The Beautiful Mermaid (M/L teen AU) ch 13 3/5 [WIP]

[francesca]

Thankyou to RosDude for the amazing banner , isn't it awsome?


Title: The Beautiful Mermaid

Author: Francesca

Rating: Teen (for now)

Couple: M/L

Declaimer: I do not own any rights to roswell... The rights to the show belong to Jason Katims, the WB, etc.

Authors Comment: i got the idea for this story from the little mermaid, when i was watching it with my friend at the begining of this year and then i spent all this time trying to figure out how i could change it, and now i have . I hope you all like the story and leave feedback (P.S. this is not a short story )

Summary: When Liz Parker was 17 years old, her father married Tessa Harding knowing that his time left living was limited and he was not willing to go on his last days alone. Before her father’s death after a terrible fight Liz returns to her room where her evil stepmother is waiting for her, Tess casts a spell on Liz turning her into a mermaid and the only way to break the spell is by one gentle kiss. Easy right? No, the kiss must be true and Liz can give no clues as to what will change her back to her normal self.









CHAPTER ONE

“Liz, I don’t want to fight about this” Jeff Parker states firmly as he watches his daughter pace up and down the hall of their home.

“Daddy I don’t understand” Liz stressed as she eyes the woman in the living room from her place in the corridor.

“You only just met, how can you marry her?”

“Lizzie, I’m getting old” Jeff states sadly as he sees the look of hurt on his daughters face.

She didn’t understand what it was like for him, she didn’t understand that he was getting old and she didn’t know about his sickness.

“She’s only a few years older than me” Liz continues pointedly.

How could her father do this to her, her mother had passed away over nine years ago now but that wasn’t long enough for him to go and find someone else. Even if it was long enough then why did he have to go get someone liked Tessa Harding?

“I realise that Lizzie, but the important thing is that she makes me happy” he answers, the truth way that Jeff didn’t want to be alone for his last days.

Yes, in a weird kind of way Tess did make him happy. He knew that eventually he would pass and he wanted his baby girl to have someone left as family after he was gone.

“How do you know that she’s not just after your money?” Liz finally asks as she turns to look at her father.

“Tess has enough money of her own to satisfy her, she doesn’t need my money” he explains.

“Lizzie, come here I want to talk to you about something” Jeff then says as he holds out his hand.

She takes it in hers without hesitation and he leads her to her bedroom where they then sit down on her bed.

“What is it dad?” she asks seeing all kinds of emotions shining in his eyes, but the one that was standing out the most was sadness.

“Lizzie, I’m sick” he says as he looks her in the eyes his expression blank with seriousness.

“What do mean?” Liz says panicing leaning over him and checking his forehead for temperature.

“Do you have a fever? A sore throat? …” Liz rambled on unsure of what her father was trying to say until he spoke up again.

“Cancer” he states simply, looking anywhere but her.

“C-cancer?” she stutters, it feels like a blow to the gut as she stares at her father in a foggy haze.

She had lost her mother to cancer nine years before and she never pictured herself losing her father to the same disease at the age of seventeen.

“Yes honey, I’ve had it for a while” Jeff explains.

“How long?”

“Over a year” he says unable to look at her in the eyes and see the look of hurt that would shine back at him.

He did not want her to be pulled back because of him. He didn’t want his daughter to have to live through it with him.

“W-why didn’t you tell me?” she cries as tears gather in her eyes, sliding slowly down her cheek.

“I didn’t want you to worry about me” comes his reply and Liz can only stand shocked.

“I-I don’t know what to say” Liz says after a short pause she looks to the bedroom door thinking about the woman in the living room waiting for them to return.

“Does she know?” Liz asks then.

“Yes, she’s been helping me through all this” Jeff explains as he eyes his daughter who is currently looking down at her hands sadly.

“I wish I could have been there for you, I would have helped you know?” she says as she slowly walks back over to her father.

“I know honey that’s why I couldn’t tell you, I didn’t want you to be sad, I didn’t want you to have to be by my side through all of this because I knew that you had other accomplishment that you had to do, I didn’t want to hold you back” he answers, tears also gathering in his own eyes.

“Daddy if you really love her, then I’ll stand by you” Liz says after walking over to her father and standing in front of him.

“I do” he replies and she smiles up at him.

“Then we have a wedding to plan”.

TBC…???

[/b]

[francesca]

I'd like to say a big thankyou to:

roswell3053
tinie38
83 AlienAngel
flyawayraven

I would just like to say that i know this story is a bit different compared to my other ones in the sense that it had to do with stuff that would never really happen ... "mermaids" ... but in my defence i wanted to try something new and see how it went. So thankyou again to those of you who did leave feedback, it is greatly appriciated!

