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When they finally stopped, Rikki was feeling significantly more refreshed, largely because the sun had come up. It was amazing how much less tired she felt being awake just because the sun had joined her. The bathroom at the first stop had been horrifying, but she'd had to go so badly that she'd just grinned and beared it. She was glad that when they stopped again, it was a restaurant because not only did that mean brekky, but it also meant a probably less disgusting bathroom.

Ben had ordered what she considered to be a pretty American breakfast. She was sour that they didn't have any Vegemite, either, because it seemed like no one in America did, so she settled for just butter on her toast to go with her eggs and fried tomato. Only, the more she looked at Ben's breakfast, the more she wished she'd ordered it. It wasn't like she'd never had pancakes before, why hadn't she thought to have some? They'd have sat heavier and felt more satisfying in her stomach...

His question jarred her out of her envy and she laughed a little. "For breakfast, you want pie?" she asked, amused. "What kind of pie?" To the other question, she shrugged. "Hey, if you want to add seeing the world's largest comb to your list just so that you can cross it off, then I say let's do it," she replied with a smirk. Rikki wasn't sure he was serious about going, but if he wanted to, she wasn't about to tell him no. "How much further did we have to go for this morning?" she asked. Rikki had sort of lost track of how long they'd been on the road because even though she knew what time they'd left and what time it was now, she was a little sleep-disoriented and, not to mention, she wasn't sure where the Mountain time zone ended and the Pacific one began nor where they were in relation to that imaginary line.

He didn't mind the long drive in the night. There wasn't anything to look at other than road, so it made it easy to not be upset over missing things. He could think things over more as he drove mindlessly in the night. Think about how he was going to ask Rikki out. Not at first. Let the excitement of the ocean take front stage. It was her proper ocean after all, if not a bit far away from home.

No, a calmer moment would be best. He didn't want to do it over dinner like most people might have. A calmer moment was the best choice. He bit his lip, glancing over at the sleeping form then smiled. Glad she was resting.

So far so good. He grinned at her at the Pie comment. "Banana cream pie maybe, or apple. Or maybe coconut. Bit silly, right? Having pancakes and pie. It's basically cake and pie for breakfast, right? But this place makes all their own pies, so they have to be good, right?" He was trying to sell HIMSELF on this, really. It was way too early for pie but he might do it anyhow.

"It's a comb. It's a little strange, right? I wonder what it would look like. I mean, will I regret not taking a 10 mile detour to see a comb that is no doubt some plaster sculpture and gift store? Or can I live my life without it. It's not like the worlds largest rubber band ball or something. You know?" He rambled, in high spirits right now. But no, he really wasn't serious.

"But yeah, um, few more hours. Not a lot. I was making good time on the flats out there. We gained a hour when we crossed over into California, so that helps. the views are so much nicer in this state too. More trees." His hand played with three of the little creamer buckets that were for coffee, moving them around as if they were a hidden ball trick with one hand, his other hand poking at what was left of his pancakes.

"You know, I reckon we're both adults and we can do whatever we want, so if you want pie, let's have pie," she said with a grin. "I'd say 'you only live once' but..." she adds with a little wink. "Let's not waste it worrying over silly things like whether or not pie is acceptable in the morning. It's food, isn't it? People eat food for breakfast. No point getting all hung up on what exact food, yeah?" At least, she didn't think so, especially when part of this trip was about getting more experiences under Ben's belt during his second chance at life.

Christ, she hated it when that reminder cropped up in her head, that he had already died and he was essentially living on borrowed time here; that if this place ever sent him back like it had Klaus, there was a very good chance that it might be for good. It was hard growing ever more attached to him while knowing that, but Ben was hard not to become attached to. He was such a sweet guy and he was so much fun to be around, how could she not?

"How many kilometers is that?" she asked, curious. Rikki wasn't very good at the conversions yet and why America insisted on using such a stupid measuring system was beyond her. Australians weren't perfect; her dad had used the Imperial system at some point, but ever since she'd been around, it had been metric. Metric just made more bloody sense. "If ten miles isn't that far out of the way, why shouldn't we make the stop?" She shrugged. "We've all weekend, yeah? It's fine, if you want to."

Of course, she was much more keen on getting to the beach and getting back in her own ocean, but she wasn't going to point that out to Ben. This trip was a lot more about him than it was about her, as far as she was concerned. She just got the bonus of being able to swim in the Pacific again, but that wasn't the reason she had suggested the trip and pushed for it.

Her eyes shifted to the way he poked at his pancakes. "Are you gonna finish those?" If he wasn't, then one, maybe she could get away with stealing some and two, maybe he really ought to skip the pie.

