(Slaps a big "PG" sign over this story). Yes, I had to up the rating for this chapter. You'll definitely know why later…Anyway, this is a very controversial chapter. Yes…brother/sister love. As in romantic love. Yes, it's "disgusting and wrong", but I always had this in mind before I started writing this story. If you can't deal with it, then don't read this chapter. I don't think it's that unusual for Goldie and Gill, since they haven't known each other, but still, I don't want angry people saying, "What the bleeeeep ? They're brother and sister! You are sick and wrong!!! I hope you die and do the world some good." So, if you're not going to be understanding about it, I want you to leave. Now.

On the plus side, I'm actually surprised to get a few reviewers! Thank you guys so much! Hardly anyone comes to this section anymore… (sighs)

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Chapter 4: Forbidden Love

Later that same day, Gill went to tell Goldie what Lash had done at school that day. "Hmm," she said. "No wonder he came home from school so quiet. Normally, he's always talking about this and that…"

"Do you know what upset him?" Gill asked.

Goldie took a deep breath. "Most likely, he got thinking too much about the past, and he just got upset about it all over again. He does that sometimes. There's really nothing I can do about it…"

"The past?" Gill questioned.

"Yes," Goldie replied. "Remember I told you that my husband, Whirlwind left us a while ago, so we had to go searching for a new place to stay." Gill remained stony silent. Now he thought he knew what was wrong with Lash. Goldie lowered her voice to a whisper in case he was listening. "Well, Lash was very close to his father. We named him based on his father's name- Whirlwind, Whiplash. He remembers when his father left now and then and it upsets him."

It made Gill angry thinking about this abandoning. There were some fish like Marlin, who were just trying to be the best father they could be, while there were other fish like Whirlwind who didn't care about their children at all. "Well, if I were him, I wouldn't have left if the world depended on it."

Goldie stared at Gill for a long moment. She blinked a bit and tried to calm the sudden strange feeling that had risen in her chest. "You…you want to stay for a while?" she said, without even really thinking about it.

Now, Gill was struck dumb. "Um…well…I really have to get going…I uh, have a…have a teacher's meeting to go to." He swam a little bit towards the entrance to the cave. "But…um…maybe tomorrow. Would that…uh, would that be good for you?"

Goldie laughed nervously. "Of course. You know I'm home every day."

"Oh, right," Gill replied. "Well, see you tomorrow!" He zipped away from Flat Plat Acres, his heart pounding. What's wrong with me? He wondered. I can't think straight, I'm tripping over my words… All he could think about was Goldie and how lovely she had looked at that moment. Gill shook himself. I've got to stop thinking like that, he told himself. Concentrate on the meeting! C'mon, concentrate! But already he was getting excited about seeing Goldie tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in her cavern, Goldie swam away toward her soft sand bed. Oohhhh, why does he do that? she said to herself. Why does he have to make me feel so…happy? Goldie put her fins to her cheeks and felt them burning as she blushed. Calm down, she told herself. I can't think that way about him. He's my brother; it's not right. But she couldn't stop her next thought, as much as she tried to block it out of her head. "Well, my wimpy little brother from my childhood sure had grown into quite a handsome guy!"

---

The next night, Gill was over Goldie and Lash's cavern again. The three of them were floating around the main interior, playing a three-player game similar to checkers with a bunch of shells.

Unfortunately, Lash was back to his loud, obnoxious self. "Woo-hoo!" he bragged. "I won again! Ha ha ha!" What he didn't realize was that the only reason he had won was because Goldie and Gill had let him win.

"Okay," Goldie announced. "It's getting late. I think you ought to get ready for bed, Lash."

"Awww," he complained. "C'mon. How come I have to go to bed, but you get to stay up?"

"Because you're a child, and children need more sleep."

Lash pouted. "I hate being a child." He turned around and headed for his room as Goldie packed up the shells. "Can I bring that game to school sometime and play it with my friends? It was really fun!"

"Sure, honey," Goldie replied. "I'll put it by the entrance."

