xxi.
"This is really not a good time, Lewis."
It was a rare understatement, but Zane was beyond melodramatic threats and colourful insults at the moment. He'd made the most important decision of his life thus far but was missing a key element in the proceedings. It wasn't in its case where he'd been sure he placed it, tucked behind the sci-fi books no one would believe him to touch willingly. It was always in its case! Why wasn't it in its case?
"I know," Lewis shuffled. "I wouldn't risk my neck to bother you if it wasn't a big deal, but I'm going through a crisis here, and if I don't get Rikki to clear a few things up for me I might never get Cleo to speak to me again."
"Heartbreaking. What makes you think she can help with your... problem?" Zane replaced the stack of books where they belonged and moved on to the next section.
"I can't... tell you that. I wish I could, Zane. Really, I do, but I am sworn to secrecy, and there's no possibly way you could extract—"
"Is it about the guppy?"
Zane was preoccupied and his back was turned when he'd asked. Still, Lewis was certain he'd heard clearly.
"The—wha—you... you know?"
"As of two days ago."
Zane sighed and his shoulders slumped. That was it. He'd either lost it somehow or his dad had found it and decided to be an Indian-giver yet again. Zane felt the dangerous urge to punch something, but instead he ground his teeth together and turned his full attention to Lewis. He probably didn't know how difficult it was not to hit him sometimes.
"Now either tell me what Rikki could possibly have to do with your relationship failures, or I'll personally ensure you can never walk in here again without a good pair of crutches."
"I, uh... I need to make sure Rikki doesn't..." Lewis traced a nonsense pattern on the floor with his foot.
"Spit it out, already! It's giving me anxiety to watch someone so pathetic."
"I just want to make sure Rikki doesn't want me to... to do what her dad wants us to. You know, he... he wants us to get married because he thinks..." Lewis chuckled nervously, "He thinks I'm the guppy daddy. Ridiculous, but still." Zane was surprisingly quiet and his expression impossible to read which made Lewis even more frightened as he ploughed on. "Cleo is firmly convinced that Rikki wants me to marry her and to do anything else would be letting her down or something. If you could just get Rikki to talk to her, I'm sure this would all blow over and we could resume our normal lives where I never have to see you, and you never have to see me, unless you want to tag along to the guppy checkups."
Still, Zane was quiet. Lewis thought he would have pushed him out roughly by now, or started laughing derisively, but he was frowning with quiet concentration.
"So Rikki does want to get married?"
"I don't know! I didn't think so! I mean... she seemed as against it as I was, but Cleo thinks..."
"Obviously she wouldn't marry you, but do you know if she wants to be married at all. To... anyone?"
Lewis shrugged with a wild expression. "I can neither confirm nor deny, and that is why I need you to bring Rikki here and get her to talk to Cleo for me!"
Zane huffed. "Calm down! You look like you're about to pass out! I'll talk to her."
"Really?!"
"Yeah, but... don't bring it up with her again. Let me sort things out and I'll tell you what comes of it."
Lewis was on the verge of protesting, but he thought better of it and shut his mouth. He supposed this was essentially Zane's responsibility anyway. And as long as he got the information he needed to make Cleo happy, that was all he really wanted.
-x-
This was a terrible idea. Zane was certain he'd heard those words many times before; from his friends, from his dad, from any number of strangers that his unappreciated brilliance happened to wreak havoc on. But this time it was his own voice in his head telling him so. Or was it only remnants of his father's doubt in everything he did making him uncertain?
He knew his father wasn't the best person to look to as an example for lasting relationships. After Zane's parents had separated, Harrison Bennett had cycled through several airheaded girlfriends, each one seemingly younger than the last. There was a time Zane might have followed in his father's footsteps, but something about Rikki made him want to stick it out; to say the word forever and truly mean it. Finding out he was a father only intensified his desire to be there for his family in a way his parents never were.
He thought about how crazy it was; how only a handful of months ago he'd spied her across the classroom and decided she was worth a shot. So much had happened since then. They'd grown tails, completed the science project, created a guppy together. They'd been through enough in that short time to fill a decade for some.
Yet here he was, sitting beside her, holding her hand as dusk fell, and feeling like he'd just won the universe at such simple contact. He worried that the next step would shatter the new ease between them. Rikki might misunderstand his motives, or simply not want him at all in the way he wanted her.
He didn't want to risk that. He didn't want to lose the blissful connection of her head against his shoulder, or in his lap when she wanted to stretch her own legs out on the sofa. But what he offered wasn't so different from asking to remain like this, just... in a more permanent way. And of course there was the repetition of what had already passed between them; but in a conscious state this time. That couldn't be such a terrible thing. Could it?
