Who's ready for the obligatory beach episode~! This chapter has another reader suggestion included, so please enjoy a bit of Claire and Emma solo time :) Thanks, WhimsyWisp for the suggestion! However as an additional aside, those who have water-based anxieties may not have as much fun with a portion of this chapter, just a fair warning.

Song Suggestion: Summer by Calvin Harris

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing~ CapCom please don't sue.


Before long May passed by and the weeks of June counted down to the final Friday of the month. Chris was able to put that paid time off he earned from Morale Day to use, making the trip that much easier since it was one less thing to worry about. The night before, Emma took Duke to a dog sitter, and on Friday Chris and Emma woke up early to catch their flight to the coast. As they flew, Emma gave Chris a quick rundown on who was who within her family. Her father, Edward, was the Head Chef for a hotel back home and her mother was the hotel event planner, which was why they tended to take vacations anywhere else. Her older brother, Eric, was a stockbroker, while her younger sister, Elana, was a graphic designer.

Claire walked over to the airport terminal exit for arrivals and checked her watch. Noon. The flight should be landing soon. She was nervous; this was the first time in a while that her brother had come to visit – no world-ending threats, no Bioweapons, or bad guys to chase down. It was actually kind of amusing to hear him nervous for once. He had explained the situation with his visit and, in a way, she was happy for it since there was a chance she could get to know this new person in her brother's life better too.

As she waited a man in his early forties, maybe a year or two younger than Chris, walked over to a couple that appeared to be in their mid-to-late sixties and gave them hugs. Shortly after, a woman probably only a few years younger than herself joined the three and more hugs were exchanged, and chattering began. Cute, Claire thought with a smile while waiting and watching. Before long she noticed two familiar faces walking towards the door as it occasionally opened for those who walked through.

"There she is," she heard the older woman say happily.

"Holy hell, she's dating the hulk," the man said quietly to the woman next to him who slapped his arm.

"Eric, behave," the younger woman warned as she gave Eric a swat to the arm.

"Elana, don't hit your brother," the mother of the group said in a warning tone.

The elder brother had a smug smile as Elana frowned. "Yes, mother."

Claire chuckled at this but waved to get Chris's attention.

Chris raised a hand in greeting, but was ultimately swarmed as the family hurried over to greet them. "Sorry one moment please," he said, then walked over to Claire with a smile.

She thought about it a moment before giving Chris a hug which he returned. "Good to see you," she said after letting go and taking a step back.

"Yeah, good to see you too," Chris said, smiling. The small family went through their own hugging routine with Emma before walking over to join Chris and Claire.

"Well then, I think some introductions are in order," the father figure said with a friendly smile.

Chris nods "Right, my name is Christopher Redfield. Chris for short. It's good to meet you", Chris said, offering a hand to the father, which was accepted and given a good firm shake.

"And this is my younger sister, Claire. I'll be staying with her during the visit," Chris explained and got a few nods in response.

"I see, well, if you're available you should join us tomorrow as well," Emma's father said, still wearing a gentle, friendly smile as he looked at Claire. "Family is family, after all, and we'd be happy to have you at our table," he added before giving a short chuckle. "Not to toot my own horn, but I am a professional so there's sure to be good food for the day." Pride for his work showed in his smile.

"Oh, um"—she looked to Chris, who shrugged—"sure, actually that sounds lovely," Claire agreed, which caused Chris to internally relax. It would be nice not to be alone.

"It's settled then," Emma's father said with a nod before realizing he'd cut off the introductions. "Ah, forgive my manners. My name is Edward Swanson. It's a pleasure to meet you both." He gestured to himself, then to the woman next to him. "And this is my beautiful wife, Emily," he said, causing the woman to blush and wave him off. "My eldest son Eric, and my youngest daughter Elana," he introduced the others.

"Hey," Eric said with a short wave.

"Nice to meet you both," Elana added after.

"And, of course, you already know our little Emmy," Emily said, then chuckled into her hand

"If we knew she was going to end up in the music industry we would have named her Grammy," her dad said with a snicker at his own bad joke.

"Dad, no," Emma said, holding her face.

"Where are Chelsea, Jack, and the babies?" Emma's mother asked, concerned, and attempting to change the subject.

"Ah, I think they had to stop for a bathroom break. They should be out in a moment" Emma replied, looking back to the door.

"I see, well we won't hold you two up while we wait. I'm sure you have plenty to do," Emily said looking to Chris and Claire.

"It was nice to meet you all," Claire replied with a nod. "See you tomorrow," she added, receiving a couple of 'You too's' in response before heading out to retrieve Chris' luggage from the pickup carousel.

"They seem friendly," Claire said with a smile as they got his bag.

