Glory cuddled into his arms before slowly letting go.

"I won't take long," she said. Giving him a small kiss, she slipped her shorts on and went looking for the kitchen.

Léan watched her leave, then shook himself off a bit more, trying to get as dry as possible. The suitcase was his only route out of here. He didn't want it ruined.

Glory did her best to be quick as she got some fish from the kitchen and ran it up to the tank in her room. The shark practically inhaled the fish she gave it, which meant that Léan had been right about it being hungry. Once that was taken care of, she went back down to the pool.

Léan was relaxing on the side of the pool, eyes closed. He was waiting patiently for her return, and was much drier than he had been when he'd first pulled himself out of the pool.

Glory slipped into the room quickly.

"I'm back," she said, making sure not to startle him.

Léan perked up, lifting his head. It wasn't clear if he was aware of it or not, but his tail swished back and forth cheerily. "All right...I'm ready to go, then."

"Alright," Glory replied. Carefully, she picked him up so that he wouldn't damage his scales, and then she put him into the suitcase. "It'll be nice to get back out onto the beach, huh?"

Léan curled up in the suitcase, then stilled his tail, pulling it up against him. "Quite nice. Any water is nice, but the ocean will always be best..."

"I think I'm actually inclined to agree with you," Glory said. "I almost miss the salt in my hair by now." She made her way out to the beach quickly, making sure not to draw any attention to herself. Once she was out on their empty stretch of beach, she opened the suitcase again.

Léan was able to easily slide out of the suitcase. He rolled over into the ocean, smiling cheerily once he hit the water. He was glad to have water on his tail, which had been drying up in the suitcase. It was amazing how quickly it dried up and peeled.

Glory grinned and took off her shorts, leaving just her bathing suit. She didn't waste any time in climbing up onto a rock and jumping into the water.

Léan slid deeper into the water to meet her, underwater for now. He was glad to be back in the ocean and wash the slight smell of chlorine off of him.

Glory laid back on the surface of the water, sighing softly. She was surprised to find that she was more comfortable in the ocean, as well. Probably from spending so much time with Léan...

Léan floated with her, running his hands through his hair to wash out the slight smell of chlorine. He felt a lot better now that he smelled more like ocean water than pool water. He was also glad to see that Glory seemed so relaxed.

"It feels good to be back out here," Glory said as she relaxed.

"Quite good...I feel safer, even though my father may still be around," Léan admitted, flipping back over. "I think he's gone, though. Or he would have come out by now."

"You look much more relaxed," Glory observed. "I'm glad you're feeling better." She wanted to hug him, but held back. She wanted him to hug her first, for once.

Léan nodded, smiling. He was fidgeting a bit. He wanted to hug her first, as well. But he had to work up to it. That little fear of rejection was rearing its head now that they'd officially confirmed a budding relationship between them.

Glory could tell he was fighting with himself over something, and she was pretty sure she knew what it was.

'Come on,' she thought, 'I know you can do it...'

Léan twitched a bit. He continued like this for a few minutes, and then reluctantly leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her, initiating the hug. It had taken a lot of work, on his part.

Glory cuddled into his arms, glad he'd worked up the courage to hug her himself. She made herself comfortable in the embrace.

Léan smiled, content, and then relaxed himself into the embrace, as well. His tail, almost instinctively, flicked back and forth beneath the water.

"I get the feeling you and I are going to be cuddling a lot from now on," Glory said softly. "We're never going to hear the end of it from your brother."

Léan winced. "Urgh. I hadn't thought about that. We will need to try and stay away from him, lest we want our eardrums to pop from all his chatter, 'I-told-you-so's,' and squealing..."

"Once we get home, it'll be too cold for me to swim with you," Glory pointed out. "It's already fall, almost winter. I have to wait for summer to roll around again before it's warm enough."