A/N: This story was co-written by AO3's obsessivedaydreamer and posted here with her permission.

Kate

When Kate wakes up, Jack isn't there.

His side of the bed is made and if it weren't for her waking up in the middle of the night to calm a crying Auggie down, she would've wondered if he'd slept in it at all.

A gurgling sound catches her attention and she sits up to find Auggie standing in his cot, holding onto the bars to keep upright and smiling brightly at her, bottom teeth showing. She stands and walks to him. "Hi, buddy," she says, picking him up. "Good morning."

On the bedside table, as she sits back down to nurse him, she sees a note. "I'm sorry about last night, I promise to do better. Auggie already ate, we wanted you to sleep in, but he fell asleep again right after breakfast. We're at the beach. I love you and I'm sorry."

She checks the clock and is surprised to see that it's almost 11. She's grateful she's not particularly hungry; if she ate now, she wouldn't be hungry enough to eat at their usual lunch time. Instead, she settles for nursing her baby and getting ready to join them at the beach. Once both she and Auggie are lathered up in sunscreen and changed, she takes off.

Kate's still fascinated by how beautiful their resort is, blooming flowers along the paths that lead to each of the attractions they offer. She takes one of her cameras with her, the digital one this time, eager to get some dynamic shots of their blended family playing on the beach.

She hears them before she spots them. The kids are both screaming "Dad" at the top of their lungs and Juliet keeps chanting a string of "Woo, yes, let's go, James".

By the time she reaches them, she can see what the fuss is all about. The two men are facing off in a ping-pong match on the beach, both sweaty messes, entirely focused on the small ball as it bounces back and forth between them.

"What's going on here, guys?" She asks, taking a seat behind the children, closest to the sunshade.

To her surprise, David turns to her, blue eyes like his mother's sparkling with joy, and smiles. "They made a bet, Kate! Whoever loses has to go in the water today. It's really cold."

She smiles in return, not only because she finds their bet amusing, but because she's pleased to have had an interaction with David without any animosity. "Are you the only one rooting for your Dad?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, we gotta change that, don't we?"

His smile grows as he nods. They both turn to the match again, Clementine claims they're tied and David joins her in keeping score. Kate bounces the baby on her lap whenever Jack scores, an attempt to get him to chirp along with their excited screams even if he's completely clueless as to what's going on.

The match is tight, the scores are too close, one always a single point ahead of the other before the tables turn. David questions why no one's won yet, despite the point count being so high and Juliet explains that after ten points, they need a two-point difference to win.

Jack is one point ahead once again. It's James' turn to serve. The four of them grow quiet, crossing their fingers. David and Kate hope he scores, Juliet and Clementine hope he misses so James can still stand a chance. The ball goes up as if in slow motion, their eyes follow as Jack's racket goes up and strikes it right in the middle, sending it flying to the other side.

It nicks the edge of James' side. James throws himself toward it, trying to catch it, praying his racket hits it at all, but the ball settles on a small gap in the sand and the match is over.

"Sunovabitch," James utters louder than intended and gets immediately scolded by Juliet for using such foul language. He walks toward Jack and extends his hand begrudgingly. "Good game, Doc."

Kate and David erupt in celebration, high-fiving each other briefly before David gets up and runs to Jack. Jack hugs the boy, sweat still dripping from his face. "That was so cool, Dad!"

She watches as Jack's face changes, relief and pride spreading across his features as he looks at his son. He takes a quick look at her, catches her watching him, watching them, and smiles before looking back at the boy. "I can teach you a few tricks if you want."

"Yeah!"

He looks back up at Kate as the boy rushes to the other side of the table, picking up James' discarded racket. He winks at her and she nods at him. A first step in the right direction never felt so right.

James

"What kind 'a teacher assigns homework over spring break?"

David looks up at James and shrugs, history textbook open on his lounge chair. "Mr. Brady. He's an ass."

"David," Juliet scolds, giving him a pointed look.

"What? He's a butt. Better?"

James snickers, but goes quiet after Juliet glares at him. David and him may not share blood, but the kid's certainly picking up on some of his behaviors.

"At least I get to do it beside a pool instead of at home."

James reaches his hand out, and David high-fives him. Between their conversation last night, the banana split, and his bonding with Jack this morning, he's in a better mood. It's nice to see.

James pulls off his shirt, wanting to go into the pool. He searches the water for Clementine, and frowns when he sees her in the water leaned up against the side, chatting with a teenage boy sitting on one of the lounges.

"Who the hell is she talking to?"

They all look up, and David answers, "Oh, that's Devon."