'*'*'*'*'

After spending what remained of the day catching up, Chris and Claire got some rest and slept in . They packed up their swimsuits and made their way to the address that Emma had texted Chris the night before. Claire drove them and at 11 am they ended up in front of a large beachfront house that the family rented out that was maybe half a mile from the local lighthouse. "Wow... fancy," Claire said, looking at the place before getting out of the car.

"Yeah," Chris said, as his nervousness returning.

Claire gave him a gentle nudge. "Relax, you already did the hard part," she said as they walked up to the front door and knocked.

Emma's mother answered the door. "Ah, there you two are. We were wondering when you'd be arriving," she said with a warm smile, motioning for them to follow her. "Come in come in," she said, and they did so, casually glancing around at the nicely furnished rental house. "Do you two have your Swimsuits on already or do you need a place to change?"

"Is there a bathroom we could borrow?" Claire requested with a sheepish smile.

"Of course, follow me," Emma's mom said and led the two up the stairs, pausing by a closed-door for a moment. "Emma dear, your boyfriend is here." She then moved along to an open door that revealed a spacious bathroom. "Here you two go. Just head down to the kitchen and use the back door to go out to the patio. There's access to the beach from there," she explained.

"Thanks," Chris replied with a nod though his face was now pink from the announcement to the closed door.

"Not a problem, see you at the beach," the mother said with a wave, then walked back down the stairs to the first floor.

"Go ahead," Chris said, gesturing for Claire to go ahead and go first.

"Okay," she replied and headed inside of the bathroom closing the door behind her. It took a few minutes, but she eventually walked back out wearing a sporty pinkish-red zip-front one-piece swimsuit with a decorative sarong tied around her waist and black flip-flops. "You're up," she said, giving him a pat on the shoulder then leaned against the wall to wait for him.

"I'll be right out," he said and headed in to get changed. After changing into a solid black pair of swim trunks, he removed his watch. The thing would break if it went into the ocean. Taking it off caused past injuries to become apparent. Dipping his hand in liquid nitrogen had its consequences. The chemical burns healed for the more part but the area where metal was in contact with his flesh left scars. More noticeable, were two horizontal scars wrapped around his wrist where the bomb once was. He gently held and rubbed the area with his other hand to remind himself it wasn't there anymore before looking over to a full body mirror set up in the corner of the room. Impaled, bitten, scratched, shrapnel, glass shards, burns, bullet holes, surgical scars from resetting broken bones.

A knocking at the door could be heard. "Chris?" asked a quiet voice from the other side of the door which woke him from his stupor.

"On my way," he replied before taking a breath. How long had he been staring into that mirror? Maybe this was why he hadn't gone to the beach in so long. He looked back at the mirror, this time noticing the beginnings of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, between his eyebrows and the corners of his lips... he was getting older. "How long am I going to be able to keep this up?" he whispered to himself before shaking his head and packing his day clothes back into his bag to head out.

'*'*'*'*'

Emma slipped a sheer white lace cover-up on over her warm pinkish peach-colored two-piece swimsuit and put on a floppy wide-brimmed braided straw sun hat before slipping on flip flops. Once properly dressed, she walked out of 'her room' to see Claire waiting by the bathroom. "Hey, good to see you again," Emma said with a wave as she walked over.

"Hey, good to see you too." Claire got up from leaning against the wall. "Sorry seems like we might be a few more minutes. Chris is really taking his time," Claire said with a slight frown. "He's been in there for seven minutes already."

"And men say it takes women forever to get ready," Emma joked with a short chuckle, which caused Claire to smile.

"Right?" Claire said in agreement. The two waited, making casual small talk to pass the time but the longer they waited the more worried both of them became.

"He's been in there a while now..." Emma said with a slight frown before walking over to the door and knocking on it. "Chris?" Emma called to see if he'd reply.

"On my way," he answered shortly after.

"Maybe he fell asleep," Claire said with a hesitant smile, which caused Emma to smile in turn.

"Maybe," Emma agreed before hearing footsteps make their way to the stairs.

"Emmy, could you come down and help me with the tablecloths?" her mother called up the stairs.

"Be right there!" she called back. "Sorry, I'll see you guys out there," Emma said giving a partial wave before heading down the stairs to join her family outside.

It took another few minutes, but eventually, Chris walked out.

"Hey," Claire said in greeting though with notable concern. "Are you doing okay? If you're not feeling well, I can drive you back to my place," she offered.

Chris shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine... Just got lost in my own thoughts for a bit," he admitted as he left his bag in the hall by the bathroom.

"If you're sure," Claire replied, clearly not quite buying that he was okay. But she wasn't going to push. Claire left her bag by Chris' before the two headed down the stairs, through the house to the kitchen, and out the back door onto a spacious wooden patio. Chelsea and Jack were making sure the babies all had a healthy amount of sunscreen, Eric and Elana were in the middle of a game of volleyball down by the water, while Emma was helping her mother set up two large wooden picnic tables and pin down tablecloths with clips to keep them from blowing away. Chris found himself staring at the scene, it was peaceful. Comfortable? He couldn't really explain the feeling to himself. It was foreign, but good. He knew that much.

