A/N: Hey guys! Here's Chapter 7. It's a long one because I haven't posted a chapter in like a week D : I'm sorry! : ] Hope you guys didn't forget about me! Anyway, in this chapter we get a taste of just how far Zane is willing to go this time around to keep the girl of his dreams safe. But what happens when he starts to lose touch with reality and what's right? Read, review, and most importantly – enjoy! Take care, everyone.

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"Rikki, you can't be telling me you don't see it. We see it and we don't see him nearly as much as you do." Emma has stopped wiping down the kitchen table to look up and stare hard at Rikki. Rikki let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her blue eyes.

"He's fine, Em. He's stressed out; we all get stressed out for crying out loud – look at ME. His dad is a jerk – moreso than normal lately – things aren't going so well for him at school and now on top of it all he's worried about us."

"He has been a little weird though, Rikki… I have to admit, even considering all that other stuff." Cleo said from the living room where she stood next to the fish tank feeding her tropical fish.

"He's fine, guys. He just needs to relax a little bit; I'm working on it." Rikki tugged at the end of her ponytail and flopped onto the other side of the couch in their apartment next to Cora, who was easily writing out endless calculations for her statistics homework. Rikki blinked at her and raised an eyebrow, "How can you do that?" Cora snapped out of her zone and smirked at Rikki and blushed a little.

"I… I'm good with numbers, I guess."

"God, I hate numbers." Rikki changed the channel on the television and settled comfortably into her spot when Emma piped up from the kitchen again – to talk about Zane again, much to Rikki's dismay.

"Well… Maybe Cora can help him to calm down a little bit?"

"Yeah, Rikki. I mean… I wouldn't mind, if you think it would help. I've gotten better at making the results a little more long-term than they have been, and he has seemed a little… well. A little tweaked..."

Rikki paused and thought about it. She knew Cora was still not too comfortable around Zane which she could understand. She could see it on the girl's face for crying out loud. But she did think it would help and she couldn't help but consider it. She had said that she wouldn't mind, after all… and she wouldn't leave Cora alone with him. She wouldn't do that to her. The only thing she was really worried about was what Zane's mental state would do to her. Rikki did admit to herself that her boyfriend hadn't been himself for a while. But this ability of Cora's made the other person's mental anguish settle physically right into her stomach and as far as mental anguish… Rikki knew that Zane had a lot.

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." Cora responded. Rikki gave her a look – an 'are you absolutely positive?' kind of look. Cora smiled a little and nodded once. Zane did make her a little uneasy, but since she was trying to let the Defender in her work its way into her a little more these days, she trusted Rikki's belief that he was just under a lot of pressure. It was certainly more than possible; they were all a little more stressed than normal these days because Denman was around, and the fact that Lewis never wanted her to be on her own wasn't helping – hence why she had taken to her statistics homework at the girls' apartment while Lewis was at work. Lewis probably wouldn't be thrilled about the fact that she had just agreed to help Zane, but it couldn't hurt – right? The worst was over; it was in the past, now. She would just have to let her nerves stop acting up so much whenever she was around him.

"Okay; he's coming by right before Lewis is going to come pick you up. Work your magic then." Rikki gave Cora a tight smile. She was thankful that her friend had agreed to do this, but there was still something nagging at the back of her head. Was Zane really okay? She hoped so, but she would be lying to herself if she said he had been acting fine. He had a temper – he'd always had a temper and so did she – it was one of the things that kept them together for so long; their outbursts tended to even one another out. However these days, Zane's outbursts had been random, unprompted and when Rikki tried asking him what was the matter, he would stare at her and storm off. There had been so many times in the past few days alone where she would look at him and not be sure if he were about to scream or cry or put another hole through his wall, which she had noticed he'd done. She just wanted him to be okay and she was hoping – really hoping – that Cora could help him. She'd even suggested that he might think about seeing a psychiatrist. Rikki smirked when she thought about it. She had always called them quacks and denied that they were real doctors, but when her mom decided to storm back into her life they didn't seem like such a bad idea. She ended up seeing one about once a week and to her own shock, the doctor did help a lot. What was better than ranting to somebody neutral for an hour about all the things that pissed her off? She sighed and glanced at the VCR clock – Zane would be there in less than half an hour. In less than half an hour, hopefully some progress would be made.