"Just not during class time!" Gill called. "I know how you are!"

"Darn," Lash said from his room. "I was going to play it during class and then argue that you said it was okay!"

Gill chuckled. "Well, he sure can think up a lot of creative ways of getting by the rules."

Goldie looked over at Gill and felt the fire in her cheeks again. She tried to calm her feelings, and at last said, "Well, why don't you join me in the kitchen."

The two Moorish idols (well, actually one and a half Moorish idols) swam together into another section of the cavern. Goldie's cavern was much bigger than Gill's, with several other little chambers, but this was necessary since she had someone else living with her. They rested on a couple of clamshells next to each other.

Goldie laughed, nervously. Why did she always start giggling like this when she was around Gill? She hoped he didn't think she was just a giggly bubblehead. Then she wondered why it mattered to her what her brother thought of her. "Well," she began. "I appreciate you paying for this cavern for us."

"I…I only felt it necessary. Since you're my family, and I didn't have to pay for my cavern." Relax, Gill told himself. She'll never like you if she thinks you're a stuttering nervous wreck.

"So…" Goldie began. "I though we could talk for a while. This…this all happened so fast, and we don't really know that much about each other, so I figured we'd use this time to get to know each other better." She started by saying a few things about herself and what she liked to do.

Gill chimed in, telling her that he liked to do some of the same things. After a while, they got involved in a real conversation, both of them feeling a lot more relaxed, hiding their uneasy feelings of attraction. Wow, Goldie thought. I guess we really do have a lot in common.

At last, Gill looked back at the shell clock on a shelf behind them. "Well, I need to be going," he said. "I've got school tomorrow." Then, he chuckled a bit. "I mean I've got to teach tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know what you meant," Goldie said with a smile. "It was nice having you. Drop by anytime, you're always welcome!"

Gill was suddenly struck with a weird urge. Well, Goldie was his sister, it was okay if he just gave her a little nudge before he left…right? He slowly moved closer and tapped the side of Goldie's snout with his own.

She smiled and her white cheeks seemed to glow pink. "Um…well, see you tomorrow, or whenever you get chance."

"See you tomorrow," Gill echoed. There had been nothing wrong with that, it was just a little nudge, he reminded himself, the Moorish idol equivalent of a hug. There had been nothing wrong with it, but Gill still wished he hadn't done it, not because he felt it was wrong, but because he now had an even stronger urge to do it again. He grasped control over this urge and swam away towards his own cavern.

Goldie suddenly exploded in joyful laughter. He just nudged me!!! Then she subdued herself again. But that doesn't matter, brothers and sisters nudge each other, we're allowed to. Now Goldie had an urge in herself to calm, since when Gill nudged her, she'd gotten a similar urge to nudge him back.

Goldie frowned and crossed her fins. I need to stop with this nonsense, she told herself. What if Whirlwind came back someday? I need to stop acting like an immature little girl! Gill is my brother, I can't be…falling in love with him…Goldie drifted off to sleep, right there in the kitchen, thinking happy thoughts about the next time she would get to see him.

---

The next day, Gill was hovering behind his teacher's desk, staring at the open ocean, trying to sort out his feelings. He definitely knew now that he had feelings for Goldie, but just what were those feelings? They were warm, tender feelings, but what exactly did they mean? It's not right for me to be attracted to her, he thought. I can't be…but, then what am I?

"Mr. Gill!" a little voice called in the distance. Although the little purple fish, Violet Nectar was right next to his desk, she sounded very far away and muffled. "Mr. Gill, aren't you going to check my sentences?"

Then there were these strange urges he got every now and then, wanting to nudge Goldie, or even worse, to kiss her. He had to get rid of these feelings somehow. How could he do that? He had tried his hardest not to think about Goldie, but he just couldn't help it, and whenever he thought about her, he couldn't help thinking about how beautiful she was.

"Mr. Gill!!!"

