The Secret Lives of Fish - a sequel to The Thirteenth Year

Ch 1 - Promises

Based off the Disney Channel Original Movie "The Thirteenth Year." I've loved that movie for well more than half my life. Sadly, the interwebs is seriously lacking fanfic devoted to a continuation of the movie. This is my thoughts of what would have happened if there had ever been a sequel.

A/N: This was originally started on FanFiction.net and will be updated and finished there first.

Sharon Griffin stood at the kitchen sink, scrubbing the same cookie sheet that she had started on five minutes prior. The fresh cookies sat on a cooling rack in the middle of the kitchen table. Her husband Whit was sitting in his study working on another fly for his tackle box. The old light house home was quiet and peaceful, but Sharon felt uneasy. Wiping the bubbles from her hands she finally set the pan aside and looked out the window to where she could just glimpse the horizon.

Her beloved son was out there somewhere. On an overcast day like this where the sky threatened with halfhearted promises of rain, she could only wonder what Cody was up to. Despite the promises that had been made to her by Cody's birth mom, Sharon hadn't seen her son in almost nine months. The school year had started months ago and Jess kept bringing copies of the homework he was sure Cody was going to want when he came home.

If he came home. Fiercely shaking the horrid thought from her mind, Sharon looked away from the gloomy weather and attempted to finish the dirty dishes. Steps sounded behind her and she sighed as her husband wrapped his strong arms around her.

"Hey Hun." He kissed the back of her neck affectionately. There was a pause and she knew he too was now gazing out the window.

"Hey." Not bothering to dry her hands she grasped his forearms and held tight onto him.

Almost as if he knew what she was thinking, he responded to her unspoken worries. "We just keep watching. I don't know how or when, but our son is going to come back to us." Whit wrapped his wife even closer as he felt her shoulders start to shake.

Turning in his grasp she buried her head in his shoulder and let the tears silently fall down her cheeks. The summer had been hard when Cody had first left them. Seeing him leap from the water with a fish tail where his legs had only been moments before had left a hollow feeling in her stomach. Her baby boy was now this strange new creature who was leaving on a great adventure neither she nor her husband could be part of. She saw him like that when she dreamed at night, his pale blue and silver tail slicing through the water in a very fish like way.

Now with time continually slipping on and no sign of him, doubts had begun to seed in her mind and she could no longer refuse them attention.

"What if he can't?" Sharon turned her head up to see her husbands disheartened and worried expression.

Whit didn't say anything at first. Admittedly, he'd had the same thought months ago. The change from human to merman their son had gone through had seemed pretty permanent. He wasn't sure there was a way for him to come home. What if his birth mother had told them he'd come back just so they'd let him go? Then there was the look Cody had given them before he'd left. He'd looked happy, yet sort of melancholy and resigned. Had he somehow known he wouldn't be back and couldn't muster up the strength to tell his parents and friends that it was really goodbye?

But, even with the same doubts, Whit smiled at his wife. "We watch Sharon, and we wait. We have to believe that Cody will find a way. Our son is smart and clever. He'll be back. Trust him."

Sharon dipped her head back down and took one more shuddering breathe and finally nodded. This was why she loved her husband so much. She would keep watching. No matter how long it took and how many tears she would shed in worry, she would watch and wait. Giving each other one last tight hug, Whit went back to his fishing gear and Sharon returned to her chore with new determination.