Francesca... xOx




CHAPTER TWO

It had been a month since Jeff and Tess’s wedding and things had gotten worse.

Jeff only got sicker and was in bed most of the time resting while his new wife went out instead of being by his side like she was before their wedding.

Liz was the one who was helping her father, even though she knew that he wanted her to live her life and not be by his side.

Before the wedding Tess and Liz had gotten pretty close, sharing stories of Jeff and talking about things they had in common, but now Liz guessed that was only to make her think that Tess was good for her father.

“Liz!” Tess calls as she walks through the doors of her new home.

She had been planning this for months now. When she first met Jeff she was truly interested in him but after about a week he began to bore her, always talking about his wonderful daughter and how he believed that she could do wonderful things.

Tess was not interested in his precious daughter, Liz; she was interested in his lovely mansion and money.

She knew that the only family that Jeff had was Liz and that if she married him she would be in his will. She always did have perfect timing.

Jeff was ill, it was obvious to anyone who wasn’t as blind as Liz to see that soon he was pass away and if his precious little girl wasn’t around then she would be the only one to get everything that he had.

A week after the wedding she had stopped pretending to care and began shopping instead of being by his side. Instead of spending nights in their bedroom sleeping with her husband she had began sneaking away to spend time with their pool boy who came by numerous times a week to ‘clean’ their pool or is it better to say ‘her pool’?

Soon she would have the money, but there was only one obstacle standing in the way of her and her cash and that thing was her stepdaughter, Liz Parker.

“LIZ!” she shouts again this time louder and more controlling.

“Yes?” Liz asks as she appears at the top of the staircase looking down questioningly at the slightly older lady.

“Listen ‘hun’, I’ll be home for dinner” Tess says her tone drastic and full of sarcasm.

“I told the maids to go home for the day so you’ll have to make dinner yourself” she adds turning to look at her self in the mirror, before turning back to Liz sending her a sly smile.

Walking to the down she turns around waving while saying “Toodles”.

Making her way to the kitchen Liz busied herself tyring to make the perfect meal for dinner.

After preparing the roast chicken and baked potatoes Liz went to the family room sitting down next to her father who was fast asleep.

“I love you daddy” she whispers as she strokes his hair back.

A single tear falls from her eye, she had always been the strong one she had learnt to be strong when he mother died.

She always used to say ‘who is going to take care of your father when I’m gone’ she was always worried about leaving them.

The door opens and shuts with a loud bang and Jeff wakes up startled.

Looking towards the door Liz sees Tess with bags of shopping around her, she comes walking into the room looking down at them before saying.

“I had a great time shopping, how have you been?”

“He was sleeping before you came in” Liz replies under her breathe so that they don’t hear but Tess still does.

“Shame” Tess replies.

“Well I’m off to bed, night night” she says blowing Jeff a kiss with her hand and trotting off to the bedroom.

Jeff groans as he rolls to his side looking at Liz, sending her a small smile even though it does not reach his eyes.

“I love you too, Lizzie” he whispers.

*****

“I got her now” Tess says with an evil smirk.

After hours of shopping she began to think, was magic real? Were there mythological creatures out there?

But the one question that stuck out more then others was, is there a way of changing someone into something else? Something out of this world.

Well she had her answer and a plan was already forming in her head, she knew exactly how to get Liz out of the picture, but she never believed it would be this simple.

“Bye, bye Lizzie”

TBC…

[francesca]

Thankyou to everyone who posted feedback... you rock! I am just updating quickly as this may be my only chance to post for this week (school camp!), so enjoy and i hope you like it ... Francesca XoX


CHAPTER THREE

Tess giggled to herself as she brought the clear chemical out of her bag and into her jewellery box. Yes this would be the perfect crime and there would be absolutely no body to blame her.

Could it really be that simple?

If had known this all along then she would not have had to go through all the trouble of putting up with the little brat for all this time.

Last week when she had gone shopping, the thoughts that crossed her mind even seemed to be to far fetch for her, but as she thought more and more about it she began to wonder if there was any possibility at all.

She went to all the shops she could think of that would be appropriate to find such thing, but turned up empty handed.

In the end she figured … ‘well I guess I have the money that I need to pay someone else to do the dirty work for me and all that leaves me to do is the actual crime’ with a wicked twinkle in her blue eyes.

She spoke to a friend of hers and told him all about her plans and that if he helped her organise everything that there would be a huge reward for him at the end of the road.

With no reluctance he agreed.

