Just over a month later

September 19

I am packing my things into large boxes in my apartment at Amiralitetstorget 10. I will be moving in with Fia today in her house at Björkhagavägen 7 in Ekeberg. The house that she only uses in the winter when it's icy outside. She has given up her smaller apartment that she had in Marieberg. We will share the cost of the house and that feels perfectly fine to me.

Tony also joins and helps to pack. He has already put a few full boxes in a trailer he rented. He has promised to drive the things to Fia's house. Fia is also there but she doesn't have to help but she wanted to be there. The reason we don't use Fia's car is because you can't put a trailer on it.

While I'm packing, I also take the opportunity to sort out things that I no longer have use or interest in and of course broken things that should be thrown away. I will donate the stuff that people can use to second hand. Some things you usually go through just when you are in the moving days.

The repair for the water damage has been paid and it was expensive. It cost a whopping SEK 37,000, although part of it went on the insurance.

Tony yells that there will only be room for a maximum of two more boxes in the trailer and I take the two that are filled and go down to the ground floor and put them in the trailer. Fia and Tony are on their way down. At the entrance, Fia meets my landlord. He seems impressed by her big belly.

- There will be an increase, I can see.
- Yes. Absolutely. Will be exciting.
- Kenneth could have stayed if he wanted.
- Yes, but he wants to live with me now. I have a relatively large house in Ekeberg.

Fia walks over to Tony's car while the landlord goes up to the house. She feels that maybe it was stupid to say where she lives but now it's too late.

Once at Fia's house, Tony and I helped empty the trailer. Now there are only small things left in apartment that also need to be packed up, but we will wait to do that until after my parents have greeted Fia and me. We have something to show them.

Fia goes down into the cellar to fill up with water down there. I show Tony around upstairs and put some boxes in the rooms that are finished.

Fia and I have started renovating the old house. So far we have only renovated the kitchen and our shared bedroom. We have started some renovation in the living room but so far it is only half finished.

The stove has already been replaced. We checked what the cord behind looked like before we even tried it and it was lucky. The plastic in the rubber in the cord had dried and some of the metal conductors were completely exposed and lying against each other. In the best case the plug would have gone and in the worst case there would have been a fire or you would have been electrocuted.

We tossed it on the tip immediately after unplugging it. Tony is a little upset that he didn't get the party owen.

- What would you do with it then?
- Do not know. Maybe give it to a museum or something.
- It would have worked well. But Tony. There was something or a few things that I would like to ask you.
- Oh okay. What do you want help with?
- The first thing is that we will transform ourselves so that they can see what we are. But neither you nor my parents understand our merfolk language. You can't interpret but you can support my parents if, on the contrary, they think it's gross to see us as a mermaid and a merman.
- Sounds like a good idea. You've kept it a secret from them longer than from me. I don't think there will be any problem.
- But in your case, you asked so much after the fire at Sverker that I had to show it.
- That's right. That's right. What else did you need help with?
- We were going to show Fia's babies through ultrasound to the parents and you, but then someone has to fetch the ultrasound transducer. It is on a cart that has wheels down in the basement.
- Sure. I can do that. But I would like to do something in that case. It's not blackmail but it's something I want to do.
- Then what kind of thing?
- Pat your fish tail.
- Okay. You may do that since you ask so nicely. Just don't hold on and pull it and screw yourself up.
- I would never do that and you know that.
- Yes but then so. Then we have a plan. The parents will arrive in around 40 minutes, I think.
- Shall we tell you about Sverker and all that?
- Actually, maybe we should, but I don't want them to worry unnecessarily, so I think we'll mention it later. If necessary.

Fia is still down in the basement filling up water. She sings along to some song but I'm not sure which one.

I put on some music in the living room. It will be a good record with David Bowie. He could sing really well.

Fia comes up and fixes something in the kitchen. She starts by making a homemade pizza that we will treat the parents to. It contains ham and chicken. Fia and I mostly eat fish, but not only that. You might have been able to have salmon in the pizza, but that is probably unusual. You can of course make a pie with salmon and spinach, but just today both Fia and I felt like pizza.

The pizza takes around 20 minutes to make and it's just ready when mum and dad ring the front door. Me and Tony have laid out plates and glasses in the meantime. There will be Loka lemon and Sprite to drink. Mom will probably choose Loka.

