What the Water Gave Me

by skimmonsfiction

Skye wouldn't be put off to living on an island if her only friend wasn't constantly hot and cold between 'friendly' and abusive. She wouldn't be so put off to living on an island if it just wasn't so boring. Well, as Skye is about to find out, life is not so boring. All it needed was a pair of fins. Mermaid AU.

7. Ship to Wreck

Jemma had a brilliant idea. It came to her two weeks after those dreadful five days that Skye hadn't come, and when she first thought of it, she swore her heart skipped a beat with excitement. She knew Skye was afraid of water and couldn't swim, but there was a possibility that Jemma would be able to go with her to see land, at least for a little while.

It was incredibly risky and stupid, but Jemma thought it was worth it. Bobbi was still acting annoyed because she knew the truth and the fact that Jemma was still seeing Skye, but Jemma ignored it. She ignored Bobbi most of the time now, only talking to her when it was necessary. It would probably be a long while before she forgave her sister for causing a mess when she and Skye had a working system. So far Bobbi hadn't told anyone, but she wasn't going to risk her finding out about what she wanted to do.

It was for this reason that Jemma waited until everyone was asleep before slipping quietly into the water and gliding through the narrow passageways to the shaman's cave. Every pod had a shaman with at least some amount of magical ability, and if Jemma had been born with the gift she definitely would have apprenticed for the job. Usually they weren't needed, but healing potions and other things were often useful. They would be especially useful for Jemma the next day with Skye.

Thankfully, the room that housed all the potions was empty, as it was not a sleeping area, and Jemma hoisted herself up onto the stone shelf. The fluids were mostly contained in little glass containers salvaged from sunken ships, and it was hard to tell them apart without a written language to label with, but there was still a system. The things that were used the most were kept the closest to the middle of the room, easily accessible, and the rarer concoctions were set near the back. Jemma reached all the way across to the wall, grabbing the very furthest one.

No one ever used this potion, not ever. It was only in case of emergencies where a mermaid needed to go on land, but that hadn't happened in generations. Still, the pod always kept a few vials stored just in case, and Jemma would make good use of them now. She grabbed two, not sure how long they each lasted, slipped them into her pouch, and hurried off to meet with Skye when the sun rose, as she had specially asked. If she was going to go on land, she wanted to utilize the whole day.

---

Skye wasn't sure why Jemma had asked her to come so early. Maybe it was because she really missed Skye for some reason and wanted more time with her today or maybe she had to leave earlier today than every other day, she didn't know. Skye wasn't opposed. She woke up in time like she did every day, to take her morning jog down to the pier and back to her house, except this time, she went past her house and ran right to the beach access point.

Having brought all of her things with her in a larger bag than normal, Skye didn't need to go back to her house. She had brought breakfast and a fresh change of clothes, since she didn't think Jemma would appreciate if she smelled all sweaty. She had caught the girl more than once leaning close to smell her while playing with her hair. Skye did the same thing, so she thought it would be best if she smelled at least a little nice.

It was harder to run on sand, so she took the last few minutes at a walk. The back of her shirt and the front neckline were wet and she was glad that she could get the clothes off soon. Maybe if she was there before Jemma, she could change really fast. She wasn't sure how the mermaid might react if she had to do it in front of her. She was sure Jemma would look away if she asked, but Skye also wasn't sure if she wanted her to.

Her muscles still ached some, both from the running and the fading bruises that Ward had given her, but she took the rock with a bound, and landed down on the other side, grabbing her backpack up off the ground.

Jemma was already waiting on the beach, not even behind her usual hiding rock, sitting just far enough into the ocean for the waves to roll across her waist. When she finally caught sight of Skye, her heart constricted in a good way, with excitement.

"Skye! I have the most amazing thing, better than anything I've ever brought you or anything you've ever brought me." Jemma was speaking quickly, and she knew this, but she couldn't slow down. She was so eager. "Today is going to be so much better than any day we've ever spent with each other." She grinned, waiting for Skye to ask just what had her so worked up.

Skye laughed and hurried down to the beach, putting some of her sweaty hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the short ponytail, setting her bag down just out of reach of the tide, "Oh yeah? I find that hard to believe. I think the things we have already brought each other are pretty awesome. I'm not sure anything beats my necklace," She stated, almost like a challenge, which she figured Jemma would enjoy since she definitely seemed to be worked up over something. Skye had on her necklace of course, she never took it off…ever.

"What is it then that you have to show me that has brought me here at…" Skye looked down at her watch, "nine twenty-seven am?"

Excitement bubbled up in Jemma's chest and she had to bite her lip to keep her smile from growing too wide. She was absolutely certain this would beat Skye's necklace, but she wasn't going to tell her that or it would ruin the surprise.

"Try not to freak out, okay?" Jemma said with a knowing smile, remembering how Skye reacted when they first met and Skye realized she was a mermaid. Now she would be just as shocked to find out that she wasn't, at least not for today.

Slowly, Jemma placed her hands on the ground and used them to help push her into a standing position. Her new legs were wobbly and she was struggling to get up, she'd already tried a few times before Skye had showed up and this was her first successful attempt. Even once she got to her feet her knees were shaky and she struggled to hold her weight upright like this.

After all the focus it had taken to stand up, Jemma smiled shyly and finally glanced up at Skye to see her reaction, what she thought about this recent development.

"Yeah yeah I'm not going to freak out. You're a mermaid, I'm pretty prepared for anything at this point. You're going to be hard pressed to freak me out," Skye said, reaching into her bag for the apple she brought for breakfast. She already had a bite in her mouth before she looked up and quite suddenly, she almost choked on it.

The world she had grown accustomed to, the one where mermaids apparently existed, got stuck into a washing machine on spin cycle because now, for some reason, Jemma was there…standing up…with legs and not a tail. With legs. Skye repeated it to herself again. With legs.

The artist was so fixated on the wobbly pale limbs that she forgot to look at the whole picture, and when she did, "Oh…my…go-", this time she did choke on the apple. The half-eaten apple rolled out of Skye's hand and into the sand and she strained to breathe for a second before she managed to cough it up, doubling over and putting her hands on her knees to brace herself.

When the coughing had mostly subsided she looked up again, just to be sure, and then quickly looked back down at the sand, "Jem," She coughed and started waving her hand, trying to motion for the girl to get back down into the water. "Jemma! You. Are-" a couple more coughs, followed by a very loud, very shrill, "NAKED!"

Her face was on fire and when at last she did stop coughing she quickly turned around, trying to scramble for her bag without seeing the mermaid, now human, Jemma's entire everything. She found her spare clothes she was going to put on and ripped them out of the bag as fast as she could. Shielding her eyes with one hand, Skye walked to the water, thrusting the clothes out with her other hand towards the naked girl, "Legs are fantastic, Jemma, I promise. Like I can't even, bu-but you n-need clothes. You can't…can't just…" She couldn't form a proper sentence and Jemma probably didn't understand why but Skye was fairly certain by now her blush wasn't just on her face, it was everywhere. She felt like she was on fire, like someone was using a magnifying glass to start a fire on her like a child would with an ant hill.

"Y-you need to not be naked."

Jemma's face was burning as well, but she wasn't exactly sure why. Apparently she'd just done something that was strange for people, but she didn't really realize what- oh. She knew Skye always wore clothes, even mermaids used a type of bra, but she hadn't thought about the other things that having legs brought, since she wasn't used to it with her tail.

Jemma was pretty sure she could die from embarrassment, but it didn't get any better when she reached out for the clothes Skye was offering her and her very different new limbs didn't hold her up very well. She landed with a half splash in only a few inches of water and did her best to maneuver Skye's clothes onto her own legs and body, struggling to make it work while sitting down. She even felt unbalanced then, her tail was much heavier than legs and she felt like she was about to topple over at any second.

When Jemma finally finished, she was a mess, the clothes she had managed to get on were soaking wet and she felt very strange, though she was still excited.

"Okay, I think I got it." Jemma laughed when she saw Skye still holding her hand over her face, and she was glad the awkward moment was over. "Now would you please give me a hand? I don't know how to work these things." She requested, still putting her weight on her arms while she sat in the shallow water.

Skye didn't look, instead, she took a quick peek through her fingers and sighed heavily upon finding that Jemma had, indeed, managed to put her spare clothes on. "You are so lucky I brought these," Skye shook her head, her face still red, but she removed her hand away and quickly went to the water.

She grabbed Jemma's arms gently and hoisted her up onto her legs. Skye had to admit, she looked really cute in human clothes, especially her own clothes, even if Jemma looked like she had just run a marathon in the pouring rain.

"I have to say…th-this does beat everything else," The artist finally breathed, taking a step back while still holding onto her best friend. She took a good look at her now that she was clothed and Skye didn't feel guilty for staring. It sunk in, finally, that Jemma really did have legs and now that she wasn't distracted, Skye couldn't believe it.

