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Chapter 22: Where Are the Boys?

Oscar, Lenny, and Melody had all disappeared.

Once Don Lino had noticed his son's absence lasting from dawn to dusk, he began to get concerned. It didn't take him long to piece together that Melody was somehow involved.

Ben had practically turned the reef upside down trying to find his sister, and he was in a fueling mix of worry for his sister and fury towards Lenny. He knew that kid had to be behind this.

And when Oscar wasn't showing up for the second day of work, a few people began to wonder and worry. Some assumed he was "sick", and others assumed he was just pulling a "classic Oscar". Angie was afraid she'd go into hysteria soon if she didn't find out where her husband had gone to. Everyone kept an eye out for him around the city and they checked in all of his regular hangouts, but nobody ever found him.

There was one place, however, that Reuben realized nobody had had the thought to look.

Oscar sat by himself in the Whale Wash warehouse, trying to get his mind back in order. He looked around. He hadn't really been in that room since he and Angie's last big fight. Lenny was donned in blue paint, caution tape, and a rubber band, and was trying to keep the peace between his two fish friends.

Oscar wondered how Lenny was doing out there. Word had reached him that he and Melody had simultaneously disappeared from home. It wasn't quite what Oscar had intended him to do, but…

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the door suddenly creak open, and he looked up to see Reuben come into the room. Needless to say, Oscar was not happy to see him. He was as angry with Reuben as he was at himself. And according to him, he had a right to.

Reuben came in and closed the door behind him. "Hey."

Hey? Oscar thought to himself but didn't look at him. That's what he has to say is "hey"?!

"…I knew I'd find you." Reuben said.

"Go away." Oscar muttered.

Reuben frowned. "C'mon, man, look – I can explain."

"What's to explain??" Oscar snapped. "I caught you in the closet with my wife; you know I have contractual rights to knock your headlights out??" he shot.

"We were NOT doing what you thought we were, Oscar! I'm your best friend! You should know that I wouldn't do something like that to you; you know me better than that!"

"Do I?" Oscar shot him a glare. "I knew a kid!"

"C'mon, man, you can trust me, right?" Reuben pleaded.

"You know, I did trust you, Rube!" Oscar glared. "I followed your stupid love advice and look where it's gotten me!"

"Okay, okay, all right!!" Reuben surrendered out of desperation. "Look, you were right. I'm not Dr. Gill…but I can tell you that just sitting around here and running away from your problems is not the way of showing someone you love them."

"It is if they're happier off in the closet with someone else!"

"Oh, for the MILLIONETH TIME, we are NOT TOGETHER!!"

"Then what were you doing in the closet together??"

Reuben threw his hands up, but didn't quite yell. "I was helping her fold laundry; is that such a crime?"

"Oh, is that what it's called now?" Oscar inquired and looked away. "Fascinating."

"Look… I can't believe I've been reduced to begging you for the um-teenth time on this, and Yoda's next apprentice I know I am not, but I've never been more serious about this kind of thing; please trust me."

After a silent moment, Oscar sent him another glare. "Why should I?" he muttered. There was an intense silence before Reuben finally headed back for the door.

"Why else would I have come here?" he asked. He gave one more small glare, then swam out and shut the door behind him.

Oscar watched him leave, then sighed to himself and looked down at the ground. He still wasn't ready to face Angie and all his friends… Not yet.

Do it all

Everything

On our own

We don't need

Anything

Or anyone

Somewhere out in the open, sandy flats of the ocean, Lenny and Melody weren't really trying to get anywhere in particular. Despite the fact they knew they were in hiding, something about this ordeal was very freeing to them. For once, they weren't ducking at every turn to avoid their families. And for once they were getting the time to just be together and get to know one another even more.

This feeling lasted long into the day, but it wasn't until dusk that they were beginning to feel their consciences weighing down on them little by little. Both of them tried to dismiss it as a bit of nervousness due to the newness of the situation.

If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world

Twilight brought about beautiful shafts of silver moonlight filtering through the waves. As they were traveling through a shallow, moonlit flat near a sandbar, Melody looked up at the waves. She stopped when she saw what seemed like thousands of stars glittering above the surface. Since they were farther away from the city by now, there were many more than she had ever seen in a long time. "…Wow…" she smiled to herself.

Lenny looked up with her at the stars. "Whoa…" he echoed her amazement. "You never see this many back at home."

