"Is John my daddy?"

Joss and John shared a look. How were they going to wiggle out of this one?—if they said no, then they were going to thoroughly confuse their daughter when they explained to her that John was in fact her daddy. But if they said yes there was no way in hell Maddie was not going to call John 'daddy' to everyone in a fifty mile radius or keep a secret. She was just too young to understand that daddy was undercover. Nigel might know the truth but Selma didn't and she was the one they had to keep it from.

John looked at the shore and saw Nigel heading over to where Selma and Shaw were and he hoped like hell Selma had no inclination to come into the water anytime soon. He was still angry with the fact that he had to play this charade when Nigel knew the truth, why couldn't Selma? He understood the Senator's worry, but Selma knowing the truth wasn't going to hurt their ability to keep her safe or ruin her honeymoon. But they were in this situation since the Senator wanted it this way and Control wasn't one to listen to complaints.

He looked at Joss and acted on instinct, they'd come up with something to tell Selma but they had to tell Maddie the truth. If they didn't then Maddie was going to not understand when they did tell her the truth. John nodded to give her the green light; he'd suffer the consequences of the action. If he got fired then so be it.

Joss took that as her cue. John lifted Maddie up and off his shoulders and Joss took her into her arms and smiled at their daughter. She was finally going to be able to tell her daughter that she found her dad. She was finally going to give her daughter what she has wanted for so long.

"Is John your daddy?" she repeated Maddie's question.

Maddie nodded as she pointed at Nigel's back, "That man says John is my daddy and John is nice like you said, mommy, and tall. John is taller than the skyscrapers at home, mommy, and he's-he's got blue eyes like me. You said that my daddy gave me blue eyes," Maddie explained. Joss smiled at her daughter's explanation as to how she came to the conclusion and from the fact that their daughter thought John was taller than skyscrapers.

"Well baby: yes, John is your daddy. He finally could come back for us," she answered staring directly into her daughter's blue eyes.

Maddie's head whipped to the side. "Hi daughter," John whispered gruffly.

Maddie immediately lunged for him. John turned so he was angled away from the shore as he easily took her into his arms and he held her tightly as she cried on his shoulder.

"Oh sweetheart why are you crying?—mommy told you I'd come back for you when I could. I'm so sorry you had to wait this long but mommy and I wanted you to get to know me before we told you the truth," he murmured, remembering the cover story Joss had used with their daughter about his whereabouts. He rubbed Maddie's back comfortingly as her head was buried against his neck, little arms wrapped around his neck awkwardly with the arm floaties and her thin frame heaved.

"I'm so happy!" Maddie cried loudly, muffled by John's neck.

Joss felt tears prick at the backs of her eyes at the declaration and didn't feel so bad because John's eyes grew bright with unshed tears. "So am I, Maddie, so am I. I finally have you and mommy again," John assured her roughly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Maddie cried in happiness on his shoulder and Joss leaned in close to rub her back to comfort her. Joss looked up at John. "She's wanted you for so long and she loved you the first moment she met you at the poolside," she added for her daughter.

John smiled as Joss reached up to dash the tears that slipped down his cheeks. "So did I," he agreed as he leaned his head back so he could try to look at Maddie. "Maddie, I love you."

"I l-love you d-daddy," Maddie whimpered through sniffles.

Joss wished that she was alone with John and Maddie so she could kiss him. He was holding Maddie tightly as their daughter clung to him nearly as tight. But she had to settle for a caring smile instead since they were out in the open before speaking to her daughter. "Baby, look at mommy," Joss whispered as she ran a hand soothingly in their daughter's braids. Her little face appeared but still rested on John's chest. She reached over and brushed away a few tears from their baby's eyes.

"I promise you: Daddy's not going anywhere now that you have him. Let's head back to the shore and eat some snacks, and relax for a little bit before we swim some more, okay?" she suggested and Maddie nodded a little but kept close to John's chest. Joss looked at John. "She's not letting you go anytime soon," she teased as they turned to head for the shore.

John didn't say a word as he was content having his daughter in his arms. "We have to figure out what we are going to do with Selma now that Maddie knows the truth," she murmured.

"I know. Maddie's too young to understand. And Selma's the only one who doesn't know the truth. Maybe I should stay away when she's around," John said with a frown.

Joss echoed that frown. "No, we can't do that. Maddie will cry for you," she whispered. "There has to be some other way we can color it to Selma without blowing your cover completely."

John sighed. He hoped so. Maddie might cry for him but he would miss Joss and Maddie too much to stay away for long. They slowly approached their beach towel and noticed Shaw had headed over and was smiling, actually smiling, like the Cheshire cat. John was suspicious as he carried Maddie over as her cries grew quieter but her arms still were tight around his neck.

"What?" he commanded.

