Hey everyone, I'm back. Just been busy with married life is all.
I've been watching Supernatural and almost done the series. Once I'm done, I'm going to re-watch H2O: Just Add Water, and then Mako Mermaids.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the H2O or Mako characters.
Charlotte and Elizabeth had arrived at Charlottes home and while Elizabeth was on the phone playing catch up with the men, Charlotte had a very awkward conversation with her mother as she explained about the cat, Poseidon. The lie that Charlotte came up with was that one of the victims cats had been neglected since they disappeared, and needed to be taken care of. Annette was unsure at first, since she had never had a pet in their home before, but she complied.
As Elizabeth continued on her conversation, she looked over at Charlotte with a watchful eye.
"So, mom, there's an agent that we're working with. He's really handsome and not much older than you. I was thinking that maybe you two should meet up when he has a break," Charlotte brought up, trying to be careful.
Annette looked at her daughter, wondering what she was getting at.
"Are you implying that I need to go on a date? With a stranger?"
"Why not? Mom, when was the last time that you even went on a night out in town?" Charlotte asked, putting Poseidon on the floor.
"No, I couldn't possibly," Annette began to protest.
"Mom, I really think that you should do this. You should just give him a chance," Charlotte pushed.
Annette sighed and shook her head. There was that stubborn streak that Charlotte carried. There would be no way out of it unless Annette agreed to the date.
"What's his name?"
Charlotte smiled brightly.
"His name is Gregory."
And instantly, Mrs. Watsford had a look on her face that seemed to be a mix of shock and disbelief, with sadness.
"That's impossible..."
"Mother?"
"He's dead..."
"Mom, no he's not. I know who he is! I know that he's my father. Why did you never tell me about him?" Charlotte asked.
"Because your father is dead, Charlotte!" Annette cried.
"He's not. He's alive. He's teamed up with us on this case that we're working on. Just come with me and see him," Charlotte urged.
Annette shook her head.
"No. I won't do that to myself. Charlotte, you must stay away from him. Don't talk to him, don't mention me, don't do anything! If anyone were to figure out the relationship that he had..." Annette stopped talking.
Elizabeth had hung up before this bit of the conversation and had stayed back to only listen. But at this point, she needed to step in. She approached and placed a hand on Annettes' shoulder.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Watsford. I'll make sure that Charlotte stays distant from him," Elizabeth reassured.
"That's not fair! He's my dad!" Charlotte protested.
"And at the moment, Charlotte, that is dangerous information. If anyone...anyone were to find out, your mother would not be safe, and neither would you. You've got to understand that in this line of work, having any sort of relationship is dangerous," Elizabeth explained.
"You and Joshua are engaged," Charlotte reminded.
"But nobody knows that, which is why I don't wear my ring. I'm sorry, but we should keep our distance and I know how to do that," Elizabeth replied.
"How?"
"We're going to travel down to Ireland, where Isabella Hartley's family lives. We can continue our investigations there," Elizabeth announced.
"Wow...that's almost a four days flight," Annette gasped.
Elizabeth nodded.
"I already let Joshua and Gregory know. They'll continue the investigation here, while we get packing. We should get going."
Nodding, Charlotte led the way out of the house, but Elizabeth gave her a look that gestured back towards her mother. Charlotte sighed and took a deep breath. She turned around and headed back for her mother, wrapping her arms around her in a hug. Annette embraced her daughter.
"I'm so sorry, mom. I'm sorry for the fighting and for leaving against your wishes," Charlotte apologized.
"I'm sorry for being so harsh. But it seems that this has been doing you good so far. Be safe," Annette warned.
"I will."
With one last hug, mother and daughter broke apart and Annette ushered the two women out of her home. She watched as Charlotte walked off with Agent Striker and she grabbed the rosary that hung around her neck. She gave a silent prayer to The Lord, asking that He keep her daughter safe during her time on this case. A little tear trickled down her face and she wiped it away as she closed the door behind her.
"Alrighty, let's get ready for Ireland," Elizabeth announced, as she drove away from the Watsford residence.
"Do you travel this much during a case?" Charlotte asked, dreading going back on the airplane.
"Yup! Get used to it," Elizabeth replied with a grin on her face.
She drove them to the hotel.
Meanwhile, Agent Reynolds and Agent Watsford just came from the home of Terry Chadwick, the father of Rikki.
"Well, we don't have much out of Terry, except for the fact that his daughter has had some issues because of her mother leaving," Gregory spoke up.
"Damn, that poor girl. I almost want to track down her mother, so that she knows what's going on," Joshua replied.
"I agree, but the database wouldn't come up with anything. Come on, I think better on a full stomach," Gregory said as they got to his car.
"Where are we headed?" Joshua asked.
"I saw a Juice Café not too far away from here. A protein shake sounds pretty good right about now."
Joshua could not agree anymore. They drove a little ways until they came to the waterfront, where they saw a building called the JuiceNet Café. Getting out of the car, they headed inside and Joshua noticed that it was more of a teenagers hang out spot. Nevertheless, he and his partner headed for a booth and a waitress came to grab their orders. Gregory looked at the menu.
"Uh...I'll get the MoonTower. What do you want, kiddo?" Gregory asked.
"I'll have The Hulk."
Nodding, the waitress left and following came a young man with dark hair and a pleasant grin on his face.
"Hello boys, how's everything going?" The young man asked.
"Pretty good, thanks," Joshua replied.
"Great. My names' Ash Dove, I'm the manager of this place. Well...assistant manager," Ash introduced.
The name struck a bell. The Gilberts mentioned that Emma had a boyfriend named Ash.
