Authors Note:

Sorry for the delay, I know I had promised two chapters last time. The last chapter however ended up being literally twice as long as every other chapter before it. So it was sort of two chapters of length in one chapter and that took me both days of my weekend to write.

I've been looking forward to this chapter since last week when I had it all planned out, but sadly it didn't get written then due to me being burned out after the whopper the last chapter was. I've recovered now, and you've all had a chance to read the last chapter, so it's time now to get on with the story.

One last point of note is that at the end of this story I am planning to do a bonus chapter that I will call 'Insights'. This chapter will be comprised of me sharing with you the ideas and thoughts I had as I began this project. I also will answer any questions that you send to me that do not 1. Get answered in the main story, and 2. Provide spoilers for the third and final part of the series. I find I wish to do this for the entertainment of it as well as to let you all have a glimpse into the mindset that I had when I came up with this story. It should be interesting. So please send any questions you would like answered and I'll answer as many as I can at that time. You have until this story is finished to submit them so no need to rush but also don't dawdle.

Chapter 9:

Competition

I woke up, as usual, to the smell of fresh coffee. The main difference was that I was in a sleeping bag in Emma's living room and I hadn't set any coffee to brew when I'd crashed last night. So that must mean someone else was already awake and had brewed it fresh this morning.

I slowly lifted my head as I inhaled that heavenly aroma and cracked my eyes open. I blinked a few times at the oddity of what appeared to my sleep blurred eyes as a floating cup until the blurs around the cup came into focus as someones hand.

"What do I do now?" A deep voice asked from close by. I was still to asleep to place who the speaker was, but I did notice that as whoever it was asked the question the cup moved away from me. I swiped at the cup a few times trying to grab it but each time it moved just out of reach.

"Don't tease her," another voice, this one higher pitched, said, "just hand it to her."

"I'm not trying to tease her. I'm trying to keep her from spilling it all over the floor." The first voice spoke again.

Mostly asleep I might still be but the idea of spilling coffee was so anathema to me that I stopped swiping wildly and slowly reached out to take hold of the cup. At this the hand holding it let me take it and I did my usual of cooling it off and then drinking it all down in one go. As the caffeine started to hit I began to wake up enough to make out Ash crouched down in front of me with a strange look on his face.

"How did you do that?" He asked me.

"Hmmmmm?" I wasn't up to words yet today so that was all the answer I gave him as I stretched, got to my feet, and went to Em's kitchen in search of a second cup.

"She just cooled it off." Bella explained. "She does that every time. Too impatient to wait for it to cool on it's own."

I'd filled and cooled a second cup by this time and was in the process of drinking it when he answered her. "Not the cooling it down part. That part." He said pointing at me while I drank. "How do you do that and not end up in your tail?"

I finished that one and got a third. After cooling that I started taking controlled sips. By this time everyone in the room was staring at me, all my sisters, Lewis, Ash, and Will.

"Someone finally noticed. Well done Ash." I said between sips with a coy grin on my face.

"Ingenious!" Lewis suddenly burst out.

Everyone turned to look at him. I just grinned wider. "Point for Lewis for figuring out the how."

"You know I can't believe we've been roommates for almost a year and I never noticed this." Bella said staring at me again. "How are you doing that? We can't drink anything with out a straw or we end up in a tail."

"Don't feel to bad," I told her, "I traveled with Denman for almost two years and she never noticed either."

"Look at her hand." Lewis said.

I took another sip with everyone else staring at my hand.

"What about her hand?" Emma asked after. "I don't see anything different."

Lewis did a face-palm, filled a cup with water, and placed it on the edge of the counter. "If you would please?" He asked me.

I smirked and held out my free hand towards the cup. As I always did to control water I bent my first two fingers in, like a come here motion, and the water rose out of the cup.

"Now look at her left hand and then look at how she holds the cup in her right hand." Lewis instructed everyone.

I was holding the cup with my first two fingers curved around it. My other two fingers were under the base to hold it steady, but they didn't matter. It was the first two that were important and Lewis had figured it out. I could see it as each of the rest caught on when I took another sip.

"How in the world did we miss that?" Cleo said.

"What are you doing exactly to the liquid?" Emma asked.

I decided to have mercy on them and simply answered, "surface tension."

"So simple, yet so profound for you." Lewis said with that excited look he gets at figuring out something new. "And so subtle you'd never notice unless you knew exactly what you were looking for. Brilliant!"

"Em. The eggs are gonna burn." I said walking around the counter to take a seat at the table and helped myself to a slice of toast from a pile I found there.

"Oh shoot!" She turned quickly and scooped them onto a serving plate and started scrambling more eggs for a second batch while flipping bacon in a second pan.

As I finished spreading butter and jam on my toast and took a bite I reached over and, with a finger, closed Rikki's mouth. "You're about to start catching flies."

"I am not!" She protested indignantly.

"OK. If you say so." I took a few more bites then looked back at her. "Then what were you doing with your mouth gaping open like a landed fish?"

"OH! Why you... you..." I never did find out what she was going to threaten me with because at that moment her phone rang. "It's Zane." She said recognizing the ring tone.

She went off to the side to answer his call while the rest of us started in on breakfast. Will stuck to foods that offered high energy with a slow release in prep for the day. Emma stuck to her usual health foods. The rest of us dug in to what ever we could get our hands on. We did make sure to same some for Rikki. Zane too though he should have been here already.

"You're doing what?" Rikki blurted out from the other side of the room. Her expression was more surprised then angry so I guessed Zane was doing something good that she wasn't used to having him do. "But you could..." she trailed off again clearly he was answering her unfinished question. Her expression clearly showed she was impressed by what he had to say. "OK. I can promise you that much. I'll call you later. I love you." She hung up and just stared at us looking both impressed and dumbfounded at the same time.

"So where is he? He's missing breakfast." I asked her.

"He's not coming." She said. We all stopped to stare at her wondering how this could be good news when it came to Zane. He was improving but even we knew there were limits to how much to expect. "Rachel called in sick and that left them short a supervisor for today. He chose to stay and cover the shift instead of having Ash or Emma do it. He didn't want them to miss out on seeing Will compete."

There was a lot of coughing and sputtering around the table and the four of us actually sitting at it ended up in tails. We were less bothered by that then by the news that Zane was 'taking one for the team' so to speak.

"Are you sure that was Zane you were talking to?" Lewis asked.

"Yeah I'm sure." Rikki said. "Hey I'm surprised here too. This is totally unexpected, especially from him, but I'm not gonna complain that he's finally being responsible."

"Wow." Ash said. "Zane. Who'd have thought."

"Yeah. I know." Emma said slightly dazed.

"Can someone dry us off so we can finish eating in time to get to the dock for check in?" I asked trying to get things back on track. I was impressed too but not as much. I hadn't known him as long so I was unaware of exactly how much of a change this was for him. I'd only arrived as he'd started to improve from loosing Rikki so I was more surprised at the rapid jump in progress and missed that this was a hell of a lot of progress.

"Oh right." Rikki started to focus, but Cleo and Bella were faster. "When did you guys learn that?"

"We've been working on it for a while now." Cleo said. "I have trouble getting the water off myself but it works well for use on the rest of you."

"Same for me." Bella said. "I have a little trouble getting the water off myself still, but I can dry you guys off in a pinch."

"So I'm the only one here that can't get dry with her own power?" Emma said looking at each of us in turn. "That is just so unfair!"

"I really don't consider what I do efficient." I offered her.

"It might take you a while but you can still do it yourself." She said not reassured in the slightest. "The best I can do is to bring a towel."

"You'll figure something out." I told her. "You're intelligent and you can be very determined at times."

"You mean stubborn." Rikki corrected coming over and filling a plate.

"I am not stubborn," Emma said indignant. She looked around the table seeking support. She found the only ones still sitting at the table with her were the four of us. They guys had all taken their breakfast and slipped off to somewhere else while we'd been 'discussing' our ability to use our powers to get dry. I wondered when they'd gotten so smart.

"ASH!" She yelled looking around for him. He waved to her through the back window when her gaze turned that way. She just glared at him. Will and Lewis razzed him until they noticed that Bella and Cleo were glaring at each of them respectively.

I shared a look with Rikki and with a shrug we both went back to eating. For once we didn't care as our boyfriends weren't here to be in trouble with us. Hers because he was doing something unprecedented, and mine because I hadn't told him about the others yet. Though that was more because I wasn't sure if they were ready to have him know then any other reason. I'd bring it up with them after the competition was done.

"Oh leave off guys." I told them. "Your breakfast is going to get cold and I don't feel like helping you reheat it."

"Me either." Rikki echoed me.

They gave each of us a glare, then gave one last one to each of their guys, and then turned and continued eating.

"Thanks for cooking Em." I said trying to change the topic to something a little more friendly. "Everything is perfect."

"Your welcome Laura." She beamed a smile. "I usually don't eat this stuff but I picked some up for today for you guys." She took a few bites of her fruit and yogurt. "You really should eat healthier you know."

