Chapter 77

Zane had been absolutely fine since the second electric shock scare, once again filling the gap where he had been sorely missed. It had been Alex and Jay's sixth birthday the after he had had the MRI scan, so that weekend, he had thrown a mini party for the two of them at the café that hadn't seen the Bennett's in a while, inviting the boys' human friends from school. Bella planned a treasure hunt and other games. Although they loved the party and the presents, they told Rikki later on that the best present was having Daddy back. At that, Rikki felt herself get emotional. It was amazing to have Zane back.

OoOoO

Hunter had left work that day fuming. How could she have melted his phone? How dare she? Why was Anna so protective? She was not even the least bit shocked when her colleague turned into a mermaid before her eyes. How had he fallen for a fish? A fish! He bet that she had been manipulating him the whole time for her own pleasure. Seeing him chase after her. Her boyfriend, that awful man, Alan, probably didn't even know. The secretive witch.

In his frustration, anger and confusion, Hunter's thinking got more and more clouded, increasingly insane. He was creating excuses for his behaviour, Jessie's and blaming everything on the mermaid. As he mulled the skewed information over in his mind, he became increasingly okay with selling Jessie's identity over to someone. Besides, he wanted the money. He had always wanted a Ferrari. Thinking over again what she had done to his phone, he decided that she was too cowardly to actually hurt him. If she had courage, she would have told and trusted him outright. First, he needed to get proof. A photo or video recording should do it.

OoOoO

Alan opened the door of his home to see the beauty who had been knocking.

"Jessie, what are you doing here? Not that I'm not pleased to see you," Alan said. Jessie greeted him with a kiss on the cheek before walking past him inside. As she sat on the couch, she got straight to the point.

"I'm in danger,"

Alan's eyes widened.

"What do you mean, Jess?" he sat down next to her, grasping her hand gently.

"You remember Hunter?"

"How could I forget?" Alan replied in an irritated tone.

"Well, he may have found out what I am…" she trailed off, "And quite possibly might sell the information. We're hoping that we've scared him not to, but I'm not too sure…"

"I thought he was in love with you? Even though it's unrequited, how could you sell someone you care about out?" Alan asked in disbelief.

"It seems that that love does not extend to a fish," Jessie said with a sigh. "Does being a fish really make that much difference?"

"It shouldn't," Alan admitted. "I love you just the way you are. Being a mermaid is a part of you. You shouldn't be so ashamed of it,"

"I'm not ashamed, just afraid," Jessie replied quietly, snuggling into him. "I've had a fair share of rejections in my life based on my secret. People are scared of it, scared of the unknown. All their lives they've been taught that magic does not exist, so when they are confronted with a mythical creature they freak out." She paused before continuing. "I lost one of my best friends a couple of years ago when she found out. Firstly, she couldn't believe I had kept it from her all that time, and secondly she was freaked by what I could do. She promised she wouldn't tell anyone, but we grew more and more distant…Alan, I'm so glad you're not like that,"

"I used to be," he muttered under his breath. "I used to be just like Hunter,"

"What was that?" Jessie asked.

"Never mind," he said. He leant over and kissed her. "We'll work through everything as it comes,"

OoOoO

"No!" Rikki exclaimed. Her favourite red cushion caught on fire. Grabbing a bucket of water, she doused the flames. Using her practiced skill, she dried said cushion.

Fi just giggled. Gathering her daughter in her arms, Rikki took her outside and carried her down to the moon pool. She grabbed a handful of leaves on the way. Once they arrived at their destination, Rikki dropped the leaves in a pile and then placed Fi on the sand. Fi proceeded to suck her thumb, bouncing slightly.

"Okay, trouble, I'm going to try to teach you how to control your powers," Rikki said. She was nervous. What if she couldn't get Fi to control her powers? What if these dangerous outbreaks of lightning and fire continued to occur? Although she had trained her other kids, it was under different circumstances. They had been mermaids and mermen since birth – tails and all. She had expected power development and so had trained them as soon as she had noticed. She and Zane had been so focused on the fact that Fi appeared human, that they had not noticed the signs. Fi was much older than when Rikki had first started to train the others. Was Fi even aware of what she was? Thinking about it, Rikki wasn't even sure of what that was. Did she have some kind of mermaid disability? They had not noticed any abnormal prodigious activity like the other mer-kids had displayed. Maybe she was just a late bloomer. With all these unanswered questions, it was no wonder that she was worried.

