(A/N- Okay, so I'm FINALLY publishing a story that I started way back in June. It turned out to be a much bigger story than what I expected, but I'm really happy with it. I actually got inspired to write it while being cooped up with my own sprained foot. It was intended to just be a oneshot, and it is, it's just really long. Also, I must give a big thanks to Axantur. He looked over this story for me when it was just a really rough draft and gave me some advice for it. So thank you and I hope that you and everyone else enjoys this!)

It was a typical and peaceful day in and out of the castle. Outside it was clear that the day would soon be drawing to a conclusion. The sun was approaching the horizon over the sea, although it still had a little way to go before it was a full sunset. Around it were seagulls that were flying in the sky, enjoying the peaceful midsummer day, one of which was no doubtfully a certain little mermaid's friend.

Inside, the castle guards were on patrol and the servants and maids were working on their chores to keep the castle spotless for the young prince and their new princess. All in all, it was a pretty average day and that fact was confirmed by the redheaded princess rushing down the stairs dodging anyone in her way.

Ariel was rushing down the stair of the palace as fast as she could with Max following behind her because her old friend Archimedes was going to visit her down at the beach. She couldn't wait to tell him about all of the new things she had learned about the human world. She planned to tell him about every single human thing that she had learned so far, which, with Eric's helps, was a lot.

Maybe she would soon know more about humans than he did. Well, of course she would. She human now!

She was almost at the bottom of the many staircases. Ariel was so excited that she did not want to be late for his visit, so she rushed down the many stairs as fast as her new legs could take her.

It had only been a few weeks since she turned human, but she knew that so much had happened under the sea since she left that she was hoping to catch up on, like the fact that ever since Atlantica's princess became a human, everyone wanted to know about them. She had heard that Archimedes was able to move back into the kingdom and actually fit in with people.

Ariel was so close to the end of the staircase. Just a few more steps to go. Just a few more steps till she could tell Archimedes about the flowers that bloom in summer, or the way people dance, or maybe how-

She screamed.

The last step wasn't where she expected it to be.

Ariel didn't know what was happening. She was just suppose to simply step on the last step then the bottom of the floor, not slip and collapse onto it.

Up in his study, Prince Eric was working on some paperwork that Grimsby had been trying to get him to do for days, but he had always too occupied and distracted by Ariel to actually focus on the work that came with being a ruler. With Ariel around, who would want to be doing work when they could be with her? Eric knew he certainly didn't, and over the past few weeks he'd been spending more time with her than anything else. He had been spending his time showing her the human world, teaching her the names of human objects, and answering all of the questions she asked.

Eric sighed as he finished signing a paper and grabbed another one to look at, wondering how Ariel was.

She had told him an old friend of hers, Archimedes, was visiting her down by the beach. He was a merman who was interested in humans like Ariel was and she decided that he would like to know all of the new things that she learned since she got turned human.

He didn't really want her to go alone down to the beach since she couldn't swim well as a human yet and was still getting used to her legs and feet, but with a merman there with her, the risk of her drowning would hopefully be pretty low. Eric still wished that he could be with her to keep her safe, but she promised that she would take Max with her and that she would be careful. He knew that his loyal dog would keep her safe from any sort of hazards like the risk of drowning or coming in contact with people with possible harmful intentions towards her.

As much as he wished he could be with her, he figured that this was a good opportunity to get some work down while she was occupied. Ariel deserved some time alone with her old friend anyways, although he did feel a twinge of jealousy that she was going to be with a merman that he didn't really know. He decided to let the feelings pass since he knew that they were just old friends.

As the boy tried to work on the papers, his thoughts kept drifting towards Ariel. He wished that he could meet the Archimedes. What would they talk about? The new things about humans that Ariel learned of course, but what else? Would she also tell him about how much she missed her home? She hasn't told Eric directly yet even though it was quite obvious that she already misses it even though it had only been a little over a month since she left.

