Authors Note:
This will be the final chapter for this story arc. There will be two more. The original third arc is now the fourth arc and there is a new one to be third that came to me while reading another authors story. After asking permission to use the idea, and getting it, I have added a story to the series.
I'm sorry for the long delay. As some of you noticed, after the last chapter's revelations, this chapter didn't come so easy.
Anyways I have decided that I will move the bonus chapter to the beginning of the next story, as part of the opening authors note, rather then attach it to the end of this one. This gives you all more time to ask questions about how I came up with the back story, anything you might want to know about how Bella and Emma get along, or anything at all about Laura's past that I hinted at that you'd like to know more on.
Thank you all for reading and stay tuned for the next story arc. Also I have started a new story. It's a fanfic on Twilight for any that are interested. I will be updating that one less frequently as I wish to focus on my H2O stories for the moment. I will however not neglect that one in favor of these.
Chapter 12:
Farewells
It had taken forever to get things settled down after Cleo's demonstration. None of the patrons at the cafe would give us even a moment to ourselves, and the press was fast to make an appearance. It took calls to Laurie and the police to remind them to leave us alone. They'd screamed freedom of the press. We'd countered with the endangered species act. They claimed we were being to liberal in it's application. It went back and forth for over an hour, but in the end they had to leave us alone.
Bella was the one that got it all to end with an offer to do one, and only one, press conference with them. They would get to ask any and all questions of us at that time, but after that unless one of us became some kind of celebrity they were to leave us alone. They agreed and we agreed to let Laurie handle the details of when and where.
Bella had been slightly worried the band wouldn't want her anymore; however, they were more then happy to inform her that as not just the singer, but the songwriter, for the band they had no intention of loosing her. Her being a mermaid had no influence on it. They did ask if they could use mermaid in the bands new name. Bella had politely said no.
I spent the rest of the afternoon with my parents. I invited them to the park tomorrow to join me as I helped return our rescues to the open ocean. They'd been thrilled that I asked and said they were looking forward to it. I told them to be there early and then called it an early night.
At least that had been the plan before the text calling for a meeting at the moon pool. With a sigh I found my way to the nearest canal and dove in. I was about half way there when my sisters joined me, we'd all come from different directions, and we continued to the moon pool together. When we finally arrived and we surfaced I was surprised to find all the guys there waiting for us.
"Guys?" I said a bit confused. "What's the occasion?"
"You are." Lewis said. "Well all of you I mean."
"This have anything to do with this morning?" I asked.
"Yup." They all said.
"We're all in this together." Ash said.
"So we decided that if you girls were going jump into this mess head first then we'd be here for you." Will said.
We all laughed for a while. Eventually we all got out of the water and got dry. We spent a long time talking, about the past and the future. About what we missed by being secret and what might happen now that we were completely out in the open. They guys offered advice when they could. Not that they could see what might happen next any more than we could. However, their support was clear in their intentions and efforts. For which we were all grateful.
"Sorry to cut this short everyone," I finally said. "But I really need to get some sleep for tomorrow."
"Oh right the dolphins." Cleo said understanding. "I was thinking that I might help out with that now. You know since I don't have to stay away anymore."
"Love to have you there." I told her. "After all you did do a lot of work with them while they recovered. You should be there too."
"I think we all should." Emma said.
"I'm in." Bella quickly seconded.
"Are you guys sure about this?" Rikki asked.
"At this point why not." Emma replied. "It'll be fun and it really doesn't matter anymore."
"Can we come too?" Will asked?
I laughed happily. "Sure. The more the merrier. If you aren't busy please come by."
"It's at 8am." Cleo said.
"That leaves me out then." Zane said. "I have to be at the cafe at 6:30 tomorrow to get the place opened."
Rikki had a cat's grin on her face as she snuggled deeper into his arms.
"What's got you in such a good mood, Rikki?" Cleo asked.
"Oh. Nothing." She replied.
"Well I have to teach a surfing class at 11. So if it goes late I'd have to leave early." Byron said. "But I'll definitely be there for as much as I can."
I kissed him and smiled as he held me in his arms.
"You look like a cat that just ate a canary." Bella said to me.
"What? Like I'm about to cough up a mouthful of feathers." I replied quoting a line from Tanya Huff. It went right over their heads.
"Huh?" They all replied looking confused.
"I'll loan you all some of my favorite books one day. Then you'll get it." I said with a shake of my head. "But enough on that. We need to head out now or we'll never get any sleep tonight."
After a chorus of goodbye's the guys headed out of the cave on foot and we dove in and swam home. I set the coffee to brew enough for two, explaining to Bella that half was for her when she started to object, then got changed and went to bed. After all the excitement of the day I didn't end up getting much sleep anyways.
The morning came too fast in my opinion. I reluctantly crawled out of bed and poured two cups of coffee. I went out to the living area to give Bella hers. As usual she was up, awake, and chipper. It was the only thing about her that truly drove me nuts.
Bella had breakfast ready for us and I did my best not to fall asleep on my food. I managed, with a little help from Bella, to succeed. By the time we'd finished eating the coffee was starting to hit me and I was able to walk in a mostly straight line back to my room and get dressed for the day.
There was some debate and consultations between us through our open doors about what to wear today. But that was normal for us. We would have been late except for a text from Emma. We finished getting ready and headed out the door to meet the others.
We had to walk to the park like usual. The only difference was we couldn't go ten feet with out someone staring at us. One man literally walked into a lamp post because of it. I ignored it for the most part, used to it by now, but it kept causing Bella to twitch.
"Just ignore it." I told her. "Staring back only encourages them."
"I can't help it." She hissed softly at me. "It's really creeping me out."
"Just remember the only thing they can do, by law, is stare from a distance." I reminded her as we walked. "I've made enough of an issue of it over the last few months that the general public has gotten the clue."
"It's still creepy." She said again.
"Won't deny that." I answered and we both shared a soft laugh.
