A/N: It's Mackenzie's turn for some attention. Hope you enjoy! xx Mariah

Ages:

Jim - 53
Melinda - 49
Ned - 27
Katie - 24
Aaron - 20
Mackenzie - 14
Lana - 6
Emma - 3

Ever since Mackenzie was a little girl she'd been called a little fish. She loved baths, nothing calmed her like the water— it still did —and she used to believe she was a fish without gills until she was eight. She still liked to think that now.

It was just after dinner when Mackenzie went looking for her swim cap. Katie had texted about wanting to work out and asked if she wanted to come swim before the swim team tryouts tomorrow.

She'd agreed and ran upstairs. She went through her swim bag and her top drawer, finding all twelve of her other swim caps, but not the one she was looking for. She went into her closet, pulling down a box from the top shelf of her closet.

A few old caps still lived there, but not her lucky one. Competition medals cluttered her bedroom and her parents boasted in their subtle way at every and any opportunity. They were proud, that was nice. It was so nice to be boasted about.

Mackenzie searched high and low until she gave up and ran into the hallway, going over to her parent's room. The door was closed and she hesitated before she knocked. "Mom?" She pressed her ear to the door, listening in before she just went in like she would if the door was open. She didn't hear anything suspicious and turned the doorknob, pushing the door open a little. "Mom? Have you seen my lucky swim cap?"

Her mother was sitting on the bed, folding clothes as her father sat behind her, rubbing her shoulders. It was a beautiful picture, Melinda so relaxed as Jim's hands moved in perfect precision on her muscles. It reminded her of how she felt when she dove into the water. She could swim laps for hours without even feeling it.

"Hey baby," her mother smiled, eyes opening as her father's hands moved off her and he pressed a kiss with a whisper to her cheek. They were so close and she loved them for it. She turned her head, touching his cheek. "Hurry back." Jim got up from bed, winking at her as she walked past him and sat next to her mom. "What'd you say before?"

"Have you seen my lucky swim cap? Katie wants to work out and I'm gonna tag along to the pool." She explained, taking a few shirts from the basket and starting to fold them. "You know the lime green one."

"Umm I haven't seen it since that meet last month," Melinda shrugged, folding the last pair of pants from the basket before she got up. "I'll look around when I'm putting clothes away. One of your sisters could have snatched it by accident. You could go ask them." Her mother carefully moved the folded clothes into separate stacks for each person and handed her a pile of jeans amongst other stuff. "Don't worry. Most of the clothes you gave me are in the dryer still. I'll put it away while you're out."

Mackenzie nodded and moved to put her clothes away, grabbing her swim bag from where it hung on her closet door. She tossed it on her bed, unzipping it and seeing there wasn't a towel. She double-checked her earplugs, swimsuit, and travel-size shampoos and conditioners. She checked the pockets, finding three different colored goggles and different lotions for when the chlorine got to her.

Also, she found her coin purse with a few dollars in change for the vending machines at the YMCA. Their pool was just so much better than the high school's. So much cleaner and cooler. Another small baggy she found held all the bobby pins and ponytails in the world to keep her hair back and in her swim cap. She had a few other swim caps tucked in random places. A purple, a gray, and a yellow one were found. She liked to switch it up sometimes.

But she still couldn't find her lucky green one. She'd had it for three years. It was worn and stretched, but it still fit perfectly. It was the only cap that held all of her hair.

"Hey," there was a knock at her door as just as her mother came into her room with a green towel on her arm. "Thought you might need a new one for your bag. I'll leave one out for tomorrow too. Just toss it in on your way up." She tucked the towel into her bag and lingered, messing around with the things in there before zipping it closed. "Don't tire yourself out, little fish. Tomorrow is a big day," her mother whispered as she wrapped her arms around her, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she squeezed her. "Remember to sit in the hot tub after like your dad told you for your muscles."

"Yes mom," she laughed, squeezing her back as she shrugged her off. "Katie will probably want to after running."

"Yeah. I know, just wanted to remind you," Her mother sighed, remembering how Katie would always take a bath after a run before showering. Her sister hadn't run since high school though, but it had always been the most fun going to her track energy and the music, plus she just ran so fast that they were always on their feet cheering for her. "She didn't tell me it was that serious. She just said she liked jogging in the morning because it helped clear her head."

"Yeah. It does," she said. "But she's faster than ever apparently. She went to the track early one morning and ran into Ned and some cadets he was running with. She creamed him in his mile time and now the guys are giving him care, so he's being a sour puss." She rolled her eyes, swinging her bag over her shoulder then as her phone vibrated on the side table near her bed. "Hence the reason she wants to work out. It clears her head. I think she might be here."

"Oh, that's annoying." Her mother grabbed her phone for her and she read the text from her. "Is she?"

