Nate's heart skipped a beat. His lips lingering on the back of Sean's soft hand. Unsure what to do next, he reluctantly pulled his lips off and looked off to where Mark was. Mark only got to smile at him because Nate's attention was brought back to Sean. Sean was brushing his long bangs away from his eyes. Staying very still, Nate closed his eyes as he enjoyed the sensation of Sean's warm and gentle touch. He only opened his eyes again, when Sean asked him in a shaky whisper. "Does that hurt?" Nate blinked with confusion. He didn't feel hurt. Sean's hand shook a little when he touched his cheekbone. Nate winced, but the pain was so mild compared to the pain his legs had been giving him all day. Sean looked so disheartened upon telling him. "I'm sorry. It looks like it is going to bruise..." Nate reached up to grab his wrist, pushing his hand down to rest it against his shoulder. He wanted to tell him that it had been worth it. That he'd do it again. That he loved him. Sean licked his dry lips, his fingers stroking Nate's neck timidly since it was already resting there.

Nate slid his hand down Sean's arm to his elbow, coaxing it to bend enough that Sean was forced to lean closer to him. Behind Sean, Mark pointed to Nate's other hand, then turned sideways to show him reaching out. Nate took his hand off Sean's wrist, raising it slowly to reach out to Sean's cheek. His fingers slid over his cheek, causing Sean to blush a deep red as he turned into his palm shyly. Keeping Sean's face steady, Nate started to lean in. His lips got so close to Sean's. Clearing his throat, Sean shifted to avoid the kiss and leaned back away from him as he rushed out. "You know... I feel really bad not knowing your name." Nate's heart sank thinking he had done something wrong. Looking to Mark, he watched Mark gesture for him to calm down and listen. Sean was avoiding his eyes now as he said in a nervous ramble. "I know you showed me the sign for it... but it bothers me that I don't really understand what it means. You know? I... Maybe that's selfish... I don't want you to think that it matters... but it's hard for me to work you into conversations when I only know... Shite... I sound like an arse... I'm sorry."

Sean propped his arm on the edge of the boat and covered his eyes with a heavy sigh. Nate turned his gaze from Sean to Mark, giving him a shrug. He didn't know what to do to help him. Mark looked around, thinking for a minute. After only a few seconds, Mark waved to get his attention and began to sign out quickly. "Name game? Make him give you one. Even if it's not true!" Nate shook his head at the last bit but liked the rest of it. Leaning forward, Nate tapped his knee to get his attention. When Sean lowered his hand, Nate pointed at him and gave him a beckoning gesture. Sean looked a little confused. Nate straightened up, gesturing with both his hands to prompt him into seeing if he'd try throwing a few names at him. Sean raised an eyebrow, asking softly. "What?" Nate touched his chest and beckoned to him again. Sean sat up a little straighter, questioning aloud. "You want me to do something...? To say your name?" After a nod or two from Nate, Sean blurted out in realization. "Oh! Ya... I guess that could work." Sean bit his lip, mumbling out to himself. "There are so many though... I'd have to narrow it down." Sean snapped his fingers, telling him hopefully. "How about this. I'll recite the alphabet and you tell me to stop when the letter comes up to your name?"

Nate shrugged a little with a distressed look. He didn't know how they'd spell his name in his writing. Sean blushed, adding quickly. "Oh... You might not know how to write or read... I didn't think about that. Sorry." Nate exhaled, blowing his bangs away from his eyes. Sean gave him a shy smile, half joking out. "I could always just tell you the names I know and then you... pick one?" Nate narrowed his eyes on Sean a little. He liked his name. He didn't want to change it. Nate turned his eyes to Mark, who held up his hands in a gesture that told him to wait. Nate smirked, leaning over the side a bit to touch a lily flower that was nestled on a lily pad by the boat. He was aware that Sean was watching him. After a minute, Sean started asking him in a hushed whisper. "Darius? Ninian? Nicholas?" Nate shook his head with a smile but kept coaxing him to stick with the last two names. They sounded like they were close. Sean smirked, saying to himself. "An N name? Maybe...? That's tough. I don't know many N names..." Sean bit his lip, his expression becoming lost in thought. Nate slowly sat up, tensing a little as Mark drifted closer to the boat.

