A/N: There's a new story waiting for y'all on my page if you're so inclined.

"Wake up, wake up, time to go to the beach!"

"It would be a lot easier to wake up if I didn't have so many children jumping on me," Lindsay dead-panned, burying her face in the pillow. She'd woken up in the wee hours and moved from the couch to the bed, but the kids found her anyway.

"Get up mama!"

"Have you jumped on Austin yet?"

"Yup. She told us to go jump on you!"

"Go tell her that she'd better be able to hold her arsenic."

"Oh great," Isa said with a sigh, crossing her arms over her chest. "They're gonna make us do this all day."

"We be like owls," Ben decided, happy with the task of relaying messages. "I will be Hedwig!"

"Hedwig is a girl, Ben. Do you wanna be a girl owl?"

"No," Ben sighed, looking down at his feet.

"Okay kids, give me like half an hour. Go jump on Austin."

They dashed out of the room, save for Sarah and Avery who had crawled under the covers and made themselves at home.

"Auntie, did you know that Averylin moves a lot when she sleeps?"

"Yeah, I knew."

"She kicked me so many times on accident."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. She can sleep in here with me and Adam tonight if you want."

"No, that's okay. She's my best friend."

Lindsay smiled and brushed Sarah's blonde hair back.

"It's rainin' outside, auntie. I told the kids we would not go to the beach in the rain, but they think we will."

"Maybe after it stops raining we can go to the beach."

"I will build a sand castle. Will you and my ma help me?"

"We can try."

"When is daddy getting here?"

"I don't know. Maybe I should call Adam and see if they're on the road yet."

"Here's your phone," Sarah said, taking it off the night stand and handing it to her. Lindsay hit the speed dial for Adam and waited a few minutes before he answered.

"Hey babe. How's the sanity?" he greeted.

"Still intact. Have you guys left yet?"

"Yeah, three hours ago."

"Three hours? What time is it?"

"Eight. Are you still in bed?"

"Shut up, you would be too."

"I'm sure," he chuckled. "How are the kids?"

"Anxious to go to the beach."

"Is the house nice?"

"Yeah, it's really nice. King sized beds."

She could hear his grin and she wondered if Danny was paying attention to that end of the conversation.

"I couldn't sleep without you last night," he confessed after a moment. She grinned and deduced that they must have stopped somewhere and Danny wasn't in earshot, or Adam would never have let those words come out of his mouth.

"Oh yeah?"

"Too quiet. I had to go downstairs and turn the TV on so it sounded like someone else was here."

"Were you afraid?" she teased as Avery climbed up and sat on her stomach.

"Why does your voice sound funny?"

"Because your chubby daughter just plopped her big ol' butt right on me and I can't breathe."

"Big butt!" Avery repeated, clapping her hands.

"You want to say hi to daddy? Well, she's at least waving at the phone, so the sentiment is there."

"Give her a kiss for me."

"I will."

"We should be there after lunch sometime."

"Okay. Call us when you get close."

"I will."

"Drive safe and if Danny's accent gets too thick, find some sports talk radio. It shuts him up pretty good."

"I'll do that. I love you."

"I love you too."

They hung up and Sarah yawned, pulling the blankets tighter around her.

"Auntie, how did you and Uncle Adam fall in love?"

"Magic," Lindsay answered automatically.

"No, I mean for reals!"

"Well, he was my closest friend at first. And I loved him a lot. And then one day we realized that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives and that we loved each other so much and that we wanted to get married and have a family."

"What do you love the most 'bout him?"

Lindsay chuckled and sighed, trying to figure out how to put it into words.

"I love that he is only himself. He doesn't try to be anyone else. He's just Adam and he's the only one just like him."

"Like Tigger. Or Isa!"

Lindsay laughed out loud at that one, leaning over to kiss Sarah's cheek.

"Or like you, Sarah Claire Messer."