"Yeah. She's out front," she said, walking past her as she typed just gotta grab something real quick. She knocked on Lana's door and then pushed it open.

"Be nice Kenz," her mother warned and stood in the doorway.

The six-year-old sat at her little table, carefully coloring a picture with her crayons. She didn't even look up when her older sister came in. "Hey Lan, have you seen my green swim cap?"

The little girl paused, lifting her pink crayon from the page and putting it back in the box before turning to her sister. "Yes. Emma had it." The little girl turned back to her crayons and grabbed a purple one. "She wanted to surprise you for the big tryout tomorrow."

"Thank you for telling me," she sighed and kissed the blacked-haired girls' cheek, hugging her tightly. "I like the trumpet. It's pink!"

"Lucy is unique isn't she?" Lana grinned, pointing to the trumpet.

"Yes, very." She said standing up. Her mother smiled at her then, following her to Emma's room. "What if Emma ruined it, mom?"

"Do you remember that time when you stole Katie's favorite hairpin?" Her mother asked.

The teen sighed. Yes. She remembered. No one ever let her live that down. It was an accident. She'd put the pin in her doll's hair and it got stuck. When she pulled on it, the wing on the butterfly broke off.

"And what did your sister do?" Her mother asked.

"She stole my piggy bank and bought herself a new one!" She groaned, rolling her eyes. She was still mad about that. The new pin she'd got cost a whole ten dollars and that was a whole lot to her back when she was five. "And she didn't even get grounded."

"She was grounded. She didn't have Hannah over for a whole three weeks," her mother reminded her. "But besides that Kenz. How did she react?"

"She was mad, but she forgave me the next day. I guess she understood that I was only five and didn't mean to break it." She sighed, realizing her mother's point.

"Exactly," her mother kissed her cheek as she walked toward the stairs as the laundry downstairs beeped. She needed to switch it "Now be nice and have a nice swim."

"Kenzie! I have a present for you!" Emma came running out of her room and up to her big sister Mackenzie.

"What is it, Ems?" She asked, kneeling. She handed out her bright green swim cap.

"I made it pretty! For tomorrow!" Emma opened the cap to reveal the holes where she used scissors to cut a design. "You don't like it…?"

Mackenzie's face had kind of dropped, must have been a sign for her. But she quickly smiled at her little sister, kissing her cheek. "I love it. It's so pretty!" She exclaimed. There were so many others that she could wear. Her sister didn't mean to. "Thank you for the beautiful present but next time you want to take something of mine... ask first. Okay?"

"Okay. I will!" Emma promised and hugged her. She ran off then, right into their dad's strong arms "Daddy!"

"My princess!" Jim giggled and kissed the toddler's cheek.

Mackenzie made her way out, stuffing the cut-up cap into her pocket. She grabbed her jacket, pulling it on her body as she slipped her shoes on and walked out the door. Katie was idly sitting in her car on her phone, listening to music.

"Hey!" Katie grinned at her as she hopped into the front. "Buckled?" She quickly buckled then, nodding to her. "How's the fam?"

"Good," she muttered, looking forward as her sister pulled onto the road. "Emma destroyed my lucky swim cap."

Katie rubbed her sister's back comfortingly, but it was short-lived. "Just karma for that pin of mine you broke," Katie nudged her then, smiling.

Ugh. No one would ever let her live that down.

The water was cold when Mackenzie dove into the lap pool, pressing start on the waterproof stopwatch her father got her. She needed to work on her freestyle for the tryout tomorrow. She wanted to be on the Varsity team more than anything, begged for it even.

She wasn't going to give up without a fight. She let her limbs think for her. She was so good now that she cruised along the lanes, stopping after reaching her length. She surfaced, pulling her goggles up to check her time.

54.5 seconds

Makcneize cursed, sighing, putting her goggles back on, and starting again. She needed to gain two seconds on that at least. Before she knew it, two hours passed with barely a reduction in speed even at the end.

Katie surfaced, in an old two-piece with her hair tied up and towel on her arm. She clapped when she saw her last few laps.

"How long have you been watching?" She pushed up on her arms, sitting on the edge of the pool as she pulled her goggles off, wiping her eyes.

"Last ten laps or so," Katie shrugged, walking over to the lap pool's edge. "Wanna come to soak in the hot tub?"

"Sure," she laid back on the tile, smiling.

"Hit your goal? I timed fifty seconds on your laps." She smiled at her sister's words. If she was correct, yes, she'd hit her goal. First place at state last year at their school in the one-hundred-yard Freestyle had gotten fifty-one seconds, so fifty would beat it, putting her in first. Unless the competition had changed.

"Yeah." She double-checked, showing her. "I should be all good for tomorrow."

"That's good," Katie smiled and helped her up.

They walked to the hot tub, relaxing in the warm depths. A warm soak was always good after a workout, especially when you have good company and her big sister was the best.