Jericho's girlfriend, whose name was Anne, ran in to see what was wrong, only to stop mid-run as she found her boyfriend laying on the ground, a mostly naked boy curled up on his back, purring softy—yes, purring—and Jericho was having some kind of break down.

"He talked! Oh my sweet lord in heaven, it talked!"

"Jericho?"

"Anne!" Jericho shouted, sitting up quickly, causing Robin to suddenly slide off. "It talked to me, Anne, the mermaid talked to me!"

Robin whined, trying to climb back on, pushing on Jericho's back as if saying, "Get back down there and let me sleep." Anne just looked at Jericho with the strangest expression. She pointed at the boy and then at Jericho.

"Do I need to know something about the kid and you…?"

Jericho stood up, making Robin tumble to the floor. "Anne, that's Robin, the mermaid, and he talked!"

"Okay, Jericho," Anne said, walking over to a chair. "I think you've been spending too much time at work and need to take a seat. Come on, sit down here."

"Anne, I'm not crazy!" Jericho let out a deep breath before looking down at Robin. "Come here, buddy, let's show Anne that you're a mermaid. Show her your… legs… Hm, that was a bad example."

Anne raised her eyebrow, watching the kid's clawed hands try to tug Jericho down. "Are you sure you're okay? Because you sound pretty crazy right now… Okay, sorry, but I need to know who's the kid?"

"This is Robin." Jericho sighed, sitting on his bed. Robin was trying to push him over. "He ate, uh, well he ate and suddenly he had legs."

Anne crossed her arms. "What did he eat?" she asked, as Robin nudged her boyfriend with his head.

"Life," Jericho said, and looked at her. "I'm not joking; he ate someone's life and suddenly he had legs!"

"Ooookay." She took a few steps back. "I'm just gonna, ya know, go back outside…"

"You don't believe me?" Jericho asked in shock before holding out his arms. "What's there not to believe?"

She gave him a look before looking at Robin, who was still trying to push Jericho over. She gave him a pointed look when Jericho groaned and put his face in his hands. Robin cooed sadly, still trying.

"Look, sing something. He likes songs."

Anne sighed. "Um..."

"Oh! Sing that old mermaid song! Sailor Bold!"

She sang the first word before a second voice joined hers.

Robin's voice floated, ending with "Across the raging sea."

She took a step forward before seeing the scales, the teeth, and gasped. "A mermaid. You brought home a mermaid?!"

"He doesn't even know where he is!" Jericho shouted, panicked. "Robin still thinks he's at Ocean Waters and wants his brothers!"

"Oh, that makes sense," Anne laughed. "I thought you were doing something bad with a child."

Jericho glared at her. "Sometimes I wonder why I date you. Robin, cut it out!"

Robin wailed sadly from where he was half perched on Jericho. White pearls started to fall from his eyes, landing on the floor, pattering as they bounced. Jericho sighed as he moved the mermaid off, grabbing a large T-shirt before trying to get it on Robin.

"What's he want?" Anne asked, getting close enough to help him get the mermaid into the shirt. "Easy, Robin, it's all right."

"He wants to sleep on my back."

"Why?"

"I don't know, a mermaid thing?"

"Why don't you let him?" she asked, going over to grab some underwear, some shorts, a belt and a pair of socks. "Then, when he's asleep, you can just move him over."

"I don't want to because he claws my back like an angry cat!" Jericho took the items and together they dressed the mermaid. "Besides, I need to find something. Robin, stop moving and let me put clothes on you!"

Robin wailed louder, trying to get away as clothing items were wrapped on him. Robin really didn't like the things on his lower body. He tried getting away, pulling at the clothes, and wailing when they held him down. Something slipped onto what Robin thought were his fins, but it was his feet. Robin started to wail sorrowfully when they finished.

"Just do it!" Anne yelled. "Look at him! You can't just leave him like that!"

"Fine!" Jericho flopped onto his bed. "Happy? Ouch! Robin!"

"Maybe you should have just laid on your back…" Anne said as she winced, watching Robin making himself comfortable on her boyfriend. "Ouch, that looks like it hurts."

