Another fic written from a prompt on my Tumblr.

Summary: Will is taking his daughter for a swim and Alyss is worried, for very good reasons.

Alyss wished she could be out there, but she just didn't have the time. Even though it made her jealous, she pulled up Will's table to the window, where she could write with most her body in the wall's shade. It was the early afternoon, though, so as long as she didn't nail boards over the window, even if the curtain was pulled across, the main room of Will's cabin was flooded with light.

But sitting by the window gave her a clear glimpse of the outside and didn't do much to focus her on the work that needed to be done. Every minute she'd hear the faint high-pitched laughter of her daughter and sometimes a lower, amused chuckle from Will. It tore her from her thoughts, but she always smiled.

Outside, just out of Alyss's sight, Adonia was sitting on the river bank. Her feet just met the surface and she giggled as the river weaved in between them. She swung her feet back and forth, kicking water up, not quite deep enough to be taken along with it. Will had checked.

Her father leaned on the river bank in a spot where there wasn't too much mud. With eyebrows raised at Addy, he said, "Want back in yet?"

In a princess-like gesture, Addy turned her head away and turned up her nose. "Not if you drop me again," she replied.

"I didn't drop you."

"Hm."

He had to inch a little closer to Addy so that they could hear each other over the crashing of water. "I had two arms around you and one of them slipped for a moment," he excused. "Half a moment."

Addy considered this for a while. When she looked back at Will he was holding out his arms in an invitation to her. His head was tipped to the side in a question.

She let a long pause stretch between them..

"Hm," she grinned.

Will chuckled. "You're getting more like your mother every day."

Addy groaned and swatted away at a few flies that were enjoying the summer heat as much as her. Unlike her, they couldn't be invited by their father when they were complaining about the heat to take a swim. "You always say that," she sighed.

"But it's true! And it's a compliment."

"My hair isn't the same as hers." Addy took a strand of her dark brown hair, stringy and wet, and showed it to her father.

Will wiped away a few droplets of water that weren't falling off his cheek. "It's long like hers, and it's dark like mine." He struggled through the water to push himself up out of the river and sit next to her.

"Then, I'm a combination of you and mam?"

"Yes." Will grinned, delighted. Surely his young, four-year-old daughter couldn't understand how mature she was for her age. She was much smaller than most of the other kids- exhibiting some of Will's traits as a young kid- but she was two heads over her classmates in intelligence and everything else. "You're so smart."

Addy smiled because she knew this. Her big cheeks nearly covered her eyes when she was being smug and smiling with her mouth closed. "Who'd I get that from?" she asked.

"Both of us." Will slicked her hair back from her forehead and then kissed it. "But mostly your mother."

Then he hopped off the bank into the river. He regained his footing and announced, in a loud, superficial voice that Addy loved, "Now I'm getting lonely out here by myself! So-" he picked Addy up and hoisted her effortlessly into the air, into his arms, "you're coming back in here with me!"

Addy squealed and cried, "Noo, go be lonely!"

"I won't!" Will laughed and turned her around. Addy's back faced him now and he supported her with one arm. The other held her tightly to his chest. "And no, I won't drop you! If I drop you then your mother will flay me for dinner!"

"Right about that," said the older female voice from nearby.

Alyss was walking forward to them. She'd crossed her arms over her chest, but contradicted herself with a gentle curve of her mouth. "You two having fun?" she asked.

Adonia nodded quickly, stopping when Will tucked her head under his chin.

"Is he teaching you how to swim?" Alyss sat down on the grass. She undid the top button on her blouse to enjoy the droplets of the cool water that would spray in her direction when the current clashed against the bank.

"No, just carrying me around. Come in with us!"

Will agreed with Addy, looking at his wife hopefully.

But Alyss shook her head. "Sorry, I can't. I'm just taking a short break from my work."

"What work?" asked Adonia. Will adjusted her to his chest and held his ground when the river tried to push him back.

"Grownup work. Negotiating."

"Can I help?!"

"I'm afraid they don't see you as a credible source. See, even though you'd figure it out, they wouldn't know you well enough to trust you. That's the problem."

Addy took a breath and quietly went, "Ohhh," now understanding. "Okay!"

Alyss smiled and then turned back to Will. Addy was playing with the water and wiping it across her bathing suit to see what it felt like.

As soon as their eyes met, Alyss's face grew serious. She didn't have to remind them of their earlier discussion for him to remember. Will turned somber.

When Will had come to her with the idea to take Addy out to the river, Alyss had, to say the very least, voiced her concern. In some ways, she didn't trust anybody with Addy but herself. In a moment she would jump off a cliff if Will told her to trust him, but Addy was a completely different matter. It would be a struggle. Even now, every time the water grew a little stronger her heart jumped into her throat.

Finally, she gave in when Will rolled his eyes and told her that this wasn't like throwing Addy off a cliff. It was just an hour or two in the water, with somebody who was more than strong enough to hold her. Alyss's logic told her that he was right, but being a mother was not about logic.

When she saw how excited Addy was, she gave in. She didn't want to turn into one of those overprotective parents she despised. All this she expressed in the threatening, concerned, succinct look she passed Will when their daughter wasn't looking.