Mom comes in first while Dad is out looking at the house. He seems pleased with what he sees. Mother goes into the kitchen and greets Fia

- Hi Fia. Oh dear. A child or two is expected here, I see.
- There will be two. We already checked it.
- Will be a lot of fun for us.

Dad also enters the kitchen. He looks at Fia with raised eyebrows but says nothing.

We all sit down and eat the homemade pizza. It is very good and the whole thing is consumed. After the pizza there will be coffee and tea.

Fia and I check the clock. It is high time to reveal our secret. We stand up and clink a spoon against the now empty drinking glass that I used.

- You already know that Fia is pregnant but there are a few more things that you don't know but that you should know.
- It really shows that she is with children. We know about the water damage in your apartment. You never told me about that.
- This is a bit more advanced than water damage. Follow me down to the basement.

The parents and Tony follow Fia and me. When we are almost down, dad reacts that there is water in the basement.

- But come on. It's flooding here.
- No. We are the ones who filled up the water. You will understand why there is water here.

Both mom and dad take off their shoes and wade with us in the water in the basement until we get to where there is the biggest space.

Fia and I start to undress naked. Dad glares at me like I'm crazy. Mom looks away.

- What is this about? Get dressed again.
- We have to take off our clothes for what we have to do.

Tony laughs a little at my parents. He knows far more than they do right now.

- One more thing before we do what we are going to do. Unfortunately, we can't answer any questions since we transformed because you don't know our language that we use then. Tony may be able to answer some questions.
- Transform? To what?
- You will see.

We transform in Fia's basement in front of my parents and Tony. Tony has a hand right behind my dad's back. In case he faints. After our transformation, the room becomes so quiet that you can hear a pin drop. Mom is the first to say something.

- What are you? Some kind of weird human fish? Or is it? Mermaid and merman?

Tony smiles at mom.

- That's exactly what it looks like.
- But that should be impossible.
- I also thought so when I first saw Kenneth transform, but it's real.
- So you found out about this before us?
- It turned out that way. For slightly different reasons.

Tony is next to us and pats both mine and Fia's fish tail. Fia flinches a little but takes it well. Dad says something for once.

- But hey. Do they really like being patted on the butt?
- Kenneth said it was okay for him. I didn't ask Fia but she also seems to accept it.
- But the tail is still considered a bit private. With the end and all.
- They have their cloaca further up.

Tony points out where our cloaca are.

- Regarding cloaca and such. There is one more thing you might want to see.

Tony collects the ultrasound that Fia borrowed from a nurse. The nurse has promised to keep quiet about the loan. Tony wades through the water with the cart that the ultrasound is on towards Fia, my parents and me. Tony plugs in and the ultrasound transducer beeps. Then he gives me the gel to rub on Fia's stomach. I carefully spread the gel all over her stomach. I know Fia is ticklish but she does this well.

- Who wants to take care of the ultrasound transducer?
- I want to do that.

Mom accepts it.

We let mom, dad and Tony look at Fia's babies through the ultrasound. Mother slowly pulls the probe over Fia's stomach. She seems to find this extremely interesting. Dad doesn't seem that interested or he doesn't like it. It is not easy to determine what he thinks. Tony is impressed and mostly says Wow the whole time.

Fia's two cubs are clearly visible on the monitor. We look at them all. It is not easy to determine the sex of them but one is bigger than the other. We can clearly see that. I ask Fia if it's normal. She thinks the bigger one is male, but she's not entirely sure. The size is considered normal. Maybe the kid can be a little harder to get out but it shouldn't be a problem.

We hear the babies' heartbeats from a small speaker on the monitor. They beat faster than human hearts. Fia and I smile at each other at the wonderful sound. Mom wipes a tear from her cheek. Dad mostly stands in a corner and glares. It is difficult to read his reaction. Hopefully he is happy for us. Tony smiles big at Fia and me.

Mom is again the first to say something.

- What did they say to each other before?
- I have no idea. I don't know their language. It is certainly called the language of the merfolk.
- I thought they sounded a bit like dolphins.
- I can absolutely agree with that. They might be able to communicate with dolphins.
- So Fia is going to give birth to mermaid babies?
- It looks like that. But the bigger one might be a male. Check the size of Fia and Kennth. He is both bigger and taller than she is.
- It will be both fun and exciting when they are born. Hope Fia doesn't have as much pain as us humans when she gives birth.
- Despite having scales and smelling a bit like fish, they seem to be more mammals than fish. Most mammals have some pain at birth, I think.
- I only know how it was for me and it hurt, I promise.