"Ash Dove? Your girlfriend is Emma Gilbert?" Joshua asked.
A sad look came across Ashs's face.
"Why do you want to know?" Ash asked.
The two looked at each other before pulling out their badges.
"We're investigating the disappearance of Emma along with her friends, and some other women. Can we ask you a couple of questions?" Gregory asked.
Nodding, Ash sat down with them and Gregory pulled out his little black book.
"When was the last time that you saw Emma?"
"About two weeks ago. We had closing shift together."
"And have you noticed anything strange about Emma? Anything that would give off any indication that she was in some sort of trouble or anything?" Joshua asked.
"Now that you mention it, yes! There are a lot of strange things about Emma. She's not an ordinary girl, I'll tell you that," Ash replied.
"Do tell," Gregory urged, grabbing the drinks once they were served.
As the two had their drinks, they listened as Ash Dove went off in great detail about all the strange things that he had seen around Emma, or had found odd. He talked about a horse that had gotten sick, then was better the next day. Emma had been there the whole time. Then there was her weird attitude on certain nights. One time, he swore that he saw Emma along with her friends suspended in the air.
Joshua knew that these odd things about Emma were the workings of mermaid magic. He had to tell Gregory, but was afraid that he would be certified as crazy. Still, were was the harm in trying?
"...But what gets to me is that she says that at the end of this year, her family is going traveling. I won't be able to see her for who knows how long!" Ash finished.
"Any idea where they planned on going?" Gregory asked.
"Sure, Ireland. But I doubt it now, since she's gone missing," Ash replied.
Gregory and Joshua looked at each other. Both of them seemed to share the same thought. Perhaps...perhaps the victims were there? There was obviously no indication or sightings of the girls being in Queensland, much less any word on the criminal activity that something like this had been witnessed. There were no witnesses here.
Finishing their drinks, Gregory paid Ash the money and thanked him for his time. The agents got to their feet and headed for the car. Joshua pulled out his phone and made a quick call to Elizabeth.
"Hey, book two more flights for Ireland. We're all going down there," Joshua announced.
"Did you get a lead?" Elizabeth asked over the phone.
"Perhaps. We came to the conclusion that they were taken out of the country. There have been no witnesses to these crimes. I suggest that once we get to the airport, we ask security and staff members if they have seen any of the missing women," Joshua suggested.
"Good call. We are at the hotel right now. We'll wait for you," Elizabeth replied.
They ended their call and Gregory drove them back to the hotel to pack up. Arriving, they went to their room and Joshua opened up the adjourning door. He gestured for Elizabeth to follow him out to the hallway and they walked a ways away to talk in private.
"Elizabeth...I know that you weren't the only mermaid here in Queensland," Joshua confessed.
"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked, trying to feign ignorance.
"Well, I did my own little snooping at the Sertori home and found some odd things in Cleos' room. There were many indications that led me to believe that she and her friends are mermaids. We got a kid who dated one of the girls saying that he always noticed strange things," Joshua explained.
He went in to detail about the rest of his findings and Elizabeth just listened. She finally spoke up and confessed that yes, she did know that Rikki, Emma and Cleo were mermaids. She also confessed that she found more and ordered them to leave so that they could stay hidden and protected. Elizabeth then continued on by finding out that the other women, Rita, Mimmi and Evie were also mermaids, and that possibly, Isabella was one as well. But they wouldn't know for sure until they hit Ireland.
"So...why didn't you tell me about Charlotte and the other girls?" Joshua asked.
Elizabeth looked him straight in the eye.
"Because I wanted to respect and protect their secret. But now that I'm sure that they're all missing because of who they are, we can't keep this secret from Gregory. He should know what we're getting ourselves in to," Elizabeth suggested.
"No, it's too dangerous. He can't know about who Charlotte used to be, or who the women are. He's CIA, Elizabeth. The CIA is completely different from IDA. They have corrupt agents, we don't. We don't know what kind of man he really is, and how he would deal with this situation. Until we get more answers in Ireland, we keep this quiet," Joshua urged.
Nodding in agreement and understanding, the two walked back to their hotel rooms to continue packing. When they had come back, they witnessed Charlotte and her father interacting in a friendly way.
"...And I tried to tell mom, but she doesn't want to listen," Charlotte spoke.
"Where do you think you get your stubbornness from? It's definitely not from me," Gregory replied.
Charlotte smile a little bit, then looked up at her dad.
"What did I inherit from you?" She asked.
"Well...you have my eyes, that's for sure. Your mannerisms are from me. Why do you think you're so inquisitive? And if you're really anything like me, you're probably an artist," Gregory pointed out.
Charlotte gave a proud smile and pulled out her phone. She brought up her photo album and showed him some of the art that she had done. He nodded and gave a look of impression.
"Those are very good."
"Thanks."
Elizabeth and Joshua looked at each other as they witnessed the father-daughter interaction. It was going to be hard keeping the two apart, especially now that they would all be going down to Ireland. There was no stopping either of them now. Looking at Gregory, Elizabeths' senses went off. They were telling her that Gregory Watsford was warming up to his daughter, and that the aching feeling in his heart was melting away; like an ice cube on a hot summers day.
She continued watching from her place by the door and as she looked on, Elizabeth felt a bit of jealousy in her heart. She saw the way that Gregory looked at Charlotte, with the love in his eyes that she herself longed for. But...at least Charlotte and her father were now getting along. Despite her jealousy, Elizabeth knew that she couldn't restrict the happiness that Charlotte deserved.
For now, she would allow Charlotte to have time with her father.