Bringing himself up against the boat, Mark whispered as softly as the rustling breeze up to him. "Nathan." Sean tensed, regaling softly before turning to look at the water. "Nathan?" Mark sank seamlessly into the water before Sean had looked, but Nate was still worried that he'd see his bright tail in the water. Grabbing Sean's knees, he nodded to him to get Sean's attention back on himself. Sean sat up, excitement filling his voice as he asked him more confidently. "Nathan? That's your name?" Nate nodded. His name had never sounded so nice. Sean grinned brighter, telling him happily. "Nathan. I like it. It suits you." Nate blushed, looking away from him. Seeing Mark over among the hanging vines in the water, he smiled warmly. He didn't deserve a friend like Mark. Mark's smile looked a little sad, but he signed for Nate to look at Sean. Turning his head to look at Sean, Nate swallowed. Sean was so close to him now. Sean's fingers brushed Nate's bangs away from his face, whispering to him. "Thank you, Nathan. For everything today... I owe you. So... whatever you want. It's yours."

Nate licked his lips. He wanted to say that he wanted him. Reaching up to cup his face in his hands, Nate slowly brought his lips closer to Sean's. He wanted to tell him that he wanted him to love him... but for now... He'd settle for his first kiss. It was almost like Sean read his mind, when he tilted his head and breathlessly whispered over his lips. "I thought you might want that." Nate's lips drew so close he could just feel the softness of his warm lips and the puffs of his warm breath. Sean gulped, shaking a little as he whispered in a fading tone of voice. "Just a little..." Nate could feel Sean's fingers pressing into his wrists like he was struggling to decide to kiss him or push him away. Their eyes closed and Nate tilted his head to go for it, when a loud splash drew both their attention away to where Mark had been. Something was wrong. Before Nate could even react, the boat was hit so hard that it flipped over. Tossing both Sean and him into the water. Nate felt something wrap around his ankle, yanking him deeper into the water. The grip on his ankle hurt and he thrashed as his limited air threw him into a panic.

Beneath the water was chaos. He could faintly see Mark rolling around and thrashing in the water as one of the eels coiled around him and zapped him. Looking down, he saw the other eel wrapped around his leg. The eels laughed at them. Nate reached down to grab the eel's tail and regretted it. The zap he received in response hurt A LOT! It made his leg tense so bad that the pain in his leg doubled. In that moment, his air was gone. Mark hissed loudly in the water, grabbing the eel around him and sinking his sharp teeth into its body. The eel squealed and zapped Mark more, but Mark only clamped his jaw down on him harder. Relenting, the eel stopped zapping Mark in the hopes he'd stop. Mark uncoiled the eel from him, then swatted the eel away with his strong tail. Mark then swam straight for him. The eel around Nate's leg squealed in fright just as Mark slammed into Nate's leg to grab the little bastard. Mark dug his sharp nails into the eel, forcing it to make a retreat. The second the eel was free of Nate; Mark slipped his arm between Nate's legs to grab his thigh and shoved him up to the surface as fast as he could.

Nate rushed the rest of the way to the surface. While beneath him, Mark hissed and chased after the eel as it risked trying to come back for Nate. Breeching the surface, Nate coughed loudly and gasped for air. Sean swam over to him, grabbing his arm to pull him toward the island. Pulling him onto the shore, they fell back across the grass and took a minute to calm down. Just as the silence was setting back in, Sean asked him with a light playful chuckle. "Do you think that was the sea demon the pirates were so scared of?" Nate grinned as he panted, then nodded. Sean laughed with him, then uttered out. "That is one pissed off fish..."

Back in the deep ocean. Within the Barrens outside of the Trench Kingdom, Ursel glared at the bubble hovering over his steaming cauldron. Within the bubble, Ursel had watched Flotsam and Jetsam contain the Prince's friend and flip the boat. Now he watched them flee back home. Cracking his knuckles as he balled them into fists, Ursel snapped out to himself. "That was a close one." Slamming a fist on the vanity, Ursel stated bitterly. "Too close! Damn it!" Bowing his head, Ursel covered his face as he grumbled out under his breath. "That little tramp. Ugh... He's better than I anticipated." Flicking his silvery bangs from his face, he couldn't help chuckling out a little flattered. "I can't imagine where he gets it from." The humor quickly fell from his face though as he swatted one of his tentacles through the bubble over the cauldron to pop it. Starting to pace around his cauldron, he muttered out with distain. "At this rate, he'll be kissing him before the first day ends!" Frustrated, Ursel smashed vials on his shelves in passing with his tentacles and knocked all of his make-up off the vanity with his arms.

Grabbing the sides of the vanity, Ursel stared at himself in the mirror. Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he tapped his long red nails on the chiseled coral. Dropping his tense shoulders, he mumbled out in a cooler voice. "I'm so close... I can't let this slip away. I couldn't have made it any harder! I didn't even give him stable legs and I took his voice! What else could I-?!" Ursel stopped himself as an idea popped into his head. His lips curled into a wicked smile as the idea appealed to him on many levels. Turning his head to look at the mirror, he told himself in a purring deep voice. "Oh... I think I know just what to do. It's so obvious." Straightening up, Ursel answered in a darker tone. "I'll break his heart." Ursel inhaled as his heart ached from the memory of his own heartbreak. He knew from personal experience. There was nothing worse than a broken heart. Whirling around to face the cauldron, Ursel extended his hands out and curled his fingers. The cauldron came to a roiling boil at his command. Dropping his hands, Ursel moved around the room to collect the things he needed for the potions.

