Bella ran out of Will's house and did the first thing she could think of. She jumped off the dock. When she hit the water, it didn't take long for her to transform. She felt her heart drop when she heard a splash come from behind her. She knew it was Will.

…

Will ran out of the house straight after Bella. He saw her dive in to the water.

He knew it. He knew whatever huge secret Bella was hiding had to do with water. And now, he was going to find out just what it was. He didn't hesitate to jump of the dock after her.

He dove beneath the surface and sunk down in the water. He opened his eyes and blinked at the salt water. There seemed to be bubbles surrounding the entire area. Will swam forward and let the water clear, wondering what had happened to Bella.

Finally when the water did clear, ahead he saw what looked like a girl swimming that he instantly determined was Bella. There was just one thing. Where her legs should be, a tail was in their place.

A tail.

Bella was a mermaid.

Will's mouth hung open, filling it with saltwater. He couldn't believe his eyes. Everything was blurry underwater. Maybe he was seeing things. But he knew more in his heart than in his mind that this wasn't the case.

…

Bella felt her body go cold when she sensed Will behind her. She stopped swimming and swam around to face him.

His face showed more shock than she had expected. They just stared at each other for a few seconds. Bella tried to manage an explanatory smile, but failed. None of the shock left Will's face.

Bella didn't know what to do. She couldn't face him, not like this. She made a snap decision, one that probably wasn't very good for her, but she didn't care. She swam around and started swimming the other way, away from Will, away from her most feared problem that was now at hand.

She didn't want to look back. She didn't want to face Will and see what he did, didn't want to face his shock or give an explanation.

This was a really bad idea.

…

After Will's initial shock, he started to see her swimming away. Away? What was she doing?

He couldn't let that happen. Will wanted answers. He just got the one he needed but now he needed so many more. And she was swimming away from him.

No. He wouldn't have it. He made a snap decision of his own. He started swimming after her.

He swam fast, and despite the fact that she was an actual mermaid, he caught up to her. As he got closer and closer to her, his mind filled with awe at the sight of a mermaid, but he knew he couldn't think about that now. He had to focus on keeping her with him.

He swam up beside her. She turned her head and saw him. Her eyes went wide. She tried to swim faster.

Her attempt was futile. Will kept pace with her. He had to get her to stop. He took his arm and wrapped it around her waist. He shuddered and tensed when he felt her scales and tail against his skin, but he didn't let go. He got a grip on her and held her there.

Bella struggled against him with all she had, but his grip didn't waver. It only made him hold on to her tighter. While she was still struggling, Will began to kick and swim towards the surface. Bella didn't want that to happen. She struggled harder and kicked her tail more. She tried to pull his arms off of her, but she couldn't. Finally, despite her attempts at freeing herself, they broke the surface.

They both breathed deeply at the realization of air. Even while they were up, Will didn't let go. He held Bella there against his body, so tightly that she almost couldn't move. She wasn't going anywhere.

Will finally caught his breath. "Bella," he spoke her name. He had no idea what to say after that.

"Will, let me go!" she yelled at him. She tried to pull free again, but ceased soon knowing there was nothing she could do.

"No!" he yelled back, almost too forcefully considering her was trying to reason with her. "Not until you tell me what's going on." He made his tone more gentle.

"Will!" she argued. Despite her attitude, she was really feeling nothing more than fear inside of her, and her impulse to get out of the situation rather than making any smart decision was overtaking her. She felt tears burn in the back of her eyes.

"Bella," Will tried more gently yet. "Just relax. Please."

The tone in Will's voice actually made Bella relax. She released all the tension that was built up in her and just let him hold her. They just floated in the water. The fear left her for a moment.

But it came back as quick as it had left. "Let me go," she repeated, her voice still carrying subtle malice. She tensed again.

"No," Will repeated himself. "Not until I get some answers from you."

He was more calm than Bella had expected him to be. He even surprised himself. For a minute Bella thought it might be ok, but she wouldn't let herself think anything quite yet. She was in quite a compromising position. The thought of it worried her more and more to a point where she couldn't think straight. She was terrible under stress, and there was no bigger stress that she thought she could feel than at a time like this.

