Glad you all like my take on this. So here we go, some more of Zac working through his issues, Mimmi trying to be a good sister...etc.
2.
It had been nearly three days since he'd touched water and now he stood at the edge of the dock at his house and stared down at it with mixed feelings. Mimmi stood next to him, watching silently as the breeze tugged at strands of her hair. The breeze carried the smell of the ocean and with it a pang of longing. Zac glanced at his hand; the skin was harsh and dry, his nail beds cracked and swollen. He hadn't really been all that concerned about it before, too distracted with anger to let the longing for the ocean force him to change.
Mimmi touched his arm softly, expression sympathetic. "You're too dry."
Zac clenched his hand into a fist, ignoring the way it stretched at his skin. Mimmi glanced over her shoulder at Zac's house, then to the right and left. "Come on," she said, and then wasted no time in diving straight off the edge of the dock.
Zac took a deep breath and pushed off the wood.
The water washing over him felt like the most soothing of balms, cool and pleasant against his skin, and he gasped, eyes shutting automatically. It felt like a hot shower after a long, exhausting day. His whole body tingled with the relief as he transformed. He loosened every muscle in his body from the tips of his fingers to the fluke of his tail with a long, drawn out stretch, then he just hung there for a second.
The swish of displaced water forced his eyes back open and Mimmi sent him a knowing smile over her shoulder. She swished her hands slowly and flipped her fin to turn, beckoning. He found himself following behind her golden-red tail.
As he swam now, for the first time since he'd been bludgeoned with the truth, he couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to grow up with his tail. To grow up with only a tail, even. To have legs be something strange and otherworldly. He could scarcely imagine it. It seemed impossible that being a merman could be something normal and natural and yet…
He'd never felt so at home when he was in the water. Being a merman...even a week ago, he wouldn't have wanted to give it up for the world. He knew that if the girls had actually succeeded in taking away his tail, he would have felt like something was missing for the rest of his life.
He supposed he now knew the reason why.
They raced quickly over and down several drops, Zac keeping up easily. When they surfaced again after fifteen minutes of just releasing tension in the open ocean, Mako Island was off in the distance just over the horizon, and they paused a moment to catch their breath.
"Better?" Mimmi asked after moment, cheeks flushed from exertion and pleasure. Her eyes crinkled at him knowingly.
Zac shrugged. He didn't want to admit that yes, he felt better - more himself. He felt more relaxed and far less angry. He floated on top of the waves, squinting up at the sky and across the horizon. The ocean stretched out as far as the eye could see in all directions.
Mimmi drifted a bit closer and gave him a stern look. "Please take more care of yourself."
Zac glanced at her, and shrugged again. He hadn't come out here with her to be mothered. He'd come to talk, and because she had been right on one point - he'd stayed away from the water for too long. "How does that even work?" he asked, as it occurred to him no one had even bothered to explain. "What about Evie? Could she dry out?"
Mimmi frowned. "That's a good question. Mermaids dry out easily if we stay on land too long. Getting legs helps, it allows us to stay on land longer, but in the end we still need to go back in the water. We're still mermaids, no matter whether we have legs or not." She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Evie is...different. I mean, she's a land girl." She shot Zac a wry grin. "Kind of like how we thought you were a land boy."
Zac grimaced. Right, please, by all means remind him how he wasn't who he thought he was.
"I bet you never went a day without being in water, even when you thought you were a land boy," Mimmi reasoned. "Evie, I'm not so sure. The moon spell effects her just like the rest of us though, so it's hard to judge." She raised both hands in a open-palmed shrug, and sunk a little before buoying herself up again. "She'd probably be fine. I hope."
"But I'll always have to stay near water," Zac concluded, unable to prevent the bitter tinge in his voice. It wasn't even that much of a hardship. He couldn't imagine living anywhere but the coast, but having the choice taken from him was a hard pill to swallow. He'd like to have the option, even if he never took it. It was the principle of the matter.
