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Waverly lived on the beautiful Pearlborn Bay. She'd been there most of her life, in the ocean air. With the coastal views, and the daily bustle of sailors and fishermen and leisure boaters.
Her home was typical, really, for such a place. Quaint, and minimalistic, and always a little disorganised and scattered with Waverly’s belongings, and those of her nearest and dearest.
Perfectly normal.
Except for just one, minor, insignificant difference, in that it was… well, it was in the sea.
It was by the bay, but just kind of the other side to what any human might have assumed.
But that was to be expected, really, because Waverly wasn't human.
Not yet, anyway. As much as she spent every day wishing and hoping and dreaming that she could be.
Waverly curled herself a little tighter onto her favourite rock, beneath the arch of coral and stone that sheltered her from the colder riptides. She turned her locket over in her fingers, her eyes tracing the intricate patterns carved into the object's surface.
Waverly knew that this was a locket. She knew from legends and tales and songs that had passed over generations of her pod's ancestors. She knew from the sheer number of shipwrecked treasures that had yielded such similar items. She knew from the deep, embedded obsession with human life that Waverly had held for most of her existence.
And with her obsession had come research. And fantasies. And determination.
This locket had landed in her bay just a year or so ago. Had just simply been upon the sea bed one morning, drifting aimlessly with the tide. Waverly had scooped it instantly, enthralled as she always was with the world of humans, and what it might hold. She had hoped the jewellery might hold a smiling face. A man, or a woman, locked into place in a yearning human's heart and placed entombed over their chest as they sailed the rough seas in search of a better life. Maybe even a tightly folded letter of love. A tale of something long lost and sought after ever since.
But it was just a dog.
A blonde coloured dog, with a drooping tongue, and giant ears.
Waverly had never really understood humans and their dogs. The way they just trapped them, and put clothes on them, and made them live beneath them in a dwelling not designed to let them do things for themselves.
It had always seemed a little odd, to enslave something and then claim to love it.
Really weird obsession.
But she kept the locket anyway.
Because the dog was wearing a Christmas hat, and whilst Waverly didn't love the idea of animals in clothes, she did love the idea of Christmas. Of the songs, and the lights, and the gathering of human pods, and the festivities that she could always hear across the bay if she lay her ear along the ocean surface in the right wind.
One day Waverly would have a human Christmas.
She didn't know how yet.
Her research hadn't gotten her that far.
But she knew it. One day she would.
She sighed, groaning softly as the familiar lullaby of her pod's siren song rang out above her, and she grimaced as she turned wary eyes up to the water’s surface.
If there was one thing Waverly and her pod knew best about human life, it was how to distinguish a boat. How to tell the size and the style, and even the purpose from the shadowy outline of the hull in the waves.
This one was a leisure boat. A motor boat.
A yacht, quite specifically.
Small, sleek, and from Waverly’s extensive research of the human world, expensive.
Waverly rolled her eyes, pulling herself back beneath her coral arch just to save her eyes from what she knew would come next.
That siren song was Mercedes' voice. Which meant things were about to get unpleasant for the unsuspecting human at the helm of that boat.
Waverly's pod mainly ate fish and sea plants. Most merpeople did these days. Humans weren't hunted for food, and they were rarely hunted for sport, really. There were always fishing boats in the bay and for the most part her pod just ignored them. Simply stayed below them, and sure, sometimes they cut the nets they lowered, and sometimes they'd overturn a boat or two that was taking more than its fair share, but otherwise they left the humans alone.
Unless they were in yachts.
Wynonna and Mercedes were much less tolerable of a lone man on a pretentious motor boat.
Lure them in, eat the rich, all that jazz. Then there was the curse. The legend, that if a human saw you and escaped, you’d die a painful death.
The legend that was bullshit anyway.
And Waverly wasn’t interested in that.
There was only one boat she looked out for.
And she knew by the direction of the tide, and the rays of light across the surface of the bay that it wouldn't be long from now that it would come. As it did every day. As it had every day for the past six turns of the moon.
She tucked her locket away, beneath the sea moss and the barnacles that would shield it from prying eyes. She took a deep breath, her gills flaring harshly as she fought to ignore the drifting scent of blood from above her as she pushed herself up and out of her coral hideout.
She gritted her jaw, keeping her eyes focused as she swam past the struggling man tied in the seaweeds, and headed for the surface.
She always hated this.
She always thought of the lockets. What if this man was the smiling face in some other human's jewelled heart? Another tale of long lost love being written in the murky, metallic water.
It always made Waverly feel sick. And today was no different.
"Honestly, bitch, I'm not even hungry." Mercedes' voice echoed through the water as Waverly passed. "He was just a dick."
"He was a dick," Wynonna agreed, half harsh and half amused. "At least eat his?"
Waverly couldn't help the glance at her sister. She knew Wynonna was softer than the others in the pod, and she really wished her sister would leave the humans alone.
She shook her head as she caught Wynonna’s eye. Wynonna smiled softly, shrugging apologetically, and Waverly rolled her eyes as she swept past.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she broke the surface of the water, and felt the dim rays of sun as they warmed her skin.
It was December, so it was by no means warm, but the clean air always felt glistening over Waverly’s waterlogged skin, and she would never grow tired of the way it dried her, prickling tight over her chest and the scales of her tail. She would never grow tired of the way the light looked as it bounced from the water, shining diamonds in the waves that disappeared the moment she fell below the surface. She would never grow tired of the colours of the world above the ocean. Greens and blues so much brighter than any she saw below. The sand so much more golden, and the rocks so much more dramatic.
She wanted to live up here. She always had. For as long as she could remember, Waverly had wanted to be human.
She didn't like the water and the dark, and the salt in her hair and the rubbery scales on her skin. She didn't like the distance from the shore, and the muting of the colours, and the way even the warmest of water always felt a little cold.
She wanted to be human.
Like her.
Like the beautiful woman on the kayak that had paddled the bay every day for the past six turns of the moon.
The kayak making its way out now, from the mouth of the river and across the bay. Headed straight in Waverly’s direction.
She darted down, swimming westward in the direction of the rocks to the side of the bay. Somewhere she could hide, and watch the red of the woman’s hair from above the surface of the water.
Waverly was fascinated by her.
Infatuated, completely, with everything about the strange human who kayaked the winter waters.
She fantasised about her, all the time. About luring her. Touching her.
But she didn't very much like the idea of drowning her. Or eating her. The only two real options once a human is lured and dropped beneath the waves.
Which was why Waverly really would much rather be human herself. Then she could just flirt, like a normal person.
She grinned as the kayak came into full view, and she buried herself a little tighter behind the rocks. A lot of the sailors and yachtsmen that her pod lured looked so put together. Intimidating, almost, in a weird human kind of way.
But this woman looked so gentle, and soft, and yet somehow also so strong. Waverly loved the cute little hat shoved over the red tousles of hair, and the padded bundles of clothing almost restricting the woman’s movement. And she loved the stinging red flush of her cheeks, and the fact that this human kayaked the bay even though it was fucking freezing and noone else would ever dream of such a ridiculous thing in mid December.
Waverly hung onto the bottom of the kayak most days, just to follow her human around.
She was pretty sure the woman had never noticed.
Though she had looked down once, and capsized herself.
Waverly had fled as fast as possible, and felt desperately guilty for the next thirty changes of the tide.
But ever since then, Waverly had been happily following her human around, falling in love wordlessly from beneath the ocean.
With the way she looked, of course, but also with the breathless, tuneless singing, and the look of awe in her eyes, and the crease in her brow when the water got rougher and she had to work harder.
