One Week after Bennie's Arrival...

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It was a peaceful winter's day. The Lukey bobbed gently, seemingly undisturbed by the violet boiling of the water just off her starboard bow.



Billy had his eyes astern for the moment, watching the net as it was slowly extended to the ocean floor. It was relatively early in the morning and the entire deck had a light cover of frost. Most fishers wouldn't be out this early until the frost had melted, but Sal - who was cheerfully inspecting her sonar on her laptop and steering the Lukey with her feet as though it was entirely natural to do so - wasn't most fishers.

So here they all were, freezing cold and working. He let his eyes travel back to the bow after the last of the net was safely underwater, and noticed something very... strange in the water.

"Tom's coming," noted Jabez from where she perched in the rigging, holding on only with her feet and looking back toward land with a spyglass.

"'Bout time," Billy said, leaning over the bow railing and watching. "D'ye see that?" He pointed to the disturbance in the water.

The taciturn pseudo-teen looked down and nodded, then trained her glass back toward the island.

"C'n ye figger out what it is?" Billy called again.

Jabez shrugged and avoided looking at it as the water suddenly erupted in a geyser of blood.

"By t'lard t'underin'." Jav stared.

Billy leapt away just in time so that the blood only caused minimal splatter on his yellow oilskin pants. "What in th'...."

"Ain't Bennie in there, b'y?" Jav went to get a boathook from the outer wall of the cabin.

"Yes, but I don' think she'd..." Billy's observation was cut off by the sight of a dead mermaid flying through the air. All of a sudden the Lukey pitched left as Sal (who was swearing rather loudly from the bridge) attempted to dodge it. He grabbed the railing tightly, slipping on the frost, and likewise swore up a storm.

The mermaid hit the water and Sal came outside. "What the @#$% was that?"

"A mermaid?" Billy stood up a little shakily and went over to the bow railing to peer down in the inky blue of the Cabot Strait.

There was another spat of activity and another body erupting from the ocean, and Jav walked over cautiously to look into the water himself, boathook at the ready.

"She was fer sayin' she wanted t' mermaids done for," noted the former soldier, frowning.

"Yes, b'y, but does she haveta throw 'em at our boat?" Sal asked, mildly indignant. "I mean, don't get me wrong, there'r days I wants t' kill the mermaids, but I don't go firin' 'em around..."

"I doubt she's doin' it on purpose," Billy said, watching another one soar by.

"I's thinkin' I's scared, b'y," noted Jav calmly.

Sal smirked, eyes traveling up to make sure that Jabez was still hanging from the mizzen. "Never seen mermaids before? Where the hell were you guys fishin' 'fore I come back?"

"Seen mermaids. Seen how nasty they kin be. 'N she's jes' slaughterin' 'em." Jav ducked another body.

Another smirk from Sal was his only response.

"Sal's done her share o' that," Billy said.

"In t'water all alone wit' 'em?" Jav quirked an eyebrow at him and used the boathook to pitch the dead mermaid back into the ocean.

"No," Billy said offhandedly. "Standin' on the prow fryin' em with her wand."

Sal folded her arms and nodded, watching another one buzz their prow. "Y'know, back when I used it."

The water went still, and there was silence but for the creaks of the boat.

Which suddenly tipped toward the net very slightly.

"Oh, @#$%!" The pitching became more pronounced and Billyy raced toward the back of the boat while Sal returned to the bridge and gunned the engine.

"If I can't pull 'er round, ye'll have t' cut her loose," she called out to everyone via the deck intercom. "Hold on." She punched the throttle, only to hear the engine whine and die. "Oh, that's just @#$%ing great!" she exclaimed, feeling the boat tip a little more. She really didn't want to lose her net, but if it was necessary... "D'ye know what's goin' on, b'y?" she barked into the mic.

"Not a @#$%ing clue. The net's chock full," Billy said. "I... I think Bennie's chasin' em in ta the nets."

"What... happen?" The brown-furred woman's head and shoulders suddenly protruded from the water.