We arrived at the park without incident, and met up with the others. They kept looking around and seemed jumpy to me. I had a guess as to why but I didn't voice it for now. Instead I had Laurie paged to come meet us and then we found some place off to the side to wait.
If just one or two of us alone drew stares, then all of us together drew a crowd. Laurie had to have security break up the crowd before he could even get close enough to ask us what we needed. After a quick explanation he led us inside.
"As long as you girls are sure about this I don't mind." He said as we followed him through the park. "In truth it would be very helpful."
"And it will draw a crowd and boost interest in the park." Rikki said.
"Well yes. It will. I'm just not allowed to ask you to do that." He said to her.
"But if we volunteer of our own free will you aren't going to say no." Cleo said with a smile.
"Basically." He said returning her smile. "So today's dolphin shows?"
"I'll think about it." She said back with a laugh.
I liked Laurie, as a friend and boss, because of just that. He took all this in stride. He loved the marine life he cared for. And he could make comments like that to us and we had no doubts about whether or not he was joking.
"So how's this work?" Emma asked
"Well in this case we are fortunate," he began. "The dolphins are local rescues so we don't need to get them set up to be transported anywhere. Usually we would just open the gate and let them swim out, but this time I'd suggest that you sort of guide them out to open water."
"That sounds fun." Rikki said. "We can do that."
"Perfect." Laurie stopped to unlock a gate. "This is one of the closed areas. I figured you girls could get ready back here. Cleo and Laura both have keys so if you need to go anywhere just ask one of them."
"OK." Bella said. "Wait one second." She turned to me. "You have been very quiet this morning. Why?"
I gave her a half asleep look and a smile. "You all seemed to be doing just fine today on your own," I covered a yawn.
"Nice try." Emma said. "But no more coffee."
I groaned. They laughed. Laurie just shrugged and went back to work.
We spent the rest of the morning in the water. The dolphins loved the company and were happy to have us there. We gave them one last breakfast and then played with them for a while.
I was glad. They'd made a full recovery, and would be just fine on their own. I found the our play had an overtone of sadness to it and it took me a while to figure out why. I finally realized it was because I was going to miss them.
We'd only had them here for a short while, but I'd been the first one they'd come to trust. I'd taken care of them. Nursed them. Fed them. So in the end I was loath to see them leave even though that was the best thing for them. I noticed Cleo also had a wistful look too.
"Want to talk about it?" I asked her while the others swam with the dolphins.
"I'm going to miss them." She said.
"I know. Me too." We shared a smile. "We were the first two they trusted enough to take food from."
"I always stopped by between shows and checked on them." Cleo added.
"I would come in on days off and do the same." I said.
"But in the end..." Cleo said.
"Yeah." I agreed. "In the end this is best for them."
We watched them swimming with the others. The dolphins were happy, and so were our sisters. They were having fun, thinking only of the moment.
"Come on." I said to Cleo. "Let's go swim with them one last time. Our way of saying 'goodbye'."
Cleo nodded. "Yes. Let's go say goodbye."
We swam with them for a long time it seemed. We didn't exactly keep track. Just swam. Eventually there was a splashing on the waters surface by the edge. We could see Laurie waving at us once we'd turned to look.
"It's time." Laurie said as soon as we all surfaced. We nodded and he pointed at the underwater gate to our right. "Lead them out that way to the next tank over. Just to warn you there is a bit of a crowd there."
"That where you are going to do the send off speech for the onlookers?" I asked having looked at the itinerary for the day.
"Yeah." He said. "We'll even let some of the more bold come up to the water and meet the dolphins. If you want to keep your distance you can. You're not a part of the show. I'd actually like to just have you, well other then Laura and Cleo, listed as volunteers that offered to help out."
"That sounds good." Emma said.
"But what about Laura and Cleo?" Bella asked.
"They're staff." Rikki said. "So they are here just doing their jobs. Right?"
"Exactly right." Laurie said. "Rikki, correct?" She nodded. "Yes. Cleo and Laura are part of the staff. So helping out is just part of the job for them. Nothing special. Well other then the obvious."
"And the obvious that people as a whole are stupid." I said. "I've seen enough proof of that in the last few months."
"How you stayed sane I'll never know." Rikki said.
"I had you all to keep me going when it got bad." I answered. I suddenly found myself in the middle of a group hug.
"And we are sorry you had to endure that all alone." Emma said.
"Well if you girls are ready. We should begin." Laurie said.
We laughed and dove down to lead the dolphins to the gate. In only a short while it opened and we led them into the viewing pool for their only time in front of a crowd. I knew that the speeches would last close to an hour and then there would be a question and answer session. So at some point even we would need to surface for air. I expected it to be a riot when we did.
Laurie decided to get that out of the way right at the start. Even under the water the speakers were loud enough for us to hear the presentation clearly. So we all heard clearly when he introduced me and Cleo as park staff that were most instrumental in the dolphins recovery. He sung our praises about how we'd come in on days off and go in between other duties to check up on them. He then invited us to come up to the surface and take a bow for work well done.
He'd spun it perfectly. By painting us as two hard working, dedicated employees, and leaving our being mermaids out of it, he'd gotten the crowd to cheer us as no different then anyone else. We might be mermaids, but now, to the crowd, we were two of his most valued staff members for our skills and dedication. We went up and politely waved.
The crowd cheered us and Laurie went on to name a list of volunteers that had helped along the way. As each person was named they walked up on stage and stood to the side. He made less of a deal of Emma, Rikki, and Bella helping out by simply listing the names alphabetically. Thus they weren't the first names on his list but not the last either. It also spaced them out so the crowd stayed hushed waiting for all the names, even after they had joined us on the surface.
Once he was done with the praise for staff and volunteers he quickly brought the topic back to the dolphins. They were the stars of today, not us, and Laurie was masterful at keeping the crowd focused on that. He held the attention of the crowd well enough that we were able to slip between the cracks and pass mostly unnoticed. That lasted though the question part and ended at the meet the dolphins part.
