Zane Bennett sat alone on the dock, waiting for his girlfriend, Rikki, to join him. As he sat there, his feet dangling above the water, he thought back to the first time he'd ever met her. And the first time he'd ever liked her. They were very different occasions.

Zane smiled to himself as he thought back on their history together. It read like a bad soap opera. The had hated each other from the very beginning. Looking back, Zane couldn't really put a finger on when that had all changed. But somehow, gradually, they had realized that they had more in common than they had thought. They got each other.

They'd been through more up and downs together that anyone he knew. They fought with the best of them, but making up made the fighting worth it. Zane knew that he was going to be with Rikki forever. And he couldn't wait to get started.

"Zane!" A high-pitched voice called out.

Disappointed, Zane reluctantly turned around. He knew that voice. It was Sophie. Sophie was Will's sister, and was instrumental in the majority of the fights he and Rikki had been having that year. She had been his manager at the cafe until he realized what she was up to. He'd fired her right after the graduation celebration that year.

"That's me," He said unenthusiastically.

"Hey!" Sophie began perkily, as if she'd never done a thing wrong in her life. "So, I have this absolutely fantastic business opportunity for you to look at-"

"Not interested." Zane cut her off.

"Not interested? You will be once you hear-" Sophie tried to continue.

"NOT. Interested." Zane was firm. He'd had enough of Sophie's business opportunities.

"You don't even want to hear about-"

"No." Zane turned back to the water.

"Well I'm just going to leave this here with you, in case you change your mind." Sophie plunked down a folder full of brochures beside Zane. She started to leave.

"You know," she said, turning back around towards Zane, "You used to jump at a good business deal. What's changed?"

The answer to her question came walking down the dock at that moment. Rikki looked beautiful, as usual, though her face darkened when she saw Sophie there.

Sophie saw Rikki coming towards her. "Gotta get going!" She called as she walked past Rikki and back up towards the cafe to meet Will.

Rikki waited for Sophie to disappear before turning her attention towards Zane, a huge smile on her face. Zane stood and pulled Rikki in for a long kiss. They'd broken up for a short bit of time last month (mostly because of Sophie) and ever since they reunited it was as if they were brand new crushes.

Eventually the two broke the kiss and walked hand in hand up the dock and towards a restaurant. Tonight was date night. No Bella or Cleo, no Nate, no mermaids, no stress. Just the two of them. They'd made it a point to have one night to themselves a week, and they found that it really brought them closer together.

The two sat at a candle-lit table. They'd enjoyed a nice dinner together and were sharing an ice cream sundae as dessert. It had been a wonderfully relaxing evening for the pair. They'd shared stories with each other, they'd made plans to go to the summer dance next week, they'd even gotten a little mushy (though neither would ever admit it.) At the end of the meal Zane paid the bill and walked with Rikki outside and along the beach. They made light conversation with each other as Zane walked Rikki to her home. They stopped outside her door.

"Do you girls need more help tomorrow?" Zane asked. Rikki, Bella, and Cleo had been spending much of their free time attempting to clean up and repair the moon pool. The pool had been damaged when Sophie had decided to mine for the rare gems found in the cave walls. Zane had played a part in the destruction, and he felt terrible for it.

"No, I think we'll be fine." Rikki said. "At this point there isn't much we can do anyways."

"Ah." Was all Zane said.

The two stood on Rikki's front step, their arms wrapped around one another. Zane lifted Rikki's chin with one finger and bent in for a kiss. The kiss was long and passionate. Finding herself short on breath, Rikki eventually pulled back.

"We should stop." She whispered.

"I know." Zane whispered back.

Rikki made herself take a step backwards towards the door, away from Zane. She stood there, still, for a moment looking at him. Reaching out, she took his hands in hers and pulled him towards her. Her back against the door, Zane pinned her roughly with another kiss. This time it was several minutes before they parted. Both were flushed.

"I'd better be going," Zane breathed, his eyes still closed.

Rikki opened her front door and took a step inside, not turning away from Zane.

"Thank you," She said. "For being such a great guy. You've changed a lot over the years."

Zane chuckled, he'd been thinking about the exact same thing just earlier that day.

