To say Rhys Bristol was having the time of his life was something of an understatement. It was summer - his favorite season - and he was playing a game of catch with Ana, who was just about to turn four, and Amy, also four, one of the kids Adam and Gina had recently adopted. But it wasn't just the fact that it was summer and he was excited about teaching his oldest the first skill she needed to learn in order to play baseball. After all the pain and grief and suffering he and Nat had endured trying to save the world from demons, they had at last found their happily ever after. He was, to put it bluntly, living the dream - his dream. The dream he'd thought would never come true.

The other half of his dream was sitting on a blanket in the shade, watching the enthusiastic attempts at throwing and catching going on in the sunshine. Nat could not have imagined a better way to spend a summer day than this - watching Rhys in his element with two little girls who filled the air with their giggles, hugging Micah on her lap. At only just one year old, their son was too young to join in just yet, but that wasn't so bad. Cody, the quieter of the Bristol's dogs was lolling in the shadow beside them, while his rowdier counterpart, Sasha, was doing her best to disrupt the game in the sunshine.

"Sasha," Rhys started, hands on hips and trying to look stern. "We're playing catch, not fetch!" he told the dog, just as she dropped the softball at his feet. "Ugh, would you look at this" Gross!" he complained as he tried to wipe doggy drool off on the grass while the girls giggled.

Ana, in the imperious manner that had not yet rubbed off on anyone else she knew, twisted to turn her bright face toward where her mother was sitting. "Mama! Make Sasha be good!"

Laughing, Nat dug in her bag for the dog chews, calling to the hyperactive dog.

"Good idea, Ana!" Rhys praised his eldest, who, as far as he was concerned, could do no wrong. "Make Sasha be good, Mama!" he echoed, with a grin at Nat, as he finished wiping the softball off on his jeans. At least, she couldn't complain that he was wiping doggy drool off on a pair of designer slacks. "Okay, girls! After you catch the ball, throw it back. Okay?"

As Sasha bounded off toward the now squealing and giggling Micah as he waved a doggie chew around, Ana looked at Amy. "You can go first," she told her friend magnanimously, though that might have had more to do with not wanting to have doggy spit on her hands.

"It's okay, Ana. You can go first," Amy countered mostly because she was a little shy of Ana's father.

Rhys was wearing a baseball glove - one he'd had stashed away at the cabin forever - along with a Yankees cap. Baseball had always been his favorite sport, ever since his Dad had taken him to his very first game when he'd been about Ana's age.

"Come on, girls! Are you ready?" he called over, slapping the softball against his glove while the girls discussed who was going first.

"Okay." Ana flashed her bright grin to Amy, squaring up to Rhys. One small hand rose to waggle a finger at him. "No throwing hard! I am not a boy!"

Amy looked relieved that her friend was going first. She'd played Catch with her older siblings before, but she didn't think she was very good at hit, and Ana's father looked like he took Catch very seriously.

Rhys looked almost insulted that he was being scolded by his daughter. "I promise, I will go nice and easy," he said as he pulled his right arm back to toss the softball underhanded toward his daughter in a perfect throw.

Of course, the perfect throw required that the person catching had some expertise at ....well, catching. It did not require what Ana did, namely closing her eyes, screwing up her face, and turning her head away as her hands flailed roughly in the right direction of the ball, which ended up bouncing off her tummy and onto the grass.

Rhys momentarily looked deflated. Okay, so this was going to take a little more effort than just tossing the kid a ball and hoping she somehow knew what to do with it. "Ana, you have to keep your eyes on the ball if you want to catch it!" he called over, but there was no disappointment or scolding in his voice. "Okay, why don't you try throwing it back?" he asked, bending over like a catcher at Home Base waiting for a pitch.

"But it was coming at my face!" Ana objected. Under the tree, Nat bit down on a laugh, still keeping the dogs under control as Ana bent to pick up the ball, drawing her hand back over her shoulder and throwing it back toward Rhys. Again, not the best example of athleticism he'd ever seen.