-

Cora

Something feels wrong. Zane isn't even here yet and something seems wrong. I was a little nervous already because Cleo had just left with Nate, and Emma had left to see a movie with Ash, but Rikki was waiting right here with me. My stomach already had a knot in it but at that point I couldn't tell if the knot was my own nerves, or if these were Rikki's nerves affecting me. This mermaid nonsense really gets on my nerves sometimes. I wish I were better at it. You'd think that after five freakin' years, I would be. But oh no; not me. I felt myself take a breath and at that very second there was a knock at the door. Here goes nothing! Rikki got up off of the couch and went to answer the door and the second she pulled the door open I felt my body lurch forward hard. This was painful. This was very, very painful and he wasn't even inside yet. I gasped a little and put my hand out on the arm of the couch to brace myself and tried to push the shock off of my face. I must have done a decent job because Rikki pulled Zane inside and smiled hopefully as she brought him over to me.

"Hey, Zane. How have you been?" I asked, trying to sound cheerful despite the growing knot in my stomach. I shuddered a little when I saw the look on his face – blank, cold. Almost like it had that night in the basketball court almost two months ago.

"Cora," He nodded once at me and I felt a wave of nausea hit me when Rikki sat him down on the couch right next to me and sat on his other side. I felt myself tip over a little at the rush of pain that flooded my midsection and gasped quietly again. Wow. This guy really was upset. Very, very upset, "I guess you kind of know how I'm feeling, then?" Uh oh. I must not have hidden it too well. I felt my cheeks flush a little. I heard Rikki clear her throat a little before she spoke.

"Cora is gonna try to help you out, Zane. Make you feel a little better, yanno?" She said. I was surprised by how soft her voice sounded. She was really worried about him, I could tell. I had never heard her speak like this before. Zane smoldered. He smoldered and I could feel it, and it was a very, very powerful intimidating feeling.

"I don't need help, Rikki. I'm fine."

"You're not fine, Zane. Just give this a shot? For me?" She asked firmly. Zane was quiet for a second and I caught him glance at me out of the corner of his eyes before sighing and finally he nodded.

"All right, okay. For you. But I'm feeling a little better already, you know. Told you it was no big deal."

"That's kind of how it works, Zane. But it'll be even better if you give her a few minutes, jeez." Rikki smirked and leaned back on the couch and gave me a little hopeful smile. I tried to shoot one back at her. Zane turned his head to look at me and the second our eyes locked I felt a cold, heavy lump form in my chest. Wow. This was overpowering. This was about the same as I'd felt at Max's funeral. The only difference was that at Max's funeral, I had the mourning of 30 people collected in my stomach. This time, I had 30 people's pain bottled into one guy. I forced down my shock and instead inched closer to him. It was overwhelming but the Protector in me was still willing me to help him.

"How is it now?" I asked quietly. I looked straight at him and the uneasy feeling came back.

"Getting there." He said. His responses were so short, so icy these days – even to Rikki. It was saddening; I knew she wanted to believe that he was fine, but I knew that even she didn't really believe that. Who could, seeing the way that he was acting? I felt myself smile awkwardly and I very slowly raised my hand.

"Good. Is it okay if I put my hand on your arm? Physical contact helps facilitate whatever this is a little bit better." I suggested. I bit my lip slightly – I didn't know if I should be worried by his response or not. He stared hard at me for a second. Thinking about it, I don't think he ever looked away from me. It was a little unsettling to have him stare at me. It wasn't a nice kind of stare, this was cold and unfamiliar.

"Sure." Another one-word reply. I braced myself and reached out and placed my hand on his upper arm. The second I touched him I nearly blacked out. I saw dots in front of my eyes. This feeling was overwhelming. It was dark, and cold, and painful. It was angry. I shuddered unnoticeably but didn't let go of him. It was a really crappy feeling, being in that much pain and still needing to help this kid. I didn't know what was wrong with him – this was one thing I definitely couldn't do, but all I knew was how I could help and that's what I had to do.

