Well, it's time for Bridgette to face the music, so to speak. Oh, and one more thing.

Thanks for reviewing, Gage the Hedgehog (correct!), StarHeart Specials (trust me, I've had LM Gidgette lingering in my mind for ages – had to do it), Elizabeth Fire Ice Heart (nope – good guess, but I wanted someone who acted against Bridgette in canon), Bloodylilcorpse (spot on!), and the guest reviewer (except it would be genetically impossible, but yeah, that would be funny).

As Bridgette swam home, little did she realize the merman in the shadows, watching. He picked up his shellphone to call his partner. "Tell her the blonde's a free spirit." he said. "Probably easily swayed." Then he flicked his burgundy fins and glided back.

In a little cavern, two devilishly handsome mermen, a bunch of polyps, and a horribly grotesque mermaid were living. Well, not a mermaid as much as a divorced exiled woman with family she never saw.

"Concerts with little girls singing!" she scoffed when her mermen minions told her about it. "And the littlest girl forgets? I could keep her under control if Chris had kept me, instead of that disgusting little brat who's young enough to be my daughter! Leaving me here, wasting away to almost nothing...even my hair is getting greasy!" She complained about her plight in this fashion daily. In reality, her look wasn't much different to how it had always been. She'd always been plump and had limp hair that she'd dyed so many times that it was obviously mouse, not the glossy blonde shade she sported.

She paused. "But still, I'll have the last laugh. I can take control of the kingdom. Justin, Alejandro," she turned to her minons. "I want you to keep an eye on my little Bridgette. She's the perfect key to Chris' fall from royalty." She'd been exiled long before Chris had married Courtney, when Bridgette was still a baby, but never had an opportunity like this to overthrow Chris.

The two men spoke in unison. "On it, Blaineley."

Meanwhile, Chris and Courtney were scolding Bridgette, starting in on her the minute she arrived home.

"I'm so sorry!" she said sincerely. "I just completely forgot."

"Do you realize how this reflects on the kingdom, having princesses who just 'forget' to perform?" Chris said crossly.

"And you can't keep forgetting important engagements – you'll never have a career if you do!" Courtney added.

DJ, despite Bridgette saying she'd take responsibility, spoke up for her. "A shark came after us!" he said in defense. "It blocked our way, so we couldn't get past the-"

"I know you're a crybaby, but I know Bridgette would have tried to outswim the shark if she'd actually remembered the concert." Chris interrupted. He liked DJ fine, but he wasn't interested in hearing excuses.

"We were attacked by a shark." Bridgette admitted. "And then we were waylaid by a seagull-"

"Seagull?" Courtney spoke up, and Bridgette realized her mistake too late. "What were you doing above the surface? You know perfectly well that it's too dangerous to be up there!"

"What if a human had seen you?" Chris continued. "Do you think I want my youngest daughter eaten or put in a zoo?"

"I could speak up for myself – humans have hearts like us!" Bridgette protested. "I've seen them before, and they act like we do!"

"Don't take that tone of voice!" Chris snapped. "You're still my daughter, and my rules apply. You are never to go up to the surface! Is that clear?"

Bridgette still believed that humans weren't all that different from merpeople. So they didn't have gills, and they could walk and run, and some of them couldn't swim. But she wished the two worlds could interact. She would love to ask questions about the inventions on the land, and explain her world to the people above. And she'd seen humans a few times, while she was hidden behind the rocks. They acted the way any merperson would.
But she could see that there was no point arguing with Chris when he was in this mood. And although she could sometimes get more understanding from Courtney, she knew mentioning the surface was bound to lose points. She just nodded submissively and swam off, her blonde head down and her green eyes fixed on the ocean floor.

Courtney flicked her olive-green tail, and tried to say something soothing. "Chris, you know how teenagers are. She's still only sixteen. Remember, when Sierra was sixteen, she was obsessed with that one boy."