Sometimes Waverly helped her out.
She'd saved her life last week, but the human didn't need to know that.
Waverly dipped beneath the water, swimming zig zags as she made her way closer to the kayak. The human used to paddle the bay for hours, back when the air was warm and the sun would dry the mist from her clothes. More recently, she'd barely lasted an hour, and Waverly wanted to get as close as she could, while she could.
She hovered close enough to hear the grunts of effort, and see the bob and sway of the woman’s shoulders as she worked the paddle.
Waverly felt more restless than usual today. She didn't know why. Maybe the knowledge of the sailor in the waters beneath her, or maybe the bitterness in the December air, or maybe the fact that the human seemed restless too.
The air was cold, and the sea was rough, and the human's grunts of exertion were heavier than Waverly had heard them yet, and she knew the kayak would be turning back to the bay in just minutes today. The woman’s sweet face was wind burned and bluer around the lips than Waverly was used to, and the crease between her brows held frustration, and she was trying more than usual to see beneath the surface of the water.
Waverly hoped she wasn’t looking for the yachter.
She felt her heart sink when not twenty minutes later, the human's face fell resigned, and she began to turn back towards the shore and the mouth of the river.
And something twisted in Waverly's stomach.
She was restless, and she hadn't had enough.
She didn't want to go back to the pod, and the sailor, and the blood, and the dark salty water. She didn't want to wait another turn of the tides before she would see her favourite face again.
She wanted to stay here, with this human who made her feel warm and alive.
She waited in the bay for a short while, letting aimless flicks of her tail guide her motion. She watched the sun move, passing the minutes to an hour.
Then she made a decision.
Fuck it.
She knew which way the kayak came from. She watched it enough. She knew where the mouth of the river led, down into the human towns and the open arms of danger.
She'd been told enough. Warned enough. Told stories of mermaids caught in nets, hauled onto docks, and hung on display for humans to awe over their corpses forevermore.
But Waverly’s human wasn't like that. They were just stories, she was sure of it. Waverly’s human was soft, and sweet, and she would be waiting along the river for her in that damned blue kayak.
Waverly knew it.
So she swam. She followed the mouth of the river down, where she'd never been allowed to go. Through the narrowing of the waters, and the warmer currents, and the change in the fish and the weeds. Until she reached the strangest of lands. A river bank, on which a wooden dock stood proud beside a bustling town.
A little market place, full of Christmas lights and music and festivities, and humans!
And Waverly’s human.
Dressed now in something very strange, that if Waverly’s prior research was correct, was supposed to resemble the legend of a Christmas elf?
Waverly’s human wandered the little market square along the riverside, calling out in her soft, sweet voice, and rattling a tin with a printed photo of a sea turtle.
Waverly had heard about this. The way humans would collect money for things.
It seemed like a nice thing to do. And the turtles did have a really ridiculous tendency to keep getting those damned straws stuck in their noses.
Waverly’s chest was pounding, her excitement pulling her closer to the river banks as she strained to hear the words, and smell the smells.
There were so many humans!
And they all look a lot less unsteady on land.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nicole was fairly sure she was losing her mind.
Primarily because she was absolutely certain there was a mermaid following her kayak.
And she’d lived on the bay long enough to hear the rumours, but she was also not a lunatic and she knew mermaids weren't real.
Except the one that she was adamant had been hanging onto her every move for months.
The one that had caused her to get in her kayak every day for half a year, even though it was fucking freezing now, and she was probably risking her life.
Also, equally as weirdly, and probably more concerningly, the mermaid seemed kinda… hot?
Obviously she had a fin, and that wasn't really Nicole's usual vibe, but everything else ticked all of her boxes, and really she probably needed a psych assessment.
Soon, preferably.
Before she drowned herself trying to chase down a sea-centaur in a plastic tub.
She shook her collection bucket, calling out again as the market-goers bustled around her and Jeremy as they coaxed and wheedled for minor donations to small charities.
The fire department they both worked for did this stint every year.
Nicole had been asked to choose the charity this year, panicked, and said sea turtles. Which wasn't bad per-se, it just maybe wasn't the thing she'd expected herself to say.
But to be fair, those things did seem to spend a lot of time with straws through their noses, so maybe they could do with a little help.
She shivered in her flimsy Christmas elf outfit, rolling her eyes as the bell jingled at the action. This was her third year as the elf.
She wanted to be Santa!
Not least because the outfit looked a lot warmer, and Nedley got to sit inside in the grotto.
She shivered again, her cold-numb fingers fumbling with her bucket for a moment, before it crashed to the floor. She huffed, scrabbling immediately to pick it up before the coins rolled down the river bank.
"Your fingers look blue," Jeremy scolded, dropping down beside her as his gloved hand swept up her flyaway coins.
"It was cold on the water," Nicole grumbled, pulling her bucket away and tucking her hands beneath her underarms. "I haven't had time to head home and warm up."
"Buy gloves," Jeremy chided.
"It's harder to paddle," Nicole argued.
Jeremy rolled his eyes, dropping his scooped coins into her bucket.
"Why are you still taking that boat out into hell, Haught?" he groaned.
"Since when has Pearlborn Bay been hell?"
"Since it became December, and the water turned to a thousand knives of ice!" Jeremy refuted.
Nicole rolled her eyes.
"It's not still about the mermaid, is it?" Jeremy accused, his eyes widening as he fixed a knowing gaze on Nicole’s.
Nicole blinked.
"No…?" she tried.
"Tell me something, honestly." Jeremy paused, taking a step closer. "Do I need to section you?"
"Honestly?" Nicole repeated.
"Honestly."
"Maybe," Nicole deadpanned.
"Okay," Jeremy sighed. "Pack a bag, we'll call St Rivers in the morning."
"Tell them I'm past hope," Nicole grumbled, rubbing her hands together in an effort to warm them. "I've lost my sanity, and I'm very sure a mermaid has been hitch-hiking off my kayak for six months, and if I'm laying all my chips down, I kinda dig her."
Jeremy baulked.
Then he fell silent for a long moment, his eyes cast out across the river bank.
Nicole pursed her lips, swinging slightly on the balls of her feet as her friend stared blankly at the water's edge.
Had she finally pushed it too far?
Was he finally actually going to section her?
Jeremy blinked.
"You know…" he croaked, not taking his eyes from the river banks. "Weirdly, I think I might actually believe you."
Nicole’s eyes shot wide, her stomach plummeting through her intestines.
"What?" she spluttered. "Really? Why? It's insane!"
"Because…" Jeremy sighed, uncharacteristically calm and composed. "I'm pretty sure there's a mermaid in the river right now, making heart eyes in your direction."
Nicole shot her eyes to the river, her hands trembling and her bucket rattling obscenely through the sudden quiet between them.
She scanned the water, and immediately made direct eye contact with a mermaid.
Her mermaid.
Who Jeremy could also see.
Okay.
So maybe Nicole wasn’t the only one who had lost her mind.
Then the mermaid darted beneath the water and out of sight.
And Nicole snapped immediately into focus.
"Shit," she hissed, dropping her bucket with an obnoxious clatter as she scurried down towards the river bank, her bells jingling erratically.
"Nicole, no!" Jeremy yelled behind her. "Those things kill! Is she singing?"
Nicole ignored him.
She teetered along the river's edge, her eyes scanning the surface frantically for signs of movement.
She could not let this get away from her again. Not when she finally had a proper glimpse, after six months of kayaking the bay.
She edged closer, her elf feet sliding on the icy mud of the bank.
