A/N: I was watching "Mermaid Magic" on YouTube and I got this idea. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own h2o just add water.

"Will, please don't do this," I pleaded. He turned, "I'll be fine, it's okay." He said confidently. With a final glare at Zane he dipped beneath the water and was gone.

The time passed. Seconds turned to hours as we counted them off.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

The number sixty balloon popped up.

One minute thirty.

Two minutes.

Two minutes ten.

I had been nervous since the first minute. It was taking him too long.

Two minutes thirty.

I had to do something. I headed for the side of the boat, but Zane grabbed my arm. "Bella, no! what are you doing?"

"He's in trouble, Zane, I can help him!" I cried, tugging at my arm, trying to get it free.

"Bella, this is Sophie, remember? She can't find out; you can't trust her!"

Three minutes.

I was desperate.

"What's more important, my secret, or Will's life?" I sobbed. Zane was silent. He let go of my arm and without hesitation I dove overboard. I heard a cry from deck as I hit the water; probably from Sophie, but there was no going back now.

I transformed in the usual ten seconds. Usually I think that it's not long enough, but now I cursed those seconds, knowing that they could mean the difference of life and death for Will. I felt sick just thinking about that and I started swimming down the rope, keeping my eyes open.

I passed the sixty-meter mark. Where was he? Then I saw something a few meters away, drifting below the seventy mark. It looked…lifeless. I swam towards it quickly, fighting the panic that had lodged itself in my throat. It was Will. He was unconscious and his face was as white as a ghost and had begun to turn a slight shade of blue. I had to act fast. There was no way he could make it to the surface without air. I grabbed his shoulders and pressed my mouth to his, breathing a breathe of air into his mouth. I didn't know if it was enough, but I had to start making my way to the top. I grabbed Will's arm and thanked God that things were lighter underwater. He was still unconscious as I began to make my way at a sickeningly slow pace to the surface. I knew that if I went to fast, he could get the bends, which would kill him. Every marker seemed like eternity.

Finally we broke the surface, Will remained motionless and I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. I looked up at the boat. Zane was looking at me in shock as if he couldn't believe what I was doing; exposing my secret to someone we weren't sure we could trust. Sophie was staring at me like I was some kind of a monster that had her brother in my grasps.

"Zane!" I shouted, desperate. Now that Will and I were half way out of the water, I was starting to feel his weight.

"Zane, stop staring and help me!" I cried. Will's weight was starting to pull me under again, and I knew that he needed medical help fast. Zane shook himself and reached for Will's arm, pulling him on deck. Will's eyes fluttered open and he glanced at me briefly before letting out a soft moan and shutting them again. Sophie was crying; I'd never seen her look so scared before. I think it was a combination of her brother's close call and my mermaid tail.

"What's wrong with…" her voiced trailed off and she pointed soundlessly at me. Zane shook his head.

"There's no time to explain; we need to get him to the hospital now!"

Sophie nodded, and starred another few seconds at me, then knelt by Will and started unzipping his wetsuit top.

"I'll meet you at the hospital," I said quickly, "Now get going!"

Zane nodded and ran back to the cabin. I swam several feet away so as to keep from getting caught in the propellers. The boat roared to life and sped off in the direction of the mainland. Sophie turned and looked at me again, shaking her head in disbelief. She turned back to her brother and the boat disappeared into the distance. Tears pressed against the back of my eyes and I stifled a sob as I dove beneath the waves, heading for the secluded spot on the beach where I would be safe from prying eyes as I dried off. I had saved Will, but I only hope that I hadn't been too late.

I was walking through the doors to the hospital ER room. Zane had texted me which hospital they had taken Will to and said that they were en route to the Emergency Room. Apparently Will had drifted in and out of conciousness during the ambulance ride and was now in an almost comatose condition. I was shaking as I stepped up to the front desk and cleared my throat.

"Yes?" the lady behind it looked up.

"Um, I'm looking for Will Benjamin; he should have been brought in a little while ago."

The lady rifled through some papers. "Yes, here we are, what relation are you to Mr. Benjamin?"

