Tom and Holly seemed like the picture of a happily married couple. Tom was a young auto mechanic who loved Jesus, his wife, and the USA, in that specific order. Holly was his high school sweetheart and the two would eventually marry after graduation.
Every night, when Tom was back from work tired and full of sweat, Holly would reward her husband with a dinner of steak, chicken, and the best Reuben sandwich he ever tasted thanks to Holly's secret recipe.
Indeed, Holly seemed like the perfect woman to Tom. Besides her skills in cooking, Holly had a fit body thanks to her years of being a proficient swimmer. She could have gone pro if she continued to college but she had not looked back ever since she married Tom. In fact, she would often go to the Florida Keys during the weekday and teach the kids how to swim, eager to use her skills to teach the new generation.
Holly loved kids and always wanted to have a family of her own. One day, she told Tom about that and the two agreed to try for a baby. It took months of trying but eventually, the tests finally came back positive - warranting celebration and cake.
As the months went by, Holly's belly would get bigger and bigger, and yet she would still sometimes come to the beach to swim. She just felt at home when her body in the water and, without admitting it out loud, she felt that the sea itself was caressing her belly, eager for a new swimmer to enter its waters.
One day, during the first day of summer, she and Tom decided to take a walk around the coastline. By then, Holly was eight months pregnant and Holly considered it to be the last good long walk before the ninth month would warrant her being in bed all day.
Tom rubbed the belly of his wife and grinned, the recent ultrasound revealed their baby was going to be a healthy baby boy. He imagined what it was going to be like to teach the boy how to play catch, how to fish, how to swim, read a book, maybe even give the kid some of the new-fangled video game systems his co-workers have been talking about.
Their stroll soon came to a stop at the sight of a giant cave that poked out within the trees and bushes.
"Tom, do you see what I see?" Holly asked with a smile.
"Indeed I do. Wanna take a quick look around?" Tom replied.
"You know it!"
The two pushed the branches and leaves inside to enter the cave.
What greeted them was a beautiful interior whose walls resembled sapphire and a ground that was made out of soft pink sand.
However, what caught their attention was the giant silver lake in the middle of the already huge cave. The lake glittered in the sunlight like a sea of stars dancing on the water's surface. Tom looked at his wife and immediately knew from her eyes that she wanted to take a dip.
In less than five minutes, Holly was now in her blue swimwear and eagerly took a dip inside.
Holly sighed at the absolute pleasure of the swimming experience.
Holly closed her eyes and felt warmth wash over her like a sea breeze. The sounds of the silver lake changed to the breaking of waves on the sea, a salty smell tickled her nose. Her mind drifted with images of an underwater palace, she sat in the bubbling sea foam of surf as the rolling tide rolled higher and higher against her. Her legs and her womanhood numbed with each passing second but her stomach twitched from some movements below her waistline, likely coming from the baby that was starting to become more active.
Tom, meanwhile, was taking pictures. He took a snapshot of the pink sand here and there but what interested him the most were the mysterious markings that laid on the sapphire walls of the cave. He was about to look up this cave on Google when he suddenly heard his wife let out a cry.
"Holly?" Tom said.
"Tom! Tom, come here!"
He ran to his wife and looked down at the water's transparent surface. What he saw left him speechless.
What he saw was the head of his baby pressing against her bikini bottom.
"Oh, God!" Tom yelled. He was about to call immediately 911 when he heard a strained cry from his wife.
"Tom… Please… Help me…"
Without thinking, Tom hurriedly tugged at the string holding Holly's bottom in place, letting her clothes fall away, leaving his wife exposed but giving the baby more than enough space to be born.
Holly looked at Tom with grateful eyes. "T-Thank you." Then she promptly closed them and let out another cry as she felt her muscles contract and the baby kick in her stomach, it wanted to get out.
Tom gulped. He had no idea what was happening. Why was she giving birth early? She seemed completely fine from the ultrasound. Did it have anything to do with this place? Can he take the baby out of the water in time?
So many questions floated around his mind yet the cries of his wife brought him to the present. His wife was giving birth and she needed his help.
He grabbed Holly's hand and told her to push.
She did, letting out a moan as she obeyed her husband.
Tom looked back at Holly's legs and found that more of the baby was out now. Tom felt his eyes water as he saw the head of his son.
Another push.
More of the baby came out, this time Tom could see one of his baby's shoulders coming out.
