It had been a wonderful and fun summer vacation, along with a few mishaps and jealous moment from Aaron. An incident with Aphmau being transformed into a purple puppy, and plenty of times that Airis got in trouble for eating far too many strawberry puffs with Eric. But the vacation was filled with plenty of smiles and lots of laughs.

Sadly, the summer vacation was over, and the group of friends had to go back home. But the way back would be on a cruise ship, to which everyone was excited to board and have fun on the trip back home.

Airis was zipping up her bag upstairs, finished packing everything she needed for the trip back home, while Aphmau was finishing up her packing with Katelyn.

"Got everything?" Katelyn asked Aphmau.

"Yep!" Aphmau answered, "Just gotta pack up a few extra clothes and my wolf plush, and I'm ready!"

Airis smiled and ran up to the wolf plush Aphmau had brought along. Since they've been on the island , Airis slept with the plush as a comfort. It made her feel safe since Airis wanted to learn how to sleep without Aphmau with her in the bed.

"Sounds awesome." Katelyn said, then recognized the plush Airis was now cuddling, "Huh? Hey, I remember that thing! You've had it since high school."

"Ah, oh yeah. I have!" Aphmau asked.

"You even brought that to college, too. Never did tell me where you got it."

"Oh... uh... Yeah! It's a long story between me and Aaron." Aphmau answered, "But it looks like Airis took a liking to it a lot."

"Hmm, another time then." Katelyn said, "You know, I was always jealous of you and him in high school."

"Because you had a thing for me back then?" Aphmau teased.

"Haha. Stop you! You're more of a little sister to me these days than anything."

"Ahhh, but college was a different story! Aye?"

"Ugh! It's just weird thinking about that stuff with our parents DATING now." Katelyn groaned.

"UUUUUGH! I know what you mean!" Aphmau groaned while Airis laughed, "But if it's worth anything, you've changed a lot, Katelyn."

"In some ways."

"Still having problems letting people get close?"

"Yep. I guess that's why I envied you and Aaron a lot back in high school. He was a lot like me, being stand offish, and I never understood how he opened up to be more calm."

"Well, he still has his moments. Not everyone is perfect Katelyn."

"Exactly." Airis wrote, finally bringing herself in to the conversation.

"Pfft! Yeah, except your two. You guys are the main characters." Katelyn joked, making Airis and Aphmau laugh.

"This isn't some episodic sitcom. This is life." Aphmau said, "I only seem perfect to you, but I have my faults, too. I mean, I was a mess back in high school."

"And I have a lot of problems, too." Is what Airis wanted to write down, but she didn't want to answer any questions about what she wrote down meant.

Suddenly, Guyde appeared behind they couch they were all sitting on.

"Everyone's a mess!" He said, "But all it takes is some beautiful flowers to make it all alright."

"Where did you come from?!" Katelyn said.

"He poofed! I miss that trick!" Aphmau shouted.

"Oh, calm down girlfriend. I've had a busy summer myself. So, are you ladies all set up to board the cruise ship? I'm here to whisk you away!"

"Sure, sounds good." Katelyn said.

"AAAHHH! Can you whisk me away in a poof?!" Aphmau asked.

"Don't be silly, Aph--"

"I sure can, Katelyn. Nate is waiting downstairs to help the others to the ship. Come on, Aphmau, take my hand and we'll poof!"

Aphmau quickly took Guyde's hand and they both poofed away while Katelyn groaned.

"Oh, great, now I gotta pack her stuff! You gonna help me, Airis?" Katelyn asked the the little girl nodded, setting down the wolf plush and helping pack the rest of Aphmau's stuff.

~~~~

Everyone walked down to the docks and stood in front of the cruise ship they would taking back home.

"This is amazing." Aaron exclaimed.

"It really is." Lucinda said, "Thanks for bringing us on the luxury cruise home, Dante."

"My pleasure. Really, it's the least I can do." Dante said. Just then, Teony and Ivy joined the group, greeting everyone happily.

"Teony! I've missed you so much." Aphmau said hugging her old friend.

"Oh, I missed you guys, too." Teony said breaking the hug, "Sorry I haven't been able to hang out this summer."

Ivy laughed, "It's okay, Teony. I told them all about the whole getting to know Yulie thing."

"Ivy, stop! It was just for the summer. For now." Teony added.

"Oooh. Got her number?" Aphmau teased.

"Of course. She's a cutie, but we've got lives and jobs to get back to, so we're gonna keep in touch."

"I'm surprised you didn't invite her on the cruise back home." Katelyn commented.

"She's... from Paris." Teony said with a blush burning her cheeks.

"AAahhh! You've always wanted to go there! This is perfect!" Aphmau squealed.

"That's perfect. Kawaii~Chan totes ships it!" Kawaii~Chan cheered.

Guyde appeared from out of nowhere, again, and showed everyone to their rooms, their bags already inside for the trip. He took Aaron, Aphmau and Airis to the same room near the others on the ship.

"And here you are. Your very own Love~Love cabin!" He gestured to the room. The three walked inside and saw a large and beautiful room.

"Wow!" Aphmau exclaimed, "This place is beautiful! Look at the sea walls! The carpets! Fishies!" 

Airis ran into the room and looked out the window, seeing the beautiful ocean below.

"A beautiful room for a beautiful family." Guyde said.

"Wait, the three of us are going to share this room?" Airis wrote down.

"Well, that's what I assumed. Unless some blue-haired older sister like figure were to tell you otherwise. Looks like you and your friends are all set up in your rooms now. Ta-ta!" 

Guyde left the three all alone in the room, Airis jumping onto the bed while Aaron and Aphmau walked to the glass doors that led to the balcony outside.

"So, looks like it's gonna be just you, me and Airis in this room." Aphmau said.

"I've been waiting for this." Aaron said, "There's something I wanted to talk to you and Airis about."

"Are you okay sharing a bed with me and Airis?" Aphmau asked, nervous about not only sharing a room and bed with her boyfriend, but also because of how serious he sounded.

"What?! No, no, I didn't want to talk about that." Aaron said, "I mean, uh, well, not that I mind, uh--"

"I object!" Katelyn shouted from the door. The three turned towards the raging woman seeing her anger and disapproval for the room arrangements.

"You're not--"

"Calm down, Katelyn." Nicole said appearing the doorway, "You're sharing a room with me."

"WHAT?!" Travis shouted, appearing just like everyone else.

"Are you serious? I just got alone time with Aph and Airis." Aaron groaned.

"Aphmau!" Zane said as he dropped from the balcony in his room a level above, "They have a dessert bar on this ship!"

"AAAHHH DESSERT!" Aphmau squealed.

Airis couldn't help but laugh as everyone began appearing in their room, but she was also curious as to how they all made it into the room so easily. It was better to leave that kind of logic to others to figure out.