Within a few minutes, the potions were finished and Ursel was collecting the last of one into the last of the three bottles. The sound of Flotsam and Jetsam rushing into the room didn't faze him from his work. Behind him, they panted heavily. Then Jetsam boldly told him through lighter panting. "I'm sorry, Mother... We'll do better next time. He just... We... No excuses. We'll do better." Ursel slowly turned to face them, his expression calm as he said in a loving voice. "I know. It's not your fault. Don't worry, Poopsies. I have a plan. You've spent enough time in those forms. Time to evolve." Flotsam snuggled behind Jetsam, asking timidly. "Will it hurt?" Ursel opened his hands to reveal the bottles, upon telling them honestly. "I'd never hurt you. You're all I have left in this world. Besides, you won't be going back alone." Jetsam lifted his chin confidently, a warm grin forming across his face. Ursel lifted his tentacle to show them the potion that he was going to take as he told them with growing excitement. "This time. I'll be taking this matter into my own tentacles. Together, Triton's son will be mine. And then I'll make him writhe... I'll see him wriggle like a worm on a hook!"

Flotsam and Jetsam started to laugh with excitement and Ursel joined in with them. Feeling better after a good hearty laugh, Ursel told his boys in a soothing deep voice. "Come, boys. No more hiding. It's time to get our happy ending." Flotsam swam over to wrap himself around Ursel's broad shoulders. Hugging him tight, Flotsam nuzzled Ursel's neck, purring out. "Yes, Mother." Ursel made his way out of the lair and looked up at the surface with a heavy heart. Heading up to the surface, Flotsam and Jetsam, swam around him happily. Ursel had not gone to the surface in many years. Slowly rising from the water, Ursel arched his back and spewed the water from his lungs before gasping in air. Pushing his wet silvery hair back off his face, he looked around and shook a little. The memories that came back to him were a bit overwhelming. He could still hear the cannon fire and screaming. Glancing at mermaid Island, he could almost see the former shadow of himself sitting on the beach with his tail in the lapping water.

His breath caught in his throat. He hadn't seen that beach in a long time. The longer he stared at it, the more he thought of another little island with willows. Where what felt like a lifetime ago, he had shared his first kiss with a pirate and revealed what he was to him. Not the woman he'd come to know and love... but the lonely merman who longed to start a family of his own with him. Tears brimmed his eyes as he whispered his name for the first time in a long time. "James..." Flotsam stopped circling him, asking with big concerned eyes. "Mom? Something wrong?" Ursel cleared his throat, wiping the tear that ran down his cheek as he told him with a forced smile. "No, Poopsie. It's just been a long time. A lot of... memories." Straightening up, Ursel shook the memories from his mind and held out the potions for them with his tentacles. Taking his own, he lifted it up and told his boys seriously. "I'll take it first. Then you. Just in case..." Ursel uncorked the bottle and drank it down. The potion went down smooth, and everything tingled as he began to change.

Getting a little impatient, Jetsam took the potion from one of Ursel's tentacles and uncorked it with his teeth before gulping it down. As his tentacles twisted and formed into a slender set of feminine legs, Ursel grabbed the last potion and gave it to Flotsam. While Flotsam drank, Jetsam began to change. His body growing out into a merman with skin of bluish green with sparkling dots. A fin unfurled along his spine and his ears grew out into long ear fins. Jetsam laughed as he looked at his arms with long black nails and his long eel tail. Jetsam's single yellow eye glinted in the fading light over the ocean, his dark silky hair growing out with silver highlights. Ursel looked at Flotsam, his heart filling with more joy than he'd felt in years. It had worked this time! Reaching out, he touched Flotsam's cheek. Flotsam giggled as he watched static spark between his webbed fingers. Then stopping, he hugged Ursel and cried out happily. "IT WORKED!" Ursel hugged his son tightly, tears running down his face. It had taken him a long time, but he'd finally gotten it right!

Grabbing a reluctant Jetsam's arm, he pulled him into their hug. For the first time, they genuinely felt like a family. Kissing his twin boy's temples, he told them excitedly. "Are you ready to do this?" Jetsam grinned wickedly, showing off his sharp shark looking teeth as he said. "Oh, yes. I was born ready." To Be Continued...