"Nah." I said. "I went on line and after some digging around managed to find an equation to figure out how many calories we burn on our daily swims." I took more eggs and some more bacon. "If I did it right we burn so much energy while swimming that we can eat pretty much anything, in just about any amount, and we'll never gain an ounce." I paused. "Or I guess that would be a gram here."

"Really?" Bella, Cleo, and Rikki asked bug eyed.

"Yup. Sweet deal huh?" I said.

"Well there are other reasons to eat healthy." Emma said. "It's good for you."

"To each her own my friend." I told her as I got up to refill my coffee.

"Nuh uh." Bella said getting there first. "You've had enough."

"I've only had three." I protested.

"And that's enough for today." She said. "You drink way too much caffeine as it is. It's time for you to cut back."

Bella was saved from my answer by Will's entrance telling us it was time for us to get on the road. I'd take this up with her later. I did not drink too much caffeine. I never went past fifteen cups in a day. OK maybe twenty, but that was all.

When we got to the dock there was huge crowd milling around and off to the side a line was starting to form. As we pulled into a parking space I was able to make out the banner for the registration booth at the front of the line and jumped out and hurried towards it. It was the coaches responsibility to register his or her diver for the day and I didn't want to stand in line forever. I did feel a bit guilty at leaving the others to unload all the gear from the cars, but I had to do this and I knew they'd understand.

I'd just gotten to the end of the forming line when Bella caught up to me. "Aren't you going to help us unpack?"

I just pointed to the banner and then the line. "Oh." She winced. "Right you do have to take care of this don't you?"

"And the line's long enough as it is and I know not everyone is here yet." I added. "I wish I could help but I don't want to be standing here any longer then I have to."

"Don't worry." She said. "I'll fill the others in. They'll understand."

I thanked her as she ran back to help and then braced myself to wait. Not much else I could do anyways.

The line moved slowly, and I found myself wishing I'd brought something to read. I waved to the others as they passed by. They all gave me looks of sympathy after seeing how long the line was both in front of and behind me. Will came over to me briefly to ask what was up with the length of the line. I told him I didn't know but I would remember to ask when I got up to the front. Then I gave him instructions to do some stretches and a light warm up to get his muscles loose and his blood flowing, but not to over do it. He just told me I worry too much.

It was almost 7:30 by the time I got to the front of the line. I'd arrived at 6, the competition started at 10, and I wasn't the last one here by a long shot. Just how many divers had entered?

"Morning." A bored looking clerk said to me emotionlessly. "Your name and the name of your Diver please."

"Laura Westbrook-coach, and Will Benjamin-diver." I answered him.

His head snapped up in surprised. I was starting to get used to it and just rolled my eyes. At least he was now showing some emotion.

"Ms. Westbrook, welcome." He sounded a bit shell shocked. "Um... it's my job to inform you of a few procedure changes for the event today."

"Procedure changes?" I asked a bit confused. "Why the need?"

"Well after the hurricane was narrowly avoided there was a strong show of support for the area and it brought in a number of entrants that would have not entered otherwise." He explained. I nodded at the logic of it. "Also after it was found that your diver, Mr. Benjamin, had entered and that he held the local record we got flooded with even more entrants that wanted to compete against him. The final total at the close of registration was an unheard of thirty seven entries."

I choked and coughed a bit. "Thirty seven?" I hissed out shocked.

"Yes. I know. It's been causing us no end of organizational nightmares." He drolled. "We've had to make several changes to accommodate the number of entries."

"OK. What do I need to know then. I made sure I was familiar with the basic rules, but I have the feeling that won't do me much good anymore." I said.

"No. The basic rules still apply in full." He reassured me. "We've had to make additional allowances for the number of competitors. The first of which is that all dives must declare their minimum intended dive depth. Any dive that does not meet the the declared distance will not count." I nodded and started making mental notes. "Second we have five dive lines set up with six markers at each depth. Only one marker is to be released by a diver. Should a diver release more then one, whether by intention or accident, the dive will be declared invalid." I would have to make sure Will knew that one for sure. "To make sure there is no miss reading we will remove all markers from the surface between divers." That would help I thought.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Yes. The final change is that due to the number of entries the winner might be victorious by very little distance. Therefore we have placed markers at 10 meters and 20 meters. After that at 5 meter intervals until 40 meters, then every 2 meters after that until the 60 meter mark. Then it's every meter after that until 80 and then every half meter until 110."

"The record dive for the world is around 105 meters if I remember what I read online." I said.

"Correct. After that there are markers every 10 meters for the reference of the safety divers in case a competitor goes dead weight and starts to sink like a rock." He finished.

"Safety divers? How deep can they go?" I asked.

"We are using older equipment so they can't go past 60 meters with out having to decompress on the way back up." He said. "Every 20 meters after that extends the time needed in decompression so we'll have to set up relays to get a diver back to the surface. However, if they sink to far past the 100 meter mark we don't have enough divers to make a long enough chain to reach them. Not that we expect anything like that to happen..."

"But better to be safe then sorry." I finished for him.

"Exactly." He said. "Oh almost forgot. We'll be doing the standard three dives. Deepest valid dive will win."

"Got it." I answered going down the mental list I'd made adding that if anyone did sink too low for the rescue divers to get I'd go after them myself. I wasn't going to let someone die just to stay in the background. I knew the others wouldn't either, anonymity or no.

"Just sign here and here," he pointed to a form listing the rules and to another that had a list of names, divers and coaches, "and you're all set. Good luck to your diver. Not that I think 'he' will need it." I didn't miss the emphasis and just barely managed to not roll my eyes, and signed where indicated. He handed me a copy of the rules to keep for reference and I was free to go and meet up with Will and get him up to speed.

"Hey," I said catching up to the others near one of the ferries set up to get both spectators and competitors out to the dive site. "I got the rule list. There's a few things you really need to know Will."

"Like what?" He said coming over to where I was holding out the sheet for him. He read it over, twice, and then looked at me. "Why all the special changes?"

"There's thirty seven divers entered. This is going to take all day." I said with a sigh.

"Thi...thirt... did you say thirty seven?" He finally stammered out.

"Yeah. I did." I said. "Seems there was a strong show of support for the local community after the hurricane incident that brought in a lot of competitors." I looked at him and rolled my eyes. "But the real surge of interest was when you entered. Seems that lot's of divers want to get a piece of you since you set the record here."

"A piece of me?" He looked confused.

"Yeah." I said. He just looked at me blankly. "Don't tell me you don't have that expression here."

"Oh no I've heard it. I'm just having a bit of trouble with having it applied to me personally." He said still looking dazed. I got it. He wasn't confused by the expression but by the simple fact that some of the divers here took his entry as a personal challenge.

"I think me being your coach might have only made it worse too. There are probably going to be a lot of divers, and coaches, that will try to prove that their training will measure up to what they think I put you through." I winced. "Good thing they don't know the half of it."

"A piece of me?" He muttered again looking at the rule list once more.

"Don't over think it. Just remember what you learned with us and you'll be fine. Now go spend some time with Bella. I need you relaxed." I pulled the rule list out of his hand and shooed him away.

"You want me to relax by spending time with my girlfriend." He said with a smirk. "That might be a bit overdoing it you know."

I pushed him towards where the others were waiting with a mutter of "smart ass."

He just laughed. "Laura. Such language from a lady?" I just rolled my eyes again. If this kept up today they might just fall out.

We had to wait another twenty minutes for the next ferry to depart. The others spent the entire slow ride inside the cabin. They would have to be on guard for water at a ridiculously paranoid level today. I didn't even bother to worry anymore. It wasn't that I was flaunting what I was I just enjoyed not having to be hyper paranoid anymore. I got the feeling the others envied me on some level.

To say we were surprised when we got to the official location would be an understatement. They had built a floating dock anchored to over a dozen ships at anchor. Several ships had multiple decks for spectators to get a good view of where the divers would go down so they could watch for the markers to surface. Some were lined with portable restrooms. And others were clearly galley ships stocked with food for staff, viewers, competitors, coaches, and anyone else in attendance.

The floating dock itself was shaped in a giant squared off U. The top was a good five feet above the water except at the inside base of the U where there was a lower platform for the divers to enter the water at. From the center of the U to the outside was a distance of at least forty feet across. The length of the base and both upstanding arms had to be at least as long as an American foot ball field including the goal zones. They'd really gone to some lengths to prepare for the large number of competitors registered.

I gave a low, impressed whistle. "I think it might just be faster for me to swim from this arm to the other one."

"Yeah. I know." Will said. "I almost think it would be faster for me too."

We all laughed.

"All right guys." I said. "It's only 8. This thing doesn't really kick off until 10 so we've got a few hours to kill. Let's take a look around and see where everything is situated."

"I'm going to stake out a spot up there," Cleo said pointing to one of the four deck ships. "That should make sure there are no accidents."

"Good idea." Bella said and then rummaged in the bag she was carrying. "I know they're in here somewhere." She dug around a bit more. "Aha! Found em." She pulled out a pair of binoculars and held them up with a satisfied grin. "This way I can see everything clearly even from up there."

