Hiya...i know this isn't 'new' chapter as such, but i wasn't too keen on the way i left this chapter, so i have re-written it adding in a lot more deatil, which will hopefully bring a lot more enjoyment to the story!
On with the story, enjoy...
Chloe was concerned at first, but now she was worried sick and furious that Clark had just took off and left her like that.
Chloe had run to the pier and was stood looking out into the water, hoping to be able to spot something…anything. But no such luck, she was just about to give up her vigil position at the end of the pier when she felt cold water splash the back of her legs, turning instantly in shock, she gasped and spotted Clark in the water.
"Clark…thank god, I was worried…where did you go? Where are the girls?" Chloe asked in quick succession of Clark's arrival.
"Chloe calm down…you're babbling, the girls are fine but they have a serious lot of explaining to do, but I will give you the foot note version on the way home" Clark said, pulling himself out of the water to join his girlfriend on the pier.
"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked her mind reeling with confusion and Clark's lack of explaining, as they walked hurriedly down the pier and back to the truck.
The three girls had swam easily back to the beach, now the hard part would be getting out unseen.
"Wait!" Rikki suddenly said, grabbing her friend's arms, as she spotted a couple walking along the beach. Emma and Cleo didn't dismiss her actions, all three floating just below the surface waiting for the love struck couple to pass.
Rikki gave them a reassuring nod that the sight was clear. They all swam to the waters edge, floating into shore, spreading themselves out upon the sand.
"Better do this quick before someone sees" Emma suggested, motioning for Rikki to begin her magic.
Rikki first dried herself, and then promptly went to drying the others. Cleo sighed with relief as her tail disappeared, jumping to her feet, she looked around her, trying to spot which way was back to the car.
"Great, anyone know which way is back?" Cleo asked simply, her hands firmly placed on her hips.
"It's just…well…that way, I think" Emma half heartedly replied, unsure whether her directions were correct, but guessing they had no other better option.
"Come on lets head back this way, it must be up there somewhere" Rikki added, starting to walk back down the beach.
"So any idea what we're going to say to them?" Cleo asked innocently.
"The truth" Rikki said as simply as possible.
"The truth? Where do we start, there is so much to tell"
"What about Lois Rikki, shouldn't we tell her too? She is your sister" Cleo chimed in, looking towards her friend.
"Cleo has a point there" Emma agreed.
"I don't know…what if she looks at me as some kind of freak? I don't want anything to come between us" Rikki explained quietly, feeling all of a sudden unsure of herself.
"Well you'll have to decide soon…there's the truck" Emma pointed out, walking faster towards an eager Clark.
The drive home was unbearably silent; Chloe had kept looking from Clark to the girls, making confused faces at the tension between them all.
Once everyone was seated around the infamous Kent living room, once again ready to reveal the truth about another part of the girl's lives, they all stared at one another, none sure of what to say.
"So…I'll start…what the hell is going on?" Chloe asked, finally bursting with the anticipation of finding out what has been hung over their heads all the way home.
The three girls sat nervously awaiting the revelation of their secret to conspire, Cleo couldn't bring herself to look Chloe in the eye, after everything she had done for her she felt terrible for keeping such a big secret from her. Clark looked towards Rikki as if to ask who should tell her, Rikki gave a nod to say she would do the honours, hoping to get this over and done with as quick as possible, knowing that this could take a while.
"Chloe…there really is no easy way to explain this so I guess I'll just say it like it is…we're mermaids" Rikki proclaimed, watching Chloe's mouth drop in shock, then she could swear she could hear the gears turning in her mind as she put all of the weird stuff that has been happening into context with this new revelation.
"Mermaids…as in King Neptune and Atlantis kinda stuff…or AC meteor freak kinda way?" Chloe asked her nosey personality getting the better of her.
"AC…meteor freak…what?" Rikki asked now she was the one confused.
"Chloe I think we're going a little over their heads…let's just stick to the facts" Clark quickly interjected, eyeing Chloe reminding her that they had no idea about Smallville's 'strange' affect on people.
"Oh right…silly me, just getting carried away again" Chloe corrected, smiling awkwardly towards the girls.
By now Emma was staring at Cleo, a questioning look covering her face, there was definitely something going on here other than their own secret.
"Well anyway…no not in the King Neptune kind way…just mermaids…" Emma explained, trying to shake the uncertain feeling rising in her stomach.
"Just mermaids…so what can you do…how long can you hold your breath underwater?" Chloe asked now intrigued to find out more.
"Well…I don't really know, we've never timed ourselves before…but lets just say a really long time" Cleo finished to Chloe's question.
Chloe smiled brightly towards her new friend, immediately washing away and anxieties she had previously felt, somehow knowing that Chloe would accept them for what they are.
Rikki stood from her seat, she was still unsure whether they were doing the right thing, and ever since their whole ordeal with Charlotte, she couldn't help but think that this could turn out the same.
"Rikki, are you ok…if you want to stop, we understand don't we Clark" Chloe proclaimed, squeezing Clark's hand, smiling reassuringly towards Rikki…her cousin, feeling sorry for her, knowing from personal experience how hard it is to keep such an important secret.
"No…I'm fine, what else do you want to know?" Rikki mostly whispered, managing to compose herself enough to look back her two best friends and know that they would be here for her no matter what…they could do this…together.
