*A/N below*

When Neil got out the car, he let out a groan. The air conditioning from the car had cooled him down and made him forget how humid the air was. Once he got his bag, he started to walk towards the entrance of the building. It was when he turned the corner of the car park when he recognised JJ and Lara swinging their legs whilst sitting on the wall.

"And what are my two ladies doing here in the heat?" He kissed the top of both their heads before leaning down to kiss JJ. He pecked her lips before straightening up.

"We're waiting for the ice-cream van," Lara said. Neil chuckled as he sat beside JJ. She reached for his hand and he gave it a squeeze before kissing the back of her hand.

"You finished work earlier today."

"Yeah. Air conditioning broke and the computers and stuff got over heated so she let us all go." He looked over at Lara then back at JJ. "Is this what you guys have been doing this week? Is this how you've been spending your two weeks off work?"

"What Lara and I do in our spare time is none of your concern. Isn't that right, Lara?"

"Right, mama."

"Ugh, I liked it so much better when she used to tell me anyways." JJ laughed but didn't say anything. "I was thinking...since I finished work early, shall we just eat some lunch and then get going? We can settle down, have a shower and then maybe go out for dinner?"

"Sounds good. We finished the rest of the packing after breakfast." In the distance, they heard the ice cream van approaching. Lara jumped off the wall with a smile.

"Mama, come on!"

"Alright, monkey, I'm here."

The three of them walked towards the pavement just as the van came into view. "You know," Neil said as he looked down at JJ. "I'm very excited for the next week. It's basically our first week away as a family. Every other trip has been with the whole of my family."

"Okay don't get me wrong, I absolutely love your family but I'm excited for it to be just the three of us." She looked up at him. "Don't tell your mum I said that."

Neil chuckled. He stuck out his pinky. "I pinky promise I won't tell."

* * *

"I think our girl made a new friend."

Neil sighed, watching the way Lara played goldfish with a boy her age. "She's getting older and I don't like it. I remember when boys had cooties for her." He heard her laugh as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "I don't like it, cara," he mumbled. "We never should have come here."

"Aww, honey. This is it now. She's growing up. She's going to start liking boys. She's going to write their initials at the back of her book and-"

"I swear to god, Jay."

"You can't keep her locked up forever. She's going to date, she's going to meet up with a boy and they're going to hold hands and she's going to fall in love."

"Judith, stop." He heard her gasp before she came into view.

"You do realise that our little girl is not little anymore? That she will grow up and there is nothing we can do?"

"Stop it," he groaned.

JJ took a seat on his lap, hearing him huff as he wrapped his arms around her. "As much as I would love to, I don't think we can lock her up and keep her safe."

"Well why the fuck not?"

"Hey there guys. I got your drinks right here," the waiter said. "A beer for you, a red wine for you and a milkshake for the-where did she go?"

JJ smiled as she took the glass of wine off him. "She's playing cards with a new friend." The waiter looked up until he saw Lara.

"Ah, that's little Nate. He lives about two streets away. Comes here every day of summer. Sweet kid, has manners and loves playing cards."

Neil sighed. "Little Nate?"

"Yeah. There's another kid who comes here every summer, doesn't live here though. We call him Nate."

"See, honey? He's a good boy."

"I'll see you two in a bit. Your starters should be here within the next five minutes."

"Alright. Thank you so much."

Neil looked straight ahead at Lara who was giggling. He kissed JJ's shoulder before she turned to face him and kissed him on the lips. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"For what?"

"For calling you Judith."

"I will accept a kiss in apology." He smiled at her before leaning in to kiss her. "You're forgiven."

Lara ran towards the table. "Papa, are we going to the beach tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, kiddo."

She took a seat, scraping the metal chair along the floor. JJ cringed at the noise. "Drink your milkshake, monkey. Food is coming in a bit."

"Hey, cara?" JJ looked up. Neil lifted a hand to her face, tracing his thumb over her lips. "I bet I can build a sandcastle faster than you."

"Oh really?"

"Of course. Gonna look better as well." She scoffed as she reached for his beer, placing it on his hand that was around her waist.

"Bring it on, Zampa. I'm gonna beat your ass and then bury you in the sand."

* * *

From across the room, Lara heard Neil sigh. She rolled her eyes before looking in his direction.

"Yes, papa?"

"Oh, nothing." He looked away for a few seconds before looking back at her. "I just...you haven't given me a hug today."

"The day is still not over." She put her hands on her hips, watching as he tried his best not to smile. "You're very clingy."

"I know. That's why your mother loves me."

Lara opened her arms and Neil gasped. "My daughter wants a hug? Oh wow." With a laugh, he pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head.

"I love you, papa," she said as she tightened her arms around him.