"Hey, there you two are," Emma's dad said from his place by a grill. "You prefer Chris, right?" Chris nodded. "Well, Chris, why don't you give me a hand here," he suggested as he stepped to the side so Chris could join him.

Upon hearing this Jack gave Chelsea a peck on the cheek then got up and walks over "Mind if I jump in too? Wouldn't mind watching a professional work a grill," he said with a smile.

"Of course! Mind you, this isn't exactly what I'm used to working with at the restaurant but, eh. Grab a beer from the cooler and let's get cooking" Edward said, offering the tongs to Chris.

Oh boy. "I've never used a grill," he admitted. He'd had an apartment for most of his adult life, so there was never really the space to have one or a reason to learn to use one.

"You don't say. Your parents never taught you?" Edward asked, confused.

Chris attempted to keep a neutral face on that one. "Didn't really have the chance. Lost them both pretty suddenly at an early age."

This causes Edward to frown, but he nodded as a decision was made. "Well then, you're gonna learn today," Edward said as he clapped a hand on Chris' back and made sure he was in front of the grill. Even with the risk of being potentially insensitive, he was more than happy to adopt the two into the family, relations or otherwise. While they were here, they were family.

Jack leaned against the railing of the patio by the grill and idly chatted with the two as Chris got his impromptu cooking lesson from the family chef. He knew the struggle of meeting the family for the first time and wanted to be there as a buffer just in case.

"Watch the flames. There you go. You're going to want to flip that one. That one is cooking slow you can tell by the dripping there. See how it's still red? You're gonna want to move that one back further." Chris followed along with the instructions and even started making a few decisions on his own. "Now you got it," Edward coached with a smile.

"I see where Emma gets her love of cooking from," Chris said in an attempt to compliment the two, which caused Edward to laugh.

"Yeah maybe," he agreed with a thoughtful smile. "When she was really little, once she figured out what my job meant, she thought it meant she could just ask for whatever she wanted as far as food went." He chuckled. "I still remember her little tantrums as a 6-year-old when I'd tell her if she wanted something she'd have to make it with me."

"That's hard to imagine," Chris admitted with a slight smile.

"Every word of it is the truth," Edward said, making a crossing motion over his heart. "Never could get Elana to join us but Eric and Emma were usually my little helpers," he explained. "All right then son let's get these plated and carry them over to the tables, we got a hungry family to feed," Edward said, which caused Jack to clear his throat. "Oh uh, sorry. Do you mind if I call you that sometimes?" the man corrected, and Jack gives a single nod before sipping at his beer.

It was surprising, but Chris nodded. "Sure, that's fine if you want."

"All right, well, all the same, we should get the food moving. Jack, can you round up Eric and the girls?" Edward requested.

"On it," Jack replied, standing up from his leaning perch to gather everyone at the table. Before long, the food was placed on the table and everyone hovered around. The table was well covered in plates of hot dogs, burgers, and ribs along with a collection of sides that were made well in advance. Jack and Chelsea sat with one of their girls on each side of them, with Summer on the left of Chelsea sitting next to Elana. The seven-year-old was happily drawing and showing the graphic designer each time she made the slightest addition to the drawing to get Elana's praise. Claire sat on Chris' left while Emma sat on his right side. Edward and Emily sat in the middle of the table so they could see everyone.

"Summer put the book down and focus on your lunch please," Chelsea said as she put a cheeseburger on Summer's previously empty plate. The girl grumbled but obeyed and started to eat.

"Eric, how are the wife and kid doing?" Edward asked as he served himself alongside everyone else as they all filled their plates.

"Doing good. Milena wasn't able to get the time off, though, so she stayed home with Jax," Eric explained with a shrug. The lead couple at the table nodded in response.

"It's a shame but understandable," Emily said with a slight frown before looking at Claire. "And you live in the area?" she asked, wanting to make sure she included Claire in the conversation, though she seemed to be occasionally glancing at Chris. She was curious but didn't want to just pounce on the guy with 100 questions off the bat.

"Sorta. It's about an hour and a half drive from here but it's pretty close," Claire replied. "Thanks again for inviting us."

"Of course, dear, it's been a pleasure to have you with us," Emily said as her usual smile returned. "Now then, Christopher."

"Chris," Emma's father corrected.

"Oh right, Chris. How did you meet our Emma?" she asked, indulging her curiosity.

"She moved into the apartment next door to mine a couple of years ago." How do I explain this without saying she was worried she was going to get attacked because of break-in attempts and asked me for help? "I have to travel for work a lot and usually don't get home until late. With that, it makes it difficult to keep a full fridge without the food going bad. I'm not really sure how she found that out, but she offered to help and make sure I had something to eat when I got back and we got to know each other that way."