"It wouldn't have hit your face, Ana. Promise! You just have to trust me," he insisted. But Ana was only four, and Rhys was a very patient father. He waited, with the baseball glove poised at the ground, while the ball rolled the rest of the way toward him after the throw fell too short. "Okay, Amy, your turn. Ready?" he asked, as he turned toward Gina and Adam's four-year-old. The girl nodded her head enthusiastically and cupped her hands in front of her to catch the ball.

As much as Ana enjoyed playing with her father, she was a little clumsy when it came to hand-eye coordination. They could work on that, though. She stepped back, absently wiping her hand on her shorts as she watched Amy get ready to catch.

Once again, it was a perfect throw, and had Amy not stepped back at the last second, it probably would have dropped right into her cupped hands. Rhys sighed, momentarily frowning at the pair of girls. He wondered if maybe he should just give up and wait for Joey and Oliver, but he didn't want to leave the girls out just because they were girls, and he certainly didn't want to make them cry. Still, they didn't seem to be getting it.

"Nice try, Amy! Throw it back!"

Amy scrambled to grab the ball and just like Ana, threw back her arm to launch it toward her friend's father. The throw was a little better than Ana, but the problem wasn't so much lack of skill as it was strength. Still, Rhys couldn't fault them for trying.

"Good job, girls!" he praised them, even though they clearly needed a lot more practice. "What do you say we blow some bubbles instead?"

Ana looked to Amy, her little face wavering somewhere close to upset for obviously not being what he wanted her to be. "Were we really that bad, Papa?" she asked uncertainly.

"No, sweetheart," Rhys assured the girls, as he stepped forward and crouched down in front of them. "Baseball takes a lot of practice. You should have seen me the first time I played Catch with your Grampa. I was terrible, but I got better with practice," he explained.

Ana seemed to consider this for a long moment. "Can ....can we practice, just us?" she asked her father. "Only you got long arms and you throw proper, and we can't catch yet."

Rhys considered a moment as he glanced at one then the other. "I have an idea," he said, moving to his feet. "Ana, you stand here," he said, pointing out a spot on the grass. "And Amy, you stand here," he added, stepping back a few feet from where he had indicated Ana should stand.

Since Papa's ideas were rarely boring, there was no objection from Ana as she pottered over to the spot Rhys indicated, turning back to face him curiously. "What're we goin' to do, Papa?"

"You're gonna play Catch, just the two of you," he replied. "And then, we're gonna have ice cream. How's that sound?" he asked, with a bright smile. "Hold out your hands and watch the ball, Ana," he told his daughter as he placed the ball in Amy's hand and gently guided her arm to toss it over to her friend. "Nice and easy, just like that."

Ana's technique for catching was not the most graceful or elegant, but the squeal she let out when she caught the ball was worth all the ugliness of her splayed hands in wait. She bounced up and down, looking over to Mama and Micah for more praise before turning her beaming smile onto Rhys. "I catched it, Papa!"

"Maybe, maybe not," Rhys said, that teasing smirk still on his face. "It doesn't have to be boys versus girls. I just want the girls to show the boys what they've got," he said, privately wondering how good Laura might be at baseball.

"So ....girls versus boys, then." She laughed, casting a quick look over at Micah and the dogs. Sasha had given up and gone to sleep, since Micah was still asleep against her tummy; Cody was investigating the picnic basket hopefully.

"Don't you think it would be a little lopsided?" Rhys asked. Even if Ana and Amy's skills improved, they'd still have to go up against Rhys, Adam, Joey, and Oliver.

"What, you have no faith in Gina's ability to even the playing field with a little help from me?" Nat asked impishly, nudging him. She knew Rhys couldn't help assuming that the boys would beat the girls no matter what.

"Honey, you are talking to a man who could have made the pros," Rhys said, just a little boastful. Of course, this was something else that could never be proven. As a boy, his dream had been to grow up to be either a baseball player or an astronaut; he could never decide which.

Natalya laughed, dropping back to lie down on the blanket comfortably. "I will tell Gina you don't think she could beat you at baseball, you know," she threatened cheerfully. That would be entertaining.

"I don't think she could," Rhys argued, not really realizing how his ego was coming into play here. He was practically daring her to tell Gina, or maybe he just assumed Gina thought that already.

