(A/N- In the beginning of the sequel, Melody would most likely have been about 8 months old since she could crawl. However, I can't wrap my mind around the fact that they waited 8 whole months to let Triton see his granddaughter. So, for reference, for this, I changed her age to just a month old when that happened.)

Save Me

Until Morgana is found, Melody can't know about merpeople, or Atlantica, or even you, Daddy.

"Honey?" Ariel suddenly heard her husband addressing her. "Are you okay?"

Was she okay? There was no reason for her to not be okay. It had only been two weeks and she already deeply missed her family, but that was no excuse for her to not be okay and carry on. She had family on land to be strong for.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Just thinking."

Eric sat on the sofa besides her and placed an arm around her. "About your family?"

"Where's Melody?" Ariel asked instead of replying to his question.

"Carlotta's watching her. She practically demanded that I let her for a bit. I figured that we could spend a little free time together," he replied. "Even if it's just us talking. You seem down. I mean, you have reason to, and that's okay."

Ariel leaned into him. "I just miss them. That's all."

"That's all? Ariel, that's plenty," he said. This was hard for him, but much, much harder for her. She had given up everything just to be with him, and now she gave up even more just to keep herーtheirーchild safe. Eric felt he owed it to her to make sure she was okay.

"Your father's still searching for that witch," he tried to encourage his wife. "You know he will never give up. She can still be found."

"I know, and all we can do is hope," Ariel said, repeating a line that many people had told her.

"And watch Melody grow bigger every day," Eric added, thinking of their daughter and trying to lighten the mood.

Ariel smiled brightly. "I can't believe how fast babies grow, and she's almost at six weeks already!"

Eric smiled too. She was going to be okay.

They would never find Morgana, and if they ever did, it would be a long time until that happened. Ariel knew that. It would be a long time until she could truly be with her family again. It was hard enough even before she ordered connections to be cut. Even then she missed them dearly and there would be long stretches of time where she did not see them.

"Ariel…Ariel!" Eric called. "I can't figure out how to get her to stop crying. I already tried changing and feeding her."

Sighing, the mother snapped out of her thoughts and turned in her chair, away from the sea and towards her husband. Ariel reached her arms out for her child, Eric then placing her into them.

"Shh. Melody, what's wrong?" she gently asked.

Eric smiled at the sight of her asking the question to their baby, who clearly could not reply. Over the past two months, he thought that Ariel had adapted to motherhood very well. She always seemed to understand which cry meant what, when to Eric, each cry simply meant that something wasn't right with the baby.

After a couple caresses, Ariel looked up at Eric. "She's cranky. She's just tired."

"Are you sure?" he asked. He had just tried getting her to sleep.

"Uh-huh," she nodded, standing up to give her back. "Put her to sleep. She should have been asleep already."

"Can you do it? I still have to finish some work for tomorrow."

Ariel stared back at him. Of course he had more work to do. It was the same as before Melody was born. It was still common for him to stay up late getting work done, leaving Ariel to be the one to tend to her for part of the night. She never really minded it, though. She loved her daughter with all of her heart, but she missed getting to wind down at night or curl straight up into bed. And while they did have a nanny accessible at all times, they didn't like to use her. They wanted to be Melody's parents.

"Thank you," he gave her a quick kiss before leaving, mumbling something about his work which she didn't catch.

She looked down at the baby, now calm from her mother's gentle touch and rocks. "It's just you and me again, huh?"

They headed up to their room, the child was dressed into her nightgown, and then placed in her cradle. The mother sat beside in a chair, gently rocking the cradle to lull her to sleep.

Often, Ariel would sing Melody to sleep, but tonight she felt as though her voice would sound too exhausted to sound comforting. Instead, she chose to hum a song, and the child soon fell fast asleep.

Eventually, she rose from her chair and walked over to the balcony. Putting on a light cloak, Ariel opened the door and walked out into the early night air, and sighed as she rested her hands on the railing.

She looked out to her former home. Night had just fallen and darkness took over. The moon shed little light on the ocean, which, by now, had swapped its bright blue color for one of pitch black.

Ariel looked down the beach. The sea wall could not be seen far off in the dark distance, but she knew it was thereーshe felt itーseparating her from her home. The builders had just started to make progress on it. To her, it seemed as though even just a few inches taller and wider was too much.

Looking back in at her child, she decided to return in, choosing to head to bed early. Hopefully her husband would be back before the child woke for the first of many times that night needing to be changed or fed.

