Sophia was so excited to spend the day with Uncle Connor at her house. The four year old wasn't enrolled in daycare, and Shawn and Camila had to run an errand, so Connor offered to watch Kayla. Shawn, Camila and Sophia were standing outside the house waiting for him, waving happily as Connor jumped out the car and then she ran to Him. "Uncle Connor!" she grinned, letting her Uncle scoop her up.

"Hi, sweetness!" He smiled as he waved to Shawn and Camila drove off. "What kind of fun are we going to have?" he asked, though he knew that he and Shawn had planned on Him taking her swimming in the pool in the backyard.

"Daddy said you'd brought your swim shorts!" she exclaimed happily. "Can we go swim?" she asked hopefully. "Please, please, please!"

"I think we can make that happen," Connor smiled, leading her into the house. "Go get changed, okay?" Sophia nodded and ran into the bathroom while Connor went outside to make sure the pool rope was up. The pool ranged from three to five feet, and then it dropped pretty drastically to the ten foot area, complete with diving board. So Shawn had gotten a rope installed so the children knew where to not swim unless they had an adult right beside them. Connor was already in his swim trunks, so he just waited until Sophia came running out excitedly in her pink chevron swimsuit."Uncle Conner I wanna jump off the board!" she exclaimed, already heading for the diving board.

"Are you sure, sweetie? Remember how deep the water is?" Connor asked, but Sophia was determined to do it.

"I 'member, Uncle Connor! I wanna do it!" she replied, crossing her arms as she stood at the edge of the diving board.

"Okay then. Just let me get to where I can catch you okay?" Connor asked before diving into the water from beside the diving board, popping back up and wiping his eyes as he treaded water and waited for Sophia to jump. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yes!" she grinned. "Count down, Uncle Connor!" she giggled, bouncing on her toes.

"Three, two, one, jump!" Connor grinned, holding his arms up to catch his little niece. Sophia jumped, squealing as her Uncle caught her. His intention was to gently lower her into the water, but he hadn't really accounted for the fact that he couldn't touch the floor of the pool. The added weight, though it wasn't much, of his niece, caused Connor to dip under the water, and in response, Sophia's head went underwater. It was only a split second, but for the little girl who hadn't had the chance to take a breath, it was a lifetime. Connor came up spluttering, and Sophia was coughing. Connor quickly set her on the side of the pool and pulled himself up beside her. "Oh, Soph, are you okay?" he asked, rubbing her back.

"I hate you!" Sophia cried once she finally stopped coughing. Connor knew that she didn't mean it, but it still made his heart hurt. "You tried to drown me!" she cried.

"Honey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to go under the water. I'm so sorry," Connor frowned, pushing her wet hair out of her face. "I made a mistake." Sophia sniffled, rubbing her eyes. "Why don't we go swim in the other end of the pool?" Connor asked. "I'll grab the alligator float you like and I'll pull you around the pool."

To his surprise, Sophia shook her head. "No! I hate you!" she repeated, getting up and running across the yard to the her playhouse and curled up inside of it. It was small enough that Connor couldn't get in there, and that was exactly what she wanted.

Connor watched her run away, his heart hurting. No one he really cared about had ever said that – sure, he heard it all the time on Twitter from people he'd never met, but that rolled right off his back. But Sophia was his niece, and they had a special connection.

Connor headed over to the playhouse and looked in the small window, frowning deeply when he saw Sophia in the corner crying. "Sweetie, I'm sorry," he repeated. But Sophia didn't reply. Connor sat down outside the playhouse to wait, determined to wait her out.

But that child was stubborn. They were still sitting in the same position when Shawn and Camila arrived, heading straight into the backyard. When Shawn saw him staring at the play house, he hurried over. "Dude, what happened? Where's Sophia ?" Shawn asked. Connor frowned and recounted the story, running his hands through his hair. "Well," Shawn sighed. "Let me talk to her," he smiled. "It'll be fine."

Connor and Camila followed at a distance, pausing as Shawn knelt down and knocked on the door of the playhouse. "Sophia? It's daddy. Can you come open the door?" Almost immediately, the door opened and Sophia launched herself at the man in front of her. She cried and recounted her version of the story to her dad, who rubbed her back.

"Look at Uncle Connor," Shawn whispered after he managed to calm his baby down. "He's really sad." Shawn knew Sophia's weakness was seeing her favorite uncle so sad, but to his surprise, Sophia mumbled something. "What was that?" he asked.

"I don't care," she sniffled. Shawn sighed.

"Why don't we go talk to him and see if we can work this out, yeah?" Shawn offered. Sophia shook her head, but had no choice as she was captive in her father's arms.

"Soph," Connor said slowly, looking up at her carefully. "Hi sweetie. Can I hold you?" he asked hopefully.

"Are you going to drop me?" she asked sarcastically, and Shawn sighed.

"Sophia, be nice," he said.

"No, she has a point. No, baby, I won't drop you," Connor promised, and Sophia hesitantly reached for her uncle.

"Sweetie, Uncle Connor made a mistake. You make mistakes don't you?" Shawn asked as Sophia pressed a kiss to Sophia's cheek. Sophia nodded and looked at her uncle hesitantly. "Well then, since Uncle Connor apologized, what do we do?"

"We forgive them," Sophia whispered before hugging Connor. "It's okay you almost drowned me," she said sweetly. Connor laughed and hugged her tightly.

"Well thank you. Now, how about your mummy and daddy get their swim stuff on and the four of us take a swim?" Michael offered.

"Will you still pull me around on the 'gator?" she asked hopefully.

"Of course," Connor smiled, tickling her tummy. "Let's go!"