52. All in the Family

Summary: Charlotte Watsford had spent years regretting the fact that her mother's job forced the two of them to leave before she was able to finish high school in the Gold Coast. After finishing her schooling, she is able to return and ends up running into her younger cousin along the way. Due to an accident, secrets are revealed and a discovery is made.

Set after the end of both shows and several years into the future from the end of H2O. After Mako ended, Weilan and Ondina went to Shanghai and found that the mermaids who had gone to land had their tails back like Evie discovered she did. They returned to Mako and found that Sirena, Lyla, and Nixie had returned as well.

Word Count: 3281

No matter how much time she spent away from the Gold Coast, it always felt like home. It was where her now divorced parents had met and where many people from both sides of her family still lived.

After moving away with her mum soon after her 17th birthday and thus for her last year of high school, Charlotte Watsford was glad to be home. It had been six years since she left. In that time, she had finished high school and then gone to university on the other side of the country.

Since graduating university, Charlotte had been applying for jobs all over the Gold Coast hoping to return home. She had recently been able to get a design job with a magazine in her home town. Though it wasn't exactly the job Charlotte was hoping for, it was going to be good work experience and a good thing to add to her resume.

Along with getting to be back home and near much of her family, Charlotte was hoping that she'd be able to see one of her younger cousins she hadn't been able to see all that much of in the most recent years.

Charlotte was three when her parents had been divorced and had lived with her mum the entire time which meant she didn't see very much of her relatives from her dad's side of the family. Now she would finally be on her own.

After getting settled into her apartment, or at the very least doing as much unpacking as she could stand to do, Charlotte decided to take a walk around town. Most everything seemed to be the same as it had been when Charlotte was 17, though there were a few differences she noticed.

As she walked past the cafe where she used to hang out, she noticed that it was no longer called the JuiceNet Cafe but was called Rikki's instead. Even though she had had years to get over losing her tail, Charlotte still harbored some anger for the girl she assumed the cafe was named after as well as two other girls who had a part in the loss of her tail.

However, Rikki's Cafe wasn't where Charlotte was heading. She knew her younger cousin was into fashion and owned a small shop in a different cafe, and that was Charlotte's final destination.

CHCHCH

The colors of Ocean Cafe were very different from what Charlotte remembered of the JuiceNet and what she could tell of the colors of Rikki's. The color scheme of Ocean Cafe matched its name well and it gave off a very calming feeling.

When Charlotte entered, the calm feeling that the outside of Ocean Cafe gave off was reflected inside as well. After a brief paused to observe the atmosphere in the cafe, Charlotte looked around in search of her cousin. Her eyes landed on the clothes shop but her cousin wasn't there. However, there was a blond girl helping a couple customers. When the customers the girl was attending to headed to the change rooms, Charlotte made her way over to the shop.

"Hi," the blond spoke as Charlotte approached. "Can I help you with something?"

"I'm actually looking for my cousin who works here," Charlotte explained. "Evie," she added after a couple seconds.

"Evie's on her lunch break right now."

"Do you have any idea how long it will be until she gets back?"

"Maybe ten minutes or so. I'm not exactly sure how long she'll be yet. She and Zac were going to grab lunch together while I covered for her until she gets back."

"Ahh, okay. Thanks. . ."

"Carly."

"Thank you, Carly. And I'm Charlotte."

"It's nice to meet you. While you wait for Evie, can I get you something to drink?"

"Do you have Cranberry Boosters?"

"Yes, we do. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, that's it, thanks." Charlotte smiled at Carly and went to find an open table to sit down at. Charlotte faced the door while she did some work on her computer so she'd be able to see when Evie entered. "Thanks," she said to Carly when she brought the Cranberry Booster over a couple minutes later.

After a few more minutes, Charlotte looked up when a couple entered with their arms around each other while laughing. Charlotte smiled when she noticed that the girl was Evie; having seen pictures of them on social media, she knew the boy with Evie was Zac.

Charlotte decided to wait a couple minutes for Evie to get settled back into her work before disturbing her. When she noticed that Evie didn't have any customers, Charlotte closed her laptop and put it back into her bag before making her way over to the small store.

"Hi, Evie," Charlotte spoke, standing to the side of the cash register where Evie was sitting.

