Riley would be okay. Ji had the means to treat her cut without taking her to a doctor's office or the emergency room and the friendly face helped to put the little girl at ease. The experience had been traumatic for her, but Riley had learned her lesson about playing with toys that didn't belong to her – at least, Lauren hoped she had.

While Riley rested comfortably on the couch with her leg propped up to reduce the swelling around the stitches she had needed, Lauren paced back and forth in a panic. It was getting late into the night, and as they had promised, Mia and Kevin were due to call any minute. Lauren couldn't hide what had happened to their daughter, but she was terrified of the consequences. She had taken her eye off Riley and let her cut herself with a sword. The experience as it had happened was terrifying, but it could have been far worse. Riley had admitted to having jumped on the bed. If she had impaled herself or if the cut had been any deeper on any other part of her body, the injury could have been more damaging or even fatal.

"I can take the blame for it," Jayden suggested as he brought his sister a tea. He hoped it would calm her nerves just a little bit. "Antonio bought me that katana, kids wander, I should have warned Riley not to play with it. I should have told her the bedrooms were off-limits."

"She's my responsibility, Jayden," Lauren shook her head. She would refuse to let her brother take another hit for her. She had asked too much of him already. This was clearly her fault and though she was terrified, she would take responsibility, "They left their kid with me. Mia and Kevin are going to flip when I tell them. They trusted me and I let them down."

"You didn't let them down. Riley's going to be fine. She'll have a scar, but it'll give her a bit of character."

"Not that she needs anymore," Antonio muttered as he walked in, "This kid seriously needs to learn to think things through before she really starts to hurt herself."

"She could have been killed!" Lauren shouted and then instantly came to regret it as Riley stirred. The painkillers did what they needed to do, keeping her asleep in spite of the noise. "If they didn't trust me to keep their daughter out of trouble, they might as well have left her alone for the week!" Lauren took a seat on her stool and dropped her head in her hands, "They're going to hate me. They're never going to trust me again. I've disappointed them."

"It's going to be okay," Antonio sat beside his sister in-law and rubbed her back comfortingly, "All that matters is that Riley's okay, and she's okay because of you. You were amazing back there, Lauren."

"I let her out of my sight…"

"She's five years old. She's got to start gaining some independence at some point," Antonio said with a little shrug, "Besides, what matters is how you responded. You didn't freeze up back there. You did what you needed to do to make sure Riley was okay and stuck by her the whole way through. Mia and Kevin will understand."

The laptop in the corner of the room began to ring, causing Lauren to jump up to her feet and bite her thump in terror. Antonio gave her a comforting squeeze before he got up to answer the call.

"What's up, Kiwi tourists!" he said with a smile and blocked as much of the background as he could while Lauren tried to calm herself down. Jayden, meanwhile, went to sit beside Riley, hoping to wake her up so she could talk with her parents.

"Hey, Antonio," Mia and Kevin said over the video chat from their hotel room in New Zealand, "We weren't expecting you. Are you visiting?"

"Sort of," Antonio nodded his head, "So, what's it like in New Zealand? Is it as beautiful as the internet claims it to be?"

Lauren paced back and forth, worried for what would come next. There was no hiding what had happened, and Lauren could live for the next couple of days hiding a secret this big from some of her closest friends. Riley meant the world to Mia and Kevin, Lauren had seen that every night on the video chat. Any harm that came to their little girl would be paid for severely.

"Oh, you know," Antonio smirked, answering Mia and Kevin's questions about what had happened while they had been gone. Though they had kept in contact, their conversation was more centered on Riley and what she had done during the day. All they knew about the events going on at home were the pictures Riley had drawn during the day, how many times she had gone down the slide at the park, and how much she missed them and wanted them to come home and bring her lots of presents. "Just the usual. Jayden and I are working on all the paperwork to get the dojo up, Lauren's teaching the couple of students, who are making some nice progress from what I've seen."

"And the others?" Mia asked, "As you know, it's been hard keeping in touch. You guys are getting ready for bed, but we've already had tomorrow's lunch."

"And with sightseeing, going to the beaches, checking out a few tourist attractions, we only ever have time to keep up with Riley's day," Kevin said. "Anything new happening?"

"Well," Antonio looked over his shoulder and he could see Lauren wasn't ready to talk yet, "Have you heard of what happened after your wedding?"

"No, what?"

"Mia, do you know if there are any awards for being a secret Bridezilla?"

"I was on my best behaviour, I swear! What did that little monster of honour say about me?"

"Nothing," Antonio shook his head, "it's hard to talk when you've fainted."

"What?" Mia and Kevin both cried and Antonio was thankful technology hadn't improved to the point where they could reach through the screen and strangle him. He hadn't broken the news gently, but there was really no other way he could put it, not when he knew what would follow it up. At the very least, this kept their mind a little distracted once they heard what happened to their daughter.

"Iron-deficiency anemia," Antonio explained, "It's no biggie as long as Emily keeps her iron in check. Given what it could have been, or what could have happened, it's really no big deal."