It ended up taking a lot of coaxing from the five of us to get the dolphins to go near strangers and that made it unavoidable for people to over look us. Those that started acting really stupid were hurried off by security and after the first several the smarter one's got a clue. Eventually the smartest of the crowd managed to get some time with us by focusing questions to Cleo and myself about the dolphins. They usually used the lead in of bringing up Laurie's speech about how we helped with their recovery. It being a question focused on working with the dolphins there was nothing security could do about it. It didn't qualify as harassment, just as valid curiosity, and we were stuck having to answer.
My parents even came up and asked how I was holding up. I had to wave off security at that one. It took explaining to the guard these were my parents before they relaxed. The others' families all took this opportunity to single us out and the guards grumbled but couldn't object about family time. The dolphins were more willing to come up to my parents, they remembered them from the few visits in the past couple of weeks, and tried to con my parents into feeding them one more time. We found that funny.
After my parents left we had one last surprise visitor. The little girl, Sara, came to see the dolphins and was very excited to see me too. We talked to her for a while. She had a lot of questions about how, and then why, the dolphins had been hurt. She was very upset about anyone having tried to hurt them. We managed to get Nadine to come up and hold still so she could give the dolphin a hug, something that turned out to be a big photo session for the media that was here, and then she wished the dolphins well. Before she left she thanked me for the necklace again. The real surprise was her mother making a quick apology to me for her behavior last time before she left with her daughter.
Once we finally finished with all the meet the dolphin sessions Laurie addressed the crowd one last time as we made the final preparations to open the outer gate and let them back into the wild. This is the part where the five of us would guide them part way out before turning around and coming back to the park. They'd leave the second gate open for us so we could just slip back into the out of view area and avoid the crowd.
It worked with out a hitch. We got the dolphins to follow us out into the open sea, and after a few minutes they were happy to swim off and go back to their home waters. We turned back and swam back into the second pool so fast we left a wake on top of the water. We didn't really care if we ended up startling people with it, we just didn't want to deal with the crowd again at all. Laurie was waiting for us.
"That went very well." He said as we pulled ourselves out of the water and got dry.
"Do you do that every time?" Bella asked.
"Not usually." He answered. "Only if there is some special reason."
"Like trying to bring awareness to the poisoning." I said.
"Exactly." Laurie said supporting me. "Accidents, a dolphin that survives a shark attack, or another natural disaster isn't as big a deal. They happen and there's nothing you can do to prevent them."
"But this time it was deliberate." Cleo said. "Someone went out of their way to poison them. You don't just sweep that under a rug and consider it to be normal."
"So we made it a point to have a big send off and make sure it get's out in the news about why we rescued the dolphins in the first place." I finished. "I doubt we'll ever find the person that did this."
"More's the pity." Laurie interjected.
"But at least now people know." I finished as if he hadn't interrupted. "Anyways. How about lunch?"
"I could go for lunch." Rikki agreed.
"Cafe?" Emma asked.
"Cafe." We all agreed.
"We could race there. Nothing to stop us now." Rikki said.
"Let's just walk like normal people." Bella said.
"Spoil sport." Rikki said.
"We'll be back later." I told Laurie.
"Nah. Don't worry." He said. "You and Cleo can have the rest of the day free. Get started on your weekend a bit early."
"Thanks, Laurie." Cleo said.
"Cleo think about it and let me know on Monday?" He asked as we headed towards the gate in the fence.
"I'll think about it." She answered. "No promises though."
"Fair enough." He laughed. "You girls have a good day.
We waved goodbye and started walking. It ended up being a really long walk. We couldn't seem to go as little as one block with out someone pointing at us, gawking, or covertly trying to snap a picture of us with their cell phone. I just ignored it, long having gotten used to it, the others didn't take it as well.
Bella just kept whispering to herself to just pretend she was on stage. Emma wore an expression that was as frosty as her power to freeze water. Cleo tried to mimic Bella and just pretend she was in front of the crowd at a dolphin show. But in the end it was Rikki that, as usual, ended up being the most volatile. She just fried every phone she saw that was being used to take pictures of us. She was subtle about it. None of the onlookers knew it was her, but we did.
"Rikki," Cleo hissed.
"I am not going to tolerate this." She hissed back.
"We get that." Emma whispered. "Could you find a way that doesn't destroy things?"
"If you have a better idea I'm all ears." She replied staring at us.
One by one we all shrugged, not being able to think of anything better.
"How are you taking this so calmly Laura?" Emma finally asked me when we were about half way to the cafe.
"I've had a few months to get numb." I muttered. "I can't stop them so I just ignore them. At least no one tries to propose marriage to us anymore."
"I think that's mostly due to the point that we all have boyfriends." Cleo said. I just shrugged.
With nothing more outrageous happening we managed to get to the cafe and enjoy lunch. Emma took the opportunity to go over final details for the party tomorrow night. Who she needed help from to finish getting things set up. What time to arrive. And the final guest count.
"Now lastly I want you all to dress a bit nice." Emma finished up. "Not over the top formal, but not casual either. That work?"
"Does everyone else know?" I asked.
"Yes. I made sure to note it in the invitations I sent out. I didn't send them to you guys since you already knew." She said. "About the party I mean."
"Ah. I see." I thought for a moment. "Well I need to shopping then. I really don't have anything that fits that."
"Done!" Bella said as she dropped some money on the table. "I know just the place." And with out giving me time to object dragged me off. The others followed shortly after.
We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for dresses. It started out just for me but it didn't take long for the others to decide that we all needed to match. We tried on dozens of dresses. Never quite satisfied in the beginning. Though when the clerk suggested a orange sequined halter top with a tight fitting long skirt to match we emphatically refused. When the clerk asked us why, stating that the mermaid look was in fashion, Rikki made the mistake of commenting that if we wanted a tail we'd just go swimming. We got no peace after that, but eventually did manage to find dresses that complemented each of us, matched in style, and didn't clash with any of our figures.
