Chapter 49

Yesterday, Amelia had had her birthday, turning three. It was good timing – the village had finally been re-constructed. In the days after Sam had told the members of the village the good news, after work, everyone pitched in to help – Bella being key. Cleo, being heavily pregnant only helped lift stuff from sitting down. It took five days once all the plumbing and windows had been reinstated to be just as good as before. "Lewis, I think we should install your cameras for more of a permanent basis with a feed to Rikki's Café. Maybe with some sort of alarm so that we know if anyone is on our island again," Bella suggested. This suggestion soon became reality- Lewis set it up in no time.

Poor Rikki had stayed in the mainland house during the whole process. She had been getting worse and worse. Everyone was very worried. Lewis examined her and could not figure out what on earth it was.

Rikki woke up feeling groggy and achy for another day. She could not tell for the life of her what it was. Initially she had thought, as did Zane, that she could possibly be pregnant again. But as the symptoms progressed, it no longer felt like morning sickness and more like a bad flu. Now she even had stomach cramps. She talked to Cleo, Bella, Emma and Anna about it and they said that the symptoms she had did not match their morning sickness either. So, it was back to square one. Zane came out of the bathroom.

"'Morning," he said.

"Hi," she replied sleepily as he kissed her forehead. As she tried to sit up and spasm of pain caught her off guard from her stomach and she groaned lying back on the pillows.

"What's wrong?" Zane asked urgently.

"My stomach," she replied, "I just had another spasm of pain,"

"Are you getting any better? Or worse?" he asked. She hesitated. "Come on Rikki,"

"To be honest? Worse. I didn't feel this bad yesterday," she grimaced as another spasm hit her.

"Do you need me to stay home with you today?"

"No, no, I'll be fine. Could you make sure the boys are happy with school?"

"Yeah sure," he smiled. Alex and Jay had started school a few weeks earlier after turning five. Zane left the room, returning with a glass of water and Panadol. Rikki gulped it down gratefully. He kissed her gently, "Get better soon,"

After Lewis had returned home after finishing work for the day, he called in to pay Rikki a visit. He found her asleep on the couch. At first glance, nothing seemed to be the matter but as he got closer, he saw a thin sheen of sweat across her skin with a bluish tinge. That was not right.

"Rikki?" he said gently. He had to shake her to wake her.

"Lewis? W-what's happened?" she tried to sit up, "Oh, I don't feel so well…" she trailed off before throwing up into an ice-cream container that was there just in case.

"Is that a normal colour Lewis," she asked hoarsely. Lewis shook his head slowly.

OoOoO

Once Zane had got home, Lewis left Rikki in his care and found the purple book. He knew for sure that this was no human sickness. What had Rikki eaten or been near that could have caused this problem? He flicked through the pages regarding mermaid sicknesses and found nothing similar to the symptoms Rikki was displaying. He put the book away. He was going to come and look through it again tomorrow in case he had missed anything.

OoOoO

When Rikki woke up the next morning, surprisingly she felt amazingly better. No dizziness, no nausea, no strange rash. She got up and went into the dining hall. Everyone was shocked to see her looking perfectly fine. She even said something sarcastic as she sat down: she was definitely better. Lewis wasn't convinced. You do not just recover from something like that unless a relapse is beckoning. He voiced his concerns.

"Rikki, a recovery like this is not normal…I think you should stay home today, just in case,"

"Thanks for your concern, nerd, but I feel as fit as a fiddle,"

"Rikki," Lewis warned. She laughed until Zane spoke up.

"Rikki, I do think you should stay home today; I can handle the fort." She opened her mouth to protest but Zane stepped in again, "I insist, for me?"

"Okay then," she sighed.

OoOoO

When Rikki returned to her house after breakfast, she glanced in the full lengthen mirror as she walked past. She stopped suddenly and returned to look at herself again in front of the mirror.

'It can't be,' she thought looking down at her belly. It slightly protruded. She rubbed her hands over it. She was pregnant and it seems like she had been for a while. Maybe the sickness was something to do with it. She definitely had not had a baby bump yesterday…or did she just not notice? Rikki was not happy. She did not want to have another baby; she already had four! She wondered what Zane's reaction would be.

It turned out that Rikki need not have worried, Zane was happy. He did not really want another either but did not mind. Everyone congratulated them once the news was announced. Rikki's sickness did not resurface for many more months leaving Lewis puzzled. He was now sure that the sickness had been some sort of reaction to the pregnancy but now Rikki was just having normal human morning sickness. He decided to leave it; maybe it was just a freak incident.

OoOoO

On the 18th of November, Cleo gave birth to a little boy with no complications. Hayden John McCartney. He had Lewis' blonde hair and of course, Cleo's tail.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter :D Sorry again for the delay.

Story of this chapter:

I already had this planned out but because of all your false speculation about Rikki's sickness, well I decided to change it, to run with it since you wanted a Zikki baby :P It was just going to be some mer-sickness but now… Well, I hope you enjoy how this new storyline will pan out. As I have always said I will consider all ideas and often incorporate them in somehow if it suits my storyline (this one did not alter much)

Anyway, my life is hectic as usual but as I always say, I will try to update ASAP. Thanks so much to Sparksfly3737, PeacePinkSeddie, DoubleBubble249, Quillcox, Obwan14, xmangal, Juliet Knighly, Zikki 3, Kat238, XxRaindr0pxX, Waterlily2002, jeremygilbert12, Xavion639, theblueshoe, and three guests. Thanks for the reviews :)

To Guests: Please put a name in so that I can thank you personally for the reviews, thanks :)

Have a great week everyone :D