Roni woke and noticed that it was dark outside her bedroom window, glancing at the clock on the nightstand; she saw that it was just after five in the morning. She had slept for a long time.

The young teen climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom, then returned to her room. She was well rested, and really wanted to go for a run. But she knew her Dad would not approve of her going out this early by herself, so instead she laid down in the floor and began to quietly perform sit ups.

As she exercised, Roni started thinking about everything that had happened the previous day. She had cursed at a man whom her Dad considered as his own second Dad. She had once again broken down in front of her Dad and bawled in his arms, after cursing and yelling at him. and yet, her Dad still loved her. Still wanted to be there for her and help her.

The young teenager rolled onto her stomach and switched from doing sit ups to doing pushups, as she continued to think about her Dad. She felt guilty about how she had acted, but she knew her Dad did not blame her. He knew she didn't mean to be so rude.

With a deep sigh, Roni sat up in the floor and came to a realization. Her Dad only wanted what was best for her, only wanted to help her. If he thought that talking to a shrink would help her, maybe it would. Maybe a shrink could help her sort through the tangled thoughts that were racing through her mind.

Roni continued to exercise for another hour; doing squats, windmills, and other exercises. By the time she was finished, a thin sheen of sweat covered her body and she felt better then she had in a long time. She figured that finally getting what happened to her two years ago off of her chest had helped.

The young teen heard movement from the hallway and opened the door, revealing her Dad standing there with his fist in the air ready to knock.

"Saw the light on." Steve smiled. then his expression turned serious. "Are you okay, Sweetheart? You look flushed."

"I'm fine, Dad." Roni smiled. "I've been exercising for the past hour."

"Well if you already exercised, then I guess you don't want to go for a swim." Steve said.

"I always want to go for a swim." Roni smiled.

"Then go change and I will meet you downstairs."

"Yes Sir, but can we talk for a minute first?" The smile disappeared from the girl's face.

"Sure, Roni." Steve said, as he entered the room and followed his daughter to the bed. They both sat down, facing each other.

"I am really sorry about yesterday." Roni said, trying to find the right words. She was looking down at her hands and her voice was hardly above a whisper.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Steve said, as he took her hands into his. "Normally, you calling Joe or me names like that and hitting me would earn you a very sore bottom. But what happened was not your fault, I could tell from looking into your eyes that you were not exactly in control of your actions."

"I wasn't." Roni admitted, looking up and into his eyes. "I knew Mr. White was not Uncle Philip, and I knew that Rocky was not Ace. But somewhere in my mind, they were connected. I can't really explain it. When I have these episodes, it's like someone else has control of my body, and it scares the crap out of me."

Roni took a deep breath and said. "I've decided that you may be right, that seeing a shrink might help. I'm still scared of going, but I'm willing to give it a try."

"I will set up an appointment." Steve replied. "I was not going to force you to go, I promised you that I wouldn't. But I was hoping that you would change your mind. I found a therapist who specializes in helping teenagers with pasts like yours. He's supposed to be the best, he comes highly recommended."

"I'm not making any promises." Roni said, "But I am willing to be open minded and try my best to be honest with him."

"That's all I can ask of you." Steve said. "I am very proud of you, Sweetheart. I know you're scared, but you are facing your fear and I am very proud of you."

"Dad, where's Mr. White and Nahele at?" Roni asked. "I really need to apologize to him. I mean, I know you said it wasn't my fault. But I was rude to him and I would like to explain things to him."

"They felt that it was best if they spent the night with Mary last night." Steve said, causing her to sigh and once again bow her head. She had ran off her Dad's family.

"Hey, it's okay." Steve said, as he pulled the girl into a tight hug. "It's not like they spent the night on the streets, Mary treats her guests right. She probably even fed and watered them."

"Do you think Mr. White can forgive me?" Roni asked. "He seemed like a real nice man."

"He might forgive you." Steve said. "If you stop referring to him as Mr. White. He's Joe, or you can call him Uncle Joe. I did when I was your age."

Roni smiled, as she pulled slightly away from her Dad and reached up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you for being an amazing Dad."

"Thank you for being an amazing daughter." Steve responded.

"I don't know about you, but I am ready for that swim." Roni said.

"I am too." Steve said, ruffling her hair and smiling at her. "Meet you downstairs."

Bluewaters99

Sarah woke up and looked out her window, but it was still dark outside. That meant it was too early for her to get up. With a sigh, she tried to go back to sleep. But she couldn't, she was bored.

The six-year-old climbed out of bed and quietly walked into the hallway, everything was quite. Her Uncle Chin and Aunt Abby were still in bed asleep.

