| Chapter content warnings: the fluffiest fluff ever to fluff, poorly written kissing, marriage, pregnancy, fostering/adoption, more hybrids but they're very cute, mentions of miscarriage but it didn't actually happen, mentions of tubal ligation and vasectomies, mentions of inability to have kids (read: Charlotte), brief and vague mentions of past events in this fic and one unrelated character death, pregnancy-related vomiting but nothing graphic, that's probably it.
| Word count: 10,045
Thirty-two years since Danny Quinn had learned he was half-merman. Eighteen years since Emily had married Henry, and twelve since she had divorced him. Seventeen years after Helen kidnapped Nick, and nearly seventeen since Stephen had saved him. Nine years since Stephen, Nick, and Abigail had come to the aid of Claudia Brown, Connor Temple, and Danny and Patrick Quinn. Nine years since Atlanteans and humans began to fall in love and become friends. Eight years since Stephen had come out of his shell and begun to open himself up to the possibility of emotional attachment and friendship with humanity. Eight years since Danny Quinn had traveled to Atlantis, the oldest and greatest kingdom of seafolk, and its king and princes and princesses had come to the land for an unprecedented, historical summit of two peoples. Eight years since Helen Ambrose, Oliver Leek, Caroline Steel, and Mr. Clones- a group of psychopathic, sociopathic individuals- had wreaked havoc upon innocent lives, only to be hunted down and killed by those whom they had harmed and whose loved ones they had harmed. Eight years since the lives and fates of several had been uncertain. Eight years since everyone had been restored to health, and relationships bloomed and grew.
It was summer 2015, eight years later.
Life had been happy, pleasant, content for the past eight years, and the more time went on, the more their oldest memories of the oldest hurts and grievances began to fade and blur together like memories from when you were so young you can no longer be sure if they were real happenings or if they were dreams and imaginings.
Charlotte and Patrick finally got married five months after she had been released from the hospital, and it had been as magical as "a dдɱи Disney fairytale", in Patrick's words when Charlotte was on death's door. She had looked positively radiant in her off-white dress, simple but classy and suited to her and utterly gorgeous. Patrick's face when he had seen her- indescribably adoring and loving- was something neither she nor anyone else in attendance would ever forget. Emily was her maid of honor, and Sarah, Jenny, and Claudia had served as bridesmaids. Danny, of course, was his brother's best man, and Becker, Connor, and Patrick's old friends Ryan and Matt Mason had been his ushers. The couple regretted that they couldn't include their Atlantean found family, but they had collectively agreed that their appearances and size and lack of understanding of customs would make everyone uncomfortable and awkward and raise unnecessary questions, so the Atlanteans had been disappointed but understanding and not at all offended.
That wasn't the only wedding that had happened around that time. Eight years ago, Cerise- now Princess Cerise, one day Queen Cerise- had married Prince Ryan, not long after she had brought the news of Atlantean citizenship to the residents of the Brown Beachside Inn. Nick, Stephen, Abby, and Danny had attended, again bringing the mini sub with them so that the humans could 'attend' also. This had given them all the unique opportunity to witness what an Atlantean wedding was, and it was later explained to them that the only difference between a royal wedding and a 'common' one was that Cerise had been crowned by Lester and declared 'Princess Cerise' once she and Ryan had been declared husband and wife.
Eight years ago:
The wedding took place before the Palace of Poseidon, where the royals lived. King Lester was silhouetted, a regal figure in his crown and many necklaces. Princess Jessica was on one side, with Prince Matthew on the other, clad similarly. Prince Ryan faced them, Cerise at his side, their hands intertwined. Danny, Stephen, Nick, and Abby were among the undivided crowd, dressed for the occasion like everyone else- no clothes, but wearing one or two pearl necklaces. Apparently formal wear was different for Atlanteans.
The rest of the crowd, according to Nick, consisted of Cerise's family and her and Ryan's friends, and a few 'chosen' family members- 'found' or 'surrogate' family, in human terms. If either of the happy couple had found their labssorant, they would be among the crowd as well. Every Atlantean present was specifically chosen by the bride and groom- there were no plus-ones, wedding crashers, or guests that weren't strongly wanted. Danny was honored to have been invited, and all the humans back at the Inn were also honored to have been allowed to send the mini sub with him. The only mandatory 'guests' were the royals, and Lester (or the reigning monarch) always officiated. Thankfully, there were very few Atlanteans that didn't dearly love the royalty since the family was very considerate and loving of their subjects.
King Lester lifted a string of pearls from off his own neck, and Ryan and Cerise presented their intertwined hands, bringing their other hands in as well as they turned to face each other. Weaving his necklace around their hands intricately to join them together, he spoke:
"In this marriage, your lives are hereby intertwined, like your hands, but it is your great love that ties you together, instead of mere pearls. We know not for certain any truth about our souls, but perhaps they are woven together also." Lester proclaimed. "And even as Poseidon loved the sea, and we love the sea, and we love Atlantis, and we love our family, and we love our labssorants, this husband and wife love each other more, eclipsing all other loves."
All their voices in harmony, as if spoken by one, the crowd (excluding Danny) spoke in the beautiful Atlantean tongue. Later, Danny would ask what they had said. Abby had translated it to mean "Your love, your great love."
Then, Lester unwrapped their hands, letting the necklace hang from both his arms. Cerise reached up and took a necklace off her own neck, and Ryan bowed his head to allow her to hang it on his. Her fingers twisted the pearl strand into what Danny recognized as a bowline knot. Then, Ryan did the same for Cerise, with a necklace of his own. Now, a string of pale blue pearls joined Ryan's shark teeth and black pearls, and a string of black pearls joined Cerise's pink and peach and white and blue ones, and her shell necklaces.
Lester beckoned Jessica forward, who presented a large conch shell to her father. Cerise accepted it from him and held it to Ryan's lips so he could drink from it. Once he had, he took it from her hands and extended it to her, and she drank out of it. Jessica then took the shell back and retreated to her previous place. According to Nick, it contained a mixture of seawater, the powder of crushed pearls, and other healthy substances found in fish and sea plants. Drinking it was meant to symbolize the desired future of health for them and any children they might have.
Matthew came forward then, in his hands an elaborate crown of shell and starfish, giving it to Lester. The couple turned to face the king again, and Cerise lowered her head.
