On the Morning Tide

Leland's POV

Kai and I made it home before Mya did, so I figured we would just wait at her house for her. Maybe I would even talk some sense into Libby. I opened the door, with Kai on my hip and walked into the house. It looked like a tornado had blown through. "Wow." I whispered to myself, looking around. Food and dishes were everywhere, clothes were scattered around. "Its messy in here." Kai says as we walk into the living room. "Yes ma'am it is." I reply back to her.

I walked outside to find Libby laying on her stomach in the lounge chair, tanning with no top on. I clear my throat and she looks up. "Care to explain what happened in that house?" I ask, shifting Kai around on my hip. "What are you talking about?" she asks looking up from a magazine.

I point toward the house. "That house. That kitchen. What happened?" I ask. I knew I was being short with her. But if Mya came home and saw this catastrophe she would likely pass out.

"Its not that bad." she says twirling her hair. If she thinks she gonna play this game with me she's wrong. "I suggest you get in there and clean it up, right now. Or you might find your self homeless on an Island of strangers. And let me tell you, they're not all as nice as your sister." I say walking back into the house. "And put your top on. Have enough respect to be decent when theres a child around"

She huffs and walks into the house an starts to pick up her things. I looked down at my watch. "Its 4:30. Better hurry up, she'll be home in about thirty minutes." I say, following around behind her, making sure she picked everything up.

Libby finishes cleaning up just as Mya pulls into the driveway. I was leaning against the island in the kitchen and Kai was sitting on top of it, playing with my ponytail. "Hi momma." Kai says sweetly as she comes in the door. Libby was no where in sight. "Guess what momma? It was messy in here, but Uncle Leland said clean it up!" she says giggling and raising her arms up in the air, like I might have had some sort of super power over Libby.

Mya looks at me. "What was messy?" she asks. I sighed, "Um...the house was a huge mess when we got back from getting ice cream. So, I made Libby clean it up." I tell her. She looks around for Libby, I'm sure she wanted to yell at her. "I don't think she'll be doing it again, just calm down." I say putting my hand on her arm.

"She and I are going to have a long talk when I get back tonight." She says, very matter of fact. "Back? Where are you going?" I ask her. She looks at me, smiling. "Ive got a date." She says, almost singing.

"He asked you out?" I say in that tone I knew she hated. "Yes. Is there something wrong with that? I haven't been out in over four years." she says.

I didn't know what to say to her. I couldn't say that I didn't see it coming, because I know how my brother works and I know she's been acting like a teenager since he moved in. "I guess I'll just take Kai to my house then."

"I"ll ask Jenny to watch her again. Don't worry about. Its not that big of a deal." she says, hands on hips. "Id rather her stay with me. I'll bring her back in the morning." I say rather shortly. I pick Kai up from the counter and carry her over to my house. Leaving Mya pissed off and standing in the kitchen.

Mya's POV

"I had a good time tonight." I say as Duane Lee walks me to the door. He smiles and leans into to kiss me. His lips are warm and soft as he brushes them across my top lip. I fought the urge to moan. His kiss had been the closest I had been to any type of intimacy since my daughter was born. "Would you like to come in for a drink?" I ask, turning the handle on the door.

"I'd like that" he says. He follows me into the house to get the wine. "Wanna go outside?" I ask as I grab two glasses from the shelf. "Ive got a better idea." he says in a soft voice, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs to my room. He pulls me into the room and opens my balcony doors. "I like the view from here better." he says, turning to me. I uncork the wine and pour it into our glasses, handing him one. "Thank you." he says, walking on to the small balcony just outside my room.

"Its so beautiful here at night. I missed it all those years I was gone." I tell him as I walk up behind him. "It doesn't compare to you." he says softly, brushing a few strands of hair out of my face. I blushed, lowering my head and looking out to the water. "Do you remember the first time we met? I rescued you from the punch bowl. You walked outside with me and we talked. It was the most comfortable Ive felt ever with a woman. I always feel so..I don't know, nervous. I guess." he says quietly. He felt anything but nervous now, I thought to myself.

At that moment I couldn't have cared less where my stepsister was, or any thing else that was going on in my life. The wine was working its magic and I felt at ease with Duane Lee. "Lets dance." he says grabbing my waist. "Theres no music." I say as he twirls me around. "We don't need it." he says softly humming a tune in my ear. I sighed, laying my head against his chest. Call me cheesy, but I didn't think my night couldn't get any better than this.

We laughed and talked and danced our night away. My head was spinning as he kissed my neck, hours later. They were warm and inviting. My hands found his hair as he worked his way up my neck and across my jaw, his lips sought mine. I moaned as his tongue entered my mouth. "Mya, you're so beautiful." he says between kisses.

