"There are eyes half defiant, half meek and compliant; Black eyes, with a wondrous, witching charm to bring us good or to work with harm." -Phoebe Cary

Two Weeks Later…

Vanessa

The warm smell of butter and syrup filled the air as I flipped the last pancake from the griddle. The sound of Jared playing contentedly in his bouncy swing was music to my ears.

"Morning babe," a sleepy Joe mumbled from behind me as he entered the kitchen and took a seat at the counter.

"Good morning!" I said happily. Joe always told me I was a morning person, unlike himself.

I turned to face him with a full stack of flapjacks when I noticed his unusually bloodshot eyes. Actually, I knew it wasn't unusual, Joe had been having trouble sleeping for a while now. But he never made a big deal out of it and so neither did I. But the past few days Joe had seemed better. I guess I was wrong.

"Joe?"

"I'm fine 'Ness, just a little tired. Don't worry," Joe said anticipating my concern.

"Joe, I'm worried about you," I started but Joe's expression made me stop.

"Don't say that Van, don't…"

I caught myself right away. Why had I said that? I felt so terrible, that's what I had told him the night he left, just over a year ago.

"I'm so sorry Joe, I didn't mean—"

"Don't worry about it Vanessa," Joe said, shaking off his emotions, he smiled warmly at me.

"You know I love you forever Joe."

"Well I love you for eternity."

We leaned in for a kiss but didn't get very far. Jared started to cry from his position in his bouncy swing. We both turned and looked to the little blond baby staring at us, he wasn't crying though, he was laughing.

"He's definitely your son Joe," I grinned. Joe smirked and picked Jared up bouncing him in his arms. I sighed contentedly and popped a bite of breakfast in my mouth as I watched my son and husband's faces light up with excitement. Everything was wonderful…finally.

...

Joe

It had been two weeks since Akacia Heart had moved to Bayport. She and Tony had become quite good friends, however he was still weary about calling it a full blown relationship. But that's Tony for you.

Frank, Callie, Biff, Hope, Tony, Akacia, Vanessa and I were all taking a well deserved mini vacation. Even though Rockport was only two hours away from Bayport that was as far as Vanessa and Callie would dare to be from their children. My parents, Laura and Fenton Hardy had to practically drag the girls away from Jared and Seth, insisting they would be fine with Grandma and Grandpa. But however close we were from our home, out here in the forests of the Massachusetts coast it felt like we were millions of miles away from anywhere. It was peaceful to just kick back and relax.

We had rented a big cabin together and were staying for three days out here communing with nature. The hiking trails were great and the rough shores of Rockport were breathtakingly beautiful. But no matter how relaxing this vacation was supposed to be, I was still having trouble sleeping and the dreams, or nightmares rather, were getting more and more unsettling.

The thing that most disturbed me about my "visions" were the golden eyes that found their way into my mind. The reason this troubled me was because Akacia Heart had the same golden eyes.

"Come on Joe, your falling behind!" my wife, Vanessa called after me. I had found myself struggling with another sighting of the strange eyes and apparently had strayed from the hiking party. With long strides I caught up with Vanessa. She grabbed my arm and leaned into me as we walked.

Vanessa looked up at me, her grey-blue eyes gleaming in the midday sun. I smiled down at her and laughed a little, as she kept a firm grip on me. She wasn't letting me fall behind agian. I was walking directly behind Akacia and Tony and happened to spot them holding hands. Apparently Vanessa had too because she squeezed my arm in delight.

Tony hadn't been involved with many girls ever. He was always too wrapped up in work and school to think about starting a relationship. Despite how many times 'Ness, Hope, or Callie had tried to set him up with anyone he always declined. It made me happy to see him finally enjoying himself. I could tell he really liked Akacia, and despite the odd feelings I had about her I supported him.

Akacia had told us that her name was Greek for Thorn and that her father had chosen the name for her because it symbolized power and protection. She was naturally beautiful and had a warm personality, except when it came to me. For some strange reason she acted like there was an invisible wall between us. Careful not to get too close to me or be alone in the same room with me. She had given me the cold shoulder whenever Tony wasn't around. But something about the way she acted told me that it wasn't just that she didn't like me.

It was as if she was scared of me.

At that exact moment, to my surprise, Akacia whipped around to stop me dead in my tracks with the most frightened look on her face. Her once winsome features were now cloaked in a white pallor. Her short, raven hair accentuated her paleness, and her red lips quivered. But most of all Akacia's topaz eyes stood out beneath the mask of horror on her face.

"What's wrong Akacia?" I asked, half expecting her to faint right then and there.

"Oh," she whispered taking her eyes off of me, and trying to steady herself, "Nothing I'm fine. Just got spooked that's all," she replied quietly and turned back around and snuggled in closer to Tony. I saw him glance back at me with worry in his eyes and I just shrugged. I could still see Akacia shaking slightly. Something weird is going on.

