"Hm?" Glory looked over. She shook her head. "Nothing, I'm fine." She didn't want to worry him, and she also didn't want him to get angry at his brother for something neither of them could help.

"I'm not going to make him spend time with me if he's not comfortable with it," Glory said. "Even a blind person could see he's not comfortable with me around."

"Like I said," Glory replied, "I'm not going to force my company on him if he doesn't want it." She was saved from saying anything else when her phone started ringing. Taking it out, she checked the number and raised an eyebrow. "How did she even get my number...?" She shook her head and stood up. "I need to take this, it's my mom." She jumped across the rocks back to the beach without waiting for an answer. Once she was back on the sand, she answered the phone. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm so glad you called."

"Glory, where have you been?" Clarissa asked. She sounded worried, which surprised Glory. "I've been trying to call you for two days, but all your grandmother would say was that you were out with friends."

"I was," Glory replied, going a bit further into the beach, away from the shore.

"What were you doing for five days?"

"A week, actually," Glory corrected. "It was important, though."

"How important could it have possibly been?" Glory raised an eyebrow at how much Clarissa was trying to sound like a good mother.

"I found Dad," she said simply. There was silence on the other end of the line. "So I think you should come down to the beach, because he's here."

"...Really?" Clarissa asked. Glory thought she detected a bit of... hope?

"Really," she said. She paused for a moment, then kept talking. "I know it only takes about twenty minutes to get from there to here, so try not to hit my car when you park." She heard the click on the other end of the line, and she knew her mother was on her way out the door already. Closing her phone, she put it back into her pocket.

"It needs to be forced upon him, or he will never be comfortable," Léan huffed, as she hopped back out over the rocks. He was not good with dealing with his brother's fear. He'd never wanted to extinguish it before, seeing as he disliked humans, and still did, for the most part. He would need help squashing that fear out of him.

Archie returned at this point, surfacing up from up the water slightly. He held the very wet and dripping blanket in his arms, and kept it underwater. Most likely, Eden was bundled up in it. The fact that he wasn't holding her above water showed that he was not comfortable.

Not in the least.

Glory saw him arrive, and she could clearly see that he was uncomfortable, even at a distance. She sighed.

"My mom is on her way," she called. "I'll keep her inside for a while, once she gets here." Turning, she started to make her way inside, biting her lip and trying her best not to be upset.

Léan flashed a rather venomous glare in his brother's direction.

Archie's shoulder shot up to his chin. "Um...wait!" he called, nervously. "Don't you want to see her or anything?" He was trying. It was for Léan's sake more than his own, but that was because he still felt fear.

Glory stopped and turned around. She fought with herself for a moment, and then sighed.

"Archie, I'm all the way over here," she pointed out, "and you're still ten feet away from even my favorite rock, let alone anywhere near where I could possibly be."

Glory saw what was happening, and she didn't appreciate it.

"Stop bullying him, Léan," she said. "He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to."

By this point, Azilis was watching what was going on. He didn't like the fact that Glory was upset, but he had no idea what to do. The only thing that had caught his attention at all was the fact that he heard her say that Clarissa was on her way to the beach. He stayed where he was, quietly. There was no way he was getting in the middle of whatever was going on.

Glory watched as he continued towards the rocks, but she didn't move any closer. If he wanted her to, she would, but not before then. Already she thought she was pushing her luck just being on the beach.

Glory made her way slowly back to her rock, expecting him to bolt at any moment. She sat down hesitantly, not sure if he would hang around.

That really surprised Glory. It was quite possibly the one thing she hadn't expected him to do, and she wasn't quite sure how to react.

Glory hesitated for a second, then gently took the bundle. She could ignore the fact that her sweater was now soaked. Eden obviously took after Damon, from what she could see. Glory held her for a moment, then handed her back.

"She's beautiful," she said softly.

"You can keep it if you need it," Glory replied. "It's not like I need it for anything at the moment."

Glory stood up as he left.

"I should go inside and change," she said. She turned to look back towards the house when she heard a car pull in. "...And I should try to distract my mother for a few minutes."

Getting up, Glory turned and went back towards the house. Instead of going in, though, she went around to the front, intercepting her mother.

"Inside first," she said firmly. Clarissa tried to step around her, but Glory blocked her path. "I mean it, inside."

"Gloriana--"

"Damn it, Mom!" Glory finally snapped. "Just listen to me, for once in your life. Five minutes, alright? Just wait five minutes." Clarissa opened her mouth to argue, then seemed to think better of it.

"Five minutes," she agreed. She turned and went into the house, Glory behind her. Glory immediately went into her room to change into dry clothes, and made a mental note to do laundry. She was running out of clean sweaters very quickly. Then she sat on her bed and tried to collect her thoughts. She knew five minutes was up when she looked out her window to see her mother on the beach.

Clarissa waited impatiently for the five minutes to be up. She didn't know why Glory had wanted her to wait, but she did anyways. Finally, the five minutes was over and she went out to the beach. At first, she didn't see anything, but after a moment her gaze swept over the large rocks out in the water and her heart leapt into her throat when she saw a face she hadn't seen in years.

"Azilis...?" she said hopefully.