"Well…I suppose the most sensible question would be…how?" Clark answered for his girlfriend
"Well…there is an island where we live called Mako. We kinda came upon it when we were well, ship wrecked you might say in a small speed boat…" Cleo started, looking to Emma to continue their story, smiling at Rikki remembering the first time they had met, above all things doing something to really get to Zane, back then she would do anything if it meant Zane was worse off…Cleo's smile broadened inwardly, picturing the two previous rivals who now were more in love than ever, and both were completely aware and fine about her other 'tail' self…I truly am happy for you Rikki, you deserve to be happy Cleo thought, receiving a similar smile from the once rebellious blonde before her.
"We got onto the island and Cleo found a cave…well more like fell into the cave…it wasn't until we got inside that we realised it was actually a dormant volcano…anyway inside was a beautiful pool of water…we decided to stay and to our surprise the water started to bubble…" Emma finished, looking to Rikki for her to finish the telling of their tale, spotting the momentary connection between the two girls, knowing that they were lost to the fond memories of their first discovery of Mako and its extraordinary power, knowing this because she too was remembering and to her it was the best time of her life.
"Being the curious girls we are…and given how hypnotising the water looked, we decide to jump in…together…then it happened, the full moon passed over the hole in the top of the volcano and it well…changed us…lunar magic we figure…and here we are today, mermaids" Rikki cheerfully expressed, smiling towards an intently listening Clark and Chloe.
"What a story…it's truly intriguing to think that a moon could do such a thing" Clark added, now accepting the facts easier.
"It must be hard for you keeping this a secret…especially when there's people like me in the world who love to investigate a good story…but I tell you what, this has definitely put my mind to rest about trying to figure why you all acted so strange around water" Chloe laughed, feeling the atmosphere in the room ease.
"Sorry about that…and you're right it is hard, we couldn't be sure that we could trust you…we've had too many close calls, we couldn't risk becoming exposed…our lives could have depended on it" Cleo explained, still hating the fact that she had lied to Chloe form the start.
"There is one other thing…" Cleo said almost scarcely, her glare passing over to Rikki for permission to share their other little secret.
"Cleo!" Rikki sternly professed, unsure if they should give it all away immediately, still debating whether Chloe and Clark could accept such news…but she couldn't help but wan to tell them to truth, it was only days ago that Cleo had witnessed Clark do something, strange to say the least…maybe they would be more understanding than they think.
"There's more?" Chloe questioned, now leaning forward in her chair, happy to hear about such supernatural occurrences which have happened outside of Smallville.
"We have…powers" Emma answered for Rikki.
"Powers…what kind of powers?" Clark asked, looking towards Chloe anxious, both knowing that they couldn't compare to Clark's.
"It's better if we just show you…I'll be right back" Emma informed, leaving to go into the kitchen, coming back with a glass of water, placing it onto the coffee table in front of them, thinking back to the time they had showed their powers to Charlotte, her skin crawling at the thought of her, knowing that this time would be different, she could feel it, she trusted Clark and Chloe to take this information with a their safety and well being at heart.
Emma looked to Rikki, then Cleo, returning her concentration back to the glass of water sat on the coffee table. She lifted her hand and smiled impressively as the water in the glass turned to ice.
"Wow…cool" Chloe nervously laughed, smiling at the pun of her bad joke. Clark merely continued to watch in fascination.
"There's more" Rikki added, raising her hand to face the glass, watching the ice melt and the water bubble and steam as she heated the water to boiling point.
Chloe didn't say anything that time, as she along with Clark sat looking…waiting to see there next trick.
"And more…" Cleo finally proclaimed, raising her hand and proudly watching the water dance up and out of the glass, swirling into all sorts of liquid shapes, until Emma suddenly froze the long water tunnel mid air.
"Hey…I was having fun" Cleo whined, pouting her lips.
Rikki said nothing, only melted the frozen block of ice as she watched the water fall back into the glass with a slosh.
"So there's that…our powers" She stated simply, regarding the two adults before her, with intrigued, yet surprisingly calm faces. Relieved that they hadn't simply jumped up and ran from the room in shocked fear.
"That was amazing really" Chloe said trying to sound convincing, not sure how to show her 'not so impressed' expression due to her constant witnessing of Clark's more 'Super' powers.
"You don't seem as shocked as I would have expected" Emma said suspiciously.
"Well…I…" Chloe looked to Clark to save her.
"It must be hard for you girls keeping your powers under cover from other people, I know I would find it stressful" Clark added, trying to pull the attention away from Chloe.
"Yer it can be at times…again I'm sorry we didn't tell you but…this is such a big thing and we don't like to think what could happen to us if we are exposed" Rikki explained, her face a reflection of the honesty of her answer.
"Really you don't have to explain yourselves to us…believe me we know about that more than you might think" Chloe answered, smiling knowingly towards Clark.
"Chloe!" Clark stated sternly, already knowing what she was thinking…but he still felt unsure as to whether to tell them about his own secret or not.
"Clark…they have trusted us enough to tell us their secret…we can only do the same…really baby it will be fine, they are good girls we can trust them" Chloe persuaded to Clark, knowing that it wasn't as much her secret to tell but still felt as though they should at least respect them enough to tell them the truth.
"I guess you're right" Clark agreed, looking to regard the three girls sat on the sofa.
"I'm an alien"
Well...What did you think...is it better now?
Will do my best to get the next chapter up soon...but i have lots of work to do, but i will try my best