"The fish're goin' into the net too fast and - aah!" The boat, now dead in the water, listed to port a little, effectively tossing Billy into the frigid water.

Bennie winced at the resounding thunk as the man went over the side, then dove before anyone could move and brought him back to the surface, her dark eyes full of concern at his stillness. "(Here. I cannot jump with him. @$%$%&) Help."

"Give him here, b'y." Jav was half over the side himself, the boathook extended toward Billy's collar.

Sal reappeared on the deck, sighing. "He fall out?"

"Hit his head," came the report from above as Jav's muscles tensed under the full weight of his friend.

Sal bit her lip. "Let's get 'im inside, then."

Something flashed over Jav's head, and the boat bobbed at a sudden thud as Bennie landed on her back and sat up to wriggle over and help the clone get the wounded man aboard, coughing water out of her lungs as she did.

"Ah @#$%&, he's not breathing." Jav turned toward the cabin, nearly unmindful of the woman at his side.

Sal acted fast, opening the cabin door and letting Jav through, then rushing to the galley table and clearing it off with a huge shove. "@#$% it, Billy," she muttered under her breath, taking off his sodden shirt and pressing her ear to his chest. "Still a pulse, so..."

Bennie had already propped herself up on her tail by the table and pinched his nostrils, starting the kiss of life as Jav went for blankets and muttered fervently under his breath.

Sal nodded to the strange woman. "I'll try to get this @*#% of an engine workin' and we'll go home. Loose the net," she said to Jav. They'd lose their catch, and possibly their net, but she didn't care right now about any of that. She disappeared down into the engine room.

Jav nodded and strode out of the cabin, sidestepping Jabez, who stopped short and stared at Billy with fearful eyes from under her bright orange toque. Bennie just kept working, one hand gently pressing on his chest in between breaths. "(Come on, stupido, you can do this. Your friends are worried. Come on....)"

He sputtered suddenly, rolling over to his side to expel the water that had been in his lungs. "Wha...?"

"Shhh," her slightly deep voice was tender as she rubbed his back, not caring at all that he'd just chucked that all over her. "Is okay."

"Hm?" Billy blinked, drifting on the edge of consciousness. "'M tired," he breathed.

"(Stay awake,)" she urged him softly, glancing toward Jabez and wondering at the girl's frozen stare, then turning her attention back to Billy and gently rolling him back onto his back. "(You hit your head. You cannot sleep.)"

"There we goes... ah crap, Jabez? Vod'ika? Sal! Jay's gone agin!" Jav put an arm around the girl, frowning in concern.

There was a loud bang from the engine room and suddenly the Lukey's inner workings decided to be functional again. Sal reappeared on the main deck with a smudge of grease across her cheek, walking over to Jabez. "Ad'ika," she said, taking her daughter's hand, "what's the matter? He'll be fine, we just need to get 'im home and t' the doctor jus' t' check."

Jabez didn't respond, her crimson eyes staring blankly past her mother as her frightened mind fought to cope with the near tragidy.

Sal bit her lip and put her arm around Jabez's shoulders. "C'mon, we'll get the boat home, eh?"

"Hm." Billy blinked rapidly from where he still lay on the table, eyes focusing on Bennie. "...fell in the water?"

"Uh huh," she hazarded, not sure of all the words he'd used, then repeated, "(You hit your head.)" hoping that he would understand her.

Jabez shivered slightly, then lowered her head to Sal's shoulder and began to cry softly.

"Hey," Sal said, holding Jabez tighter. "It's okay... he's fine." She didn't want to tell her daughter that she'd seen worse things lest that come across as even more frightening. "We'll get him home n' he'll be fine by tomorrow."

Jabez nodded, then turned toward the bridge. The two of them walked in and Sal shut the door.

"Hey." Bennie frowned. "(Stay awake.)" She smacked his cheek gently.

Billy moaned and began blinking fast again, feeling like he was about to drift off to sleep any moment.