"This crown I King Lester give to you, Cerise, that you may be Princess of Atlantis as a prince's wife, and one day shall be Queen and reign at his side." The monarch set the crown on her blonde head, and Matthew returned to his place.
Lester raised his hands above his head, and his voice was louder and stronger than it had been a moment ago. "As Son of Poseidon, I declare you now to be Prince Ryan and Princess Cerise of Atlantis, husband and wife!"
As the prince and new princess kissed, the crowd spoke again, this time their joyous chant meaning "Health and long life!"
There was no thunderous applause, no wedding bells, no shower of rice or petals or anything of the sort, but it was as beautiful and triumphant as any human wedding.
Lester led the couple into the palace, followed by his children and the assembled crowd. A lavish meal was served, part of which was fish, crustaceans, and mollusks that Jessica, Matthew, and Lester had gathered and caught.
There were no speeches after the meal, and no dancing or any vaguely human wedding traditions, and after the feast the guests departed. Yet it was one of the most beautiful weddings Danny had ever seen- it was centered around Ryan and Cerise, not merely their titles, and had been personal in a way that few human weddings were anymore.
It was only five months after Ryan and Cerise's wedding that the first Atlantean-human wedding took place. With some help from Jenny, Nick had purchased an engagement ring and proposed to Claudia in her kitchen a couple weeks after the royal wedding. She had accepted, of course, and left floury handprints on his cheeks when she kissed him.
Jenny and Danny had chosen to have an Atlantean ceremony as well as a human one, and later Connor and Abby, Stephen and Sarah, and Becker and Jessica, in that order.
Their weddings had all been almost exactly the same as each other, and only minorly different from the royal wedding. The couples also exchanged rings once they had exchanged and tied necklaces, and there were gifts and toasts.
At his and Jessica's wedding, Becker had been given a crown of his own (similar to Ryan's, but still easily distinguishable and very suited to him) and declared Prince of Atlantis. Since he couldn't go to Atlantis, he wasn't given a throne, but he and the royals had worked out a compromise. He wound up buying a metal chair and getting his name engraved into it (the full name, and his title, at the insistence of his new in-laws) and sending it down to Atlantis to be placed beside Jessica's throne, and a matching metal chair with Jessica's name and title engraved into it was placed in his bedroom, with a few seashells and stones she had collected on top.
Emily was still a little hesitant to get married, which Matthew had understood and respected with all his gentleness and patience. Like Becker, if she did eventually marry Matt, she would be princess of Atlantis, and she would receive a crown of her own, as well as a 'throne' like Becker.
She had also been uncomfortable with the idea of children, but two years ago she got her tubes untied, and was now six months pregnant. Being thirty-eight, there was concern for her and the baby's health, but everyone who had had half-Atlantean, half-human children had assured her that there were no abnormalities in such pregnancies, and Emily was a healthy woman. Scans had showed their baby to be a female, and they were almost a hundred percent certain that she was going to be named 'Charlotte'. Whether her parents married or not, she would still be a princess of Atlantis, but it wouldn't matter if they were married- she was a long way from being heiress or queen of Atlantis.
Ryan and Cerise had a son, Benjamin, who was nearly eight. Everyone loved the precocious, eager boy, and he frequently begged to be brought to the Inn. He especially liked Abby and Connor, who had introduced him to loving lizards and loving dinosaurs, aliens, and sci-fi, respectively. But they all liked him, and he liked all of them.
Sarah and Stephen had actually been the first human-Atlantean couple to start having kids. Eight months after his recovery and return to the surface, Sarah got pregnant with their first son, Nicholas Connor, who was now seven. Inez William, age five, and his Irish twin Satya-Thelma, age four, were named after her parents and his respectively. Emily-Jayne was two years old, and Russell Abdeslam was eight months old. There had been complications with her pregnancy for Russell, so they had decided to stop having children there to not risk an actual miscarriage. Between him being uncomfortable with it and the unknown if it would actually work on him since he wasn't human, Sarah had gotten her tubes tied instead of having Stephen even attempt to get a vasectomy.
Patrick and Charlotte, of course, could have no children the old-fashioned way, so they had adopted two dogs- Oliver, a Beagle, and Sunny, a Golden Retriever. A few years later, they had started fostering, but Jonathan- the fourteen-year-old boy- had called them 'Mum' and 'Dad' after seven months with them, they had been unable to let him go, realizing just how much they'd come to love him. So they went through an aggravating amount of paperwork and properly adopted him, and Jonathan Quinn finally had a loving home and family.
Six years ago, Claudia had had her and Nick's first child- a daughter, Jennifer Kat-Rachel. Emily Samantha and Stephen Clarence were four years old and twenty months old respectively, and their middle names honored Claudia's parents.
Jenny and Danny hadn't had children until after their weddings, and they wound up with twin boys- Patrick Christopher and Gordon Noah. Christopher honored Danny's stepfather, the only father figure he ever had, Gordon honored his biological father, and Noah was after both the merman nephew Danny was closest to, and Jenny's adoptive father.
Connor and Abby had also had twins- Sarah Jennifer and Andrew James, both five years old, were their only children.
Neither Becker nor Jess had really wanted children, and with them being fourth in line to the throne thanks to Cerise's pregnancy, it wasn't really important for them to have kids. So he got a vasectomy and they'd lived happily ever after since.
That was then, and this is now:
Present day:
Humming softly to herself, Claudia stirred the contents of the steaming pot on the stove, listening to Rachel talk through the phone held to her ear by her shoulder. "Please tell me you didn't. You already have six."
Rachel cackled over the line. "Seven, now, and a Beagle. Only one of the cats doesn't like him, but to be fair, Evil doesn't like anybody."
Claudia sighed. "I give up. You'll never learn."
"Ignorance is bliss. Isn't that right, monsters?" There was a rattling noise over the line, followed by a cacophony of meowing. "That's right."
Stephen- Claudia's youngest child, not her sort-of-brother-in-law, babbled, and she looked over at him with a smile. "Is that so?" He giggled and let out another string of nonsense. "Oh, I see. You'll have to tell your father all about it when he comes back inside."
"What in the- oh. Which one's with you?" Rachel asked, realizing that Claudia was talking to one of her children.