Mimmi gave him a knowing look, as if she could read his mind. For all he knew, maybe she could, what with this weird...connection they had. "Like you'd actually want to live anywhere else."
He scowled. "Well maybe I'd like to be able to choose…"
She rolled her eyes. "Zac, it's just not natural for mermaids - and mermen - to live out of the water, especially to be trapped in legs like you were."
Just to be contrary, he grumbled, "Erik said it himself, mermen grow up on land."
"But on the coast," she pointed out quickly. Then she shuddered, a full body shake that had her bobbing in the water. "I've read about those places called deserts where there's nothing but dry sand and hot sun and no water for miles. No merperson could survive somewhere like that." Her eyes widened suddenly. "What if your parents had moved to a desert? You'd have died!"
Zac shifted uncomfortably, tail twitching more quickly against the gentle current in agitation. "We'd have water. Baths, showers, sinks." He tried to ignore the way his heart picked up at the thought of being somewhere without water.
"Still," she whispered, looking perhaps a bit green. She wrinkled her nose, before her worry seemed to dissipate and she was back to smiling. "Fortunately, we don't have to worry!"
Zac remained silent. They continued to float there in the open ocean for a while. He wondered when Mimmi was going to get to the point and discuss the giant elephant in the room - or would that be the giant whale in the ocean? Namely, the matter of his parents.
It seemed she wasn't, because instead of bringing up the very salient issue of what Zac's mother may or may not have overheard, Mimmi decided to continue her attempts to bond. She drifted closer still, though she didn't try to touch him. Instead, she turned her gaze to the horizon, and she said, "Isn't it magnificent? The ocean is so big and beautiful."
Zac grunted. "Yeah, sure."
Mimmi tsked and shook her head slowly. "Boys," she said, like that explained everything. Then she turned every inch of her devastatingly sad eyes on him and reached out briefly to touch his arm. "I'm sorry you didn't get to grow up with this. There's so much more magic and mystery to the ocean than you know."
Zac shrugged uncomfortably and Mimmi's hand landed back in the water, far too close still for comfort. He eyed it, afraid she might try to touch or hold him again. A flick of his tail caused them to bob a few inches further apart.
She didn't seem to notice, caught up in her thoughts. "We're from the northern tribe, you know, so there's a lot of magic I know that Rita wouldn't have known to teach you." She turned to him, reaching eagerly. "I can teach you, if you want?" She managed to grab his hands and held them in an enthusiastic grip.
As much as Zac was interested in magic, he didn't think he could allow Mimmi that much leeway. She'd get ideas. She'd think they were bonding as siblings. If he gave her an inch, she'd definitely take a mile, maybe two.
He was still firm in his resolve not to give in. Mimmi wanted...wanted a fantasy brother and he wasn't going to fulfil it for her. He wasn't ready for that - for all that might entail. It was just too much.
"Thanks, but, no-"
"Great!" Mimmi cut him off before he could finish refusing. She knew it, too. She barrelled right over his protests, smile looking a bit strained. "There's so much for you to learn, but don't worry, you're the son of Nerissa, I have no doubt you'll be an expert in no time!" She began to gesture animately with her hands, eyes growing misty and distant as she plotted and planned. "It'll be great, just the two of us! The children of Nerissa, I bet we could do whatever we put our minds to!"
"Mimmi!" Zac shouted, cutting her off abruptly. He ran a hand over his face, utterly fed up, and then gestured widely, back in the direction of Mako, and the shore. "Stop, okay, just stop! I can't do this right now! I came out here to talk, not...not this." He pointed between them back and forth.
Mimmi's face fell. "We...we are talking."
Zac palmed his forehead in frustration. "Talk about what to do. About my parents! About this stupid dinner...about making sure no one finds out!"
Mimmi exhaled heavily. "Oh. Well. Okay." She glanced away from him, mouth pressed together into a thin line.