Shaw smirked as she sat down on the towel first. "Nothing, except you owe me about ten steaks." Shaw said and thought better about it. "No wait, you have a billionaire friend: have him buy me a steakhouse after what I just did for you two!"

"What are you talking about?" John asked, needing to tell her about Nigel knowing the truth. Shaw wasn't going to be anymore happy than he was about the fact that Nigel knew this entire time and Selma didn't and the fact that they having to pose as newlyweds wasn't really that necessary.

In fact John wanted to know why Selma wasn't allowed to know the truth since Nigel knew. Nigel said that his father-in-law had wanted it that way. He wondered if Harold had wanted it that way too or was it Richard Gordon alone. He was going to have to call Finch and ask him exactly what was said.

"Guess who caught you two last night: Selma! Seriously, did you guys think that the curtain was a cloak of invisibility or something?" Shaw stated.

Joss's eyes widened as she shared a look with John and then looked back at Shaw. "She saw us doing what exactly?" Joss asked quietly.

Shaw narrowed her eyes. "She saw you two kissing," she answered and noticed both Reese and Carter looked relieved and then she smirked. "Wait a minute: what did you two do that makes you relieved that Selma only saw you two kissing?—Reese I told you not to do anything I would."

John rolled his eyes. "I didn't threaten to kill the server," he commented as he sat down carefully with his daughter. "And as for the rest: nothing else happened," he lied through his teeth.

"Uh-huh," Shaw didn't believe that shit. Both Carter and Reese looked like they were sagging with relief. "Anyway, I told them we are swingers and that you two were hard up for each other."

"You told her we're swingers?" John demanded.

"Well, what else would explain why you were sucking on Carter's face without being a two-timing bastard? I didn't think she'd buy the fact that you mistakenly thought Carter's mouth was your own. Or that she'd buy that you were just checking Carter's mouth for cavities or if she still had her tonsils. Apparently there was a lot of tongue last night," Shaw said with a snicker, finding enjoyment as Reese looked ready to strangle her if he could.

"Language, Shaw," Joss muttered with a motion to Maddie who was quiet but she had the tendency to repeat words, especially ones she didn't know and pretend she did and was using them in the correct sense.

Shaw rolled her eyes. "I had to think fast because she was questioning why I wasn't mad. It was the best I could come up with. She was crying over thinking you were cheating on me. It was the only thing that would stop the waterworks flowing and the snot from flying out of her nose," Shaw explained and John cringed at the mental image.

Shaw shifted her gaze off them and onto the little girl who was snuggled up to John and not being her normal cheerful self. "What's wrong with the pipsqueak?" she asked.

"Nigel knows."

"Geez, everyone was watching you. Was the curtain see-through?" Shaw muttered.

John sighed. "No, Nigel knows who we are and what we are really doing here," he corrected.

"He knows?—you blew our cover, didn't you, with your tongue hanging out around Carter!" Shaw demanded.

"He was in on the meeting with the Senator. Selma is the only one that doesn't know," he said quietly, watching her eyes widen and darken in anger. "Remember we have a four year present. Curse in your mind only, Shaw," he demanded.

"Yes, please," Joss asked gently as she sat beside John and took out a bag of crackers.

"Nigel figured out Maddie is my daughter and thought that Maddie knew that she was my daughter," he explained softly.

Shaw blinked. "Wait, so Mads knows you're her dad?" Shaw asked quietly.

"Yea and we need to come up with a plan for Selma because Maddie is too young to understand," Joss murmured.

Shaw shrugged. "That's not going to be a problem: I might have mentioned to Selma while I was saving our ass-behinds with us being swingers and Reese wanting to bone you that he was practically the pipsqueak's dad. Maybe we can use that to our advantage; color it that Maddie has mistaken him for her daddy or something," Shaw said triumphantly.

Joss liked that idea; she liked that a lot because it would explain why Maddie was calling John 'daddy' now and wouldn't outright blow John's cover sky high. She could kiss Shaw for this but had a feeling the small angry woman would either shoot her for it or enjoy it.

John looked at Shaw. "You said that?"

"Yea, you are like a sad sock puppet without them so I tried to come up with a way to give you a chance to see them more," Shaw muttered.

John bumped her shoulder. "Thank you, Shaw," he said sincerely, knowing Shaw wasn't comfortable with more than that.

Shaw looked out to the ocean, uncomfortable with the gratitude. "Buy me a prime rib and call us even," she stipulated.

It took a few tries until they finally coaxed Maddie to sit leisurely on John's lap. She looked to Sam. "He's my daddy," Maddie informed her, snacking on a cracker given to her from Joss.

Shaw smirked. "Yea, well he's my friend: you trump me but I still have rights to him too," she said before looking at Carter. "You got crackers?—where's my cracker?" she demanded and Maddie giggled.