"So everyone's okay?" Mia asked worriedly while Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose, shook his head, and sighed loudly. "Emily? The twins…"

"All fine. Emily was putting your wedding presents in the trunk when she fainted. We were lucky Jayden and James were right behind her. It's nothing serious, but I don't want to think of what could have happened if Emily had been left alone, passed out, outside, in the dark by herself."

"Yeah," Mia nodded and Antonio could see her leaning into Kevin a little more for comfort, "It's a really good thing they were there. Where is Jayden? I feel like I need to thank him."

"He's with Lauren," Antonio flicked his head in their direction, "Something happened today that gave her a bit of a fright. Lauren, why don't you talk to Mia and Kevin about it? They are awesome with this stuff."

Lauren looked to Antonio like a deer would look into headlights and shook her head but he took her arm and pulled her over. He sat her down in the seat and stood behind her.

Lauren wiped the tears from her eyes, "Hey… Hi, guys…"

"Are you okay? Lauren, what happened?" Mia asked. "You can tell us anything, you know that."

Lauren breathed in deeply and then shook her head, "I took my eyes off her for ten minutes! It was only ten minutes and she…"

"What happened?" Kevin asked, his voice sounding very unhappy with Lauren.

"Ji just finished putting stitches in her leg…"

"Is she okay?" Mia tried to hide the worry and anger on her face, but it was still obvious. Lauren nodded her head.

"Yeah."

"Then what happened? Were you at the park? Did it happen at the dojo?"

"I bought Jayden a Katana for Valentine's Day," Antonio said, "Imported from Japan, as authentic as they can get."

"Antonio," Mia looked up at the screen to glance at him, "I swear to God, if this has anything to do with what happened to my daughter I'm going to shove that Katana so far up your ass…"

"It's not his fault," Lauren interrupted with a look of guilt, "Riley and I went to their place to talk about opening the dojo and she went to their room to play. I thought she was watching TV on the couch, but she somehow climbed her way up to reach the sword and decided to play with it while jumping on the bed. I'm so sorry…"

Mia and Kevin exchanged looks before turning back to the screen, "Where is she?"

"Jayden's trying to wake her up, but I think she needs to…"

"Wake her up," Mia growled. Within minutes, Jayden carried a tired Riley over to the computer and sat her down on Lauren's lap.

"Riley Walker, care to explain what it was you were doing today at Uncle Jay and Uncle Antonio's house?" Mia spoke sternly with her daughter. Through tired eyes, Riley looked to her parents.

"I played with a sword."

"Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?" Mia growled. "You are a five year old girl now, Riley. I expect you to behave like one."

"I hurt myself."

"You're lucky you only needed stitches," Kevin said with an equally stern voice. "Go to bed. We'll talk about this more when we're home."

"I'll take her to bed," Jayden said and lifted Riley back into his arms. She was already starting to fall asleep on his shoulder as he carried her off. Lauren looked miserably to the computer screen.

"I'm really sorry. This is my fault. I take full responsibility…"

"How did she get a sword in her hands without anyone knowing?" Kevin asked.

"Lauren didn't know there was a sword in the house," Antonio placed his hands on his sister in-law's shoulders, "She had no way of knowing, either. But you should have seen her with Riley. She took charge and kept her… about as calm as you can keep a five year old."

"Riley's a handful," Kevin nodded his head and then sighed, "Look, just keep a closer eye on her, not that she'll be going anywhere for the next little while. Don't worry about it, Lauren, you're trying your best."

"I'll understand if it's not enough…"

"We still trust you," Mia assured her. "It would have been worse if you weren't there. Just, make sure no one else needs medical treatment while we're away. We've got to go now."

"I am really, really sorry," Lauren said one more time. Kevin and Mia gave her a little nod before they shut off the video chat. Lauren dropped her head in her hands, "They hate me."

"No, they don't," Antonio sat beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "The sword was up high…"

"I should have kept my eye on her."

"She's five! And she was only in the other room!"

"She could have killed herself!"

"But she didn't. And she's fine now thanks to you. Jayden and I were there too, you're not the only one responsible, you know."

"They left me in charge! They trusted me! I let their kid almost impale herself with a sword! Oh God! Antonio, what's going to happen to the dojo?"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't keep my five year old goddaughter from almost killing herself with a katana, what's going to happen when I'm training other people's kids? They won't have sword swords, but martial arts is…"

"Lauren, you're freaking out over nothing. We're getting the insurance; parents will know what their kids are getting into. It's fine…"

"It won't be fine if some kid breaks his neck! Oh God, Antonio, what if some kid breaks his neck on my watch? What if some kid breaks his neck doing something I taught him?"

"Lauren…"

"I can't… I can't do it," Lauren shook her head and ran to the front door. She grabbed her jacket just as Antonio grabbed her by the arm.

"You're an amazing sensei, Lauren. It'll be fine…"

Lauren pulled her arm free and walked out, shaking her head miserably. She slammed the door shut, but Antonio opened it quickly and called out, "What about Riley?"

"You'll do a better job anyways!" Lauren shouted back then disappeared into the forest. Antonio grumbled as he slipped on his boots and ran after her, but as he reached the end of the yard he realized he had no idea where Lauren had gone to, and he likely wasn't going to find her anytime soon.