Will shook his head. "I'm fine," he mouthed. He tightened his arm around Addy to show her. Addy mumbled something of protest but it died out.

Alyss sighed with her shoulders and earned a smile from the ranger. "You're so cute," he said.

She sighed again and stood up. "Be careful," she said. "I mean it."

"Gorgeous, I am. You don't have to worry. I can hold onto her, she's safe with me. Besides, have you seen my muscles?"

Alyss only stared at him, because she'd already sighed once, and she felt like it had lost its meaning by now. She muttered something under her breath and walked away to the nearest tree.

Addy pointed wildly to a shadow under the surface of the water, where the sides of the waves glinted white in the sun as they shimmered past. "Look! There's a fish!"

"So there is," Will grinned. They caught the shimmer of orange when the fish nearly swam to the surface. "Want me to catch it?"

Addy looked at him with horror. "No! Let it go!"

The shadow wiggled away quickly following the current.

"I wasn't going to kill it," Will told her. "Just catch it for you."

Addy inhaled deeply in understanding again. "...Oh."

Will laughed in case he had sounded offended. "I'm not that cruel, Addy."

"Then, the next one?"

"Of course.. If you can spot it for me." He kept his daughter tightly against him until he could slide his arm from out under her and use it to support her free side. Then he lifted her high into the air, much higher above the water. Addy exclaimed in surprise, which turned into a childish giggle.

"Will!" Alyss snapped. He turned his head and met to eyes of a very angry wife.

"I told you, don't worry!" he said. "I've got her. Don't I, Addy? Do you feel safe?"

Addy called to her mother, "Yes! I feel safe! He told you, don't worry, mam!"

Will swayed her back and forward in the air very slowly to show Alyss how much control he had over her. He couldn't see her eyes very clearly from that far away, but he could feel her glare as if she were right there stabbing him. It gradually got softer until it was just a worried stare.

She'd been ready to jump up, run over to Will and snatch Addy away from him when she yelled. Now that she had made the decision again to trust Will, she settled down back against the tree trunk. She picked up the open book on her thigh and cast one more glance at Will before ducking her head and returning to it.

Addy was delighted that they could keep playing. After grinning at her father she looked down at just the right time and spotted another wriggling shadow. This one was much bigger. It tried to fight the current.

"Hey! Hey!" she whispered to him just loud enough, pointing to the fish.

Within moments Addy was back down against Will's chest. "Hold on," he told her, and trapped her against his chest with one arm and sacrificed the other. Addy clung to his neck but leaned away so he could see her father approaching the fish.

She stared at it with wide eyes. Just seeing its distorted shape, they could tell it was bigger than Addy's thigh. Perhaps a fourth of her size. But even that big of a fish gave up its fight and let itself be taken along with the current when a burst of water overpowered it.

Addy gasped as Will's hand shot out like the fire of an arrow, so quickly that if she blinked, she'd have missed it. His hand made contact with something slippery.

Then the burst hit them.

Addy felt it sweep her legs and she knew what was about to happen. A girl with priorities, she forgot the fish. Instead she thrust herself into Will and clung tighter onto his neck, but it was too late. The river caught her off guard and was already pulling her away. Will was strong, but the splash had drenched his bare arm and hand. And like the fish in his right hand, she slipped right out.

As Will turned around in heart-stopping alarm he could see Adonia's head floating away and disappearing, then reappearing above the surface.

He didn't hear himself when he screamed out her name. Alyss's similar cry only registered in vague noise. The only things in his head were the pounding blood in his ears, the waves crashing like metal against metal, and Addy's scream that was interrupted every time she was swept under the water.

He ran some feet and then dove in. His thighs burned as he strove to move faster than the current.

Will kept Addy in the center of his vision as he got closer, and closer, then pushed off the bottom wrong and slipped face-first into the river.

Adonia flailed her arms wildly to the bank but her feet weren't even halfway to the ground, so she was powerless. Too much water had gone in her mouth and she had to stop screaming. Her mind screamed instead. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then all was black.

The surface closed around the crown of her head. Above her, she could still hear the deafening wail of the river.

Her hand was all that was out of the water. Then something solid closed around her wrist. A power much stronger than the river yanked her forward and then cradled her to it.

Her head emerged from the water, but her eyes were still shut, and she couldn't see a thing. The solid, wall-like figure swam with her helplessly for some time more that she couldn't measure. It passed in the blink of an eye for her. The next thing she knew, she was going up.

Will pushed Addy's small, limp body onto the bank of the river. But he took so much time that he couldn't join her. Before the river stole him away again, he got a glimpse of her safely on the ground, and breathing hard- but breathing nevertheless.

Some yards away he spotted a rock off to the side, and with much effort, he lifted his fifty-pound arm out of the water with a flick and caught it. He jerked back some more. His skin tore at the palm, and blood trickled down his wrist, although he could not feel this.

Will was burning now. He used his last bit of energy to hold onto the rock and ignore the pain. With even more energy, he was able to grip it with both hands, and then veer off to the side of the river.

