"Beautiful sunrise, Bridget," Jack commented and followed her to the cushioned couch to watch the sun's colors spread across the sky and bleed into the sea.

Bridget. There wasn't any reason for the alias now that Ahmose had found her. But she didn't want to explain anything to him. Jack had been a rock through all of this, he deserved the truth, and he would get it. Just not today.

"It is. That is one of the things I love the most here."

"Do you feel up to a picnic on the beach today? I brought my small grill and we can make hot dogs, grill some veggies, and I can have some of that expensive wine Erin keeps around."

"I look forward to the day. I guess it will be a while."

"Yeah. How about that picnic?"

Mal scanned Jack's face. He looked calm, casual as he asked her to join him for a picnic that he knew Erin couldn't be present for. But she knew he was nervous, and that he held his breath as he waited for her to answer. He wanted to change their relationship. With Ahmose here, that wasn't even on the grid now. Jack was a darling, gorgeous, s.e.xy, kind, the perfect mate. Ahmose wasn't.

It was Ahmose she wanted. But that wasn't going to work out either. He was an important man in his village, and Erin had told her that he was looking for his queen.

That was not her. She was a cop who wasn't a cop anymore, a new mother that had a lot to learn, a displaced American, and a confused human in the middle of a vampire's world. Something had to calm down. Here, with Erin, she was comfortable, and Mal was pretty certain that Erin was happy with her and Brigitte staying with her, so for the foreseeable future, this is where she would remain. Of course, Ahmose could visit. She hoped he would!

"Bridget?"

Mal shook her head. Oh, Jack, s.h.i.t!

"I'm sorry, I zoned out. Sure, sure we can. I'll see if the baby is awake."

Jack touched Mal suddenly, his fingers curling around her forearm. "Just you and me, okay?"

So he was going to make his move. She might as well let him and then make her position clear.

"Sure, yeah, that sounds nice. What time did you have in mind?"

"Later, late dinner? Just before sunset?"

That was getting too close to dark. It might not be wise. "How about a late lunch instead? Four?"

Jack nodded. "How about eight? I have to go to Parrot Bay this afternoon. Please say yes. I'll bring everything, you just bring your lovely self."

Drawing a deep breath, Mal smiled. She needed to get this over with, let him know. "It's a deal. I'm going for a swim. Did you want to come?" That way she didn't have to converse with him before she had to let him down this afternoon.

"No. I actually have to be on the other side of the island this morning. I'm building a storage room for a new arrival. I'll see you at four."

Mal hated conflict, especially emotional conflict, and especially when she was the one inflicting it. But Jack couldn't hang around here if Ahmose was going to be here. One thing that Erin had made clear was that vampires were very possessive when it came to the women in their life. She would not have Jack get hurt.

Since she had told him she was going for a swim, she decided to go ahead and do so. The air was warming up nicely with the rising sun and she could use the exercise. Although, she had to agree, even though she was just a few days past delivery, her figure was already back, and maybe even tighter than before...with no exercise! Having a vampire baby did seem to have its perks.

On the beach, a hundred yards away, hidden behind a bank of rock and shrubs, Ballgame squatted. He had his cell out again, and as the call connected, he looked around at the beauty of this tropical island and saw nothing but sand and water. Miserable nothingness. A click later, he mustered himself to sound thrilled to be here.

"Yes, sir. She's taking a swim. It's a pretty day here."

"Keep an eye on her. I'm going to take it from here. In fact, I'm flying in, so book me the best suite you can, I'll be there by tonight."

Ballgame nearly jumped in joy. Canzone was coming here? Maybe he could finally get back to f.u.c.king civilization!

Back in L.A., Canzone let his new right hand man make arrangements for a flight to Florida. He would make his own clandestine arrangements to North Caicos Island. He didn't want to lose track of his sister's kid. Yeah, he'd admit that he wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but he was really just trying to survive, like everybody else. He had no wife, no kids, no family. Except her. In his own way, he'd done everything he could to protect her. That's what he wanted to do now. But Kai wouldn't have let him have anything to do with her.

He was through with that now. In spite of his history with his niece, Canzone was going to do it, he was going to tell her that he was her uncle.

"I just want to make sure that you're okay, little one," he whispered to himself, aware that he was being too sentimental and that it could get him in trouble with his stockholders.

He'd been ordered to eliminate her, and even if they had known her connection to him, it wouldn't have mattered. They weren't sentimental.