A minute or two passed just like that in complete silence. Rikki stayed diligently right next to Zane on his other side watching us. However, every 30 seconds her phone went off. Either texts or calls, every form of a message that she could receive was coming in. I glanced over at her and could see the frustration written on her face and when I saw it I didn't need to ask who it was. Only one person made her make that face when they called: her mom. After it went off a seventh time, she finally picked it up and checked the messages. I immediately saw her face drop and I felt a subtle tug at the knot in my stomach.

"What is it, Rikki?" I asked. She looked up at me and I saw fear in her blue eyes.

"She said that she had to take my dad back to the hospital. I don't know if it's anything major, but I should call her to find out…" She started. Zane picked his head up and for the first time since he got here looked away from me.

"You should call and find out. Go on, we'll be fine here." Zane said finally. My eyes bugged slightly – he wanted to be alone with me? I didn't have any perverted thoughts, I knew Zane loved Rikki but why on Earth would he ever want to be alone with me? I thought I still made him uncomfortable because of what happened a while back. I looked at Rikki's face and could tell she was a little nervous, too. I knew she was panicked because of her father and I didn't want her to have to babysit us when something could have happened to him so I tried to mask the worry on my face and gave a slight nod. She paused and looked at the two of us for a second before getting up quickly and heading down the hall to her bedroom. After a second we heard her door shut.

In another second I felt a hand come up to mine. Zane had picked up my hand and took it off of his arm and let it drop back to my lap. I was confused so I looked up at him.

"Are you okay now, Zane?" I asked. Dumb question. I could feel that he wasn't. But this was strange. It wasn't like talking to him on a normal day. This was like I was a doctor talking to a patient.

"No."

"Okay. Well, if you let me put my hand back on your arm it'll go faster. If not, that's okay too. It will take a little longer but I can move away if you're not comfortable—" I started to ramble. It happens when I'm nervous; he knows that. But he cut me off.

"Be quiet, Cora." Those three, very simple very short words came out so coldly that I was actually taken aback. I froze in my spot and he turned on the couch to face me. In less than a second I felt his arm fly out and he grabbed me by my arm. I flinched hard – he wasn't hurting me, maybe he was squeezing a little harder than he needed to but it was an involuntary reaction. However when I saw the look on his face I shut up immediately. He was not happy. This was the same face he'd had on the first night we 'met.' I gulped slightly and felt the knot give another painful lurch, "This has gone too far. She's stalking Rikki. They took a shot at her while she was swimming. She could have been killed. Denman isn't playing any fucking games anymore and I think I'm done playing them, too. Denman doesn't need every mermaid, she only needs one. I will not let her down again. It's nothing personal." His fingers started gripping my arm tighter and I couldn't tell if it hurt or not because of how overpowering the pain in my stomach was, but when I tried to twist my arm out of his grip he dug his fingers into my arm tighter and tugged it a little, preventing me from moving away – then it hurt. All I could do was stare back at him. I was completely frozen in my place as my heart pounded so hard that I thought it would pop out of my chest. Zane was mad. I could feel his rage the minute he walked into the room, but now he had focused it. He had focused it on me. His sentences were choppy, he wasn't making a whole lot of sense but it wasn't hard for me to pick up what he had meant. The words clicked in my head immediately and I got very dizzy. When he had said that he was done playing games, he meant that he was done with me.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door – Lewis. For a moment I had completely forgotten he was on his way, but I still couldn't move or talk. It wasn't until he knocked again that it registered with Zane that someone was at the door and he let go of my arm quickly and answered it. My heart was racing fast and it felt like I had just run for miles. I heard Zane greet Lewis and in another second I saw him come through the door. When I saw him smiling as he walked towards me I pushed a smile onto my own face. I was happy to see him, especially after what had just happened. But he had no idea what Zane had just told me. And come to think of it, he hadn't been specific even though he had been pretty clear. Either way, I doubted that it would be lucrative of me to mention what Zane had said now, in front of him, especially with as manic he was acting. I rose from the couch quickly and hugged Lewis tightly and felt him kiss my cheek. In another few seconds we were heading towards the door and I felt myself clinging tightly to his arm as we walked. I stuffed my free hand into my pocket and I could feel it shaking against my hip and sighed. I heard Lewis start to tell me about his day, but my eyes were locked on Zane's until the door shut behind us.