The others also held up binoculars. "We came prepared." Emma said.

"Still isn't going to be as good a view of you diving as last time," Rikki said to Will with a good natured slap on his back. "But with all the safety divers in the water that's just not an option this time."

"Thanks. I'm glad you guys are here all the same." Will said. "Just save me a seat up there for between my dives."

"Don't worry we got that covered. Just make sure you dry off first." Cleo told him with mock severity.

"Fair enough." He said pretending to act scared of her.

As we headed up to reserve a spot to watch from I couldn't help but realized just how much I loved being a part of this group. They were all like family to me. Each of the girls a sister, and each of their chosen like a brother. No matter what happened I knew they'd be here for me, and I'd be here for them.

"Laura are you just going to stand there?" Ash called back to me

"Sorry." I said running to catch up. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Lewis asked.

"How lucky I am to be here. With all of you. Like a family." I said. "That's all."

There was a general chorus of agreements and we headed up to find a good spot. We lucked out. No one else had bothered with the top most deck because of the distance. It made for bad viewing unless you can prepared like we had. So we were able to claim almost the entire level.

We spent the next several hours unfolding chairs and finding ways to anchor some shade umbrellas so we didn't get sunburned. We'd even brought a small cooler to store drinks in knowing in advance there would be some concessions. We had the guys go and buy some drinks and snacks. Then when no one was looking except us Cleo quickly lifted some water from the far side of the ship and separated it in to small blobs that Emma quickly froze to make ice.

Did I mention that being a mermaid was great sometimes?

We had just finished getting everything set up to our satisfaction around when they called all divers and their coaches to come to the dive area for final announcements. As Will and I headed down I checked my phone's clock and noticed it was just after 9:30. I was eager to get things started even though I wouldn't be the one diving.

It took a bit for everyone to gather and by random chance I found myself crushed up next to Will's sister Sophie and her diver Alex. She had a warm smile for her brother and a hard glare for me. I'd gotten worse. Alex on the other hand glared at Will relentlessly and didn't notice me at all. I felt like warning bells were going off in my head but I couldn't figure out what had gotten my instincts hyped up.

I didn't have time to figure it out just then because they began the final brief then.

"Welcome divers and coaches." A man in an officials uniform called out from the front of the dive area. "I'm sure by now you have all gotten a copy of the rules and have familiarized yourselves with them." He paused to see if anyone had any questions on that. When it became apparent that no one did he continued.

"We will be getting started here very shortly. So I thank you all for your patience. At this time we would like to know if anyone would like to volunteer to go first?" Will started to step forward and I stopped him. He looked at me confused and I promised to explain later. No one else moved. "Very well. Since no one is willing to volunteer we shall go by a predetermined order. Would all the coaches please come forward to receive a copy of the order for the day. Thank you all and good luck gentlemen."

As we moved through the line to get the copy of the order Will insisted I tell him why I stopped him. I did so in a low voice to avoid being overheard as much as possible.

"If you went first they would take it like you were telling them to not waste their time." I whispered. "I know that's not what you would have meant; however, you do hold the local record and I'd bet everyone here knows that. It would be just as bad if you chose to go last. To them it would be like saying 'here let me show you all how it's really done."

"Even though I'm not that arrogant at all." He said in annoyed tone.

"Exactly. It has little or nothing to do with your intent, but a lot to do with their ego's and how they would interpret it based on that." I summed up. "This random order decided by a third party is about as impartial a placement as you can get."

He rolled his eyes. "Great."

"That's why even though there is no real rule or law against it I'm not entered in the competition as a diver. It wouldn't be even remotely fair for them or you." I said.

"Personally I don't care." He said looking at me. "But I get what you mean about how it would look to everyone else here. Idiots."

I think I was starting to rub off on the others. I swear there were day's when I would hear my own sarcasm from them now and again.

We finally got to the front and got a copy of the order for the first dive. "What about the other two dives?" I asked.

"The order will be decided after the first dive." The event worker handing out schedules told me. "Just in case anyone get's disqualified or chooses to withdraw from the competition." I nodded and headed off to the side with Will to look over the order.

"Looks like you're just before the middle of the group." I said noting that he was listed as number 14 for the first round. "That's not too bad."

"Could be worse." He replied.

"So I'm gonna have to register your target depth for the first dive. How deep are you going?" I asked him.

"List me for 40. You had me doing that in twenty rep sets of ten just the other day. Shouldn't be a problem." He said nonchalantly.

"You had him doing what?" I turned to see Sophie's shocked expression. "When? Where? I stopped by the training you had your assistant doing and he didn't do that then." She stalked up to me. "And you never came back to the pool all day so where were you going to do that?"

"Waters around Mako. There's some really nice spots out there you know." I told her with a grin. "But that was only one of the three parts of his training. The third one is a trade secret." I headed away.

"Will." Sophie called.

He looked at me. "She's your sister," I told him. "If you want to say hello and catch up with her that's your call. I won't get in the way of family." He nodded and went to either chat with her or try to soothe some ruffled feathers. Either way I wouldn't stop him. I had too much respect for family, a personal value.

Before I went back to the others I went looking for the officials desk. I found it off to one side of the dive area where they were both in easy view and able to watch the divers for violations. I registered Will's target depth for his first dive, noted and ignored the shocked look of both officials and other coaches, and then went back to the others to wait for our turn.

"Hey Laura." I got greeted by several of them at once.

"Hey." I took a seat. "We're number 14 for the first dive. Will's going for 40 right off the bat."

"And you didn't stop him?" Rikki asked.

"He was doing that with no prep in reps during training. Declaring less wouldn't matter as he'd just go that far anyways." I said.

"Where is Will anyways?" Bella asked.

"Sophie wanted to have some family time. I didn't feel it was my place to say no to that." I answered.

"Next time feed him to the sharks," Rikki said. "It'll be faster."

"You're not gonna forgive her anytime soon I'd wager." I said back to her.

"I'd forgive Denman, completely, first." Emma, Cleo, and Lewis all winced at her statement. Well at least you knew where she stood. Rikki was like that I'd learned.

"Hey," Ash said leaning over the rail. "Looks like they're getting started."

We all stood and looked over at the dive area. Sure enough the first diver was sitting with his feet in the water, mono fin in place, and doing focused breathing while staring at the dive line he was assigned to.

"I better get down there," I said. "I'll try and stop by now and then but I need to stay near the dive area at least until after Will's first dive so we can be ready."

"OK." I found myself in the middle of a group hug. "Go do your official stuff. We'll cheer him on from up here."

"Thanks guys." I hurried to the stairs and started to head down to the lowest level of the ship. I ran into Bryon on the second level.

"Laura?" I turned. "It is you."

"Bryon!" I ran over to him. "What are you doing here? So early I mean?"

"I came to offer support. I can do that right?" He asked giving me a quick kiss.

"Of course. I just didn't expect you at this time of day. I know your as fond of early mornings as I usual am when I don't have somewhere important to be." Which was an understatement for us both. If we didn't have to be somewhere we'd sleep till noon everyday with out fail.

He laughed with me. "Well I have to get to a surfing competition this afternoon. Prelims."

"You didn't tell me? I would have tried to come and watch you." I scolded him.

"I'm not competing." He explained following me down to the lower decks and onto the dock area. "It's amateur level, I just got roped into being a judge."

"Oh." I winced. "That sounds tedious."

"It usually is." He agreed. "But it's kind of expected if you are local to an event and are above a certain skill level. But I'm not here to talk your ear off with that. I'm here to support you and Will. I got his name right I hope."

"Yeah, you did. He's over there with his sister right now." I pointed. "I have to do the coach thing and scope out the other divers and see what the competition is up to."

"Ah. So how about you point out to me how this all works?" He gave me a half grin that he knew I couldn't resist.

"Oh all right." I waved him forward to a spot where we could see the divers clearly. The third diver of the day was getting set to go. The second was still down. "See how he's staring at the guild line?" Bryon nodded. "He's getting his focus. Unlike most sports you need to be calm for this one. Lower your heart rate, slow your breathing. Getting fired up is actually counterproductive here."

"Interesting." He said.

"Look at the diver not at me." I chided him.

"But he's not as interesting." He replied unrepentant.

"Flatterer." I told him, but I was far from upset. "But back to the explanation you asked for."

"OK. So he's getting focused and calm right?" He asked.

"Right." A 25 meter marked surfaced. "The second diver of the day just hit his mark. I don't know what his target was but he's on his way back up now."

"What's the 25 mean?" Bryon asked pointing at it.

"How far down he went in meters." I answered. "Will's going for 40 for his first dive today."

"Cool. I never asked before but how deep can you go?" He asked.

"Never really tested for maximum depth before." I said looking at him. "But we've all been down to over three hundred." Bryon was impressed. The other coaches that were watching along with me gave me looks reserved for those that were shamelessly boasting.

"That's kind of..." He started.

"Nothing. To us that's like doing a thirty meter dive. Our bodies alter in the water and treat pressure differently." I waved it off. The others around just glared more.