There'd be times in the evenings when they would go out and watch the sun set over the ocean together. He would see her look at the ocean like she missed it, but she had told him many times before that she never regretted leaving it for him.

Perhaps they could go out tonight and watch the sun set. It was already a beautiful day out and the weather was supposed to stay nice that night.

A young woman's scream knocked him out of his daydreams. It was a scream very familiar to Eric and he knew right away that it was Ariel's. His heart sank as soon as he heard it. Something bad had happened or was happening to his little mermaid right now and he wasn't with her to protect her.

He had to get to her quick.

Eric leaped out of his chair and bolted from of the room. As fast as he could he charged down the halls and towards the staircase, dodging maids and guards who had also heard the scream and were rushing to its source.

The prince didn't know what could have happened to his little mermaid and frankly found himself unable to even think about the worst possibilities. Instead he raced down the stairs to the first level of the castle, where it sounded like the scream came from, and he was proven right when he saw a crowd of people, guards, servants, and all, at the bottom of the stairs surrounding someone on the floor with familiar red hair.

It was Ariel.

Something had happened to her. Had she injured herself or did someone her hurt? Maybe she just fell down the stairs? She looked in pain and people were crowded around her looking worried. That made him worried too.

Eric wish that he could clearly see what was happening to her, but the few seconds after he saw this he was frozen in fear and unable to order the people to move out of the way.

Seeing his master coming down the stairs, Max barked and began herding people out of the way. The crowd of guards and maids made way for their prince who made his way down the remaining stairs to his lover.

After finally reaching her and kneeling beside her, he put his arms around her to comfort her. Seeing that Ariel was clutching her foot, he had a pretty good idea of what had happened, but that didn't calm him down completely.

As Ariel looked up at him, grateful to see that he had come, he wiped away the one tear that fell from her cheek. "Hey. What happened? Are you okay?" Eric asked in a calming voice.

Ariel tried to collect herself to stay strong. She didn't want the people around her to think that she was a guppy, but more importantly she didn't want Eric to think that.

Her foot was really hurting, but that wasn't the real reason she was crying; she was crying was because she felt humiliated. She fell from the stair like how a human child might and now people were just staring at her and crowding around her.

They didn't like it, did they? They didn't like the fact that their princess had fallen from the stairs because she was clumsy, not graceful like the other human princesses.

"I was going down the stairs and I thought that I was at the last step, but I wasn't and I guess that I didn't realize it because I missed the last step and fell. I landed on my foot, but I think I landed on it the wrong way, and now it really hurts," Ariel explained, her voice hitching mid sentenced. She wished that these people would leave.

Her head lowered staring at her foot. She didn't know where else to look. Certainly not at the crowd around her, but not up and Eric either. She simply couldn't bring herself to. What if he was disappointed with her.

"Okay," Eric started. He could tell she was uncomfortable, probably because of the people around her. "I want everyone to go back to their regular duties. Please leave me and the Princess alone."

The crowd left, but not without whispers of what they thought happened. Grimsby, who had just arrived and saw the crowd start to leave, came over to the young couple full of concern for Ariel seeing that it looked like she was hurt.

"Oh goodness heavens! What happened, my dear? Are you alright?" he asked in alarm.

"Grim, Ariel fell down the stairs and hurt her foot. Can you please go fetch Carlotta and tell her to meet us in Ariel's bedchambers?"

"Why yes, of course, Eric," and with that he left to find Carlotta, but not before he turned towards Ariel and gave a sweet smile. "You'll be alright, dear. Eric will take good care of you."

Eric returned his attention back to his fiancée after Grimsby's departure, "Ariel, may I take a look at your foot. I'll have to take your shoe off first," he asked, wanting to ensure she was comfortable with his actions and that he wasn't being improper.

Ariel nodded, so Eric took off her shoe from her left, injured foot. He placed the black flat next to him, but then moved it to the other side away from Max when the dog took it in his mouth and began to play with it.

"No, Max. This is Ariel's shoe, okay? You can't play with it, you mutt," he said as he scratched Max's head.

