Lauren clutched her towel tightly as Kevin led her, Riley, and Mia to a private lake at the Academy. Kevin had told Tori, a water Sensei at the Academy and old friend of his about his swimming lessons (without being too specific for Lauren's sake) and she had given him a tip on a lake no one knew about but her and her friends. Promising they would have to all to themselves, Kevin thought the afternoon was a good time for his swimming lessons.

The Fire Samurai wasn't scared of water. She knew she had nothing to be scared of, but her connection to the fire element made her a little weary where water was concerned. She had never been taught to swim. For one reason or another, it was an important skill that her sensei and mentor never considered teaching her. In their minds, if she found herself submerged in water, it would be Sanzu Water and she would be dead anyways. She had better things to do with her time, like Symbol Power training, sword training, and practicing the Sealing Symbol.

She wanted to learn to swim, though, knowing that it was a good summer sport, group activity, and it was something Kevin loved to do. Now that Xandred was gone and Lauren could focus on having a real life and friends, she wanted to find something to do with each of them. With her brother, she planned on opening a dojo to teach kids, teenagers, and adults how to fight. Being a Samurai was all she knew how to do. It was her passion, and the thought of sharing that passion with people to help make the city a better place excited her.

With Antonio, her future brother in-law, she was going to try her hand at fishing. The idea wasn't appealing to her, but Antonio loved it. Lauren didn't have any interests of her own outside of training, and so the only compromise that could be made was fishing. Lauren wasn't afraid of a challenge and the new experience, and was sure Antonio was going to find a way to make the experience golden.

Mia, Serena, and Emily were girls, and Lauren found herself naturally drawn to them for advice, talks, and having a good time. They already had some things in common. Like Lauren, Serena and Mia were also older sisters. Serena, obviously, was Emily's older sister, and had a lifetime of do's, don'ts, as well as tricks and pranks to play on her little sister that Lauren could use on Jayden or even Emily. Mia had only recently found out about her younger brother Terry, but was an older sister at heart, and despite the lack of natural experience, she had advice Lauren could count on. Mia's practice came from acting as a surrogate sister to Emily, and an adoptive sister to Mike. She knew all about making her place in her little sibling's lives and bonding with them without the lifetime of shared memories.

Emily wasn't anyone's older sister, but she had the open heart, and after getting over the betrayal Lauren and Jayden's secret, she had bonded quickly with Lauren and was excited at the thought of being cousins. It was a bit of a stretch but with Ji, Lauren's new somewhat father, dating Kate, Emily and Serena's aunt, there was a bit of a family connection. Ji and Kate didn't plan on getting married, yet, but they were living together. It was good enough for Emily and good enough for Lauren.

Mike loved his video games, so Lauren wanted to try them out and see what all the fuss was about. She didn't really understand the virtual world, and how it was so much more exciting to Mike to live a life on a little screen, but he did have a passion for it, and Lauren wanted to be able to connect with him, so she had plans to try out a few of his games and spend a few hours in front of the TV.

With all those things on her 2013 wish list, Lauren needed to cross something off, and Kevin was giving her the chance to get started with swimming. Lauren hoped maybe she would learn to swim so that by the summer she could spend her days at the beach with her friends and they could bond even more. The thought of having a picnic in the sand, under the hot sun, by the shore, with her friends laughing and playing around with each other warmed her heart.

"We're here," Kevin dropped his things by the lake and took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was winter, but the Ninja Academy had warm weather unlike Panorama City. It still wasn't ideal for swimming, but Kevin didn't need to worry about hypothermia or either of his students getting sick.

In fact, Mia was lathering Riley in sunscreen.

"Mia!"

"Don't even get me started on how much sunburns can hurt," Mia shook her head, "When you're not redder than your Auntie Lauren, you're going to thank me."

Kevin chuckled and turned to Lauren, "Mia got a bad sunburn in the summer. I told her to put on sunscreen, but she didn't listen. Our tomatoes were never as red as she was."

"Ouch," Lauren hissed. She had always been careful under the sun because of her fair skin but she knew a thing or two about burns. Her childhood had been full of them before she mastered her fire Symbol.

"Ready to get in the water?" Kevin asked. "Riley's got to wait for the sunscreen to sink in, so you'll go first. It's probably a good thing. She can see from you that water's not dangerous."

"I doubt that," Lauren gulped. Kevin took off his shirt and stepped into the water.

"Look, it's not even that deep. Just walk in. It's easy."

Lauren nodded her head and put one foot in the water, and then the other. She followed Kevin further and further into the lake until the water was up to her waist. Kevin stopped her there and touched her arm.

"Lean back. I'm going to teach you how to float, first. Riley, are you watching?"

