Chapter 25: The Best of Both Worlds

Princess Lapis had retreat to the seclusion of her bedroom and cried in her bed. She sank a little into the squishy mattress, but it didn't bother her at all. In fact, she wished she could sink deeper into her bed so that she could hidden away for the rest of the day to cry herself to sleep.

"Lapis?" Jamie's voice echoed from the hallways. "Lapis. I know you're in there. Can I come in?"

The young mermaid only made a muffled whimper in response to her boyfriend's voice. The human boy opened the door and let himself into the princess's bedroom. He saw her body lying face down and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

"Do you wanna talk about what's going on, sweetie?" asked Jamie, ready to listen for his beautiful girlfriend pour her heart out.

Unfortunately, Lapis was in no mood to talk to anyone right now, even if it was her kind boyfriend. Maybe if she pretended to be asleep, he would go away, which didn't seem too hard at this point; what with her comfy bed and her dehydrated headache from crying. The blue girl took the deep breaths you'd hear when someone was softly snoring and hoped Jamie would buy it.

However, he wasn't as gullible as Lapis was hoping he'd be. He was not going to give up that easily. And then, a mischievous smile spread across his face as he hatched an idea.

"Uh oh." he said, loud enough for the sad mermaid to hear. "I think some Ticker's Snare might have fallen on you, Lapis."

Lapis was unresponsive, but then Jamie told her, "Yeah, it looks like there's some in your elbow." He then used his finger to tickle in the crook of her left elbow. This prompted the princess to break out in soft giggles, but she still didn't move.

"Oh no!" her boyfriend said, pretending to be surprised. "Now I see some on the sides of your neck!" His fingers started to spider tickle the sides of Lapis' slender neck and she really busted out laughing this time.

"Knock it off!" she complained between laughs. "Hahahahaha!"

"Hmm, I hope some didn't get in your armpits!" Jamie spoke as he proceeded to dig his fingers into the mermaid's smooth underarms. "Tickle, tickle, tickle."

"No, no, no! Hahahahahaha!" she pleaded as she squirmed. "Jamie, please stop! That tickles so bad!" The mermaid princess's laughter was like music to her boyfriend's ears.

"Oh, my mistake." he stated calmly, before striking the unfortunate victim with tickles once again. "It's on your back!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the poor mermaid screamed with laughter. "OH NO! IT TICKLES SO MUCH!" That did the trick because Lapis was now rolling over until her laughing face was facing Jamie. The tickling stopped when the girl rolled over, giving her the opportunity to catch her breath.

"Now there's the face I like to see." her boyfriend smiled. And then, he climbed up on the spongy mattress until his body was hovering over the princess. "But just to be safe, I better check for seaweed on your belly."

"No." Lapis said as the boy's tickly fingers descended towards the mermaid's bare stomach ever so slowly. "No, no, no, no. Don't you dare!"

"You can't run from this, Lapis." Jamie told her in a playful, singsong tone. "It's going to get you."

"I mean it, Jamie." the mermaid demanded as the anticipation got thinner. "You better not- Hahahahahahahahaha!"

But it was too late. The human's fingers were already spider tickling all over the princess's tummy. It was her weakest tickle spot. She knew this from experience when her dad and brother tickle attacked her as a kid.

"Aw, does that tickle?" Jamie asked teasingly as went for the sides of Lapis' tummy. "Well, this is the only way I can get the Tickler's Snare off of you. Coochie coochie coo."

Lapis remembered how her dad would always baby talk her while he tickled her. And it sent her over the edge now as it did way back then.

"Hahahahaha! It tickles all over!" she laughed uncontrollably. "Hahahahahahahaha! Okay, okay, okay, okay; I'm clean! You're going make me pass out!"

Jamie finally heeded the princess's words and stopped the tickling altogether. He moved until he lay on the opposite side of Lapis' bed. His girlfriend took some time to recover, shivering from the tickles.

"You know, I actually feel a little better." she panted and giggled after turning to look the human boy in the eyes.

"Good." said Jamie, kissing her nose. "That was the idea."

Just then, the two of them heard a knock on the other side of the door and Steven's voice saying, "Lapis, can we come in?"

"We want to check on you and make sure you're okay." Connie's voice added.

"Sure, come on in." Lapis answered as she and Jamie sat up in the bed. The door opened and Steven, Connie, Greg entered.

"Hey, kiddo." Greg said nervously before he gave a heavy sigh. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened earlier. We should've pulled you aside, sat you down, and talked about this with you. Don't be too angry."

