Author's Note: This story takes place in an AU, or alternate universe, for The Secret Show, shortly after the episode "The Abyss". In this universe, Anita's mermaid tail is permenant, rather than just wearing off when she's dry. I reccommend watching "The Abyss" episode before reading, as events might not make as much sense otherwise.

"Its just NOT FAIR, Victor!"

For the past half an hour or so, U.Z.Z. agent Victor Volt had sat on the cold stone floor of one of the U.Z.Z. base's storage rooms, listening to his work partner and best friend complain about her current predicament. Although a few crates still stood in the back of the room, the majority of the space's previous contents had been emptied out to now house a large, circular tank, and a mermaid inside it.

Hanging over the rim of the huge round container, special agent Anita Knight looked down upon her seated friend. She was soaking wet as a result of sulking in the pool for hours, long damp strands of golden hair falling about her head, and a soaked purple U.Z.Z. suit top hanging off her skin. She kept her new fish tail hidden behind the tank's thick cement wall. For a short time back in the ocean, she was so proud of it, so excited about it, but now she saw it was nothing but an obstacle, something to be ashamed of. Victor wasn't even allowed to visit her earlier that day due to an emergency can opener related theft in Australia, so Anita was forced to sit in her miniature ocean all day, anxiously waiting for the end of the work day to arrive. That evening, when Victor was finally off work and able to see her, she was pretty much estatic over finally having someone who would listen to her as she rambled about her troubles.

"I mean, its not like I ASKED for any of this to happen!" the British woman exclaimed. "They ridicule me like I did something wrong, but I was just trying to help!"

Over the course of Anita's half hour of ventings, Victor noticed certain times where his partner's voice would speed up and slowly rise in volume, and the longer she continued these random ranting express trains, the redder her face would get. But nothing could prepare him for what would explode from her next:

"I'M THE ONE WHO SAVED THE DAY!" she suddenly burst. "They say I did a terrible thing, disobeying my parents, but if it weren't for me we would have lost, Secret Thing would be gone, and you would be-"

She came to a screeching halt. Finally able to hear himself think again, Victor noticed that he had moved back from the tank, his arms and legs somewhat closer to his body in a protective pose. He wouldn't admit it to anybody, but this hurricane of words she spat out so fast and so passionately terrified him. He now saw her in a condition unlike any he'd seen that night: her face shone with its brightest red yet, and her eyes shined with something completely different; that night was the first night Victor had ever seen Anita's beautiful purple eyes glistening with tears.

Now it was Anita's turn to feel terror. She was never an easily frightened woman, but when she saw Victor cowaring from her like that, she felt horrified with herself. She quickly looked straight down into the water, attempting to hide her gaze from the embarassment and shame.

After a few seconds of stunned silence from both spies, Anita hesitantly mumbled, "I-I'm sorry, I...", and then in a small voice she followed: "I don't want you to see me like this...".

Whilst the blonde busied herself with frantically wiping away falling tears before they could roll too far down her freckled cheeks, Victor made himself more comfortable and spread out his legs, but he didn't dare move any closer to the tank. He placed his palms down on the unforgiving grey floor and leaned on them. A sigh escaping from his lips, he allowed his mind to wander over the mental footage of all that happened over the past week.

It all started back when he realised that he had the one and only true Secret Thing, safe within his grasp as Doctor Doctor busied herself with a decoy copy. Of course, he was far too giddy in that moment to make a rational decision, and so he attempted to conquer his desperate curiousity as to what was inside that little orange tube at long last. Of course though, his slippery, clumsy hands inevitably got the best of him, and soon the Secret Thing was plummetting deep into the dark blue abyss of the ocean. After what felt like hours of desperate underwater scuffling between U.Z.Z. and T.H.E.M., complicated by fish food torpedos and a giant squid, it was Anita who emerged on top as that day's hero. Despite her growing up with constant parental warnings to avoid saltwater shoved down her throat, she bravely ventured into the ocean with the other members of U.Z.Z., and found that her exposure to the ocean's water transformed her pink, freckled legs into a shining green fish tail. Thanks to some excruiatingly high pitched singing and a helpful sperm whale, Anita had saved everything and everyone: the Secret Thing, her coworkers, her partner. For a few hours after that, everyone was happy: the Secret Thing was safe yet again, Doctor Doctor was trapped being chased by a giant sperm whale and everyone was fascinated with Anita's new tail. However, this was going to be the last of their happy times for quite awhile. Things would only go downhill from here.

