* * * *

“Nicky, Leah, come on!” Helena shouted from the bottom of the stairs, one hand resting on the banister while the other tugged her feet into her sandals. Andrew and Peter were already at work and so the little family had the house to themselves. After being awoken to the pleas of ‘can we go to the beach now?’, Helena had decided to take the children down to the sea front. They had brought their own buckets and spades along with them in the excitement of packing the night before, and felt their first submergence in the L.A sands had been long overdue. Growing impatient now, longing for the chance to lie down in the sun and let go of her thoughts, Helena frowned and glanced up the staircase, trying to spot any movement from above. “If you don’t hurry up, I’m going without you,” She finally shouted, which caused a flurry of tiny footsteps to bounce down the stairs. 

“No you’re not!” Nicky grinned back as he bounded down the stairs, clad in a simple shirt and shorts. Helena smirked at him and brushed his long, blonde hair out of his eyes before he bent down to fasten his sandals over his feet. 

“Mummy, I can’t do my buckle!” Leah cried from the top of the stairs, her own pair of sandals in her hands and a frustrated expression upon her face.

“Bring them down here, then, and I’ll do them for you,” Helena offered, though Leah was already half way down the staircase and holding her shoes out for Helena to take. Waiting for Leah to sit herself down on the stairs and pull her shoes on, Helena bent and fastened the buckle for her, making sure the straps weren’t too tight. “Okay,” Helena began, standing up once more and reaching for her beach bag, “we have…a beach ball, buckets, spades, sun lotion, towels… have you both got your swimming costumes on underneath?” At their nods and excitable replies, Helena concluded, “I think we’re ready to go, then!” She allowed a large smile to take over her face as she emerged herself in her children’s excitement and quickly grabbed her borrowed set of keys before the trio left the house and bounced energetically into the rental car.