Rule 35, Alpha

-Chapter 8-

I'm back my loves!! It's time for part two of the date! Enjoy! 😊
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tempest? Babydoll? Where did you run off to?"

I half whisper as I search through the halls, the glow of the fish tanks lighting the otherwise dark space.

After we had our ice cream, I brought her to the aquarium, thinking that she'd probably love the fish and other creatures here. I was right. Her child like fascination with the colorful fish was adorable, and I found myself being dragged around as she showed me everything...even convincing me to pet the rays in the hands on tank, and the dinosaur like horseshoe crab. They weren't as...untouchable as I thought, the rays actually being quite soft.

"Babydoll?" I whisper again, and the sound of her soft giggling sends relief through me.

I turn the corner to find her staring into a glass wall halfway full of water, logs and a rock surface in the background. Two brown creatures are moving and twisting around in circles, and that seems to be the source of Tempest's laughter.

I smile and walk up behind her silently, touching her shoulders to make her jump, that mouse like squeak she emits when surprised making me chuckle.

"There you are babydoll, I was worried you got lost."

"I'm fine Butch, I just got distracted by these little guys."

She points at the two tussling creatures on the other side of the glass, their soft noises as they play-fight filling the quiet room.

"They're otters, they spend a lot of time in rivers either searching for food, or playing like these two. Those two are brothers, aren't they cute?"

Her wide eyes watch them play, their long brown bodies gliding into and leaping out of the water swiftly, running around on the rocks before jumping back into the water.

"Yeah they are..."

I murmur while looping an arm around her shoulders as I stand beside her, the otter brothers now turning their energy onto a plastic ball.

"You were really that worried huh?"

She looks up at me curiously, and her baby blue eyes shimmer even more in the dim light.

"Yes. I was wondering if I'd have to interrogate the sharks for your location."

She bites her lip to keep from laughing to loud, using her hand to cover her mouth.

"Now that would've been a sight, Butch Cassidy vs. Sharks."

I laugh at the mental image, and eye the tank in front of us.

"Hey, go stand in front of them, I'll take your picture."

She grins and goes to stand in front of it, and as I go to take the picture, the two otters swim towards her, almost looking at her like she was looking at them. I snap the pictures quickly, capturing them swimming up and down as they inspect her through the glass. Perfect. Tempest turns around to wiggle her fingers at them, a cute little wave goodbye. As we walk to the next part, she looks up at me through the corner of her eyes.

"You know, when otters are out on the water relaxing, they'll hold paws to keep from drifting away from each other."

I smile and silently reach down to her small hand, interlocking our fingers as I hold hers in mine.