Hopefully she could get some sleep, and hopefully she would feel better once she woke in the morning.

Sitting down at the breakfast table where her husband had just seated minutes before, Ariel rubbed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"How are you feeling?" Eric asked her, taking note of her condition.

Picking up her cup of tea and taking a sip she replied, "I'm fine. Just not awake yet."

"You kept tossing and turning last night. Have you been sleeping okay?" he inquired. His wife seemed out of it that morning. It had been one of many lately, but he settled on the fact that it was just a lack of sleep from caring for a baby. He felt exhausted too, but he also felt the need to ask Ariel if she was alright.

"Yeah, just give me another night's sleep. I'll be fine."

Ariel sat at her desk, trying to look at the upcoming event schedule, but she was unable to concentrate.

About three months after giving birth, Ariel decided that it was time for her to get back to her queenly duties. Eric reluctantly agreed; he would always be overprotective of her.

However, it wasn't long until she realized that it would be harder to concentrate than she thought. Ariel had forgotten how many duties she had to fulfill before Eric had ordered her to quit working half way through the pregnancy. While what she currently was doing was actually a little less than her normal work load, she still felt like it was too much.

They agreed to ease her back in slowly, but her advisers didn't apparently didn't have a good understanding of what the words "ease" and "slowly" meant.

Part of her wanted to say that she was not okay, but another convinced her that she was. There was no excuse to not be okay. Maybe it was unfair that she had to juggle time between being a queen and a mother now, when all she felt like doing sometimes was sleep and cry, but perhaps if she stopped and breathed a bit, she would be okay.

So Ariel did just that by taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly. She looked back at the schedule.

Was this how all mothers acted, or was this just her being a terrible mother, acting like her baby caused all of this? That was how she felt sometimes.

If she never had Melody, then Morgana would have never threatened her, and she wouldn't have had to cut herself off from the sea.

No. It wasn't Melody's fault. This was Morgana's.

But that still didn't change the fact that she even thought that.

The wall continued to expand, little by little. They predicted that it would take a couple years to complete, but it would be completed nonetheless.

Ariel sighed. Her thoughts were drifting again, but it was obvious she wasn't meant to read this.

She yawned. She also wasn't meant to sleep either. Placing her arms on the table and her head within them, Ariel closed her eyes, but she continued to fight to stay awake.

Ariel laid in bed, her eyes still awake. Her husband was still working, but her child had successfully gone to sleep.

She knew she still had a few more duties to fulfill, but in that moment, she had decided to give up and go to bed. Ariel missed it when she didn't have to worry about anything and was allowed to just rest.

She kept running the things through her headーthe mounds of planning she still had to do for upcoming events, the public appearances she had to begin to make again to entertain her people, her child crying throughout the night. It all added on top of everything else, and with her husband being just as busy as her, there were moments she was alone. The tough moments weren't too bad if he was there with her, but then again, sometimes she wondered if she really wanted him there.

Ariel's eyes grew watery. Was she okay? Every day, every second seemed to be a struggle. Something seemed wrong.

But everyone expected her to be okay.

A tear finally escaped from Ariel's eye. She wasn't okay. Not in the slightest.

Everyone wanted so much from her, when she was only able to give so little. She couldn't function as a queen anymore. Eric would be so disappointed once he realized.

More tears fell.

Her daughter would be disappointed in her. What mother dreads having to give up her needed sleep to someone so precious? What mother is jealous of all of the sleep her child gets? She shouldn't feel like her baby was a burden.

Ariel thought of her family. Her father always treated her so well.

She cried a little harder.

He never thought she was burden. If only he was there to guide her, or Attina perhaps, but wouldn't they feel disappointed in her too?

At that point, her tears led to sobs as she cried herself to sleep.

Ariel was disturbed by a knock on her door and summoned the knocker in. It was one of her head advisers. She bowed.

"So sorry to disturb you, Your Majesty," she started. "But I have some important information for you."

Ariel rolled her eyes before she responded, "What is it now?"

The adviser looked down at her paper, "Well, Mr. Nielsen won't be able to attend the new date because his father has fallen sick. Mr. Schmidt won't be able to bring his wife because she's expected to give birth within that time frame, and Mr. Olsen refuses to show up again this year."

"Why are you telling me this? What is this about?"

"The Council Dinner you're hosting," the adviser replied, surprised Ariel hadn't understood what she was talking about.

"Wait? What new date?" Ariel asked. She was under the assumption that it was still set for the end of next month.

