"Darya!" She whisper-shouted to herself and quickly descended the stairs. Stopping at the bottom, she knew Darya would ask why she was coming from upstairs. She slid against the left side wall and scooted to her bedroom without anyone hearing her. Taking a breath, she exited her room and entered the kitchen without Darya asking her about coming from upstairs.

"Morning mom, your guest here is really funny. He knows so much about the ocean, maybe more than you." She poked as Denise walked into the kitchen to join them. She smiled at her daughter and stuck out her tongue. Turning to the other person in the room she couldn't help the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks. Hoping her daughter didn't see it, she took a seat in the middle of them at the table.

"I don't know...I have a masters in marine biology, I know a lot about the ocean." Denise bit back while trying to not look at Dane sitting next to her on the left. Darya looked at her strangely but ignored it. She cleaned her plate and took it to the sink quickly.

"Marty and I are going on a scavenge today. We don't have any lessons or training. Want me to bring you back a seash.e.l.l?" Darya asked as she finished off her gla.s.s of soy milk. She didn't particularly like soy milk but her allergy made it nearly impossible to enjoy regular milk.

"Sure hun, try and find that elusive blue one?" She asked hoping Dane didn't read into the seash.e.l.l thing.

"Sorry David, my mother is a big seash.e.l.l collector. It started when she met my father. He would bring her one every day. Now it's my job since he disappeared." She joked while picking up her bag and heading for the door. Denise was a little confused about the David thing, but she would ask him later. She kind of wish Darya didn't bring up the sh.e.l.l story but it happened and now she had to face the music when she left.

"Seash.e.l.ls are the jewelry of the sea," Dane said with a deep look towards Denise even if she wasn't looking at him, he knew why of course, but that was being saved for later.

"She says that too." Darya pointed at her mom and walked out the front door.

"Stay safe!" Denise shouted to her as the screen door slammed behind her. Denise swears she could hear her heartbeat inside of her rib cage. She never thought a day like this would come, a part of her wanted him to stay as sleep because then she wouldn't have to face the man that left her.

"David?" Denise started almost snarkily.

Dane leaned back and smiled to himself. Chuckling out a deep covered laugh he looked up at her and deep into her eyes. For a moment he was locked into the last time they spent together but he shooked it from his head and focused on the present.

"She asked me my name and I was not sure what parts of me you had informed her about so I made a name up." He said matter of factly. He was a bit nervous and Denise could tell. It made her feel a bit better actually and she was happy about the name thing. She wouldn't know what to do if Darya found out about him this way.

"So Dane, obviously you know about-" She began but was cut off.

"I know she my daughter, and even if I hadn't been nosey and looked at all of your family photos on the walls, I would still be able to tell. She has the same eyes like me, she may look very much like you but you cannot deny those eyes. I am...I don't know where to start." He looked at her with those big beautiful eyes she missed so much. The ones that haunted her dreams and that her daughter shared.

"Maybe start with that night. Where did you go?" Denise gathered her courage and decided to get straight to the point.

"It is very complicated but the less confusing parts begin with the fact that I'm not from here. I told you that remember?" Denise nodded her head hoping this was going somewhere.

"I was called back home that night. When I get a call like that, I'm not allowed to ignore it. My family needed me and I had to leave. I know it was sudden and believe me I did not want to leave you. I fell in love with you over those months and it took everything in me not to stay. Please don't take that in a negative way. My family is complicated, but had I known you were pregnant I would have moved oceans to come back to you." He said with the sweetest voice she had ever heard.

It was the perfect mix of deep and rough but sweet and soft. He was pulling her back in and she didn't know what to do.

"I was scared. Still in college and pregnant with no way of contacting the father, you, let's just say it was hard. But I got through it even went on to get my master's degree with a five-year-old helping me study. She perfect, after all the fears and strife I went through she turned out perfect. and just as in love with the sea as I am, and as I remember you being." She smiled warmly up at him.

He was just as perfect as he was fifteen years ago. She thought of herself and all the changes she went through. She was 34 now and he was still smoking hot. No way she could compare to him.

"The moment I woke up I knew it was you. You haven't changed in the last fifteen years. I hate that you had to raise her by yourself. She really is just like you, she has my brown hair and little bits of your red. My eyes but your nose and mouth. I don't think the word sorry could say enough." He leaned over to her and took her hand in his. Rubbed small circles onto to the top of her hand he could see her slightly relax.

"This is weird, the storm blew you in and now you're here sitting in my kitchen talking to me. Like you never left!" She chuckled and looked down at their hands connected.

"The storm brought me in? I was wondering how I got here. I received a call and then the storm started. I guess I got swept away by a ma.s.sive wave. I don't remember much after the call." He said as he scratched his head while in deep thought.

"What call? I didn't call you, if I could then I would have called you way back then. And what do you mean you got caught in a wave? Did you swim here?" She said jokingly.

Dane looked at her while she laughed harder than he thought she would. He was hiding something from here and she was laughing too hard to realize it.

"Denise I need to tell you something. My name isn't Dane Waters and as you know I am not from here originally." She nodded her head like she understood.

"I actually didn't know your last name, fake or not." She smiled and let him continue.

"It's actually hard to p.r.o.nounce in this language but I can give you the translated version of it." She c.o.c.ked her head to the side in confusion.

"Raj Abioye, and I am a king which make Darya the princess and the only heir to my thrown. Much like you, I didn't seek out another mate to live my life with after I left. The night I left my kingdom was on the brink of war and my father died that night making me the king and it's been a battle for the last fifteen years." He kept his eyes down for the fear that she would laugh at him or call him crazy. He knew there wasn't any kingdoms around here or many in the modern world, but she also didn't know that he wasn't even from this world.

"There's something else I need to say." He said when she didn't say anything in response.

"More than the fact that you're a king? I may or may not be planning my escape to call the nuthouse." Her words stung him a bit but he knew she would react like this.

"My kingdom isn't in this world, it's under the waves and a bit of a way out from here. Denise, I'm a merman, they exist and our daughter is one of us. At least she will be in a short while with my help." He gazed into her confused eyes and waited for the big laugh telling him that she didn't believe him.

"I thought I was going crazy, but it has to be true." Her words shocked him and was completely the opposite of what he was expecting.

"What do you mean?" He asked her gently.

"She's practically allergic to air with the extent of her asthma, she's literally like a fish out of water and is the best swimmer in her school. Then there's the rash. She's had it for a while and only recently I've begun to notice the rash is exposing what I can only call scales. Please tell me my little girl's going to be okay." She asked in an almost broken voice that made Dane, or rather Raj, become emotional over her distress.

"She will be fine, I won't leave until everything is better and worked out. I got you back and I'm not letting you go anytime soon." She looked up at him suddenly. His words were hitting her in the best possible way and she started to cry. He left his chair and pulled her into his arms. She melted into them like they were young again and tried to relish his scent before he left again.

"She will be fine, I won't let anything happen to our daughter. I'm here now." His words comforted her and brought back too many memories, ones that she wasn't able to handle at the moment. All she knew is that he was here and she had a lot to tell Darya.