Sarah was about to go back to bed, when an idea hit her. A fun idea. She knew that she wasn't allowed to get out bed in the middle of the night just to watch tv, her tv time was limited. But if her Uncle and Aunt didn't know she was breaking the rules, then she wouldn't get into trouble.

With a huge smile on her face, the little girl went into the living room and turned the tv on, making sure the volume was really low. She knew how loud she could have it on and not wake the adults up, they had odd work hours sometimes and needed to sleep during the day sometimes. The little girl was flipping through the channels, when she found a movie with funny sounding music. It was kinda of an ahh cha cha cha sound. Sarah watched it for a couple minutes and smiled she saw two people walking through the woods. She liked movies about nature and animals.

The smile widened when she heard the cool music again. But the smile disappeared when the six-year-old watched in horror as a man in a mask stepped out from behind a tree and threw a large knife. The knife flew through the air and landed through the other man's chest. The man fell to his knees, then fell face first onto the ground.

The woman screamed, but then the masked man reached out and grabbed her face. He squeezed his hand, and the woman's face exploded. Sarah quickly jumped up and turned the tv off, then she stared at the black screen with her mouth hanging open.

Taking a deep breath, Sarah turned and walked back to her bedroom. The little girl was terrified. She wished she had never turned the tv on. The walk to her bedroom felt like the longest walk of her young life.

As soon as she entered her room, she flipped the light on and looked around. Then she ran and jumped into the bed as fast as she could, pulling the covers up over her head. She was scared that the masked man would come after her.

"Don't be silly, Sarah." She softly scolded herself. "What's on tv isn't real. Remember Uncle Chin said that the tv isn't real. Only news and stuff like that is real. But not movies."

Sarah started to calm down, slowly convincing herself that the masked man was not real. After several minutes, she drifted off to sleep.

Bluewaters99

Chin woke up, and laid in bed trying to figure out what woke him. But everything was silent. Chin figured it was nothing, but he carefully climbed out of bed as to not wake up Abby and walked into the hallway and down the hall to Sarah's room.

He was almost to her room when he heard a loud pitched scream come from the little girl's room. Chin quickly rushed into the room, noticing that the light was on. Sarah was sitting in the middle of the bed, screaming.

"Sarah, Honey." Chin said, as he quickly crossed the room and sat beside his niece. He wrapped her in a hug and scanned the room with his eyes, looking for any signs of danger.

Abby rushed into the room and also sat on the bed, reaching out and gently rubbing a hand over the crying girl's arm.

"Don't let him hurt me!" Sarah cried.

"Don't let how hurt you, Sarah?" Chin asked, sharing a worried look with Abby.

The woman quickly stood up and opened the closet door, thoroughly searching the closet. Then she knelt beside the bed and looked under it. She stood up and glanced at the opened door.

"I was watching the door before she screamed." Chin said, as he gently picked the little girl up and placed him in his lap. "No one left."

Abby sighed in relief, then once again sat on the bed and rubbed the little girl's shaking back as she clung to her Uncle Chin.

"It's okay, Sarah." Chin tried to soothe the child. "It's okay. You are safe, no one is here."

"H…..he was by the b….bed." Sarah stammered out.

Chin gently pried his niece's hands from around himself and resettled her so that they were facing each other, while she was still sitting in his lap.

"No one is here, Sarah." Chin said in a calm voice. "Aunt Abby checked, there is no one in here. You are safe, it was just a bad dream."

Sarah took a few deep breaths and stopped crying, but she was still scared. The dream felt so real, the man in the mask looked so real.

"I've got an idea." Chin smiled at the little girl. "How about you sleep the rest of night with Aunt Abby and me?"

"I'd like that." Sarah sniffled.

"Come on, Little One." Chin said, standing up while still holding her in his arms.

"I'll grab your bunny and pillow." Abby said, as she grabbed the stuffed toy and pillow.

"Thank you Aunt Abby."

"You are very welcome, Sweetie."

Chin carried the little girl into the master bedroom, and laid her down in bed. He crawled into bed on her left side, and Abby crawled into bed on her right side. The woman placed the girl's pillow on the bed and handed her the stuffed bunny.

"See, Sarah." Chin said. "I am on one side and Aunt Abby is on the other. There is no way anyone can hurt you, you are safe."

Sarah reached out and took one of Chin's hands and one of Abby hands, then she closed her eyes and started drifting off to sleep. She felt guilty. She was only scared because she broke a rule, and her Aunt and Uncle were being so nice to her. She knew they would be mad and disappointed if they found out the truth.

