Thanks for all the great review. I can't believe that this is my 30th chapter. I never knew that this story would go past twenty chapters. Thanks for inspiring me and for encouraging me to write more.
Chapter 30
Rikki's POV
It was the next morning and I was in the kitchen, making scrambled eggs. Will came into the room and sat at the kitchen table.
"Morning Will!" I said.
"Someone's in a good mood," he said.
"Yeah, I woke up and was all happy. It's weird right?"
"Yeah. I have to talk to you about something."
"About what?"
"Zane."
"What about Zane?" I asked him.
He looked at me when I turned around to look at him.
"Spit it out Will," I said as I turned back to the eggs.
"I think something's wrong with him."
"Why do you think that?"
"He asked me for help yesterday."
I burst out laughing. That would never happen.
"I don't think he would ask you for help, no offense," I said.
"He did."
"About what?"
"He wanted help cause he doesn't know how to be a dad."
I looked at Will and started laughing again.
"What?" he asked me.
"I'm worrying about the same thing. I was talking to Bella about it yesterday."
"Talking about what?" Zane asked from the doorway.
"Good morning Zane," I said as I kissed him on the cheek.
"You didn't answer my question."
"I know."
"Come on, tell me."
"Will, can you give me a moment alone to talk to Zane?" I asked him. He nodded and left the room. I finished making the eggs and started to talk.
"I was talking to Bella about how I don't know how to be a mom. Will told me you're worried about the same thing," I said to Zane. I put the eggs on a big plate and placed them on the kitchen table.
"I'm not worried about being a mom. I'm worried about being a dad," Zane said.
I laughed. "You know what I mean."
"We can get through this together. We can ask your dad for help."
"Maybe, maybe not."
Bella came into the kitchen.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked us.
I said no at the same time Zane said yes.
"I'm confused," Bella said.
We laughed and told Will that he could come back in the room. We helped ourselves to breakfast and Ash and Emma came through the door.
"Hey, come get some breakfast!" I screamed to them.
They helped themselves and we all sat down eating.
"How's you mom about Ash staying at your house?" Zane asked Emma.
"She's okay with it, but he has to sleep on the couch." I laughed and everyone looked at me.
"What?" I asked them.
"It's not a good thing," Emma said.
"I find it funny when someone has to sleep on the couch."
"It's not. My parents don't trust him and it upsets me."
"You know how I am Emma."
"I know that's what upsets me more."
"Sorry." We ate the rest of breakfast in silence.
"What time is it?" I asked Zane.
"Time to go pick Cleo and Lewis up. I'll go pick them up. You stay here and relax," he said as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
"How about we leave the girls alone and all the guys go pick them up from the airport," Ash said.
"Okay," Zane said. The guys left and I sat on the couch. The girls followed.
"How are you doing?" Bella asked me.
"Fine, why?" I asked her.
"You just seem down," Emma said.
"Well, I was happy, but then we fought. I don't want to fight. It causes stress and I can't be under stress."
"I'm sorry. It is kinda funny that he has to sleep on the couch. I was just upset because I got in a fight with my dad this morning. I don't think he really accepts me as a mermaid. He acts like he does, but he gives me these looks," Emma said.
"I don't get why you told your parents. I don't get how you told them," Bella said.
"It's actually not that hard," I said. "I just dumped water on my legs."
"It was harder to tell my parents," Emma said. "But, Elliot loved it. He thought it was awesome. He had fun swimming with us, right Rikki?"
"Yeah, that was so funny," I said.
"Can we go swimming now?" Bella asked me.
"Why not, but I want to go to the moon pool."
"Let's go," Emma said.
I got up, with help from Emma and Bella.
"Thanks," I said to them as we walked down to the beach.
"You sure you can swim?" Bella asked me.
"Yeah."
They dived into the water, but I walked. We checked the area and saw no boat, nets, or cameras.
We swam to the underwater entrance to the moon pool. We sat on the ledge and talked.
"So, what are you going to name the baby?" Emma asked me.
"Ariana or Artemis," I said.
"I love both of those names," Bella said. Emma agreed.
"What are we going to do?" I asked them.
"About what?" Emma asked me.
"The group. Why can't they find a name for the freakin group? It's getting annoying calling the group."
"Yeah," Bella said.
"They tried to kill us. At least they don't know about you Bella."
"That's a good thing," Emma said.
"I can't believe what they did to you Emma. It just annoys the hell out of me." I unintentionally balled my hand into a fist. The moon pool began to heat up.
"Rikki!" Emma screamed.
"I looked at the pool and said, "Oh crap." I released my hand. "Sorry."
"It's okay. You need to keep your stress level down. There's something out there that happens to pregnant woman. It risks your health and the baby's life," Emma said.
"You should be a nurse or a doctor," Bella said to Emma.
"Yeah, you should," I said.
"Rikki!" I heard someone yell.
"Uh oh, they found us," I said. Zane and the boys came into the cave. Cleo swam in.
"Hey, what's up?" Bella asked them.
"What are you doing here?" Zane asked us.
"Relaxing. I could heat up the water a little so it's a hot tube," I said.
"Do that," Bella said. I heated the water a bit and we all relaxed some more.
"Do you know how dangerous it is to swim in the ocean with them out there?" Zane asked me.
"I'm relaxing. You're always telling me to relax more."
"She's right," Will said. Everyone agreed.
"Hey Lewis. How's geek school?" I asked him.
"Great," he said.
Bella laughed and said hi to Will.
"Does anyone have an iPod or something? I really want to listen to some music," I said.
Lewis took his out and put on some music.
"This is great," Cleo said.
"Yeah, it is."
I hung out with my friends and my fiancé. We had fun for the rest of the day. Later, we went back to the house and had dinner. I then went to bed.
It was a long, awesome day.