Then came the nightmare of shoes. A nightmare only because Bella insisted on heals and I'd never worn them before. That little tidbit shocked them. It also ran us right into a cultural wall.
"You seriously never wore heals before?" Bella asked.
"Nope. Never had reason to." I replied.
"Now, no offense, but at your height you really should have." She countered.
"My height?" I asked slightly annoyed.
"Yeah. You are the shortest of us you know. How tall are you exactly anyways?" Rikki joined in.
"I'm 5 ft. 3." I said. They looked at me confused.
"You're what?" Cleo asked puzzled.
"I'm 5 feet and 3 inches tall." I said slowly.
Bella was the first to figure it out. "Oh right, you're American. They still use that funny measure system."
I groaned and pulled out my phone. I brought up the metric conversion app I'd gotten some time ago and used more then I'd like to admit. I punched in my height, in what to me was normal measure, and got the answer.
"OK. In metric I'm exactly 160cm." I said.
"Yup. Shortest of us all." Rikki said. "Now put these on." And she handed me a nice looking pair of death traps.
"I swear you guys were trying to kill me." I said as I followed Bella back into our shared apartment.
"Oh come now, it wasn't that bad." She said as she headed to her room to hang up her dress for tomorrows party.
"Oh really?" I called from my room as I did the same. "I nearly broke my neck at least twenty times."
"You didn't even try on that many pairs of shoes." She countered.
"I nearly fell more then once for each pair, Bella." I called back unamused.
"You started to get the hang of it by the end." She smiled at me from my doorway. "And, besides, you found a killer pair of shoes to go with that dress."
I held up the shoes in question. A strappy pair of four inch red leather heals that wound up around my ankles in a crisscross pattern that would make them impossible to slip off easily. I dreaded having to wear them tomorrow.
"See they match your red dress perfectly." Bella said with a smile.
"Like I said, out to kill me." I retorted.
"Come on. I'll do your nails and you can do mine." She offered.
I sighed but followed her out to our living room. I was not looking forward to the party anymore.
I woke up late the next morning. I quickly went to my closet to find the heals. I thought if I could just get them hidden well enough I could wear something else, I had a nice pair of flats that would fill in nicely, but no matter how much I looked I couldn't find them.
"Thought you might try something," Bella said from my door. "So I rescued them last night while you were cooking and hid them in my room." She grabbed me by the arm as I tried to rush past her. "Then I let you sleep in late enough that you only have enough time to get changed and over to the cafe to help set up." I glared at her.
"You... you... you," I couldn't think of anything to cover this.
"You think I'd live with you for over a year and not figure you out?" She asked amused. "Come on. Get changed and let's go. Here's breakfast for you." She handed me a home made breakfast wrap and then closed my door so I could get changed. I didn't know whether to laugh or scream.
Instead I got changed while quickly eating and drinking my coffee for the day. Then I followed Bella out to the water. We dove in and quickly swam to the cafe where Rikki met us on the small boat dock that was near it. She dried us off and we followed her inside to help with final set up.
This consisted of a lot of lifting and moving of the free standing tables to make a buffet area. The rest were moved onto the stage to clear the rest of the floor for us to mingle. The guys showed up a bit after us too and helped out as well.
"Hope you don't mind but we thought we could lend a hand too." Ash told Emma. "You know more hands get it done faster and all."
"Are you sure you weren't just looking for an excuse to come and see her?" I joked.
"Oh well that's just the bonus for us." Byron said from right behind me. He quickly gathered me up in a hug and kissed my neck, then he whispered in my ear "getting to spend some time with you before we have to make nice for the parents."
"You, sir, are trouble." I said turning to face him. He tipped me back some and leaned in for a kiss.
"Hey! Get a room you two." Bella called out.
I leaned my head against Byron's and we both laughed a bit. "I though you got even with me for that when you tossed me over the side of the boat?"
"Oh no that was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Getting to say that back to you is getting even." Bella replied.
"Back to work everyone." Emma said. "We can have personal time later."
"OK, Mom." Rikki said with her usual spunk. We all laughed.
We spent the rest of the early afternoon getting everything arranged to Emma's satisfaction. With the guys help we did end up finishing early and had some time to enjoy some blended fruit smoothies while getting some time, mostly alone, with the guys.
"Hey, Lewis." Cleo asked him. He looked at her and smiled his invitation for her to continue. "What ever did you find out about Mako that you never got around to telling us?"
"Oh that. It's not much," he started. "Just that the effectiveness of technology, ranging from simple gadgets, to mobiles, to full computers, varies on the phase of the moon."
"What's that mean?" Bella asked.
"Oh just that you might get a weak signal on your phone on a new moon, but other then that it's a dead zone." He said. "I even got reports from air traffic controllers. Not easy to convince them to do, but once I explained that I just wanted to know if planes flew over the island they were more forthcoming." He took a sip of the drink he was sharing with Cleo. "Mako shorts out their instruments. No one flies over Mako unless they want to risk a crash."
"Wow. So that's why Mako isn't developed?" I asked.
"Partially." He said. "The simpler the device, the more likely it is to work. So as things get more advanced it will be harder to go near Mako."
"That have anything to do with the moon pool?" Rikki asked.
"Actually, it has everything to do with it." He said. "I think Laura was right. The crystals in the cave do work as some kind of extremely advanced computer. Further I think it puts out some kind of field all over the island that shuts down any other device. But I can't actually get any equipment there that would take a reading."
"Cool." I said.
"Yeah. I knew Mako was just for us." Emma said. "Now I'm sure of it." She looked at her watch. "OK guys we need to head back and get ready. Guys you're all to meet us at our places to escort us back here properly."
I groaned. "Byron you better be ready to catch me, a lot." I said.
