A/N: * IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER! Hey guys, hope you're all doing well. In this chapter we see Lewis and Cora on their first official day as a couple, how Rikki is really feeling, and the girls coming to a very strange conclusion about the color of Cora's locket-stone. Read and enjoy, everybody – oh, and please remember to read the A/N at the end of this chapter!

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Rikki

I sighed and pulled at the end of my ponytail. Work is usually boring and everything, but after the craziness of the past three days anything was going to seem way more boring now. And taking messages for some overweight bank executive was about as boring as it gets in the first place. I tapped my pen on the desk and looked around the lobby. I don't even know why they needed me today, this place was completely empty and had been pretty much all day. The digital clock at the edge of my desk says 11:50 a.m. – my lunch break is at 12. Well, my watch says it's 11:59 a.m., so I was getting out of here. It's not like Chubby was going to notice if I left a few minutes early anyway. I reached down by my feet and grabbed my bag, hit a button on the phone to send the calls to voicemail and head for the door.

The second I was out on the sidewalk I bumped into somebody who was about to walk into the bank. I almost, almost said something impolite, but I held it back. I was really trying to make an effort to be more tolerant now. I straightened my bag on my shoulder and was about to keep walking, but the person I bumped into spoke.

"Hey, Rikki! I was just coming in to look for you!" It was Cleo. Hey, good thing I didn't say anything mean, right? I smiled at her and motioned for her to walk with me; this jerk only gave me a 30-minute lunch.

"Hey, Cleo. What's up? Done with class, I guess?"

"Yep. But also, I came up with an idea and I wanted to tell you about it!" She was practically beaming. I couldn't help but smile back – that girl's happiness is kind of infectious. She had told me as I was leaving for work about what Lewis had told her on the phone, and it had struck a pretty strong cord with me. I can't deny that I've always been sort of a loner, but that doesn't mean that I've always liked it that way. I don't mind being by myself if I have to be, but I can't imagine never having a break from myself – I'd be sick of me in about three hours. Trying to imagine where Cora was coming from made me think. She felt like because of what she is – of what we are – that she's not supposed to have a normal life and because of it she doesn't really have any friends. I know how that feels; I've never been popular or anything but I've always had a few close people in my life and I've had my rocks for the past three years – Cleo, Emma, Lewis and Zane. When this happened to me, I didn't think that there was a snowball's chance in hell that I would have anything even remotely close to a normal life again. Thankfully, my friends had managed to convince me otherwise. The only difference is that the three of us had each other. The only person that Cora had had was taken away. But we knew that she didn't have to be alone, and we didn't want her to be alone.

I screwed up a lot when it came to Cora and I really want to make things right. Cleo told us that Lewis said that Cora's powers weren't working, even though the Protector in her hadn't let up at all. There really aren't a whole lot of things more dangerous than letting a powerless mermaid wander around by herself; we all knew that and we weren't going to let one of our own out in the world 'unarmed,' so to speak. But I knew that even though she said she forgave us, I knew that she was planning to stay out of our way. I couldn't blame her – after the way we had acted I would probably think I should stay away, too. I wanted her to know that that wasn't true – that we did want her around. But I had no idea how to convince her of it, and when Emma, Cleo and I had talked about it all together they were both stumped, too. We weren't going to consult Lewis this time. This was our job, he had just managed to do his own job – get that girl to date him. I never thought it would happen, but I guess we've got an awkward-puppy couple on our hands now. But it sounds like Cleo has an idea about what we can do, and I'll admit I'm curious.

"That's great, Cleo – what have you got?" I asked. Then I noticed that there was something different about her. Now, I'm not great at noticing when people get new clothes or get a haircut or anything, but I figured I'd be on the safe side, "I like your haircut."

She blinked at me. Oh great – this was the 'Cleo-doesn't-know-what-you're-talking-about' blink. Whoops, guess there's no haircut after all… Well, better safe than sorry, yeah?

"Rikki, I didn't get a haircut! You're too much," She giggled and rolled her eyes playfully. Well, at least she isn't mad, "But, I am missing something. Try and guess what it is!"

