They were both very strong swimmers, having been in cla.s.ses since they were very young, they were the best on the swim team at their high school and top of the cla.s.s in their scuba lessons.

The bubbles drifted to the bottom of the boat as they swam deeper and deeper. Darya"s dream was to become a master deep-sea diver and after she mastered scuba diving she wanted to get into freediving and see how far her lungs would take her. Denise was always wary of her freediving dreams because of her allergies and horrible asthma she"s had since she was born.

They swam deeper and deeper until Marty held his hand up telling her to hold up, he had found something. They had been deep in the ocean blue for about ten minutes, they knew their parents wouldn"t allow them to stay down much longer with it being so close to curfew so they tried to hurry.

Darya swam closer to Marty to see what he was directing her to. It was still a little way down but they could see if from where they suspended themselves in the water.

It was a small cave opening. They knew their time was running up and they would be able to explore it at the moment, but she had some free diving practice in a few days and knew she could make it down this far within a single breath. She pulled herself closer and closer until she was within reaching the distance of the opening. Her eyes widened when she felt the sudden temperature change when her hand neared the entrance.

She turned back to Marty who tried to shrug his shoulders, neither one of them knew what would be down there. She would have to ask her mom when she floated back up.

Meanwhile on top of the water sat the boat that held two tipsy parents and one that was laughing so hard he nearly fell out of the boat and into the water with their kids.

"Ramon, tell it again, please! I want to see Michael fall into the water this time!" Denise cackled while taking another long sip of the wine cooler in her hand making Michael roll his eyes at the two of them drinking their night away.

"No, don"t tell that story again I don"t want to go swimming so late. And Denise, you might want to start hiding that bottle of yours, the coast guard should be coming through here soon and while I know he"s got a major crush on you, he is still the coast guard and it"s almost curfew. Plus open container and all." Michael made a good point and since Ramon wasn"t quite as many coolers deep as she was he agreed with him.

"I"ve got a better idea. I want to hear the real story about Dar"s father. We both know you left things out when you told her earlier. I don"t blame you, we keep things from Marty when needed." Ramon shrugged and tossed his empty bottle into the throw out bag at the end of the boat while he handed a third to Denise who sat back trying to keep her cheeks from turning an embarra.s.sing shade of red.

"Well no, she doesn"t know the details. The hot steamy details. She"s my daughter after all not my best friend like you guys are." She winked at the two of them earning a wink and nod in reply.

"But okay, it really did start that day on the beach but what she doesn"t know is that I made the first move. I asked him out a few days after that because he was just so shy. It was like he wasn"t used to being around other people. But there was something strange about him, and I see it all the time with Darya..." The story wasn"t turning out to be the steamy love story they hoped for but the mystery was pulling them in just as hard.

"Like what? You know nature is far more powerful than genetics. Although, you wouldn"t think so with that ambition your daughter has. She"s you embodied in that area." Ramon said while he sucked back the water bottle in his hand trying to fight the spins the alcohol in his bloodstream.

"Well yes, she does have my ambition but there are some things that aren"t me at all. I know she"s still coming into her own but...Okay, it"s the allergies, asthma, and that d.a.m.n rash. It"s the d.a.m.ndest thing. She"s had the allergies since she was an infant and asthma soon followed but the rash is something else. Even the local dermatologist can"t figure it out. It came out of nowhere and it won"t go away but the weird thing is the salt.w.a.ter heals it. When she"s out swimming and comes back home it looks like it"s almost gone but as soon as it dries out it looks just as bad." She went from being tipsy to upset in a matter of minutes.

"That"s a little weird but I mean not enough to get upset over..." Michael said trying not to upset her even more.

"No, it"s weird because the harder I think about Dane back then the more I remember the same rash on his legs, only it was a bit bigger and not as red and puffy. It was almost like patches of scars? But that can"t be a thing right?" She asked with a tiny bit of a slur which she noticed and proceeded to cover her mouth in embarra.s.sment.

"c.r.a.p, I can see the coast guard lights from here, let"s tug the kids up," Ramon said as he peered around the cliffs that weren"t too far off from where they sat. The coast guard wasn"t too far away from them and when he looked down at his watch and saw that it was nearly ten at night, the citywide curfew was about to start.

Denise tugged on the hose telling the kids it was time to head back up. She knew they would need to go slow so they would avoid the bends when they came back up. She was proud of her little fish, as she would call her sometimes when Denise was feeling especially nostalgic. Her little girl turning fifteen was allowing her to relive a lot of things she tried to bury and get over.

When she saw their bubbles pop on the surface of the water she knew they would be up shortly.

"Denise, I wouldn"t worry too much about the rash thing, but if it"s still being weird and actually healing with salt water then maybe take her to work one day and look at it there? You"re a marine biologist after all." Michael suggested and reminded her that her line of work was right up to the alley she seemed to be chasing with this allergy and rash situation.

"That actually might be a good idea. School"s out in a few weeks, I"ll take her then if the rash hasn"t cleared up using the cream the doctor gave us." She looked down to see the kids pop up out of the water and reached down with Ramon to help pull them up. They sat in the boat and started to take off their equipment while Michael, the only one that didn"t have a single drink that night, started the boat and put it in gear so they could outrun the coast guard.

Lucky for them Denise and Darya"s house was only on the rocks above the water just to their right.

"Did you guys find anything good?" Denise asked while they pulled the boat up to the docks. The kids looked at each other quickly and decided to not tell their parents what they found down there. They wanted to explore it more.

"Nothing new, maybe in a few days when we do our free diving we"ll find something. I think I"ll need a breathing treatment before bed. That oxygen really irritated my lungs." Darya said as they reached their house with the boys.

"Okay, since the curfew has begun I suggest we all get some sleep in our house. Guys, you can have the guest room in the attic, Marty you know where your bed it." Denise said as she unlocked the back door. Marty had his own bed that stayed under Darya"s when it wasn"t in use. Denise invested in a trundle bed after they had turned six. He practically lived there. Darya even had her own bed at Marty"s place when she stayed over there. Needless to say, the families were close.

Closing the door and hearing the faint sound of Darya"s breathing machine she locked the door back and said goodnight to each of them before heading to her own room. With thoughts of Dane and the mysteries that plagued her daughter, she closed the door on another successful birthday.