Ariel awoke dreamily, swaddled in fluffy white comforters and sheets so clean the smell of salt and cotton still drifted off them. Her legs were spread like a starfish and wrapped around blankets. She sighed and rolled to her hip to look out the window. The sun was only just rising, and the sky swirled in pinks and oranges, hues reminiscent of coral fields she had left behind just days ago.

It was her third day as a human, and she could only think of how incredibly lovely it'd be able to wake up like this every day. To be in this lovely home, to be by the man she loved, to be wrapped in constant reminders that she was human, a human being! She stretched her arms up, and leaned forward to grab her toes. Ten, perfect little toes.

She sighed as she rolled out of bed to meet the day, still thinking of the events that transpired yesterday.

Maybe it would've been better if she had never come, because then she wouldn't have come so far only to lose everything! She was so sure he liked her, too. He was attentive and kind, and seemed as if he was truly enjoying their talks, their adventures, and their times together. Eric always seemed just-near kissing her, just on the cusp of a confession, and she had chalked it up to his charming shyness, but now it was apparent that there was another barrier between them. One named Cora, with light brown eyes always watching them, and slender shoulders that took the painful bearing of her husband's temptation.

Ariel never would have knowingly put herself in the position of 'the other woman'. She had no interest in being anything but Eric's one and only. Had she known before of Eric's…commitment, she would've still been under the sea, hugging her fins to her chest and tending to her broken heart. But she had traded any alternatives for these seven days, and this was the fate she was given. Did the Sea Witch know this would happen?

But, what's bad, was that she still loved Eric. And letting him go, bowing out gracefully, though it seemed like the morally correct thing to do, what the very last option she wanted to consider. What was worse, she wasn't convinced that Eric didn't love her. She had never, not once during her stay, felt like she was straining a loving relationship or trying a marriage. And, maybe, that's because she wasn't.

It was confirmed almost outright to her as well, with Eric's confession that not only did he not love Cora, but that he never had. Should she continue to pursue Eric, she would be ruining a formal marriage, but ruining one that seemed only to barely exist outside of legal documentation. Whether or not that made her actions acceptable, she was unsure. All she knew was that she loved Eric, and that maybe, just maybe, he loved her too.

She needed to think, she needed to be sure. Ariel didn't want to give up, but so much was at stake here, for her, for Eric, for Cora, that she couldn't just take this on a whim. She laughed a little to herself. This was one of the few things she had truly thought through in a while.

Rolling out of bed, Ariel tossed a dressing gown over her night shift, and plodded down to the beach. The castle door slammed behind her, and Ariel just hoped it hadn't locked.

…

Eric had wanted to kiss her. Oh, the opportunity presented itself so many times! They were together, out to sea, both as happy as could be. Ariel was so full of life, laughing, chatting, and dragging her feet along in the water. He felt so at ease around her, never like he was going to say the wrong thing, or hurt her. He didn't feel tense or uneasy, and whether that was predominantly due to the sea or to the girl beside him, he didn't know, but would give thankful credit to both.

But he was still married to Cora. Even if he liked Ariel, or found her enchanting, beautiful, and all around wonderful. Even if he would catch himself thinking of a future with her, a family with her, a life of adventures with her. No matter what he wanted from Ariel, with Ariel, he was still married.

Why wasn't that enough to make him want to stop?

He was better than this, more moral than this! He never thought he'd be the type of man to consider cheating on his wife! But, then again, he also always considered himself the type of man who would marry only for love.

He considered himself at a moral impasse, between taking the clichéd advice to follow his own heart, or to do what most others would consider morally correct. Eric never really knew if your morals came from your head, your heart, or what was taught to you, but every fact and belief he had taken as standardly correct was being mixed up in a storm and tossed about inside him.

Though he knew what he wanted to do probably wasn't best, he didn't want to stop, and didn't want to consider alternatives or midpoints. He didn't want Ariel as a friend, or even as a mistress. Eric didn't want to give out bits and pieces of himself between the woman he loved and to his wife, hoping that they would balance and work out. He had the mystery girl, the girl of his dreams, and even if she had shown up three years later than what he wanted, she was here now, and every bit as wonderful as he had cooked up inside his head. To ignore her, to pretend he hadn't spent all that time search for her, to try and discourage the feelings inside him, seemed almost cowardly, and definitely seemed dissatisfying.

Eric rolled out of bed, only slightly disturbing his wife beside him, and walked around the castle, trying to find some happy medium between what, who, he wanted more than anything and what he was taught to be right. More now than ever before, he was doubting that it existed. At some point, it seemed, he would have to choose, between his honor, and his heart.

He overlooked the grand ballroom, and paused when he heard the pidder-patter of feet. Peering over the edge of a banister, he saw Ariel was awake too, and headed outside. She hadn't noticed him, and had draped the train of her dressing gown over her arm, revealing her bare feet and legs as she tried her best to slip out undetected.

Thump! The door slammed behind her, and Eric did not even hesitate for a moment as he followed after her, fixing his hair and trying to not wake anyone else in the castle.