"With reasoning like that? Pie it is." He said with a laugh, grinning at her cheeky response. "I only live as often as I can." he said instead. It was borrowed time, sure but he intended to make the most of it. Intended to live it as long as possible. He didn't mind, and his only fear was losing all of this. If he lived to be 90 and he got pulled home, he's forget everything, but that would be like death. Die and forget. Or, well, he assumed it would be like a normal death.

"Oh, uh, 16ish kilometers, I think. It's not too far, but like i said it's probably a tourist trap. Though if you want to play into traps we can totally be tourists. We have all the time you can take off. We just need to be home in time for you to go back to work, I think." He chuckled, taking another bite of pancake.

She asked if he was going to finish them, and yeah, he intended too, he was just distracted. He turned the plate around so a uncut side of the pancakes were facing her better. "You can have some if you like. They're really good."

"Up to you, mate. We can do whatever you like. This trip is about you. I've got until Monday, so we've got a couple of days, yeah?" she asked, smiling a little when he turned his plate for her. Rikki took a little piece off with her fork, grinning around her fork after taking her bite. She hummed her approval of the taste and finally drew the fork back out of her mouth.

"Those are really good, I should've gotten that," she laughed. "D'you reckon they can get us the pie pretty quickly? We should probably get on soon, right?"

She was starting to get excited now about getting to be in the Pacific again for the first time since her arrival. Admittedly, she was also kind of excited about Disneyland, though mostly because Ben seemed excited about it.

"Well see if we hit the turn off for it." He said with a hum, taking a sip of his strong coffee and sighing softly. It was cold now but that was okay. "I might just snap a picture of the sign and call it good." he said with a chuckle.

Another fork full of pancake and he nodded to her, waving with his fork to say have more. "Eat up. We can get pie to go." And he would get banana cream to go, as well as what ever she wanted. He might not eat it right away but he could eat it easy enough on the road.

Passing the sign for the comb, he did stop to take a picture and then move on, no longer really enchanted with it enough to add 20 miles to their trip. In the car he settled back, a plastic fork in his mouth, and grinned. "Gonna be good to get in the water. Wash off all this road dust." He commented, almost as excited as she was to reach the pacific.

Rikki indulged herself a couple more bites of the pancakes while Ben ordered the pie to go. She was itching to get to her home ocean again. It was nice that Ben seemed almost as excited about it as she was, probably for his own reasons.

She was appropriately chatty on the rest of the drive, practically talking his ear off about the different flora and fauna in the Pacific that he hadn't been able to see in the Atlantic. She couldn't wait to drag him way out where neither of them have ever been, too close to the United States for her to have visited and on the wrong coast for him.

After a day like that, she was certain that it wouldn't matter where they slept, she'd pass out with little trouble at all. That sort of excitement was plenty enough to knock a girl out at the end of the day when the adrenaline crashed.

They chatted and she explained things that actually did interest him, thus the conversation was easy and flowed well. Talking to Rikki had always been easy though. She was just a likable person. At least to Ben.

As they got to the shore line he drove the Highway One for a bit, looking for a nice area to park. Finding a parking lot and a pebble beach he parked the Nova facing the ocean and sat there a moment, taking a long deep breath. "Welp, your home ocean awaits. No ones around either, which should help. Go on out and test the waters. I'll pitch the tent and join you after."

He offered to let her go on her own. To let her have a moment in the water with out him distracting. It was mid day and warm, a good time for a dip. He could set the tent up, change in it, and drag his tanks down to the water side and join her after a bit.

By the time they get to the beach, Rikki was practically vibrating with anticipation to get in the ocean. It was especially nice to see that the beach was still empty. She imagined that had more to do with the time of year than the hour of the day and that suited her just fine. The cold wasn't going to bother her in her mermaid form and Ben would be okay in the gear, she thought. Or if he wasn't, she'd do as promised and warm up the water around him with her powers.

His permission made her face light up. As much as she wanted Ben to be with her, she was also entirely too excited to get into the Pacific again to want to wait for him to pitch the tent which, she thought, was a good place to start, really. She grinned widely at him, then leaned over and threw her arms around him in a tight hug before throwing a breathless, "thank you!" over her shoulder and scrambling out of the car, taking off toward the ocean at her top speed.

Rikki ran into the water and lept into the air to arch herself forward, propelling her body away from the shallows as her legs shifted into a long, heavy, golden mermaid tail just before she disappeared beneath the waves.

It felt the same as the Atlantic this shallow, but Rikki knew it would take Ben a little while to get the tent set up and change into swim clothes and his diving gear, so she had time. At her top speed, Rikki sped away from the beach and into the depths of the Pacific where, once the corals and the schools of familiar fish started to make themselves seen to her, she finally felt like she was home again.