She took a deep breath. Will kept his grip on her and began swimming towards the dock. Bella's stomach dropped as he did and she finally felt the tears that had been building up in her eyes pour down her cheeks. She thanked God that she was wet and that her tears wouldn't be noticeable. Her puffy eyes and red face are what she would have to explain. But that was the least of her concerns right then.

Will put one of his arms up on the dock for support and sighed. "If I let go of you, are you going to swim away?" he asked, his other arm still clamped around her waist.

"Probably," she responded. At least she was honest.

"Bella…" Will tried. He didn't know what to say to reassure her because there were a million things going through his head. He didn't know what to think. He just found out that Bella is a mermaid. His head seemed to be spinning at a thousand miles an hour. "Just, please… relax. I'm not going to hurt you."

Bella didn't know if she could believe him. For months now, Will had been researching and preparing exactly what led up to this. And now he wasn't going to do anything about it? It didn't seem likely. "Will, let me go." Her voice was shaky.

"No, Bella," Will said in a way that was firm but also gentle. "You need to talk to me about this."

She sighed and shook her head, still shaky overall. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" she asked.

He shook his head even though she couldn't see it. "Not now," he said. "Not at this point."

Bella sighed again. She didn't know what to do. Should she try to escape again? She thought it would be pointless at that point. Even if she did, Will still knew her secret. Any hasty decision she made could lead to her demise. She couldn't let this get anymore out of hand than it already was.

Will became careful. "Bella," he said. "I'm going to let go. Please, don't swim away."

Bella took a breath, weighing her options as she felt Will's grip loosen around her waist. Should she swim away? She sighed, knowing it really wasn't an option.

His arm slipped back from around her waist, almost releasing her but catching and holding her wrist instead. He used his other arm to support himself, raising himself out of the water to come sitting on the edge of the dock, feet hanging over the water and leaning down still holding Bella's wrist.

When Will finally saw that Bella wasn't going to move, a sense of relief came over him, like his mind slowed down a little, narrowing possibilities. He regained the capability to think clearly and on his feet.

Bella had still felt the initial fear she had before, her body rigid and tense and her face hard. Her breaths had started to even out more and the panic started to disperse, but she was nowhere near calm. Will saw this in her and squeezed her wrist reassuringly. For the first time, she looked up and met his gaze with helpless eyes. "It's ok," he said. "I promise you're ok."

Will reached down in to the water and took Bella's other wrist in his other hand. She didn't resist. He shifted his legs to stand on his knees and shifted his hands further up her arms for grip as he slowly began to pull her out of the water, standing up as she emerged further and further.

When she was out of the water, he laid her back on the dock. Bella sat up somewhat and supported herself on her elbows. Her stomach dropped again, knowing she was completely vulnerable to what Will was seeing of her right then.

Will slowly bent down next to Bella. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Bella, a mermaid, transformed by water? It was unreal. It answered so much but then raised so many more questions. How is this even possible? And almost as foremost on his mind, how did it connect to Mako Island?

"Bella…" he says, stuttering through his words as he stared in awe at the mermaid in front of him. "H-how is this possible?"

Bella shook her head and let out a distressed sigh, feeling completely vulnerable and insecure in front of Will's eyes as she laid there. She didn't know how to handle this. It was overwhelming, too stressful for her to think clearly and straight. She kept hoping in her mind that this was a dream, a nightmare…. But she sadly knew that this wasn't true.

Bella tried to get back to the water, to escape and handle this later, to go to Mako Island and just think it through. It occurred to her that the first place Will would look for her would be Mako Island, but she'd worry about that later. She just wanted to get out of there.

She tried to push herself towards the edge of the dock with her arms, her tail helping her slide against the coarse wood. Will quickly stopped this from happening. He grabbed her arm and lurched her back. "Bella, please stop!" She was getting him frustrated now. She seemed so set on the fact that he was planning something for her, to even hurt her. Did she really think he would do that to her?