"It wasn't hard to figure out," Emma said, shaking her head. "You were slamming your cabinets so I figured I'd be nosy and drop off a plate of food as an excuse to be figure out what you were doing."

"Is that why you stopped by?" Chris asked as this was the first he'd heard of this.

"Yeah, you were making such a ruckus," Emma replied with a short laugh "It took me a minute to decide if I wanted to be that nosy or not but curiosity got the better of me."

Chris shrugged at that. "It was work," he replied with a slight smirk, which caused Emma to chuckle at their inside joke.

"So sweet," Emily cooed. "I remember meeting your father. I was an intern for a wedding planner," Emma's mother reminisced. "One of the busboys caught my eye and I was determined I'd know his name by the end of the night." She snickered.

"You hit on a busboy at a wedding when you were supposed to be working?" Emma asked with a laugh and shake of her head.

"What? He was cute," Emma's mother said with a smirk as she took a sip of her drink. Her father smiled for a moment before realizing the statement was in past tense.

"Was?" he asked, confused, causing Emma's mother to hide her mouth as she laughed.

"Like you're one to talk anyway, Em. I recall you having a rebel streak," Eric said with a smug smile as he picked at the macaroni salad on his plate. It was his sibling duty to embarrass her, after all.

Eric, no, Emma thought while holding her face.

"Oh yeah, that's right," Emma's mom said with fondness. "My cute little punk."

"Cute?" Emma asked with amused confusion. "I was being a little shit."

"Well sure, but I wasn't worried in the slightest," her mother replied while poking around at her phone. "Okay, maybe a little bit, but you were learning about who you were, and as a parent, that's part of the fun. Seeing who your kids will end up being," Emma's mom explained with a content nod. She puts her phone down and slid it across the table for Chris to see. Sure enough, there was a younger probably 18-year-old Emma, wearing loose baggy jeans supported by a thick belt and a black fishnet shirt over a tube top style bra, a little too much eyeliner, and poofy teased out hair with exaggerated layers. Emma's mother smiled at the picture before a thought came to mind. "That reminds me though do you still have that piercing on yo—"

"NOPE," Emma very quickly cut her mother off. Nope, nope, nope, nope. "I had that removed ten years ago. That's not a thing anymore, and why do you have that?" Emma asked with an embarrassed tone as she gestured to the picture.

"Eric was a dear and helped me digitize all the old family photos. They're in the cloud now," Emma's mother said with a smile.

"Thanks," she said sarcastically as she looked at her older brother.

"Not a problem," he said, making a slight cheers motion with his plastic cup before sipping from it.

Chris looked from the phone to Emma with confused curiosity. Just... What? This explained why she was able to recognize that punk rock music as a would-be hit, but he couldn't see her as a punk even with the evidence right in front of him.

Emma recognized that an explanation was required at this point. "Okay uh. That's a thing. I might have had a small phase of sorts... Remember that bad habit I mentioned that I used to have in my early college days where I'd fall asleep in my clothes?" Emma said with a nervous smile "That's because I chose to make sure I had good grades and a social life... As a consequence, I gave up on sleeping most of the time so I'd just kind of pass out whenever I had a free hour..." she explained. "Soooo, yeah while you were off being you, fighting for justice and making a difference in the world. I was probably blackout drunk at a dorm party with alcohol of questionably legal origins. After waking up with a piercing I didn't remember getting, I got the wake-up call that my choices were kind of garbage and decided to make better ones."

At this point, Emma's face closely resembled a cherry tomato. This wasn't something she was expecting to ever have to admit to. It wasn't who she was anymore, and it honestly wasn't who she had been for very long. Maybe two years out of basically forty, at this point, but it had still happened, and she had the literal scars to prove it.

"You mention you travel a lot, what is it that you do exactly?" Edward asked, which caused Chelsea to look over and see if that answer was going to change. Emma internally winced, it was an inevitable question, but one she had hoped they'd avoid all the same.

"Secret agent," Jack chimed in, getting a frown from Chelsea.

"I'm not really at liberty to talk about it," Chris said as he shook his head in amusement at Jack's answer. He did appreciate the help, all the same.

"You don't say, like those James bond movies? Suppose that explains the marks," Edward said with a nod.

Shit, he noticed them. Well, I mean yeah of course he did they were on full display... Maybe he shouldn't have changed into a swimsuit. "Well, saving the world one mission at a time results in a few bumps and bruises."

"I can imagine," Emily said sympathetically "It's a shame you can't talk about it though, I'd be willing to bet you have a few crazy stories to share." Again, the woman wanted to make sure the sister was included in the conversation. "What about you Claire, what do you do for work?"