"I love you too, tesero. You're my little girl."

"To the moon and back?"

Neil smiled. "To the moon and back a million times." He started to pull back but stopped when Lara hugged tighter.

"Not yet, papa," she whispered.

JJ jogged to the open door when she saw someone holding it for her. She smiled at the man before he walked away. Her dress flew upwards and she thanked herself for wearing the shorts underneath.

"Hey, my boyfriend ordered some food for pickup? Am I at the right till?" she asked as she took a step back to look at the sign.

"Oh yeah, you're fine. What's the name under and the order number?"

"It's Neil." She lifted her left hand. "Order number is 76."

"Alright...well the food is gonna be another three minutes. Sorry about the wait."

"Oh, that's fine. Can I ask you to refill this bottle of water please? If you don't mind."

"Of course."

JJ stood to the side. When her phone rang, she picked up the call, leaning against the counter.

"Hey, dad, you alright?"

"I'm alright darling. How are you?"

"Good. Just tired. Sorry I missed your calls for the last two days. We've been at the beach and there was no service and I kept forgetting to call you back. I did leave a message though."

"Oh yes, I did respond back to them. It's nothing major, but like I said in the message, just checking up on my little girl."

She laughed softly. "Alright, what do you want?"

"What do you mean?"

"You always call me your little girl when you want someone from me or you want to tell me something." She heard her dad mutter things to himself. Then she heard a woman's voice in the back. "Is that Natalie? Would you look at that? Is she staying over?" She gasped as she turned around to the server, picking up the bag of food. "Dad, are you-"

"Jocelyn, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much? For goodness sake, woman you-"

"Sweetheart, stop it. She's just curious," Natalie said.

"Thanks, Nat. I know you got my back."

JJ smiled at the person who she was holding the door for before beginning the walk back to the hotel. "What I wanted- what we wanted to talk to you about is us taking the next step in our relationship. Nat and I, not you and I."

"Dad, you know I told you that you don't need to tell me about every step of your relationship. I just want you to be happy."

"Well we were planning to tell you this over some dinner. And plus I feel like I haven't seen Lara for sometime. She's very entertaining. But." He paused. "Natalie is moving in with me. And before you ask your ten million questions, I would like to say that we are sleeping in separate rooms. Her lease ends in a month and the landlord is not renting the house anymore so I said she could move in with me."

She bit her lip, glancing over at the ocean. "Dad, I think that's great. And it's cute that you have separate rooms."

"Well thank you."

"I'll be back in two days, so just let me know if you need any help with the moving. Your car is pretty small."

"So you're okay with it?"

"Dad!" she laughed. "I want you to be happy. I already told you that."

"Okay," He mumbled. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. But I'm at the hotel now and I've got dinner. Do you want me to call you back after or-"

"No that's okay, darling. I'll speak to you when you get back. I love you."

"I love you too, dad," she said with a smile. She hung up the phone before entering the building. Once she got to the hotel room, she found Neil and Lara on the sofa, watching Shrek.

"Hey honey," she whispered when she sat next to Neil. Lara had her head on his lap. "Hey monkey. You alright?"

"Yeah. Just tired."

Neil turned to JJ with a smile. "She hugged me for five minutes." With a smile of her own, she lifted a hand to his cheek.

"I'm very glad. You look so happy."

"Well how can I not be happy? It's been so long since she's hugged me for longer than a minute." He leaned down to kiss her. "Let's eat though. I'm starving."

* * *

"Hey, cara," Neil whispered as he tightened his arms around her. She lifted a hand back to rest on his cheek. "I'm going to miss this."

"Me too." They were both standing on the balcony, watching the sunrise in silence. The water looked almost still with the gentle breeze. "Thank you so much, Neil."

"For what?"

"For doing this. Putting this all together. Thank you for taking care of us."

Neil gently kissed up her neck. "I'm always here to take care of my two ladies. You two are my everything and I will always be here for you."

JJ turned around with a sigh. She cupped his cheeks as she stared into his eyes. "I mean it, Neil. Thank you for everything. You're such a good man to us. A wonderful father, an amazing boyfriend. So much more than I deserve."

"Don't be silly. We're a family, Jay. Families are there for one another." He leaned down to kiss her. "I love you, cara."

"I love you too."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

AUTHOR'S NOTE!!

First of all, I am incredibly sorry for the delay in publishing the next chapter. However! Wattpad was not letting me log in and I had trouble changing my password and it was being dodgy. So when I log in today, it wouldn't let me publish the chapter, telling me there was an error.

Then there was an error with the chapter? And I just got fed up, deleted it and had to write a whole new chapter. So it's not as good as it was rushed so once again, I am sorry. Hope you all had a lovely weekend though!