The next day business was much slower than usual which was odd for the bright sunny weather outside. It was so slow in fact that only one of them could run the inn, which is in fact what happened. Jim's mother told him she had to leave for a few hours to run errands so she put the inn in his perfectly capable hands. Jim agreed even without Ben's encouragement but he got it anyway. But with all of his mother's trust, the responsibilities of running the inn while she was gone and Ben's constant yapping he couldn't help but feel gloomy. He sat glumly in a chair at one of the tables leaning back in the chair with his feet on the table. Bad manners yes but since no customers where there he didn't think anyone would mind.

Wearing his dark jacket he reached his hand into his right pocket and pulled out the fork he found. He fiddled around with it in his hands as he continued to examine it. He couldn't stop thinking of how he found it and who it belonged to.

"So what's the plan Captain Jimmy?" Ben asked ecstatically. But Jim did not respond he continued to silently examine the fork. Then Morph appeared in front of him bulging out his eyes to examine the fork himself. "Jimmy? Pal?" Ben said as he moved to his sitting friend's side "Whatcha doin'?"

Coming back to consciousness Jim realized that both Ben and Morph were looking him over curiously. He took his feet off the table and onto the floor and then walked off towards the window which had a good view of the sea.

"Uh Jimmy?" Ben said again "Are you okay?" He leaned against the window with his right arm on it while his left still cradled the fork.

"That voice" Jim said "I can't get it out of my head. Where could she be?" he blurted out not really expecting an answer. But he got one anyway.

"Oohhh that's right, you're imaginary girlfriend" Ben joked recalling what Jim told him he saw his other day.

"She wasn't imaginary; I'm telling you she was real!" Jim turned back to them.

"Oh don't worry, I believe you Jimmy, but I think I'm starting to realize what it was like when you thought I was crazy" Ben said walking over to Jim's side.

Jim rolled his eyes in disbelief and then walked over to the sink and started swirling some water around.

"I mean think about it. What would your mother think if she saw you acting like this" Ben said putting his hands on Jim's shoulders. Morph then turned into his mother and started scolding him.

"She wouldn't think anything if you didn't tell her" Jim scolded

"Sorry I just love secrets, everybody should know about em" Ben responded giddily.

"Yeah, and now my mom thinks I'm crazy" Jim smirked

"Well you did see your imaginary girlfriend" Ben said letting go of his shoulders as Morph turned into a red headed woman and started singing in a high pitched voice but Jim just smacked him away so he turned back to normal giggling.

"What?" Jim let out as he smacked Morph "Stop calling her that, she's not my girlfriend" Jim waved him off

"Then why are you constantly thinking about her?" Ben questioned as he and Morph looking over a now nervous, shaking and shifty eyes Jim.

"Well.. I uh.. I'm just.. I-" Jim was at a loss for words. Ben had found him out.

"Oh our little Jimmy's in love" he squeaked as Morph turned into a little heart.

"Yeah, so what?"

"Oh it's okay, your secrets safe with" Ben proclaimed pounding on his metal chest

"Yeah, that's what you said when I told you about her and look at what happened" Jim pointed out casually

"I thought your mother would wanna know those things, even if she's imaginary"

"She wasn't imaginary" Jim said as he walked past them "She had this" he said turning around and showing them the fork.

"That coulda fallen from the dumpster"

"It's in too good condition to be from the dumpster"

"Maybe the water washed it off"

"Or maybe she had it" Jim said

"Or maybe she's imaginary" Ben shrugged

"I told you I didn't imagine it!" Jim raised his voice "She was-"Jim stopped yelling once he heard the front door open. Someone had just entered the inn.

Jim, Ben and morph turned to see who it was. It was a young woman in a pink dress. She walked around and starred in awe of everything around her with a big smile on her face. Her most noticeable feature was her long red hair. Jim would recognize her anywhere.

"…real" Jim said softly as they all looked at her. Jim and Ben turned to face each other, Ben whose jaw dropped in awe while Jim had a smirk and a raised eyebrow. They read each others face and were thinking exactly the same thing. Ben then snapped his fingers and pointed to Jim.

"Let's make her feel right at home. I'll cook a special romantic meal for two" Ben proclaimed. "You" he said grabbing Jim by the shoulders and pushing him forward "need to go show her around the place and tell her how much of a big deal you are."

"I can't do it like that" Jim resisted

"Aw you're just shy" Ben pushed "Go, give her back her fork" Ben grunted as he pushed Jim forward.