I took a step back from her and examined her for a second. We already established that her hair wasn't different… The clothes she was wearing were ones that I had been with her when she bought, so that wasn't it. I looked at her top to bottom and when I got to her neck I instinctively reached up and grabbed my own necklace.

"Where's your locket, Cleo?!" I was hoping she hadn't lost it. Bad things always tended to happen when one of us misplaced our lockets and I think we've all had enough bad things for one week. But, she was still smiling – even more than she was before.

"It's with Max! He's using it as a model to make a fourth one." She said. I raised my eyebrow, confused. A fourth one? It took me a second. A fourth one! This kid could be a genius sometimes, she could!

"Cleo that's brilliant! What color is her stone?"

"Well, that's why I came to see you. I was thinking that we should all decide together, you me and Emma – to make it more personal, you know? Max said that it would be ready for us to pick up tomorrow, so we've got about a day to figure it out."

"That's perfect. Really, Cleo, ace job. We can talk about it tonight after Emma's night class."

"Great! I'm so glad you like the idea, Rikki! I'm headed back home to tell Emma now. Think of some colors in the meantime!" And with that, she bounced off down the sidewalk. The happiness was infectious, and already I was dreading going back to work a little less. So, we were all going to pick out the color together and she wanted me to think of some to suggest tonight. Well, I would – but I'm pretty sure I already know what color I think Cora's stone should be.

Cora

I peeled my eyes open and squinted at the obscene amount of sunlight coming through my bedroom window. Okay – maybe it wasn't obscene, but I'm still getting used to the sun. I have no clue how long I've been asleep. It was 4 o clock in the afternoon when Lewis put me in bed, that much I remember. Well. I remember a lot of things – I remember everything. Ugh. A huge wave of awkwardness just washed over me – had I really let myself say all of those things to him? I couldn't even believe it, but I guess I didn't have to worry about it anymore. I didn't know if I was doing the right thing being with Lewis – it was what I wanted, and what he wanted, and it felt right, but was it actually happening? For all I know, I could have just dreamed that whole thing. I flopped over onto my side to look at my digital clock and a few things happened.

"WHAT?!" I heard the word blurt out of my mouth without even realizing that I was saying it. First, I realized that it was, in fact, 3 p.m. I had slept for almost 24 straight hours?! I bolted straight up in bed. My stomach was killing me and my body was still sore, but I wasn't so tired that it felt like I was dying anymore. Good signs, Cora. Good signs…

I used my arms to stiffly push the blanket off of my body and swung my legs around, putting my feet on the floor. I bit my slip slightly as I stood up – standing and walking felt so strange, like I was learning how to all over again. I must have looked like an idiot as I went to my open bedroom doorway and looked out at my condo carefully; the lights were still on and everything, and I heard the sound of papers being rustled. I turned the corner and held myself steadier against the wall and came down the short hallway and down the few steps into the living room. Across the room, I could see Lewis sitting at my kitchen table with some textbooks and his laptop out in front of him. I blinked and raised my eyebrows, making my way over to him shakily – how long had he been here? He better have slept in the friggin 24 hours that I did. I still can't believe I did that.

"Lewis?"

"Oh, hey! You're awake!" He smiled and stood up and kissed my cheek shyly. My face flared up, but it was pointless to try to hide it anymore. He held a chair out for me and helped me sit, and for a second I think I just stared at him – back home in California, actually just in all of America, it's pretty rare to see a man holding a chair out for a woman. Or helping her sit in it. It was nice of him, but definitely something that would take a while for me to get used to. Maybe he was only doing it because I sucked at walking right now, but either way it was still really sweet. But I was still hung up on something.

"Yeah – and thank you… I slept for a day? A day, Lewis?" I asked. He smiled and sat back down with me.

"Yup, but you needed it. How are you feeling now?"

"A lot better, thanks. Please tell me you slept, too. How long have you been here? And please don't tell me you're doing homework on zero hours of sleep…"

"I slept, Cora, don't worry. After you were asleep I kinda crashed on your couch – I hope that's okay, but I didn't want to leave you right away, yanno… just in case anything happened."

