Chapter 38

Rikki's POV

I woke up the next morning and gave Zane a kiss. He was still sleeping. Lazy ass. I went into Arian's room and saw her sound asleep. She takes after her father when it comes to how long she can sleep. I walked out of her room and went to the kitchen to get a bottle ready. We had already got everything we need to take care of our daughter. She was probably going to end up spoiled because of Zane. I guess I could try and keep in check. Once the bottle was ready, I went upstairs and picked my sweet little girl up. Her eyes opened slowly. She had my blue eyes. They were so beautiful, she was beautiful. I fed her the bottle and changed her diaper. Zane finally got up and asked me what I was doing.

"I'm feeding our daughter so she doesn't starve and changing her diaper so she doesn't smell like toxic waste," I said to him. I handed Ariana to him and he smiled at her and made stupid faces. "Good job Ariana, you got your dad to look like an idiot!" I said to my baby.

"Don't say idiot in front of her," Zane said.

"You just said it."

"I was making a point."

"When are you going back to work?" I asked him.

"Never."

"What?" I screamed. How can we provide for our daughter now?

"Relax, I got a new job."

"Doing what?" I remember Zane went to college and got a degree in business, but we failed with ours.

"I bought the café again."

"You got Rikki's back?"

"Yeah," he said. He had a huge grin on his face. "We won't mess up this time. We'll find a new band that has some talent and hire people who don't want to break us up."

"That is terrific."

This really was terrific. I messed running a café. Rikki's was my home too. I could always go there and have fun, but then Sophie came. We won't make the mistake of letting someone like her work for us again though.

"When are we opening?" I asked my amazing fiancé.

"Next week so you have time to spend with Ariana. We can even bring her to work sometimes. She can bring costumers into the place with her cuteness!"

"Not going to happen. Ariana is not going to be used like that," I said to him and he knew I meant it.

"Fine. I knew it was a long shot."

"I'm hungry," I said and looked at Zane.

"And?" he said.

"Go make us some breakfast!" I screamed in a playful tone. He handed me Ariana and I rocked her in my arms. She felt cold. I took her purple baby blanket out of her crib and wrapped it around her. I walked downstairs and sat on the couch. I could see Zane in the kitchen, making me food. Damn, he was hot.

"Don't forget that my dad is coming over later," I said to him.

"I didn't forget," he told me.

"Really, you didn't forget?"

After a few seconds he said, "Okay, I forgot. But, I know now. Breakfast's ready."

I put Ariana in a play pin that we set up in the living room. Zane was serving our food when I walked into the dining room.

"It looks great!" I said. It tasted great too. "I really never expected you to be able to cook like this."

"Can you cook anything good?" he asked me.

"NO."

"Then it's a good thing that I can cook." I broke off a piece of my toast and threw it at his face. "Hey!"

"What?" I asked him innocently.

He picked up some of his French toast and threw it at me.

"Ohh, you're in for it now," I said. I threw my French toast at him, but only after I put extra syrup on it.

We had an all out food fight. Ariana was smiling and watching the food fly. She could see it from her play pin. We didn't even notice my dad walk into the room.

"What is going on in here?" he asked us. At that moment, Zane was pouring syrup on my head. We froze as he was doing so.

"Hey dad," I said with a smile on my face. "Breakfast?"

"I already ate. Is this her?" he asked me. He pointed to Ariana.

"Yeah, that's her. Zane, stop pouring syrup on me." Zane stopped.

"Why don't you go get cleaned up. I can watch Ariana," my dad said to us.

"That's a good idea," Zane said. "Meet you upstairs," he whispered in my ear. I hit him with a napkin. He ran up the stairs and I followed him.

He took a shower first and then I took a bath. I cleaned syrup off my tail and out of my hair.

"Thanks Zane, for pouring it on my head," I said as I came out of the bathroom in a towel.

"You're welcome," he said. He put his arms around me. "I love you so much Rikki."

"I love you too. I should probably put on some clothes," I said as I walked to the closet. His arms were still around me. "Zane, I need to get changed."

"I can help."

"You are such a perv, but okay."

He helped me get dressed and we walked downstairs and saw my dad holding Ariana. Ariana was squeezing his nose and smiling like a happy smurf.

"I see you two are having fun," I said as I sat down next to my dad.

"She is adorable," my dad told me and Zane. "She really is."

"Yeah. I meant to give her a bath before you got here. I have the tub set up in the sink," I said. My dad got up and went into the kitchen. "Dad, wait!" He didn't know that he was a mermaid. I heard him scream and I ran into the kitchen. "Yeah, she's a mermaid." I saw Ariana with her pink tail that was starting to turn orange.

"You forgot to tell me that," he said to me.

"Sorry." Zane walked into the room.

"She takes after her mom," he said to my dad.

"I see that," dad said.

"You aren't upset about it are you?" Zane asked him.

"No, just surprised."

"Here, let me give her a bath," I said. I walked over to Ariana and put some baby shampoo in her hair.

Ariana made a water shield around her and Zane and my dad screamed.

"What?" I asked them.

"What is she doing?" Zane asked me.

"Oh, that's her power. Ariana can make water into a shield that is impossible to break through. It stopped a bullet."

"What," my dad and Zane said together.

It was going to be a long day.