"Don't go towards the song!" Jeremy yelled. "Haught!"
Her best friend's voice was the last thing Nicole heard as she hit the water, the ice cold ripping the breath from her lungs.
She flailed frantically, her ridiculous tunic billowing in the water around her as she fought to change her motion from plummeting to the river bed, to swimming back to the surface.
She gasped as her foot hit resistance, and immediately regretted it as her mouth and her chest filled with ice cold water.
Shit.
She kicked at the weeds that wrapped around her stupid elf foot, fighting desperately to free herself before the water claimed her breath.
If she'd been fucking Santa she wouldn't have had this problem!
She felt her head fog, the dizziness beginning to creep around the edges as she watched the distinct shape of a mermaid hurl towards her in the dark waters.
The last thought to cross Nicole’s mind before she lost her consciousness, was that this mermaid was definitely hot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Waverly’s heart hammered, her chest felt impossibly tight, and if she could sweat, she was pretty sure she'd be filling buckets.
Her human was definitely unconscious, and about thirty seconds from drowning, and the goddamn river weeds were really determinedly wrapped around the weird bells on her curved, green shoes.
The shoes were pretty odd. Waverly didn't really have the time to be thinking about it, but she was a little bit intrigued by them.
She'd seen feet before, and she didn't think they curved this way. So it seemed odd that these funny little felt shoes did.
But she had far more pressing matters to worry about right now.
She surrendered her fight, dragging the shoe off of the human's foot and hoisting her up over her shoulder as Waverly pushed her way hastily to the shore.
She pulled her human downstream a little, enough so the crowds along the banks wouldn't see close enough to spot Waverly’s gills. She'd been catastrophically stupid once tonight, and she could do without a second sighting in as many minutes.
She hauled her human out of the water, her eyes beginning to sting with fear at the heavy weight in her arms, and the stillness of the woman’s chest. She swallowed thickly as she lay the human carefully over the snow-covered banks of the river.
It was fine. It would be fine. She could fix this. She was a mermaid, this was in her blood.
She closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the cold and sodden fabric over her human’s chest as she began to chant. She poured everything into her magic, bestowing as much good health and luck onto the woman as she could muster. She almost sobbed, relief making her heart ache as the cold and heavy chest beneath her heaved, and the human began to cough, and splutter, and heave.
Then the human stirred, her consciousness returning, and before Waverly could even think about moving, the eyes she had watched from afar for months were on her.
Dazed, and a little clouded and pained, but every bit as enchanting as they’d seemed from beneath the surface of the bay.
Waverly swooned.
"Hi," she breathed.
The human’s deep brown eyes shot wide, and she blinked in a visibly bewildered kind of fear.
Waverly frowned.
Then she blushed immediately as she remembered that in the midst of her relief and her fluster, she had forgotten to translate her words, and that to the human’s ears, Waverly had just screeched at her like a fish.
Waverly was really going to have to fight to keep her head screwed on, because good god this woman was beautiful. She had legs, obviously, and that wasn’t really Waverly’s usual vibe, but everything else was just unacceptably attractive.
Waverly cleared her throat, let her gills flare to calm her racing heart, and tried again.
"Hello."
The human exhaled heavily, her eyes softening.
"Hi," she breathed. "You saved my life."
"Not for the first time, either," Waverly chuckled.
The human blinked. Again.
"It’s.. it’s not?"
Waverly pursed her lips. Maybe that was a secret best kept for now.
The human shivered, and Waverly seized her opportunity to divert.
"You're cold,” she stated.
The human huffed a laugh.
"It's not warm in there, I don't know how you're coping in…” She trailed off, flushing an adorable shade of pink as her eyes flicked down to Waverly’s chest, and the sea shells that barely covered her curves. “In… those."
Waverly grinned.
Her human was adorable.
Adorable, and sweet, and sexy, and Waverly was hooked.
"I'm used to it." She smiled sweetly, her eyes roaming the human’s pale face and trembling lips. "What's your name?"
"Nicole,” the human breathed, her own eyes fixed, entranced, on Waverly’s. "You're very beautiful. Are you singing right now?"
"No," Waverly chuckled. "I'm just talking to you. And you're very beautiful too."
"So you're not gonna eat me?" Nicole raised an eyebrow.
"No, Nicole," Waverly laughed.
"Because to be honest,” Nicole continued, “I think I'd let you."
Waverly giggled. Nicole was clearly a bit groggy and disorientated, and yet there was something so charming in the unfiltered words that made Waverly’s stomach flip.
Nicole frowned.
"Wait, what's your name?"
"Waverly."
"Waverly," Nicole repeated, her voice low and her lips curling softly around the word as she smiled. Then she frowned again. "And just to be really clear on this before I'm assessed psychologically… you're a mermaid, right?"
Waverly’s chest tightened instantly with fear, and her muscles shrank back towards the water before she could even begin to process the movement.
Nicole visibly panicked.
"Wait, don’t leave!” she yelped. “Please! It's okay if you are! In fact it's kinda hot…? Maybe? Well, I could be into it. You know, if…”
She paused, scrunching her nose as her cheeks flushed red, and Waverly bit her lip.
“Did I hit my head?"
Waverly giggled once again, her muscles relaxing under Nicole’s goofy charm.
"I don't think so," she laughed. "But if you tell anyone about me, I'll make sure they think you did."
Nicole grinned as Waverly winked.
"Why have you been following me?" Nicole murmured. Then she blushed, blinking a little in embarrassment. “I mean, you… you have, right? Been following me?”
“Yeah.” Waverly shrugged. "You're the brightest part of my days."
"Really?"
Nicole’s eyes widened, awed and abashed, and Waverly fell in love.
“Yeah,” Waverly murmured. "That and I have to make sure you don't drown in the unhinged conditions you're kayaking in."
"Ah,” Nicole laughed. “Well, that's my way of following you too."
Waverly’s stomach swooped.
"You come out there for me?"
"It's definitely not for the December waves," Nicole chuckled.
"I didn't think you knew about me,” Waverly whispered. She dropped her gaze to Nicole’s trembling lips, her stomach flooding warm with the urge to kiss them. “I-I thought I stayed hidden.”
“How could I not notice you?” Nicole murmured. “I could feel you, even when I couldn’t see you.”
Waverly swallowed thickly.
God, those lips were enticing.
Even if they were a little blue.
"Haught?!"
Waverly jumped, aware of Nicole doing the same beside her as a human voice called along the banks, and the scramble of footsteps sounded close behind them.
“It’s Jeremy…” Nicole whispered. “He’s…”
Waverly’s muscles were pulling her towards the water before Nicole could finish her sentence.
“Please…” Nicole tried.
Waverly shook her head, her eyes darting along the bank in the direction of the approaching footsteps.
"I must go,” she urged. “It's not safe for humans to know of me."
"Wait, can I thank you? In any way?” Nicole pleaded, scrambling onto her knees in an effort to stay closer to Waverly as she retreated. “Repay you? For saving me? More than once!"
Waverly smiled softly, shaking her head once again.
"There's nothing you have that I need."
She felt her heart tug as Nicole’s face fell, deep brown eyes pleading with Waverly’s own.
Waverly shrugged softly.
"Unless you can grant me my Christmas wish.” She grinned. “Like in all your Christmas stories."
Nicole nodded earnestly.
"Anything. Try me."
"I want to be human, Nicole."
Nicole faltered.
"Oh." She frowned. “Human? You sure?"
"Nicole, Jesus Christ, Haught, you had better be alive!"
