A Fishy Tale - Fanfiction for H2O Just Add Water

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Meanwhile at the Marine Institute...

Lewis put his phone back in his pocket. Cleo had taken that news better than he'd thought she would. This showed to him how much she had matured over the past years. The worried tone in her voice had made him want to go and hug her; but that would have to wait till after work.

Closing Time - Rikki's Cafe

After work all the friends met at Rikki's Cafe just before closing time, there were no customers. Rikki and Zane due to this were waiting at a table for the group to arrive. Zane had his arm slung across Rikki's shoulder, sipping on a smoothie she had just made. One after another with brief intervals the friends came in and sat down with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Anna and Ben were last to arrive. It was quite a squish.

"Next time I think we should sit in two groups at separate tables" Anna said as she tried to squeeze in beside Ben.

"So, what's the big news?" Rikki asked casually

"We have two announcements. Do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Lewis said

"Good, good news is always better first." Emma said.

"Okay then," he continued, "The good news is that..."

"WE'RE ENGAGED!" Cleo exclaimed interrupting her fiancé.

Everyone gasped, except Bella and Will who already knew. There was immediate discussion after an awkward silence, the girls asking Cleo about the details and the guys congratulating Lewis.

"Achem..."

Everyone fell silent again with the exception of a few whispers.

"Do you still want to hear the bad news?" Lewis asked drawing out the anticipation.

Rikki said "Surprise me," While Emma said "Yes!" forcefully.

"Okay okay," Lewis said with a frown, "This is definitely not on the positive side..."

"We know that already, spit it out!" Zane said.

There was murmuring throughout the group.

"She's back, Denman's back!" Cleo said bluntly.

Rikki and Emma looked at each other then screamed "WHAT" at the same time. Zane paled.

"Who's this Denman?" Bella asked with support from Anna, Ash and Ben. Will just sat there waiting to be told more.

"Well..." Emma began

"She's just the evil marine biologist who trapped us and then almost made us science experiments..." Rikki interrupted

"Almost exposed us and experimented on us, probably would of put us in a glass jar all chopped up..." Cleo said

"CLEO!" Rikki continued "Anyway this was all thanks to Lewis and Zane,"

"Hey!" Lewis started

"... but now thank goodness she doesn't know we are mermaids" Rikki concluded "Long story short and no I'm not telling the rest right now"

"So, pretty much stay away from her and don't make it too suspicious. By the way she has long blonde hair, and we'll probably point her out for you guys..." Just as Lewis said this, Dr Denman walked into the cafe.

"Speak of the devil" Lewis said under his breath.

Spotting the familiar faces, Denman came over to the group.

"Hello everyone, how's it going?"

"Good, Good" was mumbled from the squished group at the table.

"Zane, you still feel good about what you did?" She asked with a frown

"Definitely" Zane stated, "As you can see Rikki is my girlfriend again now," He put his arm around her shoulders for emphasis, and she snuggled into him.

"I can see that." Denman replied, "So, I see you've made new friends; not the fishy type too eh?"

"No, no" The group laughed frantically.

Denman stood there waiting to be introduced.

"This is Will, Bella, Ben, Anna and Ash, Dr Denman" Lewis gestured to each person.

"Nice to meet you." Anna said diplomatically.

"Okay then, I'll see you round," and she walked off. Once she had left the room, the table burst into discussion.

"Right now, she's the least of our worries," Bella said, "Tonight's a full moon, remember?"

"Why don't we lock ourselves in our apartment?" Cleo suggested.

"Great Idea"

All the mermaids departed to go back to their houses to pack for the night.

Zane and Rikki's house – later on...

"I'll miss you." Zane said lovingly, completely out of character for him, Rikki knew.

"It's only going to be for overnight Zane, stop being such a cry baby," she playfully punched him. "You'll see me at work tomorrow morning." Rikki continued, "Besides, I'll make it up to you tomorrow, and since when did you get so soppy?" she asked laughing. "You can always walk me there..."

"Okay Dokey" Zane said, happy to spend longer with Rikki.

The two of the locked the house and walked the short journey to Bella and Cleo's beachfront apartment.

The couple passionately kissed before Rikki pushed him away and said goodbye.

All the others were already there. Will and Lewis were putting black paper up on the windows and pulling the curtains. Emma decided to make icy pops for everyone, freezing some orange juice and bringing them over.

"Thanks Em," was heard all around.

An hour before the moon was to rise, Will left, leaving only Lewis as a guardian, just in case. The other guys were just a phone call away, dedicated to protecting the girlfriends.

Rikki popped the popcorn and Bella decided to make Jelly for everyone. She grabbed some tropical juice from the fridge and poured some into a bowl. Then she made it into gelatine, for everyone to dig into. The girls and Ben had gained a lot of control over their powers more recently, and the original four were very skilled indeed.

Cleo organised the movies and put one on. Just as she was doing this Rikki began to tease her. Rikki earned a splash of water in the face everyone laughed as her tail formed.

"It's alright guys, I'm fine, I'm totally fine..." Rikki said as she dried herself.

They decided to watch 'Aquamarine'

Halfway through the movie, half the food was gone. It seemed Ben had quite an appetite, especially for Bella's specialty.

Once the film had finished the mermaids had a discussion about whether the movie was complete nonsense or if it had some truths to it.

They concluded that there was some very, very twisted truth within the movie about mermaids.

But Rikki objected saying, "Nonsense!"

Everyone laughed.

"Do you think Denman will find out again?" Anna asked

"Not if we're careful..." Emma replied.

"You mean, if Lewis is careful..." Rikki began.

"Rikki" Cleo warned

"Sorry" she said sheepishly, "Force of habit, couldn't resist."