"You know it's fine, and that was sweet of you," I started, smiling at him, "But I'm awake now and I'm fine, so you're off duty!" I smiled a little and sounded upbeat and looked down at the books in front of him. "What are you doing?"

"Quick homework from biology this morning."

"You went to class?"

"Yeah. I guess you're not used to pulling all-nighters, but I've been doing this since high school. I got enough sleep, please don't worry. I promise. And," He got up and went to the counter where I noticed a brown paper bag, "since I can't exactly cook and you shouldn't be cooking right now, I stopped on the way and brought Thai food back."

He brought me Thai food? I felt myself blinking again. I was hungry – maybe that's why my stomach hurt so badly. This was so strange… I love Thai food, don't get me wrong, but I haven't had anybody do so much for me since Mattie died. It felt warm and familiar like it had when I was still at home, but still… wow.

"All-nighters? You know me, if it's past 11 I'm usually exhausted… And you didn't have to do that, Lewis…"

"I wanted to. Besides… I guess we can technically consider this our first date." There it goes. My face must have been beet red and my hands immediately flew up to my hair, which was hanging down and just felt a mess – I could only imagine how I looked. I blinked down at my clothes. I was still wearing the same outfit I had thrown on yesterday when I had come back; just some jeans and a t shirt that was now wrinkled from sleeping in it. Yeah, I must be looking like one classy lady right now. 100% girlfriend material. He must have been able to hear what I was thinking, "You look fine, don't worry." He came back over to the table to shut his laptop and held his hand out, toting the bag in the other hand. I felt a huge embarrassing smile spread across my face when I realized he was holding his hand out for me. I took it and stood up, and held onto it as we walked into the living room – still blushing and smiling like an idiot.

-

Meanwhile - Emma

"That's an easy one, Cleo!" I smirked and rolled my eyes a little as I tugged the covers up on my bed, making it neatly and fluffing my pillows up straight. She blinked at me and cocked her head to one side.

"It is?"

"Well, yes. I don't really know why, but for some reason something about her just makes me feel like it should be—" I started, but she cut me off quickly.

"WAIT!" She shrieked. I raised an eye brow at her while I tucked the corners of my sheets under my mattress.

"What's the matter?"

"I want us to talk about it together! Plus - and this is weird - I feel the same way. I told Rikki to come up with some ideas, she'll be home in a minute."

"Already? What time is it?"

"Almost 3:30."

"All right, all right. Go get ready for Rikki, I'll be out in a minute." I smiled and shooed her out of my room. Cleo's idea about giving Cora a locket was brilliant and she was so excited – I was too, but the only difference is that when Cleo gets excited it's sort of like a child on Christmas. And it would be a long time before I was willing to deal with Christmas-children. After another few seconds I heard the front door slam and the sound of a bag being slung onto the counter – Well, Rikki was home. I finished making my bed and stood up straight and head out to the living room where Rikki was already sprawled out on the couch and Cleo sat with her. I sat in the chair opposite them, "So, Rikki, what do you think about what Cleo's come up with?"

"I love it, really I do. And I'm pretty sure I have the perfect idea of what color the stone should be." She replied. I raised my eyebrows and exchanged a glance with Cleo – all 3 of us thought we had the perfect color picked. This had the potential to be messy, and we wanted to pick the locket up tonight and bring it to her.

"Weird… because we both do, too." I said, "How do we want to work this? Cleo, what color did you pick?"

"Well… I know it sounds corny because of her name and all, but I think that the color of her stone should be coral."

What? Had I heard her correctly? I'm pretty sure I had, and I eyed her suspiciously.

"Cleo… That's the exact same color I've picked."

"Really?" She squeaked. She was even more excited now, but she leveled herself and turned to Rikki, "Well, what color did you pick?"

"Oh. I was thinking some kind of pinky-orange." She said, sitting up on the couch. She sounded kind of defeated – as if she had been outnumbered or something. I rolled my eyes and smirked.

"Rikki, 'pinky-orange' IS coral. We all picked the same freaking color." I closed my eyes and shook my head. This was unbelievable – well, sort of. This mermaid connection between us popped up all over the place, but this was just one more thing that we could chalk up to our tails.

