Rita woke Ava up with a kiss on her forehead. Ava smiled up at her and reached out her arms for a hug. Rita leaned down and hugged Ava, "good morning love" she whispered. Ava sat up in her bed and Rita tucked loose strands of Ava's hair behind her ear. "You want to help me make the girls breakfast?" Ava excitedly nodded.
She followed Rita downstairs to the kitchen and the pair began preparing pancakes. While, the majority of their diet was seafood, the girls all had a found a love of pancakes. The girls came up the stairs from the mermaid room and walked into the kitchen. When Ava saw them she ran over and greeted each of them with a hug.
"we're making pancakes." Ava said grinning up at them. Ava looked up to the older girls and loved doing things for them.
"They smell great." Serena said
"They're almost ready." Rita said, "Why don't you girls have a seat at the table." Lyla, Serena, and Nixie sat down at the table and Ava help Rita finish the pancakes. Ava carefully carried the platter of pancakes over to the table and sat down next to Lyla at the table. Ava looked around the table, everyone was talking and smiling. She finally felt like she had a family and a place to call home. Rita, who was also sitting next to Ava, caught her staring and asked her if she was okay.
Ava nodded, "I just…" she felt nervous about saying her thoughts out loud, "I just realized that I really love all of you guys and I feel like I've finally found a family. I just don't ever want you guys to go away." Her words took Rita by surprise. The older girls heard what Ava said and stopped eating to look at her. The silence scared Ava and she felt that she shouldn't have said anything.
Rita pulled her into her arms and kissed the top of her head. "We're family," she said, "and family is forever." Rita let go of her and Lyla took Ava's hand and gave it a squeeze. Lyla, Nixie, and Serena looked at each other, they loved this make shift family but they still intended to return to their pod. But not wanting to spoil the moment, they nodded at her and agreed, "forever".
Ava felt relieved to have people in her life to love and take care of her and people she could love back. She smiled and continued eating her pancakes. She had a family and they were forever, she was happy, she was content, but mostly she was loved.