"Wait, how do you even…? Where did these even come from?! You're a mermaid, you don't have legs," She emphasized the last word, careful to walk Jemma slowly up onto the sand and then help her sit down. Skye needed to sit down too. It was only nine thirty in the morning and she needed to take a rest already. Today was going to be too much, and the best day of her life all at once…or so she assumed. The possibilities had suddenly opened up and expanded exponentially. She could take Jemma wherever she wanted…all over the island.

"H-How long do these last?!"

"I, uhm, I'm not sure, but I have one more." Jemma informed her, pulling a small vial out of her pouch and holding it up for a moment before stashing it away again for safekeeping. "Probably a few hours, I don't know." She shook her head, but even the fact that her legs were only temporary couldn't keep her down.

"And mermaids exist, so would you really have such a hard time believing in magic?" Jemma joked, curling and uncurling her toes as she did. It was strange, but also exciting. While they were sitting she tried to get a hang of controlling the bending of her knees, and eventually she found those were sort of like moving her tail, but only if she did them both at once. She didn't know how her brain was going to even make both of them work together at the same time, she was only accustomed to having one limb on her lower body.

"But I want to see everything we have time for, where should we go? What should we do?" Jemma got immediately to the point, wanting to see exactly what kind of life Skye lived.

Skye laughed at how eager and excited she was. Skye supposed she would be just as eager and excited if she had been a mermaid who now had legs too, but she was excited, just in a different way. This was a wonderful surprise and she was going to take advantage of it for as long as it lasted.

"Alright, well, first I'll need to take you to my house and clean you up. Those clothes aren't going to cut it, you're still soaking wet. You'll need dry ones," The artist gave a soft smile and watched Jemma work and stretch her new legs. She was only a little sad that her tail was gone. Skye liked to touch it, and she knew that Jemma liked that, but touching legs wasn't quite the same, or so she gathered. Still, they could do other things. There was a full day of exploring ahead.

"After that…I'm not really sure. You didn't exactly give me advance notice to plan ahead for a full day of activities that didn't involve the beach!"

Jemma had just been nodding along with excitement until the actual meaning of Skye's words sunk in, and her head shot up.

"I get to see where you live?" This was probably going to be the best day ever. All those little things Skye had talked about were all going to be out there, she could see them outside of pictures and she got to experience them herself. Going to Skye's house seemed like it would top all of it, though. Just like she wished she could show Skye the caves, she also wished she could see where Skye spent her time away from her.

"Well yeah," Skye continued to smile, shaking her head lightly. Jemma's world was going to get a whole lot bigger today, she just hoped the mermaid could handle it. Being human for a day was a big experience and Skye wanted to show her as much as she could, but also make sure that whatever she was showing her was worth while. She would have to show her the important things…maybe the pier and the diner where she worked. Her house of course, maybe the art studio on campus. The island didn't have a lot, but it was where Skye had grown up and always lived so she was sure that whatever she showed Jemma, Jemma would love it.

"Assuming, of course, that we can get you up and moving. How do you feel? It's a little ways to walk to my house…you should get plenty of practice before I have to let you mingle with the public."

"I feel fantastic." Jemma exclaimed, already eager to make another attempt at getting up. It was still awkward and took a lot of effort, but she managed to get herself to her feet in less time than before, and she even managed to take two steps before she stumbled and fell back onto all fours in the sand.

"Well, I will feel fantastic once I figure this out." She laughed, getting up again and holding her arms out to the sides slightly while she took a few more steps, a little steadier than last time. She was learning quickly and she was starting to get a good grasp on it. Only one leg moved at a time while she walked, but she knew she would get the action down pat with a little more practice. Slow and steady. She was ready for whatever Skye's world had to offer, and she couldn't wait another second to get out and see it.

"Aren't you coming?" Jemma turned her head and asked, though the action almost threw her off balance and she had to stop. She probably looked strange, but Jemma was still smiling like an idiot and so proud that she was actually walking.

Nodding with a big smile on her face as well, Skye followed after Jemma, lightly directing her up the beach till they approached the rock wall.

"You better have the hang of them, because we have to climb over," She chuckled a little, just trying to think about the sight that was to come. If Jemma was this wobbly just on sand, she wasn't exactly sure how she was supposed to get her up and over such a high rock. She might hurt herself.

"Here, I'm going to climb up, and then I'll pull you up, alright?" Skye questioned, receiving a little nod before she told Jemma to brace herself against the rocks so she wouldn't fall.

Skye scrambled up and once on top, turned around and bent over, holding her hand out for Jemma to take it, "You're going to have to push off with your legs and pull with your other arm. I'll pull you too so hopefully it won't be too hard."

Jemma took a deep breath and looked up at Skye on top the rocks. Walking on the sand had been a challenge, so this would be like running a marathon. Still, she reached up and took a firm hold on Skye's hand, bending her knees and pushing up to jump like Skye had instructed her. She didn't get very high, but Skye managed to help pull her up, though Jemma was pleasantly surprised to find that she'd done most of it herself. Her free arm had done most of the work, and she was strong from having to move herself around with her arms on the beach and in the caves. Her tail was heavier than her flimsy legs, so it was easy to pull herself up to the top of the rock.

"See, that wasn't too hard, I'm sure I'll be just-" Jemma had spoken too soon, because as soon as she'd tried to stand up again the uneven surface of the rock was too much and she lost her balance, falling forwards. Skye had the misfortune to have been right in front of her, and they both slipped off the rock and tumbled into the sand, thankfully on the other side.

"Fine." Jemma finished, almost whispering once she'd realized that she was basically laying on top of her friend, staring into her eyes, their faces only a few inches apart.

Skye had landed on her back in the sand with a hard thud and a hiss followed by a sudden exhale of 'oh god' as Jemma's body landed on top of her. She wanted to laugh, because of course Jemma would slip on top of the rock and send them both toppling to the ground, but the fall had hurt her still somewhat bruised muscles. When Ward hit, he did not hit lightly. She was about to groan in fact, when she opened her eyes and was suddenly struck silent.

Skye knew that she liked Jemma, probably more than just a best friend, in fact, she was certain of it. She just wasn't sure how to bring up the topic, or if that was something Jemma even wanted. She didn't know how mermaids worked that thing out, other than by being able to touch one another's tails…but Skye didn't exactly have a tail, so the lines were blurry and all mixed up. If she leaned up, just a little bit…their noses could touch. If she leaned up a little more…

The red shade returned to her face as she stared wide eyed up at Jemma, trying to compose herself and clear her thoughts so that she could act to do something other than kiss her senseless…which she was about four hundred percent certain Jemma would not understand.

"Well…th-that was a good trial run…" She breathed, patiently waiting for Jemma to get off so that she could move, "You'll get the hang of it yet."

"I am so sorry," Jemma scrambled off of her, hoping she hadn't hurt Skye too badly. She knew she still wasn't completely healed, and she felt horrible for possibly making it any worse.

"That was an accident." Jemma said nervously, pushing herself back onto her feet. She was starting to get more solid, but she still wasn't sure footed.

"It's alright...accidents happen. You'll get better with them, I promise," Skye smiled weakly before Jemma finally got off and she sat up, taking in a breath to calm her nerves and give her back a moment to adjust. "You'll be an expert by the time we get back," She smiled assuringly at Jemma now before getting up herself and brushing herself off again.

"Let's get going. The more you use your legs the better you'll get, and it's a long walk home."

Skye helped her all the way, since she still seemed to be stumbling some at first, but by the time they reached the access point Skye could tell Jemma was a lot better, and she told her so. It was good to give her lots of encouragement.

Jemma was used to seeing the beach and sand, but as they crossed over the walkway, they came to the sidewalk and one of the main streets, with multicolored houses lined up all along the other side. Cars were driving by and a couple rode along past them on their bicycles. An elderly woman across the street was walking her dog. Everything that was normal to Skye was completely new to Jemma and the artist couldn't take her eyes off the girl as she got her first look at what Skye's life was like beyond the beach.

Jemma had been talking to Skye for a while now, and her friend had explained all kinds of things and showed her hundreds of pictures, but it still couldn't have prepared her for this. Skye couldn't have shown her everything ahead of time, of course, only what Jemma had asked about or what came up in conversation. She stared at everything with bewilderment, trying to take it in all at once but not being able to stop her mind from zeroing in on one thing at a time so she wouldn't be overloaded. There were so many new sights and smells and sounds, if Skye hadn't been there, it would have been terrifying.

There were people everywhere, and Jemma still couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of fear around them even though she had legs and blended in well enough. She got over it quickly, though, eager to satisfy her curiosity. One thing in particular caught her attention several meters away. There was a tree in a square of dirt on the other side of the big, flat rock, and Jemma immediately wandered towards it, relatively stable.

