Hi there! Remember me? I'm the one who wrote The Anti-Uncle and can't seem to find the right inspiration to finish the thing. ARGH! I want to finish it, I really do. I just can't get into the groove for it. Wah. :(

Anyway, here's something that I re-read the other night, and am pretty happy with how it's coming out. I will warn you tho, this is going to be primarily from Tabby's POV. As it goes on, C&W will be featured sparingly. This is Tabby's 'coming of age' story, wherein she 'grows up' over the course of an evening, and as such, features her very prominently. If you're not that 'into' OCs, then you might not like this. I, however, am liking how it's coming out, so I thought I'd share.

Disclaimer -- Cosmo & Wanda belong to Butch & Nick. Tabby's mine.

Oh, almost forgot. Since Tabby's a teen and about to have a very bad night, there will be some very minor cursing. VERY minor. 'Hell' and 'damn' are about as bad as it gets. Hope that doesn't offend anyone.

"Oh, Tabby," Wanda whispered, hands clasped tightly at her chest and tears filling her eyes. "You look so beautiful!"

"Really? You don't think it looks . . . weird?" her goddaughter replied, looking down at herself. "It feels kinda weird."

Wanda smiled. "That's because you're used to wearing jeans and tee shirts. This," she motioned to the dress, "is how girls get all dressed up."

Tabby smiled weakly and turned to look at herself in the mirror. For months, she had scoured magazine after magazine to help her godparents create the PERFECT dress for the Spring Formal. After countless trial and error, she had found the perfect style; a knee length number that conformed to her developing hips, but widened slightly at the bottom so it 'swished' just right when she moved. As for color, she had finally settled on lilac, after spending one agonizing weekend making her godparents poof the dress back and forth between that and various shades of blue. Thin spaghetti straps, an occasional sequin that eventually ended in a thicker layer at the neckline and hem, and a delicate 'train' that hung from the back completed the ensemble. Yes, this was certainly MUCH different than the clothes she usually wore.

She fussed with her hair—it had taken her FOREVER to figure out how to pin it up—and fidgeted in her new shoes. Even though they were a low heel, she'd never worn anything but tennis shoes in her life, and these threw off her balance just enough to make her worry about falling over.

"Do you have everything?" Wanda asked for the fourth time this hour. Tabby rolled her eyes as she ran down the list. Again.

"Yes, Mama," she said in what was supposed to be a sarcastic tone, but came out much gentler and made Wanda smile. She always loved it when Tabby called her that. "I have breath mints, my lipstick, my sweater in case it gets cold, some money, the magic compact in order to contact you guys, and a can of alien repellent." Wanda raised her eyebrow at this last item and Tabby shrugged. "It was Cosmo's idea. It makes him feel better, so I'll take it."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me much," the pink haired fairy said with a sigh. "That husband of mine . . ."

"Is going to miss a goodbye smooch if he doesn't get here soon," Tabitha finished for her. "Where IS he?"

"Oh, sweetie, how many times do you see your 14 year old daughter off to her very first dance, and such a special one, too? He's in the dollhouse trying to find our camera."

"Well, he'd better hurry or I'll be late!" Tabby cried, checking her watch for the seventh time. "Derek will be here any minute!"

Wanda smiled as she straightened Tabby's thigh length train. "You really like him, don't you?" Her goddaughter turned red.

"You could say that," she giggled. "He's one of the most popular boys in class, and one of the hunkiest. I've been helping him with his algebra and one day he just asked me! I could have died!" Wanda laughed.

"Well, try to keep breathing at least until you get there, okay sweetie?"

"I'll give it my best shot!" Tabby exclaimed, bouncing in her excitement. She had never looked forward to one night so much in her life. Tonight she was going to the biggest event to a 9th grader, an event that could change her life and social standing. Going to the Spring Formal with Derek was not only a proverbial dream come true, but it may also show her classmates that she was more than simply 'that girl' who liked to hide in the corners, doing her darnedest to blend in with the wallpaper.

Wanda, too, was thrilled beyond all reason to see Tabby so excited about spending time with kids her own age. Or any humans, for that matter. Tabitha had been only 4 years old when Wanda and Cosmo had been assigned to her—an unusually young charge by fairy godparents' standards—and Jorgen had specifically hand picked them for the job. Her parents had seemingly forgotten she even existed, and their whirlwind social life kept them from paying Tabby's nannies regularly, which resulted in an ever-growing list of ex-nannies. It soon became apparent that if Tabby was to grow into a well-adjusted adult, she needed stable, and loving, parental figures.

