"How can you be this cheerful this early in the morning?" Xander griped from behind his sunglasses as he gulped from his mug of coffee. He tossed their bags down to Mindy who was waiting on the boat.

Willow lightly patted Matt's shoulder. "Don't take it personally. Xander doesn't mean to be such a grump, he's just not a morning person," she explained. Xander just grunted as he stepped onto the boat.

"I wish Matt wasn't," Mindy called from behind. "He was up at 6:30 this morning, whistling and being entirely too chipper. I'd have to say I'm with Xander on this one." She went up and put her arm around his waist. He put his arm around her shoulder and smiled down at her. Matt in turn slipped his arms around Willow, picking her up. "Call it a trade," he said jokingly over his shoulder, carrying Willow in the opposite direction.

"Hey!" Willow called out.

"Oh well, I guess it was time to trade you in for a newer model," Mindy replied calmly, hugging Xander around the waist. She looked over to Matt adoringly and batted her eyelashes. Matt carried Willow back over to Xander. He looked at Mindy and then at Willow, both of them staring up at him innocently, trying to hide their grins.

"Switch?" he asked Xander tentatively.

Xander looked from Willow to Mindy and then back to Willow. "Yeah, why not?" He put his arms out and took Willow from Matt. "I'm kinda used to her," he said with a smile.

Matt wrapped his arms around Mindy and gave her a little kiss. "I know what you mean, better half and all."

"Damn straight, better half," Mindy said as she kissed him again. She then released him. "OK Captain, let's get this little cruise going," she ordered smacking his posterior.

"Ow, yes ma'am," he said giving a mock salute as he turned back towards the dock to untie the mooring lines. "Hey Willow, I thought you were gonna be my first mate."

"I'll be there as soon as Xander puts me down," she replied. Xander had been holding her ever since Matt had handed her off. He shrugged, and put her gently down on her feet. Willow scampered over to Matt, listening for instructions.

"So what time were you drug from bed?" Mindy asked stealing a sip of his coffee.

"8:00 am. I thought this was supposed to be a vacation," he said, making sure he was loud enough so that both Willow and Matt heard him. Willow turned back to him and made a face, then continued with what she was doing.

"Hey, don't complain. Our captain over there had me up by 6:45. He was whistling. Can you imagine being woke up at 6:45 to someone whistling? I told him we had two hours until we had to be here but it didn't matter. We were at the dock at 7:30 making sure everything had been packed for this little adventure," she stifled a yawn and stretched.

Xander sat back on one of the enormous sailboats cushioned seats and finished off his coffee. Everyone was dressed for a day of fun and sun. Matt wore swim trunks, deck shoes and a polo shirt. Xander was in his swim trunks and a tank top. Both Willow and Mindy wore two piece bathing suits and both had braided their hair, Willow in pig-tails and Mindy in a single french braid that hung halfway down her back. Willow wore overalls over her suit, while Mindy chose to wear just shorts.

Matt and Willow made quick work of readying the sailboat, almost everything had been done before Willow and Xander arrived, so they were on their way after a short 15 minutes. They reached the ocean after about an hour's worth of travel. Mindy had shed her shorts and was laying out on the deck to get some sun. Willow, who had been working hard learning all she could from Matt, decided to take a break when he told her that they were set on a pretty straight course for the next hour or so and there wasn't much for her to do. She went down to sit next to Mindy.

"Hey," she said smiling.

"Hey, learning anything?"

"A lot actually. I just hope I'm not too much of a pest. I have hundreds of questions."

"Don't worry about that. Matt loves sailing. He's eating up all the attention." Mindy pulled her sunglasses down onto the bridge of her nose and waved to him, standing behind the wheel of the boat talking to Xander. Both of them were looking at the girls. He returned her wave mockingly causing both girls to giggle.

"How long have you and Matt been together?" Willow asked, unhooking her overalls and shedding them to get some sun.