An insanely loud screech and a blare suddenly ripped through the air and Jemma threw her hands over her sensitive ears, jumping away in fright when what she could only assume was a large animal came to a halt only a few feet away from her.

"Fuck!" Skye was in the road in the next instant, grabbing a firm hold of the top of Jemma's arm and waving an apologetic 'I'm sorry' to the driver of the car. She pulled the girl to the other side of the road towards whatever it was that had caught her interest. The car drove by after some yelling, which Skye chose to ignore.

Her heart was pounding and for a moment she thought her head might explode or her chest would crack open. "Jesus Jemma…you can't just walk into the road!" Her voice was a little louder than she had meant it to be, but she had been terrified for a second that she had brought Jemma on land to show her the world only to have her get hit by a car.

Once she calmed, she apologized, motioning towards the flat surface of the asphalt and the cars driving by, "That is called a road. The big things on it are cars. They drive on the road, so you can't just walk into it because they can hit you and it will hurt, a lot. You always cross the road when it is clear both ways…and for you, you cross the road with me or you don't cross at all, alright?" She was still breathing heavily, but her scared grip on Jemma's arm loosened and she rubbed it lightly before keeping her hands to herself, "Now what were you in such a hurry to get to, huh?"

Jemma couldn't do anything but nod repeatedly as Skye explained, still trying to get over the frightening experience and hoping that Skye wasn't too upset with her. She could understand it, she'd yell at Skye a little bit like that if their situations had been reversed. Once Jemma understood the new and important lesson, she turned her attention back to the large plant.

"So this is a tree?" She asked. It was one of the many vocabulary words she'd picked up, and she'd wanted to see one more than anything. Her fingers scratched at the bark and small pieces of it fell off into her hands, and Jemma turned them over, observing. She had to hop a little bit to reach the leaves, but she managed to snag one eventually, staring at it intently. It was sort of like things that grew underwater, but much different.

Jemma wanted to move on quickly, there was so much more to explore. There was so much she didn't know about in just this one place that Jemma almost gained a new kind of respect for Skye for knowing what all of it was. Just when Jemma was about to move on, she picked up on a squeaking noise and looked up to find a fuzzy creature sitting up on a branch, flicking its tail like Jemma did sometimes.

"What is that?!" She asked with excitement, pointing.

"Yeah, that's a tree. There are two in my backyard, but they are different than this kind. And that…that's an animal. That is a squirrel. They live in holes in trees or in the ground and they eat nuts. You remember nuts right? I brought you some one day because I had them as my snack," Skye smiled and gently tugged at Jemma's arm.

She really did want the girl to see everything that she wanted to…but she also looked a mess since she was still wet and her hair was going to dry like an even worse mess. She would need to get cleaned up well before going exploring. Skye needed a shower too, especially after her run this morning so it would be a good errand. Jemma would get to learn about some human daily rituals.

"C'mon, you can see more on the way. My house is just up the hill," She grabbed Jemma's hand this time as they walked, to make sure that she didn't stray too far. It wasn't a terribly far walk up the hill. Skye's house sat right on top and Skye stopped in front of it, finally letting Jemma go and opened the gate for her so she could go into the front yard.

"And this is my house. This grassy area is called a yard, and this part of the house," Skye moved to the small sheltered porch, "Is called a porch. People sit on it sometimes when the weather is nice…" She took out her key and opened the front door, waiting for Jemma to be ready to come inside. "And this…this is the inside."

"It looks like a box. A really big box." Jemma laughed as she stepped up onto the porch with minimal struggle, and she felt victorious for such a simple reason.

When she stepped inside, Jemma was amazed. There were pictures everywhere, most of them of Skye and a woman Jemma assumed to be Skye's mother by their resemblance.

Apparently the big box was filled with several other small yet still large boxes, with little entryways between them. It was sort of like the cave system, except much spacier and blockier.

"I like it." Jemma smiled, still looking around at everything in the rooms that she could see.

"Ha, yes, it is a box. Most homes tend to be box shaped," Skye said, setting her keys down on a table by the door before she shut it. "So where we are right now is the living room. It's where people…relax. Over there," Skye pointed past Jemma's head into the adjacent room, "is the kitchen. That is where we cook and eat our food." There were other rooms downstairs, like her mother's room and the bathroom but Skye didn't think those were very important. She moved instead, towards the small wall that separated the kitchen and living room, "These are stairs," She explained and then motioned for Jemma to follow her up.

She waited patiently, always within arm's reach in case Jemma decided to fall down them or stumble up. Either way, Skye was going to make sure that she didn't hurt herself.

Once upstairs, there was only one door and Skye opened it. "I think you'll like this room the best though," it was her room and Jemma would be able to tell immediately because drawings and paintings littered the walls and a stack of sea glass rested on her desk and on her nightstand by the bed. Sketch books were lying everywhere and honestly the room was a mess, clothes and paper strewn all about, but when Skye got Jemma to step fully inside, she shut the door and turned the girl around.

Sketches of her covered the back of Skye's door and the artist thought that Jemma would appreciate them. Jemma had not seen all of these. Many of these pictures Skye had done during their week apart but she was sure Jemma would appreciate them just like she had the others.

"This is my room. That's my desk…that's my Tv—it plays pictures that move and have sound—and that's' my bed. That's where I sleep."

This was definitely Jemma's favorite thing so far. The entire room was almost like a reflection of Skye, it was just so her that Jemma felt surrounded and consumed by it. At first she didn't say anything, instead letting her eyes roam over all of the art on the door and the walls, as well as everywhere else. She ran her fingertips over the surface of the sculpture on Skye's nightstand and a few of the sketches of herself.

The room definitely smelled like Skye, exactly matching the scent she picked up on whenever they were close or touching, the one she very much enjoyed. Jemma didn't doubt that Skye had made every decoration in the room, and she thought they were all beautiful.

"Thank you for bringing me here, Skye." Jemma felt so touched, this seemed like more of a personal thing and Jemma was very glad Skye wanted her to see everything. "Everything is so beautiful." She let her previous thought slip as she looked over a painting of the ocean.

Skye blushed a little. She had known Jemma would like it but still, she wasn't used to all the flattery…at least not about her room. She didn't bring people here often. "Now, you can look at everything in a minute, right now we need to get you cleaned up. You're getting sand everywhere and you're still wet and you smell like the ocean. I don't mind but…humans don't really tend to smell like the actual ocean. You're going to have to take a shower. A shower is what humans do to get clean," Skye clarified and pointed towards another door in her room.

She moved past some of her dirty laundry and opened it up, leading Jemma inside and let her take everything in before she pointed towards the mirror, "This is a mirror. It shows you what you look like…like a picture, but in real time," Skye smiled, knowing that the mermaid would probably be very interested in it. She had only ever seen herself in Skye's drawings and that one picture of their first meeting together. A mirror would probably be fun for Jemma.

Jemma frowned when she turned and saw herself, and her eyes widened when she saw the image of her frown as well. It was probably the strangest thing Jemma had ever seen. Every time she moved, the picture of her moved. It looked so real, and Jemma had to reach out to make sure it wasn't. Sure enough, the image of her lifted its arm as well and Jemma slowly touched her finger to the mirror, or what looked like her own finger, and pulled it away quickly after feeling the chill of whatever material it was made out of.

"This is so strange..." Jemma pressed her palm up against it, and even laughed a little bit. Humans had the silliest things.

She could see Skye in it too, and she reached out, but obviously she didn't touch Skye and her own hand got in the way.

Finally, once Jemma was satisfied with knowing what the mirror did, she looked at the rest of the room and wondered what exactly she was supposed to do. She knew she was covered in sand and wouldn't blend in well for a longer period of time without cleaning up, she just didn't know how, so she waited for Skye to explain it to her.

Amused, Skye watched as Jemma played with the mirror, chuckling at how almost childlike she was being. Skye kept forgetting that she really didn't know anything about the world she had stepped into except for what she had already told her…which honestly, compared to all of this, wasn't a lot. Once she was done though, Skye could tell she was ready for what was next.

"Alright this is the shower," Skye motioned towards it and slid the glass door open and pointed to a knob on the wall, "If you turn this," and she did, "Water comes out. Like in the ocean, but without salt. And you can adjust the temperature you want it here," She turned another knob to where Skye knew she liked her shower temperature, but she wasn't sure what Jemma would like. "Red means hot and blue means cold so you can turn it whichever way till the water feels good to you. Just don't turn it all the way red because that will burn," She warned and let the water run, shutting the glass door.

