xxii.
Rikki thought it strange. With all the anticipation of her wedding—her marriage to Zane Bennett, the one thing that stuck out in her mind wasn't so much the date, an officiant, the location, or anything related to the event itself, but sad little Cleo Sertori. Zane admitted that Lewis's panic had given him the final push to propose, and Rikki knew from the way things sounded between him and Cleo, there was more than one misunderstanding that needed clearing up.
At least she could help with one of them.
It wasn't as if she enjoyed seeing Cleo suffer. Well, maybe a little. When the easily resolved misunderstandings caused an amusing sort of confusion on Cleo's part and weren't threatening towards serious depression. Rikki liked to tease. But she wasn't a sadist. Or maybe pregnancy was turning her soft.
She took Cleo out for ice cream, telling her she was celebrating something important and wanted to share the good news. She figured that a double scoop of creamy vanilla was bound to start things off as cheerfully as possible, and under any other circumstances her ploy would have worked. Today, though, Cleo was pitifully distracted. Between licks she would pause to glance at Rikki or sometimes gaze off in the distance, biting her lip thoughtfully until a drip of ice cream on her hand brought her back to where she was. Then she'd give a little sigh and repeat the process after another lick or two.
"Okay, Cleo," Rikki nudged after a particularly long gap between mournful sigh and dripping ice cream, "You haven't asked what we're celebrating."
Cleo sat up a little straighter and put on her best listening face. "Oh, yes! I'm sorry." Her gaze was a little more intense than Rikki felt comfortable with, but she let it pass since Cleo was trying so hard to make an effort. "What are we celebrating today?"
"Well... I'll give you a hint." Rikki twirled a piece of hair that fell over her shoulder, hoping to bring attention to her locket. "Did you notice any new accessories on me?"
Cleo clamped down on her bottom lip as she inspected her friend closely. She roved her eyes slowly over her two or three times before finally noticing. "Oh! That locket is new! It's so pretty! Is it your birthday?"
"No... It was given to me as a sort of... promise gift. Until he gets a ring."
"A ring! Like... a ring? So you're... Does that mean...?"
Rikki couldn't hold it in any longer. Cleo's agitation and painfully hesitant expressions were driving her crazy. "I'm getting married!" she grinned, finding it strangely thrilling to be sharing such news with Cleo. As much as she resisted their friendship at the beginning, and still liked to complain to Lewis that their relationship was forced on her along with every other happening since the transformation at the moon pool, she had grown fond of Cleo's company. She had a different way of seeing things than Rikki did. She was ridiculously optimistic about people, and put up with far too much, but she supposed if Cleo was more like her they would have clashed more, and possibly parted ways long ago.
Cleo bit her lip more fiercely than before, struggling with her emotions, it seemed. She took several deep breaths before she spoke.
"I'm really glad," she choked out, "It's... it's the right thing to do. And he'll be a great dad. I know it."
"Cleo, I'm not marrying Lewis."
A flash of a smile lit up her features before they feel again into utter confusion. "What do you mean? Don't you want to be a family?"
"I do! And we will be. But not with Lewis."
"Then... who?"
"It's Zane, you git! I'm going to marry Zane Bennett. Crazy, huh?"
Cleo let her sticky hands fall into her lap of napkins, clearly giving up on keeping them clean. "But that doesn't make any sense! You hate Zane!"
Rikki laughed outright. "It does seem like that most of the time, doesn't it? But that was really only before I knew him. And I never thought of marrying Lewis. It was just something my dad wanted because Lewis has awful timing and there was a big mix-up at the house."
"But why...?" Cleo shook her head in an attempt to make sense of it all. "I'm sorry, I'm happy for you! Really! I'm just... confused, but... why Zane?"
"Because it's his guppy, too."
"Zane...!?"
"Yeah, I was kind of winded for a while myself. That's why I didn't want anyone to know who was really the father. I wasn't ready to deal with all of that. I thought he'd just think I was a gold digger, you know?" The look stuck to Cleo's face was one of complete despondency. "Are you mad at me?" Rikki asked. "Say something, Cleo."
"Um... so you and Lewis..."
"Were never together," she assured her.
Cleo nodded once, very slowly and stood up. "I... I have to go. I have to talk to Lewis now."
"Okay... But Cleo, wait a minute!" she called as her strange little friend started towards the park exit. "Tell him I said he can tell you everything. I mean... everything. There's more to it than what I've said here. I'll leave the rest to him."
"Okay," she said solemnly. "Oh, and Rikki?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for the ice cream."
It was the first real smile she had seen from Cleo in months.
-x-
"Why didn't you tell me? All you had to do is tell me you weren't the father!"
Cleo stood over a properly chastised Lewis, eyes narrowed and hands on her hips, whenever they weren't gesturing wildly.
"I couldn't!" Lewis flinched away from indignant glare. "I couldn't because... there's more than one secret going on, and it's not just about me. It's got to do with Rikki, and Zane, and... everything about their little guppy's existence! I was afraid if you knew one secret, I'd have to tell you everything. I still want to tell you everything..."