"Oh really?" He said.
"Yes really." I replied.
Emma cleared her throat. "We need to be here early to greet our families as they arrive. So get going."
Once home Bella called dibs on the bath. I let her take it uncontested. She told me to stay out of her room. She really did know me too well. I still tried though. She just tossed a glob of jellied water at me and let it revert just before it hit me. Once dry I stayed out.
Once we both got washed up and dressed we got our make up on and our hair done. We helped each other with the finer details and got finished just as Will and Byron arrived. I went and answered the door while Bella went and got our shoes out of hiding.
"Hi, guys." I greeted them. "Come on in, we're almost done. Bella's in her room Will."
"Thanks." Will said politely as he went past in search of his girlfriend. Byron just stared at me dumbfounded.
"Byron you can come in." I said again.
He blinked a few times as he came to himself and stepped inside. "Wow. Can I just say... wow!"
I blushed, pleased at his tongue tied complement. "You're looking quite nice yourself you know."
"Thanks." He seemed to relax at bit after that.
"OK. Come here Laura." Bella commanded me.
"Do I really have to?" I half whined, half pleaded.
"Yes." She said. "Come here and sit."
"It can't be that bad." Byron said in an attempt to be encouraging. "I'll be right here with you."
"Save platitudes like that for after you have to keep me from falling all night." I told him and resigned myself to letting Bella strap heals on my feet.
Now don't get me wrong. They looked great, even I had to admit that, but I would have much preferred to admire them while someone else was wearing them.
Once done Bella told me to stand up and take a few practice steps. I did and nearly fell. Byron was quick to catch me though and with his help I actually managed to walk across the room a few times. I still wobbled a lot, but he just kept telling me to look at him and not over think it. It seemed to work.
"How do you know so much about this?" I asked him.
"Two sisters." He told me. "One younger. One older. You'll get to meet them soon."
"Really?" I asked taking a few practice steps with out his help. "You think they'll like me?"
"Trust me they'll love you." He said. "It's me they're mad at."
"Really? What for?" I asked starting to get a feel for it.
"Keeping you to myself for so long." He answered with a unrepentant grin.
I couldn't help but laugh a bit at that. It just seemed so mundane these minor family squabbles over stuff like that. Compared to everything else in my, I mean our, crazy lives that little bit of normalcy was a rare treasure. It was just the thing to get me to relax and not worry so much. After that I could mostly walk in these crazy shoes. I still wobbled now and again but not as much.
"OK. I'm ready." Bella announced. "Shall we go now?"
"Sure." I said. "I get to sit next to Byron."
"Sit in what?" Bella asked with a mischievous grin.
"Uh... the car." I said starting to freak again. "Tell me one of you guys drove here."
"Emma wouldn't let us." Will said. "Not that I have a car anyways."
"Byron?" I pleaded.
"I don't have a car." He said. "I've never really needed one."
"We're going to have to walk? To the cafe?" I was starting to panic.
"Well we can't go swimming. Our make up would never survive the trip." Bella said.
"Don't worry." Byron said. "I'll be right here the whole time."
"Don't worry. We, at least, live closer to the cafe on foot then the others do." Bella reminded me. "And I'm betting Em's making them walk too."
Small consolation for me, but it looked like I didn't have much of a choice. Emma would hear about this. In detail.
Byron offered me his arm and Will did the same for Bella and we headed out. The walk was not at bad as I thought it would be. At least it gave me a lot of practice and by the end of it I was walking mostly normal. I did like that for the first time I was taller then Byron by a couple of inches, or what ever the measure was here.
"Some advice I learned from hearing my sister go on about heals," Byron whispered to me. "If you're not used to them they will start to hurt your feet after a while. So don't feel too bad if you occasionally need to sit and rest."
"Was that advice your got from listening to them complain or advice they gave to you when you told them about me and tonight?" I asked back in a whisper.
"The second one actually." He admitted. "Told you they like you already."
I smiled and then leaned down to kiss him. It felt odd at first but I soon found that I enjoyed it.
"Is it just my imagination or do you enjoy being taller than me?" He asked with a snarky grin. I smiled and kissed him again in answer. "I'll take that as a yes."
"Did you two plan to get to the cafe sometime tonight?" Bella called back to us from a bit of a ways ahead of us. Will couldn't hide his amused snickers as we hurried to catch up. Well as much hurry as I could do in these shoes anyways.
We filled the rest of the walk with polite small talk. Byron and Will both asked if Bella's family would be in attendance. She answered that unfortunately they were half a world away, and wouldn't be able to make it. I just smiled covertly at Will. I knew we'd be meeting them eventually. Will just cleared throat and changed the subject.
"What was that about?" Byron asked me quietly. I just smiled and shook my head at him.
"Wait. Is he going to..." I put a finger over his lips to silence him before he finished.
"Say nothing." I told him just as quietly. "To anyone." He caught on and just nodded.
"So Will. How are you handling being a local sports star?" He asked instead.
"It's crazy. I keep getting asked for autographs from people that follow the sport." He said. "It makes no sense."
"That's how I feel about it too." Byron replied.
"That's right." Will said. "You're a professional surfer."
"That's sort of how we feel too." I said.
"Only we're not sports stars." Bella said.
We all shared a laugh at that.
"Well we'll have to pick up this conversation later," Will said. "We're here."
Cool. I hadn't stumbled once in the last ten minutes or so. I must be getting the hang of this. Then of course I had to stumble and nearly fall stepping up on to the wooden patio around the cafe. I should know better then to tempt fate, even if just in my thoughts.
Bella and Will went on ahead while Byron helped me regain my footing. As soon as they were out of earshot he whispered to me "so is he really going to, you know."
"Yes." I whispered back. "Don't say anything to anyone or I'll loose your sisters on you for ruining the surprise."
He winced and mimed zipping his lips shut and locking them. Good boy.