"How come you and my ma are bestest friends but you are not like each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you like different things. And you make different kinds of jokes. You do big long snuggles and ma does big fast squeeze hugs. You are different from each other, but you are still best friends."

"I think your mom and I didn't really have a choice. We had to be best friends or we would both be miserable people."

"Oh. Like how if Averylin wasn't my best friend I wouldn't have one?"

"Yeah, like that. Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes."

"Why do you call the kids by their whole names?"

"Because," Sarah said with a shrug. "That's their names."

"What if we'd named Ben Throckmorton J. Pennywhistle the Third?"

"Well that is a very long name and it's very silly and he would not want to be called that, so I would call him just whatever his nickname was, like how Isa does not like to be called Isabeth 'cept by ma. How come ma calls you Lin and daddy calls you Montana and Uncle Adam calls you babe? And how come sometimes ma calls you other silly names like Lindsay-Loo and Lindalino and Lindsay J. Ro and stuff?"

"Your daddy calls me Montana because he wanted to make fun of me for bein' a country girl and he just never stopped calling me that. Adam calls me babe because… I guess he didn't like many other nicknames. He calls me dearlin' sometimes though. And your ma calls me all those different names because she is really weird."

"You are weird too and you don't call her much names."

"Yeah, she just doesn't have a name that spawns any nicknames that won't get me punched in the arm."

"You call me Sarahlove and you call Daniel guy and you call Isa your girl. What do you call Colton and Benjamin and Averylin?"

"I call Colton buddy and Ben is Ben Ry and Avery gets called whatever name I think of when I'm talkin' to her."

"Someday I want to have some kids and they will have lovey nicknames like all us kids got. I will have a girl and I will call her sweet pea. And my boy will be called just boy. That will be that."

Lindsay laughed and drew the little girl into her arms, kissing the top of her head.

"Sarah, I love our conversations."

"Me too!"

"I can't wait to watch you grow up and get married and be a mommy. I mean, don't grow up too fast."

"Okay, I won't."

They would have continued the conversation, but the rest of the kids came back into the room with Austin who was holding Junior upside down.

"Does anyone in here know why my kid's face looks like a butt?"

The kids hooted with laughter and Junior squealed as Austin dropped him onto the end of the bed.

"I guess maybe it's time for you kids to have breakfast."

"Food!" Avery hollered, bouncing up and down.

"Ug, Avery, don't do that, you're killin' me."

"Ah mama. Food."

"Okay, okay, we'll feed you."

"And then we could go to the beach!" Colton declared, pumping his fist in excitement.

"The beach, the beach, the beach!" the kids chanted happily, filing out of the room.

"This is going to be a long day."

The rain was gone after breakfast but it was still chilly out, so jumping into the ocean was out of the question. The kids were more than happy to wear jeans and sweatshirts and play in the sand while their mothers sat beside them, staring out at the huge expanse of beach and ocean and sky.

"Hey Aust?"

"Hmm?"

"What do you think the chances are of us never leaving?"

"Realistically?"

Lindsay just smiled and shook her head, picking up a handful of sand and letting it fall through her fingers.

"Think the guys are driving each other nuts yet?" Austin asked, chewing on a piece of sea grass.

"I hope not. We need them to be getting along so when they build us a bonfire tonight, things don't go horribly wrong."

"You're going to let them build a bonfire?" Austin chuckled, shaking her head. "Why do you want us all to die?"

Lindsay chuckled and yawned as Austin reached over and tugged on a strand of her hair.

"Gettin' long," she said softly.

"Yeah. Adam still won't let me cut it."

"He won't let you?"

"I mean that he likes it long so I keep it long because I like him."

"You're such a good wife."

"As long as he's happy, I'm happy, which works out well because what makes him happy is me being happy and… well anyway, I'm pretty lucky."

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you'd stayed in Montana and married Brian or something?"

"Don't make me puke."

Austin chuckled as Avery toddled over to them, falling several times because of the unstable sand before she plopped down in Lindsay's lap.