"Oh, gosh," Mindy sighed. "It's hard to say. We were best friends forever. Since I first got to go to a real school at twelve. He was just this awkward, geeky little boy then and he befriended me immediately. We spent all our time together, told each other everything. We were really close, y'know? Kinda like you and Xander. I developed this huge crush on him, but he never really noticed me," she paused.

"So when did he finally notice you?" Willow asked looking over at Xander. Her eyes caught his and she smiled at him before looking back to Mindy.

"Well, I guess he always did. He always did little things to show he cared, but I guess he didn't realize how much. Guys are funny like that."

"Don't I know it," Willow muttered, flipping onto her stomach to get some sun.
 

"Hey, Xander, could you grab me a bottle?" Matt called over to Xander as he pulled a bottle of water out of the cooler for himself.

Xander walked over to Matt handing him his water. "Why are we drinking water? Haven't you ever heard of coke?"

Matt laughed, "Well you don't want to dehydrate out here in the sun. Thanks," he took the bottle from Xander and unscrewed the top. He followed Xander's glance and noticed him watching the girls.

"Wonder what they're talking about," Xander thought out loud.

"Us," Matt said simply as Mindy lowered her sunglasses and gave them a little wave. "God, I love her. I don't know what I ever did to deserve her, but I'm thankful," he said after returning the wave.

"It must be great, having someone love you like that," Xander replied, watching as Willow took off her overalls.

"You should know," Matt said under his breath.

"What? What do you mean?"

Matt sighed shaking his head lightly. "Xander, Xander, Xander. Haven't you ever noticed the way Willow looks at you?" he asked.

Xander looked up and caught Willow's eyes looking back at him. She smiled at him and then went back to her conversation. "What about the way she looks at me?" he asked puzzled.

"She looks at you like you're the best thing since sliced bread. Like you're some fairy tale prince. It's the same look I get from Mindy, when I'm not screwing up," he added jokingly.

Xander looked at him and then looked back to Willow who seemed to have come to a lull in her conversation and was now laying beside Mindy soaking up the sun. He thought about what Matt said for a second. < Does she really look at me that way? >

"Nah. She's always looked at me that way. She thinks of me as more of a big brother, maybe even a protector of sorts, but definitely not a prince."

Matt just shook his head. < The boy's either in serious denial or completely blind. > He looked up to see Xander riffling through the bag he had brought with him.

"I bet she didn't even put on sunscreen. What was she thinking? She knows how easily she burns," he rambled. Matt watched as he pulled out a bottle of sunscreen and walked over to the two girls.

< Completely blind > he thought, chuckling softly.
 

Willow jumped slightly as she felt something cold and wet on her back. She then felt hands spreading the cool cream and realized it was sunscreen. She had completely forgotten to put any on. She propped herself up on her elbows. "Hey," she turned her head around to look at Xander, who had apparently taken off his tank top at some point.

He took one of his sunscreen covered fingers and ran it down her nose and across her cheeks. "Trying to have your body match your hair, Will?" he teased.

She shrugged, "I guess I forgot. Whatever would I do without you?" she asked taking on a phony damsel in distress tone.

"Probably spend a couple of hours in an ice cold bath tonight," he replied, smoothing sunscreen over the rest of her face and then returning to do her neck and the rest of her back. She laid back down on the deck and relaxed under his touch. He squeezed out more sunscreen and used it to cover her arms and shoulders. He then moved down to do her legs and thighs.

"How come you get the star treatment?" she heard Mindy gripe from beside her as she sat up to apply sunscreen to herself.

"Because if she doesn't cover herself in sunscreen she'll spontaneously combust. Besides I don't have to share a cabin with you tonight and therefore don't have to listen to you complain when you burn," Xander teased.

Mindy threw her shorts at him.

"Hey, a beautiful woman throwing her clothes at me. See, if you wish hard enough dreams do come true," Xander said as he got up and went to kneel behind Mindy to help her with her back.

"Thanks, and as a reward, Willow and I will make you lunch."