Max obeyed his owner and didn't touch the shoe anymore, instead gave Ariel a loving lick on the cheek that seemed to say " I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Max," Ariel said with her first smile since she fell down. "You were only trying to play."

Eric, of course, smiled at the sight of Ariel smiling.

Then, he examined her foot the best he could, but it was hard since he wasn't anything like a doctor. He took notice of a small bump and slight bruise at the top of the injured foot, but it didn't look too bad, or at least that's what he hoped.

When Eric first took her foot gently in his hands, she took notice that his hands were slightly cold, but it somehow felt good on her aching foot making her relax. Well, that and the fact that he was being so gentle with her. It kind of made her heart flutter. Of course, a lot of things that Eric did made her heart flutter.

The prince decided to ask Ariel a few questions now that she seemed to be a bit more calm down, "Can you move it at all?"

If there was one thing Ariel had learned about feet that really amazed her was that they could move more ways than the flukes of her tail. The main motion of feet was going up and down like walking, but they could also twist left from right, unlike her flukes which could only go up and down.

Ariel moved her foot as much as she could from left to right and up to down and even wiggled her toes, but had some trouble, especially with the left to right part. The former mermaid was still getting used to the sensation of moving her foot in multiple ways, but she knew that the pain she was feeling while doing moving she shouldn't be feeling. "I can, but it really hurts," she whimpered.

"I don't think that it's broken, but it might be sprained pretty badly. I'll have Carlotta take a look at it and then we'll call the doctor if we have to," Eric replied.

"Humans can sprain their feet?" Ariel questioned, looking at her own. Feet were similar to hands, both made up of intricate arrangements of bones, muscles, and more, but that was where her knowledge of merfolk anatomy ended. The former mermaid had known other merpeople to sprain and even break their hands, arms, and wrists, so the idea of a sprain wasn't new to her. In fact, she had an experience with a sprain when one of her adventures with Flounder had ended badly. "I guess that makes sense. I sprained my hand once."

"Really? What happened?" Eric asked always intrigued by her stories from her life as a mermaid and hoped that telling him a story from her past would calm her more.

"Well, Flounder and I were in a sunken ship and there was this shark in it too, but we didn't realize it. It started to chase us and we were swimming away, but I wasn't paying attention and my wrist ramped into the wall and got sprained."

"There was a lot of you getting chased by sharks under the sea, wasn't there?" Eric asked.

"I guess there was, but it was a bit fun," Ariel smile, but then it faded away as a worried thought came to her. "Will I be able to use my foot again?"

"Yeah, of course you will, sweetheart. It just has to heal first. Carlotta will probably have you resting a lot. You'll have to limit your use on your foot until it's healed," Eric said.

With just the passing of a few weeks since he met his beloved, he already knew enough about her desire to explore and simply walk upon her new legs and feet that it would be very hard for her not to, well, try to use them. Ariel loved to explore new parts of the castle, especially to walk about on her feet like she had just gotten them yesterday. Eric suspected that no matter what he or Carlotta said, soon enough he would find his little mermaid out of her room and somehow about the palace, so he decided that he would have to make sure that someone trustworthy was always with or at least near her.

"Here let's see if you can stand on it any," Eric said, "but only if you want to try."

Ariel paused and thought. Her foot was injured so it was unlikely that she would be able to walk on it, let alone stand on it with the pain. Anyways, she couldn't even walk on it properly when it wasn't injured, but maybe she should at least try and stand on it just to see how bad it really was. Finally, Ariel nodded in agreement.

Eric was just about to grab her by her arms and waist to help her up when she suddenly pulled away from him, suddenly having second thoughts.

"What's wrong?" asked a confused and very concerned Eric.

Ariel looked up at Eric with tears in her eyes, "I don't think I can do it. I'm just going to fall again and then it will probably hurt even more."