"Are you tired?"

"Cudda mama. Sleepy."

"Are you going to take a nap and wait for daddy to get here?"

"Daddy!" she giggled, sitting up and clapping her hands. "Whay?"

"I don't know what that means."

Avery sighed and pointed back at the house.

"Daddy. Hi."

"You want to know when you can say hi to daddy?"

"Yeah!"

"After lunch. You have time to take a nap."

Avery nodded and settled in for a nap, never wanting anyone else but her mama when she was sleepy.

"It's ridiculous how much she looks like you. She's got Adam's eyes but the rest is all you."

"I know. My mom said she acts like me too and she always makes the same face of disapproval."

"When you wrinkle your nose and narrow your eyes?"

"Yep."

Austin chuckled and played with the fraying on her jeans before she spoke.

"Do you think when we're dead and gone our kids will still do things like this together?"

"Well I hope we've raised them to be completely dependent on each other."

"Oh yeah, that's healthy."

"I think they realize we're a family, Austin. I know you guys have your parents close, but our kids don't have biological family in their day to day lives. This is all they know."

"Fake trumps real?"

"Most of the time."

"Well good. Because I don't think they will ever be understood by anyone else," she commented as Ben and Junior both bent over, put the tops of their heads on the sand and started to move in a circle.

"Bath night," Lindsay decided with a grin.

"Isn't every night bath night for your kids?"

"In the summer, yeah. They get so dirty. I don't know where it comes from, they're just constantly covered in stuff. And this one right here, I'm always finding dirt in all her little creases."

Austin snickered.

"She's got sand stuck to her snot."

"Sick."

Lindsay used her sleeve to clean off her daughter's face, then made a face at the mess it left.

"Hey Aust, when you were younger, did you think that you and Danny would end up together?"

"Depends on what age you're asking about. Or what day even. I guess I never really thought about it much. I kind of knew it would happen. Wasn't really planning on the kids though. That was a twist."

"Yeah, it's always a little surprising."

"Hey!" Colton yelped. "Isa's been pourin' something in my pants!"

"It's just sand, Colt! You had a crack showin'!"

"But what if I toot! I will make a sand storm."

"Colton, that's gross."

"I guess it's better'n the time daddy sprayed pressed air in there."

"That will teach you not to let that crack show," Isa said with a shrug. "Have fun walkin' Texas Ranger."

He gave her a puzzled look and stood up, thinking all the sand would fall out his pant leg. He was very wrong.

"Oh no! Mama, there is sand in places there is not supposed to be none! This is not comfortable! Ug, get it out!"

"Isabeth, why did you do that?"

"Because! I don't like butt cracks and his was showin'!"

"She's got a point there Aust," Lindsay remarked, watching as Colton danced around the beach.

"What do I do to get this sand out?"

"Take your pants off and shake it out," Lindsay replied simply, taking one of their towels and putting it around Avery to keep her warm from the wind that had started to pick up.

"Then I will be in my underwear on the beach! No way mama!"

"Do you have a better idea?"

"I need the bathroom," he sighed. "Isa, this is not something I think is funny."

"Well I asked you to pull your pants up four times Colt. What didja think I was gonna do about it?"

He glared at her and shook his head.

"Can we go back to the house now mama?"

"Yeah, I'll start lunch." She stood up from the sand and kept Avery close, grinning when Sarah ran to join them.

"I will help you with making lunch, auntie. I can count the plates."

"That would help me a lot, sweetie."

"Would you two quit talkin' and get over here to let me in the house?"

"Oh Colton," Lindsay sighed, unlocking the door and knowing he was going to make a trail of sand from the entryway to the bathroom but figuring that it might be a good idea to have Isa help clean it up.

Colton ran inside to the bathroom and slammed the door while Sarah giggled.

"Know what?"

"What?"

"That sand was my idea," Sarah confessed proudly. "I just whispered it to Isa and she did it on her own."