By now we had caught up to Frank, Callie, Biff and Hope. Frank came over to me and whispered in my ear.

"What was that all about?"

"Beats me," I whispered back. Even though I had a very good idea of what was going on, and it scared me. It was like Akacia had been inside of my head listening to my thoughts. I had never believed in the supernatural before but deep down in the back of my mind I thought that maybe Akacia was hiding something from us, and no one would have ever thought that...except for me.

...

Tony

After lunch back at the cabin I decided to take Akacia to my favorite part of Rockport. When my brother Nic and I were young my father, Benito, would take us up here. And the one place I remember best is Pigeon Cove. It's the most beautiful place of anywhere on the East Coast. Or at least I thought it was.

From Pigeon Cove you could see over most of the forests around Rockport, green turrets rising from the rocky castles of the ground. The view of the Atlantic Ocean was amazing. It was almost as if you could see to the ends of the earth from the rocks just above the cove. The precipice angling down until it met with the smaller crags further down. The grey-blue waters lapping at the coastline below, the orange sun melting into the water at dusk. It was breathtaking.

I guided Akacia up to my favorite spot. We sat together for the longest time, in silence. I didn't really know what she was thinking about but eventually her smooth voice broke through the quiet.

"This is wonderful Tony," she whispered from next to me, leaning her head on my arm. The way she said it sounded almost forced. I thought a lot of Akacia Heart but still she had many weird quirks about her. Especially the way she acted around Joe. I had gotten to know her fairly well, but also gotten to know that she is an extremely closed off, almost emotionless person.

"What's wrong Akacia?" I asked slowly, not wanting to make her nervous.

"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong," she answered cooly, not even bothering to look at me.

"You just seem...jumpy...that's all. I mean like when we were on the trail...what happened back there? I mean...between you and Joe?" I implored still careful not to question her too far. Finally she took her eyes off of the water and glanced up at me, her topaz eyes glowing in the evening light. Another odd thing about Akacia was the almost frightening hold she had on me. It was almost as if she was inside of my mind, telling me what to do or what not to do.

"Uh never mind," I said automatically. She's doing it again. I shook my head a little to try and clear it but since it wasn't working I just dropped the subject of Joe completely.

"Akacia? Have you ever just closed your eyes? Just to...listen? To...feel?" I said, attempting to calm her down.

"Mmmm, no," she said with a smile, then she closed her eyes and laid her head back on my shoulder, "But from the feeling of it, I like it already."

Oookay. At least she wasn't acting all weird anymore. We sat there listening to the waves breaking and the birds flying over head. Occasionally there was a crack of thunder off in the distance. A storm was rolling in, but I intended to make the most of this moment.

"I have another question for you," I said without even opening my eyes, "Have you ever jumped off of a cliff and into the ocean while it's raining?"

I felt her lift her head and knew she was looking at me with wild eyes. I turned to her opening my eyes to face her, oddly enough not wild but confused eyes.

"Why are you doing this Tony?" she whispered.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Being so...nice to me."

I smiled at her childlike innocence. She seemed mystified by my actions. Her red lips were drawn in a grim line and her intense eyes stared back at me. Then her face lightened and her mouth melted into a small smile.

"Maybe this isn't so bad," she muttered under her breath.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. You never answered my question Tony," she said now eager to hear my response.

"Haven't you ever felt like this before?" I inquired, she just shook her head and kept staring at me with her big doe eyes. I couldn't resist, "I'm being so nice to you Akacia...because...well...I think I'm in love with you."

...

You have no idea how fulfilling it is to jump from a twenty foot high cliff into the cool waters below.

The blue ocean crashed around us as we sunk in. The waters engulfed us in it's cold embrace. It was so refreshing. Soon we bobbed to the surface, Akacia still holding tightly to my hand. She brushed back her short black hair with the other. At first I couldn't tell if she was thinking I was a crazy lunatic for making her do this or if she was overjoyed.

"Wow," she breathed as we swam to the edge close to some rocks on the beach. She hopped up on one and sat watching me treading in the crystalline water in front of her. By now a cooling mist of rain was coming down upon us. But I could care less, the only thing I was thinking about was Akacia.

"You know what Tony?" she asked, I looked straight into her gold eyes, "I-I think I'm in love with you too."

She leaned forward close to the water and put her lips to mine. Swimming just off the coast of Pigeon Cove, in the rain and warm glow from the setting sun, Akacia kissed me.

However I had no idea what was really going on in the back of Akacia's mind. This thorn that I was in love with would soon be in my side and prove to be much more than I had ever anticipated...

A/N: Look at that nice long chapter! Yay! So...reviews? Thanks so much my faithful readers/reviewers!