Three weeks had passed since Ian returned home. He tried to get his life back to normal, but it was hard. Oddly enough, he started to look back at his time with Lana fondly. He kept this to himself so he wouldn't alarm the others.

Ian was hanging out at the mall with his friends. It was a Monday, but there wasn't school that day since it was a teacher workday. They were having lunch at the food quart. "You ok, Ian?" Sadalia asked. "You haven't been yourself lately."

"Yeah I'm fine," Ian lied.

"Ok, I'm going to ask it if no one else is going to ask it," Gurge said. Sadalia looked like she was about to stop him, making it clear they had discussed this before. "How does mermaid sex work?"

"Gurge, I said if you ask that I'll tell them what happened at Amy's party," Sadalia scolded.

"Wait, what happened at Amy's party?" Althea asked. Sadalia started to recount what happened that night when Ian spoke up.

"It's ok," Ian said, awkwardly. They then turn to Ian, not expecting that to be his reaction. "I never was told what that was like, or experienced it. Lana didn't really seem to focus on the mating part of me becoming her mate."

"What is does it mean to be someone's mate exactly?" Gurge asked.

"It's the mermaid version of being husband and wife," Ian explained. "Lana is actually very sweet and never pressured me into anything. She even let me choose the wedding date before I traded it in so I can see you guys."

"Ian, I think you're in love," Sadalia realized.

"This isn't love," Parthenope said. "She was his captor. She was killing him slowly with kindness. Just like in that movie 'Beauty and the Beast.' This is a classic case of Stockholm syndrome."

"She wasn't really the one holding me captive," Ian said. "She let me do anything I want and even said I should say hey to you guys when you were at the beach. It was really Harmony, her best friend, holding me hostage."

Sadalia then stood up. "If you love her, then let's go to the beach and tell her," she said. Ian smiled and they look at each the others. Gurge and Althea seemed pumped for the idea, but Parthenope seemed skeptical.

"I think what you two had was unhealthy," Parthenope said. "She forced you to leave your friends and family. She even laid her hands-on you in a violent way."

"She hit me on accident," Ian said. "But she was very kind to me and we actually had fun together. She helped me with my magic and showed me the mermaid world."

"Ian, I don't fully support your decision," Parthenope said. "But I love you and I want you to be happy. So if being with Lana makes you happy, then I want you to go and be with her."

They smile at each other before leaving the mall to go to the beach.

Lana was hanging out near the rocks, this time by herself. "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me," she said, pulling off the petals on the floor. She sighed sadly. "He doesn't love me."

Harmony then swam over to her. "Ian is at the beach and he wants to see you," Harmony said, excitedly.

"Are you sure he does?" Lana asked.

"He really does," Harmony shouted. They then swim to the shore and they saw Ian and his friends. Ian and Lana smile at each other for a moment before Ian speaks up.

"Lana, I really enjoyed our time together," Ian said. "And the more we were apart, the more I realized that. I guess I'm just trying to say that I really like you."

"I like you to," Lana said, blushing. They then share a peck on the lips as the others cheer. They pull away, then they stared into each other's eyes. "But how are we going to make our relationship work? I can't go on land and you can't breathe underwater."

"I can get some scuba gear that I can use until we find a permanent solution," Ian shrugged. The two of them then put their foreheads together, ready to give their relationship a second chance.