I pointed out at the third diver. "He's getting ready to start. Watch." He looked where I pointed. The third diver of the day had swam out to the guild line and with one last breath dove down.

The water was very clear. We could see all the way down to the first marker at 10 meters easily. I immediately noticed something about his technique that made me sure he wouldn't even come close to winning today.

"See how the mono fin he's using keeps twisting a bit left to right as he dives?" I asked Bryon.

He stared for a bit then nodded. "Yeah. I see it. Sort of."

"He practiced without the fin in just about all of his training. He's used to using a scissor kick and all his muscle memory is set for it. So he keeps trying to kick his feet separately. That's what's causing the twist." I explained. "The end result is he's using double or triple the energy while diving. He'll get tired quickly and he won't last long."

"Oh." Bryon was impressed. "I bet you had Will using nothing but that fin then."

"How'd you possibly guess that?" I asked rhetorically. I got a lot more dirty looks from the other coaches. Some of whom ran off, probably to consult with their own divers. "So how long do I get to enjoy your company for today?"

"I can stay long enough to see your student do his dive but then I have to go." He smiled at me. "But I'm glad I came. I like how into this you are even if you aren't the one in the water." He gave me another, not as quick this time, kiss. After which I laid my head on his shoulder and he wrapped an arm around me.

It wasn't too much later when Ash tapped me on the shoulder. He simply looked at the two of us and pointed to the upper deck. He didn't need to say anything as my sisters were all staring down at me with silly grins on their faces.

"Come on Bryon." I said with a nod towards the others. "I think they want to talk to us."

He looked a bit confused. "Wonder what they want."

I could guess. They had seen us kiss and they wanted to see if they could make me, Bryon, or more likely both of us blush with embarrassment. Due to this I ascended to where they were with a bit of trepidation. So I was surprised when Ash stopped Bryon at the top and nodded over to the far rail where Lewis was standing.

"OK. I'm completely confused now." I admitted to my sisters as I walked over.

"So are you guys official?" Emma asked me.

"I'd like to think so, but I don't want to speak for him." I answered.

"You let him kiss you. In public." Bella said. "Trust me it's official."

"So why bring us up here and then have him wait over there?" I asked.

They waved the guys over. As soon as they all got here and comfortable I found out what they planned.

"We don't have much time before Laura has to go down there and do the coach thing so we need to ask you something Bryon," Emma said. "How much do you like her?"

"Uh." He turned bright red, I did to, at being put on the spot.

"If you really like her then we all have something we need to tell you." She continued. Suddenly I knew exactly where this was going. If he was serious they were going to tell him the truth. I went from bright red to pale as a ghost in seconds.

"Bryon," I said. "Just be honest. It's a good thing. You just need to keep what they tell you with in the group here."

"Well I didn't want to speak for you," he said unknowing repeating what I said. "But, yeah, I like you. A lot. More each time we're together."

"Me too. OK girls. That good enough for you?" I asked.

They all shared a look then at the same time said, "yup!"

"What's this about?" Bryon asked confused.

"Bryon." I said. "How many of us are up here?"

"Nine including me." He answered. We all chuckled.

"No. She means how many of us there are up here." Rikki said pointing at only us girls.

"Oh. Five... no way!" His eyes had gotten real big. "Emma?" She nodded. "Rikki?" Another nod. "Cleo you too?" She nodded.

"Breath. You don't mind me so this shouldn't be too bad." I said to him.

He laughed and seemed to calm down. "Wow." He looked at them again. "So this would be why you couldn't stay on the swim team." Emma just nodded again. "So much makes sense now. But one thing I don't get is why me and why now?"

"They know." Cleo said pointing to Ash and Lewis then grabbed Lewis by the shirt and kissed him. He didn't resist, much.

"Oh." He looked at Ash who had his hand on Emma's shoulder. "I get it now. Cool. So this is why I can't tell anyone else."

"Exactly. We each chose to trust our boyfriends with who we all are and since you are serious about Laura we chose to tell you too." Rikki said. "But our names aren't public and we're trying to keep it that way as long as possible. So please don't go spreading it around."

"I won't." He just looked at them again. "So wait. Your name is Bella right?" He pointed to Bella. "And you're dating Will. So he knows too?" She nodded. "This explains so much." He let out a deep breath. "Don't worry, I won't tell."

"Thanks." Bella said. "We'd been planning to talk with you two for a week or so now, but we figured we'd get to it after the dive competition today was done."

"But when we saw you and Laura here kissing we figured now would be a perfect opportunity." Emma said.

"Wait you've been planning this behind my back?" I accused them.

"Well, actually we were trying to figure out how to get you two together. Looks like it wasn't needed." Cleo confessed.

Over the loud speakers they called the tenth diver for the first run to the ready platform.

"I have to go get Will and get him set. Did you want to come and watch him dive up close Bryon?" I asked.

"Sure." He looked back at the others. "Thanks for trusting me. I don't blame you for not telling me sooner. I've seen how some treat Laura and it really bothers me. So I don't blame you for trying to keep it secret for so long. I'm just glad to know that you don't mind me being with her and all."

"Bryon they get it and you're going to miss the fun part if we don't hurry." I said tugging on his arm. As soon as his back was turned I shot a pointed look at my sisters and mouthed 'later'. They had the good grace to look guilty.

I hurried down the stairs with Bryon in tow and found Will sitting near the dive area adjusting the fit on his goggles. There were still two more divers before him so I left him to it for now. While I waited I flagged down one of the officials and asked what the current best was so far today. I got 35 meters for an answer before he hurried forward to record the current marker that had just surfaced.

"OK Will no one has gone deeper than 35 so far. I think that will change after your dive and not just because of your target." I told him

"I know." He answered. "I'm not worried. You all have put in so much to help me do this. I won't let you down."

"Don't do it for us. Do it for yourself." I said.

"Don't worry, I am. I'm just also doing it to prove that all your hard work teaching me was well worth it. I'll give it my all this one last time." He replied with confidence.

"One last time?" Bryon whispered to me.

"He's competing this one time because he needs the money and couldn't find a job before he no longer received an allowance from his family. He hates the pressure of competing so he only wants to pursue the sport for recreation." I answered.

"Ah. A bit like me except I do the competitions not just for the money but for the challenge of facing some of the best." He said. Then he turned to Will and offered his hand. "Luck to you mate. I've been looking forward to seeing you dive."

Will accepted the offered hand and shook it. "Thanks."

"Will you're up." I told him.

Will got situated in the water and put on his mono fin, got it quickly secured in place, and then pushed off into the water. After a few gentle strokes he got to the surface anchor of the dive line he was assigned to, took a few quick breaths followed by a deep one, and dove.

"See how he used both the front and back motions of his kick?" I pointed out Will's motion to Bryon. "And how he's moving his whole body not just his legs?"

"Yeah. I see it. Dang he's moving fast too." Bryon said impressed.

"See how there is also no twisting in his kick either. That's what we taught him. Efficiency of movement. He's using about a third of the energy that every other diver before him was using. He won't burn out before reaching his target and his body will burn through a fraction of the air supply too." I couldn't help a proud grin from showing.

Bryon gave an impressed grin and a brief laugh. "So that's your secret technique. Not wasting effort. I like it. Simple, yet effective."

"Those are usually the best ones." I said. What ever answer Bryon was going to give me was forgotten as a 50 meter marker popped up to the surface. Even I couldn't hold back a pair of raised eyebrows and an impressed whistle. Shortly after Will came into view in the water and surfaced with the same efficient motion that he had dove down with.

"50 meters?" I asked him.

"Well I was going so good and I kind of got used to slowing down when I saw the bottom forgetting that I wouldn't see that this time," he paused to swim back to the dive area and held out his hand to me. I just backed and gave him a look that told him he should know better. "Right sorry." Bryon offered him a hand instead and helped Will out of the water. Once out he began removing his fin and goggles and continued explaining why he went so far.

"Well by the time I remembered that little fact I'd just shot by the 46 meter marker so I just decided to make it a round 50 for now. Still felt a little to easy but I don't want to over do it on what is essentially a warm up dive." He got to his feet. "Sorry about that."

"No." I told him. "I'm not the one that's gonna overreact to it. You'll see."

"You're probably right," he said grabbing a towel and heading towards where the girls were watching. "But I don't plan to hold back just to sooth someone ego. I'll do my best and if I'm fairly beaten I can handle it."

"I hear ya mate." Bryon said. "That's the only way to go."

They shared one of those looks that men do when they understand each other. I didn't know what they were talking about there at the end, but I was glad they were getting along. Byron would fit well with the group and that made me glad.

"Walk me to the ferry?" Byron asked me.

"Sure." I said and fell into step next to him. "I'm sorry you can't stay longer, I understand you have a commitment to be at your event, but I'm glad you were able to be here even for a short while."

"Me too." He said as we got to the loading area. The ferry was visible in the distance and would arrive soon. "Don't be to hard on the others. You told me that it would be up to them if you told me who they were."

"They should have asked me sooner though." I said still a bit miffed at being left out of making the decision.