She knew she had him wrapped around her little finger and anything she wished for she would get with him.

Within days he had found what she had been looking for, having to go half way across the country only to find an old lady who was hesitant to even consider the thought of what he would want such a thing for.

But he had his ways of getting what he needed, that was exactly why Tess went straight to her beloved friend Kyle.

Now that she had her hands on it, the only thing left to do was wait for the right moment and then everything would fall into place, exactly like it was supposed to be.

******

“Ohh father, I can’t believe this!” Liz yelled.

“This is outrageous, I will not go!” she yelled again as she paced in front of her ill father.

“I know it will be hard being away and all, but both Tess and I feel this will be a great experience for you as a growing adult” Jeff tried to explain.

“A growing adult- oh so does that mean that Tess is going too. I mean since she is barely that much older than me” Liz yelled in her defence.

How dare he even think about the possibility of sending her away? Away to some boarding school!

How would she coop knowing that he father is ill and dying and not being able to be there for him, she just could not do that.

“Liz, I know this isn’t what you want” Jeff said, his voice rose as he spoke.

“But this is what I want” he added.

He would not allow his only daughter to stand around and watch him die, he just couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t do that to himself.

If she was here with him it would make it that much harder when the time came and he had to go.

“I will not go and that is final!” Liz screamed turning on her heals and fleeing.

*******

Unaware to both of them outside stood Tess in the shadows with an evil smirk smudged across her face.

She had told Jeff about the boarding school around two weeks ago before she had even considered her other plan, but now sending her away to some boarding school across the country would not be enough.

No, if she had to get rid of Liz Parker then she had to make sure that she was never seen again.

TBC…

[francesca]

Thankyou to roswell3053 and kittens for your feedback. Max will be introduced into the story in the following chapters.



CHAPTER FOUR

Liz ran into her room crying, she through herself onto her bed and repeatedly punched her pillow.

This was so wrong.

This was more than wrong.

Before Tess came into the picture her dad would have never even considered sending her away, that just wasn’t and option, but now it just seemed as though Jeff would do anything for his dear Tessie and that did not sit well with Liz.

Liz saw through her fake blonde act, Tess was only interested in one thing and one thing alone.

Jeff’s money!

And Liz would do anything in her power to make sure that Tess got nothing from her father.

A knock on the door startled Liz out of her thoughts and she turned around to see Tess approaching her carrying a glass of water.

“I heard the fight” she says simply as she holds out the glass to Liz, which she takes placing it on her bedside table.

“I know you don’t want to go, but Liz your dad thinks it would be best” Tess begins to explain and Liz can’t help but sit awed at the change in her step mother in only a few hours.

This was an act, something smelt ‘fishy’!

“Liz, tell me do you really want to have to sit around this old house and watch your father die?”

“No! He wont die I’ll look after him” Liz said determined.

“Oh hun’, things aren’t that easy” Tess says sending her a slight smile, before reaching over and grabbing the glass of water and holding it out to Liz again.

“Here drink some water and wipe you tears away” Tess says.

“Why are you doing this?” Liz asks then, wanting to know what happened to the old Tess.

“Liz, I know you don’t like me but I’m here for your father and I want to make sure that everything I do go to benefit him. So if I make sure you’re alright, I know that he will sleep better tonight” she explains.

Liz nods then accepting her explanation and raises the glass to her lips before taking a sip of the water.

Tess inwardly cheers as a smirk reappears on her face as she watches Liz blink her eyes, while looking around the room in a confused daze.

Liz shakes her head, suddenly feeling very dizzy and unable to see.

“What’s wrong hun’?” Tess half laughs as she continues to watch Liz.

“Why don’t you drink some more water if your not feeling good” she then adds helping bring the glass to her lips forcefully and watching as Liz gulps the water down with no other choice.

When the water is finished Tess removes her hands stepping away as she watches the show.

Liz shakes and drops the glass, hearing only the faint shatter of the glass breaking against the floor.

“Oh don’t worry Liz, everything will get more clearer from here- for me” Tess then laughs as she sees Liz slowly slipping out of consciousness.

“You see, I thought about sending you to boarding school but then after a while it clicked to me. When Jeff dies your still gonna be here! You’re still going to want my money the money that I have earned- and I couldn’t let you get it Liz. No that just was not going to happen”

“So instead I asked a friend of mine for some help and they found it Liz, they found the answer to my prayers- they found the potion” she continues to say telling the story.

“Potion?” Liz whimpers as she hears Tess’s explanation.

