THE RETURN

Chapter 13

The end of beach day...

Olivia, who had her eyes closed trying to ignore that fact that Elliot's hands were making her core throb, shot up out of instinct when she heard the voice. It was so quick, that she had to grab ahold of Elliot's biceps and he had to wrap his arm around her waist to keep her from falling back again. When they heard a familiar laugh behind them, Olivia couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Jesus Kathleen, why do you find it necessary to do things like that?" Elliot said as he released Olivia's waist and turned his head to look at his daughter and granddaughter.

"Because you would do the same thing if you caught me getting freaking on the beach."

Elliot glared at her playfully, "Two things. One, we were not getting freaky. Two, give me my granddaughter." He stood and took the squirming girl out of Kathleen's arms. "Hey baby."

"Papa!"

"Hey Liv."

"Hey Kathleen." She replied as she stood to give the young woman a hug. "Hi Hailey." The little girl waved at her slightly. "Do you remember me?" She hadn't seen the little girl since the day at the carnival.

Hailey nodded her head, "You're Livia."

All three adults smiled. "You're so smart Hailey." Olivia said as she rubbed her back.

The girl smiled at her and looked up at her papa. "Papa!"

"Yes?"

"Livia!" She said as she pushed at his chest and held her arms out to Olivia.

"Oh, I see how it is." As he handed the girl off to Olivia, they heard a loud "KATHLEEN!"

"ELI!" The two ran up to each other and exchanged a hug. "Every time I see you, you're bigger."

"I know." He replied with a smug smile on his face.

"Okay, don't be weird." She looked at Noah, who had followed Eli up to their spot on the beach and was now standing next to him. "Hey Noah." She gave him a hug as well, "How are you?"

"Good. Eli was teaching how to sand board but I'm not very good at it."

Kathleen nodded, "Well neither was he when he first started, so just keep practicing."

"I will. Mom always says that we don't give up until we get it."

"Well your mom has always been a really smart lady."

"You coming in Kathleen?" Eli asked.

"Of course I am! I'll meet you guys down there."

Both boys nodded before running back towards the water. "You know, if you guys needed some alone time, I could have taken them to the beach by myself." She said as she turned her attention back to the two older adults. Olivia had Hailey perched up on one hip and Elliot was standing close to them. They were all engrossed in a conversation about the water.

Elliot laughed, "We don't need alone time..." he paused when Kathleen raised her eyebrows slightly at him, "okay maybe we'll need some eventually, but we don't need any right now."

"If you say so. Just know, I can always babysit."

"Kathleen."

"Yeah dad."

"Stop talking and go swimming with the boys."

Olivia laughed when Kathleen put her hands up in surrender and started towards the beach. "You know, you're probably gonna want to take her up on that offer eventually." Olivia said as she bounced Hailey up and down.