He couldn't ask Goldie and Lash to leave, they'd just gotten here! But maybe it was best that they did, to prevent a lot of controversy and grief. Yes, it would probably be better that way…No! his inner mind suddenly yelled. They shouldn't have to move and start a whole new life again just because he couldn't control himself. That's it, Gill decided, I won't think about Goldie again. But, it was too late; he'd already started thinking about her.

"Mr. Gill!!!"

Gill's inner thinking world was shattered as little Violet Nectar screamed at the top of her lungs. "Uh…I'm sorry, Violet Nectar. I'll correct those sentences for you." The little purple fish frowned and panted as he checked her paper and handed it back to her. His mind just wasn't on teaching today.

"Something's wrong with Uncle Gill," Nemo told his friends. "I know sometimes he goes into trances, but never during class time."

Tad shrugged. "Well, maybe he just can't concentrate today. That happens to me a lot."

"Hey!" Pearl suddenly cried over to a group of fish nearby. "Put that game away! You know you're not supposed to be playing during class!"

Lash, Honey Nut, and Bobo all looked back at her. "Yeah, but while Uncle Gill was spacing out, we figured, why not?" Lash told her.

"Lash!" Finally Gill had noticed their little game group in the corner. "What did I tell you about that game?!"

"Sorry, Uncle Gill," Lash called, scooping up the shell pieces, "But I get bored when you go all zombie on us."

Gill sighed. He could tell this was going to be one very long day.

---

After school, it was Gill's turn to bring Nemo home, and he was slightly grateful for the duty. Right now he was still a bit apprehensive about his situation with Goldie and he wanted to try to avoid her for the moment. "So, you ready to go, Shark Bait?" he called over to the little orange clownfish.

Nemo grabbed his last stripped seaweed "quill" and swam over to him. "Yup." The two of them began to swim back in the direction of Nemo's anemone home. "Hey, Gill," the little clownfish spoke up, "Are you okay? You've been acting kind of strange lately."

"Strange?" Gill asked. "Strange how? In what way?"

"Well…you've never spaced out like that before during class…"

"I'm real sorry about that," Gill immediately began to apologize. "I was just…thinking too much. I won't do that again, I…" he stopped short. He was about to say, "I promise", but remembered how much he prided himself on never breaking his promises. He couldn't be sure that he wouldn't think about…her again. No! Just the mention of Goldie brought up a permanent mental picture of her in his mind. "Come back anytime…you're always welcome…" "Aaaugh!" Gill cried, shaking his head, trying to block out the sights and sounds of the female half-Moorish idol.

"And you do that a lot," Nemo added.

"I've just got a lot on my mind," Gill told him.

Nemo frowned. "Yeah. It seems like you've always got a lot to do, huh?"

Gill glanced over at him and noticed how disappointed he looked. "Shark Bait? Something the matter?"

Nemo glanced over at his adopted uncle. "I just…well…you never come to visit anymore…" Suddenly, Gill realized that he hadn't been to visit Nemo and his family in over two weeks. "I mean, are you really that busy? Do you not have time for us anymore? Or…do you just not like us anymore?"

Gill slowly placed a fin on top of Nemo's back. "I…I'm sorry, Nemo. I've been…obsessing over things. I need to stop this and get back to normal. I promise I'll come visit you again. Maybe this weekend, okay?"

Nemo looked back up and managed a small smile. "Okay." By this time, they had reached the anemone, hovering outside the creature's waving tentacles.

Marlin poked his head out from the inside. "Hi, Nemo! How was school?"

"Pretty good," Nemo replied. He swam over and dropped his school supplies inside the anemone and then swam back out where they all had congregated. "Uncle Gill spaced out during class."

"Wow," Dory commented. "Gee, you're getting to be like me! Forgetting where you are…"

"C'mon," Gill tried to get out of this discussion. "Let's not make a big deal out of it."

"And he keeps shaking his head, saying he's thinking too much…and starts smiling and laughing for no reason…" Marlin began smiling as Nemo told him all about the unusual things Gill had been doing lately. "I think there's something wrong with him," Nemo decided. "Maybe he should go to a doctor or something."