Eric looked at his Ariel. Another tear slid down her face, followed by another. She was hurt not only physically, but also emotionally. She didn't believe in herself anymore. She was embarrassed and felt like giving up. Eric couldn't stand to see her this way. It killed him to see her this way.

He kneeled next to Ariel, wiping off the tears from her face. Eric lifted her chin to look up at him. "Hey, it's okay. I know that you can do it. You at least have to try and if it hurts too much or if you fall, I'll catch you. I won't let anything happen to you. Don't worry," Eric said in a calming voice.

Ariel stopped crying. She knew that as long as Eric was there he would take care of her and protect her from getting hurt further. She knew she could trust him.

"Okay. I guess I will give it a try. Help me up," she said.

She didn't have to ask. Eric was already gently grabbing Ariel's arm to help her up. He carefully lifted her up under her arms until she was fully upright. Then, he grabbed her by her waist as she attempted to put some weight on her foot.

Ariel lightly and carefully pushed down on her injured foot as if she was going to take a step on it. She pushed a little more until she felt a pain. It was a sharp, aching pain in the front half of her foot that only occurred once she placed more weight on the front of her foot, not her heel.

She lost her balance since she couldn't support herself on that foot. Ariel leaned back towards Eric for him to help. He took notice of her instability and then took her in his arms to keep her safe, but not yet carrying her.

"I can, but it hurts too much. I- I can't," Ariel said desperately trying not to cry. She couldn't stand, much less walk at all. She was a horrible, horrible human. Luckily no one else was there to see her embarrassing failure. The one thing that was keeping her from crying was the thought that Eric was there for her to keep her safe.

"It's okay. At least you tried. Good job," he lifted her chin to look back up at him and gave her a reassuring smile and kiss on her forehead.

Ariel knew that she wouldn't be able to walk until her foot healed from whatever injury she had, if it ever healed, but what if it never healed? No, it had to heal. Of course it would heal as long as she was careful. That's what Eric said and he wouldn't lie to her.

Eric had said that Carlotta would have her resting, probably in her room. It would probably be just like the time she fell off of Stormy except she would be resting longer. It would get boring. She wouldn't be able to go outside, down to the beach, or-

Archimedes! She had to go see him. Ariel promised that she would tell him everything that she had learned about humans over the past few weeks. She was really looking forward to this too. Would all of the new things Ariel learned all be for nothing? Archimedes had told her so much about humans and she really wanted to return the favor by telling him the things that he didn't know.

The former mermaid was also just really looking forward to seeing an old friend of hers who she really missed.

She looked back up to Eric with alarmed eyes. "I promised Archimedes that I would meet him out on the beach. He'll be here soon. I have to go see him!"

Eric looked down at his fiancée who he was still holding to keep her stable from falling. He didn't want to disappoint her. Eric knew how much this meant to her, but she couldn't go down to the beach yet. Ariel had to get her foot checked out to make sure that it wasn't severely broken or anything. He may have thought that it wasn't broken, but he was no doctor. He could be completely wrong.

"You're not going out yet. I'll have a guard go out and tell him what happened, okay? For now I'm going to carry you up to your room for Carlotta to take a look at you. You'll be staying there for a few days to rest," the young prince said picking her up in the fashion of a groom carrying his bride and started up the stairs much to Ariel's protests of trying to squirm out of his arms. Max trailing behind them carrying Ariel's other shoe in his month. "But if everything seems alright and Carlotta says that it's okay, I'll take you down to meet him. How does that sound?"

"No, you can take me out now. I'm fine, see?" Ariel lifted her leg and tried to move her foot, but failed as all she felt was pain.

Eric held her closer seeing her pain, but then gave a devilish smile. "Nope. You're not going anywhere anytime soon. Right now you're stuck with me."

Eric continued walking up the flights of stairs and looked down at Ariel. He saw a tear slip down her cheek and worried that she might be in horrible pain. She had been through too much today in less than an hour. His heart was absolutely breaking for her.

