"But are you sure it's ok with you?" Cleo asked Lewis for the tenth time as they walked to the reasearch lab that morning.

"Of course." Lewis kept his eyes on the pavement in front of him as he walked, doing his best to keep his tone light. "I want you to be happy, Cleo."

"I know, I just want to make sure you're happy too." Cleo grabbed ahold of his hand as they walked. "But you're positive it's ok with you if I go ahead to wait for you back home in Australia?"

Lewis swallowed hard. He hadn't told Cleo that the lecture tour was cancelled if she didn't accompany him, the whole thing make him sick. "Just get your things packed. Don't worry about me."

Cleo heard a slightly sad tone in Lewis's voice, causing a lump of guilt to rise in her chest. For the hundredth time she second guessed her decision. Still, she and Lewis prided themselves on their level of honesty with one another. He wouldn't tell her to go if her really didn't want her to, right?

"Ok." Cleo pecked him on the lips. She watched as he walked into his building, waiting for him to wave goodbye before starting back towards home. In spite of everything, she was really excited. She had several phone calls to make.

"Mr. McArtney, I'm glad you stopped by." Mr. Kemp looked up from his computer as Lewis walked into his office.

"Listen, Mr. Kemp, you've got to let me explain." Lewis began without hesitation. "I've been researching mermaids for almost five years now. I've got data on all four mermaids, with varying results on each of them, and I have information no one else has ever had access to. Even without Cleo, I am still the most educated on the subject of mer life and I am willing to work my ass off to prove it to you. This is all I've wanted and-"

"Lewis, please." Mr. Kemp interrupted, gesturing for Lewis to have a seat across from him. He waited until Lewis had taken the chair before taking a deep breath to speak.

Lewis swallowed hard, praying for a miracle.

"You're a brilliant scientist." Mr. Kemp spoke gently. "One of the finest I've come across. And I've seen your notes. Your research is... well, it's visionary. Your work with the mermaids has opened up fields of science I didn't think I'd see in my lifetime." He paused, examining his folded hands before continuing. "That said... without a mermaid as part of your lecture, I'm afraid this institute cannot justify the type of lecture tour we were planning. The bottom line is that people don't care about scientific research. They want to see some fins. I'm sorry for being so blunt, son."

"No... it's alright." Lewis said sullenly. He stood, extending a hand to Mr. Kemp. "Thank you for seeing me, sir."

"We still want you to do the tour." Mr. Kemp shook his hand firmly. "If Cleo changes her mind, please let me know immediately."

Lewis nodded before turning to walk out of the large office. He wanted to punch a wall, but he used every ounce of self control to stay composed.

Mr. Kemp watched as the door swung closed behind Lewis, then reached for the phone. He dialed it quickly, waiting for the other line to pick up. "Hello, Baringer? Kemp here." He toyed with his watch as he spoke. "I've just had a meeting with Lewis McArtney. He's told me something rather interesting. You know the mermaids, yes? Right, Rikki Chadwick, Cleo Sertori, and Isabella Hartley. Well..." A smile played at the corner of Mr. Kemp's mouth. "Apparently there's a fourth. Yes, that's right. There's a fourth mermaid."

"I'm telling you, Zane. They recognized me within the first ten minutes." Rikki propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at Zane.

Zane groaned as he turned over in the bed, rolling over to look back at her. "You're being silly." He said sleepily. "They were just teasing you."

"No, they weren't." Rikki pinched him slightly. "This guy, Kurt, was talking all about the mermaids. He knew each of our names, he knew where we all were-"

"Except you." Zane put in.

"Right." Rikki agreed reluctantly. "Except me. But then this other guy, Dan, he knew what I looked like. He told me to take off my glasses."

"Look." Zane took her hand in his, rubbing her knuckles gently with his thumb. "It will look way more suspicious if you work one day, then disappear the second someone mentions mermaids. Right?"

"Zane..." Rikki shook her head. "I just have a bad feeling. I don't think my disguise is fooling anyone."

"If that were the case we'd have news crews knocking on the door as we speak." Zane said matter of factly. "Just try one more day. If you really feel uncomfortable then you can come up with some bogus reason to get yourself fired or something." He kissed her hand gently. "We're both just really paranoid. But we've done a good job, Rik. No one knows who we are."

"Ok." Rikki nodded, still not sure she felt good about this. She leaned in for a kiss, then climbed out of the bed.

The office was bustling as Rikki walked inside that morning. She took her seat behind the front desk, looking around carefully to see if anyone was pointing at her.

"Brittany!" A voice came from just behind her, making Rikki jump.

Rikki turned around quickly, ready to defend herself.

"Hey, sorry I scared you." Sasha held her hands up, laughing at Rikki's reaction. "I was just saying good morning."

Rikki sat, frozen, as she tried to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as she forced a smile onto her face. "Right. Good morning. Sasha, right?"

"You got it." Sasha leaned across Rikki's desk, fishing through the candy bowl in front of her. "How are you liking it here so far?"

"Oh, it's... fine." Rikki finished lamely.

"Yeah, it's super boring." Sasha laughed as she popped a blueberry sucker into her mouth. "But the people are all pretty cool. See you at lunch?"

"Um, maybe." Rikki didn't want to commit to anything yet. She cast an anxious eye around the office, checking for Dan. No sign of him so far.