I don't quite know

How to say

How I feel

Those three words

Are said too much

But not enough

Melody continued to gaze at the stars as a slight smile of nostalgia came across her face. "…You know, when I was little…my parents would bring my brother and I to the outskirts of the town about around this time of day. We'd lay together out on the sand and stare at the stars...and Dad would encourage Ben and I to try and find pictures in them."

Lenny glanced at the stars for a moment longer, then turned and smiled at her. "…Well, we aren't in any hurry."

Melody looked at him, then smiled back. Lenny swam down to the sandy floor and lay down on his back to gaze at the stars. Melody came down and lay on her back next to him. When they both looked up, the blanket of stars above them felt even bigger.

If I lay here

If I just lay here

Would you lie with me and just forget the world

Forget what we're told

Before we get too old

Show me a garden that's bursting into life

"Okay," Lenny smiled. "What do you see?"

Melody giggled a bit. "What do you see?"

"Uhh…" Lenny looked up at the stars. "I see… Ah! Right there." He pointed up. "Looks like some kinda big cooking ladle…"

Melody smirked and looked at him. "…You mean the Big Dipper?"

"…Yeah, I meant that." Lenny blushed.

"Right."

After a bit more talking and joking around, the two of them fell into a calm silence.

Let's waste time

Chasing cars

Around our heads

I need your grace

To remind me to find my own

All too soon, however, the calm silence eventually slipped into awkward silence.

At one point, Lenny let out a prodigious yawn. He glanced over at Melody. She had her fins by her side and was just staring at the sky with a troubled look on her face. Lenny blinked and cleared his throat. "…Uh…you all right?"

"What was I doing…?" Melody muttered and crossed her arms over her face. "What am I doing?"

"Hey, c'mon…" Lenny tried to give her a reassuring smile. "I-It's not that bad. I-I mean at least we're back together…I mean we're back together by some very odd circumstances, but…still."

Melody only sighed quietly. "But is it really worth going off and leaving Ben like that? I feel like I've abandoned my own brother."

For a minute, Lenny stared at her. "Why did you come back in the first place?"

"Because I was sick and tired of being a dang prisoner in my own house." Melody said tensely. "I just couldn't take it anymore!" She sighed and stared into the sky. "But then we had to abandon Ben and run off and now it doesn't seem like it was the right thing to do." She stared into the sky a moment longer, then closed her eyes with a frustrated groan. "Oh, I'm in so deep…" She sighed and covered her face with her fins in frustration. "I'm supposed to sing for Mr. Wallace tomorrow!"

Lenny rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Sheesh…you women. One moment you're so dead-set to go one way down the highway and the next…we're suddenly making a legal U-turn."

Melody smirked and backhanded him in the arm. "Shut up."

Lenny chuckled and they went back to staring up at the stars. After another quiet moment, though, Melody couldn't help but ask. "Seriously, though… D-Do you think we're doing the right thing here?"

"I dunno…" Lenny shrugged. "I followed you."

"…Do we even know where we're going?"

"Nope."

"Well…what about the West Reef? I'm sure there's places there."

Lenny shrugged. "Sure, why not? You know how to get there?"

"Well…no. Might have to ask someone for directions." She smirked. "Or are you one of those guys that would be forbidding me to do that?"

Lenny smiled. "Nahh, I'm not that type. There are many factors that qualify me as a typical stupid guy but that is not one of them."

Melody turned her head to look at him. "Oh, c'mon…" she gave a little smile, "you are without a doubt the most decent man I've ever known."

Lenny smiled with a scoff and rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Pfffft. Whatever…"

"No, I'm serious!" Melody smiled. "…Actually, I-I owe you a thanks."

Lenny looked up at her. "…For what?"

"For everything."

"What did I do?"

"A lot, Lenny. You know, you taught me that…I have to break away from what people want me to be. In this past month or so with you, I-I've felt things that I haven't felt since I was little. I've actually had fun, so…" She paused and glanced up at the sky for a minute, then looked back at him with a small smile. "…Thank you."

Lenny was speechless at first. He smiled a little. "Hey, nah, it was nothing. Actually, I uh, owe you thanks myself. I mean, sure, I've got a neat family and good friends, but until you came along, I never really had anybody that I've…uh…wellll…" he paused nervously when he realized he might've been going a little over the line. He cleared his throat. "Thanks." he said quickly.

They stared at each other. "…That whole exchange was just a little corny, wasn't it." Melody spoke up.

"…Uhh, yeah." A corner of Lenny's mouth went up in an embarrassed half-smile.