"I'm not angry." Lapis told her father. "I just never thought if I stayed with my birth family, I'd have to let my adopted family go; or the other way around."

"I can only imagine how upsetting that must be." Connie replied.

"It really hurts because I know that no matter which family I choose, I'll end up breaking somebody's heart." the mermaid princess vented, her voice cracking as she started crying a little. "And I don't want to say goodbye to anyone."

Jamie wrapped his arms around her and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"I know you're really scared about this and we're scared too." Greg told her adopted daughter. "But, we will stand by you in whatever choice you end up making."

Suddenly, a light bulb went on in Lapis' head as she announced, "Then, I choose to make equal time with both my families so that I can be with both my families. Starting with Mom, I'll spend three months here in Iridesca and then I'll spend the three months after that in Beach City with you guys."

"I guess we could make it work." her adopted dad stated.

"Great." the blue mermaid beamed. "Let's go let Mom in on the plan. After all, the party's not over yet."

So after discussing everything with Queen Hope and Princess Pink Diamond, everyone agreed with the idea to let Lapis live with each of her two families for an equal time. Although Queen Hope felt guilty about taking her daughter away from her adopted family, the young princess assured her that she wouldn't be apart from them forever. Pretty soon, it was getting late and it was time for the humans to say goodbye.

"Thank you for taking care of our dear child." Queen Hope said to Greg.

"Don't mention it." the kind human replied. "She's always been like family to me. I just can't believe that she grew from a tiny baby to a strong, young mermaid. But, she will always be my little girl."

Lapis felt like she was on the verge of tears again as she swam into her dad's embrace. Connie and Steven joined in and formed a group hug.

"Love you, sweetie." Greg told the mermaid.

"I love you too, Daddy." she replied, softly.

"We're really going to miss you, Lapis." Connie said.

"Yeah, come back soon." Steven requested to his big sister. "Okay?"

"I promise." Lapis assured him. The group hug disbanded and the young princess made her way over to Jamie.

"You know, among everyone else; I wouldn't be where or who I am today without you." she told her boyfriend. "When you freed me from Malachite's love potion, it made me absolutely sure that I want you to be my groom when I get married."

"Really?" he questioned.

"Of course." Lapis answered. "I always wanted it to be you. But, I'd like to wait a while until I'm ready to be proposed to."

"Well when the time is right, I'll be waiting for you with an engagement ring in tow." the human boy promised.

"Oh, before you go; I want to give you something." the blue princess said, showing her boyfriend a cockle shell bracelet with a small mermaid charm. "This bracelet is enthused with mermaid magic so that you can talk and breathe underwater without the mermaids' bubbles. It will also allow you to visit me. All you have to do is wish for the person you want to be with the most, and the bracelet will take you to her location (not to mention get you back home really fast)."

"Wow, this is amazing." Jamie commented, taking the bracelet and putting it on.

"I've got a matching one too so I can get to Beach City without swimming a great stretch of ocean." the young mermaid added, pointing to an identical bracelet she wore around her wrist.

"Thank you." her boyfriend said. "So, I guess this is goodbye."

"I was never a fan of goodbyes." Lapis conveyed. "Maybe we could just say, 'See you later.'"

"That sounds much better." Jamie nodded. "Lapis, I love you."

"And I love you." the princess replied as the two of them shared an deep, emotional kiss before the humans swam up to the surface to get on the Mermaid's Cradle.

Lapis and the other mermaids poked their heads out of the water's surface and waved goodbye to the ship before it disappeared in a puff of magic. As sad as the blue princess was, she was even more tired from the long day she had. Queen Hope and her sister helped guide a sleepy Lapis and the other mermaids back underwater so that they could turn in for the night.

A couple of days later, Lapis was moping over her separation from her true love. Being without Jamie for more than a day was a strange time. She silently wished for him to be by her side.

Just then, an approaching speck in the distance caught her eye. As the speck drew closer, it began to take on a familiar shape. The princess swam forward, hoping this was what she thought it was. And to her happiness, Jamie was back in the ocean with his magic bracelet. Completely overjoyed, Lapis swam into the boy's arms; almost knocking the breath out of him.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you for a long time." she said. The two lovers looked into each other's eyes and locked their lips into a sweet kiss.

This gave the blue girl some assurance that whether she had legs or a tail, and lived in the sea or on land; nothing could break her apart from her boyfriend. She and her love for Jamie had the best of both worlds.