Jim was flung forward across the room and towards the red head but right before they would have collided Jim stopped but was so close that their noses touched. She never lost that look of curiosity and awe in her eyes or her smile even as his nervous eyes were inches from hers. Jim was so close to her and was at a loss for words. He was wondering what he would say to her if he ever got the opportunity to see her again, nevertheless a chance to talk to her. But he was stuck and being so close to her didn't help his nerves either, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

"H-Hi" he said nervously.

"Hello" she responded energetically before Jim backed off. "My name is Ariel, what's yours"

The reassuring smile on her face brought one to his own "Jim, Jim Hawkins" he introduced himself. With introductions out of the way the two silently starred at each other and Jim now decided to say what he was thinking from the first time he saw her.

"You look beautiful –eh pretty" he then cleared his throat "uh nice" he groaned knowing he just slipped up his words and made this awkward. He bit his lip and looked back to Ben and Morph who watched from the kitchen. Ben smacked his head as Morph cringed.

"Thank you!" Ariel said as Jim looked back to Ariel with much more optimism "It's always nice to get compliments from strangers". Jim looked back to Ben and Morph with a smile. Ben shot him thumbs up as Morph turned into fireworks. Ben then rolled his hands around motioning Jim to push the conversation along.

"Well, come on you must be hungry if you came in here" Jim said "Please take a seat" he took her hand in his. She did not flinch or stir but her hand intertwined with his. "An achievement" Jim thought. He walked her over to a table pulled out a chair for her and she sat in it.

"What is this place?" Ariel asked as she looked around and Jim led her to a table

"This is an inn my family owns" Jim told her "It's called Benbow Inn"

"Benbow" Ariel repeated. He walked her over to a table pulled out a chair for her and she sat in it.

"Thank you" she said as he walked to sit across from her "You have very good manners" she smiled

"Well my mom raised me well" Jim smiled back.

A look of grief suddenly overcame Ariel. Her lip started to quiver and her eyes became wet.

"What's wrong?" Jim asked concerned "Are you alright?" he leaned towards her

"It's just.. my mother"

"Your mother? What ab-" Jim stopped dead in the middle of his sentence and his body turned tense. He knew exactly what he said and although he could've had no idea he still felt like an idiot for saying it. "I'm sorry" he apologized sincerely.

"It's okay" Ariel forgave him as she stopped trembling. Silence overtook them as Jim wondered how he could rebound from this horrible situation he got himself in.

"You know…" he started not really knowing what he was going to say. He really just wanted to break the silence. Ariel looked over to him with longing eyes, wondering what he would say next. Then it hit him "I uh.." he stuttered "I really did have much of a father growing up" he admitted, opening up to her as her eyes became overcome with sorrow " It was really just my mom and me"

"Oh that's horrible" Ariel said as she took his hand in hers and Jim eyes went wide in delight when she did. "Where was your father?" Ariel asked concerned.

"He just sorta" Jim's eyes trailed off from hers "ran off one day.. and he uh.. never came back"

"But you're alright now right?" Ariel asked optimistically

"You know what yeah" Jim said as a smile reformed on his face "I mean they're where rough patched here and there but after a certain adventure" Jim put emphasis on that last word "things turned out really well"

"An adventure?!" Ariel exclaimed "I'd love to hear about it" she bounced up in her chair

"You're a curious girl aren't you?" Jim commented as he looked her over.

"OH!" Ariel put her hands over her mouth "I have an idea, you tell me about your adventure"

"Well my exploits involve" Jim said coolly "Ancient treasure, battling pirates, great long voyages on ships"

"Sounds exciting" Ariel said enchanted

"It certainly was" he admitted "and dangerous too" he added. "But I made some lifelong friends" he admitted thinking of a certain cyborg "became a pretty good deckhand in the process and when I got back we rebuilt the inn. The captain of the ship even recommended me to an academy where I've been doin' pretty well for myself. I have a promising future ahead of me" he admitted confidently.

"That's great" Ariel clapped for him.

"But what about you?" Jim asked "I've never seen you on Montressor before. What's your story?" Ariel sucked in her lips and looked around the room "What's up? You got a secret?" Jim pried slyly.

"Would you believe me if I told you?" she whispered to him

"Trust me I've seen plenty of things in my travels. I'll handle it"

Ariel leaned in and whispered to him "I wasn't born with legs".

Jim wasn't expecting that as an opening to her story.

"What?" he let out in z bizarre confusion.

"I didn't always have legs" Ariel said "I'm a mermaid or-" Ariel caught herself "was a mermaid. I traded my fins for legs"

"What would possess you to do that?" Jim asked intrigued.

"Do you really want to know?" Ariel asked hopefully

"I've listened so far haven't I?" Jim admitted and Ariel's face beamed with excitement.