Zac nearly groaned. "Look," he sighed. "Let's just get through tonight, okay?"
Mimmi nodded silently.
"So what are we gonna do?"
The water lapped at Mimmi's shoulders and neck as she lay back on the waves and stared up at the sky. She spoke to the clouds. "I don't see what the big deal is. We just tell your parents I'm your long lost sister, that Rita figured it out by putting two and two together. They already think Rita's my aunt, so it's not too far-fetched."
Zac made a noise of protest in the back of his throat, although he wasn't protesting Rita's presence, merely the idea that...the thought of Mimmi somehow inserting herself into his family. Until now, his mer-world and human-world had been kept mostly separate. His parents had always been his parents. Having Mimmi around, constantly reminding him that…that he wasn't who he thought he was, was going to be hard.
Too hard. He couldn't do this...
"What's the matter? Do you still hate the thought of being related to me?" Mimmi accused, rolling back over to fix him with a look full of reproach.
Zac's mouth clicked shut with a guilty twitch. He'd nearly said 'yes' again, and wouldn't that have been a one-way ticket to tears-ville? He shook his head, at a loss for words.
He didn't know if he hated the thought, per se. He didn't hate Mimmi. He just didn't want her expectations on his shoulders. He didn't want her constantly there, reminding him.
Mimmi swam closer to him, not taking her eyes from his for a second. Her jaw set in a stubborn lock as they floated nearly chest to chest. "I'm your sister, Zac, nothing you do is going to change that. Even if you never speak to me again, I'm still going to be your sister."
"How do you know-" he began.
Mimmi threw up her arms in exasperation. "Please, I know you don't believe that! It's true!"
Zac had no argument against that. Denial was not just a river in Egypt, as the saying went, but there was only so long he could pretend otherwise before even he had to admit he wasn't being reasonable. "Okay, fine," he admitted. Mimmi only raised an eyebrow sardonically. "Fine, it's true," Zac breathed out again in a rush, feeling strangely better the more he said it. "But just because it's true, doesn't make us family."
Mimmi reared back in surprise, expression flashing to hurt before she composed herself again. "What do you mean?"
Zac flicked his tail more firmly, raising himself just a bit more out of the water. He crossed his arms, looking down at her. "I mean, blood doesn't mean family. My parents raised me, they're my family. I barely know you."
And I don't want you around, wanting me to be something I'm not, he didn't say.
"But that's the point." She gazed at him longingly. "I want to be family. I want to get to know you. Why is that so bad?"
"Because…" Zac floundered. "Because you'll expect…" he trailed off again, but Mimmi had apparently caught on because she shook her head slowly, swimming closer again. She reached out and touched his hand.
"Zac," she said firmly. "I'm not going to ask for anything you're not ready to give, okay? If you're not ready to be family yet, then we can work towards it, but don't push me away. We're friends, aren't we? This doesn't have to be any different, but just know that I want to be there for you however I can." She took a deep breath and let it out. "So you see, nothing has to change, except that you know I'll always be there, okay?" She smiled sadly. "You're my little brother, I'll stand by you and I'll help you and teach you whatever you want, and-" She shot him a look when he opened his mouth to protest that maybe he didn't want to be taught or helped. "And, only if you want that. When you're ready for that, I'll be here."
There was now a lump in Zac's throat he was quite certain should not be there. Mimmi's sincerity might be infectious. Slowly, she was breaking him down, destroying any last protests. He broke away quickly, swimming a small distance just to put some space between them. He turned to look out over the open ocean and towards Mako Island, firmly putting his back to her.
Why did she have to sound so reasonable all of a sudden?
A hand suddenly curled around his shoulder. He'd barely felt her approach, so he twitched a little. "This doesn't mean you have to give up your old family, you know," she said, unknowingly hitting far too close to feelings Zac had been secretly harbouring. He flipped around, eyes wide. Mimmi gave him a knowing smile. "Seriously, boys." She shook her head. "So dramatic!"