He helped me step carefully along the patio to the nearest door. Once inside a whole new challenge presented itself, tiles.
"I think I need to sit for a while." I told Byron and he helped me over to the nearest booth.
Once sitting I took a look around. Emma had gotten here before the rest of us and had gotten the food set out on the buffet tables. She'd set up warming trays for what needed to stay warm and had the rest sitting in ice. Ice that she kept refreezing each time she walked by.
There was a spread of food. Seafood was the most prominent, but she had added variety with vegetable dishes , some pastas and rices, and some beef and poultry as well. Off to one side was bread and salad, and to the other was a series of covered trays that I guessed held desserts.
Emma walked over to me and took a seat across from me. She didn't wobble even once.
"Hey." She greeted me. "You made it here."
"You can thank Byron for that." I said. "If not for his support I would have broken my neck long before getting here."
"How have you never learned how to walk in heels?" She asked again, mostly rhetorically at this point. I'd answered that question several times by now.
"Do I really need to answer that again?" I complained.
"It's just hard to believe someone as outgoing as you never even went to a high school dance. That's all." She said back.
"So I see you got all the food set up." I pointed out trying to change the topic. "Not bad."
"Thank you." She said looking pleased. "I just have to get the drinks set up and we'll be good."
"What is to drink?" I asked.
"I'm sticking to soda and juice since we are holding this at the cafe. I don't want Zane or Rikki getting in trouble." She answered.
"OK. Do you need any help with that?" I offered.
"You just sit and rest until our parents arrive." She ordered. "We are trying to have a tail free evening and you -"
"And I still can't walk a straight line in these shoes." I finished for her.
She smiled. "You have about half an hour to rest until then though." She told me. "You don't mind if I borrow Byron though?"
"Let me guess." I said with a grin. "Better to let the guys handle the cold drinks that might get condensation on them then us."
"That's about right." She answered back with a grin of her own.
"Sure." I laughed. "Draft him."
"Thanks." She said as she bounced up. She gave me a quick, sisterly hug and hurried off calling out for the guys as she went.
I took the time to put my feet up. Now that I was sitting, and not distracted by Byron, I realized they were starting to hurt. I decided that I'd try to spend as much time tonight as possible off my feet.
Once he was done helping Emma do the last bit of set up, Byron came over to me and sat next to me. We didn't talk. Didn't need to. We just enjoyed each others company for the time being.
The half hour I had to rest was over before I realized it. Emma was calling us all to head outside to greet the families when they arrived. Getting back to my feet would have been difficult with out Byron's help, much less walking outside. But thanks to his support, and patience, I made it with out mishap.
Emma's family was the first to arrive. She welcomed them and guided them inside to wait for the rest of the guests to arrive. They were followed shortly after by Rikki's father and Cleo's family. My parents arrived before we had finished saying hello to the other arrivals, and we all headed inside. I was a bit sad that Bella's family wasn't going to be joining us, but she told me not to worry about it. We were her family.
Once everyone was inside Emma invited us to be seated. Then she began a short speech.
She kept it simple, greeting my parents and thanking them for all the help they'd given in just the short time they'd been here. She finished by saying that it had been a pleasure to get to know them and then invited everyone to mingle while enjoying the food.
I started to get up, but Byron gently put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. I looked up curious.
"Allow me. It will be easier then you trying to carry a plate across the room." He said with a kind smile.
I grimaced. He was right about that. However, I needed to see the choices to pick from them. "How about you give me your arm and help me over there." I smiled at him. "You can carry it for me if you like but I do need to see my options."
He smiled and offered me his arm. I took it gladly and he helped me over to the line that had formed. My parents had held back, waiting for me, and joined us at the back of the line.
"Oh honey," my Mother started. "How could you have let yourself be talked into those shoes? They look nice but you have no practice wearing heels."
"The girls wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." I said with an overly sweet smile.
"I know that look." Dad said. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing illegal." I told him. "Just what, I don't know yet."
My Dad just smiled tiredly then turned to Byron and held out his hand. "Byron. Good evening to you."
Byron took the offered hand and returned the greeting. "Good evening too you as well, Mr. Westbrook."
"Adam, please. You are dating my daughter." He corrected.
"Of course, Adam." He said.
"So after you eat can you take us around and introduced us to everyone?" Mom asked me while the guys were greeting each other.
"Sure. After I eat." I agreed. It didn't need to be said that I couldn't do both at once.
It turned out to be unnecessary for us to make the rounds. After I had made my choices I returned to sit. My parents joined me so I wouldn't have to eat alone. While we were eating everyone made it a point to drop by and meet my parents.
I took care of introductions and welcomed them to pull up a chair and join us for a bit. Everyone got along well. My parents easily got along well with everyone and were soon sharing stories of tailed mishaps the five of us had gotten in to over the years.
Even Kim seemed to be in a non trouble making mood. I don't know if that was because she had finally come around or was under strict orders to behave, but either way she didn't ruin the festivities. After we'd all eaten our fill Emma put on some light music and invited everyone to mingle or dance, she didn't care which, but no sitting like a lump.
I glared daggers at her but dutifully took to the floor with Byron's aid. I don't know how he put up with all my stumbles and near falls, but he did, never once complaining, and he never left my side unless I asked to fetch me a drink. I would be sitting and waiting at those times.
At one point, while Bella was distracted, I had Byron help me over to where Will was so I could quietly ask him how progress was. He quietly admitted that it was going well and he expected it to be finished in just over a week. I wasn't able to ask him anything else as Bella returned to claim him before I could. But I was satisfied that all was well on that front and Will would soon be making Bella extremely happy.
The party was a hit and everyone had a great time. It didn't last too late into the night, even though it was a Saturday. Emma thanked everyone for coming and loaded them all down with some of the left overs. Byron offered to help me home. I just told him to meet me at the canal a block from my place. Bella started to protest but let it die after deciding I'd had enough walking in heels for one night.
After saying good night to Will she offered to join me for the swim home. Byron helped me down to the short dock near the cafe and insisted that I only dip my hand in at first. Even though our clothes came out completely dry and undamaged after a swim he still insisted I not risk such a lovely dress.
After I had changed he lowered me into the water and promised to meet me at the appointed place to escort me to the door. I stole a kiss from him and told him to not keep me waiting long. I took off in the water, glad to be off my feet for even a short time. I took my time and enjoyed the swim. I knew that Byron would never get there before me on foot so I didn't rush.
Bella swam leisurely along side me. We didn't go far out, the views weren't great at night, and stayed near the shore. We arrived at the edge of the water near our place and worked out way out of the water.
"So how does it feel to not have to worry about getting out and dry so fast no one sees you?" I asked her.
"It feels kinda good actually." She admitted after some thought. "I don't enjoy being a spectacle, but it is definitely a load off to not have to worry."
"So should we get dry now or wait for Byron to arrive first? I asked.
"Eh. Let's wait." She said with a laugh. "I'm in no hurry."
Byron didn't keep us waiting long, and after escorting us home he took his leave for the night. I quickly got out of the shoes and vowed to never wear anything like them again. I then decided to call it an early night. I wouldn't know that Bella had sneaked out until the next morning when I couldn't find her. She got home just before lunch.
"Where have you been?" I asked her, trying to keep my tone in the realm of polite curiosity. I must have succeeded because she answered me.
"I went to visit Will."
"Oh?"
"Yes. I left early. Sorry I didn't let you know." She said quickly.
"So early that your bed hasn't been slept in?" I asked her back. I didn't try to hide my suspicions that she'd been there all night anymore.
"I... uh..." she swallowed nervously. "I made it before I left."
"And slept in your evening dress too I suppose?" I said pointing at her outfit. She slumped into a nearby chair. "I see. At least you aren't going to try and convince me you put it back on in the morning before leaving here."
She gave me a guilty look. "Just say it."
I chuckled. "I'm not going to say anything about it. You love him." She smiled at me. "And I'm not your mother so it's not my place to judge you. But you had to know that I'd figure it out sooner or later when you kept being gone over night. We are roommates."
She laughed. "Yeah. We are. I'm surprised you haven't stayed over with Byron yet, actually."
I turned a bright red. I knew I loved him, but, being a gentleman, he hadn't pressured me in anyway and I was too shy to make the first move.
I didn't get a chance to respond to her statement though. A knock at the door caught our attention. After exchanging a confused look, we hadn't been expecting anyone today, we both went to see who it was.
The woman standing at our door was blond, pretty, and wearing sandals, a bikini top that was barely decent, and a pair of cut offs that Daisy Duke would think were to revealing. She was holding a cold bottle of water to her forehead and looked like she was suffering a heat wave on a day in the mid 60's. I knew her but I'd never have expected her to be dressed like this.
"Linda?" I asked stunned.
"Please tell me you have AC in your place." She said in reply. "I feel like I'm slow cooking out here."
"Come in," Bella said. "Before you start a riot."
She hurried inside and headed to the kitchen where she opened the freezer door and then stood in front of it.
"What is going on?" I asked. "You look like you're suffering and it's not even that hot today."
"Nine months in Antarctica is what." She said. "I got acclimated to the cold and now I constantly feel it's too hot."
I couldn't help but laugh. It was just too funny. "And so you took a job here to try and get warm again."
"Nope. No job." She said. I closed the freezer door and guided her to a chair.
"Then what?" I asked.
"Vacation." She answered. "You wouldn't have anything really cold to drink?"
"Some lemonade." Bella said. "It's in the fridge. Laura can get you a glass while I get changed."
"That's fine." Linda said. "Just as long as it's cold. Oh what was I thinking coming from there to here?"
"I have no idea." I said as I poured her a glass and brought it over to her. I then chilled it further, until flecks of ice started to form. "There you go."
She drained half of it in one go. "I guess I was thinking I'd go some place borderline tropical and warm up. I should have taken it a bit slower."
Bella returned and poured herself a glass. She grabbed a straw and took a seat. I decided if we were having a social hour I'd pour myself a glass too. As usual I didn't bother with the straw. I even took a deliberate sip with Linda staring right at me too. Bella nearly choked. "She really has no idea." She burst out.
"No idea of what?" Linda asked after finishing the second half of her glass.
While I refilled her glass with the last of the lemonade Bella pointed to her glass, and the straw in it, and then to mine. Linda just looked at her not comprehending. Bella rolled her eyes and took a sip without the straw. Predictably she ended up in her tail ten seconds later.
"Laura." Bella told me. I sighed and took another sip. As usual I didn't end up in mine.
Linda blinked at me. "How?"
I laughed. I couldn't help it. I couldn't seem to stop either. So Bella explained.
"Why you sneaky little..." She broke out into laughter with me. "You did that in front of me for years. So much for being an observant scientist."
I waved my hand, as if brushing the issue aside, as I finally calmed down. "It's no big deal. They didn't figure it out either." I told her. "But I must say while it's good too see you, why here?"
"Well. It is like I told you I wanted try and get warm again." She looked at me. "And who did figure it out?"
"Emma's boyfriend, Ash." I said. "And I meant why here in particular. I'm your friend, and Bella here only knows you from when you came to help us. The others, well..."
"Observant boy." She drank her second glass while thinking. "As for the other. Well I guess it's because you are my friend. I won't bother the others. I understand that forgiveness isn't something I might ever earn from them, but that doesn't mean I can't visit you."
"That's nice." Bella said.
"Of course it might also be because I'd love to hear you tell me about how a class 4 storm turns into a moderate summer squall over night." She leaned back so at to be able to look at both of us at the same time. We both turned pale. "I see."
"Well after the comet we felt it wouldn't be too hard." Bella squeaked out. I kicked her under the table. Linda didn't miss it.