"Oh, now I am definitely telling her," Nat promised him in amusement. Rhys' brotherly relationship with Gina could definitely survive the teasing tongue-lashing that would earn him, and it would keep everyone else entertained. Of course, it would only really be settled by a game.

"You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Rhys asked, eying her suspiciously. He had tried multiple times to explain the rules of baseball to her, but still wasn't entirely sure she understood the game.

"Why should I not be?" she asked innocently, turning her own head to look at him with a bright smile. "I am not totally clueless about your baseballs, you know."

Rhys laughed, amused at his wife's faux pas. "Baseball, babe. There's only one. Not like what?s in my pants," he teased, eyes bright with mischief and amusement. "I have an idea ..." he started.

"Mmm?" She raised her hand, long fingers toying with the sleeve of his shirt as the sound of Ana's hysterical giggles floated across to them. "And what would that be, milaya?"

"A game, like you suggested," he said, "but let's expand it to include a few more people." There were supposed to be nine people on a team, after all, and they had plenty of friends who might be willing to join them.

"Oh' Are you planning on filling my team with Rachel and Aurelia and Morgan?" Nat asked in amusement. "It would be worth it, just to see Zachariel and Ian hamper your team without meaning to."

"No, I was thinking about filling my team with Jason and, uh, some of his other cop friends," Rhys admitted, unsure if Ian or Zach had any idea what to do with a baseball and bat. "Ian might be okay. He's probably played cricket."

"You're thinking of weighting the game so you will definitely win?" she accused him affectionately. "Are you scared of losing to us, my dumpling?"

"Weighting the game?" he echoed, trying and failing to look innocent. "Me" No! Would I do that?" Okay, maybe he would, but he wasn't going to admit it. "I was just thinking some of New York's finest might enjoy a game." And if she believed that, he had some swamp land to sell her.

"Really?" Nat's grin was just a little sly. "And here I thought that teaching the girls to play was to prove to them that they can be just as good at sports as the boys, despite what other people say."

Rhys sighed, looking deflated. She had him there. He had no way out and he knew it. "No, you're right. Maybe we should mix the teams up instead of guys against the girls," he suggested further, just because it might be more fair that way. Or so he assumed.

"That's better," she agreed with a smile, glad he'd come to that without being pushed. "I know you have a competitive streak, milaya, but Ana would be crushed if she lost a game she was playing opposite you. Let her play on your team."

That brought a smile to his face. "You're right. Do you think if I made her a captain, she'd pick me?" he asked. It wouldn't be right or fair for the adults to be captains; it had to be the kids.

"I think you would be her first choice," Natalya assured him, then paused as a thought occurred to her. "Or possibly her second. She is very attached to Joey, even if he is starting to find it a little embarrassing."

"He's like her big brother," Rhys pointed out, not thinking much of it. He reached over to take a peek into the picnic basket and see if there was anything there he could munch on. "If his girlfriends don't like it, they can find the door."

"Da, this is true," Nat agreed with a smile, watching as Cody nuzzled hopefully at Rhys' hand just in case it came out of the basket with something dog-friendly.

A wail brought her sitting bolt upright, instantly recognising Ana's sound of distress. A boy of around ten years old had stolen the ball from the girls and appeared to be attempting to bully them in the process. If Rhys didn't deal with it, Nat would wipe the floor with him - of them both, he was more restrained when it came to protecting their children.

"Do you think I'm a good ..." Rhys started, his head swinging toward the abrupt sound of Ana's wailing before he could finish his thought. "What the hell," he murmured, moving to his feet. "Hey!" he called over at the boys. "Give the ball back!"

Alerted to one of his puppies in distress, Cody was hot on Rhys' heels, barking at the boys. As Rhys rose, the boys turned away from Ana and Amy, and all but one of them made a run for it. The last one remaining seemed to want to stand his ground for a moment, but in the end decided discretion was the better part of valor. He dropped the ball and sprinted away.

