Yeah I hated Charlotte too, but I'm a sucker for second chances.

Once A Mermaid:

Forgiveness

"Charlotte?" the red haired ex-mermaid whirled around at the sound of her name. Cleo stood there, Rikki and Emma a few steps behind her. Cleo was fiddling with a small box.

"Cleo?" Charlotte shifted her weight from foot to foot, waiting for one of the girls to speak.

"We came to see you off, and well, about what happened we haven't really talked about-"

"I'm sorry," Charlotte's word stopped Cleo mid sentence. "Look, I understand that you three did the right thing, I got a bit crazy with the-"

"A bit? Try a lot." Rikki's quip stung Charlotte who shut her eyes, took a steadying breath, opened her eyes and continued.

"Alright, a got a lot crazy. I'm sorry about that and I'm sorry for trying to steal Lewis, I just… I don't know, I wanted what you had and I wanted to be loved by a great guy and I wanted to be special." Charlotte's breath was becoming ragged as emotion gripped her throat.

"Charlotte," Cleo stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the distressed teen. "It's okay, we forgive you, what you did was wrong, but maybe you're not really a bad person." Charlotte returned the hug and she closed her eyes again as the other two girls joined the hug.

"We've been thinking over the past few days," Emma spoke quietly in Charlotte's ear. "Maybe we didn't try as hard as we should have, maybe it was just bad timing."

"Yeah," Rikki added," Maybe you just weren't ready for your powers." Charlotte chuckled, ironically feeling accepted by the group for the first time.

"It's okay; I get it, three powers three mermaids. I've been thinking a lot lately too and I realise that you three didn't get your powers by accident, I think destiny put you three in the moon pool that night. You guys deserved your powers because you were given them, I took mine." The four girls loosened their grip on one another, Cleo smiled at Charlotte.

"Maybe, but for a little while you were one of us," Cleo put the small box she'd been holding in Charlotte's hand. "Maybe when you get back we can start over, the right way this time." Charlotte stared at the box in confusion.

"Well?" Rikki poked Charlotte in the shoulder.

"Aren't you going to open it?" Emma asked. Carefully Charlotte open the box, her breath caught in her throat when she saw the contents.

"My own locket?" Charlotte looked at Cleo who nodded. Charlotte ran her finger over the purple jewel set at the top of the locket. Carefully she turned the locket over and felt the crescent moon etched in the back. A quiet 'thank you' slipped from her lips as she let Cleo put it in place.

"We asked Max to make it for you." Emma explained.

"Once a mermaid always a mermaid." Rikki added with a small laugh. The four teens shared another hug which was interrupted when Charlotte's flight was called over the P.A.

"I'll see you three in a month." A few requests for postcards later Charlotte was boarding the plane for the Gulf.

The mermaid trio watched as their former foe and sister left.

"So we've forgiven her," Rikki said, "I wonder when she'll forgive herself."

"When she'd ready," Emma responded. Cleo said nothing, a sense of peace and joy settling over her, she had been hurt the most by Charlotte's rampage but on some level, she understood her and she was glad that the damage that they had done to each other was finally beginning to heal, after all, everyone deserved a second chance and forgiveness was the first step.

This is NOT a one shot, you don't like it? DEAL WITH IT by not reading. doesn't bother me either way.