Beach Day

Prompt for elexergirl : Mike and Rachel at the beach. Set early season 5 (before Mike gets arrested). Disclaimer: I'm from England so I have no idea about beaches or the weather in New York - sorry if there are any mistakes!

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It was an unusually hot day in New York and Mike and Rachel finally had a free weekend after what felt like an eternity. They had both been so busy at work, not helped by the Donna/Harvery situation, so it felt like they hadn't seen each other much since getting engaged. The sun rays through their window woke them both up at around 7:30 am which was annoyingly early for both of them after so many long nights at the office, but they decided to get up and make the most of it. After both getting ready and having breakfast, Rachel suggested that they have a beach day since sunny days were few and far between in NYC so Mike agreed it was a great idea and they started their journey to Brighton Beach.

They arrived at around 10am and it was already buzzing, evidently half of New York's population had the same idea as them, nevertheless they found a spot just big enough for the two of them and layed down a towel to 'claim' their spot. It had a great view of the beach and also wasn't too close to the sea that they'd have to move when the tide came in. Rachel layed down and got her book out her book whilst Mike did the same. It wasn't quite hot enough to go in the sea yet and Rachel wasn't too keen on the idea of getting her hair completely soaked when she had only just washed it. After half an hour of peaceful reading, Mike got bored and Rachel jokingly told him to "go and buy a bucket and spade". Mike obviously took this seriously as he returned 20 minutes later with a matching red bucket and spade. Evidently, he wasn't messing around as he bought an array of buckets, all in different shapes, to build his "sand kingdom" as he had called it.

Mike hurriedly started building his kingdom whilst Rachel watched on with a smile, half just happy to be here with him and half because she couldn't quite believe she was watching her 'adult' fiance play with a bucket and spade mirroring every other child on the beach. However, she did eventually get dragged into it as Mike asked her to get buckets of water from the sea to add to his 'moat' around the sandcastles he had built. When they were both done, Mike took a step back to admire his work and looked very proud of himself whilst Rachel just had to laugh at him and his childlike attention span as she snapped a photo of him with his "kingdom". They eventually decided it was time for lunch and headed into the nearby cafe to grab a light meal, neither of them feeling particularly hungry and Mike wanted to make sure he "still had room for ice cream". After lunch, Mike decided it was finally time to go in the sea so they made their way hand in hand up to the waves. They stayed in the shallow end for a while before Mike eventually dragged Rachel further into the sea. They stood in the water for a while together, just talking until Mike decided it was time to have some fun and decided to splash water all over Rachel. Rachel stood there in shock for a while before finally splashing him back. This went back and forth for a while until Rachel finally just jumped on Mike's back and pushed them both under. Rachel had to admit that seeing Mike standing there laughing whilst dripping wet was definitely doing something to her, and if there were less people there then she would not be able to stop herself from having him right there on the spot. However, she managed to keep her composure as Mike took them both back to shore and to get ice cream. She could see in Mike's eyes that he felt the same way, he could not stop staring at her in her gorgeous olive green bikini - feeling very grateful that he would be marrying this incredible woman.

They finished off their ice creams as the beach started to quieten down, everyone else getting ready to head home. But they decided to stay for a while, and enjoy the peace of a near-empty beach with each other. Mike sat down on his towel and Rachel laid back into him, her back pressed up against his chest as he did not hesitate to wrap his arms around her. They stayed like that for a while, not talking, just admiring the sky as it changed to a gorgeous pink-orange colour with the crashing of the waves playing in their ears. It was moments like this that had them both truly grateful for the life that they had created for themselves with each other, and realising how lucky they were to be there together. As Rachel was just about to fall asleep in his arms, he got up and did the most cheesy thing she'd ever seen him do. He carefully drew out their initials in the sand and added the finishing touch of a love heart around the letters. Rachel suddenly felt so overwhelmed by this little act of kindness that she had to stop herself from crying as she took a photo, she also convinced him to take a selfie together in front of the sunset which she promptly set as her lock screen as he just looked so good: the salt water of the ocean had clearly got to his hair as small curls formed which Rachel would no doubt never let him forget.

As it began to get darker, they packed up all their things and headed home as they still had to get home to cook dinner. They stopped in a little bodega to get some food for their dinner then headed up to their apartment. They were both so tired that they ended up asleep on the sofa together, limbs intertwined, as dinner remained uncooked with groceries still on the kitchen counter.

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Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it, please leave any reviews in the comments or on twitter jess75x