"Stephen. Nick's outside with Jennifer and Emily. They started asking when you and Kat will be over again."
"We're in the middle of planning some possible dates, actually. We'll let you know when we have some viable ones, and you can pick. God, it's been ages since I've seen any of you."
"I know, right? I still think it's unfair you're the only one that ever flies over to visit. We don't mind coming to you."
"It's so expensive, though, and there's so many of you. It's much cheaper for just lil' old me to come over. Besides, my place isn't big enough for y'all."
Claudia chuckled at that. "That's a good point." At that moment, the back door opened, and laughing poured through it. "I'm gonna have to hang up, Rach. They're coming inside, and it's almost time to eat."
"Okay. Well, you know the drill- call whenever."
"I'll be sure to. Buh-bye."
"Bye."
Claudia hung up and put the phone on the windowsill, turning around just in time to see a soaking wet Nick enter the kitchen, followed by equally-wet Jenny and Emily. Behind them, Sarah and Stephen's children ran by shrieking with their father chasing them. Danny followed more sedately, holding Patrick and Gordon in his arms. Andrew and Sarah each held one of their mother's hands.
"Did you enjoy your swimming lesson?" Claudia asked her husband.
"Aye, it was very good. The kids are learning so quickly, and the older ones- we'll catch them kicking with their legs together. That instinct is buried deep inside of them, even if that side of them isn't activated yet."
Like Danny, none of the hybrid children would be able to transform until they hit puberty, but they also were drawn to water and fish and were amazing swimmers, just as Danny had been. But unlike Danny, they wouldn't have to hide their biology so much- they would be surrounded by family and friends just like them, and family and friends that knew the truth and loved them.
"At least when the time comes they'll have a lot more support and knowledge to rely on than Danny did."
"Mm." He agreed. He bent down- only a little, since over the past eight years he, like the others, had shrunk into a reasonable human height- and kissed her. He wrapped his arms around her, earning a shriek at his cold, wet touch.
"Nope, nope, go take a shower and change. You're all covered in ocean."
"Well, I am a merman."
"Only until the Craigs come back. Shoo." She laughed, giving him a light shove.
Hands held high in surrender, he left, leaving her casting a mournful look at the clingy wet spots he'd left on her clothes. Thankfully, the apron had protected the front of her blouse, so she didn't need to change. Taking a deep breath, she called out, "Alright, dinner's in ten! I need that table set and everyone cleaned up and ready to eat. Does anyone know when the guests are coming back?"
"I'll set the table!" Charlotte replied. "Jonathan, give me a hand, we can finish later."
"You just want me to get distracted so you can beat me for once." Her son retorted playfully.
"That would be a lovely side-effect, yes. Should never have let your Uncle Connor teach you chess." Coming into the kitchen, she continued, "Patrick said they'd be back for 17:30 or so, so we've got…."
"Forty-eight minutes. Perfect. So if we eat quickly, we can have our stuff gone and theirs just about ready in time."
They came into the kitchen and collected the necessary tableware, and Connor took it upon himself to try to corral all the children (all twelve of them, since Jonathan was busy).
It failed miserably.
Connor quickly learned that two hands and a mixture of bribes, threats, and pleas did nothing to get the children to mind him. Passing by the living room where the debacle was occurring, Jonathan paused to watch his cousins and pseudo-cousins be absolute menaces, a smirk on his face. "Jonathan, help." Connor pleaded.
He indicated the massive stack of plates in his hands, and proceeded to take his own sweet time setting them on the table and needlessly micro-adjusting everything already on the table, shooting smug looks at Connor the entire time.
Coming downstairs with a practiced ease a few minutes later, freshly showered and dressed with his chin-length hair still wet, Nick found the massive dinner table almost entirely set up. There were twenty-six of them now: Nick, Claudia, Stephen Brown, Jennifer, and Emily Brown; Stephen, Sarah, Inez, Nicholas, Satya-Thelma, Emily-Jayne, and Russell; Connor, Abby, Andrew, and Sarah Temple; Danny, Jenny, Gordon, and Patrick Lewis-Quinn; Charlotte and Patrick; Matt and Emily; Becker and Jess. As their numbers had grown, their dining room and table hadn't been able to accommodate them, so they'd gotten a dining table and leaves to extend it, plus enough chairs to seat them all (and any more that might come). It couldn't fit in the dining room, so they left it in the empty space at the foot of the stairs, between the living room and the dining room. Meanwhile, a smaller dining table was placed in the dining room for the guests.
Said guests were rather few in number these days. It had been collectively decided that they would massively cut down on advertising and seek out alternative, supplementary sources of income to lower the risk of exposure. So now there were only three outside of their family that stayed at the Inn currently- Steve Craig and his stepdaughter Taylor, and Lucien Hope.
Lucien Hope, a seventeen-year-old from the Isle of Dogs, had come down looking for a summer job three years ago. They had hesitated to take him on, but then he explained that when he was nine, he had witnessed something inexplicable. He had witnessed them leaving Leek's facility for the final time, witnessed the existence of merfolk, witnessed Lester's powerful destruction of that house of horrors. And he had kept it to himself and when he was older, he began searching for them. Eventually, he had tracked them down, leading him right to their doorstep. After some lengthy conversations, they had determined him to not be a threat to them and allowed him to work with them. Sometimes he ate with the Craigs or other guests, sometimes he ate with the family.
The teenager strolled into the living space a few moments after Nick. "Supper's almost ready and Patrick and the Craigs aren't back yet, so you're welcome to eat with us."
Lucien smiled. "Thanks, mate. Appreciate it."
Lucien's closest relationships were with Nick, Abby, and Connor, although he and Stephen had also been developing something of a friendship, and all the kids loved him. He had also suggested that an effective way of keeping the kids from spilling the beans about some of the adults being not human was to tell them it was a game that only they and their family played. It had worked remarkably well, earning him respect from the adults and friendship from the kids.
"Alright, dinner's ready! You all know the drill!" Claudia shouted from the kitchen. It may have seemed harsh, but nearly a decade of living with these people (quite more than a decade, for her blood relative) had taught her how to handle such things.
Everyone scrambled to form an orderly line, collecting their respective dishes from the table and one-by-one entering the kitchen so Claudia could give them their soup and bread. Lucien sat at Patrick's usual place since the Quinn was absent.
