THIS IS AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO THE READERS!!!!!!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating very often lately. I've had the worst case of writer's block. I even completely deleted my progress on Amnis because it didn't want to work right. I'm sorry to disappoint like that, but I'm going to try and make it up to you. I'm working on an original slash that will be posted on fictionpress as soon as I get done with the final edit for the first chapter and come up with a name for the story. I'm really sorry to not update as often. For anyone interested in the original slash, I'll add the story name and username in the author's note for the next chapter. (It should be up by then.) Sorry again!!!

Lil Kitsune-chan: I'm glad you liked it. I don't thinnk it's strange for you to find it relaxing. I found it relaxing to write it. :-D

forgetMEalways: It seems there are a lot of people out there that don't really like Chase...But I'm happy to give you an enjoyable slash.

raven2547: Yay for love!!! lol

AwayForLunch: I like making people expect one thing and then give them another. It can be fun.

Dark Angel's Blue Fire: Thank you! And Happy New Year to you! XD

"I don't know what her problem is. She just freaks out over everything." Caleb grumbled.

"Maybe you should break up with her." Reid shrugged.

"Why?" Caleb demanded.

"Because all you ever do is complain about her to us and all Sarah does is complain about you to Kate. Break up with her."

Reid smiled softly at Tyler. They were babysitting Tyler's five-year-old cousin, Alex. Tyler and Alex had talked Reid into going to the beach with them and Tyler was trying to teach Alex to fly a kite. Caleb had decided to come with them and Pogue was taking Kate to Boston for some reason or another.

"I don't know. Maybe it's just a rough patch." Caleb sighed.

Reid laughed at him. Caleb looked indignant.

"Caleb, a rough patch doesn't last for two months. A rough patch lasts for a few days, two weeks at most. Anything more than that, and it's a sign that your relationship has gone from The Love Boat to The Titanic. Abandon ship, bro." Reid laughed.

Caleb muttered something under his breath and Reid paid him no mind. Alex's kite was up in the air and it was hard to tell if he was the most excited or if Tyler was. The wind slowed suddenly and Alex's kite drifted slowly to the ground. His face went from ecstatic to crestfallen and Tyler swooped him up in his arms, dragging the kite in the sand behind them. Tyler murmured something to Alex and the child grinned and nodded.

"Okay. Let's leave the kite here with Reid and Caleb." Tyler smiled.

"But Tyyyyyyyyyy!" Alex whined.

Reid stood up, careful to not kick sand everywhere.

"I'll take care of the kite, Alex. Don't worry." Reid smiled. He kissed Alex on the forehead and Tyler on the cheek and took the kite.

"See? It's taken care of. Now comes the hardest part of the day." Tyler said with a smile.

"What's that?" Alex asked, eyes wide.

"Do you want chocolate ice cream or strawberry?" Tyler asked, leading Alex to an ice cream vendor not far off.

"Chocolate!" Alex yelled.

Reid laughed softly to himself as Alex demanded he receive a piggy-back ride to the ice cream cart and back.

"Tyler's not going to be happy for long." Reid chuckled.

"Oh?"

"Alex is five years old. Ty's gonna have ice cream all in his hair."

Caleb watched Reid watch Tyler with a strange look in his eyes.

"I don't get it." Caleb said finally.

"Get what?" Reid asked as he wound up the string on the kite.

"I've seen you and Tyler argue. I've seen him hit you before, and hard. How is it the two of you are still together? Sarah and I have never even raised our voices at eachother and we're falling apart!"

"When the screams die down, we still know we love eachother. When he wails on me, I know it's just to vent and he knows that he'd never be able to hurt me. Every argument happens to refine your relationship. When you found Sarah, you thought you struck gold. Just turns out to be fool's gold. You gotta find a relationship that's like an ugly-ass rock. 'Cause once you start polishing that rock, it usually turns into something beautiful."

"...Okay, first, that was a lot deeper than anything I ever expected to hear from you. And second, are you saying your relationship with Tyler is an ugly-ass rock?"

Reid rolled his eyes.

"I don't take philosophy classes for no reason. And I'm saying that I didn't really know what I'd found with Tyler, not at first. But the more we work on our relationship, and the more we argue, the more I realize just what I've found."

"So when did you pick up the rock?" Caleb asked with a smirk.

"When we went to that fair freshman year. We were sharing a candy apple at the top of the ferris wheel and something about the flickering fair lights made him seem unearthly. I told him I didn't want to see him with anyone but me."

"Wait...I didn't think the two of you hooked up until the end of junior year!" Caleb protested.