"I'm his girlfriend," I said, a catch in my voice.

The lady looked at me sympathetically. "Don't worry dear; I'm sure he's going to be fine. Why don't you go in the waiting room with his sister? The doctor will go there first as soon as he has any news." She gestured towards a door to the left.

I nodded, "thank you," I said softly and then turned and walked through the door. There was Sophie. She was sitting in a chair, her head in her hands.

"Sophie?" I said nervously. She lifted her head up like a flash and jumped up.

"How did you get here?" She asked. She didn't look scared or anything, just confused.

"I took a cab; I wanted to see if Will's okay."

Sophie shook her head. "Never mind Will, what happened out there in the water, did I just imagine it, or did you become a…" her voice trailed off.

"A mermaid?" I finished for her. She nodded.

I was silent for a few seconds. She thought that she had imagined it. Considering all the stress she was dealing with now it probably wouldn't be too hard to convince her that she was indeed imagining things, but something inside me told me that she needed to know. I couldn't explain it, but I felt for the first time in my life that I could trust her.

I took a deep breath and motioned to the chairs. "I think you'd better sit down." I said. She sat and I took the seat beside her. Trying to make it seem as simple and nonchalant as I could, (NOT easy, "I fell into the water one day during a magical full moon and now every time I touch water I grow a tail, and oh by the way I can also make water hard and turn it into jelly, nothing out of the ordinary really if you think about it." Yeah, I repeat, NOT easy.) Anyway, Sophie listened to every word I said and then shook her head.

"I don't believe it," she said in shock, "but yet I saw it."

"It's true, but I'm going to have to ask you not to tell anyone. They'll think I'm an animal." I cautioned. This was it.

She stared at me again. "Is the water thing the only power you have, nothing else?" She questioned slowly.

"Nothing else, I swear." I said, raising my hand.

"And does Will know?" She said finally.

I nodded silently. "For the past three months."

"And he's okay with it?" She pressed.

"Actually he seems to prefer it," I said with a smile.

Sophie smiled back, "it figures that he would be attracted to a girl whose also a mermaid. The ocean is almost like his second home. If it's important to him than I won't say anything. I'd do anything for him."

I placed my hand on her arm, "so would I," I said softly.

She gave a sad smile, "I think you've already proven that."

We sat in silence for several minutes, each thinking our own thoughts. Then something struck me.

"Hey, where's Zane?" I asked. "Isn't he here?"

Sophie shook her head, "He had to leave. Rikki's out of town for the day and we both can't be away from the café at once. He offered to go so I could stay here. He made me promise to call him once we find out anything."

I shook my head incredulously. I knew Will and Zane didn't exactly like each other, but I guess almost killing Will kind of shook Zane up. I had never seen him actually care about another person except for Rikki. As I was thinking a doctor walked out through the swinging doors to the right of the waiting room. My head snapped up and I looked at him anxiously.

"Sophia Benjamin?" he inquired, reading off his clipboard. "

That's me," Sophie said eagerly, "is he okay?"

The doctor looked up and motioned to a chair. "I think you'd better sit down."

Sophie felt the blood drain from her face. She sat back down stiffly next to me and gestured for the doctor to continue.

"You're Will's sister, correct?"

She nodded numbly.

He looked pointedly at me. "And you are…?"

"Will's girlfriend," I finished for him.

"It's okay, she can stay," Sophie said quickly.

The doctor nodded and continued, "Well, your brother is very fortunate. Another ten seconds or so and his brain would have been dead for lack of oxygen. He's barely alive as it is, but he's responding well to our treatments and with proper rest and care he should be back to normal in no time."

"So he's going to be okay?" I asked, a catch in my voice.

"Yes, he'll be fine if there are no complications. We'll be keeping him here for the next few days under observation, but he's currently out of danger."

"Oh, thank God," Sophie gasped, wiping her tear-filled eyes. "Can I see him?"

"Yes, you can, one visitor at a time and not for too long. He needs to rest as much as possible at this stage."