“And thanks to you Liz, I found the perfect opportunity. You see when your father sees that you aren’t here tomorrow he is going to think that you ran away because you didn’t want to go to boarding school, and he is going to feel abandon”

“He will get rid of you off of his will and I will get everything and there will be no body left to stop me!” Tess said harshly as she stepped closer to Liz’s changing body.

“I’m not going anywhere!” Liz screamed back at Tess weakly.

“Well you do want to live Liz don’t you?” Tess then asks and Liz looked at her curiously.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well Liz, fishes can’t life on land”

TBC….[/b]

[francesca]

CHAPTER FIVE

Liz woke up in a dark place, she felt her head spinning and everything felt so hot.

There was no light and she could barely breathe.

Where was she?

She could faintly here the soft splashing of waves and began to think she was at some sort of bay or maybe even beach?

The last thing she remembered was Tess’s voice telling her that fishes can’t live on land, what did she mean by that?

Just then there were voices and she realised she was in the trunk of a car and the boot had just been open, revealing Tess and a man with sandy brown hair and blue eyes.

“What are you doing to me?” Liz asked as the man lifted her out of the car and threw her over his shoulder.

“Well Lizzie my dear, you see that potion wasn’t just any kind of potion. It wasn’t just going to knock you out” Tess says then with a roll of the eye.

“That would be way too easy”

“So then what are you doing with me?” Liz asked again as she breathes in and out harshly trying to find some way to regain her composer.

Kyle threw her on the floor then and looked down at her, he still could not believe his eyes.

It was impossible, but it was right before him.

“Look at your self Lizzie” Tess said then and Liz obeyed looking down at her body.

What Liz saw made her loose her breathe again.

She shook her head trying to get her thoughts under control, this wasn’t possible.

She must be dreaming.

Instead of seeing her own two legs she saw a sparkling green scales covering her fish tail.

“What did you do to me!!” she screamed as tears flooded her already blurry vision.

“I did what I had to do to get rid of you for once and for all, Liz Parker!” Tess yelled back.

“You will never be seen again” She says evilly.

Liz continues to shake her head, she must be imagining things. This couldn’t be real! What would she do, she had never been alone before.

She may have felt alone but there were always people around, someone around to protect her.

She saw things more clearly now, she needed the water.

That was why she was so weak.

Fish can’t live on land!

“Unless..” Kyle said looking at Tess only to see her furious eyes sending him death glares. Tess knew all about the unless, but she didn’t want to let Liz know because if she did then it would be possible that Liz would be human again.

After all the time she had spent preparing for this, she would not risk the though of this only working for a short period of time.

Or working and then being broken.

Liz would not be able to break the spell if she didn’t know the ‘unless’.

“Unless what?” Liz asked, a small shred of hope forming in her sore heart.

“Unless you kiss a man-“ Kyle began to say but Tess didn’t let him finish because before he could continue she slapped her hand right over his mouth.

“Kiss a man?” Liz asked, that seemed too easy she though them.

Up until now everything that she thought was too easy ended up become bad and lead to another bad encounter.

She could tell right away that there was more to it than just having to kiss a man in order to return the human form.

Kyle looked at Tess harshly, ok so turning her into a mermaid was fair enough I mean how likely would it be that she would actually be able to find a man to fall in love with her and kiss her in this type of form?

Kyle looked at Tess and said to her “common as if it would ever happen, just tell her”

Tess sighed heavily and over dramatically before giving in and saying, “the only way to break the potion is to find a man to fall in love with you in the form you are in, you are not allowed to tell him that one kiss will change you into a human again and you are not allowed to force him to kiss you”

“Don’t forget Tess I’m not you, I don’t have to force men into kissing me” Liz says, she had had enough.

This was unbelievable!

For all she new she would be a mermaid all her life. Who would ever fall in love with a mermaid?

Tess’s furious eyes turned to Liz who was still lying on the floor where Kyle had thrown her. Tess grabbed Lizz by the hair dragging her small frame down the wharf till they reached the edge and Liz could see the water.

“Goodbye Lizzie” Tess laughed as she pushed her off of the wharf and into the water.

TBC…

[francesca]

CHAPTER SIX

Liz resurfaced easily, using her fish fin to help her swim. They were really leaving her here like this.

She listened as the car drove off and turned in the water to look around.

There was nothing but water.

No people, no noises, not even a star in the sky.

Liz felt so alone, she began crying as she thought of what would become of her poor father who was now left in Tess’s care. Who knew what Tess was capable of doing to him?

She was not only scared for her father, but she was also scared for herself. She was basically left in the middle of no where!

And she was a mermaid.