"Which side would you have argued for if they had?" He asked me with a look that said he already knew the answer. I opened my mouth to answer him and then realized I didn't know which side of that I'd have actually been on. "Exactly. That's why they had to decided that for themselves. I think they would have brought it up soon but when they saw us here they just jumped on the chance." He finished.

"Eurrgh. I guess your right." I admitted. "I suppose I'll have to let this one slide."

The ferry had arrived and Bryon hopped on board. He did give me a very nice good bye kiss before going to find a seat before they all filled up. I waited until the ferry had pulled away before turning to go back to the others. I didn't have to go far.

"Laura. Sorry we didn't mean to scare him away." Cleo said.

"Don't worry, Cleo, you didn't. He couldn't stay long today anyways." I said going over to them. "There's a amateur surfing competition also going on today and he got drafted to judge it."

"Oh." Cleo looked much relived, so did the others, and gave a hesitant smile at me. "Well that's good. You're not mad with us for not telling you about, well... telling him."

"You should thank him later," I said with a grin. "He convinced me to not be mad at you for this. As he explained it to me I wouldn't know if I should be arguing for you to tell him or not to tell him. And since he was dead on about that he was also right that it was better that you all decided on your own."

"OK. That's good." Emma said. "Now let's all go..."

"However he didn't convince me to let you off the hook for just dropping it on us with no warning at all." I said with a slightly feral grin.

"Errrrgh," Bella said. "We're sorry but the opportunity was just too good to pass up?"

"Uh huh." I nodded. "Don't worry. I don't have time right now to get you for this one. I'll just make a mental note for now." I kept a straight face and let their imaginations run for a bit. I'm sure they came up with several ways I could get even that were far worse then anything I'd actually do. Then I burst out laughing. "Oh. You should see your faces." I was almost doubled over. "You all look like you're about to face a hang mans noose."

"Wait." Rikki said. "That's your revenge?"

"Yup." I said between giggles. "I'm sure the stuff you thought I might do was bad enough that I don't feel I have to actually do anything." I'd started to wind down by now, after all people were starting to stare at me. "Besides I'm sure what ever you though of was far worse then anything I would have actually done, so now we're even. After all I was freaking out and imagining the worst when you dragged us up there."

Bella just groaned, Cleo started laughing with me, Emma gave a look that said I was right and they deserved that, and Rikki, being Rikki, glared at me for a bit then darted at me and I took off running with her chasing me the whole way back to where they'd set up to watch. The whole way I couldn't stop laughing as Rikki kept calling out that she'd get me for that. I'd made it all the way to the top deck before I fell over from laughing so hard and Rikki playfully tackled me to the deck and tried to pin my arms behind me.

The whole time I was laughing so hard I didn't even try to stop her.

"If you girls are finished we should start to think about getting some lunch." Ash said.

"OK. OK." I laughed a bit more. "I give, I give."

"Do you have any idea the horrors I was contemplating you'd do to me over this?" Rikki demanded.

"Nope!" I laughed. "But knowing you they must have been some real doozies." I told her.

Rikki let me up. "Really. I was so freaked out... " It clicked for her. "Ohhhh... OK. Yeah I guess we're even."

"Yup." I had finally stopped laughing but the good mood stayed. "I have to go check on when Will's next dive is before we can get lunch."

"Don't worry." Will said. "Unless someone drops out they plan to keep the order the same each time so everyone gets as close to an equal amount of rest between dives as possible. Which means now is the perfect time for me to grab lunch."

"And you know that how?" I asked him as I got back to my feet.

"I asked the officials while you were saying good bye to Bryon." He explained while unwrapping a sandwich.

"Ah. Cool. Saves me the trip." I started to look around for the lunch supplies they'd assembled while I'd been busy doing the coach stuff. I found the makings for sandwiches and enjoyed lunch with the gang. I had to explain to the guys why Byron had to leave as they hadn't joined the girls when they had met me at the ferry after he'd left. They all winced at the his reason stating that judging was often tedious especially amateur level events.

After lunch was over my relaxation time was over. I had to go down and check the records for all the first dives and then discuss with Will his next dive target. Thankfully the staff took a lunch break after the final diver completed his first dive so we weren't rushed.

"I'm thinking 80 this time." Will said. "Match my record."

"And what do you go for after that?" I asked. "Best to scale it back a bit. You did 50 the first time so up it mid 60's or an even 70 at most. That's still a good dive and you go to match your record on the final dive."

"OK. If you think that would be best." He said.

"Don't forget the record for this event is only 68 meters." I reminded him. "I know you have gone deeper but that was at a different venue. And each one keeps it's own records."

"Ah right." He said. "I don't want to over do it right off the start. Like you said that's the same as saying to everyone else don't bother I've already won."

"Exactly. You are the favorite here. You hold the local record and you netted the best possible choice for coach. Put that together and you basically have a target painted on your back." I said. "Don't need to make it any bigger then it already is."

"Best possible choice for a coach?" He asked me.

"As far as they are concerned," I made a general wave at all the other coaches and divers, "yes."

"Ah right. What we think and what they think aren't the same thing." He let out an annoyed sounding sigh. "If your the best coach ever it's because you're a good friend that wanted to help me the best you could. That's the important part I just wish they could all see it."

"Don't let it bother you too much love." Bella said putting an arm around him. "You understand and that's all that matters to us."

The moment he noticed Bella you could see the tension drain from him. I smiled and looked out over the water, missing Bryon already. Well he had his responsibilities and I had mine. We'd get them done then find some time for each other.

"Bella stay with Will for a bit. He needs to relax more." I said and took a seat and stared up at the clouds. "Just let me know when they start up again." I closed my eyes and dozed. I really needed a coffee but between running around as a coach and the girls the three I'd had this morning had been it for me today so far. I was starting to feel the lack.

"ALL RIGHT FOLKS. SORRY FOR THE DELAY. WE ARE READY TO RESUME THE COMPETION AT THIS TIME. WOULD THE DIVERS PLEAES REPORT TO THE DIVE AREA WITH THEIR COACHES. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE." Woke me when it came blaring over the PA system. We weren't the only ones to wince at the increased volume.

With my ears still ringing I followed Will down to the dive area to prepare for the second round. Once there I went over to wait in another line to once again list what Will's target depth would be. I got asked three times if he was sure he was going to attempt 70 meters. They still didn't look convinced but they wrote it down all the same.

"OK your all set for the next dive." I told Will. "What did they have to say to you?"

"They just wanted to let us know that they'd be calling a short break in the middle to rotate the safety divers." He led the way back towards the ship the others were camped out on. "We're all going deeper so each dive is going to take longer. Plus just about all of us are planning to go close to or over 60 so they have to have divers deeper down. They'll have to surface slowly to decompress so that will take some time too."

"Ah. No one dropped out or got canned then?"

"Nope."

"Well let's get comfy and wait." I smiled as I headed over to a chair and tried to find a soda in one of the coolers.

We engaged in small talk for the next hour while we waited for Will's turn. Bella kept him company and helped him stay calm. And Zane put in a late appearance shortly after noon and just in time to see Will make his second dive of the day.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late, but better late then never right?" He said as he showed up. He looked burned out but he still smiled when Rikki ran over to him and greeted him with a kiss.

"I didn't expect you for at least another few hours." Rikki said.

"Aaron showed up early and seeing that he was trained by Emma and Ash personally I let him take over, with his agreement, and came out to show some support." He grinned at Will. "From a distance this time though."

We all got a good laugh out of that and quickly got a seat set up for Zane. By now we had the entire top deck to ourselves. With out binoculars you couldn't see much of what was going on, not that this was much of a spectator sport to begin with, but those here to show support for friends or family competing wanted to be closer to where the dives were happening.

Will was still number fourteen in line and the twelfth diver had just started his dive. We got to the waters edge and Will got his goggles on and his fin adjusted. Then he started taking slow breaths and getting his focus. I stood behind him and made sure no one bothered him.

"54 meters for number twelve." An official called out as the marker floated to the surface. Will didn't even twitch. Shortly after the diver himself surfaced and was helped back onto the dock by his coach and the next diver was giving the all clear to begin. Will started his final prep breathing while he waited. The two divers after him got set up at the other remaining dive points. They would be the last to go before the break.

I waited patiently for the current diver to finish so Will could begin. I was starting to worry when the 62 meter marker surfaced. It was called out and recorded and the diver helped from the water as he surfaced gasping a bit for air. I knew that would probably be his best dive for the day.

"Diver fourteen you can begin." An official called out and I lightly tapped Will on the shoulder, a signal to him that he was clear to start, and he slipped into the water and after one final breath he dove.

"How deep is he going?" I turned to see Sophie and Alex behind me. Sophie was the one asking as Alex was just glaring at the water where Will had gone down.

"He asked me to register him for 70." I said. Alex's glare got harder if possible and I could almost swear I heard his teeth grinding.

"That's close to his record from last time." Sophie said. "He up for it? He didn't practice for a long time and even with your training he only had a month to get ready."

"I had to talk him down to it." I explained while watching the water for any sign of Will or a marker. "He wanted to go for something in the mid eighties at first."