Bluewaters99

Roni swam beside her Dad for several minutes, but was soon getting tired. The previous workout combined with the excursion of the swim caused her to swim back to the beach. She walked over to the chairs and grabbed her towel, drying off with it.

She sensed someone watching her and turned around, seeing Joe White standing there. The man was looking out into the ocean where Steve was still swimming.

"He always did love the water." Joe said. "His Mom used to call her little Guppy when he was a small boy. Of course his Dad and I always said he was more like a shark."

"Mr. White." Roni said. "I want to apologize to you for the way I behaved yesterday."

Joe looked at her and smiled. "Make a deal with you, Munckin. I will forget what happened and we can start over, if you never call me Mr. White again. It's Uncle Joe, or just Joe. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Roni returned the smile.

"Hello young lady." Joe said, extending his hand. "My name is Uncle Joe."

"Hello Uncle Joe, my name is Roni." Roni said, shaking his hand.

"Nahele's inside starting breakfast. Why don't you shower and change, then come on into the kitchen. I'll tell you about the time your Dad decided to steal a cop car and park it in the bottom of the ocean."

"Seriously?" Roni asked.

"Seriously." Joe said. "I've got a million stories."

"And I would love to hear all of them." Roni replied. "Did you bring Rocky? I owe him an appolgy too."

"I wasn;t exactly sure how you would react to seeing Rocky." Joe said. "So I left him with Mary."

Roni sighed and hung her head, feeling guilty.

"Hey, it's okay." Joe smiled at her, as he gently used a fingertip to lift her chin up. "I left him in good hands, Joanie is spoiling him rotten. He slept in her bed last night."

Bluewaters99

Fifteen minutes later, Roni walked into the kitchen. Joe was standing at the small table dicing onions and Nahele was sitting at the table and stirring a bowl of pancake batter.

"Hey Nahele." Roni greeted the older teen.

"Hey, Little Sister." Nahel smiled, as he stood up and hugged her. Roni returned the hug, then they both sat down at the table.

"Dad still swimming?" Roni asked.

"Yep." Joe replied. "So now we can talk about him." He slid an avocado, a knife, and a small bowl towards the girl. "But you have to work for the story."

"Diced or sliced?" Roni asked.

"Sliced."

"Steve was thirteen." Joe started the story. "A new girl named Emily Prescott had just moved in down the road, and Steve was smitten. He wanted to impress her, to prove that he was a rebel. So he asked her out on a date, then stole a police cruiser.

Steve knew how to drive, but not something as fast and powerful as the cruiser. He was driving on the docks, then he lost control of the car and drove it off of the docks and into the ocean. The car sank like a stone, with both teens still inside.

Despite the lack of common sense he showed when he stole the car, Steve has always been a fast thinker and he was able to get both of them out and to the surface. Which wasn't an task since young Emily couldn't swim at all and was very panicky.

I was with Steve's Dad when he got the call, man he was really ticked at his son. We arrived on the docks and that little squirt was acting all macho, like what he did was nothing.

John gave him a look that would have scared the most hardened criminals and asked him what the hell was he thinking. Now Steve was a fast thinking, but his mouth works faster than his brain.

He stood up straight and said in a very calm voice, 'I was trying out a new way to fish, you want to try it?" John's response was to grab his soon by an ear and drag him to his car, while using his free hand to swat his butt hard. Him and Emily never had another date."

Nahele and Roni were both laughing, when Steve walked into the kitchen. His towel was draped over his shoulders.

"What's so funny?" Steve asked.

"Uncle Joe was just telling us about your one and only date with Emily Prescott." Roni said with a smirk.

"Joe." Steve glared at the older man.

"Emily wasn't the only girl who Steve got into trouble trying to impress." Joe said, completely ignoring the younger man. "When he was fourteen, he was arrested for breaking and entering. All because a cute girl asked him too."

"Joe." Steve's glare hardened.

"That's a good story." Nahele said with a smile.

"Joe." Steve said again, still glaring.

"Yes Steven?" Joe asked. Not fazed by the glare at all.

Steve sighed and said. "I'm going to shower." Then with a defeated huff, he walked out of the kitchen.

"What did he break into?" Roni asked.

"Let me start at the beginning." Joe said. "Steve's girlfriend, Sally, had a bad habit of writing in her diary during school hours. She got caught and one of her teachers confiscated the diary. She was told that the diary would only be given to her parents, and she received a note asking her parents to come for a conference.

Now Sally knew that her parents would be upset, and she didn't want to be punished. So she talked Steve into breaking into the school that night to retrieve the diary. But he got caught and arrested. John made him stay in a jail cell all night. When John picked him up the next morning, the boy was terrified. He was promising never to do anything illegal again as long as he lived."