Oh boy... "It runs in the family," Claire said, using the excuse her brother already built.

"That's amazing," Elana said with stars in her eyes as illustration ideas of a brother-sister spy duo started building up in her mind. The subject was left with that as the meal continued and the conversation remained jovial.

"You kids go and enjoy the water. Your father and I will worry about bringing the food in," Emma's mother said as she started collecting up plates.

"Are you sure mom? I can help," Emma offered, but was waved off.

"I'm not going to repeat myself. Now go have fun," Emily said, then walked inside with a stack of plates while Edward picked up a few dishes of food.

"Best not to test your mother. If she sees you here when she gets back, she won't be a happy camper," he said with a chuckle and followed after Emily.

"Bye, Gramma," Summer said as she quickly got up and hurries back to the water, motioning for the others to follow her. "Last one in the water is a Turcufalous."

"A what?" Claire asked, confused.

"I have no idea," Jack said, following after the kid, "but I don't think I want to be one so."

That was enough to get everyone moving. Emma checked her phone, 4 pm. They had started eating a little before 1 and just sat at the table talking for a while after.

Chris and Emma stuck to the back of the group as she checked the time "So, you're an ex-party girl?" Chris asked with a hint of amusement. And she called him a hothead, though he supposed that explained why she liked stronger beer back at the poker game.

"Ex being a keyword in that question. Those days are well behind me," she said, shaking her head. Oh lord, please just let me hide in the sand. Let me be buried. Please?

"Fair enough." Chris made a vague gesture of surrender. "So... where was it?"

"Mh-m. Nope. I get to have a few secrets too mister," Emma replied with a chuckle, pretty quickly understanding what the question was about.

"Can't blame me for being curious," he pointed out in return with a slight smirk as he cautiously moved to loosely hold her hand as they walk.

"How about this, you get three guesses, and if you don't get it then you drop it," Emma said, offering the challenge. "If you get it right, I'll admit it. Promise," she said with a nod. "I'll even give you a clue. It left a scar to get it removed."

"All right, deal." He nodded and thought it over. If it left a scar and needed to be removed, then it was probably somewhere unusual. "Thigh?"

"Nope," she replied, "two left. No rush, you have all day. So maybe pay attention," she said as she gave him a slight nudge, before stopping by a cluster of laid-out beach towels to ditch her swimsuit cover and hat and join the others in the water.

The group passed around a beach ball, hitting it from one person to another as Summer tried to swim around and catch up to it.

That lasted for about half an hour, then the group eventually grew tired of it and dispersed to various activities. Summer continued to swim around while Eric got out a boogie board. Chelsea sat under the umbrella with Jack and two nappy tots as they kept an eye on Summer. Claire was happily sunning while Elana went to see if she could find any seashells as the tide continued to move away. Emma sat by the water and tried making a sandcastle. After swimming in the deeper water, Chris joined her on the beach and sat down next to her.

"Chest?" he asked, which caused Emma to laugh. Belly was too easy of a guess, and it kind of stuck with him that she had to get it removed, it wasn't just that she stopped wearing it and that was that. Though he supposed that depending on location... this was more difficult than he thought it would be.

"Well nice to know where your eyes are going," she said shaking her head as her laugh turned to a chuckle. "One guess left."

"Hey, Em! I found some sea glass for your castle!" Elana called over.

"Be right there!" Emma called back. "Sorry, I'll be right back," Emma said and got up to walk away.

Chris watched her leave with a slight frown. Last guess, so he'd have to make it count. What is that? he thought as he noticed something new. Two small slightly darker circles on her lower back. Interesting.

Eventually, Emma returned with a hand full of sea glass and moved to sit back down. As she did so, Chris reached out and placed a hand on her lower back to steady her but also presses the tip of his thumb and ring finger against the marks.

Well, shoot. I mean, it was the goal of the game for him, but I didn't think the scars were still that noticeable, she thought as she started putting the glass into the sandcastle as windows.

"Did I find it?" Chris asked as he moves his hand away to avoid it being seen lingering by anyone watching.

"Final answer?" Emma asked, wondering if she could trip him up, but he nodded.

She hesitated, but nodded in return. "Yep."

"Really?" he asked, surprised and amused. Huh. Lower back. Technically two, in that case.

"Now you're just gloating," Emma said with a half-hearted smirk.

"Not at all, just surprised." He offered a smile in return. The two failed to notice that Emma's mother had rejoined the group and was happily taking pictures of everyone from a distance and fully utilizing the zoom lens attached to the chunky camera.

"Cute," Emma's mother said as she looks at the picture of the two smiling at each other while sitting by the water and recently decorated sandcastle. She continued taking pictures as everyone relaxed.