Waverly jumped once again as the other human voice rang out closer this time, and the footsteps sounded louder.
She knew they had just seconds, and Waverly seized her moment.
She surged forward, her lips closing over Nicole’s trembling ones in a heated kiss, for as long as she could stand it.
Then without waiting for a reaction, Waverly dived back into the shady safety of the water, and away from the dangers of prying eyes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nicole had definitely hit her head.
There really was no other explanation.
Perhaps she’d hit it months ago, and everything she’d thought she’d known since had been some kind of intensely vivid coma dream.
Either way, this definitely couldn’t be real life.
Because a mermaid had just kissed her. Soft, sexy, stomach-flipping kissed her.
A mermaid.
With gills, and a sea-shell bra, and a fucking fish tail.
So she’d definitely hit her head, or swallowed too much salt water, or maybe her hot chocolate had been spiked. But whichever way, the kiss was great and Nicole was honestly feeling a bit swoony. The mermaid was really attractive. And Nicole wasn’t feeling all that bothered how weird that was.
Waverly.
The mermaid’s name was as beautiful as she was.
And it was all Nicole had! She’d had no time to process anything. No time to make any of her usual moves.
She hadn’t even gotten Waverly’s number!
Or her Snap, or her Insta, or… well, any of the things a giant fish clearly would not have.
Just a name, and a wish.
And in true Nicole Haught fashion, she was now in love, and obsessed.
And she wanted to give her new crush everything.
But rather tragically, a Christmas wish to become human felt a little bit harder than, like… a bouquet of roses, or a tree house.
She guessed she was going to have to get into the spirit of Christmas, and find some kind of wish granter. A genie? Some sort of wizard? Santa Claus?
It felt insane.
But if a mermaid could follow Nicole’s kayak down the river and then kiss her silly, then who could really insist that Santa wasn’t real?
Nicole sighed, pushing herself groggily to her feet as Jeremy finally stumbled into her view.
He was pretty embarrassingly slow, really, for an emergency responder.
“Oh, thank god , Haught!” Jeremy shrieked, breathless and panicked. “I thought I’d be dragging your bloated corpse home, you goddamn idiot!”
Nicole huffed heavily as she let Jeremy pull her into a hug, but she was barely paying attention to the words he was saying. She was only half aware of the wide-eyed stares of the townsfolk as they watched one panic-stricken elf lead another bedraggled and drowned one back towards Santa’s grotto.
She was more aware of his voice as he placed a call for an ambulance she didn't think she needed.
But maybe it wasn’t a bad thing.
A concussion wasn’t completely out of the question, to be fair.
She barely noticed as Jeremy guided her back into the grotto, and flopped her down heavily into the thick, plush armchair.
But she did notice Nedley. In his Santa gear.
She sighed.
Well, here went her sanity, if nothing else.
"Hey, Nedley,” she breathed, leaning her weight heavily on the arm of the chair in an effort to get closer to the fire as her sodden hat dripped ice water down her face. “Long shot, but are you the real Santa?"
Nedley stared blankly at her.
“You know, can you…" Nicole waved her hands aimlessly as she continued. "Can you grant wishes?"
Nedley’s moustache twitched, and Nicole’s dignity fled.
He stared at her for a long, painful moment. Then he shot a glance at Jeremy.
Nicole’s eyes followed his glance.
She wondered, for a brief, senseless moment, if Jeremy was a real elf.
"Haught?" Nedley huffed.
Nicole snapped her focus back to her boss.
"Yeah?"
"Go to the hospital, and then go home," Nedley sighed.
Nicole blinked.
Then she nodded. She let out a resigned breath, taking her sodden hat from her head and wringing it out across her lap.
Maybe that wasn’t the worst idea.
Drowning, being kissed by a mermaid, and finding out your best friend is a real elf was quite a lot to take for one evening anyway.
She pushed herself up from the now soggy armchair and dragged her shaking body out and in the direction of Jeremy’s car. She managed, somehow, to convince Jeremy that she didn't need an ambulance, but she did agree to go to the hospital. On the condition that they make a pitstop for dry clothes.
She couldn’t resist one last glance at the harbour as Jeremy turned the car along the road that ran beside it. She didn’t know what for. She knew Waverly wouldn’t be there.
But it was just insane to think that somewhere beyond it, out in the icy bay, was a woman who had kissed her.
What an absolutely batshit mental day.
By the time Nicole was hospital-bound, feeling considerably warmer in trackies and a hoodie, with a hot chocolate in a to-go cup, she was almost certain she was in a coma.
"So… what did the mermaid want?" Jeremy asked.
"Me, I think?"
"As a Friday night dinner, or…?”
"More like a Friday night date…" Nicole breathed.
There was a long moment of quiet, and the insanity of Nicole’s words felt bigger.
She watched Jeremy warily, holding her breath as she waited for a response.
"No comments?" she pressed.
"It's computing," Jeremy rebutted. Then he shrugged. "Love is love, I guess?"
Nicole nodded.
"Oh, and also she wants to be human,” she admitted.
"Right. Hence the insane suggestion that Nedley might be Santa?" Jeremy raised his eyebrows.
Nicole rolled her eyes.
"Yes Jeremy, because when a mermaid stalks you for half a year, shows up at your work, drags you away from death's door then kisses you senseless, the suggestion that your boss might be Santa is just absurd, my deepest apologies," she scoffed.
Jeremy choked.
"She kissed you?"
"Full disclosure, are you a real elf?" Nicole tried.
Jeremy shook his head, rolling his eyes in resignation as he pulled the car into the hospital car park and brought it to a stop.
"There’s a blacksmith who’s supposed to be able to grant wishes," he admitted, turning in his seat a little to meet Nicole’s eyes.
"A blacksmith?" Nicole frowned.
"A witch, or something. Frankly I just assumed she was on a lot of drugs, but my entire grip on reality is up in the air right now."
"Where?" Nicole pressed.
"Somewhere north of Jupiter, it feels like,” Jeremy sighed. “I don't know who I am anymore."
"The witch, March Hare, not your grip on reality," Nicole shot.
Jeremy unclipped Nicole’s seatbelt, pushing her towards the door.
"Go and get your lungs checked,” he huffed. “I'll give you the address when I know you're a safe percentage of water."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Waverly was in love.
She was swoony, and giddy, and she had swirled and twirled her way all the way back from the harbour and into the bay.
Which was completely impractical, and had taken her hours, but she didn’t care because she was in love.
"Why are you simping like a Disney Princess?"
Waverly didn’t even jump.
Wynonna was a mere sunflower on the wall of her glorious day, and Waverly was in love with the world and her life.
"It's a nice day!” she sang.
Wynonna raised a brow.
"It's the height of the moon, in the dark of the winter,” she rebutted, folding her arms as she stared Waverly down. "And your favourite rock is covered in sailor's blood. Where have you been?"
"For a sunbathe," Waverly trilled, twirling past Wynonna as she headed for her wonderful rock.
"Again?" Wynonna pressed.
"I go once a day, Wynonna,” Waverly hummed, flipping beneath her own tail in a deliberately obtuse display of her giddiness. “And I'm a fully grown adult, I don't have to answer to you."
"I know, Babygirl," Wynonna sighed, her eyes softening as she watched Waverly’s antics. "I just like that smile, that's all. As long as you're being safe."
Waverly grinned.
"I'm being safe, Wy. I promise."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nicole pulled her coat a little tighter around her as she rang the bell on the cottage door.
She didn’t really know what she had expected from the home of a witch-come-blacksmith, but she was pretty sure it hadn’t been this.
