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It was one of the rare spring days where there wasn't a chore list a mile long. The weather was nice, warm and sunny with a breeze. It was a perfect day for being by the lake. Chloe and Joy were on vacation in Ireland, and Emmett and Jax were updating the mural on the side of the barn, so that left Noah and the girls by the lake.

The water was still a bit cool but it was easy enough to swim in, even if it seemed like Noah was the only one swimming. April and Ally were wading in the shallows, watching the mama ducks and their babies swim around. They had what was left of yesterday's bread with them, though it seemed like it was forgotten until the baby ducks bath time was over. Alex and Iris were both stretched out on the dock, tanning and talking, and Noah was tempted to duck under the water, swim over, and splash them. He missed when they were young and actually wanted to socialize with their father and didn't want to wear bikinis (or tankinis in Ally's case; thank God April still opted for onesies.)

"Is anyone gonna actually come in here, or am I gonna have to throw every one'a you off the docks like when you all were youngins?"

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"Please, Daddy," Alex replied lazily, turning over and tilting her sunglasses down to regard him with those pale blue-green eyes of hers. "Iris and I aren't finished basking."

"Like cats," Iris said, and laughed. "Beautiful cats."

"Mmhmm." Alex rolled back over. "I am a panther. Black and sleek and terrifying. You can be... hmm..."

"A cheetah," Iris said, definitively.

Alex arched her eyebrows. "A cheetah? Look, just because you run track..."

They wandered off into a discussion of big cats and who was what. Noah rolled his eyes, and swam towards the girls in the shallows. "Either of you?"

"In a minute," April called, drifting after the ducklings. Loki was following her on the shore like a lost puppy. "I just want to try and hold one..."

Noah rolled his eye again and moved through the water toward the ducks. One of the mama ducks quacked in an offended manner when he swam too close by, but he swam silently and he must have been familiar enough, because none of the ducks scattered when he got within touching distance.

The yellow and brown duckling he scooped out of the water chirped in alarm. Mama Duck honked again, but Noah waved her back. "I ain't gonna hurt your baby, mama. Go on." He cradled the duckling carefully in his free hand as he swam over to April.

"Quiet now," he told her, handing the duck over softly. He knew April's tendency to get high pitched.

Ally started giggling. "The ducks followed you, Daddy," she said, pointing over his shoulder.

He pivoted in the water to find Mama Duck and the rest of her nest bobbing in the water behind him. As if waiting for him to notice her, Mama Duck quacked her displeasure loudly, flapping her wings and splashing water until the duckling in April's hands started to chirp and let her know it was okay.

All four of them were laughing at him now, and it was his luck for him to be scolded by a duck.

April held the little ball of fluff in her hands with the same look of awe she'd had when he first brought her Loki, a look not diminished by the giggles that kept escaping. "He's so little," she said, softly, then stroked the little fluffy head once, and released it back into the water. "Go on," she told it. "Go back to your mommy. Thank you, Daddy!"

"You're welcome, Buttercup," he answered gruffly. The ducks were shooed away when they were reunited and they hurried toward the other side of the lake. "Gonna swim now?"

"As long as you promise not to yank us under," Ally said, wading further out into the water. "Or at least warn us first."

Noah laughed. When they were younger, and went further out in the lake than they were allowed, Noah would always swim underneath them, grab them by the ankle, and pull them under for a few seconds before instructing them back to shore. "Don't do anything to deserve gettin' ducked and I won't." He looked over at the older girls, who were still in their cat conversation. "What 'bout you two?"

"Not now, Daddy," they chorused, before going back to figuring out what kind of big cat Jackson would be.

He shared a look with April. "Splash 'em?" he asked lowly. He grinned when April started giggling more and nodded, before he raised a hand to his lip. Sticking his fingers in his mouth, he whistled loudly. "Boomer! Come swimmin'!" He yelled, loud enough to be heard up at the house.

There was a moment before Noah heard Boomer's baying bark. After another, he saw the bloodhound running towards the lake from the house, ears flopping with every step. Ally and April both laughed at him, especially when he rushed down the pier and nearly barreled over a shrieking Iris and Alex, before he veered off course and cannon balled into the water. The resulting wave splashed onto the deck and over both of the older girls.

"Daddy!" they yelled, again in chorus. Alex sat up and hauled her dark hair over her shoulder, trying to squeeze the water out of it while she scowled at everyone. Or... well, she scowled until she saw Boomer, flailing happily in the water, because not even Alex could resist that face.

"You're a jerk," Alex informed him, but without a lot of heat. "He's a jerk, Iris. His tiger privileges are revoked.

"Definitely," Iris agreed, still prone on the blanket. "Jerk."

April, still giggling, said, "You should've come in! It's nice."

Boomer didn't seem too affected by Alex and Iris, judging from how he completely ignored them and splashed around in circles.

"Tried to get you to come in the lake, and you didn't want to," Noah plainly said. "Ain't my fault I had to bring the lake to you."

Iris tilted her head back to look at him, her expression so much like her Jackson's disapproving one. "It isn't your fault, Daddy," she lightly corrected. "And we never said we didn't want to, we said we didn't want to right now."

"Yeah," Alex said, wringing the last few drops out of her hair. "Never is never and later is later." She dipped a foot in the water, swirling it around with delicate twists of her ankles. "And we said later."