Zac scowled. "Girls are the dramatic ones."
Mimmi grinned, laughing lightly. "Oh I don't know about that." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously. This doesn't have to change anything. It actually doesn't change anything, you know. You're no different than you were a week ago, you just know more about yourself now." She pointed a finger at him, leaning forward to poke him in the chest. "Zac is still Zac. Truth doesn't change what already exists. You can keep being Zac, and your parents can keep being your parents, you don't have to lose any of that. You just get to add to that."
His mouth opened and shut. Damn her for being so reassuring. It actually...helped. Worries he'd been pushing to the back of his mind began to unravel. He swallowed heavily. "Wh-what about my parents? If they ever find out… I mean, I was adopted… What if they don't want me anymore?"
Had he actually said that out loud?
Mimmi's eyes widened in surprise, though she tried to hide it by quickly composing herself. "Oh, Zac," she whispered, surging forward to wrap him in a hug. Zac froze, but before he could demand she let go, she was already backing away again. "Don't you get it? They love you the same as they did a week ago, and a year ago, and all the years before that." She cocked her head. "Did you ever doubt that before?"
"No," said Zac slowly, realisation dawning. "Of course not. They're my parents."
Mimmi beamed. "Exactly! Adopted or not, I don't think it matters. Now, we're going to make sure they don't find out, just like we were making sure they didn't find out a week ago, and a month before that, but...if they ever did find out, you're still going to be their son." She gestured towards the coastline vaguely. "I mean, did Cam or Evie abandon you when they found out?"
Zac shook his head. "Yeah, but that was before…"
Mimmi shot him a questioning look.
"You know," he pointed down at his tail. "I'm not…"
"Right," Mimmi said, nodding. "And now that they know, are they abandoning you?"
"No…" Zac's voice trailed off and he felt his cheeks heat as the embarrassment hit. God, he was so stupid. Why would it matter? Even after all the tension with Cam and the debacle with the trident, Cam hadn't abandoned him, or tried to tell anyone about him. Evie had been nothing but supportive. "Oh," he said lamely.
Mimmi nudged his shoulder teasingly. "See, look how good I am at being a big sister already."
He didn't even manage to muster up a scowl at that. And that most definitely wasn't a smile. At all.
"Hmm," said Mimmi. "Now, how about I make good on my promise and show you a few useful things?"
Zac shrugged. The grin Mimmi sent him was wider than her face. Suddenly, she splashed him, then, laughing, she ducked under the water and flipped her tail in his face. Zac gaped for a second at the playful teasing. He glanced for over his shoulder in the direction of the coastline and home, then back to where the last bubbles from Mimmi's dive were popping on the surface.
He ducked under and followed her.
Mimmi showed him several things no one had ever thought to teach him before. She pointed out different seaweeds and corals and fish. She showed him how to gather the edible ones and which to avoid. How to tell whether a sea sponge would make good cordial or not. She even showed him how to catch some crustaceans to eat, which they had as a before-dinner snack. It felt a lot like outdoor survival training, just...underwater. He found himself a little perturbed at the thought that if he really had to, he could simply...disappear into the ocean and never resurface.
He recalled a time he had accused Nixie, Lyla and Sirena of being able to do just that, back before he'd trusted their intentions. At the time, he'd said he couldn't just leave his family and disappear. Maybe he could simply disappear and be able to survive, but...Mimmi had reminded him that family was more than blood. He still couldn't simply slip away into the ocean and disappear without being missed. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy a deeper connection to the ocean than he'd ever felt before.
Lyla would be proud.
He wondered sometimes what she and Nixie were doing and whether they were okay. Now he pondered how they'd react to learning about his true origins. Lyla would probably have been happy for him...Nixie...well, the expression on her face would have been worth it. All that talk about 'just a land boy' and she'd have to eat her words. If they ever came back, he was going to make sure to be there when she was told.