Cleo plopped herself beside him on the bed. "Rikki said you can. When I took off to come and find you she said to make sure you knew that you could tell me everything." She took his hand, letting him digest what she'd just said. "So... will you?"
Lewis looked at her doubtfully. "Rikki said that?"
Cleo huffed out an annoyed breath. "I'm not making it up."
"No, of course! I'm sure you're not," Lewis quickly assured her. "It's just, she swore me to utter secrecy for so long, and... This isn't easy," he sighed. "I don't even know where to start."
"Start with how you became good friends with Rikki and your sworn enemy, Zane Bennett," she smiled a little. "You can work up to explaining how they ever got together."
"Okay. I guess it started with our science project..."
Lewis explained as much as he thought important, which was enough for Cleo to begin to understand. She learned of Mrs Macintosh's counting error and the reluctant partners Lewis had in Zane and Rikki. He told her of their expedition and how exciting all the plant life and water samples were in the exotic ecosystem. When he came to their fall and exploration of the moon pool, he stumbled with his words and hesitated to give every detail as before.
"Something happened to us in that pool," he said with a deep frown. "Something to do with the properties in the water during a full moon. I still haven't figured it all out, even though I've run so many tests. We didn't know it had done anything until the next morning when we were tossing a canteen around, and the water..."
He stopped to shake his head and Cleo nudged him, "Go on."
"It's so... impossible. It'll sound absolutely crazy... no one in their right mind would believe it! It would be easier just to show you, but... I don't want to freak you out. See, there's a reason I haven't kissed you, you know, and it isn't anything you've guessed, or probably would ever guess."
"And it has something to do with what happened on Mako?"
"Yeah. It... changed us. All three of us. When the full moon is out, we get a little crazy if we see it, and Rikki and Zane... well, they were under a full moon when the guppy came about, and they hadn't exactly meant for it to happen."
Cleo often found herself confused by Lewis's choice of words, especially when it came to his science experiments and medical theories, but this was something different. She felt all the parts of the puzzle were laid out before her, but the last piece was just out of her grasp. "Lewis... this isn't making any sense to me."
"I know, and I'm trying to find the right words to tell you, but I don't think there are any." They both sat in abject silence for a few moments until Lewis turned to her and asked, "Would it... would it be okay if I kissed you? I think that would be the most straightforward explanation."
"Lewis, I don't want you to kiss me to prove a point."
"I know, but this isn't just for a scientific demonstration," he raised an eyebrow eagerly.
Cleo had to smile at how very Lewis he sounded at that and it gave her hope. Hope that she could trust Lewis as she always had. Hope that everything would make sense in time.
"Okay," she nodded. "If you promise it's for real this time."
"I promise," he smiled softly, and then added, "Please don't freak out."
He took much more care than the first kiss he stole, and the fact that Cleo wasn't caught off guard and extremely upset with him at the moment was certainly in his favour. He tried not to count to ten. He tried to enjoy every bit of Cleo's soft lips and the uncertain way she was kissing him back, but the transformation occurred all too soon, forcing him to pull away reluctantly when Cleo didn't notice right away how it had transformed him.
Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked away shyly. "Lewis..." she began softly. But when she raised her head to meet his apprehensive gaze, she saw what had transpired while they kissed. "Where's your shirt? What... what is that?" she asked shakily while eyeing the shimmering blue tail hanging over the side of his bed.
"I told you it's impossible. But this is the reason for everything. Why I avoided you for so long, and how Zane and Rikki are having a moon fever baby, and why I couldn't kiss you as much as I've wanted to every single day," he let the words tumble out one after another, silently begging her to understand, "Because the moment we do, or... ten seconds after, to be exact, this happens."
"But this... This isn't right! This isn't you! You're a... a fish," she said on the verge of tears.
"Only half of me is! And only after touching water, or... evidently, kissing. I haven't tested tears yet, although I could probably ask Rikki... But I can do things, Cleo! The transformation gave us all powers! I don't just have a tail, but I can breathe for ages underwater, and make things happen to the water as well!"
"I... I need to be alone, now," she murmured, her eyes never leaving his newly glistening merman form. "I need to think."
"It's still me, though!" he pleaded, "I'm still Lewis. Same as ever. Just... I just look a little different."
"Lewis?" she posed with a despondent sigh.
"Yes!" he answered with perhaps a bit too much enthusiasm.
"I'm scared. I don't know what to think and I want to figure it out. Please let me go home, now."
"Cleo, no one's stopping you. It's not like I could even if I wanted to in this state," he said with a dark humour in his tone. "But can I see you tomorrow so we can talk?"
"I... I don't know. I'm sorry!" she whimpered. "I don't know."
And with those words, she left him alone.
A/N: There. Now she knows. And she must never repeat it to another living soul. Hehehe. I jest. :P But hey, surprise! Double update! :D Hope this spices up your Tuesday! I was going to say Monday... I thought it was Monday all day and almost sold the wrong soup-of-the-day to customers. But whatever day it is, may this make yours a little brighter!