Lindsay laughed and shook her head.

"Sarah, I love you so much."

"They is here, they is here! Mama, we seen them out the window!" Ben whooped excitedly. "Can we go out there?"

"No, stay inside. They'll be in soon enough."

"Dunner, it's our daddies! Now our 'cation could start!"

"Yes! Now they will let us eat junk and stay up late, for that is a 'cation after all," Junior agreed happily. "Hurry up guys, I wanna have some marshmallows!"

"Over the fire! In S'mores, like mama done in 'Tana."

"Binyin, where is the 'Tana place were aunt Lin lived?"

"It's 'cross the country. When you fly in the plane then you see all the farms that's when you finded 'Tana."

"What else is there?"

"Cows! And tractors! And a rooster what cock-a-doodle-doos every mornin'!"

"Wow! You like it there?"

"I don't 'member it for I was little when we goed last time. But Cole 'members some. He played with goats."

"Did they eat cans?"

"I dunno."

"Hey Colton! Those goats in 'Tana eat cans?"

Colton shrugged.

"I only saw them eatin' regular goat food. One of the horses ate a apple clear outta my hand though."

"Wow! Ma, can we go to 'Tana sometime? I wanna feed a horse a apple and play with goats and hear a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo!"

"We'll see if we can make it through this vacation before we take another."

"Okay, that's fair. Look, they're comin' inside!"

All six kids rushed to their fathers squealing with joy as if they hadn't seen them in weeks. Stories tumbled out one on top of the other and Danny and Adam couldn't even try to keep up with all the kids were saying, so they just smiled and nodded. Isa climbed up into Danny's arms without his help and Sarah pouted until he leaned down and picked her up too. Junior just held onto his dad's leg, making it impossible for Danny to get anywhere. Colton and Ben grabbed both of Adam's hands and started to lead him around the house. Avery screamed at being left behind, then ran and buried her face in the couch, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Averylin."

"My daddy!"

"I know he's your daddy but you know what? I didn't get to say hi to him yet either."

Avery looked up at her mother, blinking a few times before wiping her own tears away.

"My daddy, mama."

"I know. I'm sure he wants to see you too, but let the boys show him around first okay?"

Avery sighed and held her hands up, smiling a little when she was picked up and snuggled.

"I love you, Avery."

"Avery love mama."

"Hey, are you throwing a fit over here?"

"Daddy!" she shrieked, throwing herself at Adam and completely forgetting Lindsay. She kissed his cheek and laughed when he rubbed his beard against her face.

"Hi Tink. Have you been good for mama?"

She nodded and hugged him around the neck. She was never happier than when she was with her daddy.

"I'm glad you guys didn't wreck or something," Lindsay said, leaning up to kiss him.

"Yeah, it woulda put a damper on the trip, huh?"

"Oh brother."

"I've got something to tell you later," he said, dropping his voice a little.

"Good somethin' or bad somethin'?"

"Good somethin'."

"Okay."

"Hey daddy! C'mere to the window and look at the thing we builded earlier! You can see it out there on the beach all by itself. See? It even gots a remote!"

"You mean a moat?"

"Yeah, that's what I said! We wanted to make a draw-bridge, but we didn't know how. Could you help me and Isa and Sarah?"

"Maybe tomorrow. We'll see."

"This is going to be the best vacation ever! Me and Isa already decided. Can we play all day tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that sounds good. Danny and I have a surprise for you kids, but you have to be good tomorrow, okay?"

The kids whooped excitedly but Lindsay and Austin were a little more wary of this surprise.

"Do you think we might need to figure out how to get to the closest Urgent Care center?"

"It would make me feel better," Lindsay agreed.

"So, are you two going to make some dinner?" Danny asked, mostly wondering if they already had, not really thinking that they should.

"Wait, when does this vacation start?"

"About the same time I find the number for a pizza place."

"Amen, sister."