"He really ready for that?" She looked insulted at the possibility.

"I think so. If he makes this I'll be sure of it." I said.

I looked at my watch. He'd been down a while and while I wasn't worried just yet I knew he was running out of time.

"He should have been there by now." Sophie said sounding nervous. I guess even though not his coach she still worried about him as a sister.

"Easy." I told her. "He's still good."

Shortly after the 72 meter marker surfaced. "See he's good." I told her.

Will surfaced not to long afterward and hopped out of the water with out any help. I skipped back as he managed to splash water everywhere. He didn't even looked strained, but more like someone that had just hit his stride.

"Well done Will." I told him.

"I could do that." I heard in a soft his behind me.

"No." Sophie said. "You're not prepped for it."

"I don't need prep." Another hiss. I figured it was Alex. I tuned them out as the next diver started his run and they pulled Will's marker from the water. I handed him a towel and he moved out of the way to get dry and a bit of rest before we headed back up to the others.

I took a seat next to him, but far enough away to stay dry, and together we watched the next two divers while he got dry and rested.

"Well done." I told him again. "How do you feel?"

"I feel..." he paused to think for a moment. "Good. I feel good. Like I was in my zone. I know I can go deeper on the last one. Break my own record."

"Be a good way to end your last competition." I smiled at him. "You gonna go for it?"

"Yeah. I won't ever need to do this again so why not finish strong." He said smiling back.

"Good. Keep that positive out look and you'll do fine." I pointed to the water where the last diver before the break had just resurfaced with a mark of 50 even. "Looks like they're done for now. If you feel like it we can head up now."

I never heard his answer as at that point Alex pulled on his goggles and fin and got in the water. "I'm the best here and I'll prove it right now. I'm going to 90." And without waiting he turned and dove.

"He's out of his mind." Will said getting to his feet and moving towards the water. "He's way to fired up to even get to 60 right now. He's going to hurt himself."

I was right behind Will and as I looked down into the water I knew he'd be hard pressed to even see 60 with his poor technique. Add in that he hadn't done any breathing prep work and his heart rate was way too high and I felt he'd be lucky to even see 30.

Sophie was beside herself. Completely freaked out and babbling. Will managed to keep his head and grabbed an official and asked if the safety divers could stop him. I didn't get to hear the answer as one of them surfaced right then.

"What's the big idea? We're starting to cycle up and he just went past 60. We only have two divers that deep and they've already started decompressing. They don't have enough air to get down there and back up again." He said.

A second diver surfaced. "He's dead weight." He said.

"What's that mean," I asked Will.

"He's blacked out and exhaled all his air. He's got no buoyancy left. He's going to sink like a stone." Will told me.

"How deep is he?" Sophie demanded.

They put their head underwater and exchanged some hand signs with the deeper divers. "He just went past 80 and is sinking fast. I'm sorry but anyone already down there we sent after him would just die with him and none of us up here can get down there fast enough. He's gone." They said.

'Damn it' I thought. "There's one person here that can do that." I said taking two quick steps. "MOVE!" I yelled and dove out into the water.

As soon as I had my tail I turned and dove. I shot down past the safety divers startling them with my passage. I had passed the 60 meter mark after barely twenty seconds and I didn't slow in the slightest. Actually I sped up. I knew better then to go full out as I'd not only over shoot him but go too deep to fast even for me, but at the same time I wasn't taking it easy. I didn't know if he had a chance but I did know the longer he was down there the worse it would be.

He'd sunk farther in the time it had taken me to get in the water and change. I passed 90 and I could barely make him out farther down. I finally caught up to him just as he slipped past the 130 marker and I grabbed him. I felt his neck and felt a week flutter, not much but I'd take it. I pried open his mouth and blew air into his lungs twice before he twitched and his pulse got a touch firmer.

Good enough for now. I started dragging him back up. I couldn't go near as fast on the way back and sharing my air did shorten my time but I still had way more then enough for myself. Him too if it came to that, but I hoped not. As I dragged him up I noticed the shocked looks in the eyes of the divers as I passed. I ignored them for now more concerned with getting this idiot to the surface.

Once on the surface I passed him off to a medical team that was standing by. They quickly got to work as I pulled myself out of the water. Will handed me a towel and I started to get dry.

"How deep was he when you got him?" One of the medics asked.

"He'd gone well past 100 before she got to him." One of the divers in the water said. "We've never seen anything like it. She just flew past the deeper markers like it was nothing."

Everyone stopped and stared at me except for the medics. They were professional enough to keep working. I just shrugged. I wasn't going to worry about it.

"He had a pulse when I got to him. Not a great one but it was there." I said. "I gave him some air, but I'm not really trained in CPR so I don't know if that helped or not."

"We noticed. It might be what tips the balance in his favor if anything will." One of the medics said. "What was the exact depth you got to him at?"

"He'd just slipped past 130 when I got to him." I said. "That good or bad?"

"No way you went to 130 cold like that." Sophie burst out.

"No harder for me to do than for you to jump in there now and go down to 13." I told her. She just stared at me and blinked a few times.

I finished drying off and stood up. "I'm going somewhere a bit less crowded. Let me know if he's OK." I started to walk off. "I don't like all this needless attention."

Before I could get ten steps there was a loud bout of coughing from where Alex was. I turned around to see as the medics got him loaded on a back board thing. He was conscious and looked miserable. He waved for them to hold up for a moment.

"How'd you get me out." He asked between coughs. "I knew I was too deep when I felt myself start to black out."

I decided now would be a good time to get scarce and started to leave.

"You should thank her." Someone told him. "She went in after you. If she hadn't of been here you'd be dead now."

I didn't turn and kept walking. I didn't hear his answer if he had one and quickly tried to loose myself in the crowd that had been too far away to see what had happened.

I was only partially successful. Sophie caught up to me before I'd gotten to the ship where we were camped out on.

"Thank you." She said looking completely serious. "I never would have expected one of you to do that. I was wrong about you all."

"None of us would let someone die when we have the ability to prevent it." I said simply. "We're better then that."

"I see that. I'm sorry I ever though otherwise." She said.

"Shouldn't you be with your diver making sure he's OK?" I asked hoping to side track her before she could make any more of a fuss.

"Of course. I just wanted to say that." She didn't seem to know what to say next and then finally blurted out. "Before I, you know, lost the chance to." She hurried off. I just shook my head and started up the stairs.

"Well that's going to make the rest of this day seem boring to everyone." Rikki said with a smirk.

"Was I supposed to let him drown to keep things exciting for everyone?" I asked her sarcastically.

"Nah." She said. "Just stating a simple fact."

"If you'd waited too much longer I was about to dive in myself and go after him." Bella said. "You probably didn't notice but I'd been about a meter behind you and heard everything."

I looked at her and considered it for a moment. "You came down to congratulate Will I'd bet."

She simply nodded. I just smiled. "Raise your hand if you would have let him drown instead of being revealed." Not a single one of my sisters raised her hand. "Not surprised." We all laughed.

"You did good." Cleo said. "Don't worry too much."

"I don't think she's worried that she didn't do good." Zane said walking back over from where the guys had been standing. "I think you're more worried about this only making you be more in the public eye."

"Yup that about sums it up." I groaned. "They're never gonna leave me in peace now."

"Don't worry. You were too far under the water for most to even know it was you." Ash said.

"And there was such a crowd around where you brought him out that even we couldn't see you from up here." Lewis finished.

"He's going to be fine." Will said as he got to the top of the stairs. "He won't be diving again anytime soon but he's going to live."

I gave a sigh of relief. I was worried that coming up so fast or giving him air might have done more harm then good. I was glad.

"He has however been dropped from the competition. His first, and so far only, dive of the day will be counted. He's going to be in dead last but at least he'll live." Will continued.

"They going ahead with the rest of the event?" I asked.

"Yeah. They knew stuff like this would be possible." He told me. "Granted not this bad, but things do go wrong at these things. They're not going to stop because of it."

"You don't seem too bothered." Emma said.

"I am." Will said. "I'm just trying to not let it ruin my focus."

"Having any luck with that?" I asked.

"Not much." He admitted.

"Looks like they are starting up again." Zane said. "Really though? Why'd he do it?"

"Apparently my ability to make the dives look easy got under his skin." Will said with a heavy look at Zane.

Zane winced. "Fair enough." He then looked thoughtful for a moment. "But it's not the same. I played a stupid prank to make it look like I did it easy when I couldn't actually do it at all. You've at least spent a month in intensive training to do it for real." He said.

"He also wanted to prove that if my sister could train me to set the record the first time she could do it again." Will let out a sigh. "Also wanted to prove that Sophie could train him just as well as you guys could train me." He stared at the deck at his feet for a bit before adding. "Much as I love my sister, she is family, I know now that the training you guys gave me is worlds apart from the usual training for this. She could never understand this the way you guys do."

We didn't know how to respond to his honest words. So we just sat there and stared at him.

"I guess Alex just couldn't accept the idea of that and he let it push him to do something he should have known better then to do." He gave a short bark of a laugh. "Not like after that time I have any room to judge though."

