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The Chinese buffet restaurant was one of the fancier ones. It had wooden chairs and a whole two rooms for eating in. The entrance even had a small waterfall in the waiting area. That was exactly where the ea Delano family was situated.

Despite the fact that the restaurant was basically a cheap buffet, the place was fairly busy. Nara and Iian sat along one wall while Zane was peering over the top of the pool wall at the swimming fish, fairly well behaved for now.

Zane checked carefully on his parents. Clear! The toddler grabbed the edge of the wall. He was going to get to the top, no matter what. The boy wriggled and wiggled and pushed and pulled until he was finally laying half on the tall (for a toddler) wall. Sliding forward a bit he finally managed to get the rest of his body onto the wall. Success!

The red headed toddler turned to double-check on his parents. Still clear. Carefully Zane stood up, wobbling unsteadily on his feet. Laughing quietly with delight the toddler moved down the arc towards the rock covered back wall. Zane had nearly reached his destination when he lost his already precarious balance.

With a splash the toddler fell into water, sending a huge splash onto the family that just walked in.

"ZANE!" Nara jumped up, rushing to the boy, scooping him up out of the chest high water. After checking the boy for any harm, she turned to the family, face bright red.

"I'm so sorry...."

Wriggling in an attempt to get down, all Zane managed to do was turn himself around. The toddler frowned at his foiled attempt to climb to the top of the waterfall. "Didna meen to," he finally pouted back at Victoria. There was no way he was going to get near the wall again, now that his parents had payed attention. "Wanned see ah Wafall," he added, giving up his plans.

"We're fine. Zane's fine," Nara stuttered, embarrassed beyond belief. Slowly Iian stood up and headed over to the group, dragging the baby bag with him. Rummaging inside he pulled out a a small towel and offered it silently to the wet girl.

Iian nodded ignoring the fact that Victoria her self was a child before handing off the towel to his partner. Briskly, Nara toweled Zane as dry as she could. Holding the squirming boy out in front of her, the woman tried on her best pair of stern Mommy-eyes. "No more climbing," she scolded firmly before setting him down again on the floor.

Turning back to the woman, Nara apologized once again. "I really am sorry about that.. I'm Nara, this is Iian, and that's Zane," she introduced, gesturing to each member of their little family.

Zane frowned even more, well into pouting mode. He didn't want to see it from here! He wanted to look up at the top. "No," he told the girl firmly. "Wanned see.." He paused, frustrated. "-op," he finally chose.

Nara's eyes flew wide in surprise, and no small amount of suspicion. "Uh..." she managed to reply intelligently. She glanced over at Iian who had become nearly paranoid since her abduction over a year ago. The man crossed his arms stubbornly.

"They seem nice," Nara said mildly.

Iian sighed evaluating the woman in front of him and the girl playing with Zane. Then came a scan of the restaurant, checking out area. Finally, the man sighed and reluctantly nodded. Even if they were enemies, he had no doubt that they could at least get out of the restaurant.

Despite her own misgivings, she wasn't going to let some possible enemy who hadn't done a single thing in over a year keep her from a nice dinner. "We'd love to," she finally told the woman.

Zane was blissfully unaware of his parents dilemma and caught in his own. "I an do eh yself," the boy stubbornly told Victoria. It wasn't any fun if you had someone else do it for you. The boy pouted and stared at the fish circling the pond before reaching in to poke the water.

Zane pouted even more. "S'no fun," he replied back to Victoria. It just wasn't any fun to have someone else do it. It was only fun when he did it. Bored with just watching the fish, he started towards the buffet area. Unfortunately, the hostess chose that moment to gesture them all towards the seating area.

Iian grabbed his son's hand on the way to the table, ensuring there would be no side adventures along the way. Once they go there the man lifted Zane up and plopped him onto a booster seat. The boy's face lit up as he realized he could see over the table top and reach his own drink.

After giving the waiter their drink orders, Nara disappeared to the buffet line, grabbing food for her and Zane while Iian sat with the toddler.

Once Nara came back with the two plates, Iian left to get his food.

Setting the plate in front of Zane, Nara grabbed a bib from the bag and tied it around the toddler's neck. Though Zane frowned, he didn't try to pull the thing off. It was easier not to. Grabbing the fork awkwardly he stared at his plate.

"Mac'n Cheese!" Zane cheered, both replying to Victoria and in excitement over the yellow stuff on his plate. Some macaroni and cheese, sweet and sour chicken and some plain fruit decorated the plate.

The boy went to stab the food, slipping and sliding it all over the plate when it didn't cooperate. Finally managing to get a mouthful, Zane shoved everything he could into his mouth.

"Wha's yours?" The boy asked between chewing.

(Woot!)

Zane's brow furrowed as he tried to follow along with Victoria's train of thought. It was nice that she liked mac and cheese too but what was Chinese?

"Chaineeze?" he asked, before laughing at himself. "Like sneeze!" The next forkful of mac and cheese missed his mouth completely due to his own distraction. Picking a noodle from his bib, the red-head popped it into his mouth and chewed.

"What's Chaineeze?" he asked the older kid.

Iian came back, sitting down with the group. Nara glanced at him before turning to Aurora. "So..." the woman said, searching for a topic to talk about. "Victoria seems very well-mannered," she tried to compliment.