A Birth day

Aria lookd to Marcus and tried to relax even with many people around she heard the man talk to Ezra and breathed out relaxing a little. Hearing Marcus she nodded to him " sorry, I get jumpy around a lot of people when Im not working." she said pushing her toes into the warm sand she heard the man talk to Marcus and smiled to him.

Looking out over the water she listened to it lap against the shoure close to where they ere sat. She also saw several families with kids letting them runn around on the beach infront of them.

"Occupational hazard," Marcus said. "i get it. I don't usually have that option. I usually have high profile clients, and they rarely are alone. They're always in a ruddy crowd. The state of the art in what I do is, first, grow eyes all around your head so you can look all directions at once, and then,  look like you're standing down even if you're not." He got up as he was finishing speaking. "Be right back."

He walked down to the water where trhe kids had waded out into the water. marcus didn't like how far Poppy had waded out because she was just learning to swim. Ana hadn't had her ln lessons when she had her, and Jonathan had just started her in lessons a month or so ago. Poppy knew how to float and she was just learning how to do the breaststroke.

As he got to the water, though, some big kids who were way too close to Marcus's kids got into a scuffle, and they fell, knocking Poppy underwater with them, at the bottom of the pile of kids. Marcus simply waded out into the water, reached down and snatched up two bigger kids just as Zack regained his footing. Zack hurried over to where Marcus was and he reached down and moved the third kid off Poppy. Marcus reached back down and grabbed Poppy and hauled her to her feet.

By then, the fathers of the boys were down there too, and they thought they were going to start a fist fight with Marcus, but Marcus grabbed their fists when they tried to throw punches at him.

"Zack, take your brother and your sisters and go back up with Aria. I need to have a word with these gentlemen," Marcus said, Zack wasn't sure what his dad was going to do, but he didn't get the feeling that these muggles were going to win any contests against his dad today. Zack whistled for his siblings, and  he motioned for them to go back up the beach. They all went ahead of him, left the water, and went back up to where Aria was while Marcus was addressing the father of the bullies.

"You alright?" Zack asked Poppy, as she was still coughing and sputtering. but she nodded to Zack that she was fine.

Aria nodded as she listened to Marcus but then he stopped and stood up as she watched him head fdown to the water she gasped seeing Poppy and the boys pushed under water. But syaid put while Marcus delt with it, she picked up a towel and held it watching as zack and poppy haded back up to her , now with towel in hand she wrpped it around Poppy and handed one to Zack just as the others arrived.

Aria nsat watching Marcus and holding Poppy close to her as she dried her and kept her warm. " you okay Poppy?" she asked checking her over while checking on Marcus " some perents need to learn how to manage their kids." she said as she rubbed Poppys arms and dried her hair off " when we get back I'll braid your hair if you want" she asked Poppy, but its definaly going to need brushing again." she looked up towards wher Marcus and the other father were and just hoped he would not hurt the muggle too much.

Another parent, the dad of the third boy, came over and attempted to take a swing at Marcus, and Marcus slammed his fist into the man's jaw with a decisively powerful right hook, all while keeping the other dad's hand firmly in his grasp with his left. It landed the dad firmly on the sand, stunned. And that brought two lifeguards and one of the park security guards.

"We saw the whole thing," the two lifeguards told the security guard. "These boys bullied his little girl, and they had her pinned underwater. Her dad here had her up and on her feet before we could get here, but these dads decided to pick a fight with him."

"Is that what happened?" the guard asked Marcus.

"It is," Marcus replied. The guard looked at Marcus.

"You're not from here, are you? Can I see some ID, please?"

"Certainly," Marcus said. "Zane, bring my wallet please from my jeans pocket." Zane fetched the wallet and brought it over, and Marcus deliberately showed him the phony Scotland Yard ID that Robert had secured for Marcus a long time ago. Marcus had never had to really use it, but he used it now.

"You here on vacation?"

"With my family, yes," Marcus said. Marcus could see the guard's mind working. The last thing that park wanted was to have to say that they had detained a Scotland Yard inspector over a bullying incident.

"Alright," the guard said. "I'm satisfied. You're free to go."

"Thank you," Marcus said. He turned and motioned Zack to follow him back up the beach.

"You guys leave him and his kids alone," the guard was telling the dads of the boys. "He's a police officer. You guys pick up your stuff, and you take it down the beach. Understand me?" The dads wanted to get mouthy with the security guard who didn't accept it and gave them the choice of moving down the beach or leaving altogether. The dads told the kids to get the stuff and moved way down the beach, well away from Marcus.

Marcus and Zack went back over to where Aria and the rest of the kids were.

"Sorry about that," Marcus said. "Problem solved. You okay, Poppy?" She nodded.

"What the heck was that punch you used?" Kai said. "That was impressive as heck. I didn't know you could fight like that."

"I'm not impressed that I had to resort to it," Marcus replied, "but I'm not having any of you guys hurt or bullied by anybody."

"About that ID,.." Zack began.

"Not here," Marcus told him quietly. "Later. Go enjoy the beach, Guys."

