A Wish on a Full Moon
I do not own H2O: Just Add Water or any of the characters.
Chapter 10: Time to Talk
Walking through the door, they notice they are standing in a hallway filled with six other doors; each one of them having a group of names on them. They look at one another, agreeing they should go into separate rooms for privacy. Cleo's family chose to go into the dorm with Don's name on it, Rikki and her dad go into her dorm, and Emma's family decides to go into the Gilbert's dorm.
Neil opens the door to their room and they walk in, with Emma taking the lead. Before Elliot can walk inside, Lisa turns around and points at him. "Dear, why don't you go back and get something to eat? We need to have a chat with Emma." She begins to close the door, but Elliot stops her by putting his foot in the doorway. "No." Surprised by his disobedience, she opens the door once more as they look at each other. "I'm tired of being left out. I might be the youngest, but I'm a part of this family too. And it's about time we start acting like it. So, please, can I go inside?" Elliot pleads. Lisa stares at her son, surprised by his little outburst, wondering if he has been feeling like this for a while. Neil, who is already in the room with Emma, overhears the conversation and decides to speak. "Let him in, Lisa. I think this should involve him too." Sighing, she steps aside to let Elliot walkthrough.
Closing the door behind them, they walk to the middle of the room and take in their surroundings. There is a bed in each corner, except for the front-right side that is blocked out with another room that leads to the bathroom. To their left is a mini-fridge filled with bottled water and glass cups on a small table standing next to the fridge. Next to each bed is a nightstand with a lamp. And on the back wall was a closet assumably filled with clothes; how all this stuff got here, nobody knows.
Emma walks over to one of the beds and sits down, choosing to look at her feet instead of at her family. They stay quiet for a few minutes as they try to figure out what to say first, the other three looking at one another uncomfortably, until Neil finally decides to break the silence. "Emma." She looks up, making eye contact with him. "Everything that it showed us out there. It's real? It's actually real?" He gestures toward the direction of the theater. She hesitates, and looks at each of her family member's faces, trying to read their expressions: her mother seems like she is about to explode with questions, but also has a mix of worry. Her brother, full of anticipation and excitement, almost makes her want to smile.
But her dad's expression is probably the hardest one to read. There are so many emotions, that it's hard to tell what he is truly feeling. Anger? Sadness? Guilt? Sorrow? Happiness? Heartbroken? Or all the above. It was so unreadable that it made her not want to answer, but she knew that if she didn't, the situation would only get worse. Sighing, she fights back the tears that are trying to form and finally answers. "Yes."
Her brother's face brightens up at the answer, while her mother lets go of a breath that she did not realize she was holding. Lisa takes a step closer to her daughter and lets the questions flow. "Why? Why have you never told us?" After getting no response, she bends down so that she can see her daughter's face and continues. "We are a family. We promised we wouldn't keep secrets from one another and to tell us everything. And that includes you," she points. "So now we want to know why. Why didn't you tell us?"
Hearing her mother speak broke the dam that was holding her emotions back as the tears slowly began to fall down her cheeks and she chokes back a sob. Neil's face hardens as he sees his daughter's walls that she built up finally falling. "I wanted to," she whispers, loud enough for them to hear. They look at her surprised, never in their right mind would they have ever thought that she wanted to tell them. She wipes at her cheeks and looks back up as the tears still flow and she speaks louder this time. "I wanted to."
Getting over the initial shock of her reveal, Elliot finally speaks to her. "Then, why didn't you?"
Sighing, she stands up with her mom and walks closer to them, as she explains to them her reasoning. "At first, when it all began, I was so scared. Scared that we were going to get discovered. Scared of what could happen. So, I tried so hard to prevent that from ever happening. I quit the swim team, I distanced myself from every drop of water I saw," she looks at her mom. "and I locked myself away from everyone." Lisa looks down, feeling guilty, realizing what Emma meant by that last statement from when she questioned her about Emma missing her swim meets.
"But, as time went on, and the more we struggled with trying to keep it a secret, it began to get stressful. I was so stressed out from everything that happened and from keeping it a secret for so long, especially from you guys, that it kept piling up. It eventually got to the point that I realized that I needed to tell you." She smiles, seeing her father's face soften at the thought of it. She takes a breath and keeps going. "One day, I made my mind up, I was going to tell my family." Her mother looked hopeful but knows that she wasn't finished explaining. "But?" Emma's smile falters, as she reveals the rest. "But something came up. Something that changed my mind, forever."
Confused by what she was talking about, Neil presses on. "What was it?" Hesitantly, she continues her explanation. "That something, was a marine biologist." Their eyes widen, beginning to get the idea of where this was leading, but decided to keep quiet as she tries to explain some more. "The same day I was going to tell Cleo and Rikki my plan, the same day I was going to tell you, was the day that Dr. Denman came back to the Gold Coast. She poked around Mako Island and discovered the moon pool and discovered that mermaids exist." Lisa puts a hand to her mouth and begins to cry as she realizes what she meant. "Oh no," Elliot mutters. Emma nods, seeing that they understand where she is getting, and carries on. "Yes, we got caught. She had photos of us from underwater cameras. And, if it weren't for Lewis and Zane, we would've been exposed to the world, would've been science experiments, and potentially encased behind a glass tank or something." Neil makes a mental note to give a huge thanks to those two boys later. "Eventually, we tricked her into thinking we lost our powers and she left. And after that, I promised myself that I would never tell you." She lets out a shaky breath. "I'm so sorry."