Eventually, the sun began to dip lower over the ocean and Zac gestured back towards the coast. They had a dinner appointment at his house to get to, which he was not looking forward to.
It was going to be the most awkward family dinner of his life. Even worse than the first time he'd brought Evie home as his official girlfriend.
They pulled themselves out of the water in a hidden alcove not far from Zac's house. The area had a few rocks that protected the strip of sand from the direct line of sight of anyone's window.
Zac stopped her before she could run up to his back door. He caught her arm and turned her around. Mimmi sent him a questioning look and Zac asked, "Have you thought about what you'll say to answer their questions?"
Mimmi paused. "Like I said, I came to visit my 'Aunt Rita' and she put two and two together. They can ask Rita for the details. She'll come up with something believable."
Zac bit his lip. "But I was thinking...how do we explain about me knowing Rita from before?"
Mimmi frowned. "What do you mean?" She slowly tugged her arm out of Zac's grip and turned to face him fully, putting her back to the door. Zac could see a flash of movement inside, which was probably his dad in the kitchen. He tried to look casual, like he and Mimmi were just having a chat. He slouched a bit, shoving a hand into his pocket.
"I mean, why wouldn't she have 'figured it out' before?" He made sarcastic air quotes with the fingers on his free hand.
Mimmi shot his fingers a puzzled look, but shrugged and grinned. She patted his arm. "Don't worry. the thing about land people is that if something doesn't make sense, they'll come up with a reasonable explanation so that it makes sense. We'll just say that Rita only knew you as her student, but when you started coming to her house because you made friends with her nieces, she got to know you better and started noticing things. Then I came and she put it all together. Presto!" She spread her arms wide and flourished her hands, like she was casting a spell.
Zac wasn't completely convinced. "This is a bad idea." It had been a bad idea from the start.
"It's too late now, your mum overheard us, so we've got to make the best of it," Mimmi lectured. She grabbed hold of his hand and Zac nearly pulled away, but she tightened her grip and squeezed in what he thought was supposed to be a reassuring manner. She tugged him up the grass. "Come on, little brother, let's do our best to give them nothing to question."
"Don't call me little," Zac countered immediately. "I'm bigger than you."
They were at the sliding glass doors and Zac's feet halted. Mimmi dropped his hand so she could pull the door open, having absolutely no compunctions about just walking straight inside. There was something to be said about mermaids, they were all very forward. Probably came with living in the open ocean. There were no doors and walls in the ocean.
Zac wondered for the hundredth time what it might have been like if he'd grown up like that. Never knowing land, or legs. Never having school and homework or having to work for money. No music or t.v. or internet. No sports. He wondered about what ifs a lot, now.
Like what if Nerissa suddenly showed up? Or what if someone discovered him - would he have to pack up and leave? Or worse, flee into the ocean, never to return?
You'd not be leaving everything behind, a little part of his mind told him. He glanced at Mimmi, barely forcing back the scowl.
He didn't want her to be all that he had. He didn't want to be so torn between two completely different worlds.
At least, before, he'd known for certain where he belonged. He might have loved the sea and he might have despaired at giving it up, but he'd known in his heart that he belonged on land with his parents.
Now, he knew that wasn't true. He didn't belong on land. He didn't belong here at all.
Mimmi said it didn't change anything, but it did, at least in the way he saw himself. She was right that he had gained something, but he thought maybe he had lost as well; lost his certainty, lost his sense of belonging. His self-identity.
He watched Mimmi's bright smile as his mother came to greet them. She really had nothing to lose by this. She gained a brother and lost nothing.
"Zac?"
Zac realised both his mother and his...Mimmi were watching him in concern. He blinked and smiled, "Sorry, yeah?"
He needed to stop over-thinking things. As soon as he did, he was back at square one again.
"I was just telling Mimmi how excited your father and I are to meet her!" Zac's mum informed him with more enthusiasm than he thought the situation warranted. "Isn't that right?" she called loudly.