So, he'd talk with her, come clean, tell her who he was, what she meant to him, and make sure that she never came back to L.A. He'd tell his people that he'd killed her, then leave her to live her life.

"See, Kai, I am not the monster you think I am," he said out loud as he left his office and closed the door behind him. The only key to the very secure office, he slipped into his pocket.

There would be no security on this journey, no one could know where he was going because no one could know where she was. Picking up the small pack he'd prepared, he had everything he needed. A garrote lay curled up in the bottom of the pack and looked like a necklace. Ballgame was the only one who knew where his niece was, so he would not be returning from the island.

With the sun down, Ahmose hurried to Erin's little beach house, frustrated with the slow speed of the little car he'd borrowed. Once he parked it quickly and walked up to the house, Erin walked out, holding the baby.

He stopped in his tracks. He still couldn't believe that he had another daughter. The baby was just a few days old, but she was already holding her head up, blue eyes sparkling in the light from a dozen Tiki torches burning all around the deck. She looked right at him as soon as she saw him.

"May I hold her?" he asked Erin, as he approached.

"You're the baby-daddy. Sure." She sounded irreverent, but he could feel her respect of him and his position. He recognized her and knew that she had been in his village once a long time ago.

"She's so..." Ahmose found he couldn't think of a word that fit. Beautiful, lovely, perfect...all seemed too small.

"I know," Erin said, because she understood.

Holding Brigitte, her head in his left hand, her body cradled in his right, he looked down at this little person he'd made with Mal. He loved his son and daughter back home in Africa with their mother, as much as anything in his life, but this child, this miracle, was such a surprise, he still couldn't process it. But she was reaching for him, tentatively, now that he was here, as if she was uncertain of him. He knew, though, already, that he loved her as much as any other in his life, as much as the two children he had been raising back home, this baby's siblings.

Lifting his head, he asked. "She and Mal are doing okay?"

"Beautifully. They're both healthy, happy, and safe, and you can't ask for more than that."

Ahmose felt the tension now, and knew the statement for what it was. Erin was warning him that he could not just take them from this place. He understood completely.

It didn't matter, they would be going home with him. He would have his daughter at home in his village, protected by dozens of first bloods, by her birthright and a father who loved her more than the world itself. The beautiful L.A. detective? He knew now, after six months of grieving, after seeing her again, he wanted her just as much.

He hadn't known. Destiny seemed to have toyed with him over the past few years, tugging at his heart and mind, ripping into him, then lavishing the gifts of the universe on him. But he knew now, he had no doubt. This sharp-tongued, stunning woman was meant to be his. As much as he'd thought that Starla was destined to be his mate for the days after he'd seen her at the waterfalls, as much as he'd loved his moments with Mal in California, and then returned home to miss her desperately, he knew this was eternal. She was his, even if she didn't know it yet. He would just have to win her, because the universe had spoken to him. They were to love and travel this path through the years together now.

Erin's sharp gaze was appreciated, because he knew that she loved his daughter and Mal, too.

He smiled at her. "I will not take them from you. But they will be going home to Africa with me. Erin, you may accompany us and return to the village. I can see they are family to you now and that is more important than anything in the world, yes?"

The elegant redhead paused, her eyes sweeping over him carefully, scanning his face, his stance, his arms holding the baby she loved.

"Yes," she finally said, simply, then stepped forward to take Brigitte back into her arms. "Then you had better go find your woman. She's on the beach. She's with a human male. Do not hurt him."

Erin walked back up the steps and disappeared into the house.

Ahmose stood for a moment. She was with another man? Air-displacement couldn't let him move fast enough. He arrived a few dozen yards from the small bonfire on the beach, two heads leaning close, near the flames. His first instinct was to take the man and fling him into the ocean. His second was to behead him. He went with the third.

Slowly, tamping down the steam in his head, he walked over to the cozy couple.

Earlier that night, when Jack arrived for their date, Mal had dressed carefully, casually, with no attempt to attract. She knew it wouldn't make a difference, it just seemed prudent.

After they set up a bonfire, and began cooking the fat little hot dogs on Jack's small grill, he looked up at her, and took her right hand, slipping the fingers from both of his hands around her palm.

"Mal, you know how much I adore you."

Nodding, she curled her fingers around his. "I do. You know I adore you, too. But I need to tell you something."

When he stiffened, she knew he got it. He knew by her tone and words that she was going to shoot him down before he ever got a chance to fly.

"Jack, Brigitte's father, he's here."