"No, that's when you guys found out we were hooked up." Reid smiled.

Caleb just shook his head. He knew Reid could pull the wool over their eyes with relative ease, but Tyler keeping soething like that under his hat for so long?

"So when did you realize it was something more than a common rock?" Caleb asked.

"The first time we fought. It was the end of freshman year and I said something stupid and he started crying. He told me that he didn't have to put up with it and if that was the way I was going to be, he was just going to leave me for someone else. That...That was when I realized that I had something speical." Reid nodded to himself.

Tyler stumbled back to the beach blankets, Alex on his shoulders.

"We have strawberry for Reid." Tyler smiled, handing Reid his ice cream cone.

"Vanilla for Caleb!" Alex chirped, holding out the cone.

Caleb took it with a smile.

"What flavor did you get?" Reid asked Alex as Tyler set him down.

"I got chocolate!" Alex beamed.

Tyler sat down next to Reid with his own strawberry ice cream cone. Alex sat himself in Tyler's lap and happily licked at his ice cream. Reid was about to start on his ice cream when a particular spot caught his eye.

"Okay. Which one of you stole a taste of my ice cream?" Reid asked, a playful scowl on his face.

"I didn't do it." Tyler said with a smile.

"Wasn't meeeeeeee!" Alex giggled.

"Someone did." Reid pointed to the spot where someone had clearly licked his ice cream.

Alex giggled again. Caleb watched Reid's playful interrogation with a sad smile. For a moment, he thought he'd be able to have that with Sarah. What if Reid was right? Oh God, it was the apocalypse. The Four Horsemen would be swooping down from the sky any minute now. Reid had a chance of being right for once. Caleb absently ate his ice cream, not noticing when Reid took Alex down towards the water to build a sandcastle.

"Still having trouble with Sarah, I take it." Tyler was looking at him intently.

"Yeah." Caleb nodded.

"She's not the one."

"How do you know that?"

"If Sarah and I were both held captive, and you had to choose one of us to live, who would you choose?" Tyler asked.

"You." Caleb didn't hesitate.

"Exactly. If it came down to you or Reid, I'd choose Reid. I'd feel bad for sentencing you to death, but I would choose Reid and I would never regret it."

"That's not a fair question." Caleb protested.

"Come on, Caleb. Don't even play at that."

Caleb just shook his head. Tyler watched Reid carefully stack sand up with Alex as they made a tower for the castle.

"You're not happy with her and you know it, Cay. Don't lie to yourself." Tyler sighed after a long silence.

"We used to be happy together."

"And for a while I was happy with Miles Jackson and Reid was happy with Angela Green. They were just placeholders until we realized how we felt for eachother. Maybe that's what Sarah is, a cardboard cut-out for you to have dinner and hold hands with until the real deal comes along." Tyler shrugged.

"Maybe..."

"What about that new kid, Chase?" Tyler asked suddenly.

Caleb raised an eyebrow.

"Come on man. When he started talking to Sarah, you looked jealous, not protective." Tyler smirked.

Caleb blushed and started out at the water.

"See?"

"First of all, I don't even know him. Second, he's a guy. And third, do you not remember the fist-fight we got into a few weeks ago?"

"First, you get to know him. Second, don't shut out any possibilites. And third, I remember him kissing your bloody lip to make it feel better." Tyler smirked.

Caleb blushed darker than before.

"Well speak of the devil and he shall arise." Tyler muttered.

Caleb followed Tyler's gaze and saw Chase walking along the beach. Caleb felt a wave of apprehension wash over him. He knew what Tyler was thinking. He was going to call Chase over and then he was going to leave the two of them alone while he went off with Reid and Alex.

"Chase!" Tyler called.

The one time he didn't want to be right...

"Imagine that." Chase smiled walking over to them.

"Would you mind babysitting Caleb for me? Reid has no idea how to build a sandcastle." Tyler smiled.

"I don't mind if Caleb doesn't mind."

Caleb rolled his eyes and Tyler walked towards Reid and Alex. Chase sat down near Caleb and sifted through the sand with his fingers. He picked up a crude shell with chips missing from its edges and holes in it. It was a dull brown color and it looked rough.

"Perfect." Chase smiled.

"Hardly." Caleb snorted.

"You know people say the ugliest oysters always hold the prettiest pearls. I've never been proven wrong by holding to that philosophy." Chase mused, turning the shell over.

The inside of the shell was a vibrant mother of pearl and it was smooth and intact. Caleb looked down at Reid and Tyler building up the castle with Alex and thought for a long moment.

"What do you know about geology?" Caleb asked with a smile.