"She's still obsessed a year later." Chris muttered. He may have been fond of his second youngest, but he was in a mood over Bridgette's actions.

Courtney paused. She'd only married Chris a year before, so she didn't remember much about the girls as stepdaughters, although she didn't think of the four eldest that way, anyway (she'd even played little-girl games with Heather and Dakota when they were kids). "Well..." she struggled, "Izzy's been acting a little strange through most of her teens. Bridgette's just going through a rebellious phase, like her."

Chris laughed bitterly. "Izzy's been in a rebellious stage all her life. No, what Bridgette needs is constant supervision. Someone who cares about her and who will watch over her."

"But who-" began Courtney, until she noticed the way Chris was looking at her. She gave a sigh. "I have to play babysitter?" She was concerned about Bridgette going to the surface, of course she was, but she didn't want to try to be an overprotective parent to her youngest stepdaughter. They had a more sisterly relationship, and Courtney would rather keep it that way, being stepfamily in name only.
"Aw, come on, Court!" Chris said in his whiniest tone, which he knew she hated. "Bridgette looks up to you, and I think she'll listen! Go on!"

Courtney sighed again and said "Fine, if you'll stop whining at me."

Bridgette had gone somewhere no one knew about, except for DJ, who she trusted not to tell. But this time, Courtney obediently followed her, and saw DJ helping Bridgette push a sea boulder aside to go into an underwater cave. DJ went first, and then Bridgette, moving the boulder back into place. Courtney waited a minute, and then used every inch of her strength to push the boulder aside once again to let herself to the cave, not bothering to close it properly. She stealthily glided through the cave to another little opening, where there were dozens of shelves, all holding artifacts that were clearly from the human world. In it, Bridgette was sitting on a small rock, gazing at all of the things.

"I wish they would try to understand." she muttered to DJ. "I don't see why the world above would be so bad. They haven't hurt merpeople before, have they? And they make such amazing inventions. Why is it so wrong to have contact with them?"

DJ didn't argue. Like Bridgette, it had been drummed into his head from a young age that the human world was dangerous. But he'd been given no reasons, and Bridgette choosing to question it had made him unsure if it was right or not.

Bridgette surveyed the collection of human things again. "I like having this collection." she said softly. "But...still...I don't understand enough about the world. I wish, that for one day, I could find out what it would be like to walk in the sun. To have...what are they called again? Feet, isn't it? Instead of fins."

At that, Courtney couldn't keep quiet any longer. "Bridgette, what in the world are you doing here? What is all this you have?"

Bridgette looked up at her stepmother, with an appalled look on her face. "Courtney! Did...did you follow me? It's...it's just my..uh...collection...of..."

"I know what it's of!" Courtney said severely. "It's of human things. If Chris knew about it, you know what he'd-"

"Are you gonna tell him?" DJ spoke up for his friend. He knew how devastated Bridgette would be if she lost her collection, as well as any connection she could have with the world above.

"Please don't tell him, Courtney!" Bridgette begged. "He wouldn't understand."

"I don't, either." Courtney said, but her voice had softened. She was only a few years older than Bridgette, and although she'd mostly been good growing up, she knew the thrill of breaking the rules. Before she'd married Chris, when she was Bridgette's age, she'd dated a merman who took her on a wild ride, breaking every rule she could think of. But he'd ended up dumping her for one of Bridgette's sisters, leaving her heartbroken. She could let this pass. Besides, surely letting Bridgette have her collection of human objects wasn't going to cause her to get hurt?

"But I won't tell him." the brunette finished. "Still, Bridgette, you need to come back home, right now."

But as the blonde and her best friend followed her out of the cave, Bridgette's green eyes drifted to the surface. Colour and lights were being reflected, and without a second thought, she knew she had to see what was causing them.

Thought I'd forgotten about Geoff? No way! Bridgette is NOT going to fall for him at first glance, don't worry. But she is going to sense...something. At least, once she's listened in on him for a while.