"What? Who the hell is Devon?" James questions. This is the issue with letting the kids roam by themselves, they get into trouble. (This Devon guy seems like one hundred percent trouble, that's for sure.)

"He's this guy who's on vacation here too. He's sixteen," David says. "She thinks he's hot."

"What?" He whips his head around. David and Juliet are both stifling laughter.

"Yeah, she said he looks like Troy Bolton, and she wants to try and kiss him before he leaves. Or we leave, I guess."

"What?" he cries. "She's twelve, she ain't kissing nobody!"

"Don't stress about it, James," Juliet says, far too casual. "She's a kid, it's practically a fantasy. I was the same as a kid. A crush won't turn into anything."

"It could! She's relentless!" He resists the urge to dash over there and pluck her out of the water, pulling her away from the situation. "That guy's like two feet taller than her."

"I'm sure he won't do anything," Juliet says. "She looks like a baby."

"She is a baby," he says. He knows she's twelve, but when he looks at her he still sees the little girl who used to hide under a blanket when they played hide and seek with her hair sticking out and believe she was invisible. She's growing up far too quickly, and he can't help resisting it at every turn. Especially when said turns involve teenage boys.

"I'll be back," he says.

"James."

"What?"

"Leave her alone."

How is he supposed to leave her alone? He's her dad. He's supposed to protect her. The moment he held her tiny body in his arms he vowed he would never let anything happen to her.

But maybe Juliet is onto something. Maybe he's okay just watching her from where he is, and letting her be a kid and make her own mistakes.

Maybe he can wait to give her a speech about the one hundred reasons she shouldn't even be looking in that guy's direction when she walks back over.

"I can go in the water with you, James," Juliet says, seemingly feeling bad for him about Clementine's absence. She's a worthy replacement.

They both get into the pool and after adjusting to the temperature, the first thing Juliet does is go under and flip forward.

He's laughing when she comes back up. "Impressive."

"You can thank Rachel for teaching me that." He knows she didn't grow up privileged, really. But she had family vacations and pool days with her sister. That's something he longed for desperately as a kid.

"What about a backflip?" he asks her, and she grins and goes back under, rolling backward.

When she comes back up, she says, "Your turn."

He obliges and ducks under the water. He opts for a backflip first, and when he comes back up, his nose burns from the chlorine. He coughs. "How was that?"

"I'll give it a seven."

"Really? And I thought you loved me."

She laughs, and grabs his face, kissing him. The moment is interrupted by the loud splash of David cannonballing into the water beside them.

"Did you finish the work?" Juliet asks when he swims up to them.

He rolls his eyes. "Yes, I did."

"I'm just checking!"

The three of them decide to race from one side to the other, and in the end, Juliet comes out victorious. She reminds them she was on the swim team in high school, and David argues it was an unfair advantage.

Finally, Clementine swims over to them, a grin on her face.

"Who's your friend?" James asks, trying to hide his frustration.

"Who?"

"The guy you were talking to."

"Oh, Devon! He's nice." She swipes her hands through the water, creating ripples.

James nods, ignoring the intensity of Juliet's gaze boring into the side of his face. "Well, I don't want ya talking to him anymore."

"What? Why?"

"One, he's a stranger. Two, he's a lot older than you and I ain't letting you try whatever you're thinking about trying."

Clementine scoffs and hits the water with her hand. "I'm not doing anything! You're so annoying."

She's not even a teenager yet, but he can already picture the next six years so clearly. He's never been so terrified.
"I'm your dad, I'm supposed to be annoying."
She smiles slyly, a copycat expression of one he's worn a thousand times. "And I'm your kid, so I'm supposed to ignore you and secretly do what I want anyway."

"Don't even try it," he warns.

She just rolls her eyes and laughs, swimming over to David and asking him if he can do a handstand under the water. She's far too mature for her age, and far too like him. It's a dangerous combination.

With the kids playing together, Juliet gets out of the pool and James follows her.

"You gotta put on more sunscreen," he tells her, as they dry themselves off. "You're turning red."
She shakes her head. "It's inevitable."

But she grabs the sunscreen out of the bag as she sits back down, squeezing it into her palm and rubbing it over her shoulders.

"You know," he says, watching her, "you're laughing now, but you ain't gonna be so pleased when David's the one eyeing the ladies."

She scrunches up her nose. "I don't even want to think about that. That's one thing I'm happy to let Jack take care of when the time comes. Though I'm sure he'd handle it awfully."

He's reminded of the conversation between David and him the previous night. Though things seem to be okay right now, things like that don't just disappear. Even if, from this point onwards, Jack did everything right, the wound has been left and the scar will always remain.
He's also reminded of the fact that he promised David he wouldn't tell Juliet anything. And he hasn't, not even when she asked what had happened after dinner.

