Marcy smiled, a burger and fries now in her belly. But moreso, she smiled as Sharon pushed her wheelchair up to a swimming pool.

"You mean... I get to swim with my tail?" Marcy asked.

Sharon laughed. "Why do you think we've gone to the trouble of figuring out how to do this?"

A different girl came in from the one Marcy had seen during her changes. She had a cloth bag in her hand, like you'd take with you to a swimming pool.

"I hope you don't mind girly clothes," the girl said. She opened the bag, and pulled out a small white top. Marcy accepted it, and seeing that Liam and Sharon were purposely looking away, she pulled off her hospital gown, and pulled on the top.

It had cups built into it, and her breasts felt a lot better with the support. She strangely felt a little spark of delight seeing the top on herself. She... liked it.

"Well," Sharon said, laying a hand on Marcy's shoulder, "let's get you in."

Sharon and the other girl came to the sides of Marcy's wheelchair, seemingly to help her in, but Marcy used her tail to spring off and right into the pool.

She felt the water strike against her, and coat her skin. Strangely though, she didn't feel herself naturally float up towards the surface. She didn't sink either.

The bubbles began to drift upward, until she could clearly see her tail, glimmering in the light. She couldn't resist letting out a giggle as she flicked it, and moved slightly.

And then she realized, to her amazement, that she could breathe. The water had a faint smell to it, but it was not chlorine. If anything, it seemed like it was saltwater.

She breathed experimentally, at the same time that she tried swinging with her tail back and forth.

Getting a grasp of how it all felt, she wanted to truly use her mermaid tail. She rolled onto her belly, and began to swim in an S-motion.

It was incredible. Her tail moved flexibly just how she wanted it. Every past experience swimming paled in comparison. She could breathe and swim properly now.

She became lost in it. Never having to leave and go back up to the surface, but getting to be in her own little world, spinning around in her tail like she was a pinwheel.

Eventually, she became tired, and she broke the surface of the pool.

"I don't know what you want," she said, meeting Sharon and Liam's eyes, "but I will do anything if I can keep this thing."

Sharon's jaw dropped, but Liam smiled, chuckling. "You and my wife would get along very well, I think."

Marcy couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"We aren't going to just keep you the way you are forever," Liam said.

Marcy frowned. "Why not?"

Now Liam seemed surprised. "You... you don't have any misgivings about being a girl?"

She felt at her now damp hair, and looked down at her chest. "Honestly, I kind of forgot about it. But... I like it. I think I look cute."

Sharon smiled. "You are a cute girl Marcy. We'll have to see where that part goes. But for now, here's what we can do. We're going to give you an additional patch, and it will give you the ability to change into a merperson when you go into water, and back into a human once you dry off."

"Stick me," she said holding out her arm. "Or patch me I guess - I want it."

"Woah," Sharon said, "calm down. This one is permanent mind you. Plus, we can't do it until you decide whether you want to remain a girl or go back to being a boy."

"I will stay a girl if it means I get to have this," she said.

"You are like my wife," Liam laughed. "How about this. We will make it so that when you change back, you will become human, but remain a girl temporarily. We'll give you another patch to become a mermaid when needed. Judging by how your body reacted this time, it shouldn't take long at all. You won't even need the hospital bed."

"So... does this mean you want to keep me around?" Marcy asked.

"Yes," Sharon said, "we have been able to turn a dozen people into merfolk, but you're only the third person to express any desire to do so again."

"Can I meet the other two?" Marcy perked up. She wanted to swim with another merperson badly now.

"Well," Sharon smiled, "you've already met me."

"Oh," Marcy smiled.

"I would get in with you if I didn't have a lot to work on today, but as for the other..."

She pulled out her phone, and Marcy heard it dialing.

"Hey," Sharon said.

Sharon waited as the other person said something.

"You take a break. Come to the pool. Okay, bye."

Sharon put her phone away. "They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Okay," Marcy said, "if you don't mind me..."

She dove beneath the water, and went back to reveling in being a mermaid. She had only been a mermaid for what, a few hours now? But she couldn't bear the thought of it ending. She wanted that shot. She wanted to be able to grow a tail anytime she wanted. She especially wanted to try it out in the ocean.

There was a burst as something came into the pool, creating a collumn of bubbles.

Marcy swam over to it, and found a boy maybe a bit younger than her staring back.

He looked down at her tail, and grinned. Marcy gigggled, seeing his hair going crazy. Hers probably wasn't too tamed either.

The boy eventually balanced and stopped floating towards the surface. He sucked in a breath, and then breathed out.

"Hi," he said with a wave.

"Hi," Marcy said bashfully.

"So you're going by Marcy huh?"

"Yeah," she answered.

The boy reached behind him, and she heard the tearing of velcro. He pulled off his swim trunks as his legs formed into a tail.

His tail was a deep orange color.

"I'm Finley," he said. "I bet you can guess where the name came from."

Marcy smiled. "I haven't met a lot of guys that like mermaids."

"I like mermen," the guy corrected. "Or, well, I guess I do like mermaids too. But yeah, my family is kind of obsessed with them. My mom Sharon got it from my grandma Lucy."

"That's awesome," Marcy smiled.

"So what's your story?" Finley said, a smile of his own growing, "my mom said that you already want to stick with being a mermaid."

"Yeah," Marcy did a little spin around, "I love it."

Finley began swimming a bit more around the pool, and Marcy joined him.

"I kind of got here because I was low on money," Marcy said. "I just wanted to volunteer to do testing to alleviate that problem. I had no idea that this would be happening. But now..."

She sighed in relief. "I might just be able to pay for my next semester in school."

Finley stopped. "Wait, you're in college?"

"Yeah?"

"I... I kinda thought you were in high school, or younger even."

Marcy shrugged as they swam in place. "I guess my boyish looking face translated over to being a girlish looking one. But no, I'm actually 21."

Finley seemed a bit surprised. "Sorry, I... I feel a bit embarrassed now."

"It's okay," Marcy said.

"I'm just not used to...

"Not used to what?"

"Being around another mer," he said.

He was a cute guy, Marcy decided. Perhaps being a girl would be nice - she'd have more options of guys to choose from.

"Well," she smiled, "it seems like they want me around more."

"That's cool," he said. "And... are you going to..."

"They won't give me the permament mermaid shot," she said, "but I am going to stay a girl for a while and see how I like it."

"It seems like a lot of transgender people like mermaids," Finley said.

"Transgender...," Marcy said. "I guess... I guess that's what I would be if I decided to stay a girl. Kind of weird to think that I was a boy until a few hours ago."

Marcy cringed. "Does that... weird you out?"

Finley shook his head. "No, we've done a lot more tests turning people to their desired gender than making them into merpeople. To me, you're just like any other girl. Except awesomer. Cause' you're a mermaid."

Marcy spontaneously hugged Finley. You and I are going to have so much fun."