Evie looked up from the papers she had in her hands and furrowed her brow slightly. "Charlotte?" she slowly questioned.

"Yeah. It's me."

"Wow. I haven't seen you in years," Evie commented, getting off her chair to greet Charlotte with a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I just got a job with a magazine in the area and thought I would come see you. I was hoping that maybe we could get to know each other again now that I'll be around to see you."

"Uh, yeah, maybe. But you might be really busy with your new job and I've got school and work."

"Well, I could help you with your school work if you ever needed it. You know, I actually used to hang out at a cafe like this when I was at Suncoast High. I could always just kind of hang out with you while you worked if you wouldn't need help with homework or studying."

"Yeah, that sounds like it could be fun," Evie replied.

"I've got some more unpacking I should probably get back to, but I just wanted to drop in and say hi," Charlotte spoke. "It's going to be so much fun getting to hang out with you. I'll see you later."

"Yeah, see you later."

Charlotte gave Evie a smile before she turned to head out of the cafe and back to her apartment.

"You don't sound very thrilled to see your cousin," Zac commented once Charlotte was gone.

"It was great to see her," Evie trailed off.

"But?"

"But if she's around, I have to keep my tail a secret from her too now that I have it back."

"Ahh," Zac spoke in an understanding tone. "Maybe it won't be so bad. You kept it from your dad the first time you had it and only told him after you got it back. It might be easier keeping it from your cousin who you don't live with."

"Well, I guess that is true," Evie admitted.

"At the very least, you can give it a try," Zac offered. "You and your cousin might be able to reconnect."

"You're right," Evie agreed. "I have kind of missed seeing Charlotte. The last time we saw each other in person was when I was really little."

"I'm sure everything will work out," Zac spoke to reassure Evie.

Evie nodded and got back to work. That night, doing her homework as well as the following day at school, Charlotte was pushed far from Evie's mind. However, soon after Evie arrived to the cafe the following day once school had finished, Charlotte arrived and was pushed to the forefront of her mind again.

"Hi Evie," Charlotte spoke brightly.

"Hey Charlotte," Evie replied, pushing the fears she had about becoming friends with Charlotte out of her mind.

"Do you have a lot of homework?" Charlotte asked, trying to make casual conversation.

"Some."

"Maybe I could help you," Charlotte offered. "I did go to Suncoast High for a year before Mum and I had to move, so I might have taken some of the courses you're taking."

"Zac and I do have a big history test to study for. Do you think you could quiz us?"

"Sure," Charlotte replied with a smile.

Evie motioned Zac over to her. The two spent a couple minutes showing Charlotte their notes and going over what they were being tested on the following day. Charlotte took a minute more to look over them on her own before helping Zac and Evie study.

For the next hour, the trio went over Zac and Evie's notes. They only paused a couple times when Evie needed to help a customer in her shop. When they finished studying, Zac and Evie turned their attention to other homework they had while Charlotte worked on some stuff on her laptop and made small talk with Zac and Evie.

CHCHCH

"I actually really enjoyed spending time with Charlotte today," Evie said to Zac once Charlotte had left the cafe for the night.

"See, what did I tell you," he teased, causing Evie to laugh.

"Yeah, you were right," Evie said while giving Zac a playful jab.

CHCHCH

Over the next couple weeks, Evie and Charlotte had the chance to get to know each other and reconnect. Even though Evie couldn't tell Charlotte anything about her tail, she found she liked spending time with her cousin.

Charlotte's work schedule usually worked out so she was done around the time Evie was getting out of school and getting to the cafe. That meant that they were able to spend a couple hours in the late afternoon together. Evie continued to enjoy the time she and Charlotte were able to spend together even though she'd initially disliked the idea.

"I found some of my old notes from that class you were studying for on a flash-drive," Charlotte spoke. "I even had the same teacher and everything if you want to have a look at them. I printed them off," Charlotte said as she walked over to Evie who sat at her register having just finished a sale.

"Okay, cool," Evie replied. Charlotte leaned against the counter to show Evie her notes and accidently knocked the water that sat there over, spilling its contents in Evie's direction. For Evie, time slowed down; her water spilled onto the table and over the edge to the floor. Before she ever had the chance to react, some of the water reached her arm.