"We decided last week that we had to move the date forward due to other conflicting events. We informed you of this."

"Oh…yes. I remember," Ariel lied. She truly did not remember that. They must have told her during a moment when she was fighting to stay awake.

The adviser began talking again. "You have begun planning it, haven't you?"

"No." Ariel started. "If you forgot, I've just had a baby and this is the least of my concern. If I recall, you were probably the ones to change the date forward, so why didn't you begin organizing?"

The adviser replied, unfazed by her outburst, "We figured you would want to begin the overall planning of it and then we'd take care of the details."

She gently tossed her pen onto her desk. "Well, you figured wrong," she mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing."

"I've booked your afternoon to begin with that planning."

Ariel sighed. She had other work to get done, but apparently, it looked as though she was going to fall behind on it again.

"Very well," she managed to get out over her struggling voice. "I'll work on that now."

Ariel headed down the hall to meet Eric for dinner. They had Carlotta watching Melody so Ariel could fulfill her promise of having a proper dinner with him, one that she had been avoiding, but now, with no excuse to watch Melody and Eric telling her to forget about any work for the moment, she had to.

Turning the corner, she found him walking her way. He smiled at her and outstretched a hand for her, but she instead hugged him in a warm embrace, one that she needed very much.

"How are you, sweetheart?" he asked, gently rubbing her back as she buried her face in his shirt. His concern for her began to rise.

She let go of him and straightened out her dress, collecting herself. She hadn't meant to seem that desperate. "I'm fine. Let's go to dinner." She held his hand and headed off. She didn't need him to know that she wasn't okay. What was there that he could do? She had already fallen into this state.

They walked in silence a little further until Eric again pressed on. "Are you sure? You haven't been yourself lately."

Ariel nodded as they walked into the massive dining room. The setting sun shined through the tall windows and their meal had already been set out on the table, but upon looking at it, she realized that she was not hungry.

"Actually, I'm not feeling well. My…head hurts. I'm going to head up and rest awhile," she said as an excuse.

"Oh, I'll walk you back up," he turned to leave with her, agreeing that rest would be best.

"No." she replied carefully, trying to be left alone. "I just need some quiet, if you don't mind. You stay and eat. I don't want you losing your strength. You've been busy all day. I'll probably just have a maid draw up a warm bath."

Eric looked at her and brushed some hair out of her eye. "Okay," he reluctantly agreed. He had learned that sometimes she simply need some time to herself and this was probably just one of those times.

"Thank you," she planted a kiss on his cheek before heading to her room, to cry about what seemed like everything in her world.

"Grim, I'm worried," Eric confessed to his most trusted friend.

"About what?" the older man inquired, taking a seat in front of him.

Eric leaned forward in his leather chair, his arms resting on his legs. He looked down in deep thought. "About Ariel. She's been different lately, and not in the good way. Haven't you taken notice?"

Grimsby thought for a moment. "Perhaps, but I figured she'd just been tired. Becoming a parent can cause that. You've been a little wearier yourself lately."

"Yeah, but Ariel's been so much worse. She barely eats her meals, can hardly get up in the morning, and she's so much more distant now," Eric explained.

"Oh," Grimsby frowned. "Well, might I add that there have been some cases of women going insane after giving birth?"

"Insane?! Grim, she's not going insane."

"I don't want that to happen as much as you. I'm just saying that it happens and doctors can only try their best to cure them," he explained.

"Ariel is not going insane. She is fine. She must just be tired. I'll make sure she gets more rest," Eric declared.

Rolling over, still half asleep, Ariel threw an arm onto the other side of the bed in an attempt to hit someone. However, her arm succeeded in only hitting the mattress, cold from the lack of body heat.

Sighing, she threw the arm over her eyes before slowly rising from the bed and making her way over to Melody, who had begun to cry for the fourth time already that night. It was left to Ariel to tend to her as Eric was out on a trip to meet with an older king, too fragile to come to their home.

She picked her up and began gently bouncing and shushing the baby. "What's wrong?" she asked, but Eric would not admire the way she asked this time in comparison to just about two months ago. This time her voice was full of exasperation and grouchiness. Ariel feared that it lacked motherly love.

Melody only continued to cry, which made Ariel try and discover what truly was wrong. She wasn't hungry and didn't need to be changed or burped. Ariel settled for the fact that she was fussy, but fussier than normal.

She sat down in a rocking chair, wishing that Eric was there, even if only for support for her.