Everyone expected Anita's tail to simply...disappear, once she was dry again; After all, that would've been the opposite effect of how the tail got there in the first place. But that wasn't the case. No amount of towels, tanning booths or gigantic blowdryers could get her brand new tail to vanish. The next few days after that were some of the most painful times of Victor's life. He couldn't think of anything more awful than sitting in the corner of a laboratory, powerless, painfully chomping on your lip and squeezing your hands into fists as you watched your best friend be endlessly probed with needles, get hooked up to all kinds of machines, slowly go from being brave and showing no emotion to becoming terrified and screaming in pain. At some points Victor would run over, pushing away random specialists and professors and doctors, yelling at them despite his partner's exhausted protests. Over the course of those inumerable days he barely ate, he barely slept. He rarely ever left his best buddy's side, like an unrelenting puppy. In the rare moments where he did leave the laboratory, he was never alone. Random U.Z.Z. agents were constantly coming up to him, friends and mutuals of his, clasping their hands on his shoulder and insisting that he head home and get a proper night's sleep, but he could only refuse. Something inside him screamed with horror at the thought of leaving her, like he was terrified of it. He was far more comfortable sleeping next to Anita's table-bed on the hard, arctic-cold laboratory floor than in his own soft and familiar bed, where he'd be unaware of her condition. It was as though the minute he left her, stopped protecting her, that's when she'd...it was too painful for him to even think about. Eventually though, to the great relief of them both, the studying of her new condition came to a halt. The dozens, if not hundreds of specialists who came in to study the blond mermaid all reached the same amount of results: zero. Something like this was simply too unheard of, no doctor in the world had ever come in contact with a mermaid before, and so there was no knowledge on the subject. Eventually, the officials of U.Z.Z. as well as their scientist cohorts all came to a rather bold and rash decision: despite the pair of agent's objections, Anita was to be kept locked away in a tank within the base's most secure and secretive storage room, safe from the eyes of media and government, only to leave when any ideas of a cure for her condition came through...or rather, IF any ideas for a cure came through. And so, that was how both agents found themselves stranded where they were now, one doing everything in her power not to slip into an abyss of hopeless, negative thoughts whilst the other could only sit there, listen, stare, nod his head every now and again.

When Victor's mental cinema finished recapping their current situation's tragic backstory, new words suddenly came soaring into his mind, like vicious, starving birds of prey.

Secret Thing. Sneaky Peek. Dropped. Squid. Death. Mermaid. Terrified. Pain. Trapped.

"It's not my fault. And I didn't drop it while taking a sneaky peek."

"It's not my fault. And I didn't drop it"

"It's not my fault. I didn't"

"It's not my fault."

Back in that moment, the only reply Victor could muster was his typical childish mocking. The implications of her words never really sunk in, not until now. Anita's entire situation, from her tail to her medical mistreatment to her imprisonment, it was all his fault. She'd have gone her entire life, never entering seawater, never becoming a mermaid, never having to be subjected to this torture, if he hadn't dropped the Secret Thing. They could've gone on with their lives, saving the world, making fun memories and being the best of friends, maybe even something more, but that wasn't the case.

Because of him.

In that moment, purpose and determination flew through Victor's body like a hawk, began pumping swiftly through his blood. For once in his life, he was fully aware of something, he fully understood it, had a tighter grasp on it than anything that had come before or would come after. He knew what he had to do to make it up to Anita, the only way he could properly apologize for all he had done to her.

With a sudden strong shove on the freezing stone, Victor pushed himself from the floor and quickly caught himself on his unsturdy feet, making an effort to balance himself. As he began making his way over to the shiny black ladder at the northern end of the pool, Anita exclaimed, "Victor, what are you doing?!", in a confused voice, secretly afraid that her extreme venting was causing him to abandon her early.

"Coming to cheer you up, of course!" Victor chirped in reply.

"But your suit-" Anita began to cry as her partner started climbing over the tiny ebony ladder.

"What about my suit?" the American cheekily replied, a happy smirk growing on his face.

As her friend continued to clamber his way over the ladder, Anita had no idea what to do, other than sit...err, swim there in place, staring, gawking at him like a young child witnessing something extraordinary for the first time. She was usually such a fast thinker, always prepared for any situation, but in that moment, no matter ho hard she tried, she simply couldn't find the right words. For once in her life, she had no idea what to say or do as she watched her partner begin to make his way into her watery prison cell.