Mealtime wasn't just when they ate food, it was also a breeding ground for the most ridiculous jokes and interactions. Connor had started no less than nine food fights in a single month once, and Abby had gotten a broken finger during a discussion over some bioluminescent fish (the conversation hadn't even gone violent or physical in any way, so no one was entirely sure how that had happened). During one particularly disastrous lunch four plates had gotten smashed and the table wound up on half its legs for a few seconds during a heated argument between Matthew and Stephen. What, you may ask, was the argument about? Clams. Clams, of all bloody things. Clams and anything vaguely similar were now banned from mealtime discussion.
It didn't take long for the giant group to separate into several sub-groups, all engrossed in various conversations. Stephen and Sarah continued their usual practice of teaching Danny Latin; Nick and Abby happily answered Lucien's many questions; Jenny, Claudia, and Emily discussed pregnancy and delivery for first-time hybrid babies born to human mothers (a topic Sarah occasionally chimed in on); Jonathan and his fellow children almost invariably talked amongst themselves about any number of ever-changing things; Connor and Becker wound up in a dispute over which one of them did the dumbest things as kids, which Jess watched amusedly; and Matt, Charlotte, and Patrick mostly kept to themselves, preferring to listen rather than speak.
Like literally every other meal, something went wrong and there was an argument. Somehow Stephen and Danny wound up arguing about which one of them had been worse when their wives were giving birth, and Nick jumped into the conversation initially to defend Stephen only to begin pointing out some of his less admirable moments, leading to an argument between them. Connor injected himself unhelpfully into the 'conversation' (which didn't even apply entirely to him since he was human and Abby was Atlantean, not the other way around like with the others), only to be chewed out simultaneously by all three others. Abby swatted him on the back of the head and pulled him back into his chair, death-glaring him into resuming eating before switching on a sweet smile and returning mid-sentence to what she'd been telling Lucien. It was unsettling.
Of course, Connor and Becker's argument/conversation/competition had also spiraled out of control, resulting in the normally sweet and polite Jess jumping to her feet (without upending the table, mercifully) and covering both their mouths as she shouted for them to stop fighting over which one of them was more of an idiot.
After the meal was over, everyone went from chaos mode to cleanup mode. Lucien and Danny began collecting plates, Emily gathered the napkins since she was pregnant and they didn't want her to strain, and Jenny, Sarah, Abby, and Connor brought all the drinkware and silverware out. Becker and Jess cleared away the tablecloth and wiped down the chairs before putting said chairs and the dissembled table away.
In the kitchen, Nick and Stephen both donned thick waist aprons to protect their lower halves from getting wet and trying to transform. Stephen would rinse and dry, and Nick would wash. It had been a struggle to find the proper size gloves for him to wear, and they looked tremendously funny on him, but it was more comfortable for him that way.
Barely had the table been put up and the dish-washing begun did the back door open. "We're back! Something smells good." Patrick announced, striding into the living space.
Jonathan came out of the kitchen, smiling broadly. "Hey, Dad." He hugged his father, who he hadn't seen all day as he had been out taxiing the Craigs around.
"Hey." Patrick wrapped his arms around him in return. "Sorry I had to leave before you woke up. I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, so unless something comes up, I'm all yours and your mum's."
As if summoned by his voice, Charlotte emerged from the kitchen, coming to greet him. Jonathan made a disgusted face as they kissed, fleeing his parents' presence to seek out Lucien.
"How was your day?" Charlotte queried.
"Not too bad. London traffic always makes me want to murder, but Taylor's almost nonstop talking was…entertaining. She has some very interesting perspectives on almost everything. My guess is poor Steve has heard them all a thousand times- he fell asleep more than once. What about you?"
Charlotte chuckled at his story, but controlled herself to answer his question. "Uneventful. I helped Emily with some gardening, and Jonathan went for a walk in the orchards and picked some fruit. There's some dinner for you in the fridge, if you'd like me to heat it up for you." She offered.
"Mm, that'd be nice. Now, what madness did I miss during dinner?"
Stephen was happy.
That was a word who he had for a long time thought he'd never be able to truly describe himself with. Before his labssorant had been torn for him and he'd gone above and beyond to save him, his life hadn't been bad, per se, but it hadn't been great either. His parents preferred to live farther away from the main city, and so did his siblings. His older brother and oldest sibling, Martin, was married with children of his own, and they were hard at work making an honest living on the outer edge of the kingdom, catching fish whose schools passed through that area but not the heart of the kingdom. The journey from Stephen's dwelling to Martin's was four days' swim, even with their incredibly fast swimming pace, so they rarely saw each other. His littlest sibling, Gregory, was an adult but still young and lived with their parents, and their only sister Tiffany had earned a place among the royal family's servants, meaning she was incredibly busy and had little time away from her duties. Although he saw her the most given the proximity, he still saw her rarely. Nick and Abby were pretty much the only friends he'd had for a long time, and the highlight of his years were the exploratory swimming trips he went on with either of them, but some years passed and he didn't get to go on any, or the cousins would go together, and he remained in Atlantis. And their trips had stopped when he had finally brought Nick home, weary and sick- in fact, he had gone so far as to beg King Lester to not allow Nick or Abby to go out anymore or to send him. Having told Tiffany what little he needed to, she had pleaded his case to Jess as her main handmaid, and the princess' agreement had helped guide Lester's decision in his favor. He never told the cousins what he did until some time after Helen's death.
But he was happy now.
Sarah had fallen into his life and brought with her compassion, tenderness, patience, and respect. That wasn't to say that Nick and Abby didn't have those attributes, but as a stranger she was naturally curious to learn about him, but instead of prying harder when he clammed up (no pun intended, honest), she respected his privacy. That had been one of the things to draw him to her, and he knew he hadn't misjudged her when she stuck by him even after his tale had been told. Instead, she had remained holding his hand, giving him sympathetic but not pitying eyes, and when he had shot to his feet and nearly faceplanted onto the table in a mad rush to flee back to the ocean, she had caught and steadied him and walked him out to ensure he didn't hurt himself.