"Maybe you should have a conversation with Jack 'bout how he handles things."

Juliet frowns. "What do you mean?"

He shrugs. "Seems sometimes like everyone's just accepted the fact that he ain't great for David, rather than try and get him to actually be better. He's clearly capable of it."

"Is that what David was telling you last night?" She asks it like she already knows the answer. But he just shakes his head.

"That was between me and him."

She looks at him closely, eyes narrow. She seems annoyed, but then she sighs and it's gone. She understands. She has to.

Clementine swims up to the edge of the pool, in front of where they sit. "Can Kate come and bring Auggie for lunch?"

"You're really attached to that baby, huh," James says, raising an eyebrow.

"He's so cute. I love him."

Juliet smiles. "I think they're going to come over here for lunch. Any minute now, probably."

After the ping pong game when James and Juliet had announced they were heading to the pool, Jack and Kate opted to stay at the beach with the baby—who was extremely occupied playing with the sand. But there's a poolside cafe they said they'd meet them at later in the day.

Clementine cheers excitedly and swims back over to David.

Alone again, Juliet holds her book in her lap but doesn't open it. She barely lifts her head when she tells him, "I can't just tell Jack to be a better father."

"I know." James leans back against the chair, pushing his hair back. He regrets saying anything. "Just forget it. Let's enjoy this while we're here."

She nods and slides her sunglasses on. He wants to soak in the sun and soak in these moments while he can. He doesn't want to worry about Jack anymore when he can focus on the good things he has.

—

"Where are they?"

James taps his foot against the ground, face drawn up in a scowl.

Juliet holds onto his arm, attempting to flatten her hair with her other hand. "I'm sure they're coming."

They've been standing in front of the Japanese restaurant for ten minutes, though only five have passed since the time they were all supposed to meet. He can't help being frustrated.

Juliet turns out to be right though, as the others come up the path soon after he complained. David and Clementine come running up, talking a mile a minute about the large lizard they'd seen on their walk over, which had their attention for a couple of minutes (and caused their tardiness). They're so excited about it, James can hardly feel frustrated anymore.

Things seem to be better than they'd been yesterday, and James would love to keep it that way. The arguing was getting exhausting.

Jack encourages David to sit down beside him, and James isn't sure if someone talked to him or if he just had his own revelation, but it's nice to see him making an effort.

After they order, Clementine is drawing on Auggie's kids' menu while the baby scribbles happily beside her, and Kate uses the distraction to make an announcement toward everyone at the table.

"I was thinking maybe we could step out of the resort for the day tomorrow? See what's out there. We're not really in Puerto Rico if we don't see it, right?"

Jack coughs, muttering, "Cabin fever," under his breath. James snickers, but when Kate and Juliet both roll their eyes, he clears his throat to cover it up.

"It wouldn't hurt," Kate tries to argue. "We can see some new things, find some local food we haven't tried yet."

"I think that's a great idea, Kate," Juliet says, and James feels betrayed. "It would be good to expose the kids to some culture."

James presses his mouth together tightly, fighting the urge to comment just how much he disagrees with this idea. They're paying so much money for this place, resort fees for all of the amenities. The whole point is that you don't have to leave

But then the kids chime in.

"I want to go!" Clementine says first, eyes twinkling beside him. "It would be so cool."

"Yeah, that sounds fun," David agrees.

Their excitement diminishes his dislike of the idea. He isn't going to argue against something that makes the people he loves happy.

"Wait," David says, his eyes going big, "but we were supposed to play mini golf tomorrow. Dad promised."

"Maybe you can do it Wednesday," Juliet suggests.

Jack shakes his head. "No, we can go tonight, after we eat."

"It's too late," Juliet says. "We're going to have to get up early tomorrow, he needs sleep."

"Juliet, I promised him." Jack looks at David. "How does that sound? A game after dinner?"

James could argue he's never seen David look at Jack with such joy in his eyes.

"That sounds great," he says, his grin wide.

"Can I go?" Clementine asks, and James is about to step in and tell her he'll take her to play ping pong or something, recognizing a situation she's probably not wanted in, but Kate jumps in first.

"Of course you can. We can totally beat the boys."

She giggles and high-fives Kate across the table. It seems that's taken care of, and it leaves him and Juliet with the night to themselves.

Or at least it would have, until Juliet offers, "James and I can watch Auggie while you play."

"Are you sure?" Kate asks. "You don't need to do that."

"Oh, we'd love to. It would make me so happy."

James wants to remind her not to use we when he doesn't agree with her sentiment.

Kate smiles. "Thank you. That's so nice."

