"You ready, gorgeous? They just docked." Gabe said to me, leaning down and pecking me on the lips.

"No... please! I don't ever wanna go back to work again in my life." I whined, collapsing back on the bed.

"Hm... well, you never have to if you don't want to... that's an option, you know." Gabe said. "But just out of curiosity, what were you thinking to do in all the spare time you'll get?"

"Uhm... first is convincing you to quit your job so we can spend the rest of our lives in bed." I giggled.

"Hm... I don't think it would be too difficult to convince me." He laughed, locking our lips for one last kiss before we had to get up and leave. Truth be told I was really dreading leaving and going back to normal life where I had actual responsibilities.

As soon as we boarded the ship, we were attacked by hugs and laughter and greetings everywhere. We were the last to get picked up from our honeymoon location, so all the other newlyweds were there already.

Lily came stomping through the family, a big pout on her pretty little face and her arms crossed, angry tears were falling from her blue eyes.

"Aw, what's wrong, Strawberry?" I asked my little angel.

"I wanna go home! I don't want this stupid ocean! I want home!" Lily cried angrily.

"What did the ocean do?" I asked her.

"I don't want it!" Lily screamed.

"She's feeling a little queasy since this morning." Theo said. "And no one is allowed to touch her."

"You're feeling sick, baby?" I asked, letting Lily nod and storm away angrily.

"What's going on? When did she start feeling this way?" I asked, my worry increasing.

"We boarded the ship last night and she woke up this morning feeling sick to her stomach. She tolerated it for a while and let us help her, and then she just started pushing everyone away and trying to deal with it on her own." Killian explained.

"Has she thrown up?" I asked, feeling Gabe's hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

"No. She's just been pacing and holding her stomach." Evan said.

"I'm gonna go check on her." I said, waving to everyone and walking towards my daughter who had retreated to our room.

I found her pacing near the bathroom door, crying her eyes out.

"Hey, baby. Mommy's back." I said softly.

"No... i don't f-feel good." She sobbed, wiping her tears away angrily.

"Well, Mommy's going to try to make it better, baby. Tell me what happened. Do you know why your belly hurts?" I asked her.

"No... it just hurt this morning when I woke up, and the ocean makes me dizzy." Lily cried.

"The ocean? The smell or the sound?" I asked her.

"The sound makes me dizzy and the smell hurts my belly." Lily told me.

"Alright, let Mommy feel your forehead, baby." I said softly.

Lily finally closed the gap between us, letting me kiss her forehead and get a feel for her temperature. She was burning up a little.

"Did you go to the bathroom, baby?" I asked her.

"Yeah." Lily cried.

"And... did you notice something weird?" I asked her.

"Yeah... my pee wasn't the right colour." She cried.

"Let's get in bed, baby... Mommy knows just what'll make it all better." I said, picking her up.

"Where's Daddy? Is he coming too?" Lily asked me.

"Yeah, he'll join us in a second." I said, grabbing my water bottle and handing it to my baby.

"Drink some water, my love." I said, letting her settle in my lap and rest against me.

I got her a straw and had her drink as much water as she could. My little girl was dehydrated. She had probably spent a long time in the sun and as always, she didn't drink enough water, ever. Kind of like me.

"You feeling a little better?" I asked her, as she drank down a good amount of my water.

"Daddy's back... and his little strawberry didn't seem too happy to see him." Gabe said, putting his things down and walked over to us, kissing Lily on the forehead before doing the same for me.

"No... it's not true. I missed you, Daddy." She said softly. "But I don't feel good."

"You don't? What's wrong? What happened to my little princess?" Gabe said, running his fingers through Lily's hair.

"I feel sick, Daddy. Dizzy and my tummy hurts and I just want to go home." She said, tears gathering in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Aw, my love. Mommy is going to take care of us, baby." Gabriel said, kissing her cheek.

"I feel better... a little bit." Lily said softly, hugging my water bottle.

"Lily, you and I have this problem... we don't drink enough water." I told my daughter. "And we need to start working on that."

"Is that why I feel sick?" She asked me.

"Yeah... especially since you've been out and active lately. Your body needed more water than you've given it, so that's why you're dizzy and nauseous." I said to her.

"I don't like it when my body needs more water." Lily said.

"Me neither. That's why we'll both work on this together, ok? We'll remind each other about the water. If I forget, you have to remind me and if you forget, I'll remind you." I told my angel.

"And if we both forget, Daddy will remind us." Lily giggled.

"Can you not go away for so long again?" Lily asked.

"We won't. If we have to both go away, we'll either take you with us, or make it really, really short." Gabe smiled, picking Lily up and sitting beside me, placing her on his lap. I rested against his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me.

"You guys are back." Lily sighed, melting into her father's lap as if relieved.

"Yup. And we have lots of gifts for a special little strawberry." I chuckled, stroking my little one's hair.

"Really?" Lily said, looking up at me with wide eyes.

"Of course, baby. We thought about you every single day." Gabe told her. "And we missed you and worried about you."