He stopped walking and kissed her tear away. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm a horrible human, Eric. I don't belong here. These past weeks all I've been doing is falling and tripping over myself and now I fall down the stairs. I'm pathetic," Ariel confessed.

Eric thought completely differently.

How could she think that of her? She was really doing wonderfully. She was adjusting to her new human life quite well actually, but this fall not only injured her foot, it took a lot out of her self esteem. First she was embarrassed when all the people saw her fall, and now she felt like giving up? Eric hated to see her like this.

"No, you're not, Ariel. You make a wonderful human. Even better than me. Anyways, you still have to get used to your legs. You'll get the hang of it eventually," Eric tried to comfort her by holding her even closer. "You're wonderful, Ariel. I couldn't love anyone more than you. You're beautiful, caring, sweet, elegant, and so much more. Ariel, you're amazing," Eric said.

"But why was everyone crowded around me like I was a fool?" she inquired.

"Ariel, love, you are not a "fool." Please don't ever even allow yourself to even think that. You just had an accident. They were gathering around you because they were worried about you, that's all. Trust me, they love you, just like I do," he said as he started up the stairs again.

"You know, I remember one day—just two years ago I think—I was rushing to get out of the castle after getting freed from my lessons so I could go outside when I tripped and fell on that same staircase. The only thing different was that I fell from high up on the stairs. People were really crowded around me then and they even went to go fetch a doctor."

"Were you okay?" Ariel asked even though she knew that Eric was still alive and able to walk now, but he was still hurt back then. She didn't like the thought of her caring prince being hurt.

"Yeah, I guess it could have been worse. I hit my head on the way down and broke my foot. The doctor had me cooped up inside for weeks. I never did get to go outside..." Eric finished his story as they arrived at Ariel's room.

Ariel relaxed into his arms as they reached her room. Two guards were stationed at her door after hearing about the earlier incident. Eric turned to them and said, "Could one of you men please go down to the beach and tell a merperson friend of Ariel's who she was suppose to meet that she was injured and is okay, but is going to be a little while yet?"

The one guard nodded to the other as an agreement of who would be going and then nodded at the prince. "Yes, your Majesty."

The other guard opened the door for Eric allowing the prince this go in and lay her down gently on her bed as Ariel finally decided to give in, deciding that it would be best for her to get her foot checked out and rest. It really was hurting now and all she wanted was for the pain to go away. However, she still hoped that she would be able to go meet with Archimedes soon.

Carlotta wasn't at the princess's bedchambers yet, but she would no doubtfully rush over to her room to take care of her as soon of hearing. She was always very caring of Ariel, kind of like how she would be to a daughter of her own. A millions things were probably racing through her mind right now after hearing that Ariel had been injured.

After placing Ariel down on her bed, Eric took off her other shoe and sat in on the floor next to where Max put the one he was carrying.

Then he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him. Ariel then rested her head on his chest, silently listening to his calming heartbeat as they waited in silence.

Eric took this time to enjoy the peace and quiet between them. As much as Ariel's fall took a lot out of Ariel, it took a lot out of Eric as well with having to see his loved one in so much physical and emotional pain. The simple feeling of Ariel in his arms and her steady breathing near his heart was able to make him relax and enjoy this moment between them.

No sooner after he sat her down Carlotta come in holding some towels, an elastic bandage to wrap her foot, and a bag of ice, sitting them on the bed and turning towards Ariel with clear concern in her eyes.

"What happened, my dear?" she asked, clearly very worried for the young princess. Grimsby had told her that Ariel had fell down the stairs and injured herself, but she needed to know more and to see that she was alright for herself.

"She fell down the-" Eric started to explain, but got cut off by Carlotta.

"She's not mute this time, Eric. Let her talk."

Ariel smiled at the sight of Eric being slightly reprimanded. She always thought that when he got reprimanded by Carlotta like a young boy getting scolded by his mother was quite cute.

After coming out of her thoughts she then look up at Carlotta and responded, "I was going down the stairs to go out to the beach to meet my old friend, Archimedes, when I missed a step and fell. I guess I just wasn't paying attention."