"You. Have. No. Idea." Jericho gritted out. "Dear God, kill me."

Robin settled down, curled up, sighing. Both the humans gave each other the look of "All right, we did it!" But then Robin noticed that, no, he wasn't on Jericho's back! Gasp! Robin rolled off Jericho before trying to nudge his way under him. Jericho gave up and rolled over letting the purring mermaid on. Happily, Robin climbed on him using his claws. Jericho wished that mermaids didn't have claws. Or liked to sleep on people.

Robin continued to paw at Jericho until he deemed the other comfortable enough to sleep on. With that he curled up before falling asleep. Ten minutes later Jericho slipped free and swore he would never, ever own a cat.

Ever.

Billy sat there outside Ocean Waters looking completely dejected. Like the world had chosen to beat him over and over again before tossing him out into the rain. The little boy looked so depressed and down that it hurt Bruce to see it.

He was supposed to pick up Billy an hour ago but he had ended up in a yelling match between himself and Thomas. That had taken up time that shouldn't have been wasted, and when Bruce had realized that he was late, he had sped to Ocean Waters hoping that Billy was still there.

Billy was, but the poor child looked like he was going to die at any moment. Walking carefully over to him, Bruce placed his hand on the side of Billy's shoulder. The boy looked up slowly before those puffy red eyes lit up over a giant grin and he launched himself at Bruce.

"You came back!"

Chuckling, Bruce hugged Billy back. "Of course I did."

Rubbing the water out of his eyes, Billy held tight before he pulled back, suddenly worried. "Bruce… I have bad news."

"What is it?" Bruce asked, concerned.

"Tim's not in there!" Billy looked back at the place. "I looked and looked and he's not there!"

When Bruce said nothing, Billy looked at him closely, titling his head. He could tell something was going on the man's head. Suddenly Billy was scooped up with one arm. Holding onto Bruce, Billy looked over the man's shoulder as they walked away from the place. Or rather, Bruce took long, strong strides. Billy thought it was fun and held on.

He couldn't see it but Bruce was grinning.

Why?

Because he could follow Tim's scent if he wasn't in Ocean Waters.

Jericho and Anne looked everywhere for the book. They opened boxes that had been put away a long time ago. Robin lay on Jericho's bed, curled up peacefully. Anne commented on how Robin had a happy smile on his face. Jericho had to break it to her that it wasn't a good dream, but because he had drugged the small mermaid. After she smacked his arm they continued.

Half an hour later Anne sat up, sighing before she paused. "Where's the kid?"

"What?!" Jericho came running out from where he had been. "Robin?!"

Cooing could be heard from the living room. They ran there to see Robin still high, lying on his back trying to tug the socks off. He had successfully pulled one off and was working on the next one.

"Aw," Anne said. "He's so cute."

Jericho held his hand over his heart. "I swear that mermaid is going to give me a heart attack."

"Don't be such a baby. Come on, let's keep looking. Anyways it's not like he can get out, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." Jericho went back to looking.

Ten minutes later Jericho came back in to see that not only had Robin managed to work off his second sock but also the belt and the shorts. He had one arm out of the shirt and he was trying to wiggle out of his underwear. Jericho smacked himself in the face. Walking over, he knelt down over Robin, pulling the underwear back on and pulling the shirt back down.

Robin cooed at him as if to complain about the clothes. This was the reason the mermaid wasn't asleep. It was because he was uncomfortable in the clothes. Jericho let Robin cuddle up to him as he put the shirt back on. Just as he was trying to get the boxers back on, the door broke. Yes, it broke, because a big hulking man had broken it, and he was standing there looking murderously at Jericho, who realized with horror what it must have looked like with him over the small child-looking mermaid with one hand on the boy's hips and the other tugging off his shirt.

"Oh my god," Jericho thought. "I'm going to die."

Thank you to all my readers, I appreciate it so much and it really helped me get over my depression! Please review again and remember to thank L for betaing all the chapters for me! She an amazing person!