Chapter 76

He was right. He could not believe the sight in front of him - a real life mermaid.

"Hunter, please," Jessie began.

"I knew it," Hunter breathed. Anna had her hand behind her back, drying Jessie off slowly, hoping Hunter would not notice the mist rising from her tail. Hunter grabbed his cell phone from his pocket.

"Please, let's think rationally about this," Jessie pleaded. "Please don't," He was about to take the picture.

"Why not? This is an amazing find! What are you going to do to stop me?"

"If you expose me, I'll never be normal again," Jessie said. Hunter interrupted.

"Were you ever normal to start with?" he scoffed. "Maybe if you had been honest with me, I would have taken a different approach. How much money do you think a picture would get me?"

"Please don't take a picture, Hunter," Anna asked. "You'll put her in a lot of danger,"

Hunter put his phone down momentarily, shooting an accusing look at Anna.

"Why are you so calm, Anna? You obviously knew. Why would she tell you?"

"Because we are good friends, nothing more,"

"Why would you suggest that there is more? Are you hiding something?" The two stared at each other for a few seconds before Hunter gave up the contest and his gaze returned to Jessie on the floor. He brought his phone up and snapped a picture a split second before Jessie's body returned to its human form.

"Don't you dare," Anna exclaimed.

"Why not? This picture could win me a lot of money," Hunter said snarkily.

"People would never believe you, a picture is hardly proof," Anna said, "A lot of things can be done with Photoshop,"

"I'll find someone," Hunter said.

"Hunter," Jessie began warningly, "I can't let you take that away from here,"

"Do you know how much danger you could put her in?" Anna asked in disbelief, "Do you know what scientists do to things they don't understand? Would you let Jessie be dissected like a lab rat? Would you like to have something like that on your conscience?"

"But wouldn't it be right to let people know that magic exists? That creatures of the old stories are real?" Hunter argued.

"At what cost?" Jessie said quietly. "I'm warning you Hunter, something bad will happen to you if you attempt to expose me, I can promise you that," Although Jessie's voice was quiet, there was a menacing undertone creeping to the surface. "You don't know what I can do,"

'Anna, if this goes south, melt his phone. I'll pretend that I'm doing it,' Jessie communicated to her friend via mindspeak. She saw Anna nod discretely in silent agreement.

For the first time, Hunter looked uneasy. It was only there for a moment, and was soon replaced by his façade of confidence.

"Like being able to move water can stop me," he said haughtily.

"You don't know what I can do," Jessie said indignantly.

"Nothing you can say will stop me from telling someone – the world should know that magic exists. In fact, I'll post the picture to the internet now," As soon as Hunter unlocked his phone, Jessie held her hand up. Hunter stopped briefly.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"This is your last chance – delete the photo,"

"Not on your life," he replied snidely. Jessie believed him. He gave them no choice. They could not let him expose them. Anna moved her hands behind her back quickly. At Jessie's signal, she began to use her powers to slowly melt Hunter's phone. Jessie pretended to use her own powers. Hunter felt his phone begin to heat up.

"What are you doing?" he demanded.

"I'm using my magic," Jessie said. Anna just smirked.

"Ah!" Hunter exclaimed, the phone falling from his grip. The temperature was too hot to handle. Anna accelerated the heat. Hunter watched his phone melt and turn into a shrivelled ball.

He looks on in despair and disbelief.

"M-my phone! You just destroyed my phone!" Hunter exclaimed.

"We gave you the chance to delete the photo," Jessie said.

"I don't believe it!" he said in distress. He loved that phone.

Jessie and Anna smiled to each other.

"I can do that to you," Jessie said pointing, uncharacteristically menacing. Anna almost laughed at how much she looked to be enjoying this. "If I find out you've blabbed – that is what you'll look like,"

Hunter scoffed, but busied himself packing up his stuff. In a huff, he departed the office.

"Do you think that worked?" Jessie asked Anna.

"I hope so,"

OoOoO

One week later…

When Zane's MRI scans came back the doctors were in awe – the swelling was almost completely gone. Statistically, the healing process should have taken much longer and perhaps more drastic if the electric shock had in fact actuated. The brain was a tricky thing. It seemed that since Zane had had no relapses in the past week, his memories were back to stay. When Rikki heard the good news, it was too much. She began to cry with joy and ultimately relief. Zane embraced her lovingly. All her emotions were relayed in a single word.