"Really? I was ok though... and I had so much fun!" Lily smiled, sipping on my water again.

"You did? Tell us all about it." I said to her.

"First I went back to Nana and Papa's house in New York and I stayed in Mommy's old bedroom for a few days, then Papa Devie came and he picked me up and he flew me back to the ship. I went with Uncle Killian and I saw all his prime minister stuff! And Daddy, it was so cool! Did you know he thinks I could be a prime minister too?!" Lily said happily, jumping up and down.

"That's awesome, baby! You could be a prime minister if you wanted, because you're so, so, so smart." I said, kissing my daughter's chubby little cheek. "Then, after going with Uncle Killian, what happened?"

"Uhm... After that uncle Killian flew us back to the ship and I went with Aunt Sophie and Uncle Rico... they took me to see the school! I didn't talk to anyone, but it was fun! And then I went and spent some time with Aurora! She almost said Lily... but she said Lala instead." Lily giggled.

"That's amazing!" Gabe said, kissing Lily's forehead.

"Then... I went with Rosie to France! And we saw her uncle, and he told us about her aunt so we went to see her aunt in Mauri-Mauritius." Lily told us.

"And that's where I saw the flying fox and it was so fun to go on the beach! Then I went with Rosie and Evie everywhere, we went to Nigeria and to Sudan, and Daddy they speak Arabic in Sudan like you and Papa and Sophie!" Lily told us.

"That's cool, huh?" Gabe laughed, watching her get excited about all that travelling that she did.

"And we went to... I think we went to Egypt... it's the place with the pyramids, right?" She asked us.

"Yeah." I nodded, stroking her hair back and reminding her to keep sipping on the water.

"And then we went into Palestine, Daddy! And Aunt Sophie came with us, so did Papa... isn't that cool Daddy?!" Lily said.

"Hm... I've been betrayed... I was promised that I'd get to go with Sophie and Papa when they went." Gabe said, not actually seeming upset, but trying to tease Lily.

"What? I didn't have anything to do with it!" Lily said, putting her hands up and trying to stop herself from smiling.

"I don't know... there's a little strawberry over here that looks pretty guilty to me." Gabe said.

"No! It wasn't my idea! It was Aunt Sophie's idea!" Lily said, defending herself.

"Fine, but someone owes Daddy lots and lots of cuddles." Gabe said.

Lily giggled and jumped right into her father's lap. I was proud of my little girl for handling the trip so well. She wasn't just going on the trip for nothing, she seemed to have made the most of it.

"You have to see the beautiful markets, Daddy, it's like going in a tunnel kind of and everyone has stuff hung up everywhere and they're calling out and trying to get people to buy their stuff! And I bought a dress Daddy! It's pretty and Aunt Sophie has a matching one!" She told us.

"Did you learn any words?" Her dad asked her.

"I learned k-k-khub-khubz... and that means bread, and... barraad! Daddy, they sell this slushy thing and they call it barraad, and the man calls out for everyone to come get it, and Aunt Sophie and I would run and go get some! We stayed with Papa's friend and they fed us so much." Lily giggled.

"That's so cool. Did you eat anything you liked?" I asked her.

"M-Maq-maqlouba! Can you make some for us, Daddy?!" She asked.

"Yes, of course." Gabe chuckled. "I'll figure out how, and I'll make you some."

"And we also went out to the garden behind the house and there were lemons and there were oranges and olive trees and figs and even pomegranates, Daddy, it was so cool. I wanna take you and Mommy and show you everything!" She said happily.

"Well, did you know that Daddy has some land there? Your Papa's mom owned a big chunk of land, when she passed away, Papa inherited it... and he told me he had no use for it, so he gave half of it to me, and half to Sophie." Gabe explained.

"So we can go visit and see the land that you own, Daddy?!" Lily asked him.

"Of course." He smiled, kissing our daughter on the head.

"Does it have a house on it?" Lily asked.

"No, but I was thinking we could build one there... have a little tiny house and then all the olive trees, and the citrus trees, and even all the eggplants and figs... you're gonna love it there, Lily." I told her.

"Daddy, I'm so excited!" Lily giggled.

"Does that mean my strawberry feels better?" I asked.

"Yes!" She giggled.

"Hm... then that means that Mommy's doctor magic still works." Gabe laughed.

"Of course it still works." Lily laughed. "Mommy's magic will never fade."

"Alright... what do you guys want to do today?" I asked my husband and daughter.

"Can we go tell stories like last night?!" Lily asked.

"What happened last night?" I asked.

"They have a little firepit, Mommy... and we made a little fire and roasted some marshmallows and we told stories all night." Lily smiled.

"That sounds amazing!" I smiled, kissing my daughter on the head.

"Yeah and everyone can talk about their adventures!" Lily giggled, dragging us both out of the room and towards the lounge area out on the top of the cruise ship.

It was already beginning to get dark, and we all built a fire and talked about everything we'd done. I couldn't ever remember feeling more at home that up there, all of us chatting and laughing and telling stories. Lily was having the time of her life as well, and I couldn't be happier about that.