Victor hastily shoved his right leg into the water, making a loud splash as clumsy drops of water lept up from the small crash and splattered onto his body and face. The male leapt back in surprise at first, but after realizing how relaxingly lukewarm the water was, he only allowed himself to continue easing his body into the water, this time more slowly and carefully. Soon he found himself standing on the slippery stone floor of the tank with the pleasantly warm, blueish-clear water engulfing all below his waist, the strong scent of saltwater beginning to slightly sting his nostrils and eyes. For several moments, the duo of agents stood in deafening silence, awkwardly waiting for the other to do something. It was then that Victor realized that he hadn't been prepared for this; he had expected Anita to be overwhelmed with joy, practically leaping into his arms as she rambled over how thankful she was to know a heroic savior like him. He didn't expect for her to just swim there, staring at him as she drowned herself in stunned silence, leaving the room quiet enough for both agents to hear their own heartbeats. Suddenly, he got an idea out of seemingly nowhere. It was stupid, random and ridiculous, but it just might work.

He suddenly threw his left arm up into the air, pointing a finger at the large metal doors at the south end of the storage room, and cried out, "Oh no, is that a Reptogator?!".

As the mermaid whipped around behind her, golden locks sent flying about, Victor felt a sneaky smirk paint itself on his face as he started to bring his arm down towards the water. However, mere seconds before his hand could slap at the warm waves, the freckled blonde suddenly spun around, and, in what seemed like less time than the blink of an eye, punched the water hard enough for a small tsunami to drown the orange-haired male, who let out a hilariously feminine shriek of shock at the surprise ambush.

"Ha! Did you HONESTLY think you'd get me with that?"

As Victor grumpily shoved damp, brownish-orange clumps of hair from his face, the exact opposite of the woman he'd been speaking to before was revealed to him. This lady was happy, playful, giggling to herself as the familiar sparks he recognised as hers and only hers returned to their rightful places, shining bright within her violet eyes. Any feelings of irratation over his backfired attempt at a watery attack were surpressed as he realised that his dumb little plan was somehow actually working, and said feelings were replaced with determination as he realised that he had to keep it up.

Before the purple-eyed blonde could finish her seemingly endless stream of bubbly giggles, Victor forcefully hit the water, sending a burst of the liquid in his partner's direction, which she instinctively and gracefully dodged with a swift, flawless dive to the left.

"Ha, missed me aga-AAAHH-"

Anita's mocking retort was cut short by her friend suddenly pouncing onto her like a wild animal, causing them both to plunge down into the depths of the tank, plummeting with one on top of the other. For a few short seconds, Anita had no choice but to look straight up into Victor's dark brown eyes; Anita had looked into those eyes so many times before with so many different emotions welled up inside her: anger, fear, happiness, pride, but she had never seen that particular pair of eyes as anything too significant. However, in that moment, when those eyes were paired with a devilishly cheeky smile, thick black eyebrows raised high in playful excitement, and a backdrop of the clear blue waters pierced by the almost heavenly rays from the artificial storage rooms lights...somehow, all these things and possibly more seemed to make that familiar pair of eyes glow with an affection and passion she had never noticed before. For the first time in the history of their relationship, she couldn't think of any other word for those eyes other than beautiful.

Of course, these few seconds of serene paradise between the duet were inevitably smashed by the male member of the two leaping from the water, wailing in pain as he desperately clawed at his eyes. Anita ripped herself from under the water and reached for him, feeling guilty, as though the fact that her mermaid form somehow allowed her eyes to withstand saltwater, whereas his could not, was somehow her fault. All of a sudden though, to the accidental mermaid's great surprise, her partner suddenly latched his arms underneath her and lifted her from the water, chuckling to himself as she let out a mildly startled cry.

"You were faking it?!" Anita exclaimed, her tone drenched in a fake anger that desperately attempted to cover how strangly charmed she was by the peculiar gesture.

"No, actually. My eyes really hurt." Victor choked out in reply, his tone a mix of struggle and happiness as he tried to ignore the horrific stinging sensation in his eyes, which Anita now noticed were bright pink and puffy with irritation, but somehow even more friendly and warm than they seemed back down in the water. She began reaching for the chocolate jewels, almost subconsciously, only to have her partner surprise her yet again, this time gently placing her back down into the water before grabbing ahold of her wrists and spinning her about the tank. What started as squeals of surprise soon transformed into hysterical laughter as Anita was spun round and round the circular tank, her hyena-like cackling harmonizing with that of her partner's. For someone who was usually so uptight, prioritising work before play and placing safety and caution above all, she quite honestly found her spinning trip to be amazing. As Victor grabbed her wrists so tight, refusing on his life to let go, she drank in the air as it whizzed past her, sending water flying off her sides and her soaking strands of yellow hair dancing about the air in all directions. She could've sworn that little ride was all she needed, all that she had been waiting for to come along and cause her to loose grip of her worries and fears as she span and span, allowing them to fly away in the winds that the duo was creating. In that rush of air past her face, as she watched blurred images of her partner and the surrounding room whiz past like obscure paintings, that was the first time in seemingly forever that she couldn't care less about her condition or her future. Right then, right there, for the first time in what felt like centuries, she was truly happy.