~~~~

Airis was walking around the ship with Aaron, wanting to get away from the chaos and hang out with him alone for a little while. They eventually made it to the dessert bar and Aaron got Airis a strawberry cupcake before they sat down at one of the tables while Aphmau and Zane filled their stomach with sweets and baked goods.

Aaron sighed as Airis happily ate her sweet, when Garroth walked over to them with a worried and concerned expression.

"So, Aaron, you've been acting weird." Garroth plainly spat out.

"I'm trying to get Aphmau and Airis alone so I can talk to them about something." Aaron answered.

"Ooh! Like what?" Garroth asked.

"Promise you can keep a secret?"

"Of course, you know me, Aaron."

Aaron sighed and was about to spill out his secret, when he remembered that Airis was sitting next to him. He stood up and whispered what he wanted to say to Garroth, quietly so that Airis couldn't hear even with her wolf ears out.

"AAAAHHHH! I have to tell Aphmau and Airis!" Garroth shouted.

"Garroth, no!" Aaron stopped him, glancing at the little girl. But she was face deep in her cupcake, so she wasn't even paying attention. Still, better safe than sorry.

"It was only a joke." Garroth said and Aaron sighed.

"It's just... I want to ask them, but I'm afraid of getting reject by Aph and for it to be confusing for Airis."

"But you're dating, and Airis loves you just the same. Why would she say no?"

"Aph cares about everyone, and Airis... she's still afraid of a few things. I want them both to do what they want to do when they're ready to do it. I can't lie, a part of me will be a little hurt if they reject it, but I'll always be there for them no matter what."

Garroth sniffled, "That's just so beautiful."

"Thanks, Garroth. I'm just... afraid to ask them."

Aaron felt a small tug on his jacket and looked down to see Airis with her face smothered in strawberry icing and holding her notebook up.

"What did you want to say to me and Aphmau, Aaron?" She wrote.

Aaron stuttered a little, afraid that she actually might have heard their conversation for a second. But Aaron was relieved by how she asked about what they were talking about and sighed, taking a napkin and wiping away all the icing on her face.

"Airis, you gotta slow down with eating sticky foods like that." Aaron said as he wiped away the last of the icing. Airis smiled and chuckled at the ticklish feeling from the napkin.

Just then, they heard Katelyn and Travis arguing not too far away from them. They turned to see them arguing really badly and eventually resulted in Travis leaving in an angry huff. Nicole came and gave Katelyn a hug to calm her down. Airis jumped off of her chair and ran over to hug Katelyn too.

"Airis, what are you doing?" Katelyn asked as she wiped away the remains of her tears. She knelt down to the girl's level and Airis almost backed away.

Airis was always an empathetic little girl, able to sense the emotions and feelings of others around her, especially those she was close to. As soon as she saw Katelyn's crying face, Airis began to cry too, wiping away both her tears and Katelyn's.

"Airis, you don't need to cry. I'm gonna be just fine." Katelyn said with a strained smile. Airis shook her head and hugged Katelyn even tighter than before.

"Airis..." Nicole said sadly, "Do you wanna talk it out, Katelyn?"

Katelyn nodded, "I know I need to apologize to him about my behavior, but I don't know how?"

Airis pulled away from the blue haired woman and wrote down in her notebook.

"You don't need to keep people away, Auntie." She wrote, "Travis really likes you."

Katelyn nodded again and picked Airis up before they walked off to talk. They spent most of the night talking about how Katelyn was feeling, and Airis was always sitting by her side to bring her comfort.

Airis hugged Katelyn the entire time, and she had even fell asleep with Katelyn in her room that night. However, what Katelyn didn't know, was that Airis was using her magic to help her calm down and bring forth good dreams of her family, such as her father and brothers. It was the best way for Airis to help her with the pain Katelyn was feeling at the moment.

It always helped her to remember the good times in place of the bad.