"But not now," Willow mumbled.

"No, it's still too early. In an hour. We can drop anchor and you and Matt can fish or swim or something while we make lunch."

"Deal," Xander consented as he got up to tell Matt what the game plan was.

"Little things," he heard Mindy whisper as he walked away.
 

They dropped anchor about a mile from the island, which could now be seen in the distance. It was decided that the guys would go fishing, since the waters off of northern California were too cold to really enjoy swimming. There was also a warm water spring on the island. Everyone agreed that braving the cold just to swim a few hours early was rather silly. The girls had already been soaked. They had fallen asleep while sunning and the guys decided that dousing them with water would be the perfect way to wake them. Both girls were now dripping and none too happy. Matt and Xander were making lunch in an offering of peace, while both girls tried to dry themselves and the deck.

"This sucks," Xander lamented. "I was supposed to have lunch made for me as a reward and now look! The whole water thing was your idea, remember?" he said waving a mustard covered butter knife at Matt.

"Yeah, yeah, just finish making the sandwiches."

"Eww. I wonder if this will even be edible," Xander said surveying the mutilated mess that was his sandwich.

Matt shook his head. "Xander you really just don't get it, do you? The worse it looks the better it is for us. If we bring this out there and smile and say we tried really hard, they'll take pity on us and make something edible. We just have to dote on them a little when we present them with.... this," he motioned towards the shambles that was supposed to represent lunch. Xander grinned and the two walked out with their offerings.

Mindy looked up at them and smirked.

"Fine, I'll make lunch but you're gonna help," she poked Matt in the stomach.

"Why me?" Matt whined.

"Because this reaks of a Matthew Ryan Carpenter scheme to get out of doing something, and Xander already earned his brownie points for the day with the sunscreen. C'mon," with that she turned Matt around and pushed him back towards the sailboats stairs, below which the kitchen was located. Xander gave him a mocking little wave and then sat down beside Willow, who was dangling her feet off the side of the boat.

"Hey," he said quietly, leaning over and pushing her gently with his shoulder. "Sorry for dousing you. It was all Matt's idea, scout's honor," he said holding up the boyscout salute.

Willow smiled at him. "You were never a boyscout Xander, and it's three fingers not two."

"Well then, Xander's honor," he responded, holding up his two fingers and shrugging.

"That frightens me," she burst into laughter at the look that formed on Xander's face. "Fine," she managed through her laughter, "You're forgiven."

She leaned over and looked down at the water. They sat there rather quietly for a bit until Xander asked, "Have you put on any more sunscreen since last time?"

Willow shook her head. "It's only been an hour and a half."

Xander sighed as he got up to get the bottle, "But you're skin's so fair, Will. If you're not careful, you'll be a lobster." He sat back down and squeezed some lotion into her hands so she could do her arms and legs while he did her back and shoulders. He finished rubbing it into her shoulders and sat back down beside her. She was about to squeeze out more lotion for her face when he stopped her.

"I have extra," he held up his hands, which were covered with sunscreen to emphasize his point. He leaned over and began to smooth the lotion over her forehead, down her cheeks, across her nose and chin. She leaned into his caressing hands, her eyes closing. He rubbed his fingers over her cheek and then slid his hand down her neck. She tilted her head back, gently shifting into his hand as he stroked her. He brushed his fingertips across her collar bone and then traveled back up to her cheek, where his hand stilled. He rubbed his thumb tenderly over her lips, which she parted. He ran his thumb down across her bottom lip and underneath her chin. She opened her eyes and found him inches from her face, lips parted, eyes half closed. He tilted his head slightly and she closed her eyes again, leaning towards them, their lips touched lightly.

"Lunch is ready!" they both jolted, eyes flying open as they heard Mindy's voice. Xander quickly pulled his hand away and stood up. Willow was suddenly fascinated by the water below, both appearing jittery as Mindy walked into sight with a tray. If she had any idea of what had just been interrupted, she would have made sure lunch took longer to make.