"Ah... I see." She focused on me. "You at least should have known better."
I looked away, I couldn't hide the guilty look on my face, but I wasn't going to blame the others to save myself either.
"Don't be too hard on her." Bella said. "It was mostly our idea. She did warn against it, but went along with us in the end because she wouldn't abandon us either."
"Bella." I hissed. "That makes me look like the bad guy."
Linda just sighed. "So let me get this straight." She pointed to Bella. "You and the others thought it would be a good idea to try and stop a massive force of nature?" She then pointed to me. "And, after you failed to convince them to not do it, you chose to join them such a poor display of judgment?"
I kept silent. Bella nodded reluctantly. "Well, the only thing I can't fault about that, Laura, is your loyalty." Linda said. "I take it that's how you got found out?"
"Yes." I whispered, guiltily.
"Tell me everything." She ordered.
We did. Anytime we tried to gloss over something she caught us out. Eventually, we stopped trying.
Once we were done she just stared at us. "You could have been killed. All of you." She fixed me with a glare. "You are extremely lucky you didn't get yourself killed. What were you thinking there at the end?"
"Uh. Better me then all of us?" I tried lamely.
She sighed and rested her head on her hands. "Loyal to a fault." She muttered.
"That's a good thing I hope." I commented.
"Not really." She said looking up. "It almost got you killed. Noble or not, dead is dead."
I realized I'd scared her somehow. "What else was I supposed to do at that point?"
"I guess that's all you could do." She said. "It's just, I don't have many friends. Well only one actually." She looked right at me. "And I'm not exactly ready to loose her."
I felt really small at that point. "Oh." I got out.
"Trust me we already had it out with her on that one." Bella said. "Most of us were of the opinion that she should have let us take some of it. Split five ways might have been better for all of us."
"You do realize that it wasn't the force of the storm that nearly killed me right?" I asked them both.
"If not then then what?" Linda looked at me.
"Getting slammed into the sea floor." I said. "Which would have happened to all of us if I hadn't pulled it towards me. Then all of us would have been knocked out and drowned."
They both looked at me as they reconsidered the sequence of events. "Oh." Bella finally said her eyes open wide. "OH! If we'd all been knocked out then there would have been no one to rescue us."
Linda's gaze snapped to her then back to me. She sighed again. "I guess from that perspective what you did was the best possible course of action."
"But why didn't you tell us that back then." Bella demanded.
"Four on one and I had a concussion." I looked at her. She gave a guilty flinch. "Not much chance I had of winning that argument back then. And by the time I would have we'd agreed to let it go."
"Well that is true." Bella admitted.
"Well," Linda said. "I guess you already know how foolish a risk that all was. As long as you never try something like that again I guess you learned your lesson."
"We did." Bella and I said together. "And we won't."
"Anyways it seams you've gotten used to the heat." I commented. "If you like I have a shirt you could borrow to get you back to your place."
"I haven't gotten used to anything." Linda said. "It just easier to deal with sitting here and not moving around." We all chuckled. "Besides I'm staying on my boat. I got it out of the marina late yesterday and drove it over here this morning. I figured the less distance I had to walk in this heat the better."
"It's not that hot." I said.
"Need I remind you I just spent the last nine months in a place where forty below for more then an hour is considered a heat wave?" She countered.
"Fahrenheit or Centigrade?" I countered back.
"Enough you two." Bella said before we got really going. "Dr. Denman it's good to see you again, really. Laura is correct that of the rest of us I am the most happy to see you. Now that being said I think I should warn the others that you are visiting. They deserve to know."
"Thank you." She said.
"OK. Tell Will we say hello too." I told her. Bella turned bright red and practically ran from the room.
"What was that about?" She asked me confused.
"Nothing." I said. "So how long are you going to be in town for?"
"A month or so." She said. "You wouldn't have anything else cold to drink?"
"I'll check." I said and headed over to the fridge to check.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in pleasant conversation. I made more lemonade from the cans of concentrate we had in the freezer. I kept it cold, and we drank it all while catching up. I told her about my parents visit, and all the other crazy stuff that had happened since. I invited her to stay for dinner and fill me in on what she had been doing on her last job.
She was more then happy to. While she couldn't share it all with me, some stuff was privileged, she told me what she could. I enjoyed her visit and invited her to come back any time while she was here. She agreed and called it a night around nine.
Bella had left early in the afternoon and I didn't see her again at all that day. I figured she'd chosen to stay at Will's place and just went with it. She was a big girl. I didn't worry. I set the coffee pot and went to sleep early. I was planing to see my parents off to the airport before I had to be at work Monday morning.
The next morning I had a tearful farewell with my parents just before they passed through security at customs. We promised to keep in touch and to visit again soon. I promised that I'd try to get back out to the states next time. They told me I welcome to invite the others and show them around. I promised to extend the invitation but then I had to say goodbye. If I delayed them any longer they'd never get through customs and security in time to catch their flight.
I waited there until they were out of sight. Then turned and headed out. I missed them already but I knew that this was my home now. We'd call, write, or visit, the modern age made that easier then ever, but I knew that I belonged here and they belonged there. I didn't regret anything.
Lewis was sitting at his desk flipping through books of mermaid legends. He had his computer browser opened to his preferred search engine so he could cross check anything he found. He was flipping aimlessly, his attention more on the news that Denman was back then on what he was looking at. So it was a complete surprise to him when he looked down at the book at a legend he'd glossed over some time ago as unimportant.
He quickly typed a few words into the computer and cross checked a few thing. A second search showed him the last bit of information he needed. His jaw dropped as he considered the import of what he was looking at. Giving himself a mental shake he grabbed his phone and began to send a mass text to all of the girls and the guys.
On his desk the pages of the book started to flutter closed while a chart noting the date of the upcoming partial lunar eclipse covered his computer screen.
"This is got to be the most amazing thing ever!" Lewis said to himself as he ran out to meet the others.