavy to carry so she had to empty it out some by throwing ice into the water in order to carry it. She still had to drag it up to the porch where she left it at the bottom of the stairs. There was no way she was going to be carrying that up the steps. The rest of the boat was easy to unload. She brought everything into the house and unpacked it and made sure everything was put up in its proper place before going to check on Samantha.

Samantha laid next to Luke on their bed covered in their blanket. Her head rested on Luke's shoulder and her arm was draped around his torso lazily. Luke's big arm was wrapped around her body and his cheek was rested against the top of her head. He stared across the room at nothing in particular. The sight, even under the circumstances, was adorable to say the least. Val walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge nearest Luke.

Val felt around on Samantha's throat to check for swelling. It was going down more and more with each passing minute which was absolutely fantastic. She wanted to check her tongue as well, but with her being asleep, she didn't want to wake her. She could wait until Samantha woke up. The rash was going away as well, but Val suspected it would return once the allergy medicine wore off.

She placed her hand on Luke's cheek finally getting him to look at her. The pain and worry in his eyes shot a pang right to her heart.

"She's never been stung around me before," Luke admitted. He glanced back down at Samantha wondering if he was disturbing her. She remained still. "She was talking to me and just out of nowhere, she collapsed." He paused for a moment taking a deep breath. "She wasn't breathing." He paused again running his large hand down Samantha's back. Val couldn't even begin to understand the fear he had felt in that moment. To see one's child not breathing was enough to bring even the mightiest to their knees and it had.

"I've never been so scared in my life," he confessed in a whisper before pressing his lips to the top of Samantha's head. Luke leaned back still keeping his eyes on her. Val leaned forward placing a gentle kiss to the corner of his mouth before snuggling into his side. Luke wrapped his free arm around Val loosely.

They laid there in silence watching Samantha together. Val wasn't sure what she could say to Luke to make him feel better about the situation. She wasn't sure if there was anything she could say. Usually she would tell the parents of a child that came into the ER that everything was going to be fine and they were going to keep the child for a little longer for observation before releasing them and she was able to leave the room only to return if the parents had a question that only a doctor could answer. That rarely happened in a situation such as Luke's.

She was pulled from her thoughts when Luke chuckled. She lifted her head to look up at him to find him with a grin on his face looking down at Samantha.

"What is it?" she questioned curiously.

"She's drooling on me," he said the chuckle still on his breath. Val giggled resting her head back on his shoulder.

Author's Note: Okay, so someone had requested that I use "he said" and "she said" after dialog because they were having issues differentiating who was talking. I went back and reread the previous chapter and honestly, I didn't see where there was any confusion, but I'm also the one who wrote it and knew who was saying what so maybe I'm just not catching onto it. I tried to fix it in this chapter and I hope I did. If not, let me know via review or pm about it and I'll start trying to find a beta reader so maybe they will be able to catch it.

Also, I forgot to mention in the previous chapter that I had finally watched the 8th movie while I was on vacation down at the beach. I don't know if all the readers out there have or not so I'll keep this vague so I don't give away any spoilers. I know I can't be the only one that saw the fuck up they did with the timeline, right? Don't get me wrong, I still loved it (the Fast and Furious franchise is one of my guilty pleasures), but…. Did you think we weren't gonna notice? Because we did. We totally did.

Love ya guys!

Reviews and shit!

Aven