He stood up, "which ever one of you is going first come with me, I'll show you his room. Oh, and by the way" the doctor added. "Will regained conscious briefly during our examination and was mumbling something about a 'Bella' and a 'secret'. He blacked out again after that, and he didn't say anything else. He's resting comfortably now, but are either of you Bella?"

I stood up, my face having gone completely white by this point. "I'm Bella," I said quickly.

Sophie looked at me, "you should go first; he'll be wanting to see you."

I looked at her in surprise, "are you sure? You've been worrying like crazy too."

She nodded firmly, "I'm sure," She leaned forward and pulled me into an awkward, yet warm hug. I had never been more surprised, but I hugged back.

"Now go on," she said, giving me a little push in the doctor's direction. I gave a weak smile and then turned to follow the doctor, who had begun to make his way towards the door.

We walked down several hallways before the doctor stopped in front of one door.

"Here's his room," he said, "you can go on in."

I thanked him quietly and stepped through the door. It shut with a slight *click* behind me and I heard the footsteps of the doctor as he walked away.

"Will?" I said softly, walking further into the room. Then I saw him. He was lying on the hospital bed, asleep. He looked white as a ghost and there was an IV drip attached to his arm. I pulled a chair up next to his bed and silently took his limp hand in mine and pressed it to my face. I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. I don't think I could bear it of something were to happen to Will. He's everything to me; I'd rather die with him then live without him. I realeased his hand and set it down carefully on the crisp white sheets. I sat in silence for a few minutes; staring at his face, memorizing every detail and thinking about how close I had come to never seeing it again. I was thinking about going to get Sophie; I didn't want to make her wait too long, when I heard a sound that seemed to have come from Will. I froze and stared hard at him. Sure enough he shifted restlessly and his eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times and then shook his head slightly, wincing in the process.

"Bella?" He mumbled weakly, squinting at my face.

"Yeah, it's me," I said, a smile beginning to spread across my face. "Do you know how much you scared me?"

He grinned weakly, "Sorry," he mumbled groggily, "what happened?"

"You got mad at Zane and tried to dive too deep too fast I think. You blacked out.".

Will looked confused for a few seconds. "If I blacked out, how did I get back to the surface?" he croaked.

"Well...ummm," I wasn't quite sure how to explain that. Should I tell him it was me? Thankfully, Will answered my question for me.

"Wait...I saw you in the water...for a second...With your tail...Sophie...Bella!" his eyes got wide and he looked at me in shock.

I placed my hand on his and quietly put my finger to my lips. "Shhhhh babe,it's okay. I explained everything to her in the waiting room and she promised she wouldn't tell."

He sighed in relief, but then broke into a coughing fit.

I looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay? Should I call someone?" I said quickly. He placed his hand in the air and shook his head slightly. Finally he stopped coughing and looked at me with awe.

"You seriously risked you secret for me?" he questioned horsely, "what if Sophie hadn't kept it? What if she had told someone? What if she does anyway? What if..."

His voice was cut off as my lips crashed into his. I pulled away after only a few moment, he didn't need anything that required him to hold his breath at this point. "What if you hadn't made it?" I finished. "I would never have forgiven myself for letting you die when I could have saved you." There were tears in his eyes and I could feel them running down my cheeks as well.

"I love you." I whispered softly.

"I love you too," he whispered back, pulling me into a tight hug. He finally let go and eased back onto his pillows. I sat down again and we sat in silence for several minutes. I looks at my watch and saw that I had been in here for almost twenty minutes. I stood up slowly.

"I'm going to go get Sophie." I said. "She was so worried about you."

Wills eyes opened and he reached for my hand. "Don't leave me, please?" he begged weakly.

I leaned over him and kissed him on the forehead gently. "I'll be back soon." I promised. He nodded sleepily and closed his eyes again; he was exhausted. I tiptoed silently out of the room and closed the door quietly behind me. Once outside I breathed a sigh of relief. Will was okay. My secret was safe.

A/N: what do you think? Should I continue? I'm still working on my other story, but I really like where this is heading. Review and let me know! Thanks for reading!

Ella :)