Cosmo and Wanda were quite happy to step up to the challenge.

Unfortunately, that meant that a majority of Tabby's childhood was comprised of magic wishes, trips to Fairy World, and spending an inordinate amount of time in the company of fairies, pixies, and other creatures that 'didn't exist' in the human world. And as such, she became withdrawn from other humans, often choosing to stay home and watch a movie with her fairy godparents instead of going out with her friends. Cosmo didn't mind, he had grown especially close to 'his little girl', but Wanda worried that loving Tabby so much was actually hurting her in the long run, because she wasn't getting the social interaction that all children need in order to grow.

But, like Cosmo, Wanda didn't really mind how close Tabby was to them. Having no biological children of their own—though not for lack of trying—they relished their time with their surrogate daughter, and liked to pretend they were her actual parents.

But that didn't mean Wanda couldn't be happy that Tabby was finally going out with someone 'of her own kind'.

"Wanda?" Tabby called softly as she gently shook the little pink fairy's shoulder. "Are you okay?" Wanda blinked quickly and smiled at her teenage goddaughter.

"Yeah, I'm okay, sweetie," she said, resting her hand atop Tabby's. "Just caught in some memories, that's all." Tabby gave a relieved sigh as she smiled.

"Oh, that's good," she said, a slight laugh in her voice. "Your eyes kinda went blank and for a second there you looked like Cosmo. Don't scare me like that! You're supposed to be the smart one to keep us out of trouble!" Wanda threw her hands up in the air dramatically.

"Please!" she cried, slapping her hands to her hips. "I'm not a miracle worker!"

As Tabby and Wanda fell into fits of giggles, a familiar smoky 'poof' appeared before them. The smoke slowly cleared, revealing Cosmo smiling triumphantly, and holding a truly archaic device high above his head like a trophy.

"Found him!" the green haired fairy announced proudly. The girls' laughter quickly died as they stared at the antique clutched in his hands. One would have expected to find such a crumbling relic safely contained within a glass case in a museum, not in a teenager's bedroom, sprinkling dust into the hair of a fairy. Wanda frowned at the sight of it.

"Ugh," she muttered. "I thought I got rid of that thing." Cosmo stuck his tongue out at his wife.

"You tried," he said, turning his back on her. "But I rescued him."

Tabby raised an eyebrow. "Him?"

"Cosmo likes to name everything," Wanda said with a sigh.

"This is Angus," Cosmo said, smiling happily and pushing what could possibly be the world's oldest camera into Tabby's face. Little clouds of dust puffed up, tickling her nose. "He was my very first camera."

"Cosmo, that thing doesn't work anymore!" Wanda said, pushing it back toward him roughly. "It's too old!" Cosmo frowned and cradled the camera to his chest, looking hurt.

"Yeah, well, so are you but I keep you around!" he cried, and immediately ducked when Wanda shot at him with her wand. Her hair became ablaze and she advanced on him, growling.

"Say that again!" she snarled, and raised her wand for another try as her husband smiled and laughed.

"There's that fire that's kept our marriage alive for almost 10,000 years!"

"Is that all it's been?" Wanda huffed as her hair returned to normal. "Feels like much, much longer."

"Are you two finished, or should I sell tickets?" Tabby asked with a sigh. Wanda blew a raspberry towards her husband, who merely laughed and flew over to kiss her cheek. Tabby noticed with a smile how the pink fairy rolled her eyes, but leaned into the kiss.

"Hey, picture time!" Cosmo cried, as his mind quickly switched gears. He pulled the old camera before him as Wanda shook her head. Tabby looked at the camera, doubtful.

"Uh, Cosmo, I've got a digital camera in my desk drawer you could use."

"Nonsense!" he said, waving a dismissive hand. "Ol' Angus here has never let me down! Everybody smile!" He raised the flash bar, loaded with what Tabby thought looked like WAY too much powder, and pushed the shutter release. The flash powder ignited, sending sparks flying. A few burning embers landed on the dried out mechanical monstrosity in Cosmo's hands, and Ol' Angus promptly exploded in a poof of dust and soot, covering all three from head to toe.