"And don't come back!" Rhys called after the boys, just barely holding himself back from blurting an expletive. "Damn bullies," he muttered to himself instead before turning back to the girls and crouching down in front of them and tugging them both close. "Are you okay' They didn't hurt either of you, did they?"

Ana was already calming down - their precocious little miss had worked out very early that a good wail of distress brought at least one of her parents running within seconds. She snuggled into Rhys' shoulder, sniffling. "He said gir-girls can't catch."

Rhys wrapped his little girl in the safety and comfort of his arms, but he didn't want to leave Amy out. "Amy, can you go ask Aunty Nat if it's time for ice cream?" he asked, in hopes of taking her mind off the bullies and giving her something to do while he spoke to Ana.

"Balls?" Rhys asked, unable to hide the smirk from his face. "Um, we call them scoops here, Nat. Balls are something else." He did not elaborate on the various meanings of that word either.

She met his gaze with sweet mischief. "Then between them, the girls will have three times as many balls as you, milaya," she informed him with a wicked glint above her grin. "And yes, Ana, if you really want it, we can make a traffic light sundae."

"Hmm, we'll talk about that later," Rhys promised her with a grin - when the kids were in bed. "Traffic light sundae?" he asked, belatedly catching up with the conversation. "How are you gonna do that?" He could imagine the red and maybe the yellow, but not so much the green.

"Mmm, it might not taste very good," Nat agreed, gently squeezing Amy's hand. "What flavors do you like best, Amy?"

Ana tilted her head toward her father as they walked, apparently trying to work out why he found it hard to imagine a traffic light sundae.

Amy smiled, mostly because Nat had singled her out yet again and thought her important enough to ask her a question. She thought she'd made herself clear before, but she didn't mind repeating herself, enthusiastically exclaiming for the second time, "Choklit!"

Meanwhile, Rhys felt himself being stared at turned to meet Ana's gaze. "What' Do I have a booger on my nose?"

"You know there are three types of chocolate," Nat was saying to Amy cheerfully. "Milk, white, and dark. I thought you liked cookie dough, too?"

Meanwhile, Ana was cackling at her father's comment. "Nooo, silly," she told Rhys in that superior childlike way of hers. "I'mma make a traffic light with banana and strawberry and mint, and choklit sauce and sprinkles!"

"You forgot orange," Rhys interjected, hearing part of Nat's conversation with Amy. He blinked as he looked back at Ana, pausing a moment before chuckling in amusement. "I don't think so, little girl, unless you want a tummy ache. Which flavor do you like best?"

Ana pouted at her father, but knew when she was pushing her luck. "Strawberry with choklit sauce and sprinkles?" she adjusted her ambitions, pulling out the big eyes just to make sure this was accepted.

"Better," he said, smiling with approval. He didn't think that would give her a tummy ache unless she gorged herself on it, and Nat would be there to make sure she didn't - because Rhys would probably be gorging himself right along with her.

"They make strawberry?" Amy asked, overhearing her friend, eyes wide with wonder.

"They do," Nat assured her with a smile. "With real strawberries."

Ana beamed at her friend. "It's really, really nice," she insisted. "All crunchy and frozen bits of fruit and everything!"

"You c'n has strawberry an' choklit?" Amy asked, in apparent amazement.

Rhys exchanged a smile with Nat, pleased the girls were smiling again, excited about ice cream, and not worried about the bully.

"Yeah!" Ana enthused. "Like, like strawberry sauce on choklit ice cream, or orange sauce instead of the strawberry, like the orange choklits Papa likes so much only frozen and nicer!"

"Ohhhh!" Amy said, with wide eyes. It seemed it was going to be a lot harder to decide than she thought.

"Tell you what ..." Rhys started. "If we ask really nicely, they might let us taste a few flavors before we decide. What do you think?"

"Oh, I'm sure they will," Nat agreed. "Especially since we have two beautiful little women with perfect good manners to do the asking for us. Wouldn't you say, Rhys?"

"Definitely!" Rhys agreed. "We can has tastes?" Amy asked, eyes still as wide as saucers. You'd think no one had ever offered the little girl ice cream before, but maybe she'd just been too bashful to make her own preferences known, until recently.

