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Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. That belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Also, I do not own any references to movies, songs, or other media.

BPOV

It took me about 30 seconds of quiet to realize that the Captain had stopped playing and was staring at me. The haunting music faded into the walls and was instead replaced with an awkward silence.

The Captain abruptly stood and said, "Did you need something? Or do you usually sneak up on people in the middle of the night?" Surprisingly, he didn't sound as mad as I thought he would. At least he wasn't yelling at me.

"Ummm no I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you it's just I woke up and heard music playing and I was wondering where it was coming from and I heard it coming from in her so I came in here and found you playing and you're really good and"
"Breathe Miss Swan"

"Right, sorry."

"Don't apologize" he said almost jokingly, "most people need to breathe right?"

"Uhh yea" I said a little stunned. I mean the man was joking with me, am I dreaming? Am I going to wake up any second and realize that I'm still in my room?

The Captain walked over to the couch and sat down. He looked a lot different in black sweatpants and a robe. He looked softer, not as harsh. I briefly glanced down at my own pajamas and grimaced. I was wearing navy yoga pants and a fraying UW sweatshirt. Awesome. I wonder what remark he'll make about my clothing this time. I turned to leave but was stopped by a hand around my wrist that sent sparks up my arm and into my core. I looked back to see the Captain holding my wrist with his other arm extended out towards the couch.

"Please Miss Swan, sit, have a chat with me. I'd like to get to know you better since you're going to be taking care of my children and all" he said with a crooked grin that could make any girl drop her panties in a millisecond. I walked over to the couch and sat down, a few moments later he sat down on the opposite end of the couch but had his body facing me.

"So Miss Swan, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? How old are you? Where did you grow up? What school did you attend, if any?" he looked at me expectantly and I was a little taken back by his sudden interest in me. He was nothing like the cold, harsh man I had met earlier today.

"Umm alright. I'm 24. I graduate from U Dub and I lived with my college roommates for about a year after graduation until I decided to move back home. I grew up with my Dad in a tiny town called Forks, Washington. My mom lives in Florida." I wasn't going to give him any more information about Renee, that topic was too complicated to get into.

"U Dub?" he said sounding slightly confused

"Oh, sorry. University of Washington at Seattle" for someone who lives in such close proximity to Seattle I'm surprised he didn't know what U Dub meant.

"Ah, I see. What was your major there?"

"Child development. So if you're worried about your children's psyche and development I'm the person to call," I said trying to lighten the mood. I'm not sure why, but the Captain smiled the largest most gorgeous smile I'd ever seen. If I thought he was handsome when he was brooding and moody, well he's fuckhot when he's smiling and happy.

"What about you Captain? You can't be too old seeing as you have a 17 year old and two 5 year olds." I said teasingly.

"Ha ha yea…" his eyes drifted towards the piano and fixed on it. He looked like he was far away, reliving something that I didn't think was my business to know. I cleared my throat slightly to try to get his attention and thankfully it worked. He looked back towards me and answered my question.

"Ahem, sorry" he said almost shamefully "I'm 37. My wife and I got married really young." That was the best answer I was going to get from him but at least I got something out of the guy. I mean, the guy was an Adonis, literally. He was every bit as handsome, cold, and closed-off as the statue itself.

"I'm sorry Miss Swan, I'm keeping you from sleep." I hadn't realized I yawned until he mentioned sleep. Suddenly I was exhausted.

"It's okay. As a college student you learn to function on only 3-4 hours of sleep" I said as I got up and headed for the stairs. The Captain followed and as I stopped at my room he walked further and stood outside a hallway I had yet to uncover.

"Goodnight Captain"

"Goodnight Miss Swan"

"Bella! My call me Bella. Miss Swan sounds too formal" I practically shouted at him.

"Goodnight Bella" he said as he flashed his crooked grin. He then entered the hallway where I heard a door open and close.