The house had hundreds of twinkling lights, and garlands, and wicker reindeer, and looked more like a grotto than Nedley’s did.
Maybe this was the real Santa.
It was anyone’s guess at this point.
Nicole gripped tighter around the hastily grabbed wine bottle in her hand as footsteps sounded behind the wooden door. She wasn’t entirely sure what payment witches accepted for turning mermaids into humans, but a bottle of Echo Falls felt like a start.
"Hello?"
Nicole blinked as a young brunette in a Christmas sweater pulled back the door.
She’d kind of assumed a witch would look at least a little more mystical.
"Hi…"
"Are you a carol singer?” the blacksmith huffed, leaning against the doorway as she eyed Nicole in bemusement. “‘Cause I really think you should all just band together and get this over with in one swift hit."
"No…" Nicole blinked, shaking herself into action. "No, I uh… I came to ask for your help."
She shrugged apologetically, holding her wine bottle aloft as if it explained anything.
"I'm Nicole. And I heard you might be able to grant a Christmas wish?"
The blacksmith folded her arms, grinning.
"In exchange for a cheap bottle of red?"
Nicole blushed.
"Well, I figured part of my soul or some other heinous detail would probably be the currency, but this felt at least polite," she explained.
The blacksmith laughed.
"Come in and crack that shit open, and we can figure this thing out." She grinned, stepping back into the house as she opened the door for Nicole to enter. "I'm Mattie."
Nicole huffed an easy laugh as she followed Mattie into her home.
The interior was more witchy than the exterior, with several plants and pots and grinders, but it was still nothing like Nicole had expected.
Mattie grabbed two glasses, leading Nicole through the house to a cosy living room.
"So, what's your need, Nicole?"
Nicole pursed her lips.
She’d thought about this on the drive over.
She knew Waverly had told her not to tell anyone about her, and that she’d said it wasn’t safe for her. But she’d also asked Nicole to make her human, and Nicole was pretty certain those two things were going to be mutually exclusive.
"Hypothetically speaking…" she tried, "if mermaids were real…"
"Which they are," Mattie stated.
Nicole's eyes widened.
Mattie nodded.
"Continue."
Nicole huffed a laugh.
Maybe this would be easier than anticipated.
"And hypothetically, if a mermaid wanted to become human,” she continued, "would… would that be something you could do?"
Mattie grinned.
"Hypothetically, yes." She smirked.
Nicole baulked.
“Seriously?” she yelped.
“Seriously,” Mattie chuckled. “But there's a catch."
Nicole winced.
"Does it involve my soul?"
Mattie laughed openly, shaking her head as she took a sip of her wine.
"Not directly, no,” she explained. “A mermaid can only become human if she falls in love with a human."
Nicole almost laughed.
It was official.
She was definitely in a coma.
"I'm actually pretty sure that could be arranged," she muttered.
Mattie blinked, her wine glass freezing halfway to her lips.
“Really?”
“I think so!” Nicole nodded. “I mean, I’m not always great at reading these things, but there are… signs…”
"Well, then this is a lot easier than it usually is," Mattie laughed. "Bring me something of hers, and your wish is granted."
Nicole choked on her wine.
"It's that easy? I just bring you something of hers and you just… do it?"
"Yep.” Mattie grinned. "I like you, Nicole. You can keep your soul."
She winked, grabbing the wine bottle and topping up her own glass.
"I'm keeping the wine though."
"How does this work?" Nicole pushed. “What are the rules? There are always rules, right?”
"You drop me something of hers, I perform the spell, and then the rest is fate." Mattie grinned, lifting her glass in toast to Nicole. "If she falls in love by Christmas, then when the clock chimes Christmas Day, she’ll shed her gills and scales, and grow legs."
“By Christmas?” Nicole raised a brow. “Why by Christmas?”
“You wanted a Christmas wish, let me have some whimsy otherwise this is no fun for me.”
"Well this was, weirdly, easier than a treehouse,” Nicole laughed. “Thank you, Mattie!”
As Nicole settled herself back into her car, she took one long sniff of her hot chocolate before she drove away.
You know. Just in case.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
These were absolutely the coldest waters Nicole had ever kayaked in.
She had been out here for well over an hour, her hands were blue, her face was frozen, and she was insane. She had fully and entirely lost her mind, and she needed to be institutionalised.
She was going to turn back, melt the kayak over a blazing fire, and then check herself into St Rivers. Immediately.
Until finally she felt the familiar soft tug on her boat. The tug that usually had her freezing still, and glancing around her peripheral vision in desperate hopes of a glimpse.
But the tug that this time had her hurling herself so hard at the edge of her kayak in an effort to see beneath it, that she capsized, and her entire body plummeted into the iciest waters she’d ever known.
Jesus, why couldn’t she have had a mermaid fantasy romance in July?
She surfaced, flailing and spluttering and shivering so hard her bones hurt, to find Waverly sitting on the upturned end of her kayak.
And the cold was immediately forgotten.
Nicole spat the salty water from her mouth and grinned widely.
“Wanna come on a date with me?”
"A date?" Waverly laughed. "Sure. Wanna ride the riptides?"
Nicole faltered.
Maybe she hadn’t entirely thought through the cultural differences of this budding romance.
She stuttered through the politest version of a ‘hell no’ that she could muster.
“Uh…” she started, "I-I actually packed us a picnic. I-in my dry bag, it's… it's not soggy. But I guess you usually eat things under water anyway… but I thought… Well, I'll be honest, Google was a little bit scarce on the details of what a mermaid eats, so I brought a lot of raw fish and seaweed… it doesn't smell great, but I… wait, is that carnivorous? Are you a fish? O-or are you distinctly not a fish, is that racist?"
Waverly smirked, her eyes glinting mischievously as she crawled towards Nicole, and Nicole forgot to tread water as she watched the movement, entranced.
Then Waverly surged forwards, and Nicole’s muscles fell limp as those unexpectedly soft lips closed over her own for the second time in as many days.
The kiss broke as Nicole sank beneath the water, and she choked, her muscles kicking into gear as she fought to push herself back above the water and back into Waverly’s kiss.
Before Nicole could even register which way was up, Waverly’s arms were wrapped around her, and she found herself hoisted easily back into her righted kayak.
Nicole coughed, pushing her icy, sodden hair from her eyes as Waverly’s grinning face popped up at the end of her boat, and her tail flicked a wave of water up and over Nicole’s head.
"Let me show you a great picnic spot?" Waverly grinned.
Nicole smirked. She leaned forward, trying her damned hardest to appear sexy and suave despite the definite blue tinge to her lips, and the uncontrollable shiver.
"Kiss me again and you can do whatever you like," she murmured.
Waverly arched a brow.
"Flirt."
"Says the mermaid kissing strangers," Nicole chuckled.
"You're not a stranger," Waverly stated easily, her hands closing over the edge of the kayak as she began to tug the boat out around the coast. "You're my future lover."
Nicole coughed a laugh, her eyes widening and her stomach flipping at the brazen words.
"Are all mermaids this forward?"
Waverly grinned.
"Most mermaids would have lured you by now, sweetie,” she sang. "I'm playing it cool."
Nicole laughed, shaking her head as she settled into her seat.
She was freezing, shivering, and highly uncomfortable, but she barely noticed as she watched the water.
Well.
The water, and Waverly.
She was mesmerised by the way the ripples beneath them shifted and changed as Waverly moved them over the reef, and the colours of the plants and the fish that popped even through the murky dark of the winter ocean.