"First all the clothes have to come off. You can just lay them in the floor and I'll get them later. In the shower, there's a green bottle, it's called shampoo. You put that in your hair and rub it around till you make bubbles, then you use the water to rinse out the bubbles. The blue bottle is body wash…so you do the same thing with the blue bottle as you do the green bottle, except you put the stuff in the blue bottle on your body and make bubbles. Once you're all rinsed…" Skye moved over to the closet and pulled out a dark blue towel, "You dry off with this and then wrap it around you. I"ll be picking out clothes for you to wear. You can leave the bathroom door open in case you have questions. Got it all?" Skye knew it was a lot all at once, but this was an important step if she was really going to fit in, and she knew Jemma wanted to fit in.

Jemma nodded eagerly, trying to remember everything Skye had just told her. Clothes, right. Once Skye left the little room Jemma stripped off the minimal clothing she'd been wearing before and stepped into the shower, still amazed that it was basically rain on demand. The temperature didn't matter to Jemma, living in the ocean, she tended to be fine with however hot or cold it was that day, so it felt just fine on the setting Skye had turned it to. She wouldn't risk messing with it anyway, she'd probably end up burning herself like Skye said.
Green bottle, the green bottle is first. When Jemma found it in the corner, it took her a few tries to finally snap the strange container open and squeeze the weirdly slow running liquid into her palm, so much so that it dribbled out and splattered onto the shower floor.
"What was that bigger furry animal we saw, not the squirrel?" Jemma asked as she rubbed the stuff into her hair like Skye said, it actually felt really good and she probably continued for longer than she needed to before she rinsed it out. She hadn't really had time to be curious about the animal with the whole road and car thing and then the squirrel.

"Oh, that was a dog. People keep them as pets," Skye shouted back into the bathroom so that Jemma would hear her. She was in her room, searching through drawers and her closet to try and find Jemma some clothes for when she got out of the shower. Underwear of course…a bra? She could probably just wear her normal one under it. It would be too cruel to make her try on one of these awful human contraptions. She found some shorts and a plain regular t-shirt. Nothing too fancy, but when she looked at the outfit she put together, Skye's chest fluttered. She couldn't wait to see her in them.

"I used to have a dog…well, me and my mom, but he got old and we found him on his bed in the living room one day and he just didn't wake up…we buried him in the back yard. His name was Trip…Mom named him that because every time she turned around he would be right there at her feet and she would almost trip over him." Skye chuckled and laid back on her bed to wait.

"How are you doing? How's your first ever shower?"

Jemma stashed away the new information as well as Skye's sad little anecdote. She would have said sorry for her, but Skye seemed to think back on it happily instead of sadly, so why taint the memory?
"I like it." Jemma called out of the bathroom, rubbing some of the body wash down her arms until it was all bubbly like Skye said. It really was an enjoyable experience, it was like she could just feel the layer of sand, dirt, and salt washing away. She'd never been this clean before.
"Do you do this every day?" She asked.
"Not everyday…mostly just every other day, unless I go running in the morning or get extra sandy at the beach with you, then I'll shower every day," Skye called back, laying back on her bed to wait. She snagged a smaller sketch book off her nightstand and found a pen and started sketching away while she waited. She didn't notice she had started to draw Jemma with legs until she had finished.

She looked like a real person and it had been so easy…but Skye was frowning. She didn't like it. She was very glad that Jemma had found a potion to give her legs so they could spend the day together doing human things but something about her not having a tail just didn't seem right. It was too late though and as it was in pen, she couldn't erase it, so she turned the page and started over.

It didn't take much longer for Jemma to finish. Even though she really enjoyed showering, Skye still needed to and Jemma didn't want to waste her time with legs being in water, that would be pointless. She found the dry towel Skye had pointed out and wrapped it around her body as she exited the bathroom. She smiled at Skye sketching on her bed, because what else would she be doing?

"So now what?" Jemma asked, sitting down next to her, one hand holding up the towel in front of her chest.

"Now I shower and you get dressed," Skye answered when Jemma sat next to her. She tore her eyes from the pen and paper to look at the mermaid and she felt that same feeling bubble up from before when Jemma had fallen on her. Her face gave her away again, turning red in the cheeks first before she quickly looked back down and shut the book, getting off the bed probably a little faster than necessary.

"H-here are your clothes. This is underwear, it goes on before the pants. You got the pants right last time and here's the shirt. You can just use your bra from before. The human ones are awful so I'm not going to make you suffer through that…" She stammered and moved into the bathroom, getting herself a towel out.

"Once you're done you can just… lay down or look around in here. I'll leave the door open still if you have more questions or whatever. Don't leave the room till uhm…till I'm done. Skye nodded quickly, hoping that Jemma had understood everything before she disappeared to the other side of the bathroom. She knew that she looked at Jemma every day with less on than a towel, but something about it made Skye feel even more awkward than normal.

She quickly undressed herself, taking off the sweaty workout clothes and jumped in the shower. She wasn't really surprised by all the sand that lingered at the bottom. She hoped it all went down the drain alright, otherwise she was going to have a serious plumbing issue.

Jemma did the final thing Skye asked of her, slipping into the clothes with much more ease than the first time at the beach. She felt clean now and a little strange. She wasn't embarrassed to let her hand slide across her own stomach and waist as she walked around Skye's room. It was weird to have soft skin, not unlike Skye's, instead of the beginnings of her scales.

Her eyes flicked back to the bathroom door that she knew Skye was in. Now was the time to ask a bunch of questions if she wanted, Skye had said it was alright. Jemma reached for the first foreign object, a strange contraption that looked like a small sun, but it was connected to the wall. She brought it as close to the bathroom as possible and poked her head in, forgetting about how humans practiced more personal boundaries than she was used to.

"How does this work?" She asked, staring down at it. It started to make her eyes hurt and when she looked away, a big black spot blocked her vision, just like the sun.

"How does what wor-" Skye had just rinsed her hair and took a look towards the door since Jemma had asked a question. She didn't expect Jemma to just be standing there. Right there. Thankfully she had hung her towel up on the rack on the outside of the glass door and she quickly positioned herself behind it, face about as red as the apple she tried to eat that morning.

"That's uhm…that's a…uhm…" She was having a little trouble, standing awkwardly to make sure that the towel hid most of her behind it. Finally her brain managed to work properly and she sputtered out 'lamp'.

"It gives off light so we can see at night. Like uhm… that flashlight I brought, but brighter. Electricity is what is making it glow. I can't really uhm…I can't explain better than that. Don't stare at it like that! You'll hurt your eyes. Go, go p-put it down," Skye asked quickly, finishing her rinse cycle when Jemma finally left the bathroom.

Jemma put the lamp down and stopped staring at it, and thankfully the big black dot went away and her vision cleared up again after a few seconds. It took hardly any time at all before she found something else she was interested in, though.

"What about this?" Jemma stepped into the bathroom again, this time a small cube in her hand that she'd found on the dresser. It looked like it was made of other colorful cubes, but they were all mixed up and out of order.

"Jesus Christ…" it was a hiss, so Jemma wouldn't have heard it, but Skye quickly had to duck back behind the towel portion of the shower, which unfortunately left her out of the water and it was very cold in her bathroom, soaking wet, with the door open.

She took one hand and wiped some of the fog away on the glass so she could see and Skye chuckled at what she had brought. "That's a Rubik's Cube…it's a uhm..a game for your mind and for your hands… you need to get all the colors that match onto one side together…so…all six colors need to be solid, one on each side. I can only ever get one side done. I'm uhm…not very good. You can go play with it on the bed, see how it works? I'm almost done!"

Jemma nodded, already focussed on the plastic cube once Skye explained that it was a puzzle. She twisted it around a few times in her hands before she understood the movement and sat down on the bed, trying to get all the colors to the same sides like Skye said. It wasn't very difficult for her, and when she finished with it she stood up and moved back to the bathroom to show Skye.

Skye had been right about almost being finished, she'd stepped out of the shower right as Jemma had stepped into the bathroom. She hadn't even had time to put on her towel and Jemma's cheeks burned because of it, and because of the fact that she had to force herself to look away, almost crashing into the doorframe in her awkward struggle to go back into the bedroom.

"Sorry," she muttered a few times, not being able to get over her embarrassment.

This time Skye just stood there in silence. Her own cheeks were burning and she had almost been apt to black out when Jemma walked in, but when she heard the soft "sorry" it brought her back. She quickly grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her, not bothering to really dry off before leaned against the wall and sighed, shutting her eyes.

Her heart was in overtime and it needed to calm down before she could even start to think about forming a sentence. She supposed they were even now though. She supposed she had to admit it was sort of funny...but this was getting stressful and the more little things like this built up, Skye was going to explode.

"It's fine, Jems...g-guess we are even now..." Skye breathed lightly, loud enough for Jemma to hear in the other room without having to actually yell. She even tried to chuckle to be reassuring but it didn't come out exactly right and so she gave up.