"What? There's a name for that? Jeez, I learn something new every day I guess…" Rikki muttered and crossed her arms. Sometimes, she really made me laugh and it was one of the reasons why I loved her.

"This is incredible, guys! I'm so happy! I'm going to go call Max right now." Cleo was up off of the couch in an instant with her phone out. If I said I wasn't intrigued too, I would be lying. This was pretty cool, and it was a great idea. We wanted Cora to feel like she was one of us – she is one of us. She's done so much for her and we've been but jerks in return. Lewis loves her to pieces and she seems like a nice person, so we're all trying really hard to show her that we're sorry and that we want things to be different. This would hopefully do the trick.

Later that day - Lewis

I brought Cora back to our apartment for the night because she insisted that I needed to go back home for a while, and that my roommates were probably wondering where I had been. They weren't, really, I'm sure. They've been giving me slack about Cora from day one – if I was ever gone, they assumed I was either with her or in class. They like her and everything, and whenever she visits they're both on their best behavior. But good LORD it's like having a couple of male Cleos in my house. And speak of the devils, here comes Kyle. He came up behind the couch and leaned over it, wedging his head between mine and Cora's and wrapping an arm around each of us – grinning like an idiot.

"Well, Tyler and I are headed to the mall – Gonna give you crazy kids your time alone!" And as if it weren't enough, he pinched our cheeks. He might have been one of my best friends but it didn't make him any less immature. I rolled my eyes a little and smirked.

"Have fun, guys." Cora said from her spot next to me.

"Will do, Cora. See you guys later!" He said, and within another few seconds he and Tyler were out the door.

I yawned a little – I was tired. I guess I didn't even realize it, and it would feel good to have a full night of sleep – on Cora's insistence. I had let her insist on one condition – that she come over. She's already doing way better; all that saltwater made her really weak, but after trying to balance it out with the freshwater she was used to and letting her sleep she was getting right back to her old self again, but I still didn't want to leave her on her own just yet. Besides, it's not like I minded having her here with me. I looked down at her – I don't think she minded, either. This was working. This was working and it was... well? It was really, really nice. We were sitting on the couch and she was half curled up leaning against my side. I had my arm wrapped around her securely – now that I had finally found the courage and finally had her, I didn't want to have to let go just yet. She seems okay with it though. The cute tired smile hasn't left her face since she woke up this afternoon.

We were still for a while until we heard Cora's phone going off, vibrating on the coffee table. I looked down at her and she cocked her head to one side, looking a little confused.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing, I guess… You're the only person who calls me, and you're right here." She said and pushed herself up a little and reached for the phone, flipping it open, "Hello? Oh! Hi, Cleo… for me? Oh… I'm at Lewis's house for the night. One second, I'll ask him," She turned to me and I could still see the confusion written all over her face, "It's Cleo, she says they've got something for me. I'm guessing it's whatever I must have left at Max's house. She wants to know if they can come by and drop it off?" I nodded, but I was a little confused too. Cora hadn't had any belongings with her when we had found her, so there wasn't anything to have left at Max's place. But I knew the girls were trying to make nice with Cora now and I wanted it to happen too. "Cleo? He says that would be fine… okay. Well, all right – see you soon!" She hung up and put the phone back on the table and my stupid grin spread back across my face when she went right back to her spot leaning against me again. I was happier than I'd been in a long, long time, and I couldn't really think of anything that could make today any better. But, I was curious to see what Cleo and the girls have up their sleeve. They haven't told me anything, but I can only imagine. Hopefully whatever they're doing will convince Cora that they've changed. I guess we'll see, then.

-

A/N: So they all came up with the same color for Cora's stone! What do you guys think about the color they picked for her? I felt like it fit her, but let me know what you all think! I love hearing what my readers have to say. : ] I think that the next chapter may be the last one before the 'epilogue,' so please review and let me know how you're feeling about the story – 81 reviews for chapter 22/the finale! Wow, I can't believe it's almost over. Take care everyone!