Melody giggled a little, but after a moment she quieted and gave a small sigh. "I just wish Ben would try to understand…"

"I'm sure he'll come around…"

Melody gave another sigh and stared up at the stars.

Lenny glanced over at her and saw her restlessness. With a bit of a smile, he tried to help her momentarily get her mind off the subject. "So…" he spoke up. "Answer me one question." He pointed up to a particular constellation in the sky, catching Melody's attention as he was hoping to. "That one up there, the Perseus guy. I call tell he's holding up a sword, but I never understood what he was doing with it."

Melody smiled and pointed up to a constellation in front of Perseus. "Well, you see that one up there that's in the shape of a woman? Her name is Andromeda."

Melody proceeded to tell the story and meaning of the two constellations.

It was late into the night already, but Lino was still wide-awake and waiting in his office. He had sent Joseph and one last team out to look for Lenny before calling it a night, and he hoped that they would come back with at least news of his son's whereabouts.

The opening of his office door caught his attention and he looked up to see Joseph come in.

"Any sign of 'im yet?" the mob boss immediately asked.

Joseph only frowned and shook his head. "Not yet… I tell ya, we've been searching everywhere, but we haven't found any trace of the boy anywhere."

Extremely worried, Lino put a fin to his forehead. "Darn that pup… I hope he's okay… We were just beginning to get along again."

"Don't worry, Peter." Joseph said gently and put a fin on his old friend's shoulder. "He's become a strong kid. He can take care of himself."

Lino sighed quietly and looked at the ground.

That following morning in the rock yard, Melody stirred awake. She opened her eyes to the bright morning rays that cut through the water. She looked she had been lying next to a large boulder and noticed there was a small pillow of kelp beneath her head. She sat up and peeked over the top of the boulder. On the other side, she saw Lenny lying on the bare ground on his stomach, fast asleep. Melody smiled. The guy tried so hard, even after an over-exhausting day of almost getting killed. And Melody just couldn't help but notice how adorable he looked when he was asleep on the ground in that particular position - lying partially on his stomach and partially on his side, barely curled up with his head slightly tilted at an odd angle and one of his fins lying right by his snout

She wasn't sure if she wanted to wake him up, at least not quite yet. Then again, it was high time they really discussed what exactly they were planning to do. One side of her was urging her to wake him for this reason. The other side did not want to touch him, he looked so adorable when he was sleeping like a baby. Eventually, though, she had to give in to the former.

With an amused smile, she reached out and tapped him on the arm. "Lenny…? Lenny."

The young shark wasn't budging one bit and just was sleeping right through it all.

"Leonard?" Melody sang and tapped him again. When he still wouldn't rouse, she had to thump her harder on the arm. "Lenny! Wake up."

"Mmph…" Lenny gave a small jolt, but then just rolled over. "Four more weeks, Mommy…"

Melody raised an eyebrow and shook her head. Yep, he was sleeping like a baby. She could try one more thing, however. It was a bit corny, but she'd always seen it work before, so it was worth a try.

Carefully, she leaned down towards him and pecked him right on the snout. Almost immediately, Lenny's bright green eyes sprung open and looked straight at her.

"Hey, it worked." Melody smirked. "Good morning."

"…Uh-huh." Lenny was gawking slightly.

"Okay, let's cut to the chase here with this."

"Uh-oh…" Lenny lowered an eyebrow. "You're a morning person, aren't you?"

Melody shook her head. "Lenny, ten in the morning can hardly be considered 'morning'."

"Mmph…" Lenny sat himself up and sighed. "Okay, I'm up… Now what's the problem?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Melody sighed. "I was thinking about it all last night."

"Thinking about what?"

"About running away…? Whether we should do it or not?"

Lenny looked at her, then glanced around at where they were still in the sand flats. "Uh…I think that's already been done?"

"Yeah—I know, but look. I'm supposed to be at the theater in seven hours to get ready for the festival. I-I mean, I really, really wanna do that, but…you know, you think it's even worth risking anymore?"

Lenny just stared at her, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh, boy…" Melody leaned her head back and dragged a fin over her face. "…All right, look…" She resolved. "Let's take a brief moment here and review our options… Scenario A: We don't go back. We no longer have to deal with every little bit of guff we're given by our families and we're free to do whatever and go wherever, whenever. We can spend the whole rest of our lives together."

It was most definitely a pleasant picture for both of them, but it was Lenny that broke the following silence with a scenario of his own.