And she was completely mesmerised by the way Waverly moved with the water. The way her body, and the shimmering scales of her tail seemed to ripple and flow with the motion of the tide, and the way she made it look so effortless, despite the obviously awkward angle.
"Does your pod live in the bay all year?" Nicole asked.
"Yeah,” Waverly answered. “We used to migrate, but with climate change and all that, we've been pretty comfortable here all year the last while."
"How old are you?" Nicole chanced.
Waverly smirked, her eyebrow arching.
"It's a new age, I can ask a lady that now, right?" Nicole grinned cheekily.
"I'm two hundred turns of the sun."
Nicole’s brain faltered.
"Oh!" she breathed. "Well, shit. How do you feel about age gap romances?"
"Eh. What's a couple of hundred years between lovers?" Waverly winked.
"Insignificant, right?” Nicole smirked. “I'm thirty-one. So it's barely even a gap, really."
Nicole’s stomach was brimming with butterflies by the time Waverly guided the kayak into a beautiful, sunlit cove, hidden in the rocks of the coastline. Despite the bitter air, the low sun caught the rock edges in just such a way to provide an illusion of warmth, and Nicole breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled herself from the boat and onto the solid land.
She watched, her breath held tight and her eyes awed as Waverly followed suit, and Nicole’s eyes cast over her in her entirety for the first time.
Waverly was beautiful.
Almost ethereal, in the way she shone in the mild sunlight. Her skin glittered, oddly almost tanned, somehow, until it seamlessly melted into the shimmering purple of her tail.
Nicole swallowed.
She’d kind of been expecting to find this weird. The tail, the gills, the fin…
But it was nothing short of mesmerising.
Not sexy, exactly. That probably would have been a bit weird. She definitely wasn’t feeling any particular stirrings over Waverly’s fish half.
But it was beautifully enchanting, and Nicole was fascinated.
She shivered.
Really, she wasn’t sure she’d ever stop again.
Waverly fussed immediately.
"Take the wet cloth off, Nicole,” Waverly demanded. “You'll catch your death."
"It doesn't feel like I'd be much warmer naked,” Nicole huffed, swatting away Waverly’s fussing hands.
Waverly laughed, shaking her head fondly.
"You're sheltered in here.” She gestured at the walls of the cove, and the low rays of sun. “The wind can’t reach you. Use the picnic blanket to cover yourself."
Nicole considered her options.
She’d freeze either way. So she didn’t have a huge amount to lose.
She nodded, took a deep, calming breath, and began to strip.
And good fucking god, it was not warm.
Goosebumps rose so hard across her body that it tugged a gasp from her chest, and she hunched over a little as she fought to protect herself against the chill.
And Waverly watched her, open and unabashed.
"This is definitely the quickest any date has ever gotten me out of my clothes," Nicole chuckled, narrowing her eyes playfully in Waverly’s direction. “But also by far the least pleasant. Is this a ruse?”
Waverly smirked, her eyes dropping the length of Nicole’s body, and Nicole instantly felt warmer.
"No…” Waverly murmured. “But out of interest, what does a date have to do to keep you out of them?"
Nicole laughed, her cheeks heating as she hastily wrapped herself in the miraculously dry picnic blanket.
"Have this picnic with me, and I’ll tell you."
Waverly giggled, leaning her back against the rock face as she nodded.
"Tell me about Christmas," she urged excitedly. "I’ve always wanted to have a Christmas. What do you do? Do you have a tree? Do you get presents from the man with the hat and the belly? Do you cook land birds?"
Nicole bit her lip to fight her giggles.
“What?” Waverly frowned. “Is that wrong?”
Nicole kissed her.
She couldn’t help it. Waverly was beautiful, and adorable, and Nicole was in way over her head.
And unlike the previous times Waverly’s lips had met her own, this time was slow. Unhurried, and lingering, and toe-curlingly sweet.
When Nicole pulled back, her own stomach fizzing and her heart hammering, Waverly’s cheeks were flushed and her eyes looked like they held the stars.
"What was that for?" Waverly breathed.
"You're cute.” Nicole grinned. “And I thought I should make the move for a change."
Waverly blushed, her lips curling into the shyest smile Nicole had seen yet, and it sent the butterflies in her own stomach up to her heart.
"Is that a blush, Waverly?” she teased. “Did I just fluster a mermaid? Am I a temptress?"
Waverly’s blush deepened, and she shot Nicole a scowl.
Nicole giggled.
"Yes, I have a tree,” she answered, settling herself against the rock beside Waverly. “I cut one down every year from Holliday's farm."
The date was blissful. Nicole had no idea how long they spent under the cove, sharing stories between soft kisses and gentle roaming fingers. But she did know that the sun was fading, and Nicole’s bones were shaking with the cold.
So when Waverly reluctantly began to coax Nicole back into the kayak, she had no choice but to let her. If Nicole wanted to live long enough to see Waverly become human, she needed to get thermals on. Sharp.
Nicole stayed huddled under the picnic blanket as Waverly tugged the boat back around the coast and into the bay. She was weirdly almost grateful for the cold, because it really was the only thing convincing her that she was still alive, and that this wasn’t some sort of fever dream.
And as Waverly kissed her, long and slow once again in the waters of the bay, Nicole found herself desperately sharing Waverly’s Christmas wish.
“Waves, I need to tell you something,” she murmured, brushing her thumb along the glistening line of Waverly’s cheekbone. "I went to a witch. She can grant wishes. She said she can grant yours. If you still want it."
Waverly gasped, her eyes flying wide, and the light behind them was everything.
"Really?"
"Yeah,” Nicole breathed. “But there's just one condition."
Waverly’s gills flared, her face falling as she watched Nicole with wary eyes.
"What is it?" she whispered. “Not your soul?”
"No.” Nicole breathed a laugh. ”Not exactly. You're to fall in love with a human. By Christmas.”
Waverly fell quiet for a long moment, watching Nicole as the words and their implication settled across the rippling waves.
Nicole swallowed thickly.
The quiet did not feel nice.
In fact, it felt a lot like she had dramatically misjudged this.
“Oh and I’d need something of yours to give her,” she mumbled, her eyes dropping awkwardly to her own lap. “I-if you did decide to… yeah.”
"Fall in love with a human?” Waverly whispered.
Nicole let her eyes flick back to Waverly’s, and she nodded slowly.
Waverly’s lips twitched.
“That's all it takes?" She smirked. "Easy."
She winked, pulling Nicole into a heated kiss as she pressed something cold and hard into the palms of Nicole’s hands.
Then she was gone, drifting down and away before Nicole could process the loss.
Nicole sighed, looking down at the clam shell bra sitting in the palm of her hand.
She blushed immediately.
"Shit."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Waverly twirled more than ever as she swam back through the bay in the direction of her rock. She felt weightless.
She would be human, and get to be with the woman she’d wanted for months?
She was beginning to think she might be the one in a coma.
"I saw you, Wave."
Waverly shrieked.
"Wynonna!" she yelled, spinning to find the location of her sister’s voice. "Why are you hiding in the dark? You scared me."
Then she froze.
Wynonna’s eyes were dark, and her jaw was set tight, and she did not look happy.
"With the girl. The human,” Wynonna warned lowly. "I saw, Babygirl."
Waverly’s blood ran cold.
"Wy, please," she whispered, her eyes darting around for any listening ears. "The legend isn't real, you know it isn't, and I’m safe, and…"
Wynonna’s shoulders dropped, her eyes flickering just a little as she watched Waverly’s pleas.