When he had been on the edge of death and recovering from his trauma in the healing caves of Atlantis, he had dreamed of her between nightmares, the memory of her face and voice, her touch and her laughter keeping him going. He'd woken briefly a few times, and during one instance he had mistaken the healer Laila for Sarah. Hope had soared in his chest, only to be replaced with disappointment and embarrassment when he realized he was wrong. But she had presented him with the shell and driver's license from Sarah, and he had clung to those two precious items even in his sleep. Whenever his eyes were open, they gazed at the tiny image of Sarah on the card, imprinting her face into his mind. It would've been so easy to give in to the pain and exhaustion, but instead he had fought, if only to see her smile once again after the look of horror and devastation he'd seen on her lovely face when she had unstrapped him from the stretcher in that horrible place.
When she had thrown her arms around him upon his return, he had felt an overwhelming sense of home- he was home, she was his home. His love, his life, his beating heart. She wasn't perfect, but he didn't need her to be- didn't want her to be. Flaws made her real, made her relatable, gave her perspective and experience, helped him realize that it was okay to have flaws.
On Sarah's side of things, she'd go on for hours about Stephen and how wonderful he was and how much she loved him if you'd let her. Some had made that mistake and been stuck sitting or standing in the same spot for up to four hours until there was a valid reason for one of them to leave.
Sarah had come to believe that she'd die alone. She didn't see herself as the sort of woman to settle down and have kids, or as the sort of woman anyone halfway decent would want to settle down and have kids with. She was okay with that, truthfully, and had started envisioning a career as a lecturer or tour guide once she was physically unable to do digs anymore. Then, when she was very old, she'd retire to a nice cottage or something and spend the rest of her days there.
But then Stephen had fallen into her life- technically, she had fallen into his- and everything had changed. She'd had a massive crush on him from the first moment they met, but had understood that he was a very closed-off person and wasn't the most personable. That was okay- she wasn't overly sociable herself. But then he had started flirting with her, and just as something had started to grow between them, the shadow of Helen and her atrocities had fallen over them, and somehow they hadn't grown apart. When the madness was over, she sometimes felt like they'd skipped a few steps in their relationship, but it didn't matter. They didn't need labels or words or categories to define them. In the end, they wanted to be together, and that was all that seemed to be important.
Parenthood had surprised both of them, as they'd never discussed it or even really considered that it would happen. But Nicholas had been welcomed with open arms, and his subsequent siblings, though also surprising in their number and frequency, were loved and welcomed just as much. Stephen was an incredible father, and Sarah fell in love with him just a little bit more every time she told him she was pregnant or she saw him interacting with their kids. He was so tender and kind despite his intimidating stature, and his bruised heart swelled with love and joy for the kids he had long ago given up on having.
Their family wasn't perfect, but it was patient and understanding and gentle, and the abundance of love was so much that sometimes they forgot about the darkness and horrors that had threatened to undo them in its earliest days.
Sarah couldn't be happier.
Taylor Craig had grown up in the grime and smog of London. She hadn't lived near lush parks and gardens, or even on the Thames like Lucien. Instead, she'd spent most of her life in the dirt-poor regions, where the flats bled wallets dry and kept refrigerators empty, but made but breeding grounds for mold, rats, and bugs. Her mother had gotten very sick from such 'living' conditions, leading to her death. Hackney, where she now lived with her stepfather Steve, wasn't a lot better, but the hot water was less sporadic and she'd never seen rats or droppings in the flat, which was a plus.
So for Taylor, to be at the Brown Beachside Inn was quite literally a breath of fresh air. Here, the air smelled sweet, the sun was warm, trees and flowers and grass were everywhere, and the gentle rustling sigh of the sea was a prettier background noise than the neighbors fighting (again, they really needed a divorce) and a million car hooters screeching and ambulances flying past in the middle of the night.
Although the Inn's rates were fair and the service and staff were lovely, Steve had only been able to afford the trip by suing their old landlord for damages because of Taylor's mum's death. It hadn't gotten them an exorbitant sum by any means, but whenever Steve wasn't at the Inn, he was either drinking at local pubs or searching for better flats in sunnier, greener parts of London. Since it was summer, Taylor had no school, so she was largely left to her own devices, and took advantage to the lack of supervision to explore the Inn's grounds and hang out by the sea. She'd accumulated a nice tan that had replaced her almost jaundiced complexion.
But today, when she went down to the beach, she found company.
She didn't immediately notice the disturbance in the water, lying on her back facing up to the sky. It was only when the sound of splashing changed its pattern that she opened her eyes, rolling onto her side.
What she saw was certainly unexpected. It was a boy, but he could not be human- not with the tail that replaced his legs from where the humanoid skin of his abdomen seemed to melt into the mottling of black and pale slate. His face was young, younger than hers, but from the crown of his head to the tips of his nearly black caudal fins he was over five feet long and about six inches taller (longer) than her.
"Cool." Taylor said after a moment of taking in the strange sight.
Spruce blue eyes darted to her, wide with surprise. "Hello. Who are you?" He asked politely, surprising her with an English accent.
She narrowed her eyes. "Who are you?"
"Prince Benjamin."
Taylor stared at him for a few seconds with a blank look on her face before she spoke. "Yeah I'm not saying that every time I want to say something to you or about you. I'm calling you 'Ben'." She decided.
Ben considered this for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I like that."
She smiled in satisfaction. "I'm Taylor. 'Prince', you say?"
He nodded seriously. "My father is heir to the throne. My grandfather is king right now, but when he dies my father will be king, and when he dies I'll be king."
Taylor elected to not tell him she already knew how the monarchy line of succession went. 'Either he's a nutter or he really is a merman prince.' She mused to herself. "Cool." She repeated for lack of a better response.
After a moment of deliberation, she plopped down on the dock. "So, what's it like being a merman?"
Hours later, an exhausted Steve Craig returned to the Inn and headed down to the shoreline in search of his stepdaughter. Ben heard him coming and bade his new friend goodbye, disappearing under the waves, so when Steve arrived all he found was a widely-grinning and very sunburnt Taylor.
"Hey, love, I'm back." He greeted. "Your face is all red- you should come in and ask Mrs. Brown for something to put on it." (Mrs. Brown, of course, was Claudia. Since Nick didn't legally exist Claudia simply started going by Mrs. Brown instead of doing anything legal to change her name. They had all decided it was for the best to not even try to give the merfolk legal identities- too much risk of exposure.)