"Yeah, those stairs can easily make you fall and take you by surprise. Quite a few people fell down them, like Eric and even me," Carlotta told Ariel after seeing how embarrassed Ariel looked when she told her of how she fell.

"Really?" Ariel asked sitting up out of Eric's arms. So she wasn't the only one to fall then?

"Yep. You have to be very careful while going down those stairs. You didn't injure anything else, did you?"

"No. She only hurt her foot. Nothing else luckily," Eric answered the question that was meant for Ariel. He received a motherly glare from Carlotta again after responding for his financée again.

Ariel couldn't help but giggle at this. Eric was so sweet trying to help answer the questions for her, but there was nothing stopping her from answering them herself. "No, Carlotta. I'm fine otherwise."

"Good. So it's just your foot. Well let's take a look. Could you walk on it any?" the motherly housemaid asked as she took her foot and examined it.

"Only a little, but it hurt too much."

It had a bump on the top right of the foot and was swollen already. She felt it a bit and didn't feel any bones out of place. "Does this hurt any?"

"Not really. I mean, maybe a little, but it already hurts," Ariel replied.

Hearing that her foot was still hurting, Eric wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to comfort her. It seemed to work since Ariel looked up at him and smiled. She finally looked better, or at least more comforted.

Carlotta continued to examine the princess's foot and finally came to a conclusion. "It's strained, honey."

"It is?" asked Ariel. Even though she knew that it was possible with the pain coming from her foot, she was hoping that nothing was wrong. "Will it get better?"

"Yes, just as long as you rest it. I'll wrap it up to constrict the movement of it and then you can ice it to reduce the swelling and hopefully the pain. Okay, sweetie?"

Ariel nodded in agreement. "Okay, but how long will I have to wait. I have to meet Archimedes soon. No, wait. More like now! Can I please go out to see him? Please," Ariel began to beg just like a small child.

Carlotta let out a small laugh as she finished wrapping up the princess's foot. "Well, I guess if you really have to you can. Eric can carry you down and stay with you to make sure that you'll be fine, but listen to me. I don't want you walking or doing anything on that foot. Understand?"

"Okay! Thank you, Carlotta!" Ariel said as she hugged her and then turned to Eric. "Come on let's go!"

"Wait! Hold on a minute, Ariel. I don't think that she's done," Eric said grabbing Ariel by her waist to keep her from trying to go anywhere. Although it wasn't like she could go anywhere herself.

"She's not?" Ariel really just waited to go. She was late as is already and what else could Carlotta do anyways? She already wrapped her foot up.

Carlotta shook her head. "Nope, not yet, but soon. Now, is this too tight for you? It needs to be snug, but not too tight." Ariel shook her head. "Good now, I'm going to wrap this bag of ice in a towel for you. Keep it in the towel so that it's not too cold and keep it on your foot. Understand?"

Ariel nodded. "Can we go now? Please."

Carlotta handed Eric the bag of ice which he took in on hand. Then he turned to Ariel and picked her up in his arms. Eric smiled. "Yes, now we can go."

As they were about to leave the room Ariel looked over Eric's shoulders. "Thank you, Carlotta!" she said in a much better mood than she was when she first injured herself.

Eric carried Ariel out of the castle and down to the beach. They went down with silence between them until Eric broke it.

"Are you feeling better now, Ariel" he hated seeing her in any kind of pain, and he needed to know that she was feeling better to calm his nerves.

"Well, my foot still hurts almost as much as before, but I guess I'm feeling better. I feel much happier now that we're finally going to see Archimedes and now that I know that everyone falls down the stairs," she replied back. It was true. She could feel in a better mood now that things were finally looking up and back on track. "But I'd be better if you walked a bit faster… but please don't fall."

Eric laughed as he walked down the stairs that lead out and onto the beach. From there they could see a guard talking to someone who was very familiar to Ariel.

"Archimedes!" she called out to him and waved.

