AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey, readers! Thanks for having taken the time to check out this spring break tale! And now that I am completing my binge of chapter posting this week, I wish to acknowledge TitaniumMasterOfAquaLightning, FirstFandomFangirl, lovesgod12, AveXCninja11, and Naruby7 for your hilarious and sweet comments that you posted about Chapters 6 and beyond!

Tidbits about the chapter below:

*-To see the original account of Kai's proposal of marriage to Sam, see The Fire Within: The Valentine Incident - chapters 9 and 10.

*-I made up the name of the singer Joel Taylor.

*-And the mention of Sam's Aunt Jill is a whiff of a tale I may eventually write, though not soon.

Right now, however, I am pleased to announce that I've got the first seven chapters of a new story written! It takes place approximately three months after the end of this story but before Kai and Sam's wedding. Kai, Cole, and Zane travel to help the Ninjago Department of Natural Resources battle another natural disaster. But during the mission, one ninja disappears! It's likely I will post the beginning chapter by the end of this month.

Enjoy the conclusion of The Fire Within: Trouble in Paradise. Take care, everyone!

- MNC 3/11/2016

Chapter 10 - Return from Paradise

Two and a half days later, after fulfilling their mission for the Ninjago Department of Natural Resources, Cole and Lloyd arrived back in Ninjago City on a sunny Sunday morning. Departing from the coastal region at midnight, they had ridden their dragons all night to get back to the Bounty. They were greeted by Nya, Kai, Jay, and Zane, who were sitting at the breakfast table.

"Welcome back, quarry men!" Nya exclaimed, giving each of them a hug. "You guys look like you got some sun."

"Yep. There was plenty of it this past week," Cole replied, surveying the dining table while waiting for Lloyd to finish washing his hands at the kitchen sink. Today was apparently another Frosted Oats cereal day, supplemented by orange juice and slices of toast. "Hey, where's the potato and cheese frittata you made in honor of our return?" he joked, remembering how he had seen the fancy egg breakfast item on the menu of The Pie Shoppe.

"We're eating light this morning, on account of stuffing ourselves last night. You sure missed a good meal. Jim and Jan treated us all to dinner at the Towertop Restaurant," Kai gloated, speaking of the generosity of his fiancee's parents. "They wanted to thank us for our hospitality this past week before they left to go back home."

"Yeah, and since you guys weren't there for them to buy meals for, I didn't feel guilty about ordering the lobster bisque soup with my dinner," Jay added. "Well, OK, maybe I felt a little guilty," he admitted. "But the soup was good!"

Zane slid along the bench seat to make room for Lloyd. "We had the pleasure of Brooke's company last night at the restaurant. The Miller family invited her, too, since she had arrived back in Ninjago City early after her shortened vacation," the ice ninja stated, knowing that the subject of Sam's roommate and dear friend would be of interest to the earth ninja.

"I heard about the restaurant outing. Brooke told me late last night when I called her to say we were leaving the coast, and Sensei mentioned it when I called to tell him we were just about to head home," Cole explained as he finished washing his own hands and joined the others at the table.

Jay slid along the other bench seat to give the earth ninja some space. "You know, Cole, Brooke said you two didn't connect until Thursday," the lightning ninja pointed out. "Was that because there was something else you found to your liking on the Paradise Beach menu?" he inquired with a smirk, arching his eyebrow at the earth ninja.

"No," Lloyd piped up, "but for a while, it looked like Brooke found something else on HER Paradise Beach menu that she liked!"

"Shut it, green machine!" Cole commanded, pausing in mid-reach for slices of toast. "Remember that Brooke doesn't know I was thinking that!"

Lloyd grinned. "And that she doesn't know you almost punched her cousin Aaron?"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed their teammates, eagerly leaning forward in their seats for an explanation.

Casting a withering glance at the green ninja, Cole took a deep breath and, while he prepared his cereal bowl and buttered his toast, relayed the events leading up to meeting Brooke at The Pie Shoppe.

"So if Aaron - her own cousin - is not going to tell Brooke that I thought they were boyfriend and girlfriend," he concluded, waving his butter knife, "the least YOU guys could do is not tell her, either. Or Sam," he finished, pointing the knife at Kai.

Kai put his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender. "OK, OK. I won't say a word. By the way, Sensei gave the rest of us the day off today, too, along with you and Lloyd, so I'm going over to Ninjago U to say goodbye to Sam's family when they bring her back to her dorm room, and to deliver a package from Sensei to her Aunt Jill before they leave. Do you wanna come with me, to see Brooke?"

"Not right now. I'm gonna catch a few Zs this morning and go over to see her later this afternoon. Last night she told me she wanted to spend some time walking around the atrium at the Adams Hotel and pretending she was still in the tropics." The warm, moist air of the indoor enclosure, which featured tall, lush, green plants and koi-filled ponds, provided an oasis from the chillier spring weather of Ninjago City.

Kai grinned. "Well, be careful! The atrium's a dangerous place. People have been known to get engaged there!" The fire ninja had proposed marriage to Sam in that very place just last month.

In the days before he left for the ocean, Cole would have rolled his eyes at Kai, but today he simply smiled. He was not planning to ask Brooke a certain question anytime soon, but he had been thinking about where might be a good place to do so.

"Oh, hey, Cole, I was gonna tell you something," Jay snapped his fingers as he remembered some news. "Did you hear that the Joel Taylor concert at the Arena got rescheduled? Laryngitis kept him from performing the other night, so the new concert date is June 1st."

Why does June 1st seem significant? Cole wondered, and then he remembered. Brooke had said it was the date of her last final exam of the semester.

"Sweet! Brooke will be done with her tests and I can take her to see him perform, after all!" the earth ninja exclaimed.

Cole returned to the Bounty that evening after spending a nice afternoon with Brooke at the atrium, eating dinner with her at Cindy's Restaurant (Ninjago City's equivalent of The Pie Shoppe), and escorting her back to Schilling Hall, her dormitory. He brought her back at a fairly early hour, since she was going to resume her classes tomorrow and he was going to resume his training regimen after his weeklong mission to the coast.

He flipped on the radio when he got home. The hurricane had made landfall at Paradise Beach just hours earlier, but it was not as strong as first feared. Cole hoped that the townsfolk had safely evacuated and that the town's buildings would not be severely damaged by the storm.

When the earth ninja found himself falling asleep while playing video games, he knew it was time to retire for the night, so he excused himself and went to the bunkroom.

While preparing for bed, he reflected upon the events of the past week. He had spent lots of time outdoors, exercised his elemental powers, met some nice people, ate some good food, helped coastal communities brace for a season of hurricanes, and realized he loved a beautiful girl named Brooke Dawson.

As soon as his head hit his pillow, Cole fell asleep, exhausted but happy. Spring break had turned out to be a good one, after all.

**** The End ****