Chapter Three
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“You know, this is all your fault.”

Zane held her hair and rubbed her back best he could, but it was obviously not enough. Rikki leaned back, one hand wiping her mouth, the other on her swollen midsection.

“I wouldn’t say it’s all my fault, but I guess I had something to do with it, yes,” Zane said.

“Yeah, something to do with it,” she said. “How come you just get the good parts of this, and I get all the bad stuff?”

“You weren’t complaining when we were making it,” he said, leering at her.

“You’re just so full of yourself,” Rikki said, rolling her eyes. “Ugh, I still feel sick. Why? I’m in the second trimester, I’m supposed to feel fantastic now – it’s in all the books.”

“We could always go to the doctor,” Zane said.

“No,” Rikki said. “No doctors. It’s enough to have Lewis poking at me like I’m his new science project – I don’t need a bunch of doctors drawing my blood and accidentally spilling water. I’m fine.”

She started getting up, but was unused to the extra weight she was carrying, and it took her a bit longer than usual. He was on his feet and held out a hand for her. She ignored it pointedly.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just a little nauseous. Nothing wrong.”

After brushing her teeth, she walked out of the bathroom, and he watched her go, admiring her ass all the while. She had a fine ass. All of her was fine, to be honest, but her bottom had become rounder and even nicer lately, with a few extra pregnancy pounds. He adored her this way just as much as when she wasn’t pregnant, and tried his best to make her feel sexy and beautiful, even when she felt fat and ugly these days.

The doorbell rang. Rikki opened, and the sounds of Emma, Lewis and Cloe’s voices floated down the corridor.

“Zane,” they greeted as he came out.

“Hey guys,” he said. “What brings you here?”

“Weekly check-up for the lady of the house,” Lewis said. “Isn’t that right, Rikki?”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Rikki said unhappily.

“Mood swings, ey?” Lewis asked, poking Zane’s side.

“She’s not worse than usual,” Zane said, smiling slightly. “Just unhappy with the morning sickness that doesn’t stick to mornings, or the first trimester.”

“Well, some women are sick all the way through the pregnancy,” Lewis said, and headed into the bedroom of the apartment, leaving Zane with Cleo and Emma.

“So, girls, can I get you anything to drink?” he asked.

“No, we’re just here to see if Rikki wants to go out with us for a while,” Cleo said. “We found this really beautiful coral reef we want her to see.”

“I’m not sure she should be going out there as much anymore,” Zane said.

He wanted her where he could keep track of her, where she wasn’t putting herself in unnecessary danger. Swimming in the ocean was an unnecessary danger – there were poisonous fishes and dangerous plants, as well as undercurrents and sharks. All of it made Zane want Rikki to stay out of the water, at least for now. At least until the baby was born.

“I’m sure she’s capable of deciding that for herself,” Emma said. “She’s a big girl after all.”

Zane glanced at the closed bedroom door. She usually didn’t want him in there, although he had made sure he was by her side on the two occasions when Lewis had managed to get a hold of an ultrasound machine. Seeing their baby for the first time had been the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced. He or she – they didn’t know the sex yet – had the makings of small fingers and toes already, and a head so large it looked like an alien.

“Just keep an eye on her,” Zane said.

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

Rikki stood behind him, hands on her hips, looking rather pissed off.

“Rikki, I’m just trying to look out for you,” Zane said.

“Which suggests I can’t look out for myself,” Rikki said. “I’m fine. Even Lewis here thinks so.”

“She’s good to go,” Lewis said.

Zane shot him a look that clearly said that he thought Lewis was a traitor. Lewis glared back – he had grown a bit of a spine over the last few years, which was usually refreshing, but at the moment, simply annoying.

“Just be careful,” he ground out. He wondered when he’d turned into a mother hen.

“Yeah, yeah,” she said, waving him off. “I’ll be back later.”

And with that, she was out the door.

He spent the afternoon on his bike, driving around on the beach and the streets, sometimes just enjoying the feeling of the warm wind against his face, but more often thinking about Rikki and the baby. A small part of him still wondered if they were doing the right thing – they were so young, and perhaps it was far too early. Did Rikki not care about the baby, or was he simply too overprotective? Would she go out to the ocean when the baby had arrived too, leaving him to care for him or her? Would this make them tighter, their love stronger, or break them apart?

He drove until he ran out of gas, and finally parked in the driveway, taking his helmet off as he walked up to the apartment complex. It overlooked the water on the other side, because though a small part of her feared water for what it did to her, Rikki never wanted to be far away from it. The apartment had three rooms – their bedroom, the living room and a small office. There was also a rather spacious kitchen, where Zane now headed to get some water.

His cell phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Zane, where have you been?” Emma asked, tone accusing. “We’ve been calling you for over an hour.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, ignoring her question. If they’d been calling for an hour, something was wrong, and if they were calling him, it had to do with Rikki.