Mom walks closer to the monitor and looks

- I'm not sure, but I think it looks like they're each in an amniotic sac. Could it be true?
- I have no idea. Never asked them about that.

Dad joins the conversation.

- When did they mate?
- Sometime at the end of July, I think.

Tony pulls out the cord for the ultrasound and puts the machine away. Mom and Dad look at each other. Mom seems happy as can be, while Dad seems a little sad and bitter.

- In any case, this was a surprise that I didn't expect right away. Will she give birth at BB?

Fia shakes her head. Even Dad should realize that wouldn't work very well.

- So she will give birth here at home?

Mom looks at dad curiously. She is a little surprised by his question.

- Yes. She has to do that. Or she gives birth in the sea. We will then have to ask when she becomes.. ordinary.

Me and Fia decide to show the parents how we can affect the water before we transform back. Tony and mom think it's very cool to see, but when the waves get big, dad reacts.

- But what are you doing? If you do that out at sea, you can inadvertently sink a smaller boat.

Fia and I nod even though it has never happened. In any case, Fia has not said that she did such a thing.

- You must promise never to sink any boats or ships.

We nod and begin to transform back.

- This is what we wanted to show you. Now for what you were wondering about. Tony had been allowed to pat my tail.

- Tony never asked me if it was okay but it didn't matter even though I was quite surprised that he patted my tail like that.

- We talked about the kid's size and if it was okay and it seemed to be. The cubs are in each amniotic sac and Fia will give birth to them down here because there is supposed to be ice in the sea when they are born. Presumably it will happen sometime between January and March. It is true that we mated at the end of July. Finally. We will not sink any boats or ships. We are kind people.

Fia opens the cellar door so the water can drain out and then we all go upstairs again when all the water is out and Fia has closed the door.

The parents stay a little while after we get up, but dad says after a while that he would like to go home and watch some sport. Both Fia and I understand that he needs to think in peace about what he found out today. Mom is more light-hearted and jokes about different things.

We then say goodbye to the parents and they drive home. Tony stays for a while after they leave but he also goes home soon. We can take the last thing I need to pick up from the apartment in Fia's car. When Fia and I are alone, we hug for a long time.

- It went as well as it could.
- Dad seemed a bit grumpy but he can be like that sometimes.
- What we showed wasn't exactly something he would have believed if it hadn't been proven the way we did today.
- Sure it is. Mom was very curious about the ultrasound transducer.
- It's not that weird. After all, she is a woman and also your mother.
- Shall we collect the last things in my apartment or shall we wait until tomorrow?
- We can do it today. Then it's done.

Fia and I go into town and collect my last things. We pack everything in boxes that I know will fit in Fia's car.

I find a very nice statue of a mermaid, at the far end of the wardrobe in the bedroom. It's been sitting there for as long as possible and I can't even remember if I bought it myself or was given it. Apart from the color of the scales, it is very similar to Fia. I show it to her and we decide that we will have it in front of the kitchen window in our shared house. We are part of the merpeople now.

When everything is packed, I look around the now empty apartment. I have lived here for over 20 years. I have so many memories from here. Like that New Year's night when Jesper collapsed in the bathroom because he drank so much and he remembered absolutely nothing about yesterday's events when he woke up.

It feels a little sad to leave the apartment after so many years, but I am not the same person as when I moved in here. There is no visible change on the outside, but the inside is clearly different.

- Yeah. Then there was only the cleaning left. We'll do that tomorrow, right?
- It will be absolutely excellent.

I take the boxes out of the apartment and lock the door. We go down to the ground floor and walk towards Fia's car. Once home, I start unpacking the things that will be in the bedroom, the kitchen and a little in the living room. The rest will have to wait a while. We have all the time in the world to fix and make nice.

It's getting late and we're watching TV before going to bed. The beds are brand new and very comfortable. We bought them at Ikea in Kalmar. Tony was driving. He also bought quite a lot so the trailer was full when we left after several hours.

It doesn't take long until we fall asleep close to each other.