A/N~ This chapter starts at the end of the episode "Jones"
Okay, guys, so this chapter is extra special for one reason: the song in it is a brand new piece of music that one of my friends wrote and recorded herself. It is called After the Sun Sets, and is by the amazingly talented Natalie Lain. It has just come out on iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify, and so if you like the song, go and check her out! Thanks to Natalie for letting me use her song in this!
Ariel's P.O.V.
Spencer was down in New Orleans still with the rest of the team, and it was that time of year again.
The anniversary of my sister's death.
Kat had been staying over since he left anyway, because this was his first case back with the team since they had gone after Tobias Hankel. I was constantly worrying about him and whether he was going to be okay. I had worried about that before the Hankel case as well, but now I had added in a new fear - that if something did happen to him, no one would let me know until it was too late.
Spencer had called me first thing this morning apologizing like crazy for not being there, but I had told him that it was alright. The band had come over instead, and I was glad. The guys hadn't really known Amelia that well, other than from the stories that the rest of us had told them. But Kat had grown up with me, and as a result, knew my sister almost as well as I did.
I had pulled out the old boxes of Amelia's things, and we were all sitting around, looking at old pictures and retelling the old stories.
We had just stopped laughing over the story of Amelia, Kat and I trying to make a cake for Kat's mother's birthday when Finn found it.
"Hey mermaid." he called from where he was spread out on the floor.
"Yeah?" I asked him, wiping the tears away from my eyes. Combining the emotions from my sister's death with the hormonal imbalance of pregnancy was something that I never wanted to do again.
"Have you seen this before?" he asked, pulling out a CD from the bottom of one of the boxes.
I looked at it curiously, sure that I had gone through every inch of those boxes at one point or another. But I would have noticed that disc, so I must have missed something.
"No, I haven't." I said, getting up from my spot on the couch. Finn handed me the disc, and I went over to the sound system that Spencer and I had set up on one part of the kitchen counter as soon as we moved into the place.
I popped in the disc, and there were a few seconds of silence before the music started.
My vision went blurry and I could barely breathe after I heard the person start to sing, and when I looked at Kat, she was tearing up too.
You're bright breathing in my soul
I know I
I am getting old
I want more than I have time for
But time slips by and then you have to go
It was my sister, Amelia, singing.
I will love you after the sun sets for me
I will love you you live forever in me
I will love you after the sun sets for me
I will love you when we're nothing to anything
Live for me for what I leave behind
Cause I just need at least that piece of mind
Your heart's the kind that shouldn't have to stop beating
It hurts that all our moments here are fleeting
I will love you after the sun sets for me
I will love you you live forever in me
I will love you after the sun sets for me
I will love you when we're nothing to anything
I will love you after the sun
I will love you after the sun
I will love you after the sun
I will
After
I will love you after the sun
I will love you after the sun
I will love you after the sun
I will
After
As the song ended, I finally was able to breathe again. Amelia was the first one to teach me music, and so finding this after seven years without her was… difficult, to say the least.
Basically, I collapsed on the floor in tears, and I wasn't sure that Kat was all that far behind - at least she managed to stay on her feet.
8888
It was two days later when I got a surprise call from our record label.
"Ari, honey, we love the new track that you came up with!" the production manager on the other end gushed. "I mean, its a lot different than the usual stuff that Undiscovered Nemesis writes, but we love it anyways!"
I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it for a second before putting it back to my ear. "I'm sorry, but what?" I asked. "What song?"
"The new one, silly." the woman said, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying anything I'd regret. She was far too cheerful for anyone's good. "It was, umm…" I could hear her shuffling papers for a moment before she said anything else. "After the Sun Sets." my heart skipped a beat, and her next words came out fuzzy. "But who is Amelia Ross? I mean, I'm guessing she's related to you, of course, but other than that… anyways, you guys normally write your own songs…"
Her voice droned on, but I didn't hear anything else, until I felt someone shake my shoulders.
I snapped back into reality to see my husband looking down at me in concern. "Ariel, honey, are you okay?" he asked me.
I thought about it for a second, and once I got an answer, I told him.
"Yeah." I said, giving him a watery smile. "Yeah, I think I am."
8888
It was a few days later when I finally got the chance to swing by Finn and Lee's place. Lee was the one to answer the door, and smiled at me.
"Hey mermaid." He said. "What's up?"
"Where's Finn?" I asked, pushing past him.
"Sure, come on in." he said, giving me a look. "What's up with the outfit?"
I looked down at the baggy sweats that I was wearing and blushed. "I just didn't feel like trying, okay?" In reality, I was starting to get a baby bump, and it was freaking me out a bit. So I was overcompensating slightly.
Lee stared at me for a second before he shrugged. "Whatever. Finn's just getting dressed."
"He's in there?" I asked, pointing towards their bedroom. Lee nodded, and I headed for the room. He didn't even bother trying to stop me - we had changed in the same room together enough times over the years that it didn't even phase us anymore.
Finn was just pulling on his pants when I walked in. "Hey kiddo." he said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Please don't make me repeat that whole conversation… again." I told him.
"Alright, fine." he said, digging around for a moment before pulling out a plain black t-shirt and putting it on. "So what's up?"
"You know what." I said, folding my arms over my chest. "You sent Amy's song to the record label, didn't you?"
"Yeah." he said, and I was actually stunned - I didn't really expect him to admit to doing it, especially not that quickly. "Yeah, I did."
"That wasn't yours to send, Finn."
"I'm not going to apologize, if that's what you want." he told me. "Ari, she deserves to have that song out there. It's beautiful - amazing. So, yeah, I sent it to the record label. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
I huffed, but I could see his point. And, to be honest, I wasn't as mad about it as I had originally was. It kind of made sense, really - Amy had helped me to start as a musician, and she was still affecting my music even now.
Thank you to ahowell1993, tannerose5, tlcroft, zebra126, and Momochan77. Also, please check out Natalie's song!