"Billy....." Bennie's frown changed to a scowl of concern as she stroked his hair, then she squared her jaw and planted a kiss on him.

"What the...." Jav blinked.

His eyes flew open and he squealed. "...What?"

"(Now you're awake.)" She smiled at him. "(Stay with us, my friend.)"

"Um... I'll be on deck if ye needs me." Jav turned and walked out, shaking his head.

"(Generally getting kissed by a pretty girl is enough to get anyone to wake up,)" Billy said, smiling wearily and holding a hand to his head. "Ow."

"(You're going to be alright.)" She gently smoothed his hair again. "(We're going home now.)"

"(Sal's gonna kill me, especially if we lost the catch.)"

"(I can come back for it. It was my fault you fell,)" she said calmly.

"(I doubt that,)" Billy said. "(I should've been watching where I was going.)"

"(I'll protect you, then.)" Her solid black eyes gleamed with a low fire, no way was he going to be penalized for what she'd done.

"(That's not necessary.)" Billy actually went a little red in the face.

She stroked his cheek, then frowned as she saw him shivering. "(Is there something better than the table for you to lay on?)"

He lifted his head. "(There's the bunks downstairs,)" he said, pointing to the ladder leading down to the lower decks.

Bennie nodded and gently lifted him from the table. "(I can't carry you. But hands and legs now, and I can help you.)"

"(Sounds like a plan,)" Billy said, wavering on his feet. Walking upright seemed like... not a good idea. That said, he crawled to the ladder, descended it slowly, and flopped into his bunk, closing the curtain and attempting to get out of the rest of his clothes.

The curtain was pulled aside, and determined hands got his boots and socks off.

"(You don't have to...)" Billy paused, feeling rather awkward.

"(You're not doing very well.)" His pants abruptly followed the boots.

"(I would rather not do well than have you stripping me down,)" he said with a weak chuckle, still too tired to protest more.

"(You've seen me naked; I can see you in shorts.)" She pushed him straight in the bunk, then pulled the blankets up and tucked them around him.

"(I guess that does count as a trade-off)," he muttered.

"(Yes.)" She hopped up beside him and lay down, watching his breathing and colour. Salt water in the lungs was NOT a good thing.

"(Um...)" He didn't know what to say or what to do, so he just stared resolutely forward.

"(Tell me a funny story.)"

Billy blinked. "(I don't have any.)"

"(I hear you sleep in the dryer sometimes. Someone who does that has to have stories.)"

"(That only happens once I've been drinking. Vic dumps me in there, I think, in an attempt to teach me a lesson.)"

"(Teach you a lesson?)" Her forhead furrowed skeptically.

"(About the... oh I don't know... dangers of drinking?)" He shrugged, folding his hands over his blanket-wrapped chest.

Bennie felt the boat pick up speed, then frowned slightly as she noticed that Billy was still shivering.

"Cold, b'y?" she asked in thickly accented Newfie.

Billy snickered. "'Course. That water's cold."

"Ah." Powerful arms gently turn him on his side, then wrap around him as she spoons herself against his back. She's a lot warmer than a normal person.

"Uh huh." Billy, once again, focused entirely on staring forward.

"(What's wrong?)" The frown is clear in her voice.

"(Well,)" Billy said, "(I... uhm... you're a woman?)" He wasn't making much sense, but all he knew was that the entire situation was way too awkward for his liking.

"(Yes?)"

"(You don't find this... awkward?)"

"(No....)"

"(Oh.)"

"(Do you want me to stop?)"

He cleared his throat. "(Not really.)"

She snuggled him a little closer, feeling the shivers fade. "(Then what?)"

"(I... don't know.)"

One webbed hand gently pats him on the chest. "(Tell me about that trophy Vic was making you scream with yesterday.)"

"(He wanted to take it apart because he was... bored.)" He snorted. "(I almost wanted to kill the @#!&*.)"

"(What did you win?)"

"(A curling tournament for the province. The day before Sal came home.)" He grinned.