"I'll see you there." Sasha didn't appear to have heard Rikki's answer. "Have a nice day, Brit."

"You too." Rikki collapsed over her desk, still working to catch her breath.

"What's gotten into you?" Zane asked with a grin, watching as Rikki shoveled food into her mouth.

"I didn't have lunch today." Rikki said though a mouthful of half chewed hamburger. "I'm starving."

"Why didn't you eat?" Zane wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tightly.

"I'm playing the hard working, eager beaver type." Rikki shoved another bite of burger into her mouth. "So I don't have to face Dan again."

"So you didn't take a lunch break today." Zane nodded.

"Right." Rikki swallowed. "And it was fine! No one said a word to me about mermaids."

"And you're starved." Zane laughed as he watched her eating.

"I'll live." Rikki raised her shoulders. "But I do think this job might work out. I mean-"

The doorbell rang, cutting her off.

Both Rikki's and Zane's eyes flew open at the sound. They stared at the door, waiting for whoever was waiting outside to walk away.

"Brittany?" A voice called from the other side of the door. "Are you in there?"

Shakily, Rikki moved towards the front door and reached for the knob. Zane silently motioned for her to step back, reaching in front of her to open the door.

"Uh, hey." A very confused Dan stood one the other side of the front door. "The boss asked me to drop off these pages for Brittany to collate, so..." He awkwardly held out the box, shooting Zane a confused look. "You must be the... boyfriend?"

"Brother!" Rikki said brightly as she stepped in front of Zane. "This is my brother, Chris. Chris, this is Dan from the office." She made a face at Zane, willing him to go along with her story as she took the heavy box from Dan.

"Hey, man." Dan shook Zane's hand. "Don't work too hard." He grinned at Rikki. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, he turned on his heel and walked down the path towards his car.

"Your brother?" Zane asked incredulously as he shut the door behind Dan.

"I'm sorry!" Rikki shook her hands frantically. "It's just, he's the one who thought I looked so much like me, like Rikki, and it's common knowlege that Rikki Chadwick is with Zane Bennett, and I didn't want him to recognise you and put two and two together, and I just... panicked." She let out a long exhale, trying not to shake too much with adrenaline.

"Ok then." Zane said simply. "I guess that's that."

Bella dried herself carefully, waiting for her legs to reappear before standing up and brushing herself off. She'd spent the whole day giving shows at the marine park for Laurie, and she was exhausted.

"Bella, I'm glad I caught you." Laurie jogged up to her, reaching down to help her get to her feet. "I want to introduce you to an old friend of mine. This is-"

"Marie." The smiling blonde took a step forward, extending her hand for Bella to shake.

"Marie." Bella smiled at the vaguely familiar face. She'd seen her before somewhere, hadn't she? "I'm Bella."

"It's so nice to meet you, Bella." Marie grinned somewhat stiffly back at her. "I used to work here at the park, Laurie said he wouldn't mind introducing us. I hope I'm not imposing on your time."

"Not at all." Bella took a step back, looking around for Will. "You know... I could swear we've met before. You look so familiar."

"So do you." Marie said with a laugh. "But I suppose that's because you're a celebrity."

"Yeah, maybe." Bella couldn't shake the feeling that she knew the girl in front of her, but she just couldn't place her. Will appeared at her side, apologizing for being late. "It's nice to meet you." She nodded at Marie before walking off towards the locker room with Will.

"Marie?" Ash frowned as he approached the blonde. His hands were shoved deeply into his pockets as he leaned against the metal railing.

"It's my middle name." Emma said bitterly.

"Ah, I was wondering!" Laurie laughed heartily, slapping Ash lightly on the back. "I'll see you tomorrow, yes?"

"You betcha." Emma replied, watching as Laurie walked back towards the main gate. She turned back to Ash, who was waiting for an explanation.

"I thought you were mad at her." He asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"I'm not mad at her." Emma walked casually back towards their car. "I'm... mad at all three of them. But it seems like they've kept me a secret. I mean, no one seems to have any idea that I'm" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "That I'm a mermaid too."

"Right." Ash nodded. "So what are you doing with Laurie?"

"He's offered me a job as park supervisor." Emma smiled confidently. "And I'm going to take it."

"Are you sure that's smart?" Ash asked worriedly. "I mean, just a splash of water at the wrong time..."

"I'll be fine." Emma shot him a sharp look. "I just want to make sure no one knows about me. This is my home, I don't want to have to constantly wonder if I'm about to be discovered."

"Fair enough." Ash held her tightly. "Don't worry. It seems like they've all done a pretty good job keeping you a secret."

"I'm sorry work went so late today." Bella apologized as she set her purse down. "Thank you for waiting."

"It's no problem." Will seemed preoccupied as he hung his keys on the hook beside the door.

"But..." Bella smiled brightly. "I have all day off tomorrow. And I want to spend the whole twenty four hours with you." She pulled Will's face towards hers for a kiss.

"Bella..." Will pulled away abruptly. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yes?" Bella's heart stopped for a beat as she looked at the expression on Will's face.

Will's voice sounded strained as he finally spoke. "I need a break. Bella..." He had a pained look on his face as he took her hand in his. "I'm not sure I can do this anymore."