Finally, much to Anita's disapointment, her dear friend and emotional savior began slowing down, and soon enough they came to a complete stop. It was only when she was no longer spinning that the effects started to kick in, like a freakishly large wave of sickness and dizziness engulfed her, leaving her unable to stay still or make out any images, her body swaying as much as her vision. Her head instantly throbbed as though her brain was pounding against her skull, just as desperate for freedom as she had been mere hours ago. As three concerned looking Victors started making their way over to her, Anita gave her head a firm shake: she was still dizzy and in pain, but now she only saw one soaking wet man in blue. The American gently placed his hands on her shoulders, looking into her dark lavender eyes as though he had done something terribly wrong, like he had caused her some great injury.

"A-are you alright?" he choked out, guilt strangling his words.

The next few seconds after that made up one of the strangest, most surreal moments that Anita had ever experienced. Yet again she failed to muster up a reply, as though her mouth was taped shut, her mind turned off. All she had the ability to do was stare at him as though she was some sort of clueless, innocent animal. In that moment she felt something, and in the future she still wouldn't know for sure what it was. It wasn't pain, and it certainly wasn't guilt or any other negative emotions, as Victor had just made her happier than she had been all week. Truth be told, she wasn't a hundred percent sure if it was negative or positive. The feeling that sat in her stomach, crept its way up her neck and over to her ears, seemed to be just as confused as she was. She almost started choking on it, like it was a rock lodged in her throat: whatever it was, it was quite heavy, and it came with obligations. She felt as though she had to do something, something in return for her partner's actions, and she had to do it immediately.

Before she could fully comprehend what she was doing, Anita struck the settling waters with her bare pink hand, sending a weak sprinkle of water onto her partner's young, innocent face.

"H-ha, you're it!"

The words came out with a struggle, as though she knew this wasn't what her feelings wanted, what she wanted. But, quite honestly, she was clueless. She had no other idea what else to do, so this was going to have to be good enough. Thankfully her long-time friend snapped out of his own emotional confusion, finally realised that she wasn't mad, but instead playful, or, at least, she thought she was. He instintively smacked the water in her direction, only to be met with her diving underneath it, coming up behind him, uppercutting the water and spraying him with a warm drizzle of heavy, salty droplets. As he turned towards her, she instantly exclaimed, "You're gonna have to try and harder than that!", and dove back under the rising waves of the pool, provoking the start of a grand battle between the two of them.

For the next several hours or possibly even more, the agent couple busied themselves with an all-out water battle, carelessly splashing each other so much that eventually the floor of the storage room seemed to be even more soaked than the tank. When they grew bored with their pretend combat, more spinning ensued, followed by games of "Marco Polo" and randomized contests, ranging between a short-term swimming race to which of them was the better underwater rapper. No matter what they did together, one thing remained consistant: Anita was finally happy. No, more than happy. She didn't know quite what she felt or any words to describe it, but for once, she didn't care. All she knew was that she was so much more than just what the word "happy" could imply.

After hours and hours of fun, to both agent's dismay, they inevitably found themselves having grown exhausted. Of course though, this did not mean that Victor was obligated to leave. Before he might've said goodnight to his friend, returned home and slept in his own bed for the first time in nearly a week. But after all the fun they had, that was just not an option for him. Although there wasn't any way that either of them could know it, it was one o'clock in the morning when they decided to hold each other and float in the gentle tepid waters until they fell into sleep, both agents unanimously agreeing that, for just that one night, the two of them cuddling wouldn't be weird. The smell of fish and salt was a little uncomfortable for Victor at first, but feeling his partner's soft skin and silky hair rest upon him made up for it. The half hour or so before they eventually fell asleep was a blur for them both, but Victor was pretty sure that at one point he heard Anita whisper a quite genuine "Thank you.".

And, although he was too sleepy at the time to know for certain, he could've sworn that, just for a second, he felt two soft lips press up against his cheek.