"Okay…Scenario B… Say we stay out here, despite the discomforts we have about this whole thing. Becka gets mad at you because you just abandon the show without any notification. Ben and my dad's guys turn the reef upside-down looking for us. We manage to avoid them for the most part a couple of times, until the day comes that we aren't being as watchful as we should be and we get caught. Ben is furious with you and my dad is furious with me and it takes who knows how long to gain their trust back in us again. Both of us are put on constant watch to make sure the two of us never ever even get 100 yards from each other. And then what's left is two completely hurt and messed up people who keep on kicking themselves for not following their first instinct that running away wasn't a good idea."

Melody stared at him, then sighed. "…Man, you're depressing me."

Lenny mentally slapped himself. "I know, I know, I'm sorry, I just--"

"No, I-I understand…and you're completely right…"

The indecisive sharks just kept on tossing ideas back and forth for a while, and just couldn't seem to come to a final decision until Melody finally brought something up.

"…Ben's the only family I have left, Lenny… I-I want him to be there when I get married. I want him to be there when I have pups. A-And if you are the guy I end up marrying, I want your dad to be there for it too – I-I mean, I want to know him as if he were my own dad…"

Lenny nodded and sighed. "Well…at least we're coming to some kind of decision…"

"I'm so confused, Lenny…"

"I've moved from confused to utterly discombobulated by now."

Melody closed her eyes, sighed, and rubbed the back of her neck. Another moment of silence followed before she forced herself to open her eyes and talk again. "All right… So the scenario I'm hearing is this… We go back… We both return to our families and I make it to the theater before Becka goes into a tizzy… And though we stand the risk of being pulled apart, we just…have to accept that for what it is…and we just hope that maybe someday we'll run into each other again…soon."

Lenny slumped and winced to himself. He wasn't so sure he liked this idea anymore. "No, wait, g-go back to the one where you were talking about us going wherever, whenever-and-what-not!"

"Lenny…" Melody looked at him. "Let's be realistic. We thought that this moment of us being back together would be…well, like the triumphant moment we thought it would be. But…we went a little overboard trying to get here."

"No, w-we haven't!" Lenny desperately replied. "See, w-we can put the--"

"Lenny." Melody insisted. "…Look how many problems it's caused for us and everybody else. I mean aren't we being a bit…selfish and…irresponsible?"

Lenny looked at her for a moment and switched his eyes to the ground. He thought quietly for a long moment. Then, he sighed.

"I'm sorry." Melody said quietly and gripped his fins in her own. "…But I really feel like this is something we need to do."

Lenny nodded slightly. "…Yeah… I know I still need to work things out with your brother, but I just… I don't know if I can do it…"

Melody looked down to where she was still holding his fins. She had always been taught that running away from her problems never solved them, and this ordeal with Ben was no exception. They both had to face it. She looked back up at Lenny"…I'll go with you."

There was noticeable insecurity and fear in Lenny's eyes and he could barely look at her. "I don't know what'll happen…"

"It's okay…" Melody smiled gently, gripping his fins tighter. "You never know, this might work out after all."

Lenny finally looked at her for a moment. She sounded so sure. Glancing at the ground again, he remembered what it was that Oscar had told him: "Anything's worth giving up for someone who really needs you".

Here was Melody, now offering to back him up in this. He knew Ben had been holding his sister back from a lot, and he could maybe, just maybe help him to see that. He stood the chance of endangering his very life against Ben, but at the same he knew that if there was one person worth the risk, it was Melody.

Finally deciding it was time to man up and take the chance, he took a deep breath and looked up at Melody. "…Okay."

Melody smiled gratefully at him. Without a word, she suddenly threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. A little taken aback at first, Lenny blinked. Eventually though, he smiled a little and hugged tightly back. They pulled back from the hug and looked at each other. "I hope we know what we're doing." Melody smiled a bit.

"Yeah…me too." Lenny said.

They took each other's fin and swam back for Ben's house boat.

The journey back was considerably silent, mainly out of tension. All the two could really think about were all the things that could happen once they got to Ben. The duality of it all made them dizzy with anxiety, and they held fins tightly the whole way.

Once they were back near the reef, they looked up and saw the house boat not very far away. Lenny slowly breathed out uneasily. "Uh, boy… This isn't gonna be easy…" he told Melody. "Both of us have a lot of explaining to do."

"Tell me about it, Lenny." a voice suddenly sneered from behind, causing both of them to come to a quick stop. Then, after a still moment, Lenny yelled in surprise as he felt somebody grab his tail with their teeth and yank him back fiercely.

"Lenny!!" Melody yelled.

TBC…

Song used: "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol