I'll Never Let You Down. (Leland Chapman)

Chapter 2

I had a weird dream that night. At first, everything was black, but I could hear things. I heard an unfamiliar voice that sounded heavy and out of breath, almost angry. I felt fear in the dream, but after a minute I heard someone telling me to wake up in a singy tone. "Shut uuuup." I said unconsciously. High-pitched giggling was heard before I felt a hard weight on my back. This made me wake up- to me being tackled by one of my parents. "OH GOD...WHY?!" I yelled into my pillow.

The next thing I knew I was being tickled to death on my stomach and neck, and I now knew it was no longer the dream. Quietly laughing my head off and begging whoever was tickling me to stop, it lightened up, just enough so I could ask, "Is it Mom or Leland?"

"It's LEEEELAND," he said into my ear. I always forget that when I was younger, he used to wake me up every morning and if I didn't get up he would tickle me like that. Since it wasn't Mom, I could hit him back. So I swung for whatever I could reach and ended up punching him dead in the chest. He grunted, "Errr, you wound me."

Kissing my head before getting off, he said "Dakota's on his flight back here now and has no ride home, so come."
I unwillingly got out of bed and walked into the kitchen to see my mom and Leland chatting. They of course greeted me with these loud "Good mornings!" that everyone hates first thing.

Replying in a monotone, I said "What was it we had to do today again?"

"We have to pick up your brother from the airport." My mom reminded me, making me have a facepalm moment. Duh, Cam. I thought. After I had taken a fast shower we rode off.

I was used to riding to and from the airport, visiting family from island to island. The ride was a pretty lengthy one but never boring, thanks to constant loud, awesome music and beautiful scenery, as well as my goofy parents fussing occasionally. The airport itself wasn't so entertaining, the best part was of course seeing Dakota finally.

He had told us on the way home about how he almost was attacked in California by a fugitive when we picked him up. The guy was violent, resistant and tried to go out the back, so he had to be the one to catch him. A big thrill he was still feeling energy from.

We rode to a Jack-In-The-Box for food and when we all sat down I mentioned something to Leland I have been wanting to ask for a while.

"Leland, I want to go on a bounty with you and the family."

He kind of looked shocked and not surprised at the same time, if that makes sense. "Dad, we all knew it was eventually gonna happen," Dakota said playfully nudging me in the shoulder. "Sure, she may need some roughing up, but I say we give it at least a chance." He was seriously the kind of brother that would take a bullet for you, and yet made sure that didn't go to your head. My stomach churned at "rouging up", but at this point I didn't care what it took.

"I don't know..." Leland began, "I personally would love to, but one by law you couldn't get a license until you're 18. And two I'm sure your mama would not like it very much." he looked at her and then sorrowfully at me. I tried protesting on how Lyssa was able to hunt before she was 18, with Dakota backing me up. "I'll see. And don't worry, I will keep it in mind." he reassured me. My mom sat over there like she was thinking hard about something, something emotional. I almost asked her what was up but brushed it off, and soon we left for home.

Later that day, after me and my brother played some video games together, my mom called to my room "Campbell, Dakota, get your suits on we're going to the beach!" Still after four years of living 2 miles from the beach, I get overly-excited whenever I hear those words. I rushed to my room and got on my black and white FOX suit, grabbed my goggles, a towel, shades and my flipflops. Dakota and I fought over who got to go out the door first, and with me availling, the four of us rode to the beach.

Leland POV

A tradititon, well more of a habit of mine is that whenever I have free time with my family, we have a beach day. It would be better if all four of my children were here, but I cannot complain. The short ride to the coast was fun, because Wherever I May Roam by Metallica came through the radio, causing all of us to jam to it. Camo tends to start punching the air when a good song comes on the radio, so she ended up punching Dana's seat. She of course apologized with a tiny giggle, something adorable that she inherited from her mother.

When we arrived, I parked the truck in the lot that was right off of some big lava rocks. "Regulators, get out!" Dakota reworded the phrase and chuckled as we gathered the stuff. It kills me how even though they are 15 and 17, those kids still go crazy for the beach and race each other to the ocean.

"No fair! You got your speediness from your dad, my mother is a turtle!!!" said Camo running and laughing while trying to catch up to Dakota. That reminded me, while they were swimming, I decided to talk to Dana about Camo starting as a bounty hunter.

I set out the beach towels onto the warm sand as she laid down onto them to sunbathe. Man, that is something I don't think I'll ever get tired of-- seeing my fiancee in her swimsuit lying in the sun. Keeping a small eye on the kids, I joined her.

"I can hear them splashing and screaming from here," she said with her cheek on the towel facing me. It was true, it never failed you could hear them over the waves crashing and the loud breeze. I sat criss-cross on my towel looking out at the ocean.

"Yea, the Chapmans are loudmouths, I can't deny it," I grinned. "So... About earlier at the restaurant. When Camo mentioned joining the team? I never got your opinion about it." She stared at me with her thinking face for a bit before answering.

"Leland, I'm sure you know how I feel already," she stated. I tried persuading her and telling her just maybe for a few bounties for the show, but she shocked me when she said, "NO, no absolutely no cameras. I don't want her on TV, and you know exactly why! You know what he did to me! I don't want the same thing to happen to my daughter, do you?!"

At this point she was riled up and on the verge of tears. I brought her into my arms and let her cry. I absolutely hated seeing her like this, but she really was right. I still wanted to test Camo's skills, so I gave it a rest and would mention it later on. Once Dana was finished crying, she looked up at me and giggled, making a smile come to my face. I kissed her lips and--

"MARCO!!!!" we heard mid-kiss, and couldn't help but laugh. I knew it was our kids because it broke the sound barrier of everyone else. We heard the other one follow up and yell polo. I couldn't tell who was who, until I squinted and looked out into the water and realized Camo was Marco and Dakota was Polo.

"Don't go too far out into the water!" I called to them. They yelled back in unison before resuming their game.

Campbell POV

Me and Dakota were out in the ocean up to our chests while our parents tanned. Screw tanning, why wouldn't anyone wanna do this instead? I thought. Leland and Dakota liked to surf, but my mom and I didn't exactly know how yet. The current got stronger suddenly while we swam, something I still am not used to. The wave felt like an arm sweeping my feet off the ground and knocking me flat on my butt. "Oof," I said underwater.

Thank God Dakota helped me back to my feet, laughing.

He asked if I was alright, and decided to throw me over his shoulder like a ragdoll and take me back to shore a bit. "You can't be out this far if a small wave current like that knocks you down that hard," he said. I protested because it was a BIG current, but that didn't help.

After a few more minutes of splash fights, we heard our parents call our names to leave. Dragging my feet to see small shells emerge from the wet sand, I walked back to them on the beach. They both had our towels and hugged them around us, like they did when we were kids. "Ugggh, what if people see." Dakota whined as my mom hugged him. Stuff like that got annoying sometimes, but I didn't mind. It made me feel kinda fuzzy inside to be still treated like that. I thought,

Men, I guess.