Zane inhaled sharply at Rikki's merciless nudge with her elbow.
"Ow! What's that for?"
"Your sighing. You've made that same dramatic sound about six times since you sat down and it's making me think you've got somewhere better to be."
"That's ridiculous," he chuckled, placing a kiss atop her head. "I can't imagine being anywhere else right now. Or... ever, actually."
Rikki hmph'ed in agreement. "Glad you recognise that."
His fidgeting disturbed the perfect positioning of his back pillow, but he paid it no mind. "That... reminds me of what I wanted to talk to you about." He was hoping she would press him for more and give him some kind of encouragement to go on, but she waited patiently, quietly, instead.
Their shared view was hardly spectacular, and it gave Zane pause. It mostly consisted of other trailers, a few patches of what might be considered lawn by a very kind person, and a pebbly stretch of land that led back towards the beach. There was one tree for shade, and a bush behind them, but nothing that remotely hinted of romance. They couldn't have sat with any distance between them even if they wanted to since the porch swing was probably meant for one hefty person and not the three persons and four pillows it was made to contain at the moment. Still, it was Rikki's world, and whether it was a dumpy lot or a vermin infested junkyard, the important thing was that she had let him be a part of it, and asked him to stay.
"I think..."
"Yeah, you think..." she repeated.
"I think we should get married."
Rikki let out something between an incredulous gasp and a laugh. "Are you joshing me right now?"
"No, I'm not. I know you might think this is crazy, and that I'm asking you just out of wanting to clear things up on the fatherhood front, and... if I'm honest, there's a bit of that too but it's not the main reason."
Her voice was soft and sweet as her cheek pressed against his shoulder. "Then what is the main reason?"
"I want our baby to know that he or she has a family. That we're together for the long run and we're going to be there for her no matter what; even—no, especially if little Guppy ends up being a mermaid, too."
Rikki grimaced at that. Not because she was opposed to the thought of loving such a child, but it brought a whole slew of complications she hadn't considered before. Zane went on.
"And you might think I'm only doing this out of an old fashioned sense of morality, but you should know that I don't work that way. I want to marry you, and want to take care of you, and although I'll always be upset at not remembering our night together, I can't say I regret what came of it. Because... because I love you, Rikki. And even though it's barely showing, I love our little Guppy too."
Rikki didn't speak. She did, however give his hand a tighter squeeze and wiped at her eyes with her free hand.
"Now, I didn't bring you what I meant to," Zane said, shuffling with his pocket, "I had an heirloom piece—nothing too big—I thought you wouldn't like something too showy, but there was a ring my granddad left me... I must have misplaced it but until I find it, I was hoping... maybe, if you'd like... you could wear this?"
As jewellery for a proposal went, it wasn't very fine. In fact, the only jewel was a tiny blue stone of a faint blue colour; perhaps an aquamarine, or even an imitation crystal. But the plain silver locket Zane held dangling from a thin chain was somehow more suited to Rikki in its simplicity and she had no mockeries to offer as he released it, letting it sit in the palm of her hand.
"I found it," he said a little sheepishly. "When I was trying to sort things out in my head I did a lot of swimming around Mako. This was at the bottom of the moon pool. I have no idea if it's worth anything, but there are little waves etched on the back, and I thought considering where it came from it was sort of special."
Zane could feel more than he could hear her soft laugh against him, "It is. Very special."
"Are you disappointed it's not a ring?"
The swing creaked as Rikki reached up to kiss his cheek. "There. How's that for your answer?"
Zane heaved a sigh. "I don't know... A peck on the cheek just says, 'I sort of think it's okay,' to me."
"Well, I'd kiss you properly, but we'd both grow tails and fall off the bench, and you said you wanted to stay here forever."
"Hm," he assented, kissing her head in return. "Or until the next full moon. Whichever comes first."
"Zane," she murmured after several minutes of quiet.
"Yeah?"
"We're getting married."
His hum of contentment was broken by a distracted thought as he tapped her arm thoughtfully with an idle finger and asked, "If I carry you to the water will you kiss me properly?"
He couldn't see her expression, but she didn't keep him in suspense too long.
"I guess you can. But only because I like you."
"Good thing," Zane laughed as he swooped her up in a hurry, "because we're getting married, you know."
A/N: He made the plunge! God rest his soul. :P No, I tease. I think they'll do just fine! I say as if I have no choice whatsoever in what transpires between them.