"Yeah. If I ever pull a stunt like that again you have my permission to knock my teeth out." Zane said.

Somehow hearing that from him was just the right thing to break the seriousness of the moment and get us all laughing. Once we calmed down we broke out some light snacks and just relaxed together for a bit.

"Still want to go for your record on the last dive, Will?" I asked him between bites. I'd cut a large wedge off a block of good ol' American cheese and was happily savoring it a bite at a time.

"Yeah." He said. "I'm feeling up for it still. Strangely I feel as if this time it won't be such a hard stretch to do."

"Well part of that is you won't have to work as hard to shake off the stress of the pressure." Bella said stealing a kiss from him. "You spent all that time with me sightseeing after all."

"And I loved every minute of it." He said with a smile. "If you ever want to do that again just for the heck of it I'll go with you anytime."

"WOULD ALL COACHES PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICIALS DESK TO LOG THEIR DIVERS TARGET DEPTH FOR THE FINAL DIVES OF THE DAY. I REPEAT, WOULD ALL COACHES PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICIALS DESK AT THIS TIME. THANK YOU." Once again came blaring over the intercoms.

"OK. I'm going." I said. "And I'm going to mention that we aren't deaf." I stood up popping the last bite of cheese in my mouth. "At lease we weren't before!" I headed for the stairs followed by a chorus of laughter and agreements from the others.

My ears were still ringing by the time I arrived at the line that had formed. I kept wanting to shake my head to make it stop but controlled the impulse. It wouldn't actually fix anything and might just make it worse.

By the time I got to the front of the line it had finally faded and I could hear normally again. "So how far down are you going?" The official at the desk asked me with a snarky grin. I really wanted to hit my head against something, but as there was nothing available I restrained myself.

"My diver, Will, is planning to break his own record of 80 meters. List him for 80 and we'll see how far he goes." I tried to speak calmly but found myself speaking through gritted teeth instead. I guess I might get used to this in time, I hoped anyways. "That work for you?"

"Sure. Sure. And for yourself?" He asked laughing. I glared not amused anymore if I ever had been to begin with.

"Idiots. All of them." I muttered under my breath as I headed away. I really wished for nothing more then to just take my sisters and swim to the moon pool right now. But we didn't have that option at the moment so I was just going to have to suffer through this for a while longer.

I stopped and turned back to the official remembering something. "Oh could you tell who ever is in charge of the PA system that we're not deaf and he doesn't need to have the volume turned all the way up. Thank you."

For once I got some support as the other coaches in line all called out various agreements about my request. It wasn't much but it made me feel a bit better as I headed back to the others.

I didn't rush as I knew they wouldn't be starting the third, and final, dives for a while yet. I saw the safety divers cycling again and knew they were making use of the time to get dive depths logged.

"You're all set." I told Will once I got up to the top. I grabbed another can of soda and drank it straight from the can like I usually did.

"You know, now that we know how you do that it just doesn't seem fair somehow." Rikki said.

"I know." Cleo said. "I tried it earlier and it was just so hard to concentrate on keeping just the surface under control."

I laughed. "Yeah but it takes all my concentration to try and drink bubbles of it in mid air."

"What's this?" Zane asked having been the only one to miss this mornings revelation.

"Laura has a trick that let's her drink with out needed a straw for everything." Emma informed him a bit resentfully.

"Really?" Zane said looking at me. "So what's the trick?"

"Surface tension." I told him. He just stared back blankly. "Lewis if you would please."

Lewis smiled and explained the whole process to him.

"Not a bad trick." Zane said impressed. "How did no one ever notice this before?"

"No idea." I said. "But Ash was the one to notice this morning. The only one to notice on his own actually, but once he did Lewis figured out the how."

Ash just leaned back and put his hands behind his head while wearing a self satisfied smirk.

"Emma would you smack your boyfriend for me?" I asked her. "He looks way too pleased with himself."

Everyone burst out laughing.

The announcement that the competition was about to resume sounded over the PA system. Loud enough to hear but no longer cranked up to max. I guess they had listened.

"OK. Will time to get your game face on." I told him. "This is for keeps."

"My final competitive dive." He said starting to focus. "I'm gonna make it my best yet so I can move on with no regrets."

"You have regrets from last time?" Bella asked him.

"No." He said with a smile for her. "I just don't want to have any this time too. I finished strong last time and I'll finish strong this time too. Then I'm done with this, for good this time."

"Good attitude." Rikki said "I can get behind that."

"Yeah. Me too." Sounded out from the others as each in turn gave him their support.

"Thanks guys." Will sounded a bit choked up. "I wasn't sure I could do this again after I walked away from it last time. I don't think I could have with out all you supporting me. Yeah even you Zane. I honestly enjoyed training with you guys, however Emma, no offense, but I'm glad our early mornings are done. You can be a bit of a taskmaster."

"None taken." Emma said laughing. "Your not the first one to tell me that."

"But it's the way you are and we wouldn't change it." I said giving her a one armed hug.

"Speak for yourself." Rikki quipped. Once again we found ourselves laughing good naturedly.

"No really. Thank you. All of you." Will said once we'd managed to stop. "I couldn't have done this without your help."

"Your welcome." We all said in turn. The guys bumping fists and us girls each giving him a friendly hug except for Bella. She gave him a long kiss that looked like an attempt to see how long he really could hold his breath.

I made a polite coughing sound to get their attention. I had to repeat it twice more before they finally broke. "If you two are done here," there were a few chuckles from the others, "Will and I should get down to the dive area so he can get prepped to dive." I said.

"OK." Bella said letting him go. "We'll be here when you get back."

"Will." I snapped my fingers in front of his face. He didn't seem to notice and his expression was slightly dazed. "Yoo hoo. Anyone in there?" I waved my hand in front of his face. Still no response. "Bella now was not the best time to short circuit his brain."

She blushed and everyone else laughed. I reached out and put a finger in the middle of his forehead and pushed. He tipped right over and hit the deck. That finally snapped him out of it.

"I'm sorry what?" He asked. This caused everyone to burst out laughing. I just groaned.

"If you're back with us now we need to head down and get ready for your dive." I told him.

"Oh. Right." He stood quickly. "Of course. Let's go."

I rolled my eyes as I followed him down. "You gonna be OK after that?" I asked him a bit heavy on the sarcasm.

"Yeah. I'll be great." He said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Men!" I muttered quietly while throwing my hands up and staring at the sky. I'd never understand them. A few other women near by heard me and gave me looks of total agreement.

When we arrived at the dive area and Will began going over his gear one last time I had to admit Bella had done one thing. I'd never seen him more calm and relaxed then he was right now. He still had that silly grin on his face but he was also focused on what he needed to do.

While he got ready I paid attention to the markers the divers before him were hitting. Most hit in the low to mid 60 meter range but one of them managed to reach the 74 meter marker. Will was now going to have to hit the 80 meter target or he'd default to second place even if he got to 79. The rules held him to meet his declared target depth or the dive would be invalid.

"You're up in three." I told him when the tenth diver began. He nodded and started his prep breathing. I left him too it. At this point I wouldn't do anything to break his focus until I gave him the signal to begin. I watched each of the last three divers before him hit marks in the upper 60's.

"He can begin anytime." I was told by an official. I nodded and tapped Will on the shoulder, our signal that he was clear to go, and he stood pulling on his goggles. He got to the waters edge and got his fin on his gaze never wavering from the surface anchor of the dive line. He took one last breath and pushed off into the water and started down.

I found myself holding my breath as he went down and forced myself to breath. I wasn't in my tail and it would be very embarrassing to pass out after only four minutes. Close to three minutes had passed when I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Bella next to me. She gave me a nervous smile and then we both turned to stare at the water and wait for the marker and Will.

"How long has he been down?" She finally asked nervously.

"Almost four minutes." I answered her. "I figure at most it should take him just over two get down there, and the same to get back. We won't see him until the last 15 meters or so with the surface reflections distorting everything from above."

She nodded to me and took my hand in a nervous grip and we waited.

"Shouldn't we have seen the marker by now?" She asked worried.

I checked the near by clock. "Soon. It's been just over three minutes. It takes a while for it to get up here from 80 meters down. But we should see it soon."

I no sooner had spoken then a marker surfaced. I had to blink twice to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It read 95 and ½. Bella screamed in excitement and gave me a hug. I hugged her back just as excited. "Now remember you can't kiss him until he gets dried off." She laughed.

A short time later Will surfaced and took a deep breath while leaning on lowered area near the water. One of the other divers offered him a hand out. I could hear him congratulate Will on the dive. Will thanked him and staggered over to a chair and fell into it taking deep controlled breaths. I couldn't help but be please by the show of good sportsmanship being shown.

"So how do you feel?" I asked him.

"It's no 130 but I'll take it." He joked to me.

"I should make you swim back to shore." I told him in faked irritation.

"Actually," one of the officials said, "we're all quite curious to see just what you can do. It's 540 meters deep here and you're welcome to go for it."