"What are you, getting sick?" she asked. She was aware that babies get fussier when sick, but she checked for a temperature, and found no sign of fever, nor were there any other signs of illness.

Exhaling deeply, her breath shaking as she did so, Ariel rose to walk around a little with the small child in her arms. Eventually, as hopelessness took over, her shushing turn into her own sobbing as tears began to fall from her own eyes.

"Come on, darling. Stop crying," she begged. She wanted her child to stop crying so she could simply go back to bed. Ariel continued to cry with the baby, trying to calm her downーalone.

The afternoon for Ariel was spent by spending time with a dignitary's wife, a pleasant lady who she quite enjoyed. She had mustered up the strength to talk and walk through the gardens with her.

"So, Eric's doing well then?" Phoebe continued their conversation.

Ariel nodded. "Yes, very well."

"And so are you?" she skeptically asked.

"I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Ariel asked curiously.

"Well," Phoebe started. "You just seem a little run down and-"

"No, no." Ariel cut her off. "I'm not run down."

Phoebe smiled at her, shaking her head before continuing. "And, some women often struggle after giving birth."

"Oh? Did you?" she curiously asked.

"I'll admit, I had…conflicting thoughts after my first child, but I never let anyone see them. They think women go insane after childbirth, but we don't, or at least I didn't. I just carried on and it didn't happen with my second."

Ariel nodded. "That's good." That's what she was currently trying to do. It must have been three months since she started feeling terrible and no one had seen through her. Although, Eric asked her quite often if she was okay. She always responded with a yes and he moved on, but deep down, she felt like she wanted him to turn around, pull her close, and tell her that he knew she was not okay. Then, perhaps he could fix everything.

But she knew he couldn't. It was unrealistic.

As they continued their walk, Ariel decided that once they exited the garden she should suggest sitting down for tea or somethingーanythingーas long as it required sitting. She felt her strength leaving her body, but she still pretended she was fine.

"Children are precious, aren't they?" Phoebe asked.

Slowly nodding her head carefully, she replied with a yes. Phoebe continued talking, but Ariel couldn't hear her properly as her attention was directed away. She placed a hand to her head before realizing that she was stumbling as she walked. Quickly, she grabbed onto Phoebe's arm.

Phoebe took hold of Ariel, holding her upright once she noticed her struggling. "Oh my dear! Are you alright?" she asked as she then guided her to a nearby bench.

Ariel sat down. "I'm fine. I just needed to sit."

"You really are run down," Phoebe commented. "You need to get more rest."

Ariel turned towards her. "Please don't mention this to Eric. I wouldn't want to worry him."

Ariel walked into the nursery to find Eric playing with Melody. He was sitting on the floor with Melody laying on her back on a blanket next to him. Her arms were outstretched, trying to reach the small, stuffed toy her father was holding just above her head. She showed her father a smile and he gave her it, which she immediately put into her mouth. Eric laughed as he ran a finger through her small mess of hair.

He then looked up and saw Ariel in the door frame. "Hey. I was just killing some time. Come join us."

The smile that had developed on her face faded. "No. I…I can't. I'm busy. I just wanted to check on Melody."

"Oh? Busy with what?" Eric asked. He got up with Melody. Carrying her over, he stopped in front of Ariel. "Should we go help Mommy?" he asked Melody, who replied with a smile and outstretched her arms towards her mother.

Ariel forced a smile, not liking the questions he was asking. She played with Melody's hand for a moment as she thought of an excuse. "I have a dress fitting. You can't sit through that, and I have to head down now."

"Yeah, I guess you should. I'm going to put Mel down for a nap soon anyway," Eric said. He gave Ariel a kiss, followed by her hesitantly placing one on Melody's forehead before leaving.

She had no dress fitting; she just wasn't in the mood to play with a baby and husband. It seemed like she was never in the mood lately. Ariel wished that if Eric could fix everythingーher sadness, her tiredness, he would but at the same time, she felt like she wanted to keep this going. She felt like she wanted to be isolated from him, from everyone.

She spotted Carlotta turning the corner. She offered Ariel a warm smile and a "Hello, Dear."

Ariel reluctantly stopped. "Hello, Carlotta," she forced a smile.

"How's Melody doing this morning? I haven't gotten a chance to see her yet."

"She's doing wonderful," Ariel's smile turned true for a moment as she thought back. "Eric's with her right now."

Carlotta frowned. "Are you busy again? My dear, your husband is actually not busy for once so you all can spend plenty of time together, but you're choosing to work?"