She indulged herself only a few minutes before speeding back because she'd swam out hundreds of kilometers and then down hundreds of kilometers as well. By the time she returned to the part of the sea where Ben would be able to see her as she surfaced, nearly an hour had passed. Rikki popped up from the waves, looking around for him and seeing him several kilometers down the beach. She slipped back beneath the surface to swim toward him more quickly before resurfacing and looking back at him from her spot just far enough from shore to keep from her tail dragging on the sand.

"Come out with me," she called to him hopefully, moving her hands to warm the water a bit and pushing that gentle heat toward the shore. "I'm warming it for you." She was struck just then by how much she felt for Ben as he readied himself to join her. He'd always been attractive and kind; she'd always enjoyed spending time with him and she'd had a bit of a crush on him for months. But now when she looked at him, she saw a man who drove through several states in the hours of the morning when he was meant to be asleep just to bring a mermaid to her preferred ocean and her heart swelled so large in her chest that she worried it might burst in there. And all she wanted to do was kiss him for it.

Rikki's stomach fluttered incessantly as he made his way out and she tried to will herself to ignore it. It wasn't like she could kiss him with his gear on, anyway. She could hug him, though. She could and she would when he got close enough for her to grab him.

When she threw her arms around him with a breathless thank you his face must have turned ten shades of red. "No problem." He said, but she was already running for the shore line. He leaned on the wheel a moment, watching her go, smiling dumbly after her. He couldn't help but be pleased with himself seeing her so happy and excited.

He took a moment to let her swim off before he crawled out of the car, taking down things from the roof and the car. He took his time setting up the tent, putting down two bed rolls side by side, and slowly changing. Into his wet suit, he pulled his tank and flippers with him, moving out over the pebble beach and to the shore line. He got all suited up and sat down there, letting the water splash his flippers as he waited.

It was calming. He could see why she loved the ocean so much. It was almost relaxing that he thought tonight would be a great sleep, even sleeping in a tent.

When he saw her pop up in the water he perked up, smiling as she called to him. He moved to stand, dusting off his butt as he moved to the water. It was warmer than it was earlier and it made him smile. "You don't have to do that. Swear. I should be okay." He laughed, smiling at her as he came closer. Goggles on the top of his head.

When he got close enough he said "Have a good swim?" He said, just barely pulling his goggles down before he got hugged. He laughed, hugging her back tightly.

He hugged her back and Rikki didn't want to let go. Being close to him had always been something she liked but they were across the country from where they usually spent the most time together and that was because he had wanted to make sure she got to swim in her home ocean. She appreciated that more than she could probably ever put into words.

"Yeah, brilliant," she replied, finally making herself separate from him so that she could look at him. "So...now you're swimming in the second of your two ocean goal," she went on. "And I'm going to take you to knock out at least one more, possibly two if we get really lucky. How much time have you got on your tank?"

If he had at least an hour, then she was confident that they would be fine. She'd take him out, come up for breath, and then take him down so that he could see the coral reefs hiding in the deep and, if they were lucky, the pod of dolphins hanging around it would come explore the human and the mermaid and he would get to swim with dolphins as well.

"If you're ready, hold on really tight. I haven't ever brought you along at my full speed and it's really fast; I don't want to lose you, yeah? But we've got a ways to go and it'll just be a lot faster if I can just use my speed. I really want you to see. It's not Australia or Mako, but it's a lot closer to home for me than I've been able to show you before. I really want you to see..."

Oh god, she hugged him tightly and his face had to have flushed more, but he hugged her back with a squeeze. His Mermaid.

"I've got about a hour of usable air under water. Full tank. And you're right, I get to mark that one off when I'm dry again." He laughed, moving back to make sure his flippers were each on properly, getting ready to be pulled along.

"What are you taking me to?" He asked, grinning at her as she said they had a ways to go. He messed with his goggles, making sure they were clear before putting them on, a clear sign that he was ready for this. "I think I can handle holding on. I'm excited to see what you have going on out there."

Nodding as he let go, Rikki smiled. That ought to be plenty of time, especially if she went at her own speed and just brought him along with her. He had twice as much in his tank as she could do on her own. One of these days, she was going to be brave enough to test it to see if she could go even longer. Today was not that day.

"Perfect," she said confidently as he readied himself by readjusting his goggles. "Right, I mean it, hold on tight," she warned. "It's not like the bike. That thing you've topped out, what 100 kilometers per hour? I'll be going a lot closer to 600, but I'll need my arms up in front of me to act like a rudder when I'm going that fast, so you have to really hold on, mate. And you'll want to tuck your head against me so you don't end up with whiplash or worse..."

