Love Comes in All Sizes (Companion Sequel Fic to "Uniquely the Same")

Hips Don't Lie

As I slowly began to approach the farm in the distance, my heart literally skipped a beat at the sight of her. Erika...

I almost felt angry and annoyed at my internal organ with its erratic beating and I gulped down nervously as I approached the pink sea monster just floating around like usual.

The moment she spotted me back, she waved with huge enthusiasm at me, and I glanced nervously away, before forcing myself to look at her, and gave a faltering smile, given a tiny wave back.

"I thought you'd never arrive." She said with a huge beam, and swam over to me as I took up my post.

"Wh-wh- why would you think that?" I replied and she just gave out a small giggle.

"I can't tell time... it felt like I was waiting here for an hour."

I looked at her puzzled, and had to seriously ask, "You... can't tell the time of the day?"

She shook her head innocently and shrugged nonchalantly, as if this fact didn't matter in the slightest. But that very reasoning annoyed me and I threw my hook onto the sea floor in rage, grabbing her fin hand and pulling her up to the surface with me.

"What are WE doing?!" She asked terrified, trying to pull away but I held onto her hand tight till we reached the small island I'd slept so many nights on.

"I'm going to teach you."

"Teach... me?"

"How to tell time,"

She smirked back and added, "Like that matters."

As we came out of the waves to the shoreline, the wetness on our skin dried up quickly and we took human forms once more. But I was still gripping her now tanned human hand and led her up to the castle stone tower.

We climbed up the ladder and I pulled over an old watch I had found a while back, during my sea scavenging years.

"This." I said simply, holding it before her and she crooked her eyebrows up confused and in wonder, "This is what they call a watch." She peered more closely at it, and I snapped it closed to startle her, adding, "And it can tell time."

"How?" Erika only asked confused, and I grinned, clicking it back open from its metal covering, "All I see is numbers?"

"The numbers are symbolic." I told her easily and she smiled, glancing up at me.

"How-?"

"Just listen." I told her and slowly began to go over the mechanism and workings of time on a watch and further on a clock.

"So, when it says one with the small hand, and six with the big hand... it's one thirty?" She asked after ten minutes and I cheered, relieved she was finally understanding.

"Yes!"

"So, the big hand does minutes and the small does hours?"

"NOW you're getting it!"

"Well, I wasn't born upside down..." She remarked and then I cocked an eyebrow up surprised to hear her say this strange sentence.

"You could've fooled me," I joked, given her a small playful punch on her tanned shoulder.

"Can..." She began, holding the watch to her heart and looking shy and bashful as she asked, "Can I keep this..?"

"Water's not good for it," I admitted uncomfortably and took it off her, placing it on the small wooden stand next to the brick wall, "But you can come here and check the time whenever you want."

"Thanks..." She said on nervously, and her smile seemed more timid as she looked at me with a soft gaze, carrying on, "Now I need to teach you something..."

"No need." I told her easily, and placed my hands on my hips, "I'm a genius."

"Do you know..." She asked, putting her hands nervously behind her back and swaying on her feet, "How to talk to fish?"

I blinked my eyes wide opened at her interesting question.

~x~

We headed back to the fish farm, and I nervously opened up the gates weakly, entering into the pen with her and carrying my hook rod tight in my fin hand.

Erika approached one of the middle sized fish and started to make signs with her hands and tail. I watched this, perplexed and started to think to myself she had lost her mind. But after a minute went by the fish swam away with it's big wide fish eyes and she looked over to me, smirking and folding her arms pleased.

"What are you so happy about?" I asked her plainly and she pointed her thumb the direction the fish had gone.

"I told her to get her family."

"No you didn't."

"With-" She continued and swam up to my face, grinning wide and making me float awkwardly back with the blush on my cheeks, "Body language."

"Body language." I said. I didn't even ask. It was sounding ridiculous.

"Mmm hmm," She hummed staring right into my face, "After all, as they say, ten percent is verbal and the other ninety percent," She smirked again, nudging her hip into mine plaufully, "Is in the way you move."

"You are crazy," I laughed, pushing her away and watched in puzzlement when the fish returned with five baby ones and one big male fish who I assumed was her partner. I turned my amazed eyes back at Erika, my jaw hanging open and she giggled, closing it with her fin hand tapping under my chin and closing my astonished mouth shut.

"You're welcome," She said with a wink and I quickly waved my head back and forth, waking myself back up to the moment.

"Who taught you that?" I asked her quickly, swimming up to her as she floated innocently before me, "Like – did you learn that from someone or-"

"I'm an explorer," She replied and folded her arms, smiling wider as she continued, "I teach myself from observance and practice."

"Like time-?" I teased and she smiled coyly back, replying.

"Yeah... except that."

We both broke into laughter and she placed her hand on my shoulder, trying to keep balance in her hysterics.

I smirked a little and took her hand off me into my own blue finned hand, holding it there. She soon realized this, as her laughing disappeared and she looked slowly into my eyes.

"Are..." She asked shyly, and glanced into the distance before back at me. My eyes were lidded and I had a stupid dazed smile on my lips, "Are you okay, Alberto?"

"I'm good..." I said slowly and gripped her hand tighter, "What about you...?"

She quickly went red in the cheeks and released my hold on her, gazing away into the open ocean and giving a small gulp.

"Erika?" I asked, my voice low and worried that I had done something really stupid.

"The sun is setting..." She uttered and suddenly gave me a hug, whispering, "I don't like the darkness..."

She released me after she said this with sad eyes and waved as she began to swim away into the very darkness she had just told me she didn't like. I watched her go confused, as the sun disappeared from sight.

I didn't actually know where Erika slept at night... and a part of me wanted to know. So I closed up the farm gates and followed her from far behind.

I could see she was following the path of the glowing pink flowers and they led the way to an abandoned ship, a ship that was full of glowing flowers to keep the darkness away.

I floated just at a crack in its side, looking on and seeing Erika lying in the center in the fetal crouching position again... crying.

She was crying...