His last great effort was pushing himself out and rolling onto the bank on his back. He coughed water out of his mouth. There, he looked like a man revived from the dead as he heaved life back into his lungs.

His head fell over. Cheek met wet grass. Across the bank, he saw blurry Alyss cradling blurry Adonia in her arms, who was nodding, and blinking, and shaking as he buried her face in Alyss's neck.

Will ached as he rolled onto his stomach and began to crawl over to them.

Alyss asked her, "Are you bleeding? Did you hit anything underwater?"

"No, n-no… I didn't…"

"I'm going to get you back home, okay? You'll be warm in just a minute, okay? Addy?"

Addy sniffed; even that was shaky. "O-okay. Okay."

"Addy…" Will whispered through shivers and breathless moments. He attracted Alyss's eyes as well as his daughters. "Addy, o-oh my god, I'm so sorry." Like a dying man begging for water, he stretched his arm and reached for Addy's forehead-

Then Alyss took her hand up and slapped him across the cheek.

The action paralyzed Will as soon as her hand made contact with him. The sound echoed in his head moments after it happened.

Without another glance, or word, or moment, Alyss stood up carrying their daughter in her arms like a newborn baby. She whispered sweet things to Adonia as she took her away in the direction of the cabin. Any faster and she would have been running for her life.

Will lay there and just watched them go until they were out of sight.

Adonia's cough only lasted so long. She was put in bed under several more blankets than she usually slept with.

Alyss whipped up some soup for her and permitted Will to refill her daughter's water glass only when Alyss was absolutely too busy to do it.

They hadn't made eye contact since she slapped him, but Alyss still said yes when Will asked if he could see Addy. There was a trace of compassion in her eyes when she told him. Will saw it from the side, just before Alyss turned her body away.

Had Addy's cough worsened, they would have had all the more reason to worry. The fear of illness gripped their hearts throughout the rest of the day, no matter what they did. But as the afternoon left, and the evening went on, the only damage to Addy looked to be emotional. Even that was lessening. Will supposed he should be happy.

"Is mam okay?" Addy whispered to her father.

Will was on his knees leaning on the bed. He could only see her thick upper lip, and the rest was buried under a mountain of blankets. They rose and fell evenly now.

"Yes," he answered. "She's fine, she's just worried sick about you."

"I don't want that."

Will looked down at the top bedsheet like he was looking into his reflection, and contemplated what he saw. "She can't help it," he said. "She loves you so, so much. I think I understand it, but sometimes, I'm not sure if I do. Not that I don't love you, Addy…"

Tears pricked at his eyes. "I love you so much," he whispered.

"Da…"

"I'm so sorry." Will drew his arms around his head and buried his forehead in them. He sobbed, "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's okay." Addy wanted to say so much, but found to her frustration, she didn't quite have the vocabulary to express it. She whispered over and over again to him that it was okay, while Will sobbed into the covers, unable to express himself in the same way.

Alyss came in the room with Adonia's soup. Will ducked out of the room after wishing Addy to get better.

Hand clenched around a cloth that was dry with blood, with a cheek that was no longer red, Will stood outside Adonia's door looking in. It was open just a crack, just enough to see her sleeping face.

For the thousandth time, he was overtaken with how much like Alyss she looked. Her eyebrows had the same arch. She could look suspicious or curious depending on how she tilted her head. Her hair was brown, but it had the same wave that rippled through Alyss's hair when the wind blew through it. It seemed as if Addy's cheeks blushed the same when she looked at something with fascinated curiosity, as did Alyss's when Will took her hand and told her again that she was the most stunning person he'd ever seen.

A hand touched Will's shoulder and without squeezing, rolled over it to his front. Her chin rested on the curve of his neck. Will felt frozen in time, unable to move his eyes from his daughter. Even as Alyss brushed Will's hair from the bottom of his neck, and touched her lips to that spot, he could not move.

"She'll be okay," Alyss whispered.

Will nodded.

Moments passed in silence. Will watched Adonia. Alyss watched Will.

"I'm going to call the doctor to come up here tomorrow," Will said. "You can never be too sure."

"Thank you."

"Alyss…"

Alyss hushed him and felt down Will's arm. She followed it like a maze until she could take his bandaged hand, and break him out of the frozen moment he was trapped in.

"I know," she murmured. "I know."

"I didn't mean…"

Alyss pressed her lips to his neck again.

"I should have listened."

She repeated the action again, and again, gradually making her way around to his cheek, and persuading the turn of his head over to hers.

"I should have…."

The light from the other room came at Alyss's back. He turned around and stepped into her shadow, as it seemed he was turning his head at just the right angle to immediately meet her eyes.

Before their mouths met, their bodies were kissing. Then Alyss leaned. Her nose brushed against his on her way to connect their lips in the middle.

And the world went absolutely quiet. Even the quiet parts of Will's mind, he had not been using. They stopped and turned their ears to listen.

When Alyss broke away she was cupping his cheek. She squeezed his hand gently, in the right place, where it didn't hurt. Against Will's lips fell the words, "It's okay."

A break in his defenses told Will that perhaps she was right.