Holly groaned, feeling her womanhood being put to the test now that her son's shoulders were straining against her vagina.
"H… How am I doing?" She whimpered.
Tom sniffed and smiled. "You're doing wonderful, sweetie. Just wonderful. Keep pushing!"
With a nod, Holly arched her back, trying anything to make the process easier on herself.
Time passed as the labor continued. From what she heard of the stories from other women, Holly felt like the pain should have been worse yet throughout the process she felt her pains being numbed a bit somehow. She wondered a bit if maybe the lake had something to do with it but her mind soon focused on delivering her child.
After what felt like hours, Holly let out a yell as performed one powerful push. The rest of the baby finally came out. She was relieved when she felt the soft flesh of her baby's stomach go through but then her heart drop when she felt something she shouldn't have... Scales. Slimy, slick, scales.
Tom was dead silent as he heard his baby cry. Slowly, he placed his hands in the lake's water and brought out his son.
"No, it couldn’t be… No way..." Tom whispered.
In his hands was an otherwise healthy baby boy. But that wasn’t what caught his attention, what his eyes were glued on was what made up the baby's entire lower body.
A long blue fishtail.
It flailed around in the air, its fins almost slapping Tom in the face.
"Holly, our son's a… a…"
"A merman." Holly whimpered as she stared at her baby. Tears came out of her eyes before she covered her face with her hands in shame. "Oh dear God, what have I done?" She sobbed. "I ruined our baby!"
Tom silently looked at Holly and then back to his baby. As if sensing how much his mother was in despair, the baby quieted down its crying. The baby instead relegated most of its breathing to the gills on the sides of his body and neck, as if ashamed to have ever cried.
The sight of this broke Tom's heart. Here was a merchild, his child. This was a new life he and his wife brought into the world. His son.
Tom turned to Holly and patted her back. "You didn't ruin anything, Holly."
Holly paused and sniffed. "Yes, I did. Because of me, I gave birth to a fish freak! Just look at it!"
"Our baby is not an "it", Holly!" Tom countered. "He is your son! Look at him!" He said as he pushed his arms towards his wife.
Holly turned to see her child. Her eyes met with the glowing blue eyes of his. Holly placed a gentle hand on his cheek and stroked it, prompting her son to coo. Her hand soon traveled to touch the soft skin of his neck, then his chest, and then his belly.
She paused as she looked at the point where human flesh shifted to fish scales. The scales shimmered like little sapphires, causing Holly's eyes to sparkle in reflection. With a deep breath, Holly soon laid her hand on the lower body of her son. To her surprise, it felt smooth to the touch and instead of feeling grossed out, Holly was fascinated. Once her fingers reached her son's tailfins, she felt compelled to tickle them. When she did, she heard the most pleasant sound she ever heard, the giggling of her son.
The fins were ticklish.
She quickly looked up to see her son with the warmest smile on his face.
Holly smiled too.
She took the baby from Tom's arms and embraced him in her's.
"You're right, Tom. He is my son. He's family." She whispered. "I'm sorry…"
Tom placed a gentle kiss on his wife's cheek. "It's alright, honey. It's not every day a child comes out as half fish."
"Yes, but he's not just half fish, he's half-human. But he's all our little sea angel." She said, placing a loving kiss on her son's cheek.
Tom grinned. "You're right." He placed a soft hand on his son's head, with only the tiniest bits of blonde hair covering his head. "Welcome to the world, son."
Tom soon kneeled on the ground and prayed. "Oh, Lord. Please grant our son Peter your full protection and help us in our journey as new parents."
"His name is Peter?" Holly asked.
Tom chuckled. "I guess I got the gospel and Peter Pan all over my head. You know, the movie with the mermaids and such."
"It's a beautiful name," Holly said with a grin. She turned to her son, smiling in his mother's arms. "Nice to meet you, Peter," Holly whispered.
After some time, she then turned back to her husband. "Where are we going to go from here? Our son's a merboy and we have no experience with raising a baby, let alone one with fins instead of feet."
Tom thought about it for a while and shrugged. "If God wills it, we'll find a way out of this situation. It's getting late anyway, so I don't think anyone will find us if we keep quiet and hide Peter's tail until we get home."
"What should we do if we get him home?"
"Whatever it takes to keep him safe but happy. All I know for now is that I'll never watch The Little Mermaid the same way again." Tom replied.
Holly chuckled at that. "Me, too."