Taylor nodded. "Yeah. Guess what, Dad?" She burst out. "Mermaids and mermen are real and I just met the prince of Atlantis!"
Nick and Jenny, replacing the oars of one of the canoes at the next dock over, exchanged worried looks, but Steve's awkward chuckle and response put their minds at rest. "Course you have, darling, course you have. C'mon, I'm sure Sprat could use a walk."
The pair walked away, and Nick let out a breath. "Dodged a bullet there." The merman muttered to his sister-in-law, who chuckled in agreement.
"I'll see if I can get Matt or Jess to talk to Ryan about being more careful about Ben. And maybe Claudia or Stephen- or you, for that matter- can talk to Taylor about keeping all this under wraps. I mean, she's eleven, she's not likely to be taken too seriously except by other kids, but it would be safest for all of us if she knew not to say anything."
"What will we tell her?"
Jenny shrugged. "We could either tell her the truth, but that there are bad people who would hurt the merfolk and she can't talk about it to anyone but us; or we could lie to her, say he was wearing a prosthetic costume piece or something."
"I don't know if she'd buy that." Admitted Nick. "She's a bright girl, and seems inclined to believe that adults only lie."
Stephen agreed when they brought up the matter to the adults, Lucien, and Jonathan. After much discussion among the group, they reached a conclusion- Taylor would be told the truth, and that for their and her safety alike she needed to keep quiet.
They made their move one day when Steve very reluctantly took Sprat for a long walk on the property, and more or less cornered the preteen in the living room. Taylor took it all like a champ, handling what she was being told very seriously and maturely. When the risks of public exposure were brought up, there was a certain realization in Taylor's eyes that divulged an understanding beyond her years, and they knew they didn't have to get into the gory details to make her see sense. She nodded solemnly, and her eyes darted among the merfolk and Danny as if trying to sus out who among them had been harmed by the people she was being warned about. She didn't know that Stephen was the only Atlantean to suffer physically, or that Charlotte had also been physically harmed, or that several of them had killed other human beings to save themselves and their loved ones.
And she didn't need to know. Even Lucien didn't know all the details, just that there had been kidnappings and a rescue mission and a fight and the immediate threat had been gone for many years. They told Taylor an even more abridged version of that, and she accepted it with curious eyes but a closed mouth.
Taylor and Ben, much to the mixed horror and amusement of the Inn's permanent residents, got on like a house on fire. Like Abby, Taylor helped teach him human things- but not things like how to run a microwave, tie a tie, or brush your teeth. No, she taught him how to hotwire a car, pick a lock, illegally download music and movies, and swear (in three languages; Claudia recognized the Spanish ones quickly from having lived with Rachel. Stephen quickly labeled Taylor a 'chaos gremlin' and it caught on so quickly that sometimes they struggled not to call her that to her face). She taught him all about dogs too, and her terrier Sprat became fond of the young Atlantean prince, just like her owner.
Steve Craig wasn't at the Inn much, either traveling to London to look for a new place to live or working at the Torquay Marina to bring in the money so they wouldn't burn through their court winnings, which were already being depleted by his wife's medical bills and funeral expenses. His relationship with Taylor was still strained, but she was much less upset with him now that he was working and not sitting around all day, drinking and watching sports. Eventually, she had even begun to call him 'Dad'.
Have you ever heard of the 'sunshine x grumpy' relationship trope? For those of you that don't know, it's a broody, grumpy, usually pessimistic person in a relationship with (or shipped with) the polar opposite- cheerful, bubbly, optimistic.
Becker and Jess, Connor was convinced, were that trope come to life. He went so far as to refer to them by 'sunshine' and 'grumpy', much to Jessica's bemusement and Becker's growing irritation.
In spite of his brooding persona, Becker could be jovial when he wanted to, and it was especially common in the presence of his wife, whose bubbly personality seemed to radiate out of her like sunlight. Her laughter was infectious, her cheerfulness could drag him out of all but the worst brooding or grumpy moods, and her sweet disposition made it hard for him to keep a sour mood for long.
Jessica could be serious, though, and was smarter than anyone gave her credit for. She and Becker had handled the decision of whether or not to have kids together, maturely, and seriously. The human women found her to have a unique perspective on a lot of things, since she didn't understand a lot of the manmade complications surrounding even the most basic things and just went for the simplest option. It wasn't always the best choice, but it had certainly helped at times for various situations.
In the end, although few would've imagined that someone like Becker and someone like Jess could fall in love and have a functioning relationship, that's exactly what they had. Becker learned how to let loose and laugh, and Jess learned how to be sarcastic and firm. She made him feel young again even as he aged, and he made her feel mature and grown up instead of the baby she always had felt like. They evened each other out and produced a healthy, balanced marriage.
Benjamin reminded Abby of her younger self, and she had proceeded to take him under her wing and start integrating him into human ways. Thankfully, since everyone who lived at the Inn was an Atlantean or part-Atlantean with an Atlantean, or related to an Atlantean (technically half-Atlantean), absolutely no one minded or really noticed his lack of social understanding or odd ways.
Ben fell in love with Torquay's Dinosaur World after reading one of Connor's many books on prehistoric creatures, so Abby frequently chaperoned him there, and Taylor tended to tag along. Sometimes Matt and Emily or Becker and Jess would bring him instead, given that he was their nephew, but it tended to be Abby or Abby and Connor together. Truthfully, she loved it; loved Ben, loved seeing him and Taylor, loved learning about the beasts that had once walked the same ground she now did. And there were, of course, creatures that had long ago dwelt in her same seas. She liked to imagine them in all their many interpretations swimming gracefully like the creatures that lived in her native realm.
Connor loved Abby more than he could put into words.
He sometimes looked back on his relationship with Caroline and compared it to his relationship with Abby. He only did it so he could see just how wonderful and supportive and honest Abby was, how healthy their relationship was. Sometimes it felt like they were still in the 'honeymoon phase', all giddy with childlike joy and completely over the moon for each other. They still made aquarium trips- both in Torquay and in other parts of the UK- but less frequently than they used to, more of a special occasion tradition now.