"(Tell me what curling is.)" She rubbed his shoulder in an absent comforting gesture.

"(It's a game played on ice. You send granite rocks down a sheet of ice and land them on certain places at the other end to score points.)"

"(That sounds interesting. More so than that 'hocky' thing.)"

"(Hockey's a stupid sport. No skill involved.)" Billy actually laughed a little bit.

"(As stupid as the football my brothers loved.)" She snorted.

"(Do you mean soccer, or football?)" Billy's eyes twinkled.

"(What is soccer?)"

"(Some countries call it football,)" he explained. "(You kick the ball around and try to score in the nets....?)"

"(Ah, yes, that's the game. I used to like kicking their feet more than the ball.)"

"(Competitive?)"

"(They were larger than me, and my father's favorites. It was just fun to hear them howl.)"

"(I never had any siblings,)" Billy said with another shrug. "(But Jeimu and Sal have been like sisters to me for years.)"

"(I could see how she cared when we brought you from the water.)" She lay her cheek against his shoulder.

"(Yeah...)" He really didn't want to talk much more about Sal - he was still having trouble getting over all that had happened in the past year.

"(Is something wrong?)" Her arms tighten slightly, protectively.

"(No.)"

"(They are married, yes? To the tall man and to the blue one in the pictures in the big book.)"

"(Yes, they are.)"

"(I have not seen the blue man.)"

"(He doesn't live here all the time,)" Billy said. "(He lives in another reality.)"

".... (What?)"

"(I don't know how to explain it,)" Billy said. "(He just... isn't from here.)"

"(Ah.) She rubbed his chest gently. "(You don't like he and Jav?)"

"(It's not that,)" he said. "(They're both nice guys.)"

"(Then what bothers you about them?)"

He frowned. "(Sal and I ... almost ... well.)" He cleared his throat and fell silent.

"(You love her yourself, as more than a sister.)" Her voice was soft.

"(Not anymore.)"

"(Enough that speaking of her husband makes you tense.)"

He sighed. Bennie had the measure of him all right. "(You might be right,)" he said.

"(Is there no one for you?)"

"(No.)"

She was silent for a moment, then asked softly, "(Am I very strange?)"

"(Fascinating,)" Billy said, finally looking over at her. "(But not strange.)"

She let him turn on the bunk so that they faced one another. "(Even with the fur, and the eyes, and the teeth.)" One brow quirked.

"(Yes, even with.)"

She studied him for several minutes, gnawing her lip with one fang as she pondered his words. Part of her wanted to go back to scaring him and making him make funny sounds; but the other part, buried under the toughness, had gone out to him as he spoke of Sal.

"(It doesn't matter,)" Billy said after a few moments' silence. "(I just have to get over it.)"

"(Want some help?)" The words were nearly too low to hear.

"(What?)"

Those dark eyes looked into his and then, with no thought of where they were, she set her lips to his again.

"Hey, Billy," Sal said suddenly, appearing on the deck, "we're 'bout five minutes from.... oh. Oh, my. Sorry 'bout that." She turned right around, facing the ladder. "Um... we're five minutes out, so..." She smiled to herself. "Get ready."

Billy froze, but then saw her smile and relaxed. "'Course. I'm feelin' pretty good now."

"Yer still goin' t' th' hospital."

"Yes ma'am."

Bennie sat up and looked down at his clothes with a scowl. "(Have you others? These are still wet and cold.)"

Billy nodded, watching Sal climb up the ladder. "(In the storage closet...)"

The water woman hopped down and crawled over there, tossing him a fresh shirt and pants and socks and shorts, then lay down and hid her head with her face turned away so he could have total privacy while he changed the lowest layer.

Billy changed quickly and finally stood up on the slightly shuddering floor. "(There)," he said.

She looked up with a grin, then crawled rapidly toward the ladder, up, and away onto the upper deck, where she cast herself into the sea and headed back for the net.

He watched her go, and then Sal's face peered down from the galley. "Feelin' better?"