"My Dad was a juvenile delinquent. Roni said. "Who would have guessed?"

"Joe has more stories." Nahele smiled. "A lot more."

"No he doesn't." Steve said, as he returned to the kitchen. "And besides, he's old and confused. He barley remembers his own name at times."

"How about another story, Uncle Joe?" Roni asked with a smile.

"Sure." Joe said. "There was the time…."

"Joe!" Steve growled with a glare.

"You know neither your glare nor your growl has any effect on me, Son." Joe said. "Now be quite."

Steve sighed, but said nothing.

Joe on the other hand, had a lot to say. He regaled the teens with stories of Steve's childhood and teenage years.

Bluewaters99

Later that morning, Roni was sitting at her Dad's desk doing math problems. The young teen was getting more and more frustrated with the problems.

She looked up when the door opened and Joe came in, Rocky was right beside him.

"Hey Uncle Joe." Roni smiled, glad for the interruption. "Hey, Boy." She stood up and then knelt in front of the dog. The dog nuzzled his nose under her hand and she started petting him. She scratched behind his ears, and the dog started wagging his tail.

"Guess that means you forgive me." Roni said. Rocky responded by placing a large paw on her shoulder and nuzzling his nose her nose. The teenager laughed and said. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Down Rocky." Joe said, the dog immediately obeyed and sat down beside Joe's feet.

"Good boy." Joe praised the dog and petted his head. Then he looked at Roni and said. "I was given strict instructions that you were only to have a very short break. Then you have to return to the math. You have another half an hour before lunch."

Roni sighed, then stood up and walked back over to the desk and sat down.

"Need any help?" Joe asked, as he sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "I'm pretty good at math."

"I'm not." Roni admitted with a sigh.

Joe looked at the problem she was working on and then began to explain how to solve it. For the next half hour, he patiently helped her understand the problems.

The door opened and Steve walked in. "How's it going?" He asked.

"Great." Roni smiled. "Uncle Joe is an excellent math teacher."

"I just wanted to let you know that I am leaving on a case, won't be back till late." He looked at Joe and asked. "Can you keep an eye on her?"

"Of course." Joe said. "We were going to grab a bite to eat, then take Rocky to the park."

"Sounds like fun." Steve smiled. "Remember Roni, you are to be back here at three fifteen to start cleaning. I won't be here, but I want you two to clean out our offices. Dust everything, vacuum, and take out the trash. It shouldn't take long. "

"Yes Sir." Roni said.

They talked for a few more moments, then Steve left.

"Come on, Munchkin." Joe said, as he stood up. "I have a taste for Kamakono's shrimp."

"Sounds good." Roni said.

Joe, Roni, and Rocky walked out of the building and over to Joe's rental truck, they climbed into the truck and Joe started driving.

"If it's alright with you." Joe said, as he drove. "Rocky and I planned on staying at your house tonight."

"I'd like that." Roni smiled.

"Good." Joe said. "But problem is, you will probably be stuck with Nahele also."

"Oh no!" Roni said in mock horror. "What did I ever do to deserve that?"

Joe laughed, then said. "I would love to see your artwork tonight, everyone has bragged about how talented you are. "

"Sure, I've got four full sketch pads already." Roni replied.

"You did not inherit your art skills from your Father." Joe said. "A few years ago, when we were both still in the Seals, Steve drew a map. We were supposed to arrive in a terrorist camp in Afghanistan, but instead we ended up in the Alaskan wilderness. Almost got mauled by a polar bear.

Roni laughed, and Joe said. "I'm not joking."

"Remind me not to let him draw me any maps." Roni said.

Joe parked the truck and they got out, grabbing Rocky's food and bowls from the back of the truck, then they ordered their meals and sat at a table. Roni feed and watered Rocky, and petted his head as he ate.

"He is a sweet dog." She said.

Before Joe could respond, Flippa arrived at the table with their order. They talked for a few moments, then Flippa returned to work.

"Here." Joe said, as he picked his plate up. "Try some."

"Thanks." Roni smiled, as she scooped a little bit out into her own plate. She only wanted to try a bite or two, it smelled really spicy.

Roni took a bite, then really wished she hadn't. Her mouth was fire and she felt her eyes watering, and she had only taken a small bite. The young girl quickly grabbed her coconut water and downed the entire bottle.

"How can you eat that?" She asked, her voice husky. "That stuff should be weaponized. It's toxic."

Joe laughed and said. "That was Steve's reaction as well."

Tbc!

Hope you like it, I will post more as soon as I can.