Once she was content with her building, Emma stood up again and went back to get her cover-up, hat, and flip-flops. "I kind of want to go to the boardwalk for to get an ice cream. Anyone want to join me?" Emma asked and got a few 'Ehs' in response. Claire looked up from sunning herself and nodded.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind some time to walk around," she said as she got up and put her wrap around her waist once more, putting on her sandals as well.

"Sounds good, we'll be back," Emma said, motioning for Claire to walk with her.

The two stood and Jack got up with the smallest child to carry her inside, likely for a diaper change.

Chris gave a wave as they walked off. This was rather peaceful. A good five or ten minutes after that, a soft voice caught his attention from the ocean.

"Mama!"

Chris and Chelsea noticed the voice at around the same time.

"Summer!" Chelsea called, terrified, as looked over to Summer and noticed that she was now further out, and struggling.

Shit. Chris quickly got up and started running through the water until he could start swimming to make his way over to her. At that point, it didn't take long for him to notice that the tide had moved her out to a current that was making it hard to move any direction other than with it and further out to sea. She had just been by the shore a few minutes ago, how did this happen?

Once he made his way over to the small girl, she clung to him. "I got you," he said, laying back to float so she could rest against him. He continued following the current. If they were lucky, it would bring them back towards shore eventually and he'd be able to keep them above water longer this way.

Back at the shore, the remaining family was panicking regarding what to do. Chris and Summer were getting further and further away and moving down the beach away from the house. "Holy shit! Who do we call for this. The Coast Guard? Is there a number for that?" Eric asked as Emily consoled a sobbing and panicking Chelsea.

"I looked away for a second when Jack left how did she get that far out in such a short period of time?" Chelsea asked through sobs, afraid she was going to lose her child.

"It's okay baby, it's going to be okay," Emily said stroking her back as Elana clicks at her phone to try and find any sort of contact number for this kind of emergency.

"Um, okay. Well, heck, when in doubt use the general emergency service number," Elana said while dialing the three-digit code. "Hi, um, so we have a kid that's stuck in a current we need help. Yeah, we're at the beach. The address? Um. Guys, what's the address!"

In a matter of minutes, the two were pulled and tumbled past the light house's cliff and out of sight of the group. Chris watched as a larger wave started forming. FUCK. "Summer hold your breath, okay?" he said, holding onto her as he took a deep breath.

The two tumbled but eventually contacted sand, ending up on a very narrow strip of beach on the wrong side of the lighthouse that was surrounded by cliffs. Once the tide started moving back in, they were sunk... but for now, he would at least have a minute to catch his breath and rest. He couldn't contact the others to let them know where they ended up.

Summer was coughing and crying as she continued to cling to Chris for dear life. Chris frowned and shifted to sit so his back was resting against the stone cliff. He gave the child a hug to tried and comfort her. It took her about 15 minutes, but she did eventually started calming down. "That was pretty scary. huh?"

Summer nodded.

"You're safe now. I'm going to get you back to your mom. Okay?"

"Okay..." Summer finally spoke before giving another nod.

He needed to come up with a plan... Curse those stupid cigarettes. He was already winded and he had only been out there for what felt like twenty minutes. What time was it? Luckily for Summer, water base training was required in case of emergency landings and various aquatic missions he's had to take on.

'*'*'*'*'

"So how have you been?" Emma asked as she and Claire made their way to the boardwalk.

"Good. Busy working, so the break is nice," Claire answered with a smile. "And you?"

"Same. They rarely mention that raises mean more work too," Emma said with a short chuckle and a shake of her head. "Oh well."

"Yeah, they really don't," Claire agreed with a sympathetic smile. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Ask away," Emma replied as they made their way down the street.

"Chris really hasn't told you anything about what we do for work, has he?" she asked with a concerned but curious expression.

Emma nodded. "Yeah, I mean he's explained a little bit. Something about international security under the UN?" she answered quietly to avoid being overheard. "But other than that, we tend to just not talk about work."

"And you're okay with that?" Claire asked after.

"Honestly? Yeah. It's selfish, but I feel like if I did completely understand then I'd worry about him more than I already do," Emma admitted, which caused Claire to crack a smile and laugh. "Hm?"

"Sorry, I guess I'm just trying to figure you out is all," Claire said with a now relaxed smile as her laughter subsided.

"I'm nosy, but I can respect when someone tells me not to dig," Emma replied, shaking her head. "It's his life, he'll let me know when he's ready to talk about it. If he ever is."

"Yet when we first met you were quick to take my side," Claire pointed out.

"Yeah... I dunno. It just seemed li—wait, how do you know about that?" Emma asked with a raised eyebrow. Did Chris tell her about that?

"I went to get a glass of water from the kitchen and heard some muffled voices from the other side of the wall. Curiosity got the better of me, so I put my ear to the wall to hear," Claire admitted before chuckling for a moment. "I guess we're both curious."

