A/N: A special thanks goes to marandathomas22, Skovko and BreakTheWalls for becoming followers. Another special thanks goes to ClassicPurpleRoses, BreakTheWalls and Leasha Ambrose for the wonderful reviews. I appreciate all the all the kind words. Onto number two, let me know what you think.

Chapter 2:

Familiar Feelings

Stepping inside the cabin, the lighting was lower than a normal light fixture in a house. I was okay with that. A headache was forming at the back of my head, which I assume was caused by the fight earlier on.

Adam closed the door behind me and quickly moved me to sit down on the closest piece of furniture, which was a tan colored oversized chair. There was a maroon colored blanket draped over the back of it. He then moved towards the back of the room, turning to the right slightly and entered a completely different room.

He returned moments later with a first aid kit. Kneeling down in front of me, his hands took a hold of my injured arm. Crimson fluid still oozed from the three open wounds where claws had sliced open my flesh. Tipping a bottle of peroxide onto white gauze, he started to clean the blood away.

I sucked in a breath, creating a hiss sound, upon feeling the stinging pain. He looked up briefly; but continued to work. The longer I looked at him the more familiar he seemed to be to me. I had been on the run for so long that I had forgotten most faces that I've met in the past; but he was pulling at strings inside me that I hadn't felt before in a long time. Safety.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" He asked softly, tossing the used gauze away and got a new piece out.

"It's complicated."

"You said those creatures were genetically engineered."

"Yes, my father created them. Why, I have no idea."

He remained quiet for another few minutes as he wrapped my forearm in bandage wrap, tapping it together. My eyes met his and I once again tried to smile. "Thank you." I said, pulling my arm away from his hands.

"It's the least I could do considering you saved my life back there."

"They know your face now...you will be a target now for helping me."

"Why do they even want you?"

Letting out a sigh, I instinctively moved my other hand to touch the necklace around my neck. It was the only thing I had left from where I truly came from. "They don't want me per say...they want my abilities."

"I see…"

"If they could just take my abilities away, they would just toss me out like a bag of trash.

I stood up from the chair and took several steps towards the window, looking out at the pond. Adam's eyes continued to stare at me. I wondered if he felt the same familiarity as I did. "My parents really aren't my biological parents. They adopted me as an infant. Unfortunately, the older I got the more I learned what kind of people they truly were. I tried to run so many times and every single time...I got caught. This time...I refuse to go back. I want the same freedom everyone else has. I don't want to be a prisoner for the rest of my life."

"I'm sorry. I think the worst thing that happened to me was that I almost drowned a few years ago on a fishing trip. To be honest, I have no idea how I survived. I woke up on the beach hours later with the sun beating down on my face."

Mentally gasping in surprise, somehow I felt like there was more to it than just a feeling of familiarity. There was a chunk of time I had been missing for quite a while and I wondered if it had anything to do with Adam. "Fate was shining upon you and there must be a reason you survived. You just have to figure it out." I told him.

"Maybe you're right…"

I turned around to look at him standing in the middle of the room. He had cleaned up the first aid kit and now held it by the handle in his right hand. He moved to return it back to where it belonged to. Out of curiosity, I followed him. The kitchen was small. Cabinets were all made out of oak wood, stained to a darker color than natural tones. The counters were a black granite, matching the black appliances.

This place really was beautiful, inside and out. "I'll do what I can to keep you safe. I'm sorry that you got drug into my mess." I apologized, placing a hand on his.

"I appreciate that; but I can take care of myself." He argued.

"Against normal adversaries, I have no doubt that you can; but this is beyond your knowledge."

He pulled his hand away from my touch. I wanted to tell him the truth; but I knew that he'd run, further than I could ever run myself. Adam was different from any human I had ever known in the past. He was the polar opposite of my so-called parents.

Instead of stepping away from me, he moved the hand he pulled away to cradle my cheek. His touch sent a shiver down my spine, a pleasant one. "Tell me, who are you? Why do you seem so familiar to me?" He asked in the softest of voices.

So he felt the familiarity too. I wished that I had that chunk of memory back. It probably could fill the void that was missing when it came to him and why we felt connected with this same familiar emotion. "You seem familiar to me as well and I honestly don't know why. Perhaps, if I had those lost memories back I'd be able to tell you more. As far as who I am...that is a little more complicated to explain."

"That scream was deadly, reminds me of some DC comic shit."

"I'm not Black Canary, Adam. Though, I do appreciate the flattery."

It had been a long time since I laughed and his sense of humor during a crisis such as this was completely welcomed. How had they kept me from conversing with men was beyond any logic, I felt more of a person standing next to him than I had ever felt my entire life living with them.

He held a softness about him that just comforted me. Out of nowhere, my chest tightened and my skin started to heat up to an uncomfortable level. Then I realized that I hadn't been taking care of myself as best as I originally thought. "Are you okay?" He asked, immediately taking his hand away from my face.

"Water…" I muttered, collapsing to the floor at his feet.

Kneeling down at my side, he shifted his body to lift me up in his arms. The heat my body was radiating couldn't have been easy for him to tolerate. He carried me up the stairs and into the bathroom. A white clawfoot tub was centered in the room that was designed in greys and whites. The tile he gently laid me upon felt wonderful on my heated skin.

Turning my head, I could see a stand in shower in the far corner. Water started to pour into the tub and my skin started to feel the ripples. "Alayna, I'm sorry; but I got to strip you out of these clothes…"

It didn't matter what he said. I could barely hear it anymore. My eyes fluttered closed and all I could do was hope that he would just put me in the water. "Alayna…" a whisper caressed me in my unconsciousness.

"Who is there?" I asked, hoping to get an answer.

"You've grown, ever so beautiful. You need to continue to fight, we are waiting for you."

I didn't understand and I couldn't even ask, because the voice was gone. Maybe my fevered delirium made me hear things that weren't really there. When I awoke, I was placed inside the tub filled with water. Adam was sitting on the floor several feet away. He was staring at me with eyes wide. "Mermaid huh?" He commented, rubbing a hand across his face.

Turning my head away, I could see the scales of my lower half. A blend of blues and greens leading down to the wide tail dangling just outside the tub. My top half was covered by my hair. "I'm only half mermaid, which is one of the reasons I can maintain human form for longer periods of time. Those creatures you saw tonight were human once, until they were experimented on with Mermaid and Grindylow DNA."

"Grindylow?"

"Small sea creatures with webbed hands, tiny horns and sharp teeth."

I could tell that Adam's head was spinning with thoughts. My world was far too much for a human to handle and I hated that he was involved. Moving my hands in the water, I pushed myself to sit upright, not caring if my hair was still covering my breasts or not. "Adam, I totally understand if you are confused, in disbelief, angry or all of the above; but it was never my intention to put you in harms way."

"Forget about it. My life was pretty boring until you came along. Since you are kind of an ocean native, maybe you can help me figure out how I survived that accident and I'll help you get away from your family."

"Okay, that sounds like a deal to me."

I didn't know if I could give him the answer he longed for; but I damn sure would try to give it to him. It was the least I could do for taking me in, giving me shelter instead of a hotel room. Sliding back down in the tub, I closed my eyes for real this time, allowing sleep to take over.