Curtis was in bed with Alexa when he heard a voice in his head then smiled and got up.
When Alexa asked what was wrong, he said,"Nicky wants to talk to me in person."
Then he left.
Nicky was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and couldn't look into her father's eyes.
He felt cut to the heart and gently lifted up her chin while asking her what was the matter.
She then sighed and said,"I'm a terrible sister."
"What do you mean?"He asked, concerned.
"I'm a terrible sister to my brothers... because I don't want them."
"What?"He asked,"Why?"
"...I think it's best if I just showed you."
She closed her eyes then several flashes went through his mind in one moment.
The first was of the triplets walking together in the city.
They saw a Yoghurt vendor then Micky grinned then told them to stay back, handed all his money to Ricky then started trotting towards him.
Nicky asked Ricky what was happening but Ricky told her to be quiet.
Micky went to the man and used his unimaginable cuteness to give a good first impression as he said,"Umm excuse me sir, my cousin is from America and he came here for a visit but the thing is, he's always wanted to buy something from a patriotic and diligent person like yourself, do you think you could find it in your heart to help him?"
The man was already almost crying by looking at Micky's face but when he saw the other two, he burst into tears then said,"Of course, take anything and everything you want...for free!"
"Aww, thank you sir but...I don't want to damage your business in anyway."Micky said.
"Don't worry about that little one, just make your cousin happy."He said eagerly.
"Thank you sir."
"Oh, could I just take one picture of you three?"
"Hmm, I don't know if that would be safe but...okay."He said.
Ricky had to pull Nicky's cheeks to change her frown into a false evil grin, right before she bit him.
Another time they were in the park when a three High School girls came and saw Ricky plaiting Nicky's hair then squealed in excitement then one said,"The two of them are so cute!!!"
"How long have you like each other?"Another asked.
"Oh no,no no, we're brother and..."Nicky began.
"... sister, we're just like brother and sister; Sylvie and I, but were the best of friends, some people might even call me her boyfriend."Ricky said.
Nicky looked at him surprised and yelled at him telepathically as he said she should just roll with it, in no time, a huge crowd had gathered around them to pay them to take selfies with them.
Another time Micky dragged Nicky into a toy store and went on a fun frenzy.
Picking up everything that shimmered in his eye and using them at that place and Nicky couldn't stop him, not only because he was literally controlling her, but also because she was speechless.
When one of the staff finally came to confront them, all Micky had to do was do his puppy dog eyes and switch on the water works and everyone was his slave.
There were other... numerous times when Micky and Nicky engaged in burping contests and forced Nicky to be the judge, or where they intentionally annoyed wild monsters to see which of the three of them would escape first and least hurt...
"...and there are more where those came from."Nicky said.
Curtis looked into her eyes then said,"Thank you for telling me Nicky, and you're right to be angry, but still right to restrain yourself, that shows how much you really care about your brothers."
"Really?!"She asked,"So I'm not a bad sister?!"
He nodded then said,"I'll talk to the boys about this and don't worry, I won't tell them it was you."
She hesitated but then said,"Please do tell them, I don't want any lies to exist between us and I want them to know what I did."
He smiled then kissed her forehead then asked,"How did I get a daughter like you?"
She giggled as he tickled her then he caressed her back till she fell asleep, then he placed her back on her bed and got up to meet Alexa, who had been at the doorway, watching.
***
Apollo woke up again to see Maame sitting at her side of the bed, fidgeting with her fingers.
She turned to him and he smiled when he saw her beauty as she said nervously,"I think I've made my decision."
"Really?"He asked, getting up,"And what might that be?"
"I think I'll choose everything you said, I think I'll have an extended pregnancy."
An extended pregnancy was an ability mermaids shared with certain fish, mammal and even insect species, especially sharks where after copulation occured, they could actually store the sperm in special tubules near the oviduct, until they desired to give birth, then it would develop.
She decided to give birth to three at first, and store the remainders for the rest of their years together and Apollo agreed.
Though mermaids could only store sperm for up to ten months, and human sperm usually had a life span of a few days to about a week, both parents were enlightened and had the ability to keep the reproductive cells alive for as many years as needed, and Maame wasn't going to let any of Apollo's children die...
She then went to the ocean to give birth.
Apollo wanted to follow her but she said she had to do it alone, so he said he'd wait for her, no matter how long she needed...
***
Apollo had to wait for about three days for her to come back with the three thumb sized children that he could call his own.
They were the most beautiful children he had ever seen with their big iridescent silvery blue eyes and multi coloured scales covering their darks skin.
They were shaped like human children, but were just a twelfth their size and all their senses were perfectly aligned for their own survival as they screeched and cried.
One of them climbed up Apollo's finger as he touched it then tilted its head and bit him with its toothless mouth, and eventually gave up and he began to laugh, then it did too.
The three were girls with only one sharing their mother's red coloured hair, the second had vanta black coloured hair with the last having an iridescent aquamarine turquoise colour which changed from striking green to blue at different angles and had a silvery purple shimmer over it.
He had never loved anything more than he loved his three first children and took them home with Maame, only to be shocked that he couldn't get in...