When she felt as though she'd sufficiently made her point, she smiled again. "I'm taking you to see the reefs," she announced, an underwater whoosh of her tail pushing her up against him again. "Ready?"

At his go ahead, Rikki lowered them both beneath the surface and made certain he was held on very, very tightly before she took off, zipping through the ocean at a speed that was likely to make Ben's head rush.

She was making it VERY clear that this was going to be fast. Faster then his Bike by a LOT. His brows went up, but he nodded, fixed his goggles once again, put in his mouth guard to be ready, and as she came closer, he looped his arms around her, snugging up close to her.

His face burned, but he smiled behind his mouth piece. "Okay, I think I got this. Let's see some reefs." He said, and locked his hands together around her, hugging close around her middle. When they started to move he'd tuck his head in to her back and side, staying as aerodynamic as possible with his large frame of a scuba tank on his back.

It only took her about fifteen minutes to get them both to the area of the ocean where she could guide him down to the reef, but it was probably a rough go for Ben. There was a reason she didn't do her top speed with a passenger often, after all. Before actually heading into the deep, Rikki slowed to a stop and surfaced so that she'd be able to take a nice, deep breath before they went.

"Okay, you all right, mate?" she asked, just to be certain. She was ready when he was, but she wanted to make sure that the trip hadn't been too much.

Once she was sure he felt okay, Rikki took her deep breath and lowered them both below the surface and started down toward the reef. A few minutes in, she could already see it looming in the distance but she wasn't sure whether Ben would be able to see it until they got a little bit closer. She wanted so much to be able to help Ben knock off as many items from his bucket list as possible. Please, God, let there be dolphins before we come up again... she hoped silently to herself as they reached the reef and she finally let go of his hand when they were close enough for the two of them to take hold of the reef to keep their balance.

Whoa.

That was intense, and he was clinging to her for dear life. When they stopped and she guided them above to the fresh sea air, he blinked behind his mask spitting out his air for a moment and taking a normal breath. "Holy sheeeit." He said long and slow. "That was intense."

He took another few breaths before nodding, putting his gear back in his mouth. He held her hand as she dragged him through water, the reef coming up in his goggles. He smiled behind his mouth piece as they got closer, and as she let him go he gave a thumbs up and drifted a bit in the water, reaching out to touch a rock and look over coral. Amazing. He could stay down here all day if he had the air for it, really.

Blushing a little, Rikki nodded. "I told you so," she replied.

While Ben prepared himself for the actual dive, Rikki relaxed herself, sinking below the surface just enough that she could come back up again with her face toward the sky, forcing her hair back and out of her eyes and then waited until he was ready.

Being down there with the coral always felt like home to Rikki. Sharing it with Ben for real this time, at least as close as she can while she's in this world. She had to surface once while they were down, to catch a breath, but she stayed down with Ben the whole time he could stay under and she made sure she headed back upward slowly to keep from the pressure hurting Ben.

Breaking the surface again with him after taking the breath she'd need to zip them back toward shore, Rikki looks over at him. "So what do you think?" she asked. "I was hoping we'd get lucky and find some curious dolphins, but at least you still get two things to cross of the list, right?"

It was amazing, floating around under the calm waters and just swimming with fish, poking at coral hiding holes and looking over the different colors. He wanted to take home another coral to add with his white one, but he was good and didn't break any of them off. Instead he pulled out his water camera, it hooked on his tank, and took pictures. If it, and of his beautiful not quite girlfriend.

He was going to change that. For sure.

When they came to the surface again he took his goggles off and mouth piece, laughing out loud. "This is amazing Rikki! Thank you." And he smiled about dolphins. "Well, we do have a few days, and I figured if we're not at Disneyland we'll be in the water. Maybe we'll see some tomorrow." He said cheerfully.

Beaming back at him, Rikki laughed and nodded. "Of course!" she chirped back happily. "Maybe we'll get luckier tomorrow, yeah." She really hoped that they would run into some. It'd be a shame to miss the opportunity to add that as an item to cross off the list.

"Should we go back in? Have some lunch or something?" she asked. It must have been somewhere close to lunch at this point, mustn't it? Between the drive after the diner, her hour or so on her own and then this hour or so with Ben, she could feel the beginnings of hunger pangs starting to make themselves known. "What do you reckon?" she asked.

Even before waiting for a response, though, she was starting to guide them back toward shore. The water was cold and she could keep it warm, she supposed, for him, but it was probably just better if he got out of the water and she got him dry. This time of year wasn't terribly friendly for swimmers in the ocean. Not human ones, anyway.