Marlin shook his head and smiled, reminiscing about happy times passed. "Oh, no. Can't say I blame him. I was the same way with Coral."

Gill froze and stared at Marlin with shock and denial. It couldn't be; it just wasn't possible. He couldn't be…in love…with Goldie? Suddenly, his heart began pounding again, and his body seemed to go weak as the image of that beautiful half-Moorish idol filled his mind.

A wide grin spread across Dory's face. She gasped. "Uncle Roadkill's in love! So who's the lucky girl?"

The image of Goldie in Gill's brain was getting closer and closer. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but she was just a figment of his imagination. His body was practically trembling in excitement.

"So? Huh? Huh? Who is it?" Dory pressed on, moving a little closer.

"L-Leave me alone!" Gill cried. He turned around and swam off into the reef.

"Aw," Dory said in disappointment. "I didn't find out who it was! Oh well, I'd probably just forget anyway."

Marlin chuckled to himself. "Ah, love. Ain't it grand?"

---

The next morning, Gill was swimming about Eco Valley as he usually did whenever he wasn't teaching for that day. However, today was different. Today he had a mission. Yesterday he had thought he'd just forget about Goldie and avoid her for the rest of his life, but now he knew what a bad idea that was. If he just pushed away his feelings for enough time, he'd probably go mad, seeing visions of his sister and calling out to her, touching her when she really wasn't there. He still didn't know what he was going to do about his situation, but as of now he had only one objective- to see Goldie again!

Gill remembered that two days ago at their cavern, he had said that he'd see her "tomorrow". Tomorrow had been yesterday, and he hadn't seen her at all. In order to make an effective apology, Gill figured he should bring some sort of gift, and what did female fish like better than a pretty bouquet of decorative seaweed? He was in the process of gathering the fanciest and most colorful stalks of seaweed he could find, when a familiar blue face suddenly popped out from in between these stalks.

"Aawwww, look. Uncle Roadkill gathering seaweed flowers for his sweetie…"

"Dory!" Gill was so surprised he nearly dropped the half-finished bouquet. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just coming to bother you," she replied. "You still haven't told me who you're in love with yet."

"I don't want to," Gill told her. "You'd probably forget who it is and tell everyone I'm in love with the wrong person."

Dory frowned. "Yeah, I probably would, but please tell me! I love a good romance!"

At last Gill decided that he had enough seaweed and just swam away as Dory was going on and on about finding a page from a romance novel. He had better things to do than float around and be badgered by a forgetful regal tang.

"Hey," Dory said when she opened her eyes again. "Someone was just here a little while ago…where'd he go? Who was it?" She shrugged. "Oh well, I've got to get going to that meeting before I forget!" She zoomed off into the open ocean.

---

Gill arrived at Goldie's cavern holding the seaweed bouquet and feeling a little nervous. It wasn't like him to feel nervous about talking to someone, but this was Goldie, the one fish that he thought he wouldn't be able to handle rejection from. "Um…hello?" he called into the depths. "Anyone home?"

At last, Goldie swam up to the mouth of the cavern. "Gill!" she cried. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting you, but…come on in!" Goldie had been upset last night when Gill hadn't come to visit at all. He must only think of me as his sister, she thought, but that's silly because he has to only think of me as a sister. It's wrong for a brother and a sister to…to be in love with each other. But now Goldie was sure that was what it was- love.

She had been in love before, with Whirlwind, but that love hadn't lasted for long after they were married. She remembered when last night she had been crying. Lash kept asking her what was wrong, but she couldn't find any way of telling him. That was right, she had reminded herself. Even if Gill wasn't her brother and he had feelings for her too, it wouldn't be right to introduce a new fish into Lash's life so soon. So Goldie too had mixed feelings when she invited her brother to enter her cavern. At least Lash was still at school, so perhaps they could have a serious talk with each other…

"I…uh, got these for you on my way here," Gill spoke up, holding out the fancy seaweed bouquet. "…I though you'd like them. Not that I'm trying to make up for not coming yesterday. I'm really sorry about that…"

"Oh…it's okay," Goldie quickly replied, scooping up the bouquet. "Wow, these are beautiful. Did you buy them?"