"Still having trouble wrapping my head around it!" Zac's dad called back from the kitchen. His voice grew louder towards the end, and the next thing Zac knew, his dad had emerged from around the corner, wiping his hands on a dish cloth. He was suddenly surrounded by grinning family members.
"You must be Mimmi," he smiled, holding out his hand. Mimmi, having by now figured out that land people shook hands, grabbed it and pumped it perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than was proper. Zac's dad took it in stride. "Wow, look at you two. Can you believe it?"
No, Zac thought grumpily. He wanted to say, "Shouldn't you have expected it more, knowing I was adopted all this time?" but held himself back. His parents were trying, and he knew he was supposed to be trying as well. It was just hard to let go of the resentment of being lied to all his life.
"Well, Mimmi, my wife tells me you like sea food, so we've got a nice piece of salmon and for starters I was thinking prawns."
"That sounds wonderful, Mr. Blakely," Mimmi beamed.
"Rob, please," Zac's dad said. "Let's not stand on ceremony."
"And call me Lauren," said Zac's mum, reaching out to pull Mimmi further into the house. "Zac, can you help your father bring out the plates?"
Zac turned on his heel and barely refrained from stomping into the kitchen.
And so began the most awkward and heart-stopping family dinner of his life.
By the end of dinner, Zac's heart had, in fact, stopped at least ten times, he'd had to take a panicked break in the bathroom just to sit and breathe, and he'd expected to be called out as a massive liar at least every other minute. Every time his parents asked Mimmi a question about her life, he half-expected her to say something wildly inappropriate that would result in a lot of uncomfortable questions.
It probably shaved at least a year off his life just making it through the first course, and that was before they got to dessert.
Mimmi, what school subjects do you like the most? Mimmi, what sports do you play? Mimmi, what movies do you like? Mimmi, what's Canada like? Where did you go to school, before?
Zac had to coach himself not to simply jump in and answer for her.
Then came the even harder questions after his mum brought out the pavlova. Once everyone had a generous helping of meringue, cream and fruit, Zac's parents turned to their shared past.
"Well, our mother disappeared when I was very young," Mimmi admitted as she poked at the pavlova, clearly not sure how to respond to such a strange food. "I don't remember much of her, just that she had long, dark hair, and really bright blue eyes. She used to sing to me a lot." She glanced over at Zac. "I don't remember her having Zac, so I didn't know I had a little brother until recently."
Zac's parents exchanged sympathetic looks. "Sweetheart, you're always welcome here. We think it's great that Zac has more family. We always wondered if we were depriving him of a sibling relationship by not having any more kids."
"Don't you mean adopting," Zac interjected before he could help himself. He stabbed at a raspberry viciously with the prongs of his fork.
Silence fell and Zac's mum's fork froze on her plate, as did the smile on her face. She glanced down, the corners of her mouth falling a bit. Zac's dad grimaced into his pavlova.
His mum put down her fork slowly as the silence persisted. Zac clenched his fingers around his own fork, emotions warring between feeling guilty and vindicated. He watched her face carefully. She sighed and sat back, mouth twisting. "Zac...you know if we could, we'd…"
"What? Take it back and hope I never found out?"
She put her hand to her face for a moment and breathed out heavily. "No," she said tightly, "I mean that I just wish you'd found out from us first, and that maybe we shouldn't have waited to tell you, but...when would have been a good time? When you were too young to understand? Right now? We were going to tell you."
Mimmi reached under the table and put a hand on his leg, patting it. Zac shifted out of the way, ignoring the way her hand fell limply back to her side. Her face fell just a little and she ducked her head, hair falling across her shoulder to cover her face.
"Zac," his dad sighed, "what do you want us to say? We're not going to ever be sorry we adopted you. We love you."
Zac wondered if they would say the same thing if they knew they'd adopted a merman, no matter what Mimmi claimed. "Okay, Dad," he said, but his smile was tight and strained.
