June 30th 2019

"Hey, Vanessa, do you mind holding the fort for a little bit?" Rikki asked, "I'm just gonna swim over to Mako to have Lewis take a look at the babies."

"Sure thing!" Vanessa said cheerfully as she layered a lasagna. She returned to the cottage cheese and then stopped suddenly. Vanessa blinked, wondering if she'd heard Rikki correctly. She was going to swim to Mako Island?

"Um, Rikki," she called down the hallway.

"Yeah?"

"What? Where are you going again? How are you getting there?"

Rikki stopped dead in her tracks and gulped. Vanessa didn't know yet. About the mermaids, about their village, about anything. Rikki's mind was working full speed to come up with an explanation.

"Sorry, pregnant brain," she laughed, "I'm just going over to Mango Street to see Lewis, our doctor. You remember Lewis from the funeral? I'm walking there now, not swimming! Goodness me I'm blond!" Rikki chuckled weakly.

"Oh," Vanessa said, almost convinced, "Well do let me drive you, you're in no condition to walk so far!"

Rikki bit her lip. "Oh do please let me walk," she begged, "I really could use the fresh air and exercise!"

Vanessa sighed but complied, and Rikki walked down the street casually until she knew she was out of Vanessa's sight. She continued walking toward the beach, not so much for paranoia but for comfort- the babies really were getting huge. As she swam to Mako, she breathed a sigh of relief. That had almost been pretty close.

In his office, Lewis squirted the ultrasound gel onto Rikki's enormous stomach and waited as she transformed. As he moved the scanner onto her belly, an image came up on the screen. Rikki smiled. Despite the earlier complications, this pregnancy hadn't been too bad.

"So Rikki," Lewis smiled, "I'd say you're due in the latter part of July, probably the 24th or 25th. How's that sound?"

Rikki grimaced. "Just awful. Nearly a month left? Eughhhhhh."

Lewis chuckled at her expression. "And you don't want to know the genders?" he asked slyly.

Rikki ached to let him tell her, but stood firm in her and Zane's mutual resolution to wait until the birth. "No," she said unyieldingly.

"Okaaay..." Lewis teased.

"How's Anna going?" Rikki asked, trying to distract herself.

"Actually, she's about to come in once you're done," Lewis remarked, looking at the time. As he did so there was a rhythmic knock at the door.

"Come in," Rikki called, pulling her top down over the bump.

Anna was trying to grow out her fringe, which was now pinned flat back to her scalp. Her pretty ginger hair was braided down her back. She smiled at Rikki and ran to hug her.

"It's so good to see you!" Anna gushed, for it had been nearly a month since Rikki and Zane had last been on the island, "How is everything?"

Rikki smiled, her eyes tired, "Really great. Zane's still very sad, of course, and so am I, but Vanessa- you know, Zane's mom- she's been a really great help."

Anna's eyes narrowed warily. "Does she know about you and the girls?"

"Not yet…" Rikki said, biting her lip, "I'm pretty careful never to let her bathe the girls or anything. But I think she's a little suspicious. Of something, at least."

Lewis cleared his throat.

Anna raised her eyebrows at Rikki and giggled before lying down on the doctor's table.

Anna transformed as the gel touched her skin.

"Well, Anna," Lewis said, "Looks like you're due around Christmas!"

Anna smiled and asked Lewis if he could tell the gender yet.

"You sure you want to know?" he teased.

Anna stared unblinkingly at him, eyes shooting flames.

"Alright, alright!" he laughed, "It's a girl!"

Anna squealed in delight. Her own little ballerina! Rikki smiled warmly at her before slipping out the door and swimming back to the mainland.

oOoOoOoOo

Bella and Will had left Jake and Danielle with Emma and taken the boat over to Phoenix Island with a picnic.

They'd barely had a chance to have a romantic day together since Bella got back from Ireland, but they now walked hand in hand through the lush golden grass of Phoenix Island. Will supported Bella tenderly, because she was still somewhat weak from the accident, and together they climbed over the peaked hills of the magical place.

There was a little cove on the far side of the island, a sandy bay where palm trees swayed and the sun was ever-present. Here Bella laid down the picnic blanket and began to set out the food. Sandwiches, apples, burnt cookies and water bottles. It wasn't much- Bella had never been the best chef- but they cared more about the company than the cuisine.

When they had finished their meal, chatting all the while, Will wrapped an arm around Bella and drew her near. They looked out over the ocean, lost in a moment of perfection. Bella rested her head on Will's strong shoulder and he kissed her forehead gently.

"Jake's getting so old," Bella said sadly, "I feel redundant."

"Hey," Will replied with a laugh, "He's only four! You still read to him every night, you still make his meals, you still adore him. He still adores you."

Bella half-smiled, looking pensively at her husband. "It's just sometimes I feel like the whole world is changing all around me and I'm the only one standing still. It scares me that I'll never be any different to how I am now."

"Don't ever change," Will murmured into her golden hair, "I love you just the way you are. You are perfect to me."

"I just don't want to get left behind," Bella sighed.

oOoOoOoOooOoOoOOOOOO

Rikki sensed the tension as she slipped back into her house. Something was wrong. She sniffed the air suspiciously. Burnt lasagna was evident. Burnt lasagna? Rikki's eyes narrowed. Vanessa never let anything burn: that was Rikki's job.

Her panic increased as she saw water on the floor, a shattered glass strewn across the room.

"Vanessa?" Rikki called in an anxious tone. No reply. "Leila? Charlie?"

Rikki walked down the hallway to the bathroom and stood speechless in the doorframe.

Leila and Charlie, tails resplendent, swished around in the bathtub. Next to it, Vanessa sat silently watching them, a tear rolling down her wrinkled cheek.

When she heard Rikki, she looked up, her face unreadable. Rikki's eyes widened at Vanessa's long silence. When at last she spoke, Vanessa's voice was cold and pained.

"You have got some explaining to do."