Summary: Fishing wasn't a pastime Gabriel ever expected to appreciate. However, as he was just starting to enjoy himself on his little canoe, a pod of orca decides to play. Now mysteriously washed ashore on an island, Gabriel struggles to survive. When gifts start to appear in the form of food and fresh water, Gabriel seeks out his savior, but does he believe what he sees when they finally meet? And can Gabriel find a way back home?

In a world that never changes Sam finds himself fascinated with humans. While not forbidden, Sam knows the danger they pose and swears to only observe. Up until he notices a pod of orca playing with one. As the human starts to sleep atop his boat, Sam can't just watch the human die. Revealing himself was never part of the plan, nor the consequences that come with it.

Warnings: Merman Sam, Human Gabriel, Minor Character Death, Anal Sex, Interspecies Sex, Hand Jobs, Oral Sex, Fishing, Mating Bonds, Rimming, Anal Fingering, Angst with a Happy Ending, M-Preg Mentions, Transformation.

Prologue

Setting his reel down in the harness on the side of his small canoe, Gabriel relaxed. He could lean back enough to put his hands behind his head, staring up into the blue sky while waiting for his line to tighten with a bite. He had been out fishing for nearly an hour now, enjoying the last of the summer before he had to leave and go back into the city. His vacation was almost at a close, and soon the dreary world of business would consume him again until next summer when he would be able to return for a couple of weeks and enjoy sitting back and relaxing for a few hours a day.

Overall it wasn't a bad life to live; he had enough money in the bank to be able to afford a few weeks off each year and a comfortable apartment. He wasn't going to ever make CEO, but he could hold his own when it came to the stock market and helping rich people stay rich. It was a thankless job, all the praise of Wall Street going to those in higher management, but it was something he could do to keep his mind off things.

Being the only one left of what was once a large family was something he worked hard to forget each day. Coming home exhausted to his empty apartment with only a handful of friends to keep him company when the loneliness threatened to consume him wasn't why he initially got into the business. He had hoped once, a long time ago, that he would be able to earn enough money to bring his family out of the hole they were living in and to find a partner to keep his bed warm at night.

Then the fire happened. Gabriel arranged a small reunion of siblings and their parents, but he was late to the function, his tardiness saving his life. The building his family had been gathered in went up in flames. The fire chief later explained that his brother, Michael, had pissed someone off enough that the building was rigged to blow, and though they hadn't exploded the entire structure they did manage to destroy the only way out as the flames climbed higher. His family was dead in thirty minutes, leaving Gabriel as the last to carry their line and with no support besides the few friends he met at work.

Startled out of his thoughts by a jerk of his rod, Gabriel quickly started to reel in his catch. It took a lot of effort, and by the time he was done, the blond man leaned over the side of the boat to catch a glimpse of his prize. Squealing in surprise, he quickly cut the line, letting the eel swim free and hoping that the hook would eventually come out of the creature. Fish he could handle; eels were another thing entirely. Shivering, Gabriel sighed before opening his tackle box and stringing a new hook.

He didn't have the chance to cast his line when something caught his attention. Out maybe a hundred yards from him, was a steady spray of water followed by large splashes and the tell-tale sound of large marine mammals. As one of the giant creatures breached the water, he gasped in both fear and delight. Orcas. While Gabriel had seen the giant dolphins in captivity, it was something else to see them in their natural habitat. All too soon the ten, six-ton mammals were only a few feet away.

Sitting up in his boat, Gabriel slipped his life-vest on quickly. Though he didn't think the animals were out to get him, even with the canoe he was a heck of a lot smaller than them, and one breach could have him knocked into the water. The pod circled him a few times, each time getting a bit closer. He wished he could reach out and touch the animals, but Gabriel kept his limbs inside the metal canoe. After an hour of watching the orcas play, Gabriel began to relax. Though they were getting close and occasionally bumped into the metal frame, the creatures seemed more curious than anything else, and the fear which had been building at the pit of his stomach started to ebb away.

Laughing as one of the smaller orcas swam under the boat, Gabriel leaned over to watch as the mammal came out from the other side. He should have been paying attention. The weight of his body was enough that, with a bump, one of the other large dolphins was able to nudge the canoe off balance. It happened in seconds. One moment he was watching the orca play and the next he was in the water. Not wanting to drown, Gabriel sputtered and frantically waved his arms in the cold ocean, trying to stay afloat. He was suddenly well aware that the creatures he had been admiring took down prey far tougher than him on a daily basis.

Panic started to spread, and Gabriel grasped at the side of the canoe, hopeful to get out of the water. The orcas bumped his legs, and though he didn't feel their teeth dig into his flesh he knew the danger they presented. Grasping the hull, Gabriel clawed and scrambled until his fingers caught along the keel and pulled. His body was near done, but the fear of what was swimming around him waiting for him to give up gave him the last boost he needed to pull himself out of the water.

Climbing until he was laying on the capsized canoe, Gabriel panted from the effort it took to get out of the ocean. With each pass of the orcas, he feared that his relative safety would once again end up in the water, and with the way his legs and arms were protesting no amount of fear was going to help him back onto the boat if that happened. Thankfully a call from farther out to sea was heard and the orcas, as one, left. With shallow breaths, Gabriel tried to think of anything that could help him ashore. He didn't paddle that far out, but it was too far to swim, and he had no way of knowing if there was something more dangerous than a pod of orcas nearby.

Carefully placing his body to disperse his weight as not to lose what buoyancy he had, Gabriel closed his eyes for only a moment, trying to gather the energy to think. His moment of rest turned into several hours because when he next opened his eyes, Gabriel was blinking into the rising sun. Jerking his head around to try and spot anything he could recognize, the blond wondered just how far he drifted through the night. What he saw gave him a sense of renewed hope. There was land. It wasn't a beach filled with people or a dock where he might be able to get help, but it was land, and it was beautiful.

Waiting for the canoe to follow the gentle waves rolling up on the beach it didn't take long for Gabriel to realize that instead of getting closer he was getting farther away. His arms were tired. Even with the sleep he managed to snag through the night, his whole body protested every move he made. There was no way of knowing if something lurked in the shallow water waiting for him to leave his boat, nor could he tell just exactly how far the land was away; though it may appear close enough to swim to, out in the ocean perception could be deceiving.

When a giant wave rocked him that much farther from the safety of the shore Gabriel knew he didn't have a choice. Taking off his shoes that were all but ruined anyway, Gabriel removed the life-jacket that was nothing more than dead weight around his neck. Soon Gabriel was sliding into the freezing water he had been fighting against hours before. Keeping his movements as smooth as possible as not to alert anything to his presence the blond swam towards the sandy beach he prayed to reach. It was hard; his body had all but given up on him. He needed fresh water and something to eat, having only had breakfast the day before.

When he finally reached the beach, Gabriel nearly cried in relief as the small pebbles dug into his knees as he crawled toward the sand. Once he was far enough away from the water that he wouldn't be touched at high-tide, Gabriel curled up under the shade of a tall tree for a moment to try and figure out what do next. The second he closed his eyes, Gabriel was asleep, missing the splash of a fin breaking the water only a few yards away.