"Well I always wanted to go up on land. I may have been a princess back home but I was so curious about what was up there. I wanted to see and experience it all" she explained passionately

"Sounds familiar" Jim commented thinking of his own past.

"My fascination was so important to me I would go out searching for things from up above. It all really started when I missed an important concert" Ariel admitted.

"Concert?" Jim thought to himself "As in singing?" He was so distracted in his thoughts that he did not hear what Ariel was saying.

"So I saw this ship and I went up to-"

"You said a concert?" Jim asked

"Yes, I… missed it"

"So I guess that means you're a pretty good singer?" Jim asked as he fondled something in his pocket.

"Well I didn't get to sing in that concert" Ariel admitted embarrassed as she shrugged her shoulders "but I just love music and singing!"

"So you like to sing and collect things from land?" Jim inquired and Ariel nodded "So" he pulled the fork from his pocket and showed it to her "is this yours?"

"My dinglehopper!" Ariel exclaimed in pure bliss at the sight of it. She then snatched it from his hands and looked at it in awe. "I thought I lost this. Where did you find this?!"

"I found it yesterday" Jim told "When I went down to the edge of the sea. I heard something while I was down there" Ariel went from examining her fork to looking at Jim curiously "It was you" he told sincerely. Ariel smiled as they continued to look into each other's eyes. "And I saw you down there and I just felt something" Jim explained "I just felt like, like"

"Like what?" Ariel asked softly as she leaned in.

"That you were the one" Jim thought "Just say it"

"That.." Jim spoke aloud "that you were-"

Jim was cut off as they heard the front door open and they turned to see who it was.

It was a young man with black hair in a white naval uniform. Jim was furious as he knew he now had to stop talking to Ariel since he had a customer to take care of. Whoever this guy was he came at the absolute worst time.

"Oh prefect" Jim muttered sarcastically. He did not notice that Ariel's face lit up once she saw him.

"Ariel?" the man called out.

"Eric!" Ariel spoke as if her breathe had been taken away.

"Huh? What?" Jim let out confused. Ariel got up and raced over to him. "Ariel who is this?" Jim asked frantically and worried at the same time "You're servant, cousin or-"Ariel jumped into his arms and they embraced before engaging in a passionate kiss. Jim's jaw dropped "…. boyfriend" he let out in defeat.

Ariel and Eric broke their kiss but they remained holding onto one another.

"Great news" Eric said cheerily "I got all the supplies for the voyage. The ships and the crew are ready when you are" he smiled.

"They're all waiting for me?"

"I'm waiting for you" Eric held her closer "You know I'd never leave without you" he said nuzzling her.

Jim just looked at them in disbelief.

"What made you come in here?" Eric asked

"I just wanted to look around and explore" Ariel admitted

"That sounds like you" Eric chuckled at his wife.

"OH Eric!" Ariel suddenly exclaimed "Come here!" she dragged him across the room by his hand and lead him to Jim who still sat at the table in a dazed defeat. "Eric this is Jim Hawkins" she introduced them.

"Hey there Jimmy" Eric held out his hand

"Just Jim" he said sternly and did not take Eric's hand which discouraged the older man.

"Jim's a pretty good deckhand" Ariel told Eric "I was thinking about asking him if he might want to come with us on the voyage"

"That's not a bad idea, if he's interested" Eric agreed "How about it Jim?" he asked as they turned to him.

"Yeeeaahh" Jim dragged out the word as he stretched and got up "I'm gonna have to decline the offer" he rebuffed egotistically

"What? Why?" Eric and Ariel asked. Ariel couldn't understand why he would decline the offer in such a rude manner after they were having such a nice pleasant conversation.

"It's just uh" Jim thought quickly to get him out of this mess "Things are picking up at the academy and there's work to be done here at the inn while my mother's away and I don't know how long she'll be away so, yeah I'm gonna say no" he told them smugly.

"Oh" Eric let out a little saddened "That's too bad, I'm sure we could've used your skills on the ship" he said with a reassuring smile.

"Yeah, whatever" Jim sneered.

"Well" Eric said turning to Ariel "Shall we go?" he offered her his arm and she happily took it. The two of them then walked off towards the door together.

"OH wait" Ariel said to Eric. She then turned back to Jim as they continued to walk off together. "Good bye Jim" she waved "Good luck at the academy and thank you for returning my dinglehopper" spoke with sincerity.

"Goodbye" Jim waved weakly and mumbled as Ariel walked out the door, out of his sight and out of his life "Ariel" he spoke her name as he let out a depressed sigh. He then collapsed back into his chair in silence, sorrow and solitude.