Charlotte fished her forgotten bathing suit from the bottom of her dresser and quickly put on the red tankini that she had worn on one of her first dates with Lewis. After grabbing a towel from the bathroom, and leaving a note for her mother, she ran down to the docks. She dropped the towel, and dove down into the water.

The water is crisp and cold in the early morning, but Charlotte found that it didn't bother her all that much. She swam, down to the bottom and gently kneeled on the sandy bottom. Her eyes were closed, and the water flowed around her. The world was quiet around her; she couldn't remember the last time she had felt this calm. She relished the peace for as long as her lungs would allow.

Charlotte smiled and kicked off the sand, taking in a lungful of air as she broke through the surface. It wasn't the same as swimming with a mermaid, but then again, nothing ever would. She leveled herself out and began to float, gazing up at the sky, her mind bubbling with worries.

What was she going to do when Willow left to find the other Slayers? Stay here on the Gold Coast, hunting and killing vampires on her own? Charlotte bit her lip; that wasn't a very appealing thought. More loneliness, and yet even more danger. Could she do that?

She closed her eyes, and thought back to the night before, killing the vampire, and saving Rikki. She had punched, kicked, and stabbed a monster threatening her and her friends, and it had been magnificent. For once, Charlotte had been special, the hero of the day. It was all she had wanted, that whole time chasing Lewis, and fighting the girls, either against them, or just to be accepted by them, was to be seen as special.

But she was, wasn't she? She was special. Why did she ever think she needed Lewis, or even the girls, to think that? Charlotte smiled to herself, righted herself in the water, and began to swim back up the river towards her house. With her new strength, the swim didn't take as long as normal. Again, not mermaid fast, but again, not like a regular girl either. She didn't think she'd ever get used to this.

At the dock, she hauled herself up next to her towel and began to dry off. The sun was up, sending rays of light over the water. Charlotte stretched her arms, and sighed, touching the mermaid necklace around her neck, when just like that a real one appeared.

"Cleo!" Charlotte exclaimed as the brunette broke through the surface of the water. "Cleo, what are you doing here?" She looked around nervously, but there wasn't another person around the docks. "Someone could see you; hurry, I'll help you out."

She extended her hand and helped Cleo out of the water, the brunette noting, "Wow, you are a lot stronger now."

Charlotte giggled, and with ease brought her onto the deck, quickly drying Cleo off with her towel, and after a minute, she was standing alongside Charlotte.

"Thanks, Charlotte," Cleo said.

"No problem. What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting later."

Cleo sighed and sat down on the deck, carefully avoiding the wet spots. "Charlotte, I think I owe you an apology," the brunette murmured.

Charlotte sat down next to her, flabbergasted. "Why? You didn't do anything."

"Yes, I did. We all did. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Charlotte, we didn't treat you right."

Then it dawned on her. What if they hadn't treated her like that? Would she still have become a mermaid? What if she did, but didn't go crazy with it?

"I just wanted him to like me," she whispered. "And when I thought he did… All he ever did was ignore me. For you. And Emma, and Rikki," she added quickly. "I wanted you guys to be my friends. But I know I went about it the wrong way."

Cleo sighed, and brought her knees up to her chin, staring out at the water. The guilt and regret in Charlotte's voice almost broke her heart, because she and her friends had caused it. And they had been happy about it too. Or how about when she had stolen Charlotte's diary as proof that she was cheating?

"Look, I don't mean this as an excuse, but, my mom and I have moved, a lot, and I've never been all that great at making friends."

The brunette sighed, thinking back to when she thought Charlotte's mom and her dad were on a date at her house. She couldn't help but cringe at the memory of how she, Emma, and Rikki had totally destroyed it, and why? Because Charlotte was flirting with her then ex-boyfriend. Where did she get off, treating Charlotte like she was some kind of monster?

"I just mean, that I really am sorry for how I treated all of you."

Cleo looked again at Charlotte, seeing her in a new light.

"I think," Cleo began slowly, "that maybe we all got off on the wrong foot."

Charlotte looked at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what if all that happened, hadn't?" she asked. "You know? What if we just met at the wrong place, at the wrong time?"

"And what if I never got a crush on Lewis?" Charlotte grinned good-naturedly. "And you never got really jealous, and stole my diary?"

Cleo laughed easily. Had it been before all this, she probably would've gotten really mad at that statement. But it was true, and hindsight made it even funnier. "When you told me about that fire, I'll be honest, I thought for a minute that you started it."

Charlotte burst into laughter. "What?" she said in between fits of giggles. "Seriously?"

Cleo nodded, laughing harder. For a few minutes, the two girls couldn't say anything, just laughed at the way the two of them had acted over the past couple months. Any animosity that was between them was quickly dissolved.

Finally, the two slowed with their laughter, and just leaned back on her arms and soaking up the sun's rays. The feeling of sitting on the side of the water with a friend was one that Charlotte had not enjoyed in a good while. This was what she had wanted with the girls.

After a few moments, Cleo spoke up.

"That's a pretty necklace, by the way. I've never seen it before."

Charlotte touched the pendant. "My grandma gave it to me, a while before she died. She made it herself," she explained. "She liked making her own jewelery."

"It's beautiful. It almost looks like Emma, or Rikki."

"Yeah. Or like Julia or Louise. I never knew where she got the inspiration from, or that it would be so… true to life."

"She never told you about her being a mermaid, did she?" Cleo asked quietly.

Charlotte shook her head. "No. She told me stories, a lot of stories, about three girls who became mermaids, and had adventures; I loved hearing them. Grandma used to tell me, 'There's magic in the sea, you just have to know where to look.'"

"Mako," Cleo said knowingly, to which Charlotte nodded. "Maybe she was trying to tell you, in an indirect kind of way."

"Maybe. Maybe she wanted to make up for the mistakes she made. Who knows?"

Cleo sighed, then stood up, and Charlotte did as well. The two girls, at one point deep in hate for the other, now stood with fresh eyes.

"I want to take Willow to Mako Island," Charlotte said honestly. "Tonight, for the full moon. She's leaving tomorrow, and I think she should see it."

Cleo looked out onto the water, quiet for a moment. No doubt Emma and Rikki would agree with her choice. "Maybe that would be a good idea." She gave the redhead a smile. "Tell us what happens?"

Charlotte nodded, returning the smile. Her eyes fell on the silver locket on Cleo's neck, but didn't find herself missing it. She couldn't miss something that never truly belonged to her.

Cleo went to the edge of the dock, preparing to jump off, when she suddenly stopped. "Oh, we're still meeting for lunch, right?"

"Definitely. See you guys in a little while."

The brunette nodded, and dove into the water, quickly disappearing under the water.

Charlotte smiled, and quickly ran up to her house to get ready.