After drying herself off, Skye wrapped the towel around her again and tried her best to mentally prepare herself to leave the bathroom. It wasn't easy, but she stepped out and put on a smile. When she finally got a good look at Jemma in her clothes, that feeling bubbled up in her chest again and she had to cough to get herself to stop it. "Y-you uhmm...you look...y-you look nice," she complimented and then quickly averted her eyes again, landing on the Rubik's cube. Finally, a distraction.

"Wow, you solved it?! How did you do that?!"

It was a little hard for Jemma to get past the fact that she'd just seen Skye naked-and the fact that she may have liked it, at least a little bit- but she did her best to get the image out of her head once Skye came out in the towel. She complimented her and Jemma was even more embarrassed, so she was thankful for the change of subject.

"Oh, I don't really know. It just made sense." Jemma said. It was hard to explain, but when she looked at the cube she'd known exactly which way she'd need to turn it five turns ahead of where she was, like she had been able to solve the whole puzzle in her head ahead of time. "It was just a bunch of patterns." She settled on these words, she didn't know how to explain it further.

"So now what do we do?" Jemma asked. Obviously Skye still needed to get dressed, but she meant after that.

Skye had messed with that stupid thing for hours on end trying to figure it out and Jemma, having never seen one before in her life, sat down and solved it in less than five minutes. She was amazed, truly, and Jemma just sort of seemed to shrug it off. Skye was starting to form an idea of things she could bring to Jemma now instead of just pictures and books. Puzzles. Skye was going to see how Jemma liked puzzles.

"Well...I gotta get uh...get dressed but then we can do whatever you want. We can just walk around and you can see what you see, we could go to the pier if you want. I can show you where I go to school or the diner...I can show you whatever you want," Skye did smile then, because Jemma looked so excited. She had already seen a lot, but it was just barely eleven now. It would be lunch soon so maybe Skye should show her good places to eat too while they were here.

"Now close your eyes and I'll get ready really fast," Skye was over at her closet, having pulled some clothes out. Once she saw Jemma shut her eyes and turned her head, she let the towel drop and she started getting ready.

---

So far this had been the best day of Jemma's life, by far. She'd always wanted to see human things, and now she was getting to see all of it, Skye being a huge bonus.

They'd started out just walking around and Skye let Jemma look at whatever she wanted and ask as many questions as she pleased, all of which Skye answered to her best ability. Skye had eventually taken her to her school campus to look around, and then to a diner for lunch after that. Some of the food made Jemma feel a little sick, being used to mostly raw seafood, but it was still worth it just to try it.

She'd had to discreetly swallow down the second of the two potions she'd stolen in the diner when her legs began to tingle, they couldn't let her turn back into a fish in the middle of the island with people everywhere.

Soon the both of them were back out on the streets of town, and Skye was letting Jemma pick where she wanted to go next. Skye had been keeping her close, rarely letting go of her hand, which Jemma thought was both cute and comforting, since being in a new place like this had been causing a significant amount of stress.

There were so many new things, and even though Jemma wasn't so worried about anyone figuring out what she was, she still pressed herself against Skye's side whenever they passed a person on the sidewalk.

They were closer to the beach now, Jemma could see the ocean clearly from where they were walking. A large wooden structure caught her attention. It was high above the water and stuck out into the ocean from land. Jemma had always wanted to know what it was when she'd seen it below from the water, so now was her chance.

"Can we go there?" Jemma asked, pointing to all the colorful lights and strange, unrecognizable things there.

"The pier? Absolutely," Skye smiled and nodded, leading Jemma down the sidewalk towards the carnival rides there, which she was sure looked very strange to Jemma. The arcade was here, where she had gone with Ward so many weeks before and she remembered now how silly she had thought Jemma would look trying to play a game in there. Now she could try it.

They had had a wonderful day so far, one of the best that Skye had ever had, and from the look on Jemma's face, she thought so too. Skye hoped she would like the pier too, since rides and fair food and attractions were pretty much the staple of enjoyment for any human.

She walked her up to the doors of the Arcade and let her look inside at all the flashing lights. The sound was loud through the door and she hoped Jemma was more curious than scared, "C'mon, I want you to try something!" She led the mermaid in by the hand, bringing her inside and letting her adjust before she lightly tugged her over to one of the older games that read "PacMan" on the side.

"This is a video game. Remember me explaining the TV in the diner? This is sort of like that, except you do it yourself," Skye tried to explain and popped in a quarter and did a round so that Jemma could see how it worked. "Now it's your turn...put the quarter in and get ready," she handed Jemma the coin and showed her where to put it again and stood behind her, putting her left hand on the joystick and her right on the buttons.

"This is fun." Jemma laughed as she moved the little yellow creature around on the screen, though she ran into one of the colorful ghosts just after. She wasn't very good, but then again this was her first time playing a videogame of any kind, so how good would she really be?

Skye handed her another quarter and Jemma restarted the game. She actually made it past the first level that time, and Jemma liked how worked up Skye got. At one point she had gotten so close to dying and Skye had practically been having an anxiety attack. She cheered whenever Jemma passed a level and she could tell how proud she was, and even if it was such a simple thing, Jemma enjoyed Skye sharing stuff like this with her.

They migrated around to other games, most of which Jemma lost, until Skye ran out of change, and then they wandered out of the arcade. Jemma had been having fun, but it was honestly a bit of relief to get away from the blaringly loud music and back to the rest of the pier, where at least the sound didn't bounce right back off walls and into her sensitive ears.

"So what else is there to do here?" Jemma asked, looking around. She didn't know what any of it was, so she was relying on Skye to pick something interesting.

"Well, there are all the carnival rides, or there are games. I have a few dollars left, we could play more games and you could win a prize or something. Or I could go buy tickets and we could go ride the rides," Skye nodded down the pier towards more flashing lights and where more people were gathering and walking in.

"I think you'll like some of them, c'mon," Skye grinned and took up Jemma's hand again and led her down the pier towards the little theme park, "What about if we ride the ferris wheel?!" Skye said, suddenly excited and pointed towards the large towering wheel above the rest of the pier.

Jemma was excited to see what they were doing next, at least until she looked up and saw just what Skye was talking about. It was running now, and Jemma couldn't even imagine herself going on something like that.

"It's so... tall. Is it safe?" Jemma sounded so unsure. She was curious to see what everything looked like from up there, but she didn't want to risk her life for it. The strange contraption didn't exactly look safe, at least not to Jemma, who had never seen anything like it in her life.

Skye chuckled at how hesitant Jemma looked now, after being so curious and go go go all day, "Yes, I promise it's safe. You'll love the view, it's incredible," the artist grinned and quickly pulled Jemma through the crowd and to the ticket stand. She forked over twenty bucks and got two ticket booklets and handed one to Jemma.

"Hold onto those," Skye grinned and then didn't wait a second more and dragged Jemma off towards the tall ride and once they arrived in line Skye let go of her hand. "It's like…when you're in the ocean I think, really close to the surface and then look down on the floor or a reef…like that one picture of the coral reef you took!" Skye reminded Jemma and reached into her bag and pulled out the picture, because she always kept them on her now. "It's like you're looking down on everything, and it looks like we're going to catch it just as the sun goes down. You'll really love it. You can hold onto me if you get scared," Skye smiled and put the picture away.

"If you say so." Jemma said, still hesitant to get on the ride, but very willing if Skye was so sure everything would be fine. She was the expert, and she'd probably done it a million times.

The line wasn't very long, Skye had explained that it was a Monday, so most kids, teenagers, and parents were either at work or school, so there weren't as many people. It only took them a few minutes to get to the front, and Jemma spent them holding on tightly to Skye's hand and nervously eyeing the top of the wheel every few seconds. They got to the front and were instructed to sit down on the bench in front of them, and Jemma would have backed out had it not been for Skye's reassuring smile and hand in hers.

As they were locked in by the operator, Jemma wanted to explain that the coral reef was different, that the height wasn't even bad because she could swim in water, and she wanted to point out that she couldn't swim in air. It was too late though, because before she knew it, the ride was lurching into movement and they were slowly traveling up to the top.

The bench was big enough for the both of them to have plenty of room, but Jemma still smashed herself into Skye's side, growing more and more nervous as they made their way up. Her arms wrapped around Skye's waist and she tucked herself neatly against her friend's body, even resting her head on Skye's shoulder so that practically every bit of their sides were touching.

Once they got to the top Jemma realized that Skye had been right about the view. The people below looked like little crabs, and she could see further out across town as well as out into the ocean. The amazing sight didn't prevent her from being scared, though, so while she still clung to Skye while trying to enjoy the experience at the same time. It was probably holding onto Skye that made it enjoyable anyway, not just the view.

"You're alright, I've got you…just look around," Skye assured, her arm also around Jemma's waist, holding her close, even though the girl was doing that mostly herself. From her back pocket she pulled out her phone, her new phone, since her other hadn't survived her first tumble into the ocean. She pulled up the camera for Jemma and then carefully held it out to her.