That surprised him. Erin had told him that the father of the baby was well and truly out of the picture forever.

"Okay," he responded, waiting for her to tell him what that meant.

She continued. "He's, um...wow, this is complicated. I don't know where we go from here, but I can't make any decisions until I do. You understand?"

Jack did. He thought he might have gotten the kindest pre-Dear John note ever. Because he knew that if she thought of him like he thought of her, this man's arrival wouldn't have mattered. His eyes moved across her lovely face. It really did break his heart to know they wouldn't have a chance to be together. Deciding to be the bigger man, he nodded at the news.

"I get it. You have to give him a chance."

"Oh, h.e.l.l, no."

Just when he thought he couldn't be surprised again, she did it. What?

"Sooo...you don't want to give him a chance?"

"No. I don't know. Maybe. f.u.c.k, I said it was complicated. Can I confide in you?"

He couldn't answer, but he nodded his agreement.

"This man is, for lack of a better way to say it, bigger than life. He's powerful, forceful, intractable...like a hurricane. He overwhelms me, and I just don't think I can live like that. I'm worried for Brigitte, if he takes her to his people in Africa, who will she become? Would I be doing the right thing for her? I had a plan to return to my mother's home in Hawaii and raise her on sand and surf and popsicles. I don't know, Jack, this has upset things. I thought I knew what our future would be, and now he has shown up."

Jack and Mal had been leaning close over the flames when a voice interrupted.

"He is here," said the deep voice behind them.

They both turned, Jack standing immediately, disappointed to see how huge Mal's former lover was. Figured.

Mal couldn't move. She had known there was a chance that Ahmose would come, but she didn't think it would be this soon, and she hoped that he wouldn't come down to the beach. Now, here, in front of her and Jack, angry, he did what he always did...he took her breath away. But when she noticed his attention turn to Jack, she moved quickly.

"Uh, yeah, Jack, this is Brigitte's biological father, Ahmose. Ahmose, this is Jack, a dear friend who has been good to us here on this island."

The look Ahmose threw Mal could have melted her where she stood. "I am Brigitte's father. Biological and every other way that exists, little detective."

Jack looked at Mal. "Detective?"

Mal shook her head. "Pet name, it's stupid. Ahmose, would you mind waiting for us at the house?"

It hadn't been a request, it had been a demand, and he knew that. He folded his thick arms and didn't move.

"I think it's better if this man leaves and I stay."

Sighing, Mal knew not to try to change a hurricane's mind. She turned to Jack.

"Jack, what I had been trying to say is that I have to work through some things with Ahmose before I can consider anything else. He's not going to leave, so would you go on home tonight and I'll call you tomorrow?"

He didn't move. Jack just stood, legs apart, arms folded, and stared at Ahmose. Eventually he looked at Mal. "Are you sure? I don't trust this guy."

"I get that. But he's fine, he isn't a threat or problem." She glanced up at Ahmose. "Really, he's as fluffy as a kitten."

Smiling, Jack lowered his head, then looked back up at Mal. "Okay. If you need me..."

"She won't. Ever." Ahmose answered for Mal, who groaned.

"You see, Jack? Like a childish kitten. I'll see you tomorrow. The idea of the picnic was a good one."

With one last glance, Jack started back up the beach.

"Fluffy as a kitten? You felt a need to try to emasculate me?"

"Hardly. You're all man, anyone with eyes can see that. It isn't possible to miss you. Anything about you."

Ahmose was silent, his eyes sliding to the remnants of the sunset, bright vermillion lining the watery horizon.

"It's beautiful here. I see why you came." Then he looked back at Mal. "I'm glad you understand my nature. I am male, but I am also vampire, and that means that other men cannot touch my woman."

"I understand. But I'm not your woman."

She was in his arms in less than a whoosh of air.

"You are my woman," Ahmose said, simply. "What we didn't know, was that you were from that first night. My child grew inside of you from that first night. We were meant to be."

Her arms now around his neck, Mal let her sandals fall into the sand and put her legs around his waist. "Getting pregnant doesn't imply anything, Ahmose. It happens every day."

"Not to a vampire."

He nuzzled in under her hair, then lifted his gaze and caught hers. "It's more than that, you know it is. I don't think you've stopped thinking of me, either."

Now it was Mal's turn to look away. He was right, but she wasn't ready to admit it. Once she did, she would give him power over her that she wasn't ready to give.

"We were good together. But that was only two nights. It's not anything to build a life on."

"Our daughter is."