"Yes!" Ana declared, only to hesitate as she considered what the caveat was. "If ....if you are nice about it and ....and ..." She frowned, struggling to remember what made being polite worthwhile.

"And if you say please," Rhys added for her, though he wasn't entirely sure that was what she was going for.

"I can say please!" Amy insisted with a hopeful look on her face.

"Manners and a smile will almost always bring nice things your way," Nat told the girls, pausing as they reached the ice cream parlor. "We should probably warn them we have the dogs with us this time."

"I can wait here with the dogs, if you want," Rhys volunteered. Nat would make sure he got ice cream, whether or not he was with them in the ice cream parlor.

"Well, dusha moya, if we ask nicely, with a smile, they might let them out the back while we are here," Nat pointed out with a grin. It was certainly one way to make it very clear to the little girls that good manners were magic things - they didn't need to know that Rhys and Nat were on friendly terms with the owner of this family-run parlor.

"It's worth a try," Rhys said agreeably, turning to pull open the door. "Ladies first," he said, somehow managing to juggle the door and the dog's leashes so Nat and the girls could go inside.

"I-keem?" Micah asked, blinking the sleep from his eyes and perking up as he realized where they were.

"Da, solnyshko, ice cream," his mother assured him, ushering the girls into the parlor ahead of them. She caught the eye of the owner, who was already grinning at the sight of them. "We have the dogs with us," she said apologetically, with a smile. "I wonder ....could we set them out in your little garden while we are here please?"

He chuckled, nodding amicably. "Sure! Hand them over, I'll make sure they have some water and all."

"Thanks!" Rhys said, looking relieved to relinquish the dogs for a little while. "They're a handful!" he added, meaning the dogs, not the kids. "Sasha, Cody!" he said, directing his attention to the dogs and trying to sound commanding but gentle. "Come," he said, before handing off the leash to the owner. "They should be okay for a little while."

At least the dogs were just as relieved to get in out of the heat as the humans, obediently trotting along to be taken into the shade out back and given something to drink. Nat chuckled, letting the girls go to inspect all the flavors on offer as she hoisted Micah a little higher on her hip.

"Look at that, they obeyed you," she teased her husband. "You must be authoritative today."

"Either that or they're thirsty," Rhys said with a chuckle, assuming that was probably more likely. "Want me to take him?" he asked of the toddler on her hip, knowing how heavy he could get after a while.

"Oooh, yeah, I like Ursalub!" Ana enthused, dismissing the conversation with Rhys and turning to go over all the characters she wanted to see with Amy instead.

Nat reached over to squeeze Rhys' hand. "You did say you wanted to keep her innocent," she reminded him gently.

"Yeah, I guess," Rhys murmured back, feeling just a smidge better about his daughter's choices in heroes. Why couldn't she like strong females like Mulan or Anna or Merida or someone" Why was it always villains"

"Rhys, she likes to laugh," his wife said, still in that gentle tone. "The ones who make the best jokes are the monsters and the villains, and they always get beaten. It's a phase she will grow out of."

"I suppose," he replied. He couldn't deny that the villains in most Disney films were comical at best and were always beaten, but he didn't want Ana growing up to idolize villains instead of heroes. He considered himself a hero, after all. Would she have chosen Abaddon over him' But then, she didn't know the whole history of her parents' past just yet. He looked over at the children, so innocent in their play, as they giggled together and enjoyed their ice cream. "I just want them to be safe," he said, for about the hundredth time.

"She is four years old," Natalya reminded him. "Last month, she wanted to be a beekeeper, this month she wants to be a templar, next month she will want something else. She will grow out of this, Rhys. Try not to take it so much to heart."

"Like I wanted to be an astronaut or a baseball player," he said, wondering if he'd have achieved either of those dreams if the demons hadn't upset his life. But then, he had realized over the years that everything was as it should be. It had been a bitter pill to swallow, but the visitation with his mother's ghost had helped to ease those wounds.

"You never know, she might change her mind when she meets some of the stronger princesses," Nat told him, trying to cheer him up. It was hard work being the only adult in the right mood for two little girls and a baby boy, not to mention the dogs as well.