"Yeah, I guess so," Emma said with an amused smile. "Neither of us are perfect. We're both capable of being wrong, and in that situation, I felt like he was wrong. Granted, I didn't go about that in the best way, but"—she bobbed her head—"I guess it was kind of weird to me that the guy that carried my moping self down the street to push me to get over it, was suddenly running away from conflict."

"He what?" Claire asked, amused.

"Oh god, that. Um, okay, so…" Emma said while holding her face as they made it to the boardwalk. "I enjoy skating in my free time, roller, inline, ice you name it. However"—Emma moved her hand away from her face and her smile became more neutral—"I rather suddenly lost a friend of mine who I'd skate with, so I just stopped all together."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Claire said sympathetically as they walked past the various lined-up stores.

"It's fine," Emma replied as her smile returned in part. "Chris noticed that I had stopped going and had me go for a run with him. The second we passed the building he threw me over his shoulder and carried me in."

Claire chuckled at this. "I mean I guess that works?"

"I certainly would have appreciated not having my ass in the air. I'm a regular there so that was something I had to explain a few times," Emma replied with a laugh. "Eh, I got him back for it by making him try skating while we were there, so we're even."

"So, you two push each other. In a good way that is," Claire said with a smile.

"I guess so, hadn't really thought about it much," Emma admitted as she thought it over. They kind of did, within reason. They'd give an initial nudge and maybe a shove if the situation called for it, but if the other insisted on needing space the request was more often than not catered to.

"I'm glad," Claire said contently. In her opinion, her brother needed someone that would ground him but not someone that would just roll over and say he was always right. Emma seemed to at least be willing to push back sometimes.

Before long Claire and Emma had reached the front of the line for the ice cream stand and started slowly making their way back. Emma had an orange and vanilla swirled ice cream while Claire had chocolate and vanilla.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Emma asked as they walked.

"Sure, seems fair," Claire admitted before taking a bite of the soft serve.

Emma paused to try and think about how to word the question. "What were your parents like?" Emma asked, fully prepared to apologize if the question ended up offending her.

"Hmm," Claire hummed while thinking about it. "It's kind of hard to explain." She bobbed her head. "They were, parents," she said with a short laugh. "I was eleven when I lost them, so I didn't really pay much attention to them, I figured they'd always be there," Claire admitted with a slight hint of guilt in her tone. "They cared about us, worked long shifts but we'd go on vacation every other year or so. We'd argue sometimes but we'd hug and make up after."

Emma nodded and quietly listened as Claire attempted to explain and seemed to understand where she was coming from. When it was your normal you didn't really pay attention to what was going on around you. It was just how things were supposed to be.

"You know... I think this is the first time Chris and I have been on a vacation together since then," Claire realized quietly. "Thanks, for letting me tag along," she said as they left the boardwalk.

"Of course, it's been fun to get to spend time with you," Emma said with a smile.

"Yeah, it has been fun," Claire agreed. When was the last time she relaxed and just went to get ice cream because she wanted to? She needed to make some changes, it seemed.

"And now if you need me, you have someone who will team up with you to gang up on your brother," Emma offered with a cheeky grin.

"Thank you, I might take you up on that," Claire replied with an amused laugh.

"Oh! I should give you my number," Emma realized as she dug through her purse with her free hand to try to find her phone.

"Good idea. You tell me if he's being a pain too," Claire joked as they swapped numbers. Once the digits were exchanged, she shook her head. "Joking aside, if it's not too much to ask, can you just let me know everyone in a while that he's okay?" Claire requested. "I know he's my older brother, but I worry about him..."

"Sure, I can do that," Emma agreed as they made their way into the house, through it, and out to the patio.

"What's going on?" Claire asked quietly as they noticed the family huddled together on the beach.

"No idea. Let's go check it out," Emma suggested as she dropped her purse on the patio and abandoned the remainder of her ice cream cone to the trash so she could hurry over. Whatever was going on was much more important.

"How did I not remember the ocean has tides and currents?" Chelsea could be heard sobbing. "My baby...my little baby."

"It's going to be okay," Jack said, trying to comfort his wife.

"Where is Chris?" Claire asked, as she was the first to notice he was gone.

Eric shook his head. "Summer got pulled out by the tide and Chris went to get her but they couldn't get back... we lost sight of them after they went past the ledge..."

"What?" Emma asked, shocked.

"It's been an hour, they could be anywhere," Chelsea spoke through sobs once more. Elana was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.

'*'*'*'*'

Chris tapped his thumb against his knee to try and keep track of the time. Thirty minutes. He had caught his breath and had been glancing around to try and think of how to get out. There was one ledge that was maybe a 50-foot climb, but it was directly over the sand if they fell that would really hurt. There was another point, maybe 75-feet tall, but it was over the water. If they landed there, it would still hurt like hell, and there was no guarantee they'd end up at this strip of beach again. He could try to coast further down to see if he could find a better way up, but who knew what they'd find. They could wait until they saw a boat and try swimming out to it but, that was a good 200-feet through a current to reach a depth that a boat would be able to comfortably be controlled in. Guess we're climbing...