My legs had turned to jelly and when I was finally able to move into my room I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Fuck! I hate alarm clocks. Who ever invented them seriously needs to be shot. I grabbed my robe and shower supplies and headed towards the bathroom. As I was washing my hair I thought over last night's events. Dinner had been, bearable I guess. But what was really strange was the 2am wake-up call and discussion with the Captain. He seemed so different; maybe he's not the harsh man I thought he was.

As soon as I stepped out of the shower and went back into my room I immediately began the daunting task of trying to find something "appropriate" to wear. After tearing through my closet and duffel bags I decided on a pair of straight-legged khakis, a cream-colored peasant blouse with brown flats. I got dressed, then returned to the bathroom to do my hair and make-up. My hair I pulled up into a bun but left my bangs out, and for make-up I just did my usual foundation, eye shadow, mascara routine. Finally, I put on deodorant and a little bit of perfume and I was good to go.

I stopped by the twins' room to make sure they were up, which they were. I helped them get dressed in their favorite summer dresses. Gretchen was dressed in a pink one, of course, while Jaden opted for a turquoise one. We tidied up their room then made our way downstairs. I wasn't sure if Tony and Mya were downstairs already but I figured they were more than capable of dressing themselves.

Jaden, Gretchen, and I entered the dining room were the Captain was already seated and reading a newspaper. We all greeted each other then took our seats. While we were waiting for Mya and Tony, Jaden turned to me and started asking questions.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Green" I said, "I bet yours is pink huh?"

"No that's Gretchy's favorite. It used to be mine when I was 4 but now I'm 5 and 5 year olds don't like pink" she said. I laughed slightly then said,

"Well it's perfectly okay to like pink. When I was 5 my favorite color was pink" I looked over at Gretchen and asked "So what grade are you going to be in this year? Kindergarten?" She nodded, "Are you excited?" I asked; she nodded again. Hmm not really a talker, we'll have to work on that. Jaden then chose that moment to hammer me with questions. What was my favorite food, animal, subject in school, ice cream flavor, her list of questions was endless. When Mya and Tony finally sat down I looked up and saw the Captain staring at me with a peculiar look on his face. It wasn't abhorrence, thank God, but he didn't look happy either. He might have been, amused? Interested? Entertained? His voice interrupted my thoughts, which was probably a good thing considering I had no idea how long I'd been staring at his face.

"Children, I won't be here for the majority of the day seeing as I have to go pick up Uncle Emmett and a friend from the airport" he announced. Jaden and Gretchen immediately began squealing with excitement, while Tony looked indifferent, like he didn't really car and Mya looked, well, pissed.

"Who's this friend he's bringing?" she asked

"She's my friend as well Mya. Her name is Tanya, and she works as a nurse on base in San Diego." He said casually. However, I could feel the tension in the room double at the mention of this Tanya lady. I assumed this was the Tanya Mya had mentioned to me last night in the library, and from her comments then I could only imagine what her reaction would be to this news.

She loudly scooted her chair back and said "May I be excused?" even though she had already gotten up and was heading towards the door. The Captain merely nodded and the rest of us went back to finishing our breakfast.

After the whole breakfast fiasco I was hesitant as to what to do next. I took the girls upstairs and cleaned them up, then gave them each a few pages to do in their math workbooks. I checked on Tony who seemed fairly quiet during breakfast and found him knee deep in geometry. I asked him if he knew when his father would be leaving for the airport and he replied,

"Why? Are you planning on leaving us like all of the other nannies?"

To say I was shocked would be a bit of an understatement. The other nannies had left them? And while their father was out? Wow.

"No Tony I'm not leaving. I was just curious as to when he would be leaving because I was going to get you all out of the house for a few hours."

"We have outdoor activities after lunch"

"That's not what I meant. I was going to take you guys hiking around the grounds. Your home is beautiful and I figured the forest around your backyard had never been explored so I thought it would be fun to go on a little adventure" I said, hoping that he wouldn't give away my plan to the Captain.