Swimming underneath the water she decided to explore her new ‘home’. All she could see was water and the further down that she went the clearer the water became.

She saw other fishes swimming along side her and suddenly became frightened of the though of sharks. What if they tried to eat her? What if she died?

Looking around she continued to swim, looking a head and seeing a dark shadow in a distance, it was a boat!

What if there were men on that boat? They could fall in love with her and she could have her own legs back! She could save her father from Tess!

As she got closer to the boat however she saw the net full with other fishes all struggling to free them selves from being captured.

What if fishermen came for her? What if instead of admiring her scaled tail, they wanted to harm her?

Petrified with that though Liz swam as fast as she could back to where Tess had left her, near the wharf.

She swam up from under the waves and surfaced to look over at the empty wharf.

She knew right from that moment that this wasn’t going to go away over night.

Liz was stuck as a mermaid- possibly forever.







CHAPTER SEVEN
It felt like days to Liz, since she had been in the water. She had resurfaced everyday about ten times a day to see if anyone was passing by but there was no one.

Liz then thought that knowing her luck, there were people passing by, but she was just there at the wrong time.

She had now become familiar with the area and apart from feeling alone and scared she felt some what protective of her new home.

This was where she was from now on and she was a mermaid and she had to learn to live with it.

She never went further out than where she had gone her first night as a mermaid, pass the fishermen boat.

She thought that if she did she might get lost somewhere out there in the ocean and she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to find anyone to fall in love with her there.

The first night for Liz was the hardest she wasn’t sure if she would be able to sleep, not because she was frightened or scared but because she didn’t know if mermaid slept or if they even got tired.

But eventually after swimming around to familiarise herself with the area she has tired herself out and unconsciously feel into a deep slumber.

the next couple of days seemed to go on for days and days and Liz tired to busy herself but seeing how far down till the ocean floor or exploring to see different fish who share this habitat with her.

On her third day here she once again saw the fishermen fishing with their large boat and decided that she wouldn’t stand for it.

Seeing the tired up net hanging just below the surface she quickly swam up and unattached it from the boat, freeing all the fish.

She laughed as she watched the fishermen scream at each other over who undid the net and how they were going to go back to shore empty handed.

The days after that she continued to try to find other things to do to occupy her time, while also going back and forth to the wharf to see if anyone was there.

Now it was day six and she was swimming towards the wharf to go and see if anyone had decided to go for a late night walk out to the old wharf to think.

Just as she was about to surface she felt something hard and solid hit her head and just when another one was about to hit her again she caught it in her hand only to find that they were small rocks.

“Ow” she cried when another came out of nowhere, rubbing her sore head.

She looked up in time to see a beautiful pair of amber eyes meet hers.

There sitting on the edge of the wharf was a handsom young man, he had chocolaty brown hair that fell in bangs, down to frame his face and he was wearing a white button shirt, which had a few buttons open. He looked as if he was around her age and he was surely shocked to see her in the water.

“My god ma’m did you fall in?” he asked standing up unbuttoning his shirt ready to jump in after her.

He had come to the wharf because he needed some alone time, he had picked up rocks as he walked down there and as he sat staring out into no where he began to throw them into the water listening for the soft sound of the splash that they made when they first hit.

He was startled when she heard the soft voice wince in the distance but soon found the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, only metres away from him.

All kinds of questions were flooding his brain as he looked over her soft delicate feature.

Shocked at his presence and his appearance Liz stood still in the water, with her talk keeping her afloat.

“I’m coming for you, just stay right where you are” he said then as he threw his shirt to the floor and prepared to jump in.

“No, wait” Liz called, suddenly finding her voice.

“What?” he asked shocked looking at her beautiful face.

“You’ll freeze to death or drown!” he said worriedly.

“No I won’t” she said sadly knowing that he would run when he saw the reason why she wouldn’t drown.

She swam closer to the wharf, until she could reach the edge. She then gestured for him to go and sit back down where he was and he did.

He was sitting beside where she was still in the water hanging onto the edge of the wharf.

“I’ll help pull you out” he said then, grabbing her arms gently ready to lift her light weight out of the cold water.

“No, you can’t!” Liz yelled and he quickly let go.

“But why not?” he asked, did she want to freeze to death in that water?

Looking over his soft features she saw the concern in his eyes. She wouldn’t do that to him.

Making a quick decision Liz decided that she would have to wait for the next man to come around and fall in love with her, because this one just seemed to be worth a whole lot more.

She suddenly felt sorry for the poor guy that would end up with her- if one ever did.

All the trouble she might put them through, with Tess and her father.

Would she ever have time for them? What would they think when they knew the real her?

