AN: I am such a sucker for you guys lol 😉❣️

Cameron tilted his head back, eyes closed, and enjoyed the feel of the sun on his body. Of course, he had to be careful of his face, and always had strong sunscreen on it. His surgeon, Dr. Garcia, had done a superb job of closing up the wounds left by Frederick Berenson, and his face now looked like it was criss-crossed by myriad fine white lines. His eye still drooped a little bit, but even that was only really noticeable when he was very tired or had been drinking. He could hear the famed waves of Malibu washing up on the sand, and, even more pleasant than that, he could hear the laughter of Penny, his sister and baby as the cold water washed over them.

"Ohh, did the baby get cold?" Vivi asked in that extra high voice reserved for animals and very small children.

"Baby cold, baby cold!" Erina mimicked, and Cam could picture her perfectly, clapping her hands and kicking her little feet in the wet sand, her mother's beautiful green eyes glowing in her face. She was wearing her blue two piece bathing suit today, so her round tummy and lovely fat thighs would be showing.

"Hi."

Cam shaded his eyes and turned toward the voice, which was very young and female. He saw a little girl of about seven or eight sitting cross legged next to his lounge chair. She had curly red hair and blue eyes, and freckles that covered nearly her entire face.

"Hello there, young lady," he responded. He looked around and saw what must be her family, farther down the beach, and relaxed. The oldest, a young woman with a pony tail, had looked over and seen her, so it was a obviously okay for her to be talking to him.

"What happened to your face?" The girl asked with the honest and frankness of the very young.

"Well, a really mean man wanted to hurt me, and he would've done much more, but then my girlfriend came home and saved me from him," Cameron responded. He figured her directness deserved the same candor.

"Is that her in the water? The pretty one with the brown hair and the baby?" The little girl pointed.

"Yes, mm hm. The blonde one is my sister."

"Oh. Those girls over there are my sisters. The big one is our nanny."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments.

"Does it hurt? Your face, I mean."

"Not so much anymore, though it did at first, very much."

"It looks kinda interesting, like you have a map on your face," the little girl said, scrunching up her face in a wonderful smile. "Though I am sorry that horrid man did that to you." She reached out as though to touch his scars, then pulled her hand back. "You must have been really pretty before." She heard her words and backtracked. "I mean, you're still really pretty, your eyes and everything, so I can tell what you looked like before." She was starting to blush, which was very obvious because of her coloring. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, I didn't--"

"It's okay, honest," Cameron told her sincerely. "I know what you mean. Thanks for telling me I'm pretty."

"My mother is really beautiful," the girl explained. She has red hair like me, and curly, too, that's how I know what pretty looks like. People tell me I look like her sometimes, but I know I have too many freckles."

"Oh no, don't say that!" Cameron protested, sitting up. "You're very pretty, and I have no doubt you'll be just as beautiful as your mother when you're all grown up!"

The little girl scrunched up her face again as she gave Cameron a dazzling smile. "You have a little accent, like my daddy," she remarked, changing the subject with a fluidity and ease that was a little bit dizzying.

The baby laughed again, and they turned to watch the happy trio at the water's edge.

"Your baby is really cute," the girl said. "She looks exactly like you, except rounder. Our baby looks just like my dad, too." She reached out again toward Cam's scars, but this time she did actually touch them, running a finger gently along one of them before pulling back. "Is she afraid of these?"

Cameron shook his head. "No. She does that, like you just did, reaches out her fingers and touches them sometimes, like she's trying to wipe them off, but I think she's used to them. They're just part of who her daddy is, you know?"

The girl nodded, curls bobbing.

"What's her name?"

"Well, her whole name is kind of long and fancy, you want to hear all of it?"

The girl nodded again.

"Her Royal Highness Anneliese Pierina Allegra Françoise Aldobrandeschi von Schellenburg of San Balducci," he told her with a grin.

The girl's mouth fell open into a round circle of shock. "Really?" she squeaked. "She's a princess?"

He nodded.

"So you're a—a king?"

"I am a prince, but not of anyplace famous, just a tiny place with a falling down castle and an old forest," he told her modestly.

"But still." The little girl was impressed, blue eyes wide.

"But that name? It's a real mouthful, and really fancy for California, so we just took the one of her names we like best, Pierina, and use it. And, since she's so small, we just use Erina, a small part of it. It's cute, isn't it?" Cam looked at the girl for agreement.

"We do that in my family, too," the girl said. "I'd tell you our names, but I'm not supposed to tell anyone who we are," she said apologetically.

"That's perfectly okay," Cameron assured her.

Just then, the young woman with the pony tail called to the redheaded chatterbox, and she rose immediately. "Oops, time to go," she told Cam. "It was really nice talking to you, Mr. Prince," she said with another face scrunching smile.

"And just think, you can tell your family you met a prince," he said, smiling back.

But she shook her head as she began walking away. "I don't think I will," she said. "Nothing exciting ever happens just to me, but this did. I don't think I'm going to share. I want it just for mine, all for me, you know?" She waved and began to run back to her family.

Cam rose and shook his head as he walked over to where his women were still playing in the shallows.

"What were you and that adorable child talking about?" Vivi asked curiously as he joined them.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Cam answered, tickling his daughter's beautiful toes as he spoke.

She chortled with joy, kicking her feet.

"What was her name?" Penny asked, smiling as she watched the exchange between Cam and their daughter.

"I have no idea."

"Daddy! Daddy!" Erina crowed, lifting her arms to be held, showing her six teeth as she smiled at him.

"When are you going to say 'mommy,' hm?" Penny asked drily as Cam picked his daughter up.

"You know it's normal for babies to say 'daddy' first," Cam consoled her as he buried his face in his daughter's neck, making her laugh.

"I know, I know," Penny answered, patting the baby's bottom.

"I never knew I could love someone else's child so much," Vivi mentioned, smiling at the three of them. "I used to want my own children so much, but I don't give a fig anymore. Just make sure you leave me Pierina if anything happens to you, okay?"

"Well, you'll have to fight Hazel and my family for her," Penny joked.

"And what about Yoko and Simon?" Cam added. "They're getting married in the fall, and they love her to pieces.

"Yoyo, yoyo!" Erina repeated, grabbing a fistful of her father's hair as it blew in the warm ocean breeze.

"Are you effing kidding me? She says Yoko's name but not mine?" Penny threw up her hands in disgust. She took the baby from Cam, unwinding her fingers from his hair. "Mommy, say mommy, baby-waby, say mommy, okay?"

"Mommy, okay?" Erina mimicked placidly from her mother's arms. She smiled at her aunt.

"Did she--" Cam began.

"Hey--" Vivi said.

"Oh my god!" Penny shouted.

"Oh my god!" Erina repeated, throwing her arms out, scaring away a couple of gulls who were waiting in the sand, hoping for a snack.

"Wow, I guess we'd better be careful from now on," Vivi laughed, wiping her eyes and taking the baby from Penny so she could hug Cameron.

"I guess so, Cam agreed, kissing Penny soundly on the mouth.

"You satisfied, Mommy?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, I am," she replied, kissing him back.

And they remained, arm in arm, sitting on the sand, watching their baby play with her aunt in the warm California ocean.