Everything was so unexpected. Flashback to when James was 14 and he would never say that when he was 24 he was going to be married and traveling across the United States. It was an unexpected life that he greeted him that night at the carnival and he didn't know what was going to happen next. That was probably the most exciting part of this unexpected life.

They had made it to California a couple of days after stopping in Phoenix. Kate was no longer Kate Austen but Kate Ford. At first she protested changing her last name, but James insisted. That was the only thing he wanted from her. Nothing else. So Kate did that because, after all, James treated her like a princess. She had everything she could have possibly wanted and more.

"What do you want to do today, Mrs. Ford?" James asked from the bed, eyes not leaving the paper he was reading. Freckles and Mrs. Ford were the only things he called her; he never called her Kate.

"Hm, I dunno, Mr. Ford. What would you like to do?" she asked, looking up from her toes that she was painting.

James finally looked up from the paper and at his wife. "We could go to the beach," he suggested, closing the newspaper and setting it on the nightstand next to him.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan, Mr. Ford," Kate replied with a smile. "Maybe after we go to the beach we can go shopping?" she added with a hopeful smile.

James stood up and walked over to where she was sitting, painting her toes. "Of course, m'lady," he replied, kissing her lips lovingly.

Kate kissed him back and when he pulled away a smile formed on her lips. "I should probably go change then, shouldn't I?" she said, finishing painting her toes quickly before standing up. Kate grabbed her bathing suit and rushed into the bathroom to change.

James stood there and watched her, mesmerized, just as he was the first night that he met her. Her long, brown, curly hair flew behind her as she ran into the bathroom and her hips swayed back and forth unintentionally being seductive.

While she was changing James changed and when she came out of the bathroom, James went right up to her and picked her up.

Kate giggled but wrapped her arms around him and James kissed her lips slowly, passionately. Kate moaned in response and James took her over to the bed where he set her down before laying on top of her.

He lay there, holding his wife, oh his wife, close. She nuzzled her face into his shoulder and sighed. James kissed the top of Kate's head once and then whispered, "Should we go to the beach now?"

Kate laughed and nodded, sitting up in the bed, the sheet wrapped around her torso. "Maybe we should go, but God, I love being here with you," she said, leaning down to kiss James' lips.

James smiled and kissed her back again before saying, "I love you, Freckles."

"I love you too."

Then Kate got out of the bed, the sheet wrapped around her body. She put her bathing suit and cover up back on, James watching her the entire time. "God, you are beautiful," he whispered, making her smile.

After she got dressed, Kate sat on the bed by James feet, poking them gently through the covers. "C'mon, lazy. Get dressed so we can go to the beach!"

James laughed. She certainly could be a little kid at times, but that is one of the many reasons that he loved her. He loved her beauty, her passion for guns, her humor, her seriousness, but also her ability to be playful at times. Being serious all the time was not something that James ever wanted in his life; he wanted to have a nice balance and Kate was exactly the balance that he had been looking for in his 24 years of life.

After a moment James got up and got dressed and five minutes later the couple was down at the beach. Kate had a hold of James' hand and pulled him down to the ocean and made him jump the waves with her. She laughed at him when he fell and to get back at her, James pulled her down under the waves with him.

The day was the relaxing day that they both needed. After spending a couple of hours at the beach, they walked down the boardwalk. Kate stopped in almost every store and asked James to buy her something. For the most part he bought her something small from every store that they went to, which made her squeal with delight and grab onto his arm, kissing his lips every time he swiped his card.

Later that night they went out to dinner at a seafood place and James made Kate try everything. The lobster, the scallops, the crab, the mussels, the oysters…everything. And she was mainly a good sport about it all, actually having enjoyed the crab and lobster. The mussels and the oysters were a completely different story though and James got a good laugh at her spitting them out in her cloth napkin.

And when he lay next to her that night in the hotel room, James couldn't stop smiling to himself. For once in his life, he was happy. He was wanted. He had someone to take care of. His unexpected life was turning out to be more perfect than the life he expected.