It seemed as if the sky was crying for his loss of his bubbly maiden. He had searched everywhere that had popped into his head, but she was nowhere in sight. The pouring rain was even more of a worry, because if she was still out there alone, she was getting dripping wet and would get sick.

"Jim, you'll find her. She couldn't have run off too far. The only place she knows is here." His mother said in a soothing voice, running her fingers through his wet hair. His eyes dropped down to the hot tea she had prepared for him, he mumbled a thanks and cupped the china in two trembling hands.

The tea scalded his throat, but nevertheless felt good. He'd rather feel something than this hollowness that was engulfing his heart like a black menacing shadow.

A flash of lightning lit up the gray skies, and thunder soon rolled in after, shaking the inn violently. His mother sighed and sat down next to him, temporarily ignoring the pile of dirty dishes that she needed to attend to.

"What happens if she went back to Atlantica, mom?" Jim asked so softly that his mother, at first, didn't think he had said anything at all.

"Well, what does happen? What will you do?" She asked him back, challenging him to rack his brain.

"I… I don't know. It's been so long since I've been alone… without her. She's like, permanently engraved into my life… my heart. How can I just go on and pretend she never existed?"

"I never said you had to pretend that she never existed. I just asked what will you do?"

"I don't know, mom. I love her. And that feeling is never going to just vanish. It's not something that I can just ignore…"

"And what happened to the hoard of girls that you have pawning at your every footfall? Didn't you tell them you love them?"

"You're making me sound like a male hooker, mom."

"Just answer the question, regardless of what I make you sound like."

"Well, yeah. I told them that.- "

"There you go! Then- "

"But I honestly, truly love Ariel. Not those other girls."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. Every time she's not with me I miss her immensely, she lights up my day with her smile and charm. She's just an amazing person and I…." Jim shut up for a second, and his eyes filled with what seemed like a mix of amazement, wonderment, and a bad case of the "I'm thinking"'s.

His mother stared at him peculiarly, wondering if he would share what he was thinking. He blinked his sky-eyes once, twice, then a broad smile overcame his face, and his face lit up as he stared at his mother.

"Do you want to know how for certain I am that I am madly in love with Ariel, mom?" he asked, eyes shining.

"Ok… sure."

"I am so madly in love with her, mom, that I want to spend the rest of my life with her."

His mother gasped, hands flying to her mouth and her eyes widened. Jim grinned and laughed, and took her thin wrists into his strong hands and spoke calmly as to not frighten her anymore.

"Mom, I can't live without her. I won't. I am too deeply in love with her to not be with her. And it's not just some phase, some ridiculous idea to keep her captive. I really do honestly love her." He whispered, wrapping his mother up in a hug.

"But… what will she say?"

"Only one way to find out, mom, and that's to ask her. I have to get home and see if Ben and Morph have spotted her. I'll be back, and I'll tell you what she says." And as he spoke he rose and started heading to the door until his mother beckoned him back.

Her eyes where filled with tears and she was smiling as they trailed down her cheeks. She embraced her son and mumbled into his broad shoulder, "I'm glad it was her all along. Clearly you are meant to be. But, if you're going to propose, you need a ring. And in this weather everybody's closed tight. I have just the fix though…" and she wandered off upstairs. Jim followed her into her bedroom just in time to see her open a small drawer and pull out a box. She smiled softly at the box, then looked up and smiled at her son.

"It was your father's to me. I haven't worn it in ages, ever since he left. I want you to have it; a beautiful girl deserves a beautiful ring." She answered, and placed the box into Jim's hand. He opened it, the small latch creaking a bit, and he let out a little gasp when he saw the breathtaking ring. It was silver, an ocean-blue diamond in the middle held up by two small clear ones. They sparkled in light, and the silver twinkled. He closed the box up, pocketed the ring safely, and hugged his mother fiercely.

"Thanks mom." He kissed her cheek, bounded down the stairs and all his mother heard was the door shutting as her son raced to find the love of his life.

She sat on the foot of the bed and opened her necklace that contained holographic pictures of Jim through the ages. She smiled and said to nobody in particular, "I'm so proud of you Jim."