"'Cept when you say later you mean never," April piped up, and ducked when Alex kicked water at her.

Noah swept an arm though the water and sent a wave back at Alex. It barly fell short of the dock and splashed up her legs. "Can't get mad at her for tellin' the truth," he grinned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you just don't wanna spend time with your daddy or your sisters. My feelin's are hurt</i."

Alex raised an eyebrow, and flicked water in Noah's direction with her toes. "And what do you call Iris, then?"

"A sister does not equal sisters, smartmouth," he answered fondly. "Iris, honey, are you gonna come swimmin'?"

She hummed in thought, before rolling over onto her stomach to narrow her eyes at Noah. "Am I allowed to still plan revenge if I come swimming?"

He snorted. "Sure."

"Fine," Alex said, stood up, and performed a graceful swan dive into the lake that somehow managed to drench Noah, Allie, and a squealing April in a wave.

"I'm going to get you!" April shrieked happily, and swam after her sister, with more enthusiasm than skill. Swimming lessons were probably in order. She shouldn't be splashing that much.

When Iris followed Alex with a much less graceful cannonball that soaked all of them again, he figured it could wait for another day. "Think you better follow 'em before they splash all the water out the lake," he said to Ally.

''kay, Daddy," she giggled, before paddling out to join her sisters. "Come on, Boomer!"

The old hound followed after her, cirling around the lot of them and barking as best as he could while swimming, obviously not happy with a situation where he couldn't herd them to what he consdered safety. The "Shut up, Boomer!" from all of them was nearly simultaneous.

Alex rolled over towards the sun and began lazily backstroking her way across the lake, arms flashing in and out of the water, easily keeping out of her sister's reach. "Can't catch me!" she taunted, bobbing upright briefly before returning to the backstroke. "Too slow!"

"No," April huffed, splashing after her doggedly. "You're too fast. There's too much of you. Daddy, tell Alex to be shorter!"

"You gonna have to bring that up with God, Buttercup, not me," Noah answered, pretending not to be watching them as he floated by. If anyone else saw Ally dive under and out of sight, they didn't say anything about it, so he didn't either.

There was a brief second between Alex stopping and turning to tease April before she was yanked under in a flurry of bubbles. Noah only had a few seconds to laugh himself, before he felt a small but strong hand wrap around his ankle and jerk him underwater.

April, Ally, and Iris were all laughing when he came back up, though Alex looked like she might be on his side now.

"Hmm," Alex said, paddling in place. "Get revenge on my brat sister or dogpile on Daddy?"

"Which brat sister?" Iris asked, practically. "Not me, I hope."

Alex ignored her, scanning April and Ally thoughtfully. The girls looked at each other, then said, in unison, "Daddy."

"Yeah," Alex said, and without warning all four of them were heading for him, cutting through the water like so many sharks, and wearing equally big grins.

He sucked in a breath and ducked underwater, swimming deep before he headed in that he hoped was the direction of the dock. He couldn't see much underwater, but he knew that Alex and Ally were the strongest swimmers, so he swam until he had no choice but to surface. He was glad to see that he was only about 20 feet from the dock.

To his surprise, Alex and Iris weren't chasing him anymore, though Ally and April were still splashing energetically after him. The older girls were treading water and whispering to each other.

Then Iris put two fingers in her mouth and whistled, shrilly. "Here, Bailey! C'mere, boy!"

The beagle practically teleported down the hill, off the dock, and into the lake, ears flying, to douse Noah with a beagleworth of water.

It didn't help when the damned dog splashed over to Noah, and tried to get his paws on his shoulders and lick him in the face. It especially didn't help when Boomer tried to help him, and he was caught in the splash zone of a play-fight.

He slicked his hair back when he was able to swim away and mock glared at the girls. "See if I don't get revenge for that."

"I'm so afraid, Daddy," Iris drawled, flopping onto her back and doing lazy backstrokes around him.

Alex giggled, then swam over to Bailey, ruffling his floppy ears, then tugged him back to the dock. "You're a bit little for this, sweetie."

"The ducklings are smaller," April objected, paddling madly. "They can swim."

"Bailey isn't as bouyant," Alex replied, treading water with a lot more grace.

"I think his ears could help him stay afloat," Noah dryly said. "He won't learn to swim if we don't let him in the water. Let him stay in for a bit. We can watch him."

Boomer raised his head out of the water and bayed, loudly. Noah saw birds fly out of the treeline, and snorted. "M'takin' that as an agreement."

He treaded water, watching them all for a few seconds. "April, darlin', I think it's time someone gave you swimmin' lessons.

"In the shallows," Alex allowed, then rolled over onto her back and floated.

"I do not need swimming lessons," April said, still paddling madly and splashing water everywhere. "I'm swimming, aren't I?"

"If we were in a pool, it'd be half empty," Noah answered, not unkindly. "Do this, Buttercup. Go swim with Bailey and see if you can mimick him."

Said beagle was paddling around the shallows with Ally and Iris watching and encouraging him. He held his head out of the water, but his ears still floated with the rest of him, and he was mostly paddling around silently. It was ruined when he would wag his tail and send a splash of water behind him.

April wrinkled her nose. "I can't swim over there," she said. "It's too shallow." Still, she studied Bailey closely for a while, then held her head high out of the water and kicked out tentatively, paddling frantically with her hands.

"Like this, Daddy?" she called, over the noise.

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