"Well, no," Gill admitted. "I sort of put them together from the seaweed that grows around here…"

"Well I never knew we had such beautiful local seaweed." Goldie placed the bundle in the center of one of the cavern's natural shelves. She turned back and stared at her brother for a long moment, feeling very happy that he was here, but also very confused and worried. "…Gill?" she finally spoke up. "I…I think we need to talk. Come into my room for a minute."

Goldie's room was further into the cavern and separated from the rest by a rock barrier. She swam through the hole in the middle and Gill followed her. Her room had a few shelves lined with fishy jewelry and beauty products, along with a sand bed covered with a woven seaweed sheet, like all the caverns at Flat Plat Acres. Goldie glided up beside the bed and Gill slipped beside her.

"So…what did you need to talk about?"

Goldie took a deep breath. She wrung the tips of her fins together, like a human would with their hands. "Um…well…you may think this is kind of stupid and immature of me, but…"

Gill smiled at her. "No. I already know I won't. I can't possibly think that anything is stupid and immature about you."

Goldie smiled back. "Well, thanks, but…" She had to find the will and the strength to try to explain what was going on inside her. How could she put into words all that she was feeling? She had to try somehow… "I think it's very important that we be honest with each other. And these are my honest feelings…"

At last, Goldie looked up and straight at Gill, although it buzzed inside of her just to look at him, making it difficult to speak, she knew she had to do this. "Not long after I met you, I began having these strange feelings…" At first, Goldie couldn't believe what she was saying. How could she tell all of this to him? But it was too late, and she couldn't turn back now.

"I…didn't know what it was at first. That I was happy every time I saw you, and I was thinking about you all the time…and then I figured it out…that…that I was in love with you." Goldie bit her lips. Surely, he thought she was crazy now. She almost began to cry, just imagining it. This hadn't been as easy as confessing her feelings to Whirlwind…if he had rejected her, she would've just gone on with her life, but now…

"But…it's not right," she at last continued. "You're my brother, I shouldn't be having these kinds of feelings for you, but…I just…"

At that point, Gill cut her off with a nudge, just like the other night. "…I know," he slowly admitted. "I…love you too."

Goldie looked up, and straight at him again, smiling, relieved and fully pleased. He smiled back. Now, she thought, is the perfect time. She swam closer and nuzzled her shorter snout up against his. This time Gill knew he wouldn't have to anguish over chained-up emotions. He gave Goldie another nudge. Everything was now at ease. She had the same feelings for him as he had for her, and now it didn't matter what relationship they had to each other.

The two fish hovered in the cavern room for a few minutes, nuzzling each other, until at last, they opened their mouths, and locked lips in a slow, romantic kiss.

"Sorry if I'm not a very good kisser," Gill said when they released for a moment. "I've never done that before."

Goldie smiled. "Yes you are. Better than Whirlwind." And so she kissed him again.

Another couple of minutes later, while they were still kissing, a familiar little voice rang through the cavern walls. "Hello! I'm home!"

Neither Goldie nor Gill noticed, both too caught up in their loving. They flopped sideways onto Goldie's sand bed, still kissing and nuzzling.

"Mom!" Lash called, swimming through the cavern, searching for his mother. "Mom!" He looked in the kitchen, the main room, and the hallway. Finally, he decided to peek in her room to see if she was in there. His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped open, and he dropped all of his school supplies. "…Mom?"

At last, Goldie and Gill looked up from the bed and noticed Lash, hovering outside the hole it shock. "Lash…dear…it's okay…" Goldie tried to explain, but it was no use.

Lash turned his tail and zoomed away as fast as he could go.

"Lash!" Goldie cried, getting up and pushing Gill off of her. "Oh no…" she said to herself. "How are we ever going to explain this to him?"