Riley hid behind Mia's legs and was peeking through her fingers, terrified for her aunt Lauren, "Y-yeah…"

Kevin rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Lauren, "Okay, I promise I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Jayden would kill me. So you have to trust me."

"I wouldn't be in here if I didn't," Lauren said and then she started to feel herself slowly falling back into the water. She grabbed Kevin's arm tightly, scared she would go under and not know how to get back up. He held her up and put one hand under her back.

"You have to relax," he told her. "Take a deep breath in and… whoa!"

Lauren's head went under but not for long as Kevin pulled her back up. Surprised she had gone under, she had gotten some water in her mouth and up her nose that needed to be cleared. As she coughed, she heard a little voice calling for her.

"Lauren! Auntie Lauren! Are you dead?"

"She's fine, Riley," Kevin called back and then he started to laugh, "I said breathe in, not out."

"Sorry," Lauren moved the air from her eyes and wiped the water away from her face, "I panicked."

"You have to trust me. The water isn't a bad thing. Just lean back and stay calm."

Lauren did as she was asked. This time, she focused her energy on following Kevin's orders. She slowed her breathing, calmed herself down, and relaxed. She didn't know when it had happened, but at some point, Kevin had let her go. He began to tell her how she was and had been floating on her own naturally.

It was a neat feeling. Lauren had occasionally wondered what flying would feel like, and this was similar to what she thought. Aside from the water, which she could barely feel, there was nothing around her, nothing supporting her or holding her up. It was just her floating in the lake.

"See," Kevin smiled as he helped her stand back up, "You're a natural at this. Riley, do you want to try?"

"NO!"

"It's neat, Riley," Lauren called, hoping her words would encourage the four year old to come into the water. "You're going to feel like a real Power Ranger!"

"Really?"

"Like flying!"

Riley stepped away from Mia and held her arms out, "Water-wing me, Mia. I'm going in!"

-Samurai-

While Mia, Kevin, and Lauren were practicing swimming, Serena paced back and forth in the main room of Ninja Ops as a thousand words passed through her mind at once. She was going to tell the others about her little stunt that had landed her in prison, and why exactly the city was hunting down the Samurai like they had been responsible for all the chaos and destruction and all the lives lost.

Mike came back from his motocross riding lesson with Dustin. He was sweaty and covered in dirt but the smile on his face made it obvious he had a good time. As he started to peel off all the layers of protective gear he saw Serena and his eyes lit up.

"Dude, you have to see this massive bruise I…"

"Can you sit down?" Serena asked and pointed to the table in the middle of the room. Mike looked to it strangely.

"Do Ninjas not like chairs or something?" Mike asked as he took a seat on the green cushion, "What's up? Everything okay? You look a little pale? Is Emily okay?"

"Yeah… yeah…" Serena nodded her head and was really worried about the talk she was preparing herself to have. In the past, they had never ended well. Someone always hated her and what she had done, and that someone was usually Emily. Everything she did always affected her sister, sometimes more than the others, and this time was no different. Emily was affected because she and the others all had to drop their lives suddenly and go into hiding. It was a huge inconvenience, especially when the Samurai were trying to get their lives started. Mia and Kevin had those meetings with the social worker, as well as papers and forms to complete. Kevin had a new job he had to drop suddenly. Antonio had only just gotten his business up and running again, and had to shut it down so he could run away. The lack of consistency was sure to kill his business, and though Jayden had a lot of money (enough to be able to support the Samurai and the Shiba Family for generations without worry), Antonio worked because he loved it, and a lack of interest was surely going to kill him.

School had started up, and Serena and Mike were both supposed to be at the city High School. Serena wanted to take back her position as a bullying prevention coach and Mike was filling in for James as an assistant coach. After James quit due to an embarrassing and very publicly made private incident, the school hadn't been able to find a full-time, long term coach to take his place. Mike needed a job, was good with sports, especially football, which the school loved, and so the match was perfect. Not turning up to work (again for Serena) was going to ruin their performance and likely get them both fired.

Jayden wanted to go to school and take a few classes – but the semester had started and he was in hiding. He was going to have to wait, or convince the school and his professors to let him start taking the classes late, but that was only if he got home on time.

The more Serena thought about it, the more she realized how heavy her mistake was. It had been well intentioned. Serena never did anything she thought would hurt her friends. In the end, she had screwed up. The others needed to know.

They came to the main room without being asked. First it was Emily, who rolled in with Terran on her lap, promising to get him a snack to hold him over until dinner, and then came James. Jayden and Antonio came in shortly afterwards, ready to leave to check out a few of the lessons taking place on the training grounds, but they stopped when they saw everyone was being called for a meeting.

"What's going on?" Antonio took a seat on the yellow cushion and had a look around.