Aria held Poppy against her so she would not see the fight accuring infront of them. She saw the guards and police run over to them and heard Marcus ask for his wallet, She rummaged in his trousers and handed it to Zane before looking down at Popy "Everything will be okay" she said softly to her. Glancing over she watched as he showed them his ID and then they seem to look like 'oh crap' between themselves before letting him walk back.

Aria moved so Marcus could see Poppy and talk to her. " She's all right, a bit shaken but otherwise fine." she said smiling down at her as she brushed away some of Poppys now wet hair from off her face. " she can stay by me and build sand castles " Aria said smiling at Marcus.

"Poppy," Zane said, "you can come with us if you want."

"Really?" Poppy asked, knowing that was a first that Zane was inviting her to hang with them. She appreciated Zane's protective attitude.

"Yeah. You don't want to stay on the sand all morning, do you?"

"Well, not all morning," she said.

"You can come join us whenever you want, okay?" he said.

"Thanks," she smiled. The rest of the kids went down to the water, and Marcus looked at Poppy. "I'd go with you too if you want to go in, and I'm sure Aria would too. You don't have to go by yourself if you don't want to."

"Thanks," she said, "but maybe I should try to do it myself. I mean, my friends would do it themselves, and I wouldn't want them to think I'm a baby."

"So, maybe you could go by yourself down to the water and Daria and your brothers down there. That way it would be your own initiative but you'd be with the other kids down there," he suggested. She nodded, liking Marcus's midground suggestion. She took a breath to calm herself, and then she looked at Marcus. He smiled at her, wanting her to be confident. She nodded and went down to the water and joined her siblings.

"Good for her," Marcus told Aria, sitting with her. "I'm glad she took the chance to try it herself."

Aria smiled taking the towel from Poppy and listened to Marcus " Of course" she said softly to her but then heard her say she wanted to do it her self because she didn't want to be seen as a baby, " you know relying on friends is not being a baby, it's knowing your limits and having people you can rely on." she said softly to her but smiled as Poppy walked down to join the others.

Standing she brushed off her legs and looked at Marcus " well we did come to swim right" she said and chuckled asshe walked down to th waters edge " you coming?" she asked smiling at him but glancing at the kids as she stepped back into the water close to them.

"definatly a strong one that one," she said as she turned to look at him " what did you tell them?" she asked " they left you alone and there faces changed rather quickly" she spoke softly to him.

"I'll tell you later," Marcus told her quietly. "Go ahead. I'll be there shortly." He sat down and put the wallet back in his pocket, and as he did, he used a bit of slight of hand to cast a charm on his jeans to keep anyone from being able to take his wallet from his jeans. He just wasn't going to lay his wallet down and walk off from it. He kept his eyes on the bullying boys and their families down the beach for a bit so he could feel comfortable that they weren't going to come back down this way. When he was satisfied with that, he decided it was alright to go down to the water. He got up and went down to join the others.

He saw Poppy was still still struggling with her breaststroke, and he went over to her.

"Hey, Kiddo," he told her. "Let me give you a couple pointers that'll make that easier for you." He worked with her a little and pretty soon, she was able to use that swimming stroke with ease. He gave her plenty of praise, and she beamed from ear to ear. He purposely swam with her for a bit, and when she wanted to go make a sandcastle, he went up the beach with her so she didn't have to worry about feeling alone. He sat down on his beach towel, and she settled in not terribly far from him with the molds and the buckets and the shovels to try to build a sandcastle.

Aria watched Marcus walk down and over to help Poppy she smiled seeing him looking after his family. She swum over to him and swum next to him while he helped Poppy "You doing great Poppy." she encuraged with a smile. Once she saw Marcus and Poppy leave she swum around for a while then walked out of the water brushing it out of her hair as she walked over to where the towels were and sat down not hiding herself from him but feeling comfortable.

Aria watched Popy and the others down by the waterside as they palyed. It was now her stomach rumbled " you think its time to set out the lunch?" she asked taking out a small pack lunch box and without any one seeing enlarging it. " I had a feeling they woud be hungry after swiming" she said with a smile to him " hope you don't mind" she placed it down and moved to leane against him feeling his warm skin against hers as she watched the kids play and enjoy the day " I think its been a perfect day today" she said softly.

"Yeah, that's fine," Marcus said. "It's a good thought, but don't forget the kids packed a lunch too. It's in the backpack too. I guess we can let them have a choice of what they want. Yeah, I'm glad they're having a good time." As Aria was setting out the lunch, Marcus saw Ezra looking at him. He motioned to Ezra, and Ezra told the other kids that Dad was signalling. The kids all came back up the beach to the towels. "Get a bite to eat, Guys," Marcus said. Poppy went down to the water and rinsed the wet and sticky sand off her hands and then came back up to the towels.

"Dad," Zane asked. "Mom used to say we had to wait an hour after eating to go back in the water. Is that a real thing?"

"No," Marcus said. "People used to think that, but you can go back in when you're done eating. Did you want to go to the water park this afternoon?" The kids looked at each other and discussed it, and they decided they would stay at the beach at least a little longer after lunch. They basically decided water was water, and it was fun either way. Marcus was fine with that.