Having kids had been an eye-opening and maturing experience. It had been like puberty all over again, in a way, with Abby's fluctuating (but much more temperate than human) hormones and the sudden deep sense of great responsibility that gripped them. And then there was the lack of sleep, the stress and worrying about each other and their children, and the excessive thought that went into every decision.
But Sarah and Andrew, for all the stress that came with them and all the chaos they wreaked in their younger years, were great kids. They were extremely fussy about food due to their Atlantean palate's differences from the human one, but barring that they were quite well-mannered and polite. They were pranksters, though, and their usual targets of choice were their fellow hybrid children. They'd never admit it, but sometimes Connor and Abby would join in, and more often than not they enjoyed it.
Life was good for Connor Temple, and for his wife Abby, and for their son Andrew, and for their daughter Sarah.
Life was good.
A few months later, Taylor and Steve and Sprat had to go back to London, and everyone at the Inn hated to watch her go. As much as they rather hated to admit it (Taylor included), they had become fond of her and she of them.
Benjamin had been escorted to the Inn by his parents, which was something that didn't happen often due to how busy they were, and the prince and princess stood aside to allow their son and heir privacy to say goodbye to his dear friend.
"He's very fond of her." The future queen of Atlantis observed.
Ryan nodded. "Matthew and Jessica say she's a nice girl, and very smart, and kind despite her demeanor."
"That's good. Willfulness can be a good thing, but not when it is the center of one's personality. It's good to have kindness to balance it out." Cerise said wisely.
"Maybe she'll be you one day, Princess." Nick suggested with a grin.
Stephen, standing nearby with Sarah, snorted at that. "In that case, any minute flaws that Atlantis has will be set straight, if it has any at all."
"I think perhaps we should let them grow up before making any assumptions." Cerise laughed. "But even so, if she's able to visit in the future, I hope I'll have a chance to speak with her."
"I'll come back as often as I can." Taylor told Ben. "I know you can't come up the Thames and visit me, but maybe I can get my dad to move us down here someday."
Ben nodded. "I will ask my people here to send word if you return and I am not here. I don't want to miss your visits. And when I am older, if you still live far from here, perhaps I can swim the river to see you."
She smiled, a rare thing. "I'd like that."
Steve closed the boot of his car, stuffed with luggage, and scanned the area for his wayward stepdaughter. He spotted her down by the dock and sighed, heading down to her. "C'mon, Taylor, we've got to go now."
Taylor groaned. "Coming, Dad!" She impulsively leaned over to Ben and hugged him tightly, a gesture that was instantly reciprocated. "I can't wait to see you again."
They separated. "Me either." Ben agreed. "Safe travels, Taylor."
She shot him another smile and reluctantly got up, trudging back to her stepfather. She had already said goodbye to everyone else, leaving Ben for last. She got into the car, casting a longing look at the sea and land she'd grown to love, then closed the door.
"I hope she comes back someday." Jenny said, coming to stand beside her sister.
"Me too. She's a breath of fresh air."
Startling them, Taylor opened her door again and leaned partway out. "Oi, you! Can I come and work here during summers when I'm not in school?"
After a brief confirmatory glance at his wife, Nick nodded. "Yeah, alright. You'd be pretty good at it."
Her youthful face lit up. "See ya."
"See ya."
She closed the door again, and Steve drove away.
As her pregnancy had progressed, Emily had taken to lying in Charlotte's hammocks when she needed rest, so without telling her, Charlotte and Sarah and Patrick had gone around and picked various places Emily was likely to go and put hammocks in those places. The only main place they hadn't done that in was the garden, since Emily could lie on the padded bench swing. Some of the hammocks had been crocheted by Charlotte herself, as she had an affinity for the hobby, and she had made a few afghans for them as well.
Matt had been confused in the beginning by her temperamentality thanks to her raging hormones, but once it was explained to him why one moment she would be furious with him over nothing and the next crying over even less, he was far better at handling her mood swings.
The cravings and sensitivities had been another curveball. By some cruel twist of fate, she couldn't stomach fish, mollusks, or seaweed, much to Matthew's despair. Instead, he had to put up with her desires for baffling combinations, such as chocolate milk and cucumbers, red onion and banana, or pickles and peanut butter. Some (most) of the combinations made him gag, as his palate was far different from humans'.
But he took her pregnancy like a champ. He held her hair when she threw up, held her when she cried over nothing, brought her the increasingly disgusting combinations she found herself craving, and was an all-around sweetheart. Emily couldn't be more grateful for his help and understanding.
Emily had eventually gone full disclosure and told Matt everything about her past marriage, and usually calm Irish-sounding merman had looked murderous. It had taken a surprising amount of effort to talk him down from storming up to London to throttle Henry in his cell. During the many times that she broke down and cried in the most comprehensive retelling of her years of hell since the trial, he held her close, and instead of pushing her to calm herself down like most people instinctively do, he instead urged her to cry it out and stop bottling the pain. It had helped more than she had expected.
Their love had been like one of their beloved flowers. It had started with a seed of mutual attraction, both physically and emotionally, that took firm root in their interests and Emily's happy home. Eventually, it grew and bloomed into a great love, visible to all near them. But unlike a flower, it would stand the test of time and last more than just a few months; it had remained strong and untainted for all these years, and there was no doubt it would continue on in the same manner until their eventual deaths. Their unborn daughter would grow up in the bliss of a home where both parents loved and respected each other very much, instead of Emily's parents who didn't really love each other, or her marriage where there was certainly no love or respect.
That was enough for Emily.
In the beginning, being unable to have children had devastated Charlotte.
She had always dreamed of being a mother, and as her relationship with Patrick had grown, she knew he would make an amazing father. He would teach their children to stand up for themselves and what they believed in, and that it's okay to get angry. He had done that with Jonathan and become the supportive and strong father figure that the boy needed. Charlotte's maternal nature had smoothed over the rough spots and instilled Jonathan with an appreciation for what is made with one's own hands, for hard work and its results.
Sometimes Charlotte still wished she could have a biological child, but Jonathan had filled every hole in her and Patrick's hearts. He was as much theirs as any biological child would've been, and with each other they had all found what they were missing. They all knew a thing or two about nightmares and troubled pasts and near-death experiences, but those difficulties had only caused deep and true bonds to form.