"Finally,"

She was smiling through tears of relief. Although he had been normal for a week, the unspoken expectation that he might relapse lingered in everyone's minds. Rikki had made sure she kept her expectations low, in order to not be disappointed again.

"I love you so much," Zane whispered into her hair. "Thank you,"

Rikki pulled away so she could look at him.

"What for?"

"Not giving up on me," he said simply.

Rikki leaned up and kissed him gently. She still had her eyes closed when she pulled away.

"You don't know how wonderful it is to be able to do that without explaining why," Rikki said with a sigh. Zane smiled. This time, he initiated the kiss. After she pulled away, he felt Rikki's fist collide with his bicep powerfully.

"Ow!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"That was for all you've put me through over the last few weeks,"

Zane rubbed his arm.

"Fair enough," he said.

"Don't do that to me again," Rikki commanded softly.

"I'll try not to," he replied.

OoOoO

It was Emma's day off, so she was looking after the Bennett kids until their parents got home from the hospital. Rikki and Zane had decided to stay in the mainland house overnight.

Emma was holding Fi when suddenly the temperature in the room began to rise. Emma's glass of juice was boiling.

"Kids? Which of you is doing this? It's not funny," she addressed Charlie, Leila, Alex and Jay. They all denied it. The glass began to shake. Emma realised that it must be Fi.

The baby was inadvertently squeezing her hands. Emma got a fright when her now overcooked juice burst into flame. Using her own powers, she contradicted the heat, using her experienced ice powers to douse the flames to stop the boiling, her now acrid smelling juice back around room temperature. Fi indeed had powers and Rikki needed to get onto training her before something drastic happened. Eric, Amelia and Ariana were playing with their fictive cousins when Rikki and Zane arrived. The kids smiled when their parents, hand in hand arrived. As their father approached, their expressions changed to those of apprehension, not knowing what to expect from Zane.

"Thanks, Em," Rikki said. "Come on kids,"

As Emma passed Fi to Rikki, she asked to speak to her for a moment.

"What's up Em?" Rikki asked as Zane and the kids left the Dove household. "Can it wait?" she was eager to reunite with her family properly. She knew she had been quite distant from her kids while Zane was injured.

"It won't take long," Emma said in understanding. "I just thought that you should know that Fi is displaying her powers more frequently, often oblivious to it herself. She needs training, Rikki. You need to train her like you did the others – a bad accident could happen at any time. Just before you arrived, she set my juice on fire,"

Rikki laughed in response.

"Rikki!" Emma exclaimed. "This is serious!"

"I know, I know, relax, I get what you're saying. I'll try," Rikki replied in surrender. Satisfied with this response, Emma moved on.

"So, Zane's okay?"

Rikki smiled. Emma noticed that a heaviness seemed to have lifted from Rikki's shoulders. She looked almost carefree.

"He is," Rikki replied. "He can remember everything – it seems Fi's second electric shock has brought his memory back – miraculously, the swelling in his brain had gone down. Dr Harvey thinks that it is likely that he won't have any more relapses."

"That's great!" Emma exclaimed.

OoOoO

Once at the Bennett household, Zane embraced each of the four children tightly.

"I missed you all," he said. "Don't worry, I remember you all," he explained. Relieved grins broke out across their faces.

"We missed you too, Daddy," Jay commented.

"Group hug?" Zane suggested

OoOoO

Rikki walked into her house upon her family's group hug. Quietly, she joined in, relishing the fact that this was the Zane from the now, not from the past.

He remembered everything.

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Tell me what you think! It will help me for future chapters. Unfortunately, I have come to the end of my mid-semester break - B semester starts tomorrow (and I find out my exam results) So I'll be back into the swing of busy uni life. Thanks everyone for all your support. I hope to update again not too far away, but no promises - some of my other stories need attention (but don't worry, it will be updated again).

Thanks so so much to everyone who reviews- it inspires me to write and I do take into account all suggestions - if I don't use the direct idea, sometimes it will spur something else in me.

Thanks so much to HybridsRose, zikki 3, YaleAceBella12, The Writer Es, MermaidsForever, Guest (1), Green DayLuuver, my sister: Sammiloveschocolate, CrazyHayniac, and Guest (2) - Guest 2, in regards to your review - the rest is still being developed, hence why this story states it is 'in progress,' it is not yet complete.

Anyway, THANKS AGAIN! I love you all! (Your compliments always make me feel good :P)

See you next update!