And this young man standing before her, he seemed so nice to even try and ‘save’ her, no one did that. People weren’t usually that nice and from what it looked like to Liz, he was.

Looking back into his expecting eyes, she let go of the wharf and turned her back to him, letting her chin fall to her chest as she said.

“Because fishes cant live on land” She the threw her head under the water bringing the rest of her into the water and letting her scaled fin flap in the air for him to see before making an easy escape.

TBC…

[francesca]

Ok so i know that the story has been really boring up until now because there was no Max... but now he is here and i asure you it will get better


CHAPTER EIGHT

The next night Liz was lying down on the bottom of the ocean floor. It had been her challenge for her self today.

She wanted to finally reach it and she did, her father always used to tell her ‘if you keep your mind set on it, you will get there’ and she did.

The thoughts of her father finally let her emotions take a toll on her and she shivered as she felt her self crying.

She couldn’t even feel her tears; all she could feel was water all around her.

Her thoughts kept drifting back to last night and that handsom young man who wanted to be her knight in shining amour, if only her knew what she really need a knight in shining amour for, then he wouldn’t want to save her anymore.

She hadn’t been to the surface at all today, not even wanting to know if there was anyone there, because she knew that she wouldn’t want to put any poor man into the position of being in love with her.

That could and would only cause him pain.

She began to swim upwards, not knowing where she was going or what she was doing, until she heard the faint sounds.

As she got closer to the surface she remembered that deep gentle voice that belonged to the handsom man from last night.

“Hello, are you there?” his voice called.

Was he calling her?

She surfaced slowly, not wanting to scare him anymore than she probably already had.

“It’s you” she said then when he smiled down at her.

“My names Max” he said introducing himself and outstretching his hand to her, “Max Evans, what might your name be?” he then added.

She stayed where she was afraid that if she got any closer he might run away and to be honest she didn’t want that.

Since she had been down there he had been the only person to talk to her.

“L-liz Parker” she replied unsure of weather giving him her name would be a smart idea.

She wasn’t supposed to tell him that she was a person before she was a mermaid because then he would think that there would be a way to get her back to her original form and it wouldn’t work to break the spell.

Not that she was going to kiss him and he defiantly wasn’t falling for her… right?

“You can come closer you know? I don’t bite” he said as he waited for her to shake his hand still.

“I don’t either, you know?” she said then wanting to make that clear, the reaction she got though was not what she expected. Instead he began to laugh and nodded his head.

“I know”

“And you’re not scared? You aren’t going to run away from me?” she asked wanting to be sure.

She continued to stare at him in the eyes and all she could see was complete honesty when he answered. “No, I’m not scared and I’m not going anywhere”

She slowly made her way towards him until she was floating in front of him, where she took his out stretched hand and shook it.

“Why are you here again? I thought you would never come back after last night, I haven’t seen many people here- in fact you’re the first” she said then and he smiled at her question.

“Well firstly, last night I admit I was shocked when I saw-” he said looking down and Liz nodded knowing he was talking about her fin.

“But I wish you would have stayed because I wasn’t going to run” he explains sincerely.

“And I guess this place is pretty quiet, that’s why I come here to think because there is no one around and I can be alone” he added.

“You came here last night to be alone? why?” Liz asks curiously.

Chuckling Max ducked his head and then looked up again seeing that Liz looked like she was about to apologise, “I didn’t mean to-” she started but he stopped her telling her that it was quite alright.

“You see I was having a few problems with my family, I had just had a fight with my father and I stormed out” he says sadly.

Liz felt sorry for him; she knew how hard it was to fight with your family. Especially since that was all she seemed to be doing with her father for the last couple of months.

She regretted having that fight with him, the night that her lift turned upside down, but she really just wanted the chance to apologise, before it was too late.

Seeing the sadness in his eyes, Liz swam to him and placed a reassuring hand on his leg.

Looking down he saw he small hand and smiled, not only was she beautiful and friendly, she was loving and caring and he could see all of this through her actions.

Liz then realised that her hand was wet from the water and went to remove it as she started to apologise. But Max wasn’t having any of that her grabbed her soft, wet hand and held it in his hand as he smiled at her.

Smiling back Liz found herself blushing and decided that she needed to say something before she embarrassed herself.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was the fight about?, I mean was it serious?” she asked him then, her hand still enclosed in his much larger one.

“To me it is, but to my father I guess it isn’t important” he says not really wanting to get into it.