"Ive had a hard time keeping my hands off of you." he says, his voice coming out shaky and uneven as he runs a hand under my shirt, and across my stomach. I shuddered as his hand came in contact with my skin, it was cool against the warm flesh. His hands moved up my back and under my bra strap, unhooking it. "Are we moving too fast?" I asked as he lays me down on the bed. "No." he says firmly, pulling my shirt over my head.

I took a ragged breath as he ran a hand between my breasts and up my neck, pushing a finger into my mouth. I sucked his finger lightly, swirling my tongue around it. He pulled it from my mouth and ran the wet finger across my chest. "Mmm" I moaned, biting my lip. He pulls his shirt off and presses his chest to mine. "I want to feel your skin against mine." he says as he kneads my breast with his hand.

"Duane-" I whisper, as he unbuttons my pants. My mind was screaming, telling me I wasn't ready for this, it was too soon. But I couldn't stop my body, it felt oddly disconnected from my mind. "Shh." he says putting a finger over my lips. "Just enjoy this." he says, pulling my pants down.

I wanted to enjoy this, I really did, but my mind was working over time. I shouldn't have had that third glass of wine, I thought to myself as his fingers trailed across my thigh. "Oh" I gasped loudly as he parted my thighs.
Mya's POV

The next morning I pried my eyes open, staring at the ceiling above my bed. I felt Duane Lee's warm weight pressed against my side. What had I done? I had never slept with a man on the first date, did that make me some kind of slut? I wondered to myself. I slowly moved his hand from my waist and quietly got out of the bed.

Putting a robe on, I looked at my alarm clock, it was 10:30. He didn't even stir as I walked to the balcony to close the doors we had left open. I could hear laughter outside and stepped onto the balcony, Leland was outside on the beach playing with my daughter. They were building sand castles together.

My heart clinched in my chest as Kai picked up her bucket and poured sand over Leland's legs making him laugh. I watched as he scooped her up and ran to the water with her, both of them laughing. My heart wished for something I knew Kai might never have; a father like Leland. I closed my eyes, trying to shut out their laughter. I jumped as Duane Lee wrapped his arms around my waist. Its not that I wasn't attracted to him, quiet the opposite. In a strange way I felt like I had betrayed myself; I had let my emotions and loneliness take over and gave into him.

"Good morning." he says kissing my neck. I gave him a small smile and closed the balcony doors. I didn't want anyone to see us, not that Leland wasn't aware of what was going on. "You okay?" he asks turning me around. "Yeah, I'm fine." I lie to him.

He starts to get dressed "I better get going, I know Leland will probably be up by now." he says laughing. "Yeah, I need to get my daughter." I tell him.

"Thank you for last night. I cant tell you the last time I felt that good." He says wrapping his arms around my waist. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" he says kissing my on the forehead and walking out of my bedroom.

After taking a shower I walked downstairs to see Libby sitting at the kitchen counter eating cereal. "Well, well, well." she says "I saw lover boy doing the walk of shame this morning. I have to admit, I didn't think you had it in you." she tells me. "Shut up Libby." I say becoming very irritated with her.

"You didn't even offer to cook breakfast for him? Thats a shame...it really is." she says very mockingly. "Or is it that your ashamed of what happened last night. I have to tell you, I heard the two of you last night...I wouldn't be ashamed if he gives as good as you were saying he was."

In an instant I slapped her hard across the face. She looked up at me stunned. "You slapped me, bitch!" she says holding her cheek, after the shock wears off. "Get the f**k out of my house." I say through my teeth. "I DON'T HAVE ANYWHERE TO GO." she yells back, still holding her cheek. "THAT'S NOT MY PROBLEM. YOU CANT STAY HERE!" I scream at her.

She stands up knocking the chair over and walking off. "I'm sorry about what I said, alright. God whats wrong with you, you use to be nice!" she say slamming the bedroom door. "Damn it!" I scream as she slams the bedroom door.

I look up and see Leland at the back door, brushing the sand off Kai's feet. She looked so innocent, feet dangling just above the ground as he held her with one arm and wiped the sand off with the other. "All better?" he asks her as they come into the house. "Better" she confirms as he puts her down. "Go play in your room baby, while I talk to your mommy." he tells her.

"Mya, whats going on? I could hear you yelling from outside." he asks me, walking into the kitchen. "I don't know Leland, I don't know." I say. The tears I had held back were starting to spill over as he came to stand beside me. "This is not like you." he says quietly, holding both my shoulders to get my attention. "I know." I whisper, as a few tears fall. "I don't know whats wrong with me. I don't know how to feel anymore."