"Why don't you try to take a picture since you're so good at it? I can print it out later and give it to you like the others, that way you have a nice picture to remember your day with legs?" Skye questioned, gently taking her free hand and wrapping it around Jemma's so she would hold the phone. "Just let it focus and then push the circle button on the screen and it'll take a picture. Just don't drop it!" Skye warned with a grin and nudged her gently so she would take it.

She really enjoyed the view, but the fact that Jemma was pressed against her like this made her heart flutter. The feeling that had been bubbling up all day was starting to boil over and when Skye turned her head to look at Jemma in the dying sun, she forgot to breathe. She wished Jemma had her tail, that way at least she could touch it. Skye figured it would be as close as she could get to what she wanted.

Jemma carefully took the phone from Skye, definitely not wanting to drop it and force her to get yet another one. She was grateful for the slight distraction and held it up, though not too far away from her own body, and snapped the picture once they reached the top again.

Having been starting to get the hang of human things, Jemma did not fail to notice the little button in the corner with a camera and an arrow, and just to see if it did what she thought it did, she tapped on it with her thumb. Sure enough, the little image on the screen changed to look like them, and it made Jemma smile. Just like a mirror. She pressed the little round button again before she handed the phone back to Skye.

"I want that one, too." She smiled, snuggling back into Skye to enjoy the rest of the ride. Most of her fear was gone, but she wasn't going to tell Skye that when it was such a good excuse for her to continue nuzzling into her for safety.

Skye looked at the two pictures and she beamed at the last one. Jemma looked like a human so what was the harm in taking a picture of her now? She was very glad she had done this, because even though her sketches were near perfect, they still weren't Jemma. She was going to keep this picture forever, if Jemma let her and it made her hold onto the mermaid even tighter, under the pretense of trying to keep her safe from falling of course.

Soon the ride came to an end, even though Skye didn't want it to. She wanted to keep Jemma at her side, keep the feeling of her pressed up against her, but she knew that it couldn't last. It made her sad, but she was still glad that Jemma was having so much fun.

They got off with no trouble, Skye taking Jemma's hand to lead her down from the ride and towards the edge of the pier where the railing was. She looked out over the ocean for a moment before turning back around to face the rest of the park, "So, what looks like fun now? We have a whole book of tickets so we can ride more rides or play games. You just point to what looks fun and I'll tell you what it does and you can decide if that's what you want to do, it is your day afterall."

The ocean looked so different from up here, Jemma realized. It just looked like a ton of water, stretched out into the horizon, and she assumed most people would never know what it was like just beneath the surface, just like mermaids didn't know what it was like up here. Jemma was lucky enough to be able to see both.

"I'm sure anything would be fun." Jemma said, turning around and leaning her back against the railing like Skye. She'd be lying if she said she didn't feel the urge to continue wrapping her arms around her waist and holding her hand, but she didn't quite know what that meant, so she tried to let it go. There was still so much left that she had yet to see, but as Jemma's eyes scanned across the place looking for the next thing to do, one booth in particular caught her attention.

"What is he doing, him over there?" Jemma pointed. Jemma knew what spider webs were at this point, they'd come across a few today and Skye had explained, but this confused her. It looked like the man inside the tiny building was gathering a bunch of colorful ones up on a stick.

It took Skye a moment to pick out what Jemma was looking at past the people walking by, but then she spotted it and smiled wide.

"That's cotton candy. It's something you eat. It's sweet, like the chocolate pie you tried, but different flavors. It melts in your mouth too, you want some?" Skye asked, looking down at Jemma with a smile. She was so cute, experiencing all of these new things, and Skye just wanted to make the mermaid as happy as possible today. She didn't know if they would ever get another chance like this.

"I'll go get you some. Wait right here…here take pictures," Skye handed Jemma her phone with the camera up, "The sunset is really nice from here so get some good ones for me so I can practice painting them later." The brunette smiled and squeezed Jemma's hand lightly before she made sure that she would stay put. She left her at the railing, running across the pier to the cotton candy stand where she forked over five dollars for a stick of blue cotton candy after waiting a couple of minutes.

At first Jemma didn't mind waiting at all, she just stood there and took pictures of nearly everything. She'd decide which ones she wanted to keep later, but for now she just wanted to capture it all before it disappeared when she had to go back into the ocean. She got a couple of the sunset, some of people walking by, and some of the rides, stands, or booths scattered across the pier. It was quite large, and felt significantly more so when she was on it instead of looking from below.

Jemma was content to just wait by the railing, at least until she saw another furry creature. It sort of looked like a dog, and someone was walking it on a leash, but it looked different. She raised up the phone camera to snap a picture and ask Skye about it when she got back, but the dog and its owner slipped into a crowd before she could get a clear image. It wouldn't do any harm to take a few steps away from where Skye told her to wait, would it? Skye was just at the cotton candy stand, it wasn't like she had to go somewhere and Jemma would be here for a while.

A few steps turned into a few more steps, and a few more steps turned into a lot more. She couldn't find the dog anywhere, and it was quite a long time before she remembered to turn around and check to see if Skye had gotten back to the railing. Only the railing wasn't there, it was just more people and more rides and games and attractions that were all too crazy looking for her to recognize or tell apart.

"Skye?" She called out nervously, now clutching the phone so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Being out here with Skye was one thing, but being surrounded by people and loud noises and flashing lights when Skye wasn't there to hold her hand and explain what everything was... it was terrifying. Her feet moved slowly, taking cautious steps, though not in any particular direction. She was lost, and she knew it.

Jemma took a step backwards, trying to change direction again, and someone roughly crashed into her, saying something about watching where she was going and adding on a few words Jemma didn't know or understand. The jolt of it knocked her to the side, and the toe of her shoe knocked against a raised board on the pier.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge, strong arm wrapped around Jemma's waist and prevented her from being knocked on her ass. Once the stranger righted her and Jemma wasn't afraid she would tip over, she finally looked up at him. He towered over her, all dark and mysterious, a smirk on his face.

"Th-thank you." Jemma stuttered. This was the first time she'd spoken to a human other than Skye, and this one definitely did seem intimidating. His eyes scanned over her body once and he looked amused by Jemma's voice and the way she was acting.

"You must not be from around here." He chuckled, though it sounded fake.

"Right, I'm from the North Sea." Jemma blurted out, not really knowing how to answer the question and not wanting to seem even stranger by just darting off. It didn't even strike her how unusual it would sound to say she was from a sea.

"So England." He quirked one eyebrow, and Jemma was very much wishing Skye was back at her side, even though this stranger was just being friendly.

"Y-yeah, I guess I am from there." Jemma smiled nervously, not sure of what to do. She clutched Skye's phone in front of her, really wishing she hadn't left the railing.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked. Jemma didn't know what was considered being too nosy for humans, but she didn't want to seem suspicious by not saying anything about herself. She was a horrible liar, and the truth just instinctively spurted out of her because of how anxious she was.

"I'm looking for my friend, Skye." It wasn't even until after she said this that she realized he probably meant what was she doing out of England, but she just said whatever came to mind first. It was like saying this somehow made something click in this person's head, though, because he looked over her once more and recognition shone in his eyes.

"I know Skye, here, come with me, I'll help you find her." The stranger clapped his hand down on her shoulder and Jemma looked behind her, almost as if she was checking once more to see if Skye was there to help her, before she followed as the stranger tugged her along in what looked like a random direction.

"Hey, I got you the blue because it matches your-" Skye stopped. She had been walking towards the railing, excited to see what Jemma thought of cotton candy, only to find that she was missing. She felt her heart start to pound but she refused to panic just yet, making herself stop and look around first. She checked to the left. No Jemma. She checked to the right. No Jemma, again.

Skye could feel her chest start to tighten and her heart pounded heavily in her ribcage against her wishes. She turned around again. No Jemma. She looked everywhere, her eyes scanning fast now over every face that passed by and none of them were right.

"Jemma?" she called out, taking a step towards the crowd. She was hesitant to leave the railing, where she had told Jemma to wait. If she hadn't strayed too far then the girl would be able to see her, but as she waited a minute, and then another, Jemma never came and she wasn't going to dare waste another minute just standing there.

"Jemma?!" She was more frantic now, moving into the crowd and down the pier, forgetting about the cotton candy and letting it drop down onto the wooden boards as she shoved past people. She was sprinting at this point and stopped when she had felt she had gone too far. Jemma couldn't have possibly gotten this far away. Skye had told her to stay put and she knew the girl would have listened to her.

The longer Jemma was with this stranger and not Skye, the more differences between them she began to notice. For one, Skye was much less...creepy. Skye was genuinely nice and friendly and all kinds of good things, but with this person she could feel an ulterior motive, or at least a deeper thought she didn't know about. Jemma was good at sensing these sorts of things, and even though he was being so nice, there was something a little off about him.