Serena knew she was still missing a few heads, but she had to get it out. She didn't want everyone to be angry with her, and for that reason wanted to bottle it all up, but the truth would come out. It was best just to get it over with.

"I think… I know… The city didn't find out by accident…"

-Samurai-

Riley took her instructions from Kevin, but wouldn't swim out of arm's reach from Mia, which frustrated Kevin greatly. Mia had only tagged along so Riley felt safe. She didn't know the first thing about the technique to swimming or how to teach anyone, let alone a child, how to swim. She tried her best, but it wasn't working.

Lauren tried to help out as well, and with her by Riley's side the little girl, with the water wings, would flail from Mia's arms to Lauren's, but it wasn't swimming, it was surviving. Kevin didn't want Riley to survive in the water, he wanted her to enjoy it like he had when he had been her age. Though a lot of his time in pools and lakes had been dedicated to training, he had very fond memories of playing around in the water with his father. If he was going to be that person in Riley's life, he wanted her to have those memories to look back on. She wanted her to say, "I remember that time with my father when I was little…"

"Riley, can I…"

"NO!" Riley shook her head and clung to Mia's arm, "I'm doing just fine! I no need your help."

"But Riley…"

"I'm getting kind of cold," Mia said and shivered slightly, "I think it's time I get out."

"I'm not cold," Riley looked up. Mia shook her head.

"You can keep swimming. You're okay with Kevin," Mia insisted and pried the little girl from her arm. She placed Riley in Kevin's and started to walk back to shore, "C'mon, Lauren, I packed some sandwiches. We'll have an early dinner."

"Sounds good," Lauren wasn't cold, but she could see what Mia was trying to do and so played along. She and Mia got out of the lake and sat by the shore to watch.

Riley looked to Kevin with a huff, "See what you maded them do?"

"Riley, I can teach you how to swim," Kevin insisted and put her in the water, making sure to keep his hands near her. Even with the water wings, she risked drowning. She was still learning she had to actively try and keep her head up. "Once you know how to swim, we can go to pools and lakes like this one and play. We can have water fights and play games and…"

"I no want to learn to swim," Riley shook her head. "Water is stupid."

"No it's not. It's really cool," Kevin told her as he grabbed her again and lay her back in the water, "You liked floating. It feels like you're flying, right?"

"Yeah," Riley smiled and then tried to roll over but forgot that meant she would be facing the water. Her face went under and she scrambled to get back up. Kevin lifted her only seconds after she couldn't breathe and he held her up, "You did that on purpose!"

"No, I didn't. I never want that to happen to you, Riley."

"Peter knowed how to swim. Water still killed him."

"This water isn't dangerous," Kevin said. "This water is safe, and as long as you stay with me, you're safe too. Can we try something? Will you let me teach you something?"

"No."

"Not even something fun?" Kevin asked and waved over to the shore where Mia and Lauren were eating. Mia reached into her back and pulled out a lifejacket. She tossed it in the water and Kevin could barely reach it. He grabbed it, took Riley in his arms and got the life jacket on her, removing the water wings Riley loved.

"Hey!"

"I'm going to show you something really cool, okay?"

"Like what?"

"You know how you're always jumping on the bed and the furniture?"

"Yeah."

"Try jumping in the water."

Riley was put back in the water, where she floated with ease thanks to the lifejacket. She bent her knees and kicked up, but barely got a few inches high. Instead, she bobbed up and down and giggled.

"That's funny."

Kevin grabbed her under her arms and lifted her up and down. Riley laughed again. Weightless, the bobbing felt like a ride. Her legs kicked out, giving her more power. Suddenly, Kevin lifted her high above the water and then all but dropped her back in. He kept a hold on her, and the life jacket stopped her head from going under. Riley squealed with laughter as the splash surrounded her, bringing water high up in the air and then it came crashing down again.

"Again!"

"How about, this time…" Kevin picked her up and launched her into the water. He didn't throw her far, not wanting her to get out of arm's length, but just far enough so she could fly through the air and then splash in the water. He got soaked when she landed, and there was a silence. It was a huge risk throwing her in because he wasn't sure how she would react.

"That was awesome!" Riley was wiping water away from her face but Kevin could see it: there was a huge smile on her face. She was happy, she was excited, and she liked the water.

"Want to see a bigger splash?" he took her back in his arms and started to walk to shore. He set her down on the dirt and then walked to a tree that had a branch that hung over the lake. He climbed up to that branch, jumped in the water and made the biggest splash Riley had ever seen.

"I want to do that!" Riley started to run for the tree but Mia caught her by the life jacket.

"Not until you learn to swim by yourself," she shook her head. Kevin swam back to shore, but didn't have a chance to make it back all the way as Riley raced back into the water and into his arms.

"Teach me! I want to do that!"