All right. Let's keep going. Thanks for reviewing, Elizabeth Fire Ice Heart, Bloodylilcorpse and Gage the Hedgehog.

Bridgette hadn't been aware of the two pairs of eyes on her – one blue, one green. When the two mermen got back to Blaineley to tell her the news, she was thrilled.

"This is far too easy!" she chuckled. "My little girl has feelings for a human? And not just any human – a prince! Oh, a teenager with her first crush can be pushed into anything stupid." She paused, looking at her two servants. "Justin, I need to brew up a potion for this to work. You stay here and help me out."

Justin nodded. He didn't really want to leave the cave, anyway. He was far too lazy to want to do anything.

Blaineley looked at her other minion. "Alejandro, I'm counting on you to keep an eye on Bridgette. When you find a moment, bring her here. If you need help, you can call and I'll send Justin."

A smirk lit up Alejandro's features. Although he wasn't generally malicious unless there was something he wanted, he had the ability to exploit anyone's weaknesses within a minute, and had no qualms about exercising it, although he admitted to himself that he'd probably feel guilty if he did it once too often.

While Bridgette's true mother plotted against her, planning to use her to bring about Chris' downfall, Bridgette herself was daydreaming. She was in the bathroom for a surprisingly long time as she daydreamed, only brought back to life by a hammering on the door.

"What's taking so long? Heather and I have been waiting for ages!" Sierra yelled through the door. Dakota, Eva, Gwen and Izzy had taken their turns earlier, but the other two girls hadn't been so quick.

Bridgette was done, really, so she opened the door. "Sorry." she said sheepishly as her violet-haired sister shot into the bathroom. Heather groaned.

"You're weird." she told her youngest sister bluntly. "What were you doing in there?"

Bridgette mumbled something and disappeared. There was no way she'd trust Heather with her new crush. Her eldest sister would laugh at her, and probably tell Chris. She couldn't confide in Sierra or Izzy, either. They wouldn't understand, and even if they did, they wouldn't be able to keep it secret. Eva would most definitely tell Chris. In fact, the only sister Bridgette felt she could really confide in was Gwen, who could keep a secret and would never tell. Dakota wouldn't tell Chris if Bridgette asked her not to, but she'd tell Heather.

Then again, she wasn't planning on telling Gwen. DJ knew, Courtney knew, and Lindsay knew. That was enough.

Still, it wasn't as if her sisters didn't notice her humming, with a dreamy look on her face, and not really paying attention to anything.

"You guys think I'm crazy, but nothing makes me act like that." Izzy commented to the others, just as Chris entered their bedroom when Bridgette was leaving.

"What are you all talking about?" he asked.

"The way Bridgette's been acting." Heather said.

"It's obvious – she's in love!" Sierra squealed. "It's adorable!"

While Chris began to wonder if his youngest had really fallen for someone, wondering who it was (DJ crossed his mind, but he decided no – he was more like a sibling-type best friend), Bridgette was acting very unlike herself. The usually down-to-earth girl couldn't get her mind clear. She wasn't sure why she couldn't stop thinking about Geoff, though. Yes, she'd known she liked him. And he was cute, with those blue eyes. He'd seemed like a nice guy, and chill. And even Lindsay had implied that she would be the kind of girl he'd described as his type.

Bridgette didn't believe in love at first sight. But she wanted to know more about the human world. And rescuing Geoff was the closest interaction she had. She knew that he would recognize her if he saw her again. As she thought about it, she absentmindedly picked flowers off a petal, playing 'he loves me, he loves me not'.

"Bridgette?" Courtney swam up to her. "Listen, are you still thinking about that man on the beach?"

"What?" Bridgette wanted to lie. "Um...of course not." she mumbled, but she was never good at lying.

Courtney gave a sigh. "I can tell you're lying. What actually happened to him? What actually happened?"

Bridgette hesitated. But this time, she admitted what had happened. "His ship got struck by lightning during the hurricane and got set on fire. He went back for someone who got stuck and then fell off the rigging and nearly drowned. I couldn't just let him-"

"That wasn't your responsibility!" Courtney said fiercely. "You aren't supposed to reveal yourself to humans! You know that! You shouldn't have taken the risk of saving him! What if he'd seen you?"

Bridgette blushed, and Courtney knew what it meant. "He saw you? Bridgette, how could-"

"He doesn't know I'm a mermaid!" Bridgette protested. "He just became conscious and probably got a glimpse of my face and then I left, I swear! I'll never see him again, anyway."

Anyone present could tell that Bridgette was lying to herself. She might not mean to do it, but she'd be tempted to seek out Geoff. She knew Lindsay would know where he lived, and she could try getting his attention while in the shallows, only showing herself from the waist up.

She didn't share these thoughts with Courtney, but the brunette had some idea of what she was thinking. "Your home is here! Listen to me, Bridgette. The human world is nothing like ours. There's nothing better on land than what's underwater. What do I have to do to get you to understand that, perform a musical number?"

Bridgette couldn't help a look of amusement come over her face, imagining a big Broadway number with Courtney in the centre.

"Hey, don't give me that look!" Courtney admonished. "I don't conduct the orchestra for nothing – I know my way around music! And I happen to like singing."

At least it distracted her from the whole "human world vs underwater world" argument. In fact, Courtney was in the middle of demonstrating her talent when DJ came up. He whispered something to Bridgette. The blonde cast an anxious look at Courtney (who seemed to be in her own world and wouldn't be finished any time soon) and whispered "As long as we're back in five minutes." Then they left.

Unfortunately, they weren't, and Courtney was holding her last note "Yeah, yeah, yeaaaahhhhhh..." when she noticed her audience was gone. The brunette gave a sigh. "Someone should nail that girl's fins down. Maybe it would kill her ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Courtney!"

The mermaid heard her name being called, and another merman swam up to her. "Sorry to bother you, but Chris has some concern, and he made me go find you." He gave a sigh. "I have enough trouble making sure the laws are kept."

Courtney gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't I know it, Don. Guess a kingdom of adults is about as fun as trying to keep seven teenagers under control."

Don gave a sigh. "I've left the senior cadets in charge for now. I can trust Sanders to do the right thing most of the time, but MacArthur's still pretty volatile and doesn't always listen to her trainers. But she insists that she's a reformed character. Anyway, better go before Chris has a nervous breakdown."

Courtney shared a laugh with the lawman, and then swam off to find Chris.

"Courtney!" the king said in relief and annoyance. "Finally! I would think Don could find you quicker than that."

His wife smiled briefly, and said "You shouldn't put pressure on him like that. He's hired to catch criminals, not find whoever you want at each point. You could've sent one of his cadets or someone else entirely."

Chris shrugged. "Since I banished my last messenger, Don's the most trustworthy I can get. Anyway, what I was going to say...I'm concerned about Bridgette."

I'll leave the chapter there. What do you think about Don being a policemerman? I thought it worked, since he cares about the rules and hates cheaters. Also, he seems to like the Police Cadets. Please review!