"Do you need to take some time off work? Take a vacation? What do you need Mya? Tell me!" he demands.

"I need Libby to get out of this house. Right now. I cant stand to look at her." I say coldly.

Mya's POV

"I have known you for years Mya, and I know when your not telling me something." Leland says, following me out of the kitchen and into my bedroom, the one place I felt I could hide away from the world. "I don't want to talk about it." I say, picking up the empty wine bottle and glasses from the night before, sitting them on my dresser.

I see him glance at the bottle momentarily."Is this about what happened last night?" he asks, sitting on my bed as I picked up my clothes that Duane Lee had thrown around the room.

"No. Its not about that." I say, throwing the clothes in the hamper and slamming the lid shut. "But something did happen last night? You f**ked my brother. You don't have to deny it" he says with a straight face. I didn't bother to answer, because he already knew. There were so many things I wanted to tell him, about Libby and my past and everything that happened. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

"Stop pacing. You know it drives me crazy." Leland says grabbing my hand and making me sit beside him. "I don't know whats wrong with you, I have never seen you act this way. Ever."

"I want to tell you, I really do... But I'm scared." I say, falling back and burying my face in the covers of my bed. "You know that I would never judge you Mya. You can trust me with anything."

"I never thought my life could get this out of hand. Yours never gets out of hand, you never have any drama." I say, looking over at him. He smiles and lays back on the bed with me, propping his elbow up. "Not that you ever see, it doesn't. You don't think I get pissed off? I do. All the time. I just never let you or Kai see it." he says honestly.

"But you always seem so...together. So easy going, like nothing bothers you." I tell him. I always thought he was. I had never once gotten into an argument with him or had any type of fight with him since I moved back here. "Because I don't want you to see that side of me. Why do you think I still like to Box? And bounty hunt, for that matter. I have to let that aggression out somehow. We cant always be happy, we're human. Even you." he says poking me in the side, making me smile. "That's my girl." he says when I smile.

"So, tell me whats going on so I can help you fix it." he says. I closed my eyes, I didn't want to tell him, but knew I would have to eventually if I wanted to get Libby out of my house.

"Remember a few days ago when I told you about her sleeping with the guy I was living with? Well... I found out they were sleeping together and she and I got into this huge fight. We we're young, you know how it is with girls... but it was really bad Leland. I mean, we argued when we we're younger but never like that. She punched me, so I punched her back. I slapped her and she slapped me. An hour or so later we eventually stopped fighting and started arguing again but when I tried to leave she pulled me by the hair and threw me into the coffee table. I hit the corner of it with my side."

"Wow." he says surprised, still propped up on his elbow, listening intently. "When I finally was able to get up, the guy; Matt, had come home and separated us. I stormed off and went back to my mothers house. Two days later- " I pause to gather the courage to say it. "I had a miscarriage. And I didn't even know I was pregnant. I was only eighteen and just starting college."

"Baby." he says pulling me into his arms as I cried. "I'm so, so sorry. I really am." he says stroking my hair as I continued to cry. "What did Libby say when she found out?" he asks.

"I never told anyone. Not even my mother. I was scared and alone. I became really depressed and then I met JJ a few years later and he helped me through it all. And well.. you know what happened after that." I say wiping my face on his shirt. "Until she showed up here, I hadn't even talked to her since that day."

I sit up in the bed, still crying. "I need to go check on Kai." I say suddenly, leaving him alone in my room. I was running from the truth again, but I had to get out of the room. I didn't want to know what he was really thinking of me.

Leland's' POV

I couldn't wrap my mind around what she told me. It seemed so unreal coming from her. She always seemed to have it all together and here she was thinking I was the one that did.

I scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up. I decided I was going to get Libby out of the house if it was the last thing I did. I couldn't have Mya so worked up everyday. I knocked lightly on Libby's door and walked in. "What do you want." she hisses at me. "I wanna give you some money so you can get the hell out of Mya's house." I tell her, pulling out my wallet.

"Who the hell are you, her knight in shining armor, always coming to her rescue?" she asks walking toward me. "Something like that."

"I didn't hear her screaming your name in bed last night." she says, not backing down.

My heart stopped. Suddenly my teasing Mya about sleeping with my brother was very real. "Take this. Get a plane ticket and go back home. And don't ever show up uninvited again. Do you understand?" I say, forcefully handing her the money.

"Yeah. I got it." she says slamming the suitcase shut and walking toward the door, and out of Mya's life for good.