*Le Time Skip*

Amelia finally arrived home and parked in the driveway. By the time they arrived, it was already night. She hoped that sneaking in the Mer wouldn't draw attention from any of her neighbors that sometimes comes around every once in a while. Amelia made sure that she backed up the truck to around the front of the porch. 

She turned off the truck and hurried to the back of the large pick-up and peeked in the tarp. "Hey there. Hope my driving wasn't too bad. How're you doing so far?" She asked with sheepish concern.

BreakDown had a tight grip on the straps that held him into the back of the large truck.

"Not bad, a bit bumpy and windy at times but I don't think anyone can help with that." He replied in a dark hoarse voice as he regarded the human female and watched her facial expressions closely.

"Heh-heh… sorry about that. Hold on, I'll get you unstrapped and we'll see what my cousin can help us with." She said sheepishly. She then uncovered the tarp and unlatched him. She then picked him up bridal style and yet again earning a squeaky yelp from the buff Mercon soldier. Amelia couldn't help the giggle that slipped from her mouth.

"C'mon oh fearless soldier of mine. Let's see if we can patch you up."

"You tease so much, human." He huffed out, face once again had formed a merling like pout.

He would've crossed his arms in a defensive stance but it was rather hard considering that he had an arm across her shoulders to help steady themselves.

As she started to walk over to her house being careful not to make too much noise as to disturb their neighbors.

Amelia hurried inside and looked around for her cousin. She began to panic a little when she couldn't find her. She finally yelled out her name and went to the only place she hadn't checked yet. The basement. When she finally made it down there, you could imagine the surprise both she and Breakdown had when they saw both her cousin and a red and white, injured Mer in a shallow watered kiddy pool. 

BreakDown recognized the red mer immediately.

"Knockout?!" Breakdown exclaimed in surprise and happiness.

"Breakdown?!" Knockout cried in surprise.

"You're alive!" BreakDowns face turned into something of pure joy; eye gleaming and a large smile adorned his lips, as he looked over his friend being pampered by the redhead next to him, and her shocked face as she looked at her cousin.

Rose was speechless as she saw her cousin easily hold up an easily over two hundred pound creature in her arms as if he was a blushing bride from a cheesy Hallmark movie. Rose then decided to add her two cents in the situation. "Um, Ames? How in the deep blue ocean did you….. "acquire" a mer creature?"

Amelia smiled sheepishly but then realized the problem at fin. (Yes that was a pun. Deal with it. XD) 

"Um, I know that you're currently busy with another patient but this one is deeply injured and is at risk for infection. Will you be able to help for just a moment?" She politely pleaded with desperate eyes. 

Rose smiled gently at her soft hearted cousin. "Of course. Just let me grab and fill an extra pool for him. Then I'll get to work. In the meantime, you can put him on the gurney." 

Amelia smiled brightly and gently placed the injured Mercon on the bloodied gurney. No doubt from his friend. Which led to the next big question in her head. What happened to them? It can't be a coincidence that two mer creatures came up injured. It was as if….

They were at battle with someone…

When Rose filled up the second kiddy pool she silently gestured for Amelia to grab the next patient. And once Breakdown was in, Rose got to work on his injuries. 

"So….. may I ask what two knuckleheaded mer creatures as yourselves managed to do to get your injuries to the point where you're bleeding at our figurative doorstep?" Rose said in a chastising motherly tone that Ronda often used. Earning Amelia to snicker at her cousin's blunt question.

As both mers looked at each other, sharing an expression of dread.

"Cave in."

"Merbots."

They both echoed each other in a humorous mess of the small amount of words. Which not only confused the femmes taking care of them, but each other as well.

The mess up made them both want to correct themselves, but that was impossible if they didn't want to embarrass themselves any further.

"It's complicated…" Knockout sighed, while covering his face with a finned red hand.

"Not really…" Breakdown dragged on, to then continue. "Well, it is but it isn't…. It's, strange…?" He groaned at his own lack of the ability to explain the seemingly simple part of their lives.

Why was this suddenly so hard to explain?