Secondly, he was rough. Skye was always gentle, it felt like she was cradling her hand when she held onto it, always touching her carefully and affectionately. This person was quite the opposite, his large hand squeezing at her shoulder as they walked felt rough and he was gripping her with too much force, even if he didn't know it.

Lastly, the stranger made walking harder. Skye made it easy, she walked at her pace and helped her when she stumbled, or waited for her when she needed a break. This man only shifted his hand from her shoulder to the back of her neck and pushed her forward as they walked, even though Jemma neither felt comfortable walking with him or at this pace. She felt like she was going to trip and fall at any second, though it didn't seem like her guide would care.

As they did walk, they exited the main part of the crowd and people were beginning to be sparse. It almost seemed like Ward was leading her away, he was urgent and insistent about moving in one direction, away from people, instead of wandering and actually seeming as if he was looking for someone.

Just when Jemma felt herself begin to panic at the loss of her best friend and the gain of whoever this was, she spotted a familiar form and short, slightly messy brown hair from behind.

"There she is!" Jemma said enthusiastically, pointing. Skye hadn't seen them yet, and Jemma feared for a moment that this person wasn't actually going to let her get back to Skye, but then he plastered on a very fake looking smile and shoved her in the other direction, hand resuming its place on the back of her neck, like he was trying to control her. It turned out that he was, because when Jemma tried to take a step, his hand tightened slightly, telling her not to move. She didn't.

"I think this belongs to you." The man finally spoke up when Skye was within hearing range, a joking, yet threatening tone in his voice. He didn't sound happy.

Skye's heart stopped. She could swear that it did. If her chest was ripped open and examined Skye was certain that in that moment, it wasn't beating. The voice made her visibly tense, even before she turned around and what he said made her prepare for the worst possible outcome imaginable. She tried not to turn around too quickly, to play it cool, because Jemma wouldn't understand if Skye was suddenly very hostile. She had to be civil. She had to face him with at least a little less contempt than normal.

The sight of him with her…the very fact that Ward was standing there, his hand on the back of Jemma's neck, that he had been the one to find her made her blood boil. She had been stupid for bringing Jemma here, for thinking that taking her on land would be fun. She had forgotten. She had completely and utterly forgotten about this asshole in her happiness high of being with the mermaid.

"There you are, Jemma…I thought I told you to stay put?" She couldn't help it. Her tone was a little more firm than normal, but she wasn't looking at her best friend. She was looking at Ward, a pointed stare in his direction.

Skye quickly moved forward and grabbed the mermaid's hand and pulled her away from him. Luckily, he let her go without a fuss, although his grin made Skye want to rush over the railing and throw up. She held onto Jemma's hand tightly now, not loose like before when she had been apt to let her walk away and wander a little bit. Now she wanted her close. She didn't want her even an inch from her side.

"Thanks." Skye said it shortly and gave him a curt nod, not wanting to linger and spare him anymore words, "We were just leaving though, enjoy the rides." Her hand tugged lightly, but insistently at Jemma's as Skye turned around abruptly and started off at a quick pace back towards the arcade and the beginning of the pier. She wanted to put as much distance between him and Jemma as possible. Her head began to hurt her jaw was clenched so tightly. Skye could still feel her heart pounding and she wouldn't be surprised if Jemma could hear and feel it too through her hand.

She didn't let Jemma stop to take a break until they were far down the sidewalk and the pier was back behind them and all the noises faded into the distance. She was almost out of breath, but she knew that Jemma would be and so she finally slowed down, letting Jemma stop and catch her own, though she didn't let go of her. Skye kept an eye out behind them, making sure that Ward wasn't following or coming after them. She couldn't take any chances right now, not with Jemma here. Skye didn't care if he got a hold of her, but if he got a hold of Jemma, Skye was fairly certain she would be going to jail for manslaughter.

"C'mon, we need to get you back."

"Skye...? What just happened?" Jemma asked once she finally caught her breath. She'd struggled to keep up with Skye this time just like she had with that man, and the insistent pulling had her on edge. They had been having such a good day, and all of a sudden Skye seemed so adamant about bringing her back to where she'd come from. Maybe it was because she hadn't listened and she'd wandered off.

"I thought we were having fun... I didn't mean to move away from the railing, I just..." Jemma didn't really want to finish her sentence. Maybe Skye got tired of how Jemma didn't know anything, that's why she was taking her back, so she didn't really want to explain that she moved because she saw what was maybe a dog and wanted to show her a picture to be sure.

Now that they were away from the pier and the arcade and most other people, the air around her felt dead and silent, and Skye's temporary silence after she spoke didn't help either.

"Oh my god, no…" Skye shook her head and released Jemma's hand gently and took her eyes away from the side walk behind them to look at the mermaid, turning fully to face her. "It's not you Jemma. I had so much fun today," Skye smiled and it was genuine even though it was small. She tried to relax, to show Jemma that she was alright, but she just couldn't do it.

It made her skin crawl to see how Ward had handled her. She wanted to punch him in the throat. It was a fanciful idea, because she knew that she would never be able to do it. He was just too big and he knew how to throw it around.

"It's not you Jems, you're perfect. I loved showing you around…It's just…" her jaw clenched again when she thought about it, but she forced herself to relax, "it was Ward…" She sighed heavily and grabbed for her hand again, holding more lightly this time like she normally did.

"Ward was the one who found you and I just…" She couldn't help it. Her jaw clenched again and she looked past Jemma to make sure they were still alone. "It's not safe right now. I have to get you back…"

Upon hearing the name that often filled Jemma with rage and sadness, she froze and something pinched in her chest. Fear. Ice cold, genuine fear, and she was suddenly feeling very lucky that she'd seen Skye just then.

"That-that was Ward?" Jemma asked, now one hundred and ten percent understanding in Skye's urgency to get them out of there. That was the person who kicked her around, beat her up. If only Jemma had known, she would have done something... what could she have done, though? Ward was huge, and if Skye couldn't take him, how could Jemma?

The harsh reality that the rest of their night had been ruined still sat heavily with her, but Jemma knew that she had to get back to the ocean if Ward really was out and about tonight. She should have thought of that before she decided to go gallivanting around on land, but she hadn't. Neither of them had. Jemma had promised Skye that she'd be careful, but this felt like the opposite of that.

"We definitely should get back." Jemma nodded her head repeatedly and in quick succession, grabbing for Skye's hand again and taking a few steps to let her know that her break was over and she could walk again.

"Yeah…that was Ward," Skye answered and followed after Jemma, making sure to stay extra close to her now while they walked. She didn't say anything else, unsure of what exactly to say. She was upset the rest of their night had been ruined but she supposed that too much of a good thing could actually be a bad thing. They had had fun all day and Skye was truly grateful that Jemma had stolen the potion so that all of this could happen…well, except for running into Ward of course.

They had reached the beach access point before Skye realized and it made her even sadder to know that this day really was ending. They still had the walk back and Skye was sure that Jemma would linger a while after changing back, but the brunette didn't want her hanging around too long. She wanted Jemma safe and as far from Ward as possible, which meant being out in the middle of the ocean somewhere and nowhere near land.

It had scared her so much to find her missing, but even more so to know that Ward had found her. And that grin he had on his face…it made Skye worry even more. Almost like he knew she had a dirty little secret, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, even though he literally had. She had truly loved being with Jemma while she had legs, showing her everything…but Skye was almost positive now that she couldn't let her do it again. There would always be a chance that Ward was around and she didn't want to risk even the slightest possibility that she could run into him again while she was with Jemma. Keeping her safe was her top priority.

She realized now this is part of what Bobbi had meant…Skye could mean well all she wanted, and she had, but something could inevitably happen that was out of her control. Tonight she had just been lucky.

They were already halfway to the rock wall when Skye finally did speak up again, squeezing Jemma's hand lightly for emphasis, "I really did have fun today…th-this was the best surprise ever."

"Really? I'm so glad you enjoyed it, today was the best day ever." Jemma was already smiling again. Skye had that effect on her. Despite running into Ward, she'd still had a wonderful time and wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

As they got closer to the rock wall, Jemma couldn't help but wonder if anything would be different. Now that she knew just how much was out there, would she be satisfied with just the ocean and the simple things in it? She would have to be, as that was the safest place for her. There would always be Skye. Jemma would always have her best friend there when she needed her and she was sure that today couldn't change much. Jemma would still be fascinated with Skye's knowledge and life and Skye would still be enthralled by her tail, nothing different, at least for them. They had a strange normal, but it was still nice.

They reached the rock wall soon after and Jemma mostly got over herself, only needing a little help from Skye. Once she was over, Jemma looked at the ocean longingly. Without realizing it, she had missed it. It would be like returning to a familiar bed after a taxing day.