"Yes, b'y," he said with a grin.

"What?" Jav stopped in the doorway as she turned away from the hatch. "What're ye grinnin' fer?"

Sal stared. "I feels like it? Now git out there an' git ready to tie off."

"How's Billy? Bennie just bailed." He stood still, showing very little inclination to move.

"He's fine, now git."

"Aye aye, keptain," he said in his best Chekov impersonation, then snapped off a sassy salute, turned on his heel, and goose-stepped away.

Sal just rolled her eyes and steered the boat into dock just as Billy emerged.

"Fast trip," he remarked.

"I thought you'd die on me," Sal said with a sideways grin, "and I can't have that."

Jav jumped out and tied her off, then grunted as his foot went through a board and pulled it back, totally unfazed. "Where's Jay?"

Sal nodded toward the far corner of the bridge, where Jabez was gazing out the window. "Ye blind 'r somethin'?"

"She gonna be okay?" He looked toward his younger sister for a moment, then glanced toward where the van sat.

"Eventually." Sal shrugged, then turned to Jabez herself. "C'mon, ad'ika, let's go."

Jav started to say something, but then staggered back as a fish hit him in the chest. "What the?"

"Fish?" Sal raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, Sal!" called Tom. "Where do ye wants yer fish?"

Sal blinked. "Me fish?"

"Yeah, she was sayin' it was yer net, b'y."

".... Fine. Offload it jus' the same then." She shrugged and nodded to Jabez, indicating that it was time to get off the boat.

"Yer a great pal, Tom. Dunno what I'd do wit'out ye, b'y. Come on down t' my place 'n have some Screetch after I gits back with Peddle here," said Tom, making a face at her.

"Yes. Exactly." Sal watched Billy come up from below deck and walk back to land. "How d'ye feel 'bout seven 'r so?"

"Sounds good." Tom brightened and set to work, calling to his daughter to drop the fishguts overboard and knock it the bleep off.

Another fish came flying in, this one narrowly missing Sal's head.

"Where the @#*$# are those comin' from?" Sal asked.

"Hey, fishwoman, knock it the @$#%*$% off!" roared Tom, then fell on his butt as a massive cod hit him smack in the chest.

"Bennie's chuckin' the fish?" Billy said wonderously. "(Where'd you get them from?)"

"(The net, of course.)" Her head popped up over the edge of the dock for a moment before vanishing back beneath the water.

"Come on! Let's get this eyesore on the road!" yelled Jav from the van.

"I'll ask you to not make fun of my van," Sal said bitterly.

"I ain't laughin', b'y, but Billy nearly puked in it."

"Fine, then," Sal said, climbing in the driver's seat and looking in the rear view mirror to make sure everyone was in. "Where's Bennie at?"

"Dunno, b'y. Wasn' that her fish flingin' goin' on?"

"Yes, but where'd she go to?"

"Like I says, I dunno. Billy? Where's yer girl at?"

"Um... I..." Billy blushed, clearly flustered, despite the fact that Jav had been keeping up this vein of teasing ever since Bennie arrived. "She's in the...water?"

Jav looked at him strangely, but only said, "Ain't she comin'?"

"I... dunno." He shrugged.

Jav shrugged too and stuck his head out to yell the water woman's name.

"She's gone, b'y!" Tom called back.

Billy started, clearly shocked. "What?"

"She swum off! Headed off t' sea."

He frowned, looking inexplicably saddened by that fact. "Oh."

Jav's brows lowered as he closed the door, his eyes on his friend. "What's wrong, b'y?"

"Nothin'. I was just gettin' t' know her, 's all..."

"Yer actin' like she's never comin' back." He put a hand on the back of the front seat as Sal drove the van away from the dock.

"She went out t' sea," Billy said. "I has reason to believe she won't be comin' back."

"She said she was comin' here fer sactuary," Jav reminded him.

"Yeah but..." He thought back to their conversation. "Ah, never mind."