"Maybe when we get there, I should punch Hades in the nose," he said, though he was clearly kidding, as he knew Hades was just a kid in a costume playing a part. "Hey, Ana! Have we ever watched The Sword in the Stone?" he asked. There weren't many female characters in that one, but there was a young Arthur.

Ana frowned thoughtfully. "What's that one?" she asked, trying to place a movie she might not even have seen before now.

"It's about King Arthur when he was a boy," Rhys explained, hoping that didn't sound too boring. That was one way to introduce her to the concept of Arthur and Avalon without confusing her too much.

Her nose crinkled. "It's about a boy?"

Nat snorted with laughter, hastily turning the sound into a cough to spare Rhys' feelings.

"Yes, it's about a boy," Rhys confirmed, frowning again. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best idea right now. He sighed, defeatedly. "Never mind. We'll just watch Frozen again for the millionth time."

"It is also about magic, Ana," Nat rescued him. "You remember when Ian told you about Merlin the wizard" He's in the same movie, and he turns little Arthur into a fish and a squirrel and a bird, and they have little adventures."

"Why does he do that?" Amy asked, drawn into the conversation. She'd heard about Arthur and Merlin, too, but didn't know much about them, and she'd certainly never heard anything about this story.

"Because he's trying to teach Arthur about the world around him," Nat explained, "and he thinks the best way to learn is to experience something. It makes some very funny things happen."

"But how can he learn about the world if he's a fish?" Amy asked further. It took a moment for her to realize that by changing the boy into a fish, a squirrel, and a bird, he was learning about the world of the sea, the earth, and the air.

Rhys looked to Nat, as if silently asking permission for something. "Maybe Amy could spend the night and we can watch it together?" he suggested.

"I think that is a good idea," Nat agreed, quick to add, "Not tonight. You are both going to be tired raving monsters by bedtime tonight."

Ana snickered at this prediction, scraping her spoon around her bowl to chase the dregs of her ice cream.

"What does raving mean?" Amy asked innocently, before licking the last of the chocolate sauce from her spoon.

Rhys smirked, and gestured to Nat to answer that question.

"Being wild and loud and talking so no one thinks you're sleepy," Nat answered easily. "And it never works, does it?" She grinned at the two girls.

"Ollie is always a raving monster," Amy complained of her slightly older brother. She loved him dearly, but sometimes she didn't like him very much.

"Most boys are," Rhys remarked with a knowing smirk, with the possible exception of Adam, though they hadn't met until Adam was almost a teenager.

"Micah isn't a raving monster," Ana pointed out, gesturing to her little brother, who was closely inspecting a frozen strawberry excavated from his mother's ice cream.

"He's little yet," Amy reasoned. "What's it like having a little brother?" she asked, being the youngest of the Sparrowhawk bunch, rather than the oldest, like Ana.

"Noisy," Ana informed her easily. "But he's better than Crisbum - he's my Auntie Rachel's little boy. Micah doesn't run around yellin' with a big sword."

"Tris-tan," Rhys corrected, enunciating each vowel slowly, wondering why Ana always got her cousin's name wrong. "And it's a small wooden sword," he added, just to clarify.

"Why's he run around with a sword?" Amy asked, looking from Ana to Rhys and back.

"'Cos he wants to be a kermit," was Ana's next bauble of wisdom, at which point Nat had to excuse herself with the promise of returning once Micah was clean and dry. She didn't want to upset Ana by laughing too loudly at her mispronounciations.

Rhys looked up in a panic as he suddenly found himself left alone with the two girls. It wouldn't have bothered him if it had only been Ana, but he wasn't entirely comfortable around Amy just yet.

"He wants to be frog?" Amy asked, looking really confused now. The only Kermit she'd ever heard of was a green frog.

"No, a ker-migget," Ana tried to explain a little better. "Like with a sword and a horsey and stuff, right?" She twisted to look at Rhys. "He is, isn't he?"

"You mean knight?" Rhys guessed, wondering further how Ana got ker-migget out of the word knight, unless she'd been reading and trying to pronounce each letter of the word phonetically.