Joss held out a cracker to Shaw and the woman snatched it away from her and stuffed it into her mouth.

John leaned close to Joss. "Forgot to warn you about when befriending Shaw that you have to feed her constantly," he whispered and Joss chuckled.

"I can handle that. It's like having a third child." Joss said teasingly. It was better being on this woman's good side and feeding her constantly than her bad side.

After a few moments Nigel and Selma made their way over. Joss tensed up but John rubbed her hand discreetly. Maddie sat on his lap munching on her crackers. "We are heading in. We hope you guys enjoy your afternoon on the beach," Selma murmured finally able to meet their eyes again. Her cheeks were a little pink apparently still trying to adjust to them being swingers. So did John.

Shaw smirked and John sighed; poor Selma. "Yea, maybe later we can meet at the Fortunes Casino," he suggested, knowing that Nigel wanted to talk to them. Shaw would have to text Donnelly that he was up with keeping an eye on the Wixoms while they were on the ship.

Shaw scooted behind Carter and massaged her shoulders. "Definitely later," Shaw added with a mouthful of cracker.

Joss looked at Shaw as if she lost her mind, "Did you just get cracker bits in my hair?" she asked, incredulous that a woman this age was still talking with her mouth full. "Never mind," she muttered before looking back to Selma and narrowed her eyes as Selma's blush brightened further. Uh-oh, she had a feeling there was more to what Shaw told this woman than merely that John and Shaw were swingers and John was into her.

Nigel nodded. "Sounds good. We'll text you later when it would be a good time for us. Have a nice afternoon," Nigel said with a warm smile.

"He's my daddy!" Maddie announced and Selma's eyes widened as she looked at John.

Joss climbed to her feet pushing away from John's partner and motioned with her head at the Wixoms to walk with her. She couldn't have Selma try to correct her. "Sorry about that: my daughter is firmly attached to John," she explained quietly when they were out of earshot of Maddie.

"Oh dear, is that very wise with the situation between you, John, and Sam?"

"Sel, it's not our call," Nigel warned with an apologetic look to Joss.

Joss forced a smile. "My daughter loves John already," Joss said, unsure of what exactly Shaw had said but not going to call it into question. "I care about John…and Sam," she added Shaw at the last second.

Selma nodded. "Well as long as it works for you guys. I care about all three of you. I like to think of you, John, and Sam as friends."

"And we feel the same way. You're a wonderful woman, Selma." Joss said sincerely. "Sam told me you saw John and me kissing."

"Yes, I'm terribly embarrassed for looking in on you two. I thought I heard John's voice and figured that the three of you were together. I had no idea that John and Sam were swingers and you were thinking of having a threesome," Selma said.

Joss nearly choked. "A threesome?" she repeated making sure it was what she thought she heard.

"Oh dear she didn't run it by you yet?—Sam said…" Selma trailed off as she worried her lip with her teeth, suddenly anxious. She didn't mean to say something that Shaw hadn't run by Joss yet. She didn't want to ruin what was going on between the three of them. It was strange and she was never in this position before, but if it worked for them then she was going to support it.

Joss plotted ways of killing Shaw before she waved Selma off and smiled, "It's okay Selma. John, Sam, and I have some talking to do before anything happens. You didn't break confidence with Sam and you certainly didn't ruin anything," she reassured her. Joss looked to Nigel then back at Selma. "It was nice seeing you."

"Likewise," Selma said, looking forlorn that she did something wrong.

Joss patted her arm and turned back to walk to John, Sam, and Maddie. Shaw cocked a brow. "What?" she demanded.

"A threesome?" Joss hissed as she sat down on the towel next to John as they watched the Wixoms walking away, then shifted her gaze back at Shaw. "A threesome?—you are out of your mind."

Shaw shrugged. "I had to have a little fun at your expense for helping out," Shaw said defensively. "And what's so bad about a threesome with Reese and I?—I'll have you know I'm a beast in the sack."

John laughed at the announcement and Shaw punched him. But they dropped the subject when Maddie wondered what 'beast in the sack' meant. John easily diverted her with the idea of building a sand castle.

John stood up and Maddie wrapped her arms around his legs. He looked down at Shaw and Joss. "You two ladies want to help me and Maddie make a sand castle?" he asked.

Shaw snorted. "Screw a sand castle, we are building a sand fortress. It's go big or go home!" Shaw taunted as she got to her feet.

John and Joss shook their heads at Shaw's enthusiasm; John grabbed Maddie's hand in one of his and Joss's in his other and they walked towards the shoreline to go build a sand fortress.


AN: Sorry that this isn't very long but it was just perfect as is with all the family moments :) Next chapter:

Ch 16: I Will Survive, I Hope

Thanks for reading!