…

"Mmmm…Eric?" Cora awoke groggily, rolling over and feeling for her husband. His covers were thrown back, and he was gone. "Eric?" she called out a little louder, siting up.

The perpetual feeling of unease that had been striking her these past three days magnified in the next moments, and she dressed quickly and went in search of him. Something wasn't right, something wasn't right. She pattered around the castle, but he was in none of his usual places. Eventually, she realized that the beach would be the only last place for him. Of course, why hadn't she looked there first?

Cora moved, always, slowly and with grace, and she slipped out of the castle without drawing anyone's attention. She went out a side doorway that moved through her gardens, and she took calming breaths as she ran her fingers across the flowers, trying to calm herself down. It's probably nothing.

The tried to settle herself, discourage any nerves. There was no point in getting herself all riled up over a walk. What would Eric think if he came back, alone, and found her here spying on him? She'd seem to be an absolute loon! He was her husband, he hadn't ever strayed, and she had to trust him. No matter what feelings knotted up her stomach, no matter what signals she may have picked up on, she had to trust that he would stay as faithful to her as he was the day he chose to marry her.

Still, despite this running stream of reassurance she gave herself, Cora couldn't bring herself to go inside and go back to bed. She still felt uneasy, no matter what she said to herself, no matter what hopes she tried to focus on. So, she moved to the edge of her gardens and peered out.

The gardens were set high up, and she was able to get a good vantage point, with a view of most all of the beach. She put a hand over her eyes to shield the morning rays of the sun, and looked for her straying husband.

…

Ariel had walked into the ocean, her shift and dressing gown drawing up water and swirling about her knees. She would dip down to pull a shell out of the water or skim her fingers along the surface of the water.

"Couldn't sleep?" Eric folded his hands in front of him, standing at the edge of the shore.

She turned around quickly, blue eyes flying open, and her bright red hair landing over her shoulder. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I didn't see you there."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Eric smiled up at her, taking a little step back to give her space.

"It's fine, you didn't. Yeah, I was up early this morning, just couldn't get back to sleep, I guess." Ariel smiled a little, and then waded out of the water to meet him, dragging back sea foam with her hem.

"Same. Up late thinking, up early thinking. Not really sure if I slept." Eric shrugged a little, trying to make light of it, though he wasn't really kidding.

Ariel giggled a little, and stepped closer to him. "I wonder if it was about the same thing?"

"I'd like to hope that it was, and that means it's just as important to each of us."

"Well, reached any conclusions yet?" Ariel asked, a little anxious.

Eric closed any and all of the remaining space between them, and rested a hand on the niche in her waist, damp with saltwater "Let me kiss you." He said softly, his voice pure and light.

Ariel gasped a little, freezing as he leaned in closer to her. Their foreheads touched and the pair rested there for just a second, their eyes closing slowly.

Eric mumbled, his voice hoarse and almost pained. "Please."

Ariel tilted up her chin and met his lips, her whole body seeming to melt and re-form against his. She slid her hand slowly up into his hair and tried her best to keep herself from smiling. She failed.

She pulled away quickly, her eyes flashed up at him. Eric's eyes were still closed as he breathed heavily, but he slowly, eventually met her gaze. She mumbled quickly "I'm sorry. Are you sure you-"

Eric leaned forward and kissed her again, more intensely, more passionately, resting his hands low on her waist, then removing them only to come up and cup her chin. She reciprocated his kiss, his passion, feeling the unbounded joy that comes too infrequently in life when one little moment is absolutely perfect.

…

Cora couldn't choke back a wail, as she staggered back and clamped a hand over her mouth. She ran as if she was being chased, and flung herself into a nearby bed of light blue pansies. She buried her face into her skirts and let her grief overcome her; there was no point in fighting it back anymore.

She had been right! She laughed without humor, sinking back, as tears continued to run down her face. Ariel was more than a guest, more than a foundling, she was an invasion into her home and a threat to her marriage, if she hadn't already ruined it. What was worse, Ariel had not only kissed him, Eric had kissed her. There was no room left for denial, explanations, or excuses. They were in love.

They were in love when they took each other to sea, they were in love when they stayed up late speaking of things she understood only shallowly; tides and shells, winds and rains, the joy of being a part of a body of a water that could consume you at any time. They walked together, talked together, they adventured with a passion Cora had never even had a chance to experience before it was taken from her. She was Eric's wife, and that should've been her! She should've been his first choice, his only choice, she should've been the source of his joy and excitement. He should not have come alive when he met Ariel, because Cora should've been enough to sustain him.

This couldn't be the end, Cora shouldn't have to give in, give up this easily. This couldn't be the problem that would end their marriage. It had to be no more than a bump in the road, a crest in a wave; their affair would crash down when Eric realized that Cora was the one for him. She just had to hold him. Only a while longer. She had thought of something that would drive Ariel out and bring Eric closer. And it would be done.

Cora cried as she fell back into the flowers, dark hair splayed out like she had just been pushed down to the ground. The sobs came with varying intensity as she truly began to process everything she had been deprived of. Most painfully, she remembered that Eric didn't even kiss her last night before they went to sleep.

…

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