"This," Mimmi exclaimed suddenly, a bit too loudly, "is delicious!" She chased a piece of meringue around her plate and piled it with cream and a strawberry. "What's it called again?"
Zac's parents quickly pounced on the new topic. As his mum explained what a pavlova was and how easy and simple it was to make and Mimmi listened attentively, Zac chased cream covered fruit around his plate, mashing it against the china but not eating it. When Mimmi continued to try desperately to break up the tension in the room by talking about food she'd tried, Zac slumped back in his chair.
How long was it going to be like this? How long until he could forgive them for lying? For them to stop tiptoeing around him? To get used to Mimmi?
How long until he stopped having these dark, depressing thoughts? Even knowing he was probably over-thinking things, he still worried. Yes, Mimmi had proved that finding out the truth wasn't the end of the world, because Cam and Evie hadn't turned tail and fled, but these were his parents.
It was just different. And he worried.
Somehow, dessert managed to end on a slightly lighter note than it had started, as no one had dared bring up the topic of Zac's adoption and birth mother again. Zac didn't really participate in the conversation, and he automatically helped clear the table when they were finished. Just as automatically, he skirted the dishes in the sink and made sure to busy himself putting away food and clean utensils so that someone else would start the dishes and he wouldn't have to risk getting wet.
Mimmi stood in the doorway, glancing around with bright, inquisitive eyes.
"Zac, why don't you walk your s-sister back to Principal Santos's?" Mrs. Blakely stumbled for a second over the word 'sister' and Zac realised that she probably wasn't as cool with the situation as she was letting on. He looked at her in surprise for a moment, cupboard door open to put back the bottle of olive oil his dad had left out while cooking. She gave him an encouraging nod. "Don't worry, we've got the clean up. And maybe you could let Principal Santos know we'd love to have her over for tea some time, to talk."
Zac looked at Mimmi, eyebrows going up. She shrugged lightly, smile not dropping. Her look seemed to say 'don't worry'. Zac worried.
He put the olive oil on the shelf and shut the cupboard door. "Okay, Mum. Will do."
Mimmi reached for his hand as he drew closer across the kitchen. She did that a lot now, reaching for him, trying to touch him. She seemed to want to be as close as possible. "Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Blakely, for dinner!"
Zac's dad twisted away from the sink, rubber gloves dripping. Zac eyed the distance between them, despite that he was on the opposite side of the kitchen; dripping water always made him nervous. "Oh, it was our pleasure, Mimmi. Please, come by any time you want, you're always welcome here."
"Oh yes," said Zac's mum as she picked up a dish cloth to dry the newly cleaned dishes. "It was really lovely to meet you, Mimmi."
Zac used the hand already holding his to finally tug Mimmi away from his parents. As he dragged her out the door and down the slope of grass in their back garden, she exclaimed, "I like your parents. Zac, you're very lucky you had such nice land people adopt you."
Zac's mouth pinched. He dragged her a bit quicker. "Yeah, until they find out I'm not human. Don't say it," he added quickly, "maybe they will still love me, but it'll be different."
Mimmi suddenly dug her heels into the dirt, forcing him to slow down. He turned around. She gave him a pat on his hand with her free one and smiled sadly. "But it could have been so much worse, which is why I'm glad."
Foster system, whispered that cynical part of him. Foster care and constantly moving from place to place? No friends and no family? Zac shuddered. His taunt arm slackened as he sighed. He glanced over the marina. "Yeah, I guess you're right."
Mimmi patted his hand again, then suddenly strode past him, lips quirking. "Of course I'm right, I'm your older sister." Then she was the one dragging him to Rita's.
[2.22.15] Let me know if you catch any silly mistakes. Still not sure where I'm going with this. Time will tell.
[3.22.15] fixed some typos, mild stylistic errors
[5.35.15] Switched out Zac's mum's name to match canon