The guard and Archimedes turned toward the young princess. Then the guard bid goodbye to the merman as he walked back toward the castle to go back in but not without stopping to bow at the royal couple who had just finished descending the stairs.

"Hello, Ariel," Archimedes said as he pulled himself onto the sand.

Eric gently sat Ariel down next to him which allowed her to immediately hug him.

"It's so good to see you again. I miss you, but I'm also so happy for you. Congratulations!" Archimedes said.

Ariel released the hug. "I miss you too. I miss everyone, but I'm really happy here. You didn't meet Eric yet, did you?!"

"No, but I did hear quite a bit about him. It's nice to finally meet you, Your Majesty," he replied.

"Just call me Eric. A friend of Ariel is a friend of mine," the young prince replied as he placed the ice on Ariel's foot.

"Alright then, Eric," the merman said and the turned towards Ariel. "So, I heard that you fell and injured yourself. Are you alright? Shouldn't you be in resting?"

"No. As long as I take it easy and don't walk on it I'll be fine. Anyway, it's just a sprained foot," Ariel said.

"Just a sprained foot? But you can't walk on it!"

"She won't be doing much walking on it for the next week or two, but it's definitely better than a broken foot," Eric said, taking a liking towards Archimedes after seeing how he cared for her.

"Well, either way, I'm glad you're okay and it seems that you have a nice gentleman here to take care of you, Ariel, but how's your life on land? You got everything you ever wanted," Archimedes asked.

"It's amazing! Eric showed me so much stuff already and there's still a lot more to learn. I love it!" Ariel exclaimed.

Then, she went onto tell Archimedes everything that she had learned since she first become human, with a little help from Eric who corrected her with a few things or helped her remember the things that she had forgot.

Eventually it grew dark as the sun was about to set. It was a calming scene with the sun setting ever so slowly over the large ocean and its bright colors being cast into the sky.

By his time, Ariel had grown quite tired as she rested her head against Eric shoulder, still trying to explain more of her life on land to her old friend. Archimedes saw how tried the little mermaid was and nodded towards Eric. The prince got the point and told Ariel that he was going to take her back inside.

About to pick her up, Ariel protested, "Wait!" she threw her arms around Archimedes. "Goodbye. I'll see you again, right?"

"Of course. Anytime you want, but make sure you take it easy," he said hugging her back.

Ariel nodded then let go of Archimedes allowing her prince to pick her up.

With Ariel in his arms, Eric stood up and turned toward the old merman. "It was nice to meet you, Archimedes."

"You too, Eric. Goodbye," he said before he disappeared back under the waves.

Eric carried a sleeping Ariel up to her room, where Carlotta would probably be waiting for her since it was already time for her to be asleep. He looked down at her. She looked so peaceful. Hopefully the pain had subsided by now for her. He hated that she was in pain today, but she was a very strong girl and he knew that.

The prince arrived at Ariel's room where the motherly housemaid was already there.

"Oh, the poor dear is all tired out already. How is she? Is she feeling any better?" Carlotta asked helping him lay Ariel down in her bed.

"I hope so," Eric sighed as he looked down at the sleeping princess in his arms.

Hearing Eric's voice made Ariel wake up.

"What's going on?"

"I brought you up to your room. It's time you get some sleep."

"Are you going to go?" Ariel asked, not wanting him to leave her after today, although she was well aware that it would be improper for him to stay with her at night. "Can't you stay?"

"I wish that I could, but I can't, and you need your rest. Don't worry, though, you'll be perfectly safe," Eric said as he got up to leave but not without giving his princess a loving kiss.

After he finished telling her goodnight and left, Carlotta helped Ariel get ready for bed.

"Just think, when you two are married, he will never have to leave you again, but for now, you can dream about it."

And with that she fell asleep in a matter of minutes. Carlotta left the princess to get her much needed sleep knowing that she would be happy and safe within her dreams with her prince. She could tell because of the sight of the little mermaid smiling happily in her sleep.