In the tower apartment of the Storybrooke library, Ariel dreamed of sunlight.

She'd spent enough nights in this unconscious world to know it like a sea. Except here, she found torches, a grand ballroom, and a human she hoped to meet again. Here there were warm things. Here the only blues were found on Eric's coat and in his eyes, and sometimes the view of the balcony overlooking the ocean.

She woke to the heat of a real sunrise and lingering memories of a prince.

Later in the morning she didn't find a prince, but she found Eric, chopping the heads from dead fish and collecting them in a pile. She would have liked to forget that part. Though she could read no anger in his expression, why else would he do such a thing?

She thought of leaving him alone. Swimming back to the sea and consigning the human who could never love her to the past. But Belle pushed her to him and she swallowed her racing heartbeat back down.

He looked at her as if no time had passed between them, but when he pulled her into a kiss, she felt an unremembered touch that could have spanned centuries. She wondered what life had been like for him on the shores of Storybrooke. A familiar kind of sadness washed from him to her-the kind that rooted deep and spread slowly enough to stay out of sight.

"Do you want to go home?" Eric asked her after the crowd cleared from the Jolly Roger, and what could she say but yes?

They followed the coast to a little white house tucked away from the docks, where the road turned from pavement to dirt. Only a few feet of grass stood between the house and the rocky path down to shore. It was far from the palace, to be sure. But it was his. That was enough.

"I hope you like dogs," Eric said as he fumbled with a ring of tiny keys, "Because he's gonna come at you like you're the most important human in the world."

Human. She almost winced until, true to his word, a fuzzy creature barrelled through the door to greet her. She slipped in the door behind Eric and the furry little ball reared on his hind legs and barked at her like a seal, scraping his claws against the tiled entryway.

"Hi there, you," she cooed, rubbing behind his ears, and the poor thing could have melted in her hands.

"Come on, Max, leave her alone." Eric hauled the dog off of her and Max ran into the living room where he leapt on the couch instead, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "That little monster would be Max. He's harmless, really, just a bit overenthusiastic. We don't get company often."

"I figured." She could tell by the little pile of wet shoes by the door, some with prominent chew marks, and faint layers of muddy footprints leading into the kitchen. She kicked off her own shoes and added them to the pile before she realized she'd been rude to him already. "Oh-sorry, I didn't mean it like that-"

Eric just laughed. "It's no problem. In fact I think you're the first."

He said something else about dust, but she didn't hear a word of it as she looked over his shoulder. The longest swordfish she'd ever seen sat mounted on the wall, staring with empty eyes and mouth agape. The plaque beside its pectoral fin read Eric's name. She looked to the cabinets, crowded with nautical instruments and pictures of him holding dying fish of all colors. Behind the glass on the top shelf was a picture of him behind a great white shark, blood dripping from its gills and mouth.

"Is something wrong?" He reached to lay a hand on her shoulder, hesitating until she nodded her consent. She wanted so badly to lean into the touch, to wrap him in her arms for as long as she could, but her arms would not move.

"No," she breathed out, still unsure of how much eye contact to make, "no. Everything's-well it's all so new."

"I can imagine. If you have questions about anything at all, I can answer. Or try to. But is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable? Some water, maybe?" He rubbed her shoulder and his gentleness broke her. She couldn't form words, so she only nodded and followed him into the kitchen.

When he poured her a glass, she watched his hands shaking. She never mentioned it, just managed a smile in attempt to reassure both him and herself.

She looked at his hands, studied the faint lines between his thumb and index finger that she never remembered seeing, even in all those moments etched forever in her memory. Clean and uniform, like a sharp knife cleaving into flesh. She took the glass of water and downed almost half in one swallow.

And when they fell into silence, Ariel wished she'd gone a little more slowly. Thankfully Eric spoke first.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "I should really go shower. I probably smell disgusting."

She bit her lip until blood ran fresh on her tongue. He noticed, clearly-her nerves drew him closer and she could see him searching for anything helpful to say.

"I won't be long. I promise. Please-help yourself to anything in the fridge if you're hungry, and Max will keep you company. And shout if you need anything." He rubbed her arm. "I mean it."

"Okay," she choked out before he disappeared up the stairs, and soon after, the muffled hiss of running water echoed down to where she stood. It almost drowned out the sound of furry feet and claws across the kitchen tile.

"Hi, Max," she said, voice shaky, as she sat down to rub the dog's fur. "Your human isn't fond of fish, is he?"

Max crawled into her lap, and though all of him didn't quite fit, Ariel wrapped her arms around him anyway, leaning her chin on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and stayed as she was for a long moment, and for some reason he sat still. Maybe he enjoyed the attention.

"Is this...the fridge?" She ran a hand over a cold metal drawer that was part of a box as tall as she was. It hummed faintly under her fingertips, and she wiggled out from under Max so she could open it.

Inside, she found things that only vaguely resembled food: containers of multicolored plants surrounded by clear bags of cubed ice. The walls of the drawer were encrusted with a thin layer of frost. She dug through the bags of ice, searching for whatever might be hiding at the bottom of the drawer, but as the shine of scales appeared beneath her fingers, she slammed the drawer shut and tried to rid the image from her mind. Vacant eyes and severed fins, zigzagging muscles showing under skin. All hidden under ice like a terrible secret.

Merpeople weren't exactly strangers to eating fish, crustaceans, much more than seaweed. What else could they have done under the ocean? And then there was the occasional human, but at least in that she'd never partaken. But none of that explained why Eric had been so brutal. She remembered the sound of cracking bones and the distinctly sour smell of dead fish out of water. If those fish were for eating, why would he have collected their severed heads?