"Tomorrow will be the day! And if not, it just means we have an excuse to make this trip to the coast again, right?" He teased, moving to pull his goggles down, wiping them and getting them on again.

"But yeah, let's get back and eat. We can still play in the water if we want, but food does sound good." He agreed, not realizing he was a bit hungry himself. He was growing tired too but he hadn't noticed that yet.

She was guiding him back and he moved with her. "Zipping us back in or slow swim?" Did he have to hold on or could he go about lazy. Maybe holding on would be better, but it was best to check.

"I reckon slow swim," Rikki replies. "No need to rush now that we've both been in the Pacific now," she adds, taking his hand and starting to move forward toward the beach.

Lunch will be nice and relaxed and they have all day to lounge around or go back into the water. Rikki's got the itch out of her system and Ben has at least two items crossed off the bucket list already today. What she hasn't gotten the itch out for yet is thanking Ben properly for bringing her out here.

"I'm glad we did this. It's gonna be a good trip," she says and it's more of a promise than a statement. At least, she hopes it will be. She has a good feeling.

"I'm glad we did this too." He said, wanting to pull her in close to kiss her, but he thought better of it, at least not yet, but lord was the idea there.

They swam back slowly, enjoying a few small dives here or there and playful swimming. Back on the shore, his tent behind a grass and sand covered hill was still there, perfect and safe. He had gotten changed out of the scuba gear and into shorts and a t shirt once again. He left the gear out to dry for now, and had pulled some bags from the car for food.

Towel down on the ground outside the tent, he settled there, pulling out food that was good for trips like this. Though he was very distracted, watching Rikki half the time. He looked as if he almost wanted to say something.

Once they'd made it back to shore, Rikki dried them both off enough that she could have her legs and he could change into dry clothes without too much hassle. She'd dry off his gear later if it hadn't dried on its own in time should they decide to go back out again. But once he was dressed and had laid out the towel, she'd made her way over and sat beside him, her stomach tied in nervous knots.

For every ounce he looked like he wanted to say something but hadn't found the words, Rikki looked like she did, too. She managed after a few long, uncomfortable moments to at least spit out a verbal gratitude.

"Thank you," she said sincerely, her lips pressing together briefly and tongue slipping out to wet them before she cleared her throat and looked back at him. "For doing this. Bringing me here, I mean. I don't think you know how much it really means to me," she confessed, tucking her hair behind her ears and fidgeting in place.

She told herself to just do it. Just lean in and give him a kiss, even if it was super chaste so that, if he looked horrified by it, she could always play it off as just a quick thank you and pretend that cheek kisses weren't as much of a thing in Australia as they were in America for this sort of situation. But her stomach tumbled and her body felt cold and her palms were beading with sweat at the very thought of initiating that sort of thing without knowing that it would be welcome. Rikki was always so sure of herself, but with this sort of thing? She was more cautious.

When she thanked him he smiled, ducking his head a moment. "It's okay, I think I get it actually. And I can't thank you enough for coming with me like this. I'm just glad I could get you close to home at least. Might not be the right island but..." He gave a small shrug but smiled.

He fidgeted with a twist tie in his hand and twirled it around before trying to gain the confidence he needed. There was no reason to be nervous. He was sure she felt the same about him too. Sure it would be fine. SO he sucked it up, turning to her with a bit of a questioning smile.

"Hey."

He stared at her, then let his smile twist more into something a bit cheesy, feeling a bit more courage. "Let me be your boyfriend." Not 'be my girlfriend', because that would have sounded demanding, but what he said was more open, he felt. open for rejection, and him just teasing about how he was kidding, if she rejected him.

"It's good enough," she assured him with a small, shy smile, ducking her head again when he looked back up at her. When he spoke again to get her attention, Rikki looked up, questioning expression on her face.

The way his smile changed made her stomach flutter furiously, but what he said next made it flutter even more furiously. It took a moment for her to fully process it in a way that she was able to feel certain that she'd heard him right and she wouldn't humiliate herself. Giving herself that moment to process, what came out first was a surprised laugh. Not an amused one, one that just illustrated that she had been taken off her guard and, if one knew her well enough to get into her head, that she couldn't believe her luck.

Her stomach tumbled and knotted and settled, over and over, so quickly she couldn't decide if she felt sick or not, but she ended on a bright smile, nodding her head when words failed her briefly. "Yeah," she finally managed. "Yeah, of course. Christ, it took you long enough," she laughed again, reaching for her to draw him in so that she could kiss him. It wasn't rough or frantic; it was chaste but lingering, giving Ben a chance to decide if he wanted to leave it at that for the moment or if he wanted to deepen it.

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