The Mermaid of Santa Monica

Chapter 4

The next morning, Tommy awoke to see Adrianna was nowhere to be seen. He got up out of bed and left his bedroom. He went into the kitchen to see Adrianna and his mother, enjoying breakfast. The two women quickly turned their attention to the young boy.

"Oh!" Terry exclaimed, "Good morning, sweetheart."

"Sleep good, big guy?" Adrianna quipped.

"Yeah, I did," Tommy replied, "I thought you went home last night."

"I was out cold last night, remember?" she teased, "I fell asleep around the same time you did."

"Oh, right."

"I could tell you two got along really well last night," Terry chimed in, "You both looked adorable while you slept."

"Yeah, yesterday went pretty well for the most part," Tommy nodded.

Terry turned to Tommy in a solemn and serious tone, "But Adrianna told me you two ran into some trouble with some punks."

"They tried to drown Tommy by throwing him into the water," Adrianna replied, "I wanted to destroy them, but I knew saving Tommy was more important. I'll kick their butts some other time."

"I'm thankful you were able to save Tommy, and I'm also glad you told me about this."

"Yeah...I wanted to be honest with you and mention everything that happened, especially anything that endangers Tommy."

"I knew I made the right call hiring you," Terry remarked with a sincere smile, "I'm going to head to work in a short bit. You two wanna come with me?"

"Sure," Adrianna nodded.

"You bet!" Tommy exclaimed.

Sometime later, the trio headed over to the Sea Life Institute. As they headed into the door, they were greeted by Dr. Laguna.

"Ah, Terry! Tommy!" Laguna exclaimed as she extended her hand to Adrianna, "Welcome! Who's your friend?"

"Name's Adrianna," the blue-haired girl replied as she shook Laguna's hand, "I'm Tommy's babysitter."

"Adrianna, this is Dr. Laguna," Terry chimed in, "She's the head of the institute...and my boss."

Terry then turned her attention to Dr. Laguna.

"I brought them along while I work because I figured Tommy could enjoy everything the place has to offer while Adrianna could keep watch of him."

"Ah, that's a great idea," Laguna remarked, "We got plenty to do in this building. Aquariums, a swimming pool, the water park, the Little Explorer's Fun Zone...I could go on. Oh, and we have a cafeteria in here if you ever get hungry."

"Will do," Adrianna nodded.

Freddie ran up behind Terry and Laguna.

"Hello, boss," he greeted Terry, "I'm excited to work my first day as your assistant."

"Ah, Freddie, my new assistant," replied Terry, "I'm glad to see you. What's on the docket for today?"

"This one's big. We just rescued a very sick tiger shark. We don't know what's wrong with it yet."

"I'll have to take a look and see what we can do," Terry responded before turning her attention to Adrianna and Tommy, "You two have fun. I'll see you on my lunch break."

"Bye-bye!" Tommy waved as her mother, Freddie, and Dr. Laguna left. A little bit later, Adrianna and Tommy were at the Fun Zone, the former watching the latter play on the playground portion of the area. Dr. Mongrell spotted Tommy at the playground and began walking towards him.