“Rikki’s powers are going haywire,” Emma said. “We can’t take her back home, so we took her to Mako. Everything’s burning.”

“Like that time at the full moon?” Zane asked, already on his way out again. He grabbed the keys for his boat and locked the door behind him.

“Yes,” Emma said. “But there’s no moon, so Lewis thinks it’s—”

“The baby,” Zane said, finishing her sentence. “I’ll be there as fast as I can.”

He ran to his boat and headed out. The waters were calm and easy, but it felt as though it took forever. Mako Island soon became visible on the horizon, and as he came closer, bouncing on the little waves there were because he was going so fast, he saw smoke rising towards the sky.

Burned trees and bushes showed him the way, once he was out of the boat. He ran, blood running cold at the thoughts of what this must be doing to Rikki and the baby. It hadn’t hurt Rikki the time she was moon struck, years ago, before they got together, but now it wasn’t the moon that was messing with her, but the child growing within her – and the child, unlike the moon, wouldn’t go away within twenty-four hours.

“Rikki!” he screamed.

“Zane!” echoed back, coming from the caves, and he realized they’d headed down to the moon pool.

He stumbled down and ran through the caves, into the clearing that was the moon pool. The heat rose the closer he came, steam making the world white and fuzzy. He was sweating already, from the run, and this didn’t help.

“Rikki,” he said again, and someone grabbed his wrist.

Emma became visible in the fog. “This way. But don’t touch the water, it’s boiling.”

Rikki was in the water, only her shoulders and up above the surface. She was crying, her eyes red and the tears sizzling into steam as they travelled down her cheeks.

“Rikki!” he said, landing on his knees next to her.

He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away. “Don’t touch me. I’ll burn you.”

She sounded broken, and he reached out and touched her cheek briefly anyway. She was hot, and the cool of his hand made steam rise between them. She leaned into his touch for but a second, before pulling away. His hand hurt, already scalded, but at least he’d proved to her that he wasn’t afraid of her.

“We’ll fix this,” he said.

She looked up at him, blue eyes filled with sorrow. “How? How do we fix this? How do you even know it’s fixable?”

“It has to be,” he said. He turned to Emma. “Can’t you cool her?”

“I’ve tried,” she said. “She gets a little cooler, but then the heat takes over again. I’m doing it in short bursts, because otherwise she’ll drain me completely.”

“When did it start?” he asked.

“Pretty much as soon as she turned into a mermaid,” Emma said.

“We just noticed that the water was getting really hot,” Cleo said. “After a little while, we realized it was her.”

“She doesn’t seem to be affected by it,” Emma said. “She’s just feeling hot, but the boiling water isn’t doing anything to her.”

“So it’s not dangerous, it’s just—impossible for us to touch her?” Zane asked.

“Lewis drew some blood and is back home examining it,” Cleo said. “He’ll call and hopefully we’ll know more.”

Zane settled next to Rikki again, touching her in brief intervals, so brief that she didn’t burn him. Her hair wasn’t as hot as the rest of her, and he could pet it for a few seconds at a time without it hurting, and so he did.

“You’ll be okay, love,” he said softly.

“You don’t know that,” Rikki said. “What if I’ll be like this for the next four months until the baby comes?”

“Then we’ll work it out,” Zane said. “But it’s not going to come to that.”

“You don’t—”

He interrupted her. “I can’t kiss you right now, because then I’ll be out like a light from dehydration, and that won’t help matters, so just know that if I could, I’d kiss you to shut you up right now.”

That earned him a small smile, a glint of happiness in red-rimmed eyes.

“Do you want anything to eat?” he asked.

“Lewis is bringing back some food when he’s finished,” Cleo said.

“I guess whatever I eat will be well-done and cooked straight through,” Rikki said. “It’s not like it matters, though. I’ll just puke it right up again anyway, because do you think the nausea gives up when I’m a mermaid oven? No, of course not.”

He liked her sarcasm, and loved it even more at the moment because it meant that she wasn’t feeling as hopeless as she had a few minutes ago, before he’d come. He could count on one hand how many times he’d seen her cry, so it was a testament to how upset and scared she was now.

Cleo’s cell phone rang, and once the quick conversation was over, she told them that Lewis was on his way back.

“I’m going to meet him,” she said.

Emma glanced at Rikki and Zane. “I’ll come with you.”

They left, hurrying out the caves, because it would scald them to go into the boiling water where Rikki was. Zane was grateful for a few minutes alone with Rikki.

“I should’ve listened to you,” Rikki said quietly. “I shouldn’t have gone out with them.”

He smiled slightly. “It’s not your fault. I was being overprotective – of course you should be out swimming. It’s what you do.”

“I just—it’s not that I don’t care about this baby,” she said. “I just want to be me still, and it feels like all I’m becoming is this thing’s carrier, like I’m a prisoner of the baby’s – and I don’t do well in prison. I need to be free.”

