Author's Note: The timeline of this fic is set along that of the movie but there are a few deviations. I've stretched the timeframe from around a week – like in the film – to a few weeks. Hope y'all don't mind too much.

There are few things in this world that compare to New York City after sunset. It's been called the City That Never Sleeps and truer words have seldom been spoken. The city itself is alive. It's pulse can be felt wherever you are, no matter what you're doing.

But nighttime in New York? It's even better. The pulse becomes a demanding, throbbing heartbeat. For me it was the center of the universe. And I loved it.

My Mom and I lived in a four story townhouse on the Upper East Side, a few blocks away from Central Park. It was a stunning neo-classic revival, stone fronted with tons of scrollwork and fancy pediments. There was a wide bay window in my bedroom with a cozy seat that overlooked the street. It was where Mom found me most nights, curled up with a book, thinking, writing, or daydreaming.

I'd been sitting there for the better part of two hours, writing in my journal, IM-ing my friends, checking my MySpace messages. You know, the usual. But unlike most nights, there was much more on my mind.

In a few short days, I would be returning to school for my senior year. While part of me was excited that I would be starting my final year of high school, a bigger part of me was frightened out of my mind. This was the year when a lot of decisions were supposed to be made, decisions that would affect my future.

Most high school seniors would do the very same thing, make big decisions that would impact the rest of their life. For me, the fear stemmed from something else entirely. This was the year that I was to receive my inheritance. No big deal, right? Wrong. Very, very wrong.

Here's the thing. I'm not exactly normal. That's not really a surprise though. My parents aren't normal. Not by a long shot.

Before you start scratching your head and wondering if there are any parents in the entire world who are normal, let me explain. Mom was fifteen when they first met. Daddy, well, let's just say he was older and leave it at that. They didn't exactly hit it off, not right away at least. I mean, come on. Mom was busy playing with her 'toys and costumes' and Daddy was the intimidating villain in a fairy story.

But a few years later, they met again and things were different. Mom was in her sophomore year at Julliard and they managed to make things work for awhile. But as most long distance relationships do, theirs eventually crumbled. Toss in Mom's stubbornness and Daddy's manipulative nature, and they were doomed from the start. Granted, it was far more complicated than that but you get the general idea.

Then six months after they'd called it quits, I came along. I was the first Halfling born in nearly a millennia. No, I'm not short with hairy feet either. I'm half human and half Fae.

Mom raised me on her own, somehow managing to carve out a career in the process. Daddy helped her out whenever he could, keeping an eye on me when she had an audition or had to work and couldn't get a sitter. Even to a small child, it was obvious that they were still in love. But I learned as I got older that not all fairy tales ended in happily ever after and that sometimes love simply wasn't enough to make a relationship work.

Still, I grew up well loved and well provided for. Then Mom's career exploded into the stratosphere right about the time I started school at Spenser Academy. I was in the seventh grade and very nervous about going away to school. It was also around that time that I first learned about my 'inheritance'. Daddy explained it all to me but I didn't fully grasp what he was telling me back then.

We didn't speak of it again until I returned home at the end of my junior year for the summer holiday. Up until that point, it hadn't been much of a problem. For the most part, I was a completely average seventeen year old girl. Okay, not so average. Mom did have an Oscar sitting on the mantel and a couple of Golden Globes on the bookcase after all. My point is that the whole half Fae thing hadn't given me any trouble. Hey, never being sick a day in my life was pretty freaking cool no matter how you cut it. And speaking of cuts, healing instantly had its benefits too.

Here's the problem though. In a couple of months I was going to turn eighteen. As I got closer to my 'inheritance', the more I was going to experience the not so great parts of having Fae blood. Like a few physical changes for one and a seriously nasty allergy to iron for another.

Oh, and remember those decisions I mentioned earlier? I had one year following my eighteenth birthday to decide which world I would live in. Either I would remain in my mother's world and live out my days as a human. Or, I could choose to live in my father's and live forever. Simple, right? Wrong.

Okay, so he's kind of a narcissist and his wardrobe is reminiscent of an '80's glam rocker but he was still my dad. I rarely got to see him as it was. To never see him again, period? I just didn't know if I could do that. His influence in my life, while limited beyond even his control, had been magical in so many ways.

Damn. Like Mom was always so found of saying, it wasn't fair.

I was so wrapped up in my own conflicted misery that I never heard her enter. I didn't even know she was there until she tickled the bottom of my bare foot. My knee connected with the window pane with a dull thud when I snatched my foot back out of her reach. Thankfully, I'd already put my laptop away, otherwise it may have taken a nasty spill onto the hardwood floor.

Mom giggled a bit as she grabbed my hand and tugged, pulling me over to sit in the circle of her arms. She hugged me to her chest and rocked me a little. She knew what was troubling me. We hadn't talked about it much but the few times we had, she'd told me it was my decision to make and that she refused to influence me one way or another.

Neither of us spoke for awhile. When she started to softly sing my favorite childhood lullaby, the one that would always put me at ease whenever I woke up from a bad dream, I started to cry. She continued to hold and rock me, whispering soothing words of encouragement.

Eventually I calmed down, my tears turning into hiccups and a stuffy nose. "It's not fair," I said brokenly. "It's just not fair."

She hugged me tighter. "I know, baby. It seldom is."

"How can they make me choose between you guys? You're my parents, for Danu's sake."

Mom tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear and said, "I know telling you not to dwell on it probably won't help, but you need to start thinking about something else. You're making yourself miserable."

I was ready to scream in frustration. I knew she was trying to help but I was upset and I wanted to wallow in my misery, not be coaxed out of it. "But Mom," I whined only to be cut off by the look. You know the one all mom's have that clearly states they've had enough and promised dire consequences if you said another word?

"Not another word, Erin." She dropped her arms from around my shoulders and stood up. "You've spent enough time up here feeling sorry for yourself. You've got thirteen months until you have to decide your future. But you've only got two weeks left here with me before you go back to school." There was something in her tone that had me perking up slightly. "Now, get dressed. We're going out for dinner."

Whenever Mom said to get dressed for dinner, it meant we were going somewhere exceptionally nice. I wasn't in the mood that night but she was right about our time being short before school started. So, I put on one of my favorite dinner dresses and a smile and indulged her.

The next day she took me shopping. Mom was a firm believer in the healing power of retail therapy. That, and chocolate. A girl could never, ever go wrong with good, rich chocolate.

The rest of my summer vacation passed far too quickly and before I knew it I found myself back at school. I'd had certain expectations for my senior year, what with my 'inheritance' and all. What I got was something far more complicated than I could possibly have imagined.