"Oops. I'm sorry," Charlotte spoke, already looking for something to wipe the water up.

Evie gave Charlotte a half smile as she got up off her seat. Zac had looked up from where he sat at the sound of the glass being knocked over. He and Evie made eye contact for a split second before she dashed off. "I'm sorry, Charlotte. I'll be right back," Evie called as a form of excuse.

David and Carly watched Evie go back towards the cool room. "I've got it," Carly said to David, reaching for a towel since she knew Evie wouldn't want to use her powers in the cool room.

"Where's Evie going?" Charlotte asked Zac who had jumped up.

"Probably just to dry off," Zac replied, starting towards the cool room.

"I should check on her," Charlotte said, following Zac.

"No, no, we've got it," Carly replied, trying to stop her.

However, they were too late. Evie had transformed just outside the cool room in the hall there. Zac and Carly stood between Evie on the floor and Charlotte.

"You're a mermaid," Charlotte spoke. "And you both know?"

"Yeah," Zac answered as Evie reached her hand out to dry her tail.

"Listen, Charlotte, you can't tell anyone," Evie spoke when she was able to stand a minute later.

"Don't worry. I won't." Charlotte paused, "How'd you end up in the moon pool then?"

"I was just–– wait, what?" Evie started before stopping abruptly.

"How'd you end up in the moon pool? Accidently fall in? Jump in?" Charlotte trailed off.

"How do you know about the moon pool?" Zac asked, turning slightly to directly face Charlotte.

"The one on Mako, right? Or did you find another one somewhere else?" Charlotte continued.

"The one on Mako. I––I swam in," Evie shook her head. "How'd you know about the moon pool though?" she asked after another minute.

"Well, I'd actually love to talk about it now, but we probably want to go somewhere where we don't need to worry about being overheard," Charlotte suggested.

Evie nodded. "Yeah, you're right. We should get back to studying anyway." The group turned from the hall outside the cool room and went back to the main portion of the cafe. The water on the counter hadn't been wiped up so Charlotte took care of it for Evie. Once that was all done, Charlotte and Evie got to looking over the notes Charlotte had found as they had originally intended.

CHCHCH

"Why don't we go to my bungalow tonight after you've closed the shop," Zac suggested as he sat at the table with Charlotte and Evie later that afternoon.

"Yeah. Maybe just the three of us instead of everyone else who knows."

"Who all knows about you?" Charlotte asked Evie.

"We'll tell you later," Zac said, waving his hand dismissively. Charlotte nodded in reply and they went back to studying.

A few hours later, the trio was packing their things and getting ready to head over to Zac's bungalow. When they got there, Zac and Evie let Charlotte enter first. Once Charlotte had gone in, Zac and Evie followed her in and closed the door behind themselves. Charlotte turned to them, and Evie specifically with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Why don't we sit down," Evie suggested.

Charlotte nodded and moved to sit on the smaller couch while Zac and Evie sat on the larger one.

"Okay," Charlotte began. "What happened? How'd you get to the moon pool to become a mermaid? And who all knows about you? I want the whole story," Charlotte spoke in a somewhat stern voice.

"The whole story?" Evie asked, her voice slightly shaking. Charlotte nodded in response. Evie looked over to Zac to silently ask him for permission. He gave a small nod of reassurance and encouraged her to go on. "You swear you won't tell anyone?"

"I swear I won't."

"Okay." Evie took a deep breath, "I swam into the moon pool on the night of a full moon because I knew there was something going on in there."

"What?"

"Um, well, a couple mermaids were trying to take my powers away from me," Zac spoke awkwardly.

"I didn't know what they were doing to Zac or if what they were doing to him would hurt him," Evie added.

"So, you're a merman then?" Charlotte asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"How many other mermaids were there?"

"There were two others in the moon pool with me," Zac responded.

"When I knew something was up, I had Cam take me in a boat to Mako. There was a point where we couldn't get much closer and Cam told me where the entrance to the moon pool was, so I dove off the boat and swam in right before the moon was overhead so I was in there when it was over the cavern. The next day, I found out I had a tail."

Charlotte nodded. "So your friends Carly and David obviously know about you and you said your friend Cam, but who else does?"