"Thank you, Skye, for everything." Jemma smiled in the partial darkness and squeezed Skye's hand affectionately.

Skye ran a nervous hand through her hair and chuckled, "No need to thank me…r-really it was your idea. You should be thanking yourself for stealing that potion," She smiled and walked with Jemma towards the water, stopping short like she always did. Jemma had tried to get her to come in many times before, but she had always staunchly refused. There wasn't enough money in the world to get her to actually touch the water. Jemma had been very brave today, coming onto land and doing all of the things that they had done. She doubted any other mermaid could say they had done that. She was very proud of Jemma.

Now that it was practically time for her to go, Skye found, like every day, that she didn't want her to, and so her grip on Jemma's hand tightened ever so slightly in anticipation for her pulling away to go back into the ocean. She didn't know what to say though, and it hadn't been the first time today, and she suspected it wouldn't be the last time either, but what was she supposed to do? She had all of these…these feelings building up inside of her and in her chest and Skye didn't know what to do about them.

She loved to touch Jemma's tail because it made her happy and it felt nice to both of them, but for different reasons. She knew now that was how mermaids showed affection but she didn't know if she could be content with that. She would probably have to be though. She couldn't tell if Jemma was just very affectionate period or if they were just very very close best friends…or if there was something else there. Skye wanted there to be, but she was too nervous and too afraid to do anything about it, even now as she didn't want Jemma to leave, she was too scared to say anything…to try and get some clarification.

"I'll uhm…t-try to print those p-pictures for…for you tomorrow…" She was stuttering again, and she hoped Jemma only thought it was because she was chilly. She had no reason probably, in Jemma's eyes, to be nervous, and so trying to explain just wouldn't end well. Skye didn't think she could if she tried.

"Great, I can't wait." Jemma grinned. She was more than excited to have that picture of herself and Skye to keep forever. As for the stuttering, it didn't even phase Jemma anymore. Skye did it so often and so seemingly for no reason that she'd become accustomed to it, it was just something Skye did.

Slowly, a tingle ran up Jemma's legs from her toes all the way to her waist, and she knew she didn't have much time left.

"It's time for me to go." Jemma said softly. She pulled Skye into a quick hug, but when they parted, she found that she really couldn't find a way to convince herself to move her hands from Skye's waist and get back into the water before her tail reappeared in a minute or two. She just stared into Skye's eyes, noticing something different there, but not being quite sure what it was.

Skye felt a constriction in her chest at the words, but knew it was probably best. She had kept Jemma out late again and it was dangerous for her to swim as it got darker. She also knew the potion was wearing off and she would have to return to it either way, but that didn't mean she had to be happy about it. It really was the safest place for her though, and so Skye knew she had to let her go…and she would have except Jemma didn't.

Even after the hug, with Jemma's hands still on her waist, Skye couldn't bring herself to remove hers. She wanted to hold onto her as long as possible. It felt like, even though the day had been fun and wonderful, it had been spoiled. Jemma had been scared all day and stuck close to her and held her hand and pressed herself against her on the Ferris Wheel…and although they did some of that on the beach most every day anyway, it had felt different. It had made her feel like she had a chance. Once Jemma changed back…Skye didn't know if she would be able to work herself up again. Everything would go back to normal…but Skye didn't want it to. Skye wanted it to be better.

Before she could talk herself back down again, Skye's hands had moved from hugging Jemma up to her face, where she cupped her cheeks softly. She didn't have time to worry about her not understanding or being confused. Skye could explain later. She didn't have time to wonder if things were going to go well. This was Jemma, and Jemma has said she cared for her deeply. The reaction couldn't be terrible. A polite no, she thought, at the worst, although she hoped desperately against it.

In the next moment, right after her hands had moved to hold the mermaid, her mouth was on Jemma's, lips pressed against hers gently, but with a firm force behind them. It was insistent and needy and Skye didn't know how else to show Jemma how she felt. Tail touching wasn't the same for her…it didn't have quite the right…feel to it as this did, probably because she wasn't a mermaid. She certainly couldn't just come out and tell her. She wasn't that good with words. She would have never made it through the sentence let alone actually got the part about how Jemma made her feel. This would have to do initially. Skye was more than willing to explain after the fact, once her brief spark of bravery was gone.

Jemma froze, every muscle in her body went rigid. Everything had been normal one second, and then the next Skye's mouth was on hers and she didn't understand. She didn't understand what this was and why it made her feel like she'd just been electrocuted by an eel, like she couldn't breath, like her heart was beating so wildly that it might just jump out of her chest. She thought she'd known most of Skye's customs by now, but apparently she hadn't. She didn't have the faintest idea what this was about or what it was supposed to mean, and even though she wanted to relish the feeling, she couldn't commit to it.

Just like Jemma had wanted to explain to Skye what touching her tail meant before it happened, Jemma wished Skye had told her what this meant before she'd just gone and done it. She could tell it was serious, Skye was acting very, very serious, and Jemma just couldn't reciprocate whatever this was until she knew.

A tiny noise of confusion and protest slipped out of her lips and across Skye's, which were still pressed against hers, stifling it. Before Jemma could realize it, the hands on Skye's waist were no longer happily holding her, but pushing her away. She slipped out of Skye's grasp without much trouble, but she had absolutely no clue what to do.

"I- What-" Jemma couldn't finish. It felt like she was suffocating even though she'd pulled away. She didn't know what it meant, and she was scared that it appeared to mean so much to Skye just by the look on her face.
Jemma panicked. Only a few steps from the water, it took her no time flat to reach it, diving headfirst into a wave in the shallows, just dying to get underwater and away from Skye's stare.

There was strain on her legs, and Jemma frantically yanked the clothes off once she was deep enough before her tail reformed and she returned to her former self, plus the unbearably confusing feelings. She knew it was wrong to run away, but it felt like Skye had just done something major, and she didn't know what it was. She almost didn't want Skye to tell her, she wanted to figure out the answer herself. She wanted to understand the explosive feeling Skye had planted in her chest and she wanted to unravel and solve it on her own, without anything to tell her how she was supposed to feel.

Glancing back at the shore, Jemma felt guilty, though she couldn't see Skye's face. She didn't want to imagine it, either. Instead, she swam, not even back to the caves, just away, to think.

"Shit."

Skye had thought she was prepared. She had thought it would turn out better than this. She didn't think it could go this horribly wrong.

Skye felt it the moment she felt Jemma push her away. It wasn't what had gripped her before—the stupid, blind, idiotic feeling that had made her do this in the first place—it was worse. It was fear. She was more afraid now than she had been when she had turned around and found Jemma with Ward. It was more now than it had been when she had fallen into the ocean and almost drowned. Skye was certain she would rather be drowning right now.

"Jemma?!"

She was already in the water. She was gone and in the dark, Skye couldn't see any signs of her. If she had thought her heart had stopped before, well she might as well not even have one now. Fuck, fuck, fuck you idiot, you messed it up!

"Jemma, come back! I'm sorry!"

Skye didn't have a flashlight. She couldn't see anything except for the open expanse of blackness that was the ocean at night. She didn't hear Jemma answer or splash back up out of the water. Skye didn't realize she was in the water herself until she felt the next wave wash up over her shoes, soaking them and the bottom of her pants.

She shrieked and shot back up to where it was dry, almost tripping over the sand in her haste to get away. "You fucking fucked it up you idiot. You fucking idiot!" Her hands were in her hair, pulling it back, hard, on purpose, making her hairline sting as her nails dug into her skull. She kicked the sand angrily, yelling at herself as she turned around in circles, not knowing what to do but always coming back to look at the water.

The mermaid was gone, and she wasn't coming back. Once this realization hit, everything else came crashing down in quick succession and, like she had the night she had come here after Ward had beaten the shit out of her, she cried. She didn't just sob. She screamed. She screamed at the sand. She screamed at the ocean. She screamed at the moon. She screamed at herself. Frustrated and fed up she lashed out, her fist colliding with the rock wall in the dark. It scraped and bloodied her knuckles and it only made her cry harder and get angrier, so she punched it again. The result was the same, but she didn't know what else to do. Her hand ached, so she kicked it. She kicked it again and again and when finally she could do either of those anymore, she fell on her knees into the sand.

Anything was better than this. She had messed up. She had messed up on a massive scale and driven Jemma away. She couldn't handle it. She almost wished Ward was here, if only so he could beat the life out of her. She probably deserved it for being so stupid. She couldn't bring herself to move. She just kept wishing Jemma would come back and before she knew it, it had been an hour…and then another hour…and then three and she was freezing and her tears had long since stopped. She'd run out of them. Now she just sat bitterly in the sand, unable to make herself move to go home. She'd fucked up big time.