“Well, I’m always here if you ever want to talk” she added then and sadly add, “Doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere”

Max didn’t know what she meant by that but he felt sorry for her. He wanted to know everything about her like, had she been in the ocean all her life? (of course she has, she’s a friken mermaid) his brain yelled at him, but he still wanted to know.

He wanted to know what she had seen, what it felt like, he even wanted to know if she was happy.

“Well how do I call you?” he then asks and he sees the confused look cross her face.

“I mean, if I want to talk and I sit here, how do I let you know that I’m here?” he explains.

Liz smiled at him, did this mean that he wanted to come back to her?

She turned around till her back was facing him and reached down into her bra which she has been wearing when she was thrown into the water, a week ago.

Turning back around to face him she handed him a shell while was whirled around like a whistle.

“If you blow on it I’ll hear you” she told him and she watch as he brought the whistle to his lips to give it a try.

She couldn’t help but think what his lips would feel like on hers.

“I don’t hear anything” he says when he pulls the shell like whistle from his lips, looking at her confused.

“No you can’t” she says as she sends him one last smile.

“But I can” she adds before swimming away.

TBC…

[francesca]

CHAPTER NINE

Over the next couple of days it became a regular occurrence that Max would show up after late and they would talk for hours just getting along. Max spoke about growing up and his family and what he had planned for the future and Liz told him about all the things she had done that day and what the bottom of the ocean looks like.

Liz began to feel herself falling for him, but she didn’t know if he was in the same boat as her.

She didn’t know if he could ever fall in love with a mermaid, he probably had another girl out there somewhere wondering where he was going late at night.

How couldn’t he? He was such a great person and Liz knew deep down that she doesn’t deserve a man like him.

What would he think if he ever found out that she was actually a human? Would he want to kiss her and turn her back? Or would he be too afraid that she might want something more from him in her human form?

It had been close to two weeks that Liz has been a mermaid and she was suddenly startled out of her thought by the familiar sound of a whistle.

Swimming towards the wharf she was surprised when she rose to shore to find no one there. Was she imaging thing?

Before she could turn around she heard his soft voice from behind her.

“I thought that instead of sitting and talking that we’d go further out into the ocean and maybe have a picnic” Max suggested as Liz turned and gasped when she saw him sitting is a small wooden row boat with a small bench and a picnic basket.

Giggling like a school girl, Liz nodded her head and agreed as she smiled back at him.

Liz suggested the she pull the row boat along from in the water, but Max refused saying that she was way to small and fragile to push such weight, so he rowed beside her as the spoke.

They stopped just a few metres from where Liz set her boundaries and Max starts to unpack the picnic.

“What do you mean by boundaries?” Max asks when Liz tells him so.

“Well, I never go any further out than this, I mean I don’t know what’s that way and I’m scared I might not make it back to the wharf” she admits and Max stiffens at the thought of her not coming back to him.

Over the past week that he has known her, he feels that he has begun to love her and even worse he knows that it could never be.

Not just because she is a mermaid, but also because his father had already found him a bride.

Yes, poor Max Evans had the ultimatum to find his own bride before he was 19 or by the age he was 20 his father would do it for him.

It truly sucked coming from a wealthy family and having so much pressure on your shoulders to have to follow in someone else’s footsteps.

He now sat watching the woman he loved float in the water by the boat. He didn’t know much about her and he knew there were things that she wasn’t telling him, but he wanted her.

It was as simple as that.

How could he marry someone that his heart doesn’t belong to?

He had a month before the wedding and he planned on spending as much time with Liz as he could.

“I don’t know what I would do if one day, you didn’t show up” he said as he looks up to meet Liz’s eyes and she smiles back at him reassuringly.

“You don’t have to worry about that” she tells him grabbing his hand and bringing it to her cheek.

“I don’t?”

“I’ll always be there for you” Liz assured him shyly, letting go of his hand only to have him catch hers and bring it to his heart.

“You’re in here” he tells her then and he chuckles at how adorable she looks when she’s blushing.

Liz felt like she was going to cry, but forced her self not to. She didn’t want Max to know the effect he had on her, even though by the way she was always blushing around him, he probably already had an idea.

“So what are we eating?” Liz asks then, breaking the silence.

She hadn’t eaten a proper meal in what seemed like weeks, but every time Max came with him he had some kind of snack for her to try. He didn’t know that she already knew them and had tried them before because he didn’t know she used to be human.

“Well I wasn’t sure what to get because I couldn’t really pack everything in the basket so I brought some pasta carbonara, that’s the one-” he began to explain.

“Mushrooms and bacon, right? In the cream?” she asks him then, knowing very well that I was her favourite meal.

“Yeah” Max says, with an eyebrow raised wanting to know how she knew.