"Wynonna, I'm begging you, please don't tell them," Waverly whimpered, clasping her hands over themselves as she pleaded. “I swear, it’s safe.”
"You love her, don't you?" Wynonna sighed.
Waverly nodded.
"Yes," she breathed, her lips twitching into a smile at the words and at her sister’s softening. “Yeah, I love her, Wy.”
Wynonna nodded shortly.
"Then keep her safe, Waverly,” she murmured. "She's here too much. Willa will notice. She'll lure her."
"I will. It'll only be a few more days, and then…"
Waverly trailed off, her heart sinking as she processed the words, and for the first time, their true meaning.
Wynonna nodded, her eyes misting.
"Then you're leaving."
It wasn’t a question.
And it wasn’t laced with pain, or anger.
It was a statement, full of understanding and compassion, despite the audible regret beneath it.
Waverly nodded.
"Was it a wish?" Wynonna whispered.
Waverly nodded again.
"At what cost?"
"If I fall in love by Christmas."
"Wow.” Wynonna baulked. “Easy."
Waverly huffed out a watery laugh, and she leaned her forehead against her sister’s as she let the tears fill her eyes.
"But also the cost of leaving you," she sniffed.
"Hey! You'll marry the kayaker,” Wynonna assured, wiping her thumb over the tears that tracked Waverly’s cheeks. “You'll have a boat, you'll be out here every day."
Waverly grinned, pulling her sister into a bone-crushing hug.
"Is she good to you, Wave?" Wynonna murmured. "Can you trust her?"
"With my life. I'm sure of it," Waverly assured. "And Willa won't hurt us? Won't hurt her?"
"I'll protect her, I promise."
Wynonna pulled back, meeting Waverly’s gaze.
"If you love her, then I love her. I will keep you safe.” She smiled. Then she curled her lip, narrowing her eyes playfully. “Now, go and put a bra on, and do not tell me why you're missing one."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Get out of my way Wynonna!"
"No. There is a whole bay of drunk, fratboy sailors out there for you to sink your fangs into, and I will rip your gills over your head before I let you hurt this one, now let go, before you kill her!"
Waverly blinked wearily as she woke, the commotion above her foggily making its way into her consciousness.
“It’s just a human, why are you being so precious?”
Waverly frowned as Willa’s voice spat out clear above her, and she slowly registered the screeching of the fight between her two older sisters.
She glanced up, squinting her eyes to make out the shape of the hull on the surface.
And her blood ran cold immediately.
The words, and the screeches, and the undeniable outline of a kayak on the water processed bile in her throat, and she practically roared as she hurled herself up and out to the commotion.
She didn’t even stop to think about the scene before her.
Nicole’s arms were bound, sea vines wrapped so tightly Waverly could see the ridges indented into her skin. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open, and the water carried the weight of her muscles.
And Waverly knew she had seconds.
She had seconds to save her love from the water in her lungs, and she was ready to do whatever she needed to do.
She didn’t spare her sisters a glance. She let out a feral screech, her jaw set tight as she burst through the water towards her dying human.
Willa lunged, clawing viciously at Waverly’s arms, and her waist, and her tail as she passed her, but quite frankly, Waverly did not have the time for these games.
She swiped her tail, flinging Willa effortlessly into the rocks beside them, and she was aware in her peripheral vision of Wynonna and Mercedes descending on their pod leader.
She reached Nicole, snipping savagely at the vines with her teeth until she was able to tug her love free, and she didn’t even begin to stop before she was hauling Nicole desperately up towards the surface.
"Waverly, you little bitch,” Willa snapped beneath her. “If you free her I'll die! The legend…"
"Is bullshit, Willa, and you know it," Wynonna growled. “Let them go, or I will be your death.”
Waverly pushed harder, her arms gripping tight around Nicole’s limp body as she raced for the surface.
She reached the kayak, her arms finally beginning to tremble and her chest beginning to heave with her sobs as she hauled Nicole’s body up and onto the boat.
"I'm so sorry,” she sobbed. “Oh gods, baby, I'm so sorry. Nicole!”
She pleaded desperately, shaking Nicole’s shoulders and pushing at her chest in an effort to rouse her.
“Nicole, can you hear me? Baby, wake up, please."
Waverly pressed her face to Nicole’s chest, pouring everything she had once again into repetitive chants as she tried to bestow all the good she could upon her love.
She wept, her throat burning as Nicole’s body remained still.
Waverly pulled herself up as best she could, her hands and her lips performing the human CPR exercises she’d seen in her research. She had no idea if she was doing anything right, but it was all she had, and she wasn’t about to give up.
She sobbed with relief as Nicole’s chest heaved, and copious volumes of water choked up from her lungs.
She was alive.
That much Waverly was sure of.
But she was still blue in colour, and she wasn’t with Waverly. Not yet.
"Nicole, my love, please come back to me," Waverly cried, searching the kayak frantically for something warm to wrap Nicole’s icy-cold body in. "This is all my fault, I should have stayed away, I should have listened to Wynonna, I...."
She let out a shaky sob as she pulled a foil blanket from Nicole’s dry bag.
How many times had this happened before Nicole had finally had the foresight to bring this?
Eyes stinging with tears, Waverly wrapped her human in the blanket, and began to tug the boat hurriedly through the bay and down to the harbour.
She was sure she’d never swam so fast.
Her eyes stung, her gills burned, and her muscles throbbed with the effort, but she couldn’t slow down. She didn’t have the time.
"Help!" she yelled, screeching desperately as she tugged the boat along to where she’d found Nicole just days before. "Help, please, help."
She didn’t care who saw her.
If Nicole didn’t make it, Waverly didn’t care what happened to her anyway.
"Shit, Haught.”
Waverly sobbed a sigh of half relief as Nicole’s elf friend hurtled down to the water’s edge, the same fear and panic in his eyes as Waverly felt in her own chest.
“What happened?"
"My sister," Waverly wept. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, I wish I could have stopped them, I didn't know, I…"
Waverly didn’t even think about her actions, beginning to pull herself from the water in an effort to help Jeremy drag Nicole ashore.
"Hey, hey…” Jeremy assured, reaching a hand out to hover above Waverly’s shoulder. “Waverly, right?"
Waverly nodded, sniffing as she tried to blink away her tears.
"It's okay,” Jeremy whispered. “I’ve got it, stay in the water and protect yourself. Nicole is practically indestructible, I swear. We’ve got this.”
Jeremy smiled, thin and tight in his visible distress, but the effect was comforting anyway.
“And look…” Jeremy breathed, his eyes warm as they held Waverly’s own. “I know that this is not your fault. Okay? Nicole trusts you, so I trust you."
Waverly nodded, chewing her bottom lip with anxiety as she watched Jeremy lift Nicole out of the water, and listened to him shout for passers-by to call an ambulance.
Waverly’s eyes filled once again with tears as she watched Nicole’s chest rise and fall shakily and unevenly, and her skin almost seem to spread bluer as Jeremy peeled the wet clothes from his friend's body.
"Waverly?"
Waverly snapped her gaze up, meeting Jeremy’s kind eyes.
"She'll be okay. By Christmas."
He winked, but Waverly could see the worry in his eyes, and the tremble in his hands.
“Which is tomorrow, granted, but I’m sure she’ll manage,” he mumbled, low enough that Waverly knew she wasn’t supposed to hear.
"Take care of her," she whispered. "I love her."
Jeremy smiled softly.
“Me too, Waves.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🧜🏼 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"What time is it?"
Nicole pulled the oxygen mask from her face.
