I still don't own anyone you recognize or anything you may recognize in the setting.

Joe wheeled into the parking lot of Busch Gardens with two tires touching pavement. Even with that speed, the women (and Colby) were already inside the park and on their first roller coaster. "Not fair!" Colton hollered. "I want to ride, too!"

Jon smothered a smile and slapped a hand on the teenager's shoulder. "We'll catch up with them. We found ya'll."

Colton shrugged his hand off. "Yeah, yeah. My mother is off having a blast. Whatever man." He led the way into the park. "I think they headed in this direction." he said as he headed into Ireland.

Devin grabbed his brother's elbow. "Can we do the Europe ride? Pleeeease?" Colton looked at his younger brother who was giving his most pathetic looking face. Rolling his eyes, he nodded. "YES! YES! YES!"

Jon looked at Joe. "What's the Europe ride?"

"You get to simulate a ride all over Europe. It's pretty cool!" Devin said excitedly. "As long as you don't have a fear of heights, since it's like you are flying in an open air plane. It's FUN!" He began dragging his brother towards the entrance to the castle.

"Let's GO, Daddy!" JoJo began tugging on Joe's hand, trying to pull him after the boys. "Come ON! What is taking so long? I want to GO, Daddy!" She gripped one of his fingers and jerked on it until she was able to slip away and run after Devin and Colton. Jon and Joe had no choice but to follow the kids once the girl ran across the path.

The group of five got into their seats and strapped in for the ride. Jon leaned over to Colton. "For the record, I am not happy about this."

"Neither am I." the boy admitted. "I want to go on a real ride." Jon grunted. "I know. You hate rides. The whole point of coming to a park like this is for the coasters. The thrill of feeling…" Jon watched the joy glisten in the boy's eyes. It was the same thrill that he imagined shown in his face when he walked to the ring. If that's what the kid felt on a coaster, no wonder he loved riding roller coasters! All of a sudden the seats they were in began to jerk and sway as the current ride "took off" on a flight over Europe. Jon gripped the armrests and held on tightly. As his knuckles turned white he heard laughter from the seat beside him. "You're safe. I'll protect you."

"Shut up." he muttered, not finding humor in the boy's comment.

Galina and Tayler laughed as they climbed into the car. "Wait! Wait for me!" They watched the man with bi-colored hair race across the parking lot. "Give me three more minutes." he said with a smile, pulling the car seat from the back seat and running back towards the other men. Then he ran back and ordered, "Go! Don't wait, just drive!" Not waiting for an explanation, Tayler put the car in drive. "They'll take great care of the kids. It'll do Jon good to spend time with Colt and Dev."

Galina laughed. "Joe, poor guy. He's got to take care of all of them." She shook her head and laughed some more.

Colby centered himself in the back seat and propped his elbows on the headrests of both front seats. "So, T. Since it's just the three of us, can you enlighten Galina and I on where you stand with Jon?" Galina reached back to swat at his hand. "What? You want to know, too." He rubbed his hand. "Fine. How about what happened to the boys' father?" Galina was reaching for him again.

Tayler spoke up. "It's okay. Not that big a deal. My ex was a serial cheater. We called it quits because I couldn't trust him and wouldn't try to rebuild that trust. While we were going through our rough times, he had a bit of a temper." Colby growled. "Other women, other families have had it worse than we did. Devin, though, he didn't handle it very well. Loud voices bring back those memories. Colt and I tried to protect him. Colt is like a little man and my boy is only 14 and a half. He's grown up so fast." Tayler blinked back tears. "Having a father that was such an… Yeah. He had to grow up fast."

Galina looked over at the other woman. "Do the boys have to see their father?"

"They have court-ordered supervised visitation. I have to take them. We do our part. If he doesn't show up, it gets documented but we go every time. They understand and play the game that we have to. They know that I obey the rules." Tayler said sadly.

Colby touched her shoulder gently. "They know you love them. They understand that you are a wonderful mother and the type of father he is." Tapping her a couple of times to reassure her, he continued. "Now you know that they will have back-up if they need it and you have friends to lean on. You aren't alone."

Tayler parked the car. Galina smiled. "And we are on vacation right now. Only smiles for the next few hours. Let's go!"

Colby drug the women into the park. "Come on! Let's get to the rides!"

"I can't believe you were terrified of that ride." Colton laughed as he teasingly punched Jon in the shoulder.

"Boy…" Jon gave Colton an easy shove.

"You got JON on a ride?!" an incredulous voice exclaimed.

Colton spun around. "YOU! YOU! You ran off and LEFT us! Your own children!"

Tayler dropped her head and blushed. Galina picked up her daughter as she answered Colton. "She was kidnapped by the two of us."

Devin muttered, "I don't think she fought very hard."

Jon slung his arm around Tayler's waist. "We're all together now. Let's enjoy the evening. No more rides for me."

Colton looked at him with an evil grin. "Mom has to go on Verbolten with me. Are you sure you don't want to do one more ride?"

Jon looked at Colton skeptically. "What is 'Verbolten'? Is it anything like what you just put me through?"

The evil grin widened. "Not at all."

"Oh, gee. I think I'll sit this one out." Jon groaned.

Colby and Tayler laughed out loud. Tayler wrapped her arms around Jon's middle. "Feeling a little queasy, are you? Don't think you can handle a ride through the Black Forest before whipping and dipping over the Rhine River?" She tried unsuccessfully to smother her laughter against his chest.

Colby bounced up and down on his toes. "That sounds like FUN! Let's go!"

"Um, I think I'm ready to find a game to play with my daughter." Joe mumbled.

"I think I'll hang with Joe." Jon said. "We can talk later. After the ride. You go have fun." He gave Tayler a squeeze. "I'll wait for you."

Colton led Galina, Colby, and Tayler into the line of riders. Once safely out of reach, Colby turned around and hollered "Wusses!" Joe and Jon shrugged their shoulders and smiled. Devin grinned and leaned against the two muscular men as if to say I am in great company. Call me any name you want. The four that didn't go on the ride found a game to play nearby. The four that did go on the ride had fun screaming to their hearts content. Now that they had a method of playing that would make everyone happy, they worked their way through the park riding rides and playing games together.