"Oh my Ursula, why am I even here?" Ariel said, but to no one in particular, as the dog had gone. "Max?"

She struggled to her feet on the tile, but as the sound of running water fell silent, she slipped and fell on her knees. After a minute or so, she heard his footsteps padding down the stairs, and her breath caught in her throat. Halfway to righting herself, he peeked in the kitchen.

At least she made impressions, if not good ones.

"Socks and tile don't really mix," Eric said, offering her a hand up. "Or, uh-tights in your case."

Somewhere upstairs, Eric had changed into a pair of black slacks and a shirt the color of the sweater he'd worn before-the kind with buttons running down the middle. Probably a poor choice for how his wet hair still dripped a little down his neck. What was it Snow said about wet white dresses? At the moment, Ariel was too distracted to recall.

"Now this looks familiar," Eric said as he took her hand to kiss as elegantly as the prince she remembered. She remembered that smile, too, but she still inched out of his arms and turned her gaze to the door.

"Are you okay?" He asked, following her an arm's length away.

Ariel opened her mouth to utter yes, but instead she shook her head. "No. I'm really not."

"I'm sorry. Am I being too forward?"

She clung to the doorknob. "No. Not at all, it's-"

"Are you sure? Because you look terrified." Eric held out his hands, and while Ariel stood still, she didn't approach. He lowered his hands. "Ariel, tell me. Please. Whatever it is, I'll stop."

"It's nothing. Really, it is." Every lie stole breath from her throat.

"Just talk to me. I won't be angry or upset."

By the time he finished, she couldn't say a word.

He only slightly raised his voice, but the silence in the house made his pleas fill the room. "Why? If you don't want me, I'll understand. I promise I will. But tell me why." When she didn't respond, he inched forward and took both of her hands in his. "Please. I've spent half a life chasing unanswered questions."

"So have I."

"Then you know how it feels. Walk right out that door if you need to. I won't keep you here."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ariel caught a glimpse of the mounted swordfish's dead gaze from above the mantle, but she spoke through her nerves. "It's not that I don't want you. It's the opposite, really. But I'm afraid. I'm so afraid."

"What are you afraid of? Are things going too fast?"

"No. It's-if you knew who I was, you'd hate me. You'd never want to be with me."

"Why would I?"

Nothing Ariel could say would possibly put her secret off any longer. She looked him in the eye for a long moment and finally sat on the couch in the living room, taking a deep breath as he followed, counting in her head--one, two, three-until there was no more point in stalling and she slipped the bracelet from her wrist.

The smoke faded, revealing shining sea-green scales. Hers. When she saw him step back, her stomach twisted in knots and even when he spoke, she couldn't look at him.

"Ariel?"

She had to. She owed this much to him. So she gathered the courage to lift her head to meet his, but what she said was only a whisper. "I'm a mermaid."

Like she'd practiced countless times in her mind and in every lonely sea, Ariel braced herself for his disgust. If she prepared well enough for this rejection, she thought that just maybe, if she ever got the chance, it wouldn't hurt. Instead, she got the one thing she almost wished she'd prepared for.

A smile.

"That's okay. You're okay. This isn't what I expected. Not-not anything that I expected. But today I thought I'd go home from work alone, and I came back with you."

Had she heard him correctly?

He knelt in front of the couch and reached for her arm, rubbing gently. "You found me. That's all that matters."

She covered her mouth in the way humans often did before they began to cry. And she felt them-hot tears, the kind she could only shed above the surface, trickling down her cheeks and between her fingers. Though her breath hitched, her cheeks seared, and she probably looked like a mess, Eric still looked at her with the same admiration he always did, and she loved him for it.

Suddenly she felt herself being wrapped in his arms and lifted off the couch and she broke out into dizzy laughter. She leaned close to kiss, still murmuring giggles under his lips.

Even as he pulled back, Ariel watched the silly little grin on his face. He snuck forward to touch her nose to hers and she felt his warm breath across her cheek.

Then, a wet touch against the tips of her fins. She squeaked and twitched her tail. It was only Max sniffing and pawing at the scales she'd already shed over Eric's pant leg.

"Better put me down before Max eats my bracelet and I'm stuck like this forever," she said. At the mention of his name, Max took his eyes off the discarded bracelet and slunk to the foot of the couch. Eric set her back down and handed her the bracelet from the floor.

"So I'm guessing the decor isn't the most inviting for a mermaid."

"Not really. The fish heads from earlier didn't help."

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. It's because-" He sounded sheepish, as if it was some kind of secret humans kept, "well, we eat fish."

"So do we, but we don't destroy them like that." Ariel looked over Eric's shoulder to the mantle. She watched him wince before she spoke again. "Or hang them on our walls. I thought you were angry."

"Far from it."

"Merpeople kill humans."

"Maybe some do, but in what little time you've spent with me, you've had plenty of opportunities to do the same. So far you haven't. So forgive me if I think I'm safe with you." He slipped both of her hands in his. "Right now, I know next to nothing about you. I'd like to change that."

"Well, how do humans get to know each other?"

"Usually we start with lunch. Are you hungry?"

"Starving." After slipping on the bracelet, Ariel stood on wobbly legs before Eric steadied her by the waist.

"Would you care for fish? Clams, maybe? I have some leftover chowder in the fridge."

Clams she could do. Chowder-she had no idea what that dish was, or what it had to do with clams, but this was the human world. She'd try anything once. "I'd love that."

Thank you to my lovely beta for sticking through my ficbaby as always. The next two parts are finished except for a few editing spots, so they'll be released before the hiatus ends, after which I fully expect canon to shatter this into a thousand pieces. Feedback is much appreciated!