"Thirteen seconds after you last asked.”
"Jeremy!" Nicole whined.
She had been propped in this hospital bed for far too many hours, her gown was itchy, she smelled like sea water, and she was really beginning to get bored of clinical white walls.
"It's twenty-seven minutes after eleven, Nicole. It's literally not even been a minute since you last asked,” Jeremy huffed. "Just calm down, and stop being such a drama pyjama."
"Yeah, you're right, I'm being so very melodramatic,” Nicole sneered. “There's absolutely nothing hanging in the balance right now, nowhere I need to be, no one to see at all!”
Jeremy rolled his eyes, and Nicole scratched irritably at the tubes in her veins.
"How much longer is this gonna take?” she grunted. “I'm fine!"
"You drowned today Nicole, and not even for the first time this week!” Jeremy retorted. “I think they're justified in checking your vitals a few times."
Nicole groaned, letting her head fall back indignantly.
She didn’t even bother to school her grumpy face as her nurse bustled into the room, fussing with IV lines and machines that Nicole hadn’t even bothered to glance once at.
"Will I get to leave soon?" Nicole asked bluntly.
The nurse smiled.
"You worried you'll miss Santa?"
"Something weirdly like that, actually," Nicole huffed, her lips tugging into the first signs of amusement.
"I promise we will let you go as soon as you're safe, Nicole," the nurse assured. “We just need to make sure your lungs are free of water. Please put the oxygen mask back on for now.”
Nicole grunted, barely restraining from throwing a temper tantrum as she snapped the mask back over her face.
She knew she was being rude, but it was Christmas eve, after 11pm, and this was getting quite crucial.
She pulled the mask back off the moment the nurse left.
"She's sweet,” Jeremy murmured.
Nicole furrowed her brow.
"Annie?"
"No, not the nurse, the mermaid!" Jeremy hissed. "Waverly!"
Nicole sat upright.
"You met her?"
"Yes I met her, she dragged your drowned ass into the harbour!" Jeremy exclaimed exasperatedly. "And this is the fourth time I've told you that, and this is why you're not ready to go home!"
"Was she okay?” Nicole whispered, her heart clenching at the thought of Waverly alone with those… things. “Her pod… they're… well, they're not like her."
“Yes, Nic.” Jeremy nodded, his eyes softening as he offered Nicole a reassuring smile. "She was pretty distraught that her one true love was dead, but other than that she seemed fine."
Nicole groaned.
"I'm not dead, Jeremy, for fuck sake," she snapped.
"You really might as well have been at that point."
Nicole fell quiet for a moment as she let Jeremy’s words wash over her.
Then she smiled, soft and slow.
"Did she call me that?" she whispered.
"What, dead?"
"No,” Nicole huffed. “Her one true love. Does she love me?"
“Does she lo…?” Jeremy huffed a soft chuckle, his eyes widening as he shook his head in almost disbelief. "Put it this way, she'll have legs at midnight."
Nicole beamed, her stomach bursting with butterflies.
Then she surged upwards, her adrenaline far too much for her to handle.
She was done waiting.
"Fuck!" she growled, pushing the sheets away and jumping from the bed.
She gripped the lines in her veins, wincing as she ripped them out.
“Christ, they make that look less unpleasant in movies,” she hissed, rubbing frantically at the stinging area.
"Nicole…"
Nicole stilled, sighing heavily as she met her best friend’s gaze.
She was tired of fighting. She just wanted to leave this stifling ward, go meet her love under the stars, and pray to the deity of witchy blacksmiths that Waverly had legs.
She softened, her shoulders dropping for the first time in hours as Jeremy smiled, shuffling to hand Nicole his coat and his elf trousers, leaving him in trackies underneath.
"Just don't get in the fucking water, okay?" he chuckled.
Nicole hastily pulled the clothes on, then dragged her best friend into an earnest hug.
"You're the best friend in the world, Jeremy Chetri."
"Love you too, you giant pain in my ass,” Jeremy laughed. “Now go get your girl. I’ll distract the nurses."
Nicole was reluctantly aware as she ran down the roads to the bay, in a hospital gown, elf trousers, a coat, and sodden kayak shoes, that maybe the nurse had been right.
She definitely didn’t feel great, and she could certainly see why the hospital had wanted her to stay in.
And a casual mile and a half sprint with waterlogged lungs was probably not in her best interest.
But this was more important.
She could hear the town’s bells chiming midnight as she raced towards the black of the water, and she felt the burn in her lungs as she pushed her legs harder.
She practically skidded to a halt along the shore, her eyes squinting tight as she searched the dark waves for any sign of Waverly.
She really didn’t know what to expect.
It was dark, so she had no hope of seeing Waverly if she was in the bay.
But would she be in the bay anyway?
What if she turned under water, and didn’t know how to swim with her legs? What if she was in trouble? Or what if her pod still had her?
Or what if she was at the harbour, and Nicole was in the wrong place?
"Merry Christmas, baby."
Nicole’s spine rippled, the hairs prickling and her entire body pulling with goosebumps.
She took a shaky breath, her heart pounding in her chest as she turned slowly to face the source of the voice behind her.
Then she exhaled hard, her heart dropping through her stomach and her entire body burning as her eyes met the sight before her.
Waverly was here, and she was beautiful. And human.
And very, very naked.
Nicole cleared her throat, her eyes flickering as she tried her hardest not to let them drop.
"The merriest, gods help me,” she mumbled, her voice hoarse.
Waverly smirked, her eyebrow raising playfully.
Nicole blushed.
Then Waverly shivered, and Nicole snapped into action.
"Shit, uh… here."
Nicole shucked off Jeremy’s coat, surging forward to wrap it around Waverly’s trembling shoulders.
“Sorry, I’m kinda running on borrowed clothes myself,” she mumbled, tugging sheepishly at her hospital gown.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Waverly breathed. “I was so worried.”
Then she grinned, shaking her head as she moved into Nicole’s space, and Nicole stopped breathing.
"But…” Waverly murmured. “It's Christmas?"
"Yeah…" Nicole breathed.
"And I have legs." Waverly grinned.
"Yeah,” Nicole husked, giddiness beginning to grip her veins.
Waverly giggled.
"It worked, Nicole," Waverly squeaked. "It worked. I'm human."
Nicole broke.
She giggled gleefully, and Waverly squealed as she launched herself up and into Nicole’s arms.
"I'm human, and I'm yours," Waverly whispered, the words hushed over the shell of Nicole’s ear.
Nicole shivered.
She pulled back, meeting Waverly’s awed gaze.
“And you know what that means, right?” Waverly teased, her eyes dancing playfully as she tangled her fingers in the hair at the base of Nicole’s neck.
“You’re a lot more susceptible to pneumonia?” Nicole teased, brushing her nose over Waverly’s as she wrapped her arms tighter around her waist.
Waverly grinned.
"I love you, Nicole," she whispered.
Nicole’s heart burst.
"I love you too, Waves.”
Nicole’s entire body burned with arousal and elation and passion as Waverly’s lips met her own in a heated kiss, and she slipped her hands beneath the borrowed coat as she tried hopelessly to tug Waverly closer to her own body.
Until undeniable gagging noises sounded across the bay, and Nicole baulked as she squinted in an effort to see the source.
Then she spotted it.
In the few ripples of moonlight.
Two vaguely familiar faces, watching them from the water.
And making obscene gestures with their hands.
“Wynonna and Mercedes,” Waverly chuckled, shaking her head as she flipped them off.
Nicole grinned, calling out across the water.
"Merry Christmas!"