The beach!

"Mommy! Mommy! Wake up!" I wake up to Alec jumping on me again. I open my eyes, and his face brightens. "You're awake! Good morning, mommy!" He yells.

"Good morning" I say back. Liam's not here again. "What do you want to do today?" I ask Alec.

"Papa said we're going to the beach!" Alec fist pumps the air. You can see the excitement in his eyes, and pure joy on his face, when Liam walks through the door with clothes in his hands. "Is that one mine?" Alec asks impatiently.

"Yep!" Liam nods. "Now, What are you going to wear today?" Liam asks.

"Silly papa! My bathing suit of course!" Alec yells.

"But What shirt are you going to wear?" I ask. Alec thinks for a moment.

"Do I need to wear something?" Alec asks. I nod my head. "But why?"

"Because you could get burned before we arrive" I respond.

"Burned?!" Alec's eyes widen. "But we're going to swim!"

"Just because we're going to swim, doesn't mean you can't get burned" I tell him.

"How?" Alec asks.

"The sun. It's too hot for your skin. If you don't put on some protection against it, it's going to hurt." I try to explain.

"Okay.." Alec looks down in disappointment. We help Alec put on his bathing suit.

"Mommy! Come help me!" Alec drags me out the door. "What should I wear?" Alec asks, pulling me into his room.

Alec has big bed, that has a bunch of cat stuffed animals. Eden is laying belly up on a shelf above Alec's bed. Alec wanted a lot of cat stuff, so he has a rug in the middle of his room, that's a giant cat face.

Alec runs to his wardrobe that has a lamp, with figurines of cats play fighting. Did I mention he loves cats?

I help Alec choose an outfit. He's wearing a button up shirt that has a pocket at the front. There's a little kitten poking out on the pocket, sticking it's tongue out. I'm allowing him to wear his bathing suit as shorts on the way there.

I put sunscreen on Alec, and he gags. He decided to open his mouth to talk when I put the sunscreen on him.

"That doesn't taste good!" Alec complains.

"Well I told you to close your mouth" I point out.

"Can we go now?" Alec asks.

"Not yet, I still have to change." I tell him.

"But I want to go!" Alec whines.

"We will. You have be patient, Alec." I say, as I pat his head. I leave the room, and head into my room.

"Is he ready?" Liam asks.

"Yeah. He's really excited." I tell him.

"Good! I promised to teach him how to swim!" Liam smiles, and continues putting in sunscreen. He's wearing black swim shorts, and a red tank top. He leaves the room, to go find Alec.

I grab my swimsuit, and put it on. The swimsuit is a dress. The top of the swimsuit is teal, and the bottoms is white with black polka dots. There is a teal waistband, with a bow, connected to a mesh strap, that covers my cleavage.

I put on my sunscreen, and grab my towel. Liam and Alec come walking in with Lilly following close behind in a short sleeved, red dress, with an ice cream design on it.

"Do you have sunscreen on?" I ask Lilly.

"Yep!" Lilly answers with a smile.

"Then, let's go!" I say.

When we get to the beach, we see that it's empty. We have the beach to ourselves. Liam sets his towel down on the ground. Alec immediately runs for the water, after throwing his towel to the side. Lilly runs to the water, after gently placing her towel next to Liam's towel.

"Alec, be careful!" I yell to the boy as a waves crashed into him, and pushes onto the sand. He gets up, and goes right back into the ocean.

I set down my things next to Liam and Lilly's towels. I pick up Alec's towel, that he threw in the opposite direction, and place it with our towels.

"Ready to swim?" Liam asks from behind me. I turn to him and broadly smile.

"Yep!" I say. Suddenly, Liam starts running towards me, and throws me over his shoulder. He runs for the water, while I hit his back, yelling him to let me go.

"If you insist!" Liam shouts as throws me in the ocean. If he's going to act like that, then two can play at that game.

I stay underwater for at least twenty seconds, before I see Liam diving in after me. He pulls me to the surface, and that's when I get a good look at his face. He's angry.

"What the hell, Vivi!" Liam yells at me. He grabs my arms and pulls me into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry..." I whisper to Liam. His grip tightens around me. "I wasn't trying to make you mad.."

"Well good job at that! Do you even know why I'm angry?" Liam yells as he breaks out of our hug, and grabs my arms again. I shake my head, and he sighs angrily.

"During that time, when you didn't come up, I thought I had just lost you forever. I got scared that maybe I threw you in too hard, and you got knocked out." A tears fall from his face, as he yells. "I was terrified that I may have hurt you! Then I find out it was all a prank?" I see the hurt in his face now. I hug him.

"I'm sorry, I was trying to get you back for throwing me in, but now I realize I went too far. When you came down, I was about to come back up." I say, as I silently cry into his chest. I feel his hands start to run my back, and more tears come.

"Is mommy okay?" I hear Alec yell. He's back on land again, with Lilly. They were probably sent there, when I didn't come up from the water.

"Yeah, she's fine" Liam shouts back. He sighs relief. We walk back to the shore, I sit on my towel, and start reading my book.

A few hours pass, and Lilly lays down next to me. She keeps silent until I put down my book.

"What is it?" I ask her.