-

Lewis

On our way back to the apartment I noticed that Cora seemed a little distracted. She held onto my arm tightly and she'd space out every minute or so. I frowned, worried. I had been surprised when I went to pick her up and Zane answered the door, and I was even more surprised when I saw what he looked like – bags under his eyes, bloodshot eyes, clenched jaw. He didn't look happy, that's for sure.

I sighed when I realized what had probably just happened – they had used Cora's ability in order to get Zane to calm down. It didn't look like it worked too well; that kid looked seriously strung out on something. I know he's stressed out these days, but wow. I was a little frustrated that the girls would go ahead with something like this without telling me but I had been at work. Either way it didn't look like Cora was feeling too great and she looked absolutely terrified. I knew better than to ask her at that moment what was wrong – she was too distracted and probably in a lot of pain if my theory was right. She would need to calm down a bit on her own first and so I would be patient – but watchful. If Zane had done one more thing even remotely out of line, I swear…

When we got back to the apartment we stopped to talk to Tyler - who was lounging on the couch – for a while. Even while we talked I could tell that her mind was somewhere else. I gave her hand a squeeze and she looked up at me and then I could see the distress in her face. I gave her a concerned look and nodded off down the hallway – I wanted her to relax. She nodded a little and I felt her kiss my cheek, then she excused herself and disappeared.

After a while I wanted to check on her, so I hoisted myself off of the couch and headed for my bedroom where I figured she might be laying down. I opened the door and glanced around curiously – she wasn't in there. Then I saw that my bathroom door was cracked and the light was on and I half-smirked, knowing where she was now. I was thankful that I had drawn the long-straw when we picked rooms and that I had my own bathroom. Tyler and Kyle had to share a small one at the end of the hall. I head to the other side of the room and opened the door a little more and stepped inside, finding her exactly where I expected to: in the bathtub with most of her body submerged under water with her arms folded comfortably across her midsection with her eyes closed. Her silvery tail flopped over the edge of the other end of the tub. I smiled sadly and walked in and sat on the floor next to the tub and propped my arm up on the edge and watched her carefully. I knew she was in pain. I hated to see her in pain, but I knew how to recognize it. Being in the water helps her a lot, it's like some kind of wild mermaid medicine or therapy. But still, I wish she didn't have to suffer through this. I watched the rise and fall of her chest – it was slower now than it had been on the way home which I was thankful for; it meant she had calmed down a little. I dipped my hand down into the water and slipped it around one of hers. When she felt it I saw her eyes open under the water and the smile that I loved made its way onto her face. She held onto my hand and pushed herself up letting her upper body break the surface of the water and wiped her face with her free hand.

"Feeling better?" I asked. She smiled again and nodded and sighed contently.

"Like you wouldn't believe!" I smiled and leaned forward slightly and pecked her forehead. She grinned and flicked the end of her tail at me, getting water droplets in my face. She was definitely feeling much better now, and I was glad. But, I still needed to know what had disturbed her so much earlier.

"Good. So… do you want to tell me what happened at the girls' place today?" I asked. I watched her idly reach down and rub her forearm and her face furrowed in deep concentration. She wasn't upset, but she was thinking. She sat still and was very quiet for a minute, and her eyes closed slowly. Her concentration never broke and I knew what was happening – she was tapping into her visions. Finally she looked directly into my eyes and spoke.

"Lewis… I think there is something very, seriously wrong with Zane. And I think he might have made a big mistake because of it."

-

A/N: Zane is helping Denman and he's serious about taking it to the next level this time. What happens when the girls find out? Will they and Lewis be able to figure out a solution to the Denman problem before Zane and Denman ruin things for good? Review, everyone – I love to hear what you think! Take care, everyone. I hope you're all doing well this cold/flu season, since I sure as heck am not : ] Lol.