Nate rolled his eyes as he pulled out a few plates and some silverware. He set the table with two on one side and one person on another. He layed out the silverware while listening to Iris' story. "But we aren't married!" he exclaimed laughing a little. Nate did a little dance when she said she would make his special sandwiches. "So does that mean we can go to the farmers market then the boardwalk?"

"We are. We are having a picnic. Or we could have them for dinner or something. If you don't want to we don't have to." he said kissing her cheek and whispering in her ear. He wanted to make her happy and have fun. He also could have those sandwiches any day.

Iris turned around to face Nathaniel with spatula in hand. "You just hold on with your plans boy!" she smiled, her hearing was better than what they thought. "We eat first and then we'll see about the farmer's market." Iris told him as she turned back around to the stove.

Cadence nodded her head and smiled as Nate told her they were going to have a picnic. "A picnic sounds perfect!" she whispered with a quiet giggle. She stepped a little closer to him, but then he was gone, setting the table as Iris had asked him. She should probably help. Yes, helping would be polite. She walked over to Nate and took some of the things from his hands and helped him set the table. When Iris rounded him looking as if she was going to beat him with the spatula possibly, Cadence couldn't help but giggle. So, apparently Iris wasn't a deaf old woman. Once the table had been set, Cadence chose a chair at random and took a seat, waiting for breakfast. There was no way she was going to eat four eggs by herself, but she would make her best attempt in the spirit of being gracious. She brushed her once again long brown hair behind her shoulders and sat with her hands folded in her lap, just waiting. "Breakfast smells great, Mrs. Fitz Gerald!" she said, attempting to break the awkward silence.

Throughout the next week, Nate and Cadence visited several of Nate’s favorite places in Florida. As promised, he took Cadence to Disney World where she danced with Prince Charming, rode spinning teacups, and got soaked on Splash Mountain. They spent afternoons on the beach, eating on the boardwalks, and getting slushies at the ever-popular slushie and smoothie bars. Cadence made every attempt to humor Nate by doing things that he wanted to do, like playing soccer and riding four-wheelers and jet skis; she was happy to just see him happy. In the evenings they would go dancing, visit the Boardwalk Festival (where Nate won her an incredibly huge and cute teddy bear), or just sit in the park and watch the stars until they decided they should get home.

Most nights, they would return to find Iris passed out on the couch with a drained bottle of liquor nearby. Nate would hurry Cadence up the stairs before cleaning up after his grandmother and making sure she had covers and a pillow, then he would climb the two flights of stairs to find the young woman who had captured his heart lying in bed, awaiting his entry. The two young lovers would lay cuddled close in the bed upstairs, talking and laughing and kissing until they fell asleep. It was the ideal of youthful romance; uninhibited by heartbreak, unaware that there was a world outside of their own. All that mattered was the two of them: their entwined hearts, interlocked fingers, tender kisses, and the purest love anyone could ever experience.

One morning, the two woke up in their cloud-like bed to see the sun streaming in through the windows, but after blinking a few times, they realized there was something sitting out on the balcony. Cadence crawled out of bed and opened the door, breathing in the warm Florida air. Looking at the railing of the balcony, she spotted a black owl with huge yellow eyes, and in his beak he was clutching a seemingly unmarked letter. After the letter had been removed from his beak, the unfamiliar animal immediately flew off, and very quickly at that. Walking back into the room with a confused expression, Cadence carefully examined the letter. In the top left hand corner, scrawled in miniscule writing was the word, “Sunshine.” Cadence’s eyes widened in shock and horror. Letting out a little screech, she dropped the letter on the floor, still staring at it, completely transfixed. Whoever sent that letter was cruel and terrible. This was some sort of sick joke. The kind of sick joke that made Cadence feel extremely sick to her stomach.

Asher was very happy how his winter holiday was going, though he missed Maudi and the boys that were currently in Russia while he and Ziva were in Florida spending some much needed quality time together. The beach house that Asher had rented out for the holiday was just the type of place he wanted to stay at. It was small compared to his large estate back home in Denmark and was light and airy. With a spectacular view of the ocean out the living room windows. "Ziva!" Asher called up to her as he stood at the foot of the small staircase leading to the second floor.


Ziva heard her brother's call from downstairs and rolled over in her bed to face out the window to look at the ocean. She smiled, though she had been there for over five days, she still hadn't got used to the fact that they weren't in Europe anymore. But the United States in Florida. "Coming!" Ziva called down to her brother as she pulled herself up from her bed. She made her bed quickly, knowin that anything left out of place would make her feel bad when she came back to her room. It was so nice looking that one thing out of place made room look not so good.