"Uhh okay. Yea that sounds like fun" he said with a hint of a smile. "My dad usually leaves after lunch just so you know"

"Okay that works out I guess. Instead of your usual outdoor activities we can go on a hike. That way if your father comes back early we were doing what we were instructed to do. Sound good?" I asked. He smiled a huge, oh-my-fucking-god-I-just-got-the-keys-to Disneyland smile, and nodded.

Once I finished talking to Tony I knocked on the door of Mya's room and found her listening to her ipod. I told her of the plan and she just nodded and went back to her music. The girls had finished their math worksheets by the time I came back so I read them a book until it was time for lunch.

Turns out the Captain had already left by the time lunch was served. We hastily ate our lunches then ran back upstairs to get changed into something more hiking appropriate. I put on a pair of jeans, my UW sweatshirt and a pair of brown hiking boots, while the children looked like they had put on very expensive "play clothes".

"Don't you guys have anything else to wear? Something that you won't mind getting dirty?" I asked. They all nodded no. I sighed and said "Alright well let's get going then. Once we get back change into what you want to wear for dinner and give your clothes to me. I'll wash them to your dad doesn't find out." Tony smiled and nodded, Jaden and Gretchen looked like they had had 30 pounds of sugar for lunch and were bouncing around like nobody's business and Mya just said "whatever". I was going to get her to interact with everybody, I know her siblings would appreciate it.

I picked an area of forest that looked fairly flat and free of low-lying branches. Jaden and Gretchen struggled at first but they caught on eventually. Now they were running ahead of us laughing and chasing each other. Mya was ahead of us, keeping to herself for the majority of the hike. Tony was walking with me and I got him to open up a bit. I asked him about school and sports and whatnot and learned that he liked school but didn't want to spend all of his time there. I laughed and said I knew what he meant. He told me that he was on his school's swim team and that he was actually very good. His usual "outdoor activities" consisted of swim practice at the school.

"If you're usually at the school right now won't your coach wonder where you are?" I asked

"Nah" he said "I'm allowed a few days off just as long as I don't miss too many practices. Plus, I'm a freshman so nobody really pays attention to me."

I got the feeling that he wasn't just talking about school, but home as well. Between the twins' personalities and Mya's umm outbursts, I can see why it would be easy for him to fade into the background.

I decided it was time to start heading back when the sky started to turn a darker shade of grey. By this time Jaden and Gretchen were tired, cranky and hungry; a terrible combination for any 5 year old but when there were two of them it made it that much worse. Mya had started to relax after the first 30 minutes or so. She still didn't say much but she looked like she was enjoying herself. We had almost gotten back to the house when it began to rain, hard. This wasn't the usual drizzle that Seattle was known for. This was the kind of storm where you the fish in Lake Washington drown. We all began running back, Jaden and Gretchen lagged behind a bit but I stayed back with them and helped them catch up. By the time we got back to the house everybody was soaked and covered in mud and twigs and other green wet things. Mya and Tony were just standing on the porch staring at something.

"What are you guys waiting for? You're dad is going to kill me if he sees you guys all wet! You have to get inside and get dried off and ready for dinner" as soon as the words left my mouth I saw what Mya and Tony were looking at.

There, on the porch in all his naval glory, was the Captain. If looks could kill I would have been dead on the spot.

"Mya, Tony, girls, you all need to go get cleaned up for dinner. Now" he said with conviction. The children took off like bats out of hell, leaving me standing in the pouring rain looking like a drowned cat.

"Miss Swan, I suggest you go upstairs so you are not late for dinner" he turned and walked back into the house. Well, I thought, that wasn't as bad as it could have been. As soon as I entered the house and took off my boots, the Captain turned to me and said "I would also like to see you in my office after dinner. I have some things I would like to discuss with you." He opened the door to what I presumed to be his office and shut the door without a second glance.

About three things I was absolutely certain.

One, I need to find away to help these kids enjoy their summer vacation.

Two, my boss quite possibly hates me.

And three, I was unconditionally and irrevocably, in lust with the Captain.