From what Rose could deduce from their previous answers and the state that they were in, she was able to pull it semi together.

"You mean these "Merbots" were who you were fighting with and somehow they caused a cave in where you were fighting at?" She said as she disinfected Breakdowns' cuts and felt gently around for possible fractures.  

Breakdown would flinch every so often, even going so far as to grit his teeth.

Though Knockout was a bit aways from him, he decided to comfort his friend by doing something rather humorous.

He lined his hand up with the top of Breakdowns head from his point of view, and gave it a few pats, as his face held that of comfort in it's features.

Rose and Amelia caught a glimpse at what he was doing and chuckled. Well, more like Rose chuckled while Amelia snorted unceremoniously. 

"You didn't answer my deduction. By the way, tell me where it hurts the most internally. And then I'll start administering the pain medicine to help that and numb out the stitching. Okay?" Rose both questions and asked him politely.

"Does everywhere count?" He replies with a sheepish smile, that hinted at his pained state right now. 

He once again shot a look towards his friend, which gave him an empathetic wide grimace, which looked like a pained forced smile to an extent.

Rose looked at both of them with suspicion in her eyes. But seeing as how uncomfortable they were, she chose to drop the subject. For now. Right now she had to remain focused as she administered the numbing pain medicine into his buff arm. 

The medicine took immediately and Breakdown could finally relax while Rose worked on stitching up his gashes on his body.

Amelia came over to his side and offered a water bottle that she grabbed from the basement fridge. "Figured you were parched." Amelia said as she offered him a kind smile.

"So. What do you two plan on doing after you're recovered? You're not going anywhere anytime soon with those injuries. Do you have family you need to contact and reassure? Or are you not able to do that?" Rose asked inquisitively.

"Yes, yes we can. But no, not other than this idiot." Knockout gestures to his friend beside him in the other kiddy pool.

"You're one to talk smart aft." He gave Knockout a pinched look, something siblings would normally give one another.

Rose snickered at the bickering mers. "Alright, and I'm…. Done! How do you feel so far?" Rose asked Breakdown.

"Much better thank you! I definitely appreciate the assistance." He chuckled, as he fiddled with the water bottle he was given earlier. Not knowing quite how to open it, but fidgeting with it nonetheless.

Amelia chuckled. She grabbed the water bottle and twisted it open then handed it back to him. All he could do was blush a little and nod his helm in thanks.

Rose looked at her watch and groaned. "It's almost two in the morning. And we gotta be up early for our shifts. Do you two need me to get something more comfortable to sleep in? We have a larger inflatable pool that can fit you two." Rose offered with a tired grin.

"No need, I don't think we'd want to keep you two up for much longer. We've heard that humans need more sleep than us." Breakdown said to the two women in front of him before he continued.

"Plus we're both comfortable enough thanks to you two." He continued to smile as he glanced at his friend.

"Right Knockout?"

Knockout had that dumb look of love on his face while he looked at Rose, as he regarded everyone else with little recognition.

"Right Knockout?" He said in a much more demanding tone to get the red Mercons' attention.

Knockout finally snapped out of his trance and replied. "Oh, uh. Yeah, Breakdown's right. You girls go on ahead, we'll be fine. No need to fret." He said with a reassuring smile on his face, and a wave of his hand.

Rose looked unsure but let it go. "Alright but tomorrow we'll get that pool up so that you can rest more easily. Goodnight you two." Rose said as she walked towards and up the stairs. Amelia gave them some more water bottles and showed them how to open them. She wished them goodnight and turned off the basement lights. But even in the dark, the two mers were able to see each other with their night vision. Perks to being a con. While they stayed up late discussing what to do for their next move. The girls talked about their day and what happened when they met the two injured mers.

"Do you think that something bad is going to happen? Because I've been having that nagging feeling all day." Amelia said with worry.

Rose didn't know what to say to that since she's been getting that feeling ever since her patch up work on Knockout. 

"I don't Ames. But I know one thing is for certain." She gazed out the window from their room as if she's trying to solve a puzzle. "It's that we've gotten ourselves into one problem that's deeper than the ocean's trenches."

To be continued...