"AAAHHHH! Angus! NOOOOO!!" Cosmo cried, his hair smoldering. Wanda rolled her eyes and uttered a defeated sigh. With one swoop of her wand, she poofed everyone clean and Ol' Angus—or more appropriately, what was left of him—back into storage from whence it came.

"But . . ." Cosmo started and watched as Wanda went to Tabby's desk. She opened the second drawer, pulled out the digital camera, and returned to her husband.

"Angus Jr," she said flatly as she slapped it into Cosmo's open palm. The green haired fairy looked at it in shock.

"He never told me he was married! ANGUS! What else have you been hiding??" he cried, falling dramatically to his knees.

As Tabby smiled and rolled her eyes at her godfather's antics, the phone rang. "Be right back," she said, hurrying down the hall. Wanda watched her go and sighed.

"They seem to grow up so fast, don't they, Cosmo?" she asked, her eyes lost in memories. Her husband looked at her, puzzled.

"Who do what now?"

"Seems like just yesterday we taught her to ride a bike, sent her on her first day of school, and sat coloring with her."

"Wow, that was all yesterday?" Cosmo said with a smile. "She must have had a serious growth spurt last night!"

Wanda rolled her eyes and sighed as she floated into the next room. Once she was gone, Cosmo's smile faded quickly and he sat heavily on the bed, head in his hands.

He had been kidding of course, because if he stopped to think about how old Tabby was getting, he'd soon start crying. Of all the godchildren they had ever had, and Cosmo honestly could not remember how many there have been, none had touched his heart as delicately, and completely as that little 4 year old girl they had met all those years ago. Though he had loved and cared about each of their past godchildren, he had never felt like more than what he was to them—a friend and godfather. But Tabby . . . well, she was different.

To her, he was a father. And—when the time came—leaving would be even harder because of it.

-X-X-X-

"What?" Tabby asked, fingers curled tightly around the receiver. "I'm sorry, there was some static . . . what did you say?" She hoped beyond all reason that she had misheard.

"I'm really sorry, Tabby," Derek said softly. "Technically I DID ask Julie first, but she said she had other plans, then a few minutes ago she agreed to go with me."

"You asked Julie?" Tabby asked, trying hard to keep the tears from her voice and only partially succeeding. "But then you asked me, so she must have turned you down . . . right?"

"Not technically." His voice was shaking and Tabby wondered if he was nervous or stifling laughter. "She said she'd have to see, and would get back to me. I'm really, really sorry, Tabby."

Tabitha's head was spinning. A voice deep in her mind told her to open her mouth and say something, to tell him that sorry wasn't good enough, it could never be good enough. So he had asked Julie first, technically, so what?? SHE was the one who had accepted, damn it! He would just have to tell Julie that she was too late, he already had a date. Tell him, dammit, SAY SOMETHING!

"Sure," she squeaked, and immediately felt disgusted with herself. She knew she should have argued, she should have fought. But who was she, anyway? Just his algebra tutor who was probably asked out of pity. She grimaced at the thought—she hated being pitied. Almost as much as she hated feeling it for herself.

Tabby uttered a shuddery sigh, wanting nothing more than the earth to open up beneath her and swallow her whole. After all the bragging she had done at school about going to the dance with Derek, this was just too ironic. She had single handedly made herself a laughing stock.

"I'll still see you on Monday, though, right?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. "There are some algebraic equations that are taking great delight in tormenting me!" Amazingly, he laughed, as though Tabby's heart hadn't just spelunk-ed into her feet. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears build.

"Yeah," she heard herself answer. "Monday. Algebra. Right."

Silence assaulted her ear for the next half-minute, and Tabby thought that he had hung up on her when he said, very softly, "I'm so sorry, Tabby. If I had known this would happen, I never would have asked her."

Incredibly, Tabitha heard herself say, "I-it's okay, Derek. I understand. Have fun at the dance. With Julie."

Derek sighed, and it sounded to Tabby as though he had dropped his head into his hand. "Tabby, I—"

"No, no Derek, there's really nothing more to say," she cut him off, keeping her voice light and forcing the biggest, fakest, cheek stretchingest smile possible to her lips. "I completely understand. Really. You go, have fun. I'll see you on Monday, in algebra, where people like you and people like me are SUPPOSED to meet