“I’ve heard about it” she explains trying to cover up her mistake.

“Umm and then for dessert, I brought a chocolate mud cake with, whipped cream” he continues and Liz licks her lips at the thought of chocolate.

She craved for it, almost as much as she craved for Max lately.

Max watched as Liz’s pink tongue poked out to lick her lips and he couldn’t help but want to lean over and capture her mouth in a sizzling kiss.

Before he knew what he was doing he was leaned over the boat millimetres away from Liz’s lips staring deeply into her eyes.

TBC…

[francesca]

CHAPTER TEN

“Max” Liz sighed seeing him lean down close to her.

She was so caught up in the moment that she would of kissed Max right at that very moment if they hadn’t heard that honking of a ship near by.

To Liz it felt like she was being slapped back into reality and hurriedly sprung away from Max.

“I’m so sorry, I-I” Liz started to stutter unsure of what to say, she saw the flash of disappointment shine in his eyes before quickly being replace by other emotions.

“It’s ok” Max said to reassure her but she had already began swimming away from the boat.

“Liz!” he called out not wanting the wonderful evening he had planned to go to a waste.

But it was useless she had already disappeared under the water and was no where to be found. Max picked up the paddles of the row boat and began to go back to shore, the way he had came.

*******

Liz swam as fast as she could to the bottom of the ocean.

She knew she was crying but once again she couldn’t feel her tears.

Why was life so hard on her?

What had she done wrong?

She wanted Max more than she could have ever imagined but what would happen after was what frightened her the most.

Was he prepared for a happily ever after? If that was even to come their way.

Liz was so startled out of her thoughts when she felt a shooting pain slice through her fin and looked down to see a hook that had sunk to the bottom of the ocean caught in her fin.

She screamed as she swam away which only caused the hook to rip through more of her shiny scales, slicing the tender skin beneath.

Reaching down and pulling the hook away she saw the blood gushing out of the large cut.

Her hands went to cover the wound as she shivered from the pain.

The water before her soon turned to red and she feared the thought of sharks smelling her blood and-

No, she wouldn’t think like that.

She needed to get to Max.

Max would help her.

As fast as she could swim in her injured state she tried to make her way to Max, not knowing exactly where he was or even if he would still be there but hoping that he would.

TBC…

[francesca]

AlienAngel, Blink1lit, Natalie36, tinie38, roswell3053 Thankyou for the feedback, it is appriciated very much!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

She surfaced at the wharf and looked around, while holding onto the wooden wharfs edge, hoping to keep her up right.

“Max!” She called out looking as far as she could.

She saw something along the shore of the beach not too far away but she doubted that Max would hear her if he was that far away.

“Max!” she yelled again louder.

She looked down at her bleeding fin and shivered suddenly feeling extremely cold.

She didn’t want to be alone.

Just as she was about to go under the water she heard a familiar sound, it was the shell whistle she had given Max and it was coming closer to her.

She then heard footsteps on the wharf and hoped to god that it was him.

“Max!” she called and then heard the sudden change in the footsteps, they began running to the edge of the wharf till he was kneeling on the wharf looking down at her worriedly.

“Liz!?” he cried when he saw her immediately sensing her distress.

When he looked into the water below her he felt his heart speed up as the red ocean water surrounded her.

“What happened? Are you alright?” he asked as he grabbed her arms intending to pull her out of the water and examine her.

“Oh Max” she cried her tears rolling down her wet cheeks.

“I’m going to pull you out, but it will only be for a little while” he told her and she nodded knowing that she had to let him tend to her wound.

He pulled her completely out of the water after ensuring that there was no one else in sight.

It was the first time that Max had fully seen Liz and he was awed by her beautiful scaled fin, but panic grew within him as he saw the amount of blood gushing from the wound.

“Liz, I have to fix this ok?” he told her and she nodded her head which was still against his chest, from when he pulled her out of the water.

Laying her before him on the wharf he quickly took off his shirt and ripped strips so that he could tie the wound together.

Although it was not the best way to fix the wound, it did stop the bleeding.

“Your alright now” Max whispered as he closed his eyes trying to get his jumping heart under control.

“Thankyou” Liz says looking up at him still lying on the wharf unable to move which only a fin and two arms

Max then realising that she needs the water to survive and quickly helped her make her way back into the cool water.

Looking up at Max she smiled slightly and grabbed his hand before saying “We never got to have our dinner”

Chuckling Max raised his eyes to hers before agreeing. They spent the rest of the night together beneath the stars eating their dinner and later enjoying their dessert.

TBC…