Rikki had no idea how to start. Maybe imitation was the answer.

Firstly, Rikki wanted to test out Cleo's suggestion – getting Fi into the water to see if she could swim. She dived into the pool and changed into her mermaid form. Using her upper body strength and a lot of effort, Rikki pulled herself up to sit on the edge of the moon pool. Fi was close enough that if she stretched, she could reach the troublemaker. Holding Fi, Rikki gently slid herself onto the ledge submerged in the water. Fi began to splash around in her mother's arms, thoroughly enjoying herself. Rikki smiled at Fi's antics. Slowly and sub-what reluctantly, Rikki took away more and more support from her baby. Fi's movements were becoming a steady rhythm. Maybe Cleo was right. Rikki let go completely, hands hovered close to Fi's sides. Fi's head sunk below the water. Rikki gasped held Fi up above the water again. Fi did not cry. It was as if the baby like being underwater. She was not even spluttering. In awe, Rikki let go again. This time she ducked underwater, still keeping an eye on Fi, watching her every move. At first, Fi's legs worked separately, and she floundered around; this was from a baby that was not even crawling yet. Suddenly, Fi's chubby baby legs were moving together, kicking butterfly style. Like a mermaid. Fi's face looked serene and she smiled. Rikki could not believe it. She saw the bubbles as Fi exhaled. Her eyes widened as she saw Fi take a breath in. Mermaids only held their breaths for extremely long periods of time – they couldn't breathe underwater. Rikki quickly lifted Fi to the surface, expecting her to be coughing and spluttering. Nothing. What on earth? Fi was once again let go in the water and Rikki examined her. She noticed her baby do the same thing; breathe in and out, as if it were normal air. How was she doing this? Was this another strange mutation? No mers that she knew of could breathe underwater. She knew that if she tried, the water would go in the wrong pipe - not that she needed to – she did not feel out of breath for hours. None of the other kids had done this and they were born mers. Fi began to swim deeper slowly, getting accustomed to swimming. Rikki followed her, examining her. Rikki finally noticed that when Fi inhaled, there was a collection of bubbles gathering at the girl's jugular notch, in her neck. Rikki placed a finger gently over the bubbles, against the skin. Fi gave her a look, akin to confusion. Fi began coughing. Rikki quickly let go, and Fi looked much happier and calmer. Rikki brought her daughter to the surface once more. She felt where the bubbles had gathered. She noticed there was a tiny hole shape there. When she looked at her daughter's neck. All she could see was something that looked like a couple of freckles. She looked closer. The tiny freckles were actually a tiny hole, unnoticeable to an eye that wasn't looking. Did her daughter have something like gills? She'd have to get Lewis to find out.

This development was getting weirder and weirder and Rikki had not even started on powers training yet…

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I enjoyed writing it :-) I hope all the different storylines flow together well. Tell me what you think! Ideas, opinions...all are welcome. REVIEW! I love to read what you are thinking about the story - it helps me understand what you like for future writing.

Anyway, thanks to CrazyHayniac - Good timing :P Thanks for your ideas and thoughts - love hearing them!

YaleAceBella12 - Do you really want to know the answer to that? Wouldn't that spoil the plot? We'll see... ;) (I can PM you if you're really desperate to know)

HybridsRose - Yay! Awesome. I'm glad they're in character. I have gotta wonder sometimes whether you've recreated the characters in your head or not :P Thanks, I will.

Mermaids Forever - Thanks again for reminding me to post! I actually had half of this done a few days after you reviewed, but I had an assignment due today. So in celebration for finishing, here it is!

zikki 3 - Maybe ;-) Thanks so much!

andGuest - thanks. I'm glad you liked it!

for reviewing! I really appreciate it!

See you all next time! I have so much uni work to do.. ahhh! So many readings...dreaded readings...Oh well, I did sign up for it :P I'm paying to do it, haha :P