Patrick and Charlotte had never left the honeymoon phase, always in a state of perpetual domestic bliss, even after Jonathan had entered their home and hearts. They still took long walks through the orchards and on the beach, still lay in hammocks in the middle of the day for no reason other than to be close to each other, still curled up and read together. Growing as people, as individuals, as parents didn't mean they had to change or grow apart.
They couldn't have asked for better.
Even eight years later, Jenny and Danny still loved film-and-dinner dates. They weren't as frequent as they used to be, and most times they brought the kids with them and were subsequently closer to home. But they were just as enjoyable as they had always been.
On their anniversaries, they went back to the restaurant where Danny had proposed. Usually they were alone, but sometimes they brought their kids as well. Lorraine now owned the place, and a picture of the proposal was framed and hung over the exact booth, which she always personally seated and served them in. She fawned over their kids whenever they brought them, and that one time that a teething Gordon had been crying uncontrollably, she had fixed him with a look and spoken very evenly to him, and he didn't utter another peep until they were halfway back to the Inn. It was a little unnerving, but it had earned her a handsome tip.
Jenny was forever glad that she had broken up with Michael Miller, a nice enough man, when her heart told her that it wanted Danny and not him, and that in spite of his apparent coldness and the very real age gap she hadn't given up on Danny. Misunderstandings had nearly kept them apart, but with a little effort and clarification, their relationship had been formed, and through the uncertainties and dangers it had only remained strong and sure.
As for Danny, he had quite possibly been in love with Jenny from the first moment he laid eyes on her, and his incessant flirting had certainly paid off. He would always regret his lack of effort in the early days, when Patrick had first learned his secret, but once Jenny had taken that first step, he never allowed himself to give any less than more than enough.
There was no such thing as too much love and effort put into their relationship.
Claudia Brown stood on the dock where she had first met Nick and reflected on the past.
In the near-decade since their first meeting, the day after the horrific yacht disaster that would've certainly ended in tragedy had it not been for three stubborn and selfless merfolk, Claudia and Nick had come so far from just a woman and the merman that had rescued her. Curiosity (and am almost schoolgirl crush) had drawn her to him at first, but with every second she had spent with him she had found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with him. His customs and mannerisms were very different from her own, but that had never stopped him from flirting with her, or showering her with affection (even if she didn't entirely understand it). She hadn't needed to know him long to care very deeply for him, and he for her, but neither of them were quite sure when exactly either of them had fallen in love with the other. Maybe it had been immediate. Maybe it hadn't been until the very foundations of their relationship and everything they had known had been shaken and threatened to crumble. It didn't matter.
If someone had told Claudia that a casual sailing trip would've led her to discover the existence of merfolk, fall in love with one of them, kill other humans for him, and one day marry him and have children with him, she would've laughed in their face and assumed they were a nut. But looking back on those things now, she wondered if she could ever have been truly happy with any other life, on any other road she could've taken. She had been engaged once- would she have loved him even as half as deeply as she loved Nick? She knew in her heart that the answer was 'no'.
"Claudia." Nick's voice called to her, and she turned around to see him standing a short distance away on the grass. He had stood there and watched her for a few minutes before speaking to her, drinking in the sight of the love of his life silhouetted against his oceanic home without a care in the world. It had been nearly a decade since they'd met, yet even as she had aged in accordance with the passing of time, her beauty had never waned. He saw her very clearly in each of their children; in their faces, in their mannerisms, in their behavior, in their strong sense of right and wrong, in their passion and talent. Stephen might've been his labssorant, but she was his soulmate, if such a concept was real.
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's getting late, you should probably come in."
Claudia nodded. "I'm coming."
They exchanged a soft smile, and he turned away and headed back they way he'd come. Claudia turned back around halfway to cast one last long look across the ocean, reflecting the brilliant palette of sunset colors, before turning away again and following her husband back to their home.
Jonathan I sort of picture as being played by Malcolm David Kelly when he was a kid, like in Lost, but you can see him however you like.
Character and ship aesthetics and soundtrack: story/322472274-ocean-eyes-primeval ; first installment is soundtrack and the last several are the aesthetics. These are also on tumblr but if you're not on there you won't be able to access them.
On Sarah and Stephen's baby names: Inez is the name of Laila Rouass' son, and Abdeslam is a variation of both her maiden name and first husband's name, and I also chose it because her father is Moroccan and it's a Moroccan name. Her mother is Indian, so I chose the Indian name Satya. Ella-Jayne is one of James Murray's daughters, but I changed the first part to Emily since Sarah and Emily are friends. His parents are Thelma and Bill, which I assume is short for William. Nicholas Connor is named after the two most important living men in Stephen's life.
This story has been my baby for nearly a year. The oldest trace I can find of it is from January of this year, and I'm embarrassed it took me this long to finish. To the best of my memory, it's the very first of my many stories that I've ever written completely without any chapters half-done, which I'm very proud of. I've advanced as a writer within the time I've written it, and my life has been chaotic during the writing process. I deeply and sincerely thank each and every person who has read even part of this story on every platform it's on- your support means the absolute world to me. I'm thanking my dear friend Kat (witchofthemidlands on tumblr and wonderlandandotherplaces on AO3- go check her out she's an AMAZING writer and her Primeval AU series are quite possibly the best fanfictions I've ever read) separately from everyone else for everything she's done for me. She's an incredible writer and an even more incredible person, who's stuck with me through the challenges of my life while I wrote this story. This the first multi-chapter piece of fiction I've ever published, and before I had posted any of it her encouragement and enthusiasm gave me courage and confidence. Her reviews have helped me in more ways than I can say and have made me smile even on the worst days, even when those reviews were full of crying emojis because I had gone heavy on the angst.
I'm rather sad to be ending this story, but it will live on forever in my heart and who knows, one day I might write more in this universe. If that's something you'd like to see, please let me know! There's so much more of this world I'd love to delve into that I didn't for the story, and so much more I haven't even imagined yet. But for now, I'm going to drag some of my other plot bunnies into the light and pour the knowledge and skill this tale has given me into them until they grow into stories like this one. I'm setting sail from this port, and if I capsize in a thunderstorm, I have mermaids and mermen in the sea I sail upon. I'll see you all in the next one. Thank you all, I love you so much, God bless, and farewell until we meet again. Goodnight and joy be to you all!