"Nah." I said. "Going down to pull someone out that get's in over their head is one thing. That, however, would feel like I was showing off. I'm not even sure I could make it either."

"If you're sure?" He asked me seriously. I indicated that I was. "OK. Still if you change your mind." He walked off to let the next diver know he could get started.

As soon as no one was looking Bella twisted her hand and the water fell off of Will as a bunch of clear goo. Soon as he was dry she jumped in his lap and threw her arms around him.

"OK. I'm gonna leave you to alone now." I said. They didn't seem to notice me so I walked off let the others know that Will was done for the day. On the way I saw Zane and Rikki talking to one of the event coordinators and went over to see what was going on.

"Thank you Mr. Bennett." He said.

"It's just Zane these days." Zane answered him.

"Very well, Zane," He said shaking Zane's hand. "And you as well Miss. Chadwick." He shook Rikki's hand as well. "Thank you for letting us hold the award ceremony at your establishment."

"No problem," they both said.

As he walked off I walked up to them. "Something I should know?"

"They wanted to know if they could do the awards at Rikki's tomorrow." Zane said. "And we agreed."

"Seems kinda short notice." I commented.

"I know." Rikki said. "But Will's got this all locked up and we felt it was appropriate."

"Still fully half the divers left to go." I said.

"And you really think any of them are going to beat a 95 and ½ meter dive?" She asked me.

"You do have a point." I said. "I've watched the other divers and most of them are lucky to be going to even 50."

"Where's Bella by the way?" Zane asked looking around.

"Oh after she helped Will dry off she kinda wanted to congratulate him on his success." I said. We all rolled our eyes. "And they want me to do an exhibition dive to the bottom of the ocean just to prove I can go down 540 meters. I told them no of course."

"They seriously asked you that?" Rikki seemed shocked. "Are they bonkers?"

"Probably." I said. "Let's go meet up with the others and tell them the good news."

"Sure." They agreed.

When we got to the upper deck the others were busy packing stuff up. We quickly started assisting them while filling them in on the results of Wills dive and of Zane and Rikki's offer to hold the award ceremony at the cafe.

"I can help you get all this loaded on the ferry but I have to stay till the end along with Will." I finished. "It's kinda bad manners to take off early if you are currently winning."

"No worries." Cleo said grabbing the small coolers and heading for the stairs. "We'll see you later in the usual place then."

"Definitely." The usual place was the moon pool and I wouldn't miss it for anything. We got everything loaded on the ferry and I hopped back over and headed to the dive area to find Will.

"So the others are heading back now that you're done for the day, but we should stay to see the end out of politeness if nothing else." I said as I walked up then noticed Bella was still with him. "We're also planning to meet later in the usual place." I added for her benefit.

They turned to face me as I spoke and nodded when I was done and then went back to watching the water. I took a seat next to them and filled them in on the last bit of relevant news. That being the offer Zane and Rikki had made for where to hold the award ceremony tomorrow.

"You'll probably have to get the band ready to perform tomorrow for it." I warned Bella.

"Ugh. I should probably go and get them rehearsing then." She said starting to get up.

"You just missed the ferry." I pointed out. "Next one isn't for another hour."

She caught my meaning and got comfortable on Will lap again. I was seriously missing Bryon right now.

We sat through the remaining dives. Will was oblivious to anything but Bella. Bella was oblivious to anything but Will. I was bored and unimpressed with the other competitors. Not one of the remaining divers managed to make it to, much less past, the 60 meter markers. Will's dive was the winning depth by over twenty meters.

Once they were done I reported with the other coaches to the official announcement of the final results and to be informed about where the award ceremony was to be held. I mostly tuned it out since I was already aware of it and was more then glad when we were done.

"OK. We're done here for now. Let's head home." I said and Will and Bella were more then happy to join me on the next ferry ride out.

I got asked several times as we were waiting for it if I had reconsidered doing the dive. I was quite adamant in my refusal and they eventually stopped asking. I was relieved when they did. If they'd asked even one more time I'd have just dove off the side and swam to shore myself to get away from it.

"You could have you know." Bella told me once we were inside the cabin on the ferry when I told her how I felt about it. "We wouldn't have minded."

"Am I seriously going to have to pry the two of you apart?" I asked.

"You're welcome to try." She dared me.

I just groaned and wished Bryon was still here not for the last time. "Seriously get a room."

Bella turned a bright shade of red and finally slid off of Will's lap and into the seat next to him. 'Well finally' I thought. We passed the rest of the ride in silence. At some point I dozed off. The lack of coffee, the slowness of the ferry, and the long day so far combined to just knock me out. I had fallen so deeply asleep that Bella decided to get even with me for my last comment by having Will toss me over the side of the ferry when it finally docked.

He didn't toss me onto the docks obviously. I was startled wide awake by the feeling of hitting cold water.

"Hey! What was that for?" I demanded of them.

"Telling us to get a room." Bella said. "See you later!" She skipped away hand in hand with Will.

I was tempted to use what little ability I had to manipulate water to toss some at her but decided against it based on how many people were still around. Instead I decided that now would be a good time to get a coffee and swam along the shores and canals till I was as close as I could get to half way decent coffee shop. After getting out and dried off I hurried off to get my fix.

I was on my third cup when my phone beeped indicating I had a message. It was from Cleo calling for us to meet. I smiled and quickly finished off my coffee and headed to the nearest open water. I was in a much better mood for the coffee, not to mention more awake, and hurried to the moon pool.

"Hey guys." I said as I came to the surface.

"You stopped for coffee didn't you?" Rikki said.

"Why do you think that?" I asked

"You're hyper." Cleo said.

"Your just guessing." I said.

"We were." Emma said.

I groaned. They'd tricked me into admitting it.

"How many cups this time?" Rikki asked.

"One." I lied.

"Why don't I believe you?" She countered.

"Because we know her better then that." Emma said taking her side.

"Fine two." Cleo raised an eyebrow at me. "Alright three. That's all."

"You sure about that?" Cleo asked pointedly.

"That's all I had time for before getting your message." I said. "Really."

"Hi guys what'd I miss?" Bella said finally arriving.

"Laura trying to lie about not stopping for coffee." Emma said.

"Laura!" Bella chided me. "You really need to lay off that stuff."

"It's not illegal." I said. "And I'm sure there are plenty of people out there far worse than I am."

"Yes but they aren't one of my best friends." She said. The others nodded their support. "Could you try to drink less?"

"OK, OK. I'll keep better track of how much I drink and try to slowly cut back." I offered. "But don't expect me to just up and quit cold turkey."

"I think that sounds fair." Cleo said. "Girls?"

They all answered in agreement.

"I hope I don't regret this." I said. "Just don't ask me to start with my morning coffee."

"If all you did was have it in the morning I wouldn't worry as much." Bella said giving me a playful push backwards into the center of the pool.

"OK, OK. I guess you might have a point." I said laughing. I looked around at the pool. "I can see why you guys always came here to relax before it got damaged. It's so peaceful here."

"They guys don't always find it peaceful but we do." Cleo said. "I think it has to do with us being mermaids. This place is supposed to help us."

"When it's not trying to drag us here with a tentacle to try and give us a message we don't know it's trying to give us." Rikki said. "I'm glad we'll never have to go through that again."

"So it's still pretty early. What should we do?" Emma asked.

"We could go for a swim?" Bella said.

"How about we race back?" Rikki challenged.

"We just got paid yesterday and we have that money from that inventor." I said.

"Shopping?" Emma asked.

"Shopping!" We all agreed and took off for the mainland. We still raced back so Rikki was doubly happy even though Emma thoroughly trounced us.

We all had a great time and bought lots of new stuff. We ended the day happy.

The award ceremony the next day was a simple affair. Will was handed the grand prize plus a bonus for setting the new record. Zane and Rikki got a lot of publicity by hosting and several of the divers that were local were heard to comment they would definitely come back. Bella and the band provided some quality entertainment after all the prizes were handed out.

Even Alex showed up. He apologized to Will for his poor conduct and thanked me for rescuing him. I told him I just did what anyone else would have done if they had the ability to and it was not a big deal. He still insisted that he owed me one and after a while I just found it easier to agree then try to convince him otherwise.

Other then that I found I enjoyed myself at the ceremony despite my misgivings that I wouldn't. I did leave a bit early to meet with Bryon on the beach where he was judging the second day's competition. He was immensely glad for my company and I got him to explain to me about surfing the way he'd had me explain about the diving. I enjoyed how animated he got as he explained to me what each surfer did well and what then needed work on. Afterward he offered to take me out for dinner and I agreed.

I arrived home late and Bella seemed amused when I answered her questions on where I'd been. I answered her seemingly endless series of questions about my dinner date until she was satisfied and I was finally able to escape to take a bath and get ready for bed. I set my alarm pot with half the usual amount under Bella's watchful eye to prove I would stick to my agreement with them and then turned in for the night. Tomorrow I'd be back to work and hopefully the dolphins would be doing better. I drifted off to sleep with pleasant thoughts of them returning to the open sea and swimming free.