He touched her again, a brief touch just like the others. “It’s okay. I understand. I just worry about you both so much these days.”

“Obviously with some right,” Rikki said. “I’m like a human torch.”

“My beautiful, hot human torch,” Zane said, grinning.

“Hot being the key word,” she chuckled between tears.

“I’m glad to see you smile.”

“I’m glad to have you here,” she said softly, then added, “It took you long enough. Where were you anyway?”

“Out on the bike,” he said. “I need to be free too, sometimes.”

She smiled at that and pecked him quickly on the lips – fast enough that the only thing he felt was his mouth going dry. He wanted to pull her up and hold her, love her and never let go. She gazed lovingly at him, a hint of fear still in her eyes as she sat in water that boiled because of her, but mostly just her strong will to get through this. He never wanted to leave her side.

“Marry me.”

The words escaped him suddenly, the idea not thought through but nonetheless so very right.

“What?” she asked, eyes going wide. “You’re kidding.”

“No,” he said. “I love you – and I want to marry you.”

The shock turned into an amused smile. “Ask me again later, when I’m not a mermaid sitting in boiling water.”

He nodded – it was more than he’d expected. He hadn’t thought she’d say yes – really, he hadn’t thought much at all, the words just leaving his mouth without thought, but he was glad that she hadn’t turned him down outright.

“Is the water bubbling less now?”

Rikki motioned at the water around her. It was indeed boiling less – only tendrils of bubbles floated to the surface. Zane reached out and touched Rikki’s cheek, letting his hand rest for a few seconds. Though she was still warm enough to hurt him, she was not as hot as she’d been a little while ago.

“You’re cooling down,” he said.

She looked at the water, eyes wide, as it stilled completely, only clucking lightly as the small waves she created by moving hit the rocks. As minutes of silence passed by, the steam began to clear and after another few minutes, both Rikki and the water were cool enough for him to be able to touch.

He slipped into the warm water, fully clothed.

“What are you doing?” she asked, giggling.

“I was sweaty and I needed a bath,” he grinned. He pulled her to him, their lips meeting. He ran a hand down her body, over the curve of her stomach, fitting her smaller body against his and holding it there. They floated together, simply holding one another.

“Ahem.”

They looked up to find Emma, Cleo and Lewis watching them with amused smiles.

“I see you’ve both cooled down,” Lewis said.

“I don’t know, they look pretty hot to me,” Emma grinned.

All the others groaned. Lewis set the basket he was carrying down on the ground.

“I brought food,” he said. “It doesn’t look like you’ll be stuck here, obviously, but maybe you want to have a picnic here anyway?”

Rikki glanced at Zane, who smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Thanks, mate.”

“Anytime,” Lewis said. “Well, not anytime – there are better things Cleo and I could be doing right now, but still—”

Rikki rolled her eyes. “Just go.”

Cleo grinned. “I’m glad you’re okay, Rikki.”

“Me too,” Emma said.

“I wonder what brought it on, though,” Cleo said.

“Oh, that,” Lewis said. “I’m thinking anger.”

“Anger?” Rikki and Zane echoed.

Lewis nodded, with that air of importance that he had when he knew the answer to something the others didn’t. “She was angry when she went out, and she seemed to cool down only when Zane came here. My guess is that as long as you keep calm and happy, you won’t have a heat problem.”

“So is this pregnancy related or will it always be that way?” Rikki asked.

“Since it only happened now, I’m guessing it’ll stop when the baby’s born,” Lewis said. “I don’t know exactly, but I think so. Or maybe not.”

“Well, let’s hope so,” Rikki said: “I can’t go without anger. I’m an angry person.”

Zane chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Of course you are.”

“Okay,” Lewis said. “We’re off. You can just return the basket whenever.”

“Yes, yes,” Rikki said impatiently. “Go. Bye.”

They said their goodbyes, and Emma and Cleo dove into the pool and swam out of there, while Lewis trekked back through the caves. It left Zane and Rikki alone in the pleasantly warm water, still holding onto each other.

They sat up on the side of the pool and Rikki dried them both off quickly and then Zane grabbed the basket of food Lewis had brought. There were boxes – a few with chicken, a few with fish, a bit of potatoes, and greens. Lewis had packed it for the possibility of Rikki staying in the moon pool for a while, and now that that wouldn’t be happening, they could simply pick their favourites and eat.

When they each had a box of fish opened, and the potatoes between them for both to eat, Zane gazed at Rikki again.

“So how about now?” he asked.

“How about what?” Rikki asked.

“Well, I don’t have a ring, but—” He smiled, and sat on one knee in front of her. “Will you marry me?”

She giggled, and leaned forward, her stomach slightly in the way so that she had to shift a bit until she was comfortable.

“Yes, I will.”

They kissed, both still smiling.

“Mind you,” he said when they pulled apart, “I can’t ask you to marry me every time you get angry, so you’ll just have to stay happy.”

She giggled.

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