He tried to think logically and know it was nothing personal. Imagine being in her place. He'd probably be just as fearful as she is, not to mention as keen to escape. "Bella, I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to assure her the best he could. "I just want to talk to you."

Their struggle between the land and the water was interrupted by a shrill voice. "Will!" it called out. "Are you here?" Will's heart sank.

Sophie.

Will panicked and so did Bella. Bella fought harder than ever, but Will still didn't let her go. He was torn between keeping Bella with him and protecting her from Sophie. What should he do?

He needed her to stay. He couldn't let her slip away when he was so close to finding out answers.

He also knew he couldn't let Sophie see Bella this way. Sophie didn't like Bella already. This would just make her despise her more. She would look at her as a complete gold mine. And although Will didn't want to think of his sister this way, he knew it was true.

"Will!" Bella whispered, desperately in distress. "Let me go!"

He figured it out. He made a snap decision and reached down for her waist. "Trust me," he said.

Holding tight to Bella, he pushed towards the edge of the dock with the two of them and they went off the edge. They went in and sunk down with a gentle splash. Will held tightly to Bella's waist and they kicked under the dock.

In the safety of the underwater shadows, Will and Bella hid from Sophie. It was hard to judge whether she was still there, where she was, and what she was saying because they were underwater. They truly couldn't hear or see anything. It made Will feel relief.

After about five minutes, which was easy for both of them to hold their breath, Will started to slowly have them float towards the surface. Bella was alarmed; if Sophie was still up there, she was in trouble. She fought harder than ever, but to no avail as Will clutched her waist with a death grip.

When they finally broke the surface, they did so very gently and cautiously. They both stayed silent as the just floated on the surface. Will carefully peeked his head more above the water to get a good look around the property. It seemed deserted. No noise. "It's safe…" he told Bella to his and her somewhat relief.

They swam over to the dock again and Will supported himself up then pulled Bella out as they did before. Will sighed and felt his tension build up as he saw Bella in front of him again.

Bella was starting to become accepting of what was happening. She felt terrible about what was happening, she wished it wasn't, but she accepted that it was happening and that she had to deal with it, whether she liked it or not. She took a deep breath and braced for the worst.

Will did a double take back behind him and towards the areas he can't see just to be safe, but no signs of Sophie's fiery red-head were anywhere. The brought him a bit of relief and ease.

He was speechless. Bella, a mermaid. He still couldn't wrap his head around the idea. How? "So…." he starts uneasily. "How do we…..change you…. back?"

Bella's worried eyes showed. She sighed and giave him the answer. "Dry," she said steadily. "I need to be dry."

Will nodded. He quickly stumbled to his feet and jogged towards his house. Sitting by the door, there was two beach towels. He grabbed them off the step and went back to Bella. He bent down beside her. "Here," he said as he handed her one of the towels. "Will this do?"

She nodded and took the towel from him. She takes it and starts to dry the water from her arms and shoulders. Will reached out his own towel towards her tail, but then awkwardly draws it back away from her and recoils. He looks to Bella with uncertainty.

Bella nodded at him, trying to make her face less tense and softer. "You're right," she said softly. "You just dry it."

With hesitancy, Will reached the towel forward and began drying off Bella's tail, brushing and absorbing the water off of her scales. Bella's tail gleamed in the sunlight as Will stared in awe.

Finally, Bella became completely dry. Her change back occurred, the magic engulfing her as her legs return. Will stared in amazement as his mouth hung open. This is too much.

"Uh..." Will sort of stuttered as he got to his feet and brushed off his hands together. He reached out his hand to Bella to help her to her feet. She took it, still feeling nervous and a bit shaken up.

Will guided Bella by the small of her back towards his boat shed. "Come on..." he said. "You have a lot of explaining to do..."

Bella gulped.

I know there probably wasn't this much time in between when they jumped in the water and when they were in Will's house, (if you go by that small scene of Cleo and Rikki talking...) but it was just a little one shot idea I had.

I hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading! :)

-Colemet