Ariel began walking away. "I guess being a mother has made me more responsible," she replied.

And more lonely.

Eric had informed Ariel early that morning that there would be a foreign dignitary arriving who he wanted her to meet. Ariel didn't recall his name or where he was from, but she remembered agreeing to the meeting. She figured that it shouldn't take too long and now the two were currently awaiting his arrival.

"Ah, Mr. Stainton," Eric addressed as soon as he arrived. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"The pleasure is all mine, Your Majesties," he bowed. "Queen Ariel, you look beautiful as ever," he kissed her hand. Ariel subtly rolled her eyes. She became well aware that she truly was not looking so great lately. She took note that she always was looking tired, with dark circles under her eyes, but her maids had worked miracles to hide her tired eyes.

"And King Eric, what wonders you have done with this country!" he moved on. "I look forward to seeing much more from you."

Eric smiled. "Thank you, but I couldn't have done it myself," he gestured towards Ariel. "Some of the ideas were hers."

Ariel truly had to force a smile that time because she feared that she wouldn't be able to do much more good any longer with her dwindling state of mind.

"Well, might I say well done because it's not every day a woman can do such great work with her ideas," Mr. Stainton stated.

Ariel looked at him, feeling slightly offended. Usually she could hold her tongue, but apparently, not this time. "Are you saying that women are incapable of change and applying their ideas to their country?"

"No…wait. What I mean is-"

"Because let me assure you, women can do so much more than you. Not only are they just as capable as men, but they endure so much more. You have no idea of everything they go through!" she exclaimed. This suddenly became about much more than unequal rights to her.

"Ariel, calm down," Eric warned. "Let him speak."

"I was only saying-"

"You were only saying that women are incapable. I understand that women don't have that much of a place in politics, which isn't right, but you should understand what women do for you! They give you children and they push on so they are strong enough for you! Do you have any idea of the problems women go through?"

"I'm-"

"No, you don't because all you have to do is pay someone off to fix your trivial problems!" Ariel shot at him.

"Ariel, that is enough!" Eric exclaimed.

She looked at Eric. He wasn't going to let her fight with Mr. Stainton anymore. Instead, with a huff, she muttered, "Idiotic fool," and stormed away.

"Ariel!" Eric barged into their room. "What has gotten into you? You can't treat people like that!"

She spun around to look at him. "Yeah? Well, he had no right to treat me like that!"

"You're getting upset over almost nothing. I've never seen you be so overdramatic before. What is wrong?" he asked. He wasn't even sure if the comment Mr. Stainton made was supposed to be taken as offensive.

Ariel looked away. "Nothing."

Eric stepped over to her and place a hand on her arm. "That's not true."

"Don't touch me!" she shook him away, cringing at his touch.

"Ariel…" he sternly said her name.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?! Why can't anyone?" she bursted. "It's not like you can help me. You let me fall into this state."

"Into what? Please tell me," he begged. He wasn't mad at her; he was concerned.

That was it.

"I'm not okay, Eric. I never was! I've felt horrible every day for as long as I can remember! I'm so tired I can barely get out of bed and I hate spending time around everyone! I don't know what's wrong with me, but I do know that I've become a terrible mother and wife. All I want is to be happy again, but that feels impossible!" she frantically explained. This was her breaking point and there was so much more still inside of her, but her voice fell quiet for a moment. "I just miss my family and home so much."

Hugging her chest, she leaned against a wall and slid down it until she was on the floor. Tears began falling harder than they ever did before.

Eric sat next to her and carefully put an arm around her. "Oh, Sweetie. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I-I didn't want to disappoint you," she replied between sobs.

"Ariel, I'm not and never will be disappointed in you. I'm disappointed in myself for not seeing this," he replied.

She shook her head. "I hid it from you the best I could. That's why I haven't been spending much time with you or Melody, or anyone really."

"You don't have to hide it anymore. I'm going to help you get through this. Anything you need I'll do for you, okay? Do you trust me?" he picked her chin up to look at him.

Ariel nodded, his kindness only making her cry more. She then buried her face into his chest as Eric held her. He felt her shaking and wondered how long she kept this bottled up. He could only guess that it started back months ago when contact was first cut, which was much too long.

Eventually, Ariel's shaking and tears stopped. She laid in his arms the weakest he'd ever seen her.

Eric picked her up and carried her sleeping form over to the bed. After laying her down, he wanted to stay beside her, not wanting to leave her like he felt he had over the past few months.

So, he did, and Ariel slept. She would get her much needed rest.