"Changed for good." He said, looking into Rikki's eyes

"Goodnight." Rikki said quietly, closing the door slowly behind her.

Rikki leaned against the closed door, happily reliving that wonderful night. She had never been as relaxed with someone as she found herself with Zane.

Zane walked home through the darkness. What an amazing night. And what an amazing girl.

The next morning Rikki, Bella, and Cleo dove into the water to swim out to Mako Island. It had taken a lot of time and hard work, but the island was finally starting to come together. The boys, (Zane, Will, and Lewis) had helped a great bit with the heavy lifting, but now clean up consisted mostly of sweeping endless debris.

Zane was headed out to race motocross bikes with his friend Nate. The pair had been friends since childhood and had been riding bikes together just as long. Nate didn't really understand why Zane was all of a sudden a 'nice' guy, but he didn't worry about it too much. After all, nothing much had changed between the two of them.

They had been racing the course for an hour and were sweaty and exhausted. They decided to take a break and walked their bikes over to the cooler of drinks at the side of the track.

At that very moment, an out of control rider came speeding across the track. He sped straight where Zane and Nate were walking. The rider was a novice, and he'd been going way too fast to make a turn he'd attempted.

"Look out!" Someone from the stands shouted out.

Zane looked up just in time to see the bike flying towards them as if in slow motion. Grabbing Nate by the shoulders, he shoved him out of the way as hard as he possibly could. Nate landed safely a few feet away.

The bike hit Zane hard, cracking into his ribs and causing him to fly backwards. Zane had removed his helmet after getting off his bike and he landed heavily. His head hit the pavement with a sickening thud. After rolling twice more Zane ended flat on his back, completely unconscious.

Zane was loaded into an ambulance within minutes and rushed to the hospital. He had not regained consciousness yet and was being worked on by a team of medics to stop the bleeding from multiple cuts on his face. Upon arriving at the hospital he was rushed to the ER.

Rikki's phone rang just as the girls were getting ready to head back home for the day. She picked it up with a confused look on her face.

"It's Zane's dad," She said as she opened the phone.

Cleo and Bella shrugged and continued packing things up for the day.

"What?" Rikki shouted in shock. "I'll be right there." Rikki clicked the phone shut, dropping the bag of cleaning supplies she'd been holding.

"What is it?" Bella asked quickly. Rikki's face had turned completely white.

"Zane's been hurt." Rikki said quickly. She dove into the water without even a look back at the other girls and took off towards shore. All she could think about was Zane.

Bella and Cleo took off after her, but Rikki was swimming so quickly they couldn't even keep up.

Rikki ran into the hospital in a total panic. She looked around desperately until she spotted Harrison Bennett pacing at the end of a hall.

"Where is he?" Rikki asked, completely winded.

"In there." Harrison nodded towards a room across from them.

Rikki tried to look in the window of the door but couldn't see Zane. "What happened? Is he ok?"

"Biking accident of some sort." Harrison said tiredly. "They think he's going to be fine. He has a few broken ribs, but at least he's regained consciousness. The thing is, he hit his head so hard the doctors are worried he might have-"

Just then a young nurse opened the door to Zane's room. "He's doing well." She said with a smile. "I think he can stand to have just a couple visitors. It'll be good for him."

Weak with relief, Rikki breezed past the nurse and into the room. Harrison followed quickly behind her.

Zane laid in a hospital bed, hooked up to numerous machines. His head was wrapped in gauze. He looked over as Rikki and Harrison entered the room.

"Don't say anything just yet." Harrison reached the bed first. "Just get some rest."

"I'm feeling much better." Zane said in a low voice. Harrison gestured for him to stop speaking.

"Zane, I am so glad you're ok." Harrison said gruffly. "Don't you EVER scare me like that again, you hear me?"

Zane nodded.

Harrison stepped back, letting Rikki stand next to the bed.

"Zane?" Rikki had tears in her eyes. She had been so incredibly scared for him.

Zane met her eyes. "Yes?"

Rikki bent in and gave him the lightest kiss on the lips. As she stood up Zane had a puzzled look on his face.

"And who are you?" Zane asked.