Lisa hugs her, tears still falling. "No, honey. I'm sorry. It sounds like this whole thing has put a lot of pressure on you. And it seems like we didn't help at all with that." She pats Emma on the back as they continue hugging. Emma looks over her mother's shoulder and smiles after seeing Elliot stand behind them. Their tears finally coming to an end. "So, is there a cure?"
Emma's smile falls as she releases her mom from the hug and looks to her dad. Lisa and Elliot turn to him as well, with a look of confusion on their faces. "A cure for what?" Emma asks, though she already knows what he is talking about. "For – You know," he waves his hand up and down at her legs. "For the tail. The mermaidness?" They glare at him as he sighs. "What I meant was, don't you want to be normal again?" "Neil!" Lisa yells, hoping that didn't offend their daughter. She glances at Emma who is just smiling to herself.
Before Emma can speak, Elliot interrupts her. "Does it matter?" Elliot shrugs. They turn to the youngest, mildly confused. "Whether she is normal or not, she will always be a part of this family. And she will always be my sister," he replies as he goes to give Emma a side hug.
Emma smiles, returning the hug, before looking back up to her father, who is still waiting for an answer. "To answer your question, dad, yes. I do miss being 'normal', and my old life. But I love being a mermaid. I love swimming, and I just love the adventure. And I wouldn't trade it for the world." "And we wouldn't trade you for the world either," Lisa smiles as she and Elliot join Emma in another hug. "Aw, thanks mom," Emma laughs.
Realizing that someone is still missing, they look over at the man. "Neil?" Lisa asks, hoping he will give in and come to his senses. After a minute of silence with all of them looking at him, Neil sighs, eventually putting a smile on his face as well. "Guess I'll have to get used to the new you. Elliot's right. You're a part of the family too, and you will always be my daughter." They smile as they see him walking to the group for a hug. He pauses and points at Emma as one more thing comes to mind. "Promise us, no more secrets?" Emma laughs. "Promise." He joins in the group hug, glad that they can be a happy family once again, this time with no more secrets. Well, at least one of them is.
Meanwhile, in Don's room, the whole family stays quiet, trying to process what they saw. Well, everyone that is, except for Kim, who is bombarding Cleo with a load of questions while the latter tries to rub her headache away. "Do you still have a tail? Do you still have your powers? What other powers do you have? Can we see them? Can we –." "Kim. That's enough!" Don interrupts her as she pouts and crosses her arms.
He sighs as he stands in front of Cleo who is sitting on the bed. "Cleo, can you please explain to us what is going on?" Cleo stands up and begins rubbing her arms nervously. "Well, it's pretty much what the screen just showed you. We're mermaids," she shrugs. "What I mean is, how? Why?"
She sighs and looks at her dad. "I wish I could tell you dad; I really do. But, we don't know." "What do you mean you don't know?" Bev asks. Cleo gives her a side glance before answering. "It's simple. We don't know. We still haven't figured out how this whole mess happened. But we do know one thing: it has something to do with the full moon." "The full moon?" Kim asks, narrowing her eyes. "Yeah, we don't know much about it, but we do know that if you're in the moon pool under the full moon, that it turns you into a mermaid as it showed in the first clip." They nod, now understanding somewhat how it happened. "Oh, just a heads up, you might be seeing us acting very strangely soon on-screen from it. Apparently, if a mermaid sees a full moon, it can make them act weird," she shivers, remembering how Emma acted during their first full moon. They look at her confused but decide not to question her about it until later.
Breaking the silence, Bev brings up another point. "Cleo, about earlier, with the water." She looks at Cleo concerned. Cleo looks down, smiling. "It's okay. I know I was so terrified of water before. But, if it weren't for me being turned into a mermaid in the first place, I probably would have never gotten over my fear." She looks up, glancing at each family member. "I love the water and love being a mermaid. I have so many memories of it with my friends."
Bev and Don smile, glad that she was able to get over her fear. "That's good Cleo. I'm sorry for doubting you," Bev responds. Hesitating, Cleo replies to her. "It's okay, mom. I understand. After seeing someone fear it for so long, I would be afraid too if something were to happen. We have been doing it for so long now, almost a year. And I don't want it to stop. Ever." She smiles as she finally gets that off her chest.
Kim, who has been patiently waiting for the conversation to end, finally burst from the questions that she has been wanting to be answered for the past few minutes. "Okay, can you finally answer my questions now!" Cleo chuckles at the sight of her sister nearly jumping from being impatient. "Alright, what are they?" Kim sighs. "Do you still have your powers? Can you show us?" "Sure," Cleo nods. She turns toward the mini-fridge and grabs a bottle of water out of it and pours it into a glass cup. Sitting it on the small table she looks over to her family, who is watching her every move, and grins.
