The slight breeze made Mabel feel better. She sometimes felt unbelievably lonely. With a heavy heart, she began to throw rocks into the lake from the dock.

She wasn't paying attention to much, but she found she heard a faint clunk and a sound of pain. Looking up, Mabel stood up abruptly, "Who's there?"

There was some rippling in the area her last throw had arrived, and then a familiar face popped up from under the waves. It spoke in a hypnotic Hispanic accent, "I don't think that's a very kind greeting..."

Mabel stood up in disbelief, stepping back step-by-step. She really couldn't believe it. It had been a few years since their last encounter.

Mermando coasted over to where Mabel had been sitting, but couldn't get up onto the dock due to the lack of water. He had aged slightly as well, now fitting his slight mustache more. "Mabel... why are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid, I'm just angry," Mabel said in a slightly shaking voice. She walked back to be standing over his floating body, "You promised me you would keep talking to me, but suddenly the letters in the bottles stopped."

He sighed softly, "Mabel, I-"

"And why did you never tell me about what mermaids did? I thought I could trust you." That was half of it. Supposedly merpeople dragged victims down to drown them once they gained trust. That made it interesting to her why Mermando must have ever wanted to be with her in the first place. She was starting to become paranoid like Dipper.

He gave a shake of his head to that accusation, "Not all merpeople have that problem. That is just some crude stereotype we try to get away from." But Mabel still seemed in just the same mood, "Please, don't seem so mad. We have poacher problems, but not all people are like that, right?"

She eventually agreed to nod at that. Why had she been so cruel to him, when they hadn't spoken in who knows how long?

Mermando nearly gave up, watching the waves in the water but a hand reached out and assured him that it was going to be okay with her if he stuck around.

They held hands as she walked so she was on the sand. Her bare toes were covered as she walked onto the shore, and then sat down forgetting she had new clothes on. Not like she ever minded, and she always had the same style.

Getting mostly onto the sandbank by her, the merman cuddled next to her awkwardly. He couldn't really balance under the stress of mostly oxygen.

It was silent, until the teenaged girl finally spoke up, "I never stopped missing you, I... was just mad."

"You must not have been that mad," pointed out the sea creature that cared for her just the same.

"I just missed you that much, I guess," Mabel mumbled.

They slowly moved to look at one another. It was obvious they had been waiting for so long, they might as well have been dating. Just that awkward, distance dating where connections were lost. She was scared to question anything personal too soon.

Hopefully they would catch up, and still be into one another. At least Mermando was right here with her... for now...