"Hey, Uncle Chris?" Summer asked quietly. This got his attention. He wasn't really sure how to respond to the change in title.

"What is it, Summer?" Chris replied while trying to figure out how he was going to get them both up the cliff.

"... Can I call you Uncle Chris?" This caused a small smile to form on his face. She had already done that.

"Sure..." He heard a tiny 'woot' in response, which made him chuckle. Okay. Time to try. "Ready to get out of here?" he asked.

Summer nodded, and he moved to stand up. She continued to cling to him as if it was the only reason she was still alive. In a way, he was. He walked over to the short section of the cliff. "Keep holding on, okay? Try not to move." If he lost his balance that could end up being a broken spine, or at least a broken rib, thanks to the extra weight that would be landing on top of him.

"Okay," she agreed and adjusted her hold before nodding. "Ready."

With that, Chris started climbing slowly up the side. It was difficult with the extra weight and having to arc his back. The rocks were sharp, and a loose foothold caused him to scrape a few bare toes. "Fuck," he shouted as a reaction to the pain. "Don't repeat that," he said through gritted teeth, but he continued climbing. It felt like forever, but he eventually made it to the top, finding that they were surrounded by tall weeds. His foot hurt like crazy. It was bleeding and had sand in it now, but they were out. "I'm going to put you down now, okay?" Chris said as he walks away from the ledge and into the weeds. Summer nodded and finally let go only to take his hand as the two started walking back to the house.

Chelsea's sobbing could be heard as she was surrounded by the family. Elana was still on the phone and providing information to the dispatchers as needed.

"MAMA!" Summer called, starting to cry again and running over to the group.

"My baby!" Chelsea cried through sobs as she hurried over to Summer and collapsed in front of the child, swooping her into her arms. The others were not far behind her as they all surround the two.

"He's injured, someone get a med kit," Eric pointed out as he notices Chris was limping slightly due to the now sand and dried blood-covered foot. Upon hearing that, Emma hurried back to the house to try and find one while Elana updated the emergency response line that the two missing individuals had made it back from the water.

"It's not that bad," Chris said. Sure, it hurt, and it was bleeding, but he'd been through worse.

"No need to tough it out. That'll get infected if you don't get it cleaned up, son," Edward said, concerned as Chelsea eventually got up and stood in front of Chris.

She was relieved but still felt heavy with guilt. Summer was her responsibility, her child. She had looked away for a moment and almost lost her forever. Even with how petty she had been to Chris and Emma both, the silent daggered glares, he still hadn't hesitated to run out there and help when she messed up.

"Thank you," Chelsea said through tears, "and I'm sorry. Gods, I am so sorry." She hid her face in the shame. She felt like the worst mother right now. Even though she didn't want this to happen, and she had done everything she could to prevent it, it had still happened. She wasn't used to the ocean. She had been treating this like a trip to a lake with waves. She had completely failed to consider the tides and currents and she almost had to pay the price for it.

A very gentle hand on Chelsea's shoulder woke her up from her thoughts to find Chris reaching out to her. "Hm?" she hummed confused.

"It's okay," he repeated. She'd completely missed the first time he spoke.

After a few more moments, the group of eleven made their way back to the rental home, where Emma was just about to walk out with the med-kit. Chris stayed on the patio to try and wash off as much of the sand from his feet as he could before joining the others inside, taking a seat at the dining room table next to Emma so she could clean and patch up the injury.

"It's getting late," Claire said, rubbing the back of her neck. "I should probably go."

"Hm? Oh it is late, isn't it... If you don't have plans, you should stay with us, both of you," Emily offered to Chris and Claire with a smile.

Edward nodded in agreement with his wife as he put an arm over her shoulder. "It's almost dinner time. You'd be doing a lot of driving, going there and back again," he pointed out. "And we have plenty of space."

Claire glanced at Chris. The two smiled at each other, and Chris nodded. With that, Claire looked back to Emily and Edward. "Sure, I think I'd like that."


Haaaa this one ended up being a total brick X'D I couldn't get myself to cut a single section of it, hopefully, you can forgive me. the next chapter is probably going to be half the size of this one if that lolol.

Review Responses:

Ketchup imagination - Not a problem :) it makes me happy that you like my writing that much to trust me even if I went sicko mode to make it a good and interesting read. It makes me want to continue to grow as a writer. U hopefully this was another good chapter to the book even if it was like 10% sicko mode by putting characters in danger lol

InkScribble - thank you~ glad you enjoyed the call back uvu I personally love laser tag so i could not resist bringing that back for a bit in chap 25 XD