Twisting her hand, a stream of water rises from the cup, the amount never changing inside the cup. She hears her mom gasp and her sister squeal with excitement. Getting a quick glimpse of her dad before focusing on the water again, she sees that he is wide-eyed with astonishment, most likely still not believing that this was real. Twisting her hand once more, she gets the water to stop rising and form into a big bubble that shapes into a mermaid. They all laugh at her handiwork as she lets it drop back into the cup.
Don smiles as he looks at her, hands on his hips. "So, is there anything else we need to know?" "Not that I know of," Cleo shrugs, refusing to tell them about Dr. Denman, or the new powers, worried about the outcome, especially with her mom there. Of course she loved her mom, but she just walked out on them, out of their lives, and their home, their family. She couldn't talk to her about this stuff right now. She needed to focus on them getting out of here soon and worry about their friends and the potential threat of the marine biologist returning. She could focus on her emotions for her mom later.
Don nods believing her, as he smiles and hugs her. Kim laughs as another thought comes to mind. "So, this means I'm going to have to do your chores more often, huh?" They all laugh as Cleo nods in agreement. Cleo smiles, glad to have her family back together; most of them at least. She looks at her mom who stays on the other side of the room as she smiles at Cleo. Cleo doesn't return it however and looks down. Bev notices this and gets curious as to what was going through her head.
In another room, it seems to be a completely different conversation for the father-daughter duo as they seem to be keeping it short and simple. Rikki leans against the wall of the dorm as her dad slowly paces back and forth, shooting quick glances at her occasionally, deciding it would be best to let him speak first. Evidently, he quits pacing and sighs. "So, that's why you're always gone." Rikki chuckles awkwardly to herself before replying. "Yeah." Terry smiles, glad to get an answer from her.
Rikki sighs before she gets away from the wall and begins walking closer to him. "Listen, dad. I'm sorry for keeping this a secret. I never meant to hurt you." Confused, Terry turns to her. "Hurt? What makes you think that it hurt me?" Now it was Rikki's turn to be confused. "Because I hid it from you? I was never hardly home? I never told you about what was going on in my life or much about my friends?"
Terry laughs to himself. "I'll admit, I was shocked at first. Maybe a little upset, but I was never really hurt," he remarks. He steps closer to her, now facing her. "But, I understand why you had to do it. This is something clearly no one has ever seen before. If someone were to discover it, they might put you in a lab or something. Although I wouldn't," he shrugs. "However, if I were in your situation, I probably would've done the same thing." This causes Rikki to smile at her father, glad that he was not mad about the whole situation.
"By the way, do you have any idea how we got here?" Rikki laughs before patting her dad on the back and begins walking back to the door. "Sorry dad, but how about we save that for another time." "Oh, come on!" he whines. "Come on indeed. Let's go get something to eat for now." Terry was about to protest before his stomach rumbled, causing the two to laugh. "Alright, fine," he sighs, forgetting about the conversation as they both walk out the door. They meet the other two families back in the theater room as they head for the buffet room.
Once they entered the buffet room, they took in their surroundings. Surprised by the different varieties of food and drinks on the tables: chips, chicken, popcorn, fish, and so much more. They even had juices that looked similar to the ones at the café.
Rikki points to one of the buffet tables. "Emma, look, they have lobster and tuna," she laughs along with Cleo, as the other blonde gets embarrassed, trying her best to avoid that table. The newcomers all grab a plate and grab something to eat.
Charlotte watches them while grabbing some food. Why was everyone so happy about this? Do they not understand the possible dangers that go along with being a mermaid? The people, the weather, the water, the dolphins? She gulps at that last thought. Out of all the things she had to fear, why were dolphins her biggest one?! She finished filling her plate and hurries to the door.
She could not get those thoughts out of her head: the dolphins, the powers, Lewis, and the girls. She could not stop it. She didn't understand why everyone was loving it, even with all the problems that it causes. She did not understand why Lewis would be okay with all of this. Yet, a small, eager, part of her couldn't help but wonder, what could be next.
On the other side of the buffet room, Mrs. Chatham watches Bella closely, who happens to be next to her grabbing a drink. Bella, who notices her watching, looks at her weirdly before confronting her. "Can I help you?" Mrs. Chatham looks at her suspiciously. "Nothing. Just be careful with that drink, dear." Bella gulps and glances at the drink. "Uh, I am. It's fine." Mrs. Chatham smiles smugly as she turns around and walks out the door. Bella shivers, trying to calm her racing nerves as she follows along. In the distance, if they had paid attention, they would have realized that there was someone else watching them with curiosity: Will.
Walking back through the door with their food and drinks in the theater room, they all stop in their steps and gasp with surprise. While they were gone, cup holders and even a small foldable table has been added to their seats.
The girls just look at one another and shrug, assuming that it's the work of the full moon, and continue walking back to their seats. Watching them return to their seats, and since no one else knows what to do, they do the same thing the girls did and sit back down into their newly upgraded seats.
Don holds his hand out for the remote as Kim places it in his hand and presses play.