He sinks into his seat with a sigh. There goes the alone time he was so excited for. But he supposes it'll just be him and Juliet and the baby, which can't be too bad. It'll make her happy, which will make him happy.

He grabs his glass of Pepsi and takes a long sip. For a vacation, he's exhausted.

—

Juliet is bent down at the edge of the koi pond outside the restaurant they had dinner in, holding Auggie on her knee. He lets out excited nonsense, happy gurgles, and random syllables strung together. He reaches his hands out toward the fish in a repetitive grabbing motion.

"You see the fish?" Juliet asks, her voice pitched up high. "You see their spots? Orange, and red. They're so pretty."

James watches them, as mesmerized by the sight of her with the baby as Auggie is by the fish.

He didn't get to see her with David. He wasn't there to watch her with her baby, to watch her care for him. It's something he longs for, something he resents Jack for getting to have—and for taking advantage of.

"What're you looking at?" she teases, turning her head up toward him.

"Prettiest view in the world." He smiles, and before he can think about the consequences, blurts out, "I can't wait to see you with ours."

Her face shifts, smile faltering, and he knows he hit a nerve. He said the wrong thing. She stands up and covers her uneasiness up quickly as if believing he can't see right through every brief expression she makes.

"Your turn," she says, handing the baby to him. He takes him kind of awkwardly, but after a moment he readjusts and Auggie settles into his arms.

It reminds him of Clementine when she was this small, which somehow feels like both a million years ago and yesterday. It's funny to think that he'd been so opposed to the idea of her at first. He'd only been with Cassidy for two weeks. He hadn't expected to ever see her again until she showed up at his apartment a couple months later knocked up and claiming it was his doing. He denied it for months, more out of fear than anything else.

But then it hit him one night. He was thinking about when he was a kid after his parents died, all he wanted was to have them back. Even his dad, who hadn't been great in any sense of the word. He'd been shitty, but he was his dad. It didn't matter what he was. How could he let fear of messing up cause him to mess up the most? How could he rid that child of a father?

So he called Cassidy, and after a lot of arguing, convinced her to let him in the kid's life. And on a breezy fall morning, she was born. It was the best thing that ever happened to him, closely tied with running into Juliet that day in the hospital.

Holding Auggie takes him back to that. It makes him crave this stage, and doing it all again. With her. Though he and Cassidy split the time, he was alone when he had her. He didn't get to do it with anyone. He didn't get those shared memories.

He wants those with Juliet. He wants to share them with her.

Auggie pulls on James' hair and he grabs his fist, gently uncurling his fingers. There are, of course, the cons of the situation.

"Let's walk on the beach," Juliet says, leading him down the path.

As they walk, Auggie babbles happily in his arms, as if he's enthusiastically telling a story that James has no ability of understanding. He nods along though, and pretends to follow what he's saying.

"You raise an interesting point, Freckles Jr." Auggie laughs and waves his hand. James' eyes go wide. "Woah there, that was out of line."

Juliet chuckles, watching them intently. After a moment, she reaches down and grabs his free hand, squeezing it tight.

"I'm excited for tomorrow," she says as they walk down the beach. "It'll be nice to get out. I think it'll be good for David."

"Speaking of David," James says, "seems he and Jack are getting along pretty well."

Juliet smiles. "Yeah. He seems happy. I told you this trip was a good idea."

"You were right, as always."

She rolls her eyes, but she's smiling. She puts her hands out and waves them toward Auggie, who shrieks excitedly.

"You and Kate are getting along well too, aren't ya." That's something that shocked him. Everything he knows of Juliet leads him to believe that she would resent everything about the woman. For being what she used to be to Jack, for being there for David when she can't be. But she seems nothing but pleasant with her.

She nods. "She's really sweet. I think she's good for him."

"If by good you mean young," James mutters, and Juliet slaps him lightly in the chest. Auggie seems to think it's a game, and slaps him in the chest, as hard as his tiny hand can.

"Ow. Jesus, y'all are ganging up on me."

Juliet laughs and leans her head against his shoulder. They spend a long moment there, watching the moon reflect on the water. And then Auggie begins to fuss, whining and squirming in James' grip.

Juliet takes him, murmuring soft reassurance and bouncing him up and down. "Shh, it's okay, Sweetheart."

"What do we vote, hungry or tired?"

"Both?" Juliet guesses. "We can take him back to the room. Kate'll meet us there, and maybe he'll be asleep while we're waiting."

He nods. "That sounds good."

Hand in hand, they walk back down the path, and James imagines Auggie is theirs. It's a fantasy he can live in for the moment, one that he can only hope will come true, soon.

Kate

The ball bounces as it lands, just right of the hole. It's close enough that she almost got a hole-in-one and she cheers, high-fiving Clementine. David seems impressed. It's not always that they get to do fun things like this as a family and for once David seems to not mind that she's there too.

"You hooked it," Jack says. "Try keeping your left arm straight."

She rolls her eyes and smiles at him playfully, using her club like a cane. "You're giving me tips?" There's teasing in her tone and she makes sure he notices. Out of all their attempts so far, hers have been the best. She always gets the ball close.

She's been carrying her team. Jack's good, but she's better and she knows it. All those years working on her aim with her dad indeed paid off. But where David was good too, helping move the boys' team forward, Clementine lacked the coordination necessary to play. Kate didn't mind, though. They're there to have fun, not to win. But winning would be sweet and she's good enough that their scores are close.

"Babe, I'm a doctor. I play golf all the time."

"So you think you can do better?" They can hear the kids hissing mockingly at the question and it almost makes her laugh. She keeps up the spirited challenge in her tone.

Jack turns to the kids, who seem to agree that Kate is the better player, and in an attempt at a teaching moment, he preaches, "Golf is accuracy."

Clementine nods, soaking in every word Jack says, like she always does, with admiration in her eyes. David watches Kate as she makes a face, ready to tease him again. "Well, why don't we keep playing and see which one of us is more… accurate?" She takes a step closer to him and bats her eyelashes. Kate knows she's better, but she also knows a little bit of flirting will be distracting enough to guarantee her the win.

"I bet Kate wins," Clementine exclaims excitedly.

"I hope Dad wins," says David.

There are only three holes left, the kids are tired, and if they're both honest, so are they. With the trip into town the following morning, it isn't too bad of an idea to have just the two of them finish the course and call it a night sooner rather than later. "Three holes, no handicap, we play for bragging rights." Jack agrees to it, but not before wiggling his eyebrows at her. He will show her the bragging rights when they're back in their room, alone.

They finish up that hole, and they wrap up their group game, with the boys beating the girls by 1 point, and then the true challenge starts. Jack, claiming to be a gentleman but truly just wanting to know what he's really up against, tells Kate to go first.

She positions herself and takes a deep breath before she swings her arm back and hits the ball. She can hear the kids uttering their surprise as the ball flies into a perfect arch and lands less than a foot from the hole. The smug grin on her face shows Jack she means business and he seems slightly more fearful when it's his turn.

By the third hole, he knows he's lost, it's written all over his face. After losing by three strokes in each hole, there's no way he'll take the winning title home after she's already pocketed her ball in two.

She watches as David cheers for him anyway and she's filled with hope for them. Jack proudly finishes the game, accepting his loss by stealing a kiss from her, which earns grunts and complaints from the kids and just forces him to do it all over again.

"What did you think, kid?" Jack asks David as he ruffles his hair when they start on their way back.

"You did good. But Kate's better."

She doesn't interrupt them. Instead, she lets them walk ahead and converse while she hears Clementine's detailed plans for what she wants to see when they go into the city. It's all generic things, a beach, the statue they drove past on their way in, a restaurant their waiter recommended just as they were leaving the Japanese restaurant. Still, her excitement is cute and Kate does her best to keep her going until they reach their rooms.

It's the first night David wishes them a good night and, once the kids' door clicks shut, Jack launches himself at Kate, pulling her into a tight hug. If she's not mistaken, she feels tears against her neck as he mumbles. "We did it, Kate. We did it."

"We really did, Jack. You were great with him today."

The compliment seems to relax him, even if the day was enough reassurance that he could be a good dad to David if he put the effort in, and it hadn't even required that much effort. Quality family time and proper attention had been enough.

"I'll go get Auggie, can you get the tub running, please?"

Jack nods and heads to their room as she knocks on James and Juliet's room door and it's the blonde woman who swings the door open. "Hi," she says. "You guys are back early."

"Yeah, it was just 9 holes. The boys beat us in 6 and I beat Jack in the rest."

"Was David good?" Juliet asks, concerned.

"Yeah," Kate replies honestly. "He was great, I think he had a lot of fun tonight."

James pops up behind Juliet, a sleeping Auggie in his arms. "The little guy was worn out, sorry."

"No, it's okay. Thank you for taking care of him for us."

"It's no problem, seriously. He's lovely." Juliet says.

Kate makes a swift exit, wishing them a good night, not wanting to bother them any longer after they've all had such a long day already. She knows she sure needs a good rest, Auggie's bath can wait until tomorrow.

She lets excitement fill her once again at the prospect of venturing out the next day. She can't wait to see what wonders Puerto Rico has to offer.