"Well, Cam's my best mate and I told him right away when I got my tail," Zac explained. "And our friends Ondina, Mimmi, Sirena, Lyla, Nixie, Weilan, and Chris. Oh, and Evie's dad."

"You let that many people know the secret?"

"Well, not exactly," Evie spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"You promise not to tell?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Charlotte replied.

"David, Cam, Carly, Chris and my dad are the only ones who know and don't have tails of their own," Evie responded.

"And now you, of course," Zac added.

Charlotte slowly nodded while she pursed her lips.

"How do you know about mermaids, Mako, and the moon pool anyway?" Evie asked, shooting an accusatory glare over to her cousin.

"I was a mermaid myself once. For a month," Charlotte added.

"A month?"

"Yeah. I was a mermaid for a month before it got ripped away from me," Charlotte spoke, a note of vengeance in her voice.

"Are you okay?" Evie asked, picking up on the shift in Charlotte's tone.

Charlotte shook her head to clear her mind. "Yeah, I'm fine. It was probably for the best in the end. I've kind of come to the realization that I let it go to my head. I had all three powers Cleo, Emma, and Rikki had and it made me go power crazy. I've had years to think about it even though I still despise them."

"What do you mean by the powers Cleo, Emma, and Rikki had?"

"Yeah. Controlling water, freezing it, and boiling it."

"Oh. Zac and I have all those powers, and so does every other mermaid and merman we've ever met," Evie trailed off.

"Oh." Charlotte paused. "I guess that really doesn't make me as powerful as I always thought I was."

"Meaning?" Zac raised a brow.

"I always thought I was like a super-mermaid because I had all their powers and they each only had one. But if there's other merpeople who have all three powers, then having them all isn't that special."

"Not having powers anymore doesn't mean that you aren't special if that's what you're suggesting now," Evie spoke. "I've seen some of your artwork over the years and it's all amazing."

"You think?" Charlotte asked, her lip twitching into a smile.

"Yeah, I do," Evie confirmed.

"Thanks."

"And," Zac began. "It means you don't have to worry about being exposed."

"But now that I know about you guys, I have to worry about you getting exposed."

Zac shrugged.

"We'd appreciate you helping keep the secret," Evie spoke.

"Don't worry, I will. I've kept it since I was 17 because as much as I disliked Cleo, Emma, and Rikki, I couldn't tell anyone about mermaids. Especially not after I was one myself."

"Thank you," Evie spoke sincerely.

"No problem."

Zac, Evie, and Charlotte talked for a little while longer before Charlotte decided to head back to her apartment. Evie left at the same time Charlotte did and they promised they'd catch up again the following day.

CHCHCH

When everyone was at the cafe the following afternoon, Zac and Evie caught everyone who wasn't there the day before up to speed, so they would know that Charlotte had found out the secret.

"You mean to tell me that you knowing about mermaids isn't new?" Ondina asked when she got the chance to talk to Charlotte.

"Nope," Charlotte replied. "I've known for years. But I promise I'll keep the secret."

"I hope so," Nixie chimed in.

"Come on, she's known for long enough to go to university," Weilan added. "I'm sure she can keep the secret like she has already." Mimmi nodded her agreement.

"Well, otherwise she might be swimming with the fishies," Lyla said. A stern look from Sirena shut her up.

"I will keep the secret," Charlotte again promised.

CHCHCH

In the next couple weeks, Charlotte began to make good on her promise. She was also reminded of the difficult side of being a mermaid. She realized that it was easier to be on the side of the secret that only needed to help keep it for others rather than keeping it herself. For the first time in a long time, she was completely content with being 'normal' instead of supernatural.

A/N: I'm sure it's already apparent by now, but I really like making connections between H2O and Mako or finding ways for shows to connect in general. This time, I decided to make Charlotte and Evie cousins, so I'd love to know what you think of that connection.

I guess this also ends up being a bit of a Charlotte redemption fic. I really despised her character in the show and still do, but she has her good moments and here those ultimately shine through.

Again, I'm sorry that it's taken me a month and a half to update. I'm a student first and foremost so that has to be my main concern. If you're ever looking to have a huge reading load, take 2 history classes, 2 writing classes, and an english class because that's where I'm at right now.

Anyway, I'd love to know what you thought or how I can improve. Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following,

-CrazyHayniac