"What do you mean?" Lilly asks in a quiet voice.

"You look a little down, and you're not having fun with them." I explain to her.

"I'm okay.." Lilly mumbles. She looks a little distraught.

"Are you thinking about your mother again?" I ask worriedly. She shakes her head, sighs heavily, and sits up.

"The other day, my friend...he um...told me..." She starts blushing. "He kind of told me..he likes me...and I told him I'll tell him how I feel tomorrow." Lilly recalls.

"Well...how do you feel?" I ask her. She looks down.

"I'm not sure..." She mumbles.

"How do you feel when your around him?" I ask her. She looks at me confused. "Okay start with this. Tell me about him. His name, what you like about him, what you don't like about him..."

"Well his name is Cole. I like how he has a big passion for his art, and how he won't allow others to talk down on him. I'm not a fan of when he comes up behind me, and scares the living daylights out of me, though." She coos. Her eyes seem to go gentle when she talks about him.

"Hmmm..well..do you think of him as your brother?" I ask her, and her face turns to disgust.

"Not at all! It's weird!" She shouts. This surprises me, she's never shouted or yelled before, at least as far as I know. I smile.

"Why is it weird? You're friends, right? Then why don't you think of him as a brother?" I ask her. "I think of Lindsey as my sister." I point out. Her face turns to something of a realization.

"I think I know my answer now." She tells me. I smile. I see, so she realized what I figured out. She likes him back. The fact that she doesn't want him as a brother, in a way, proves that. "Thank you. You helped me figure it out." She thanks me.

"What'd she help you with?" Liam overhears, as he carries Alec over to dry off.

"Nothing!" Lilly yells hastily. Liam gives me a questioning look.

"Girl talk...that boys aren't allowed in." I tell Liam.

"And why can't we know?" Liam asks, as he slowly walks over to me.

"Well, if you want to be present during girl talk, then okay!" I shrug my shoulders. Lilly's eyes get wide. "Hey Lilly, continue telling me about all the flowers you learned about yesterday!" I suggest. Lilly smiles.

"Gladly! So there is the rose, poppy, tulip, orchid, cherry blossoms, carnations, Dahlia, daffodils, chrysanthemums, hydrangeas. Of course there's my personal favorite, irises. There are more if you want to hear!" Lilly plays along.

"Yeah, sure!" I agree. Liam's face looks somewhat disturbed.

"I think I'm going to sit this one out." Liam says, disgusted by the topic. Liam isn't a fan of flowers. That's why I chose the topic, so that he wouldn't pry anymore...for now.

"Aww, are you sure sweetie?" I tease.

"Yep, for sure." Liam turns away from us. "Alec and I are going to collect sea shells, and we'll leave you to your flower topic." Liam walks off.

"Yay! Shells!" Alec celebrates.

"Alright have fun!" I yell to them. I turn back to Lilly, who has a broad smile on her face.

"Thank you so much! Onii-Chan can be..." Lilly struggles to find the right word. "Overprotective ..."

"Yeah, I figured. He really cares about you, and doesn't want to see you hurt." I tell her. She smiles.

"Well, it's the same for you. That's why he freaked out earlier." Lilly points out.

"Yeah I know." I sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~Later That Day~~~~~~~~~~

The carriage pulls up to the castle, and we get out. Xander's waiting for us with a chubby boy, that looks around fourteen to fifteen. He has light brown hair, and brown eyes.

Lilly's face turns pale when she see the boy. Well, paler than usual. He smiles and waves at her. She blushes and hides behind me. The boy looks disappointed. I turn to her.

"He's Cole, right?" I whisper to her. She nods her head. "Well, go give him your response!" I tell her. I pat her on the back.

She ever so slowly walks over to the disappointed boy, and they start talking. His face lights up when he sees her. They hug. They're adorable together. Liam notices the two, and narrows his eyes.

"Isn't he getting a little touchy feely with her?" Liam says warily, like garing. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"Leave it, Liam..." I say. He continues to glare at them, so I grab his arm, and pull him away.

"Hey! What if he tries something?" Liam yells.

"They like each other! Leave it, let them figure this out!" I yell back.

"But I don't want my sister to get hurt!" Liam complains.

"Mommy? Papa? Are you two going to get separated?" Alec asks, looking down. He's been just silently watching us go back and forth.

"What?" We ask at the same time. I'm honestly surprised.

"You have been fighting a lot today, so I got scared.." Alec starts tearing up.

"Don't cry, Alec. It's okay." I console him, and pull him into a hug.

"Yeah, bud! Don't worry, we love each other very much. That's why we argue!" Liam smiles. "Plus, we need each other. I need mommy...to stop me from being overprotective, and to continue being the light of my life. While, she needs me, hopefully because she loves me so much."

"Yep!" I agree with Liam, as I pull out of the hug. Alec smiles through his tears.

"Mommy and papa are okay?" Alec asks. We nod out heads. "Good, because I like mommy and papa! I don't want you to feel sad!" Alec says sweetly. I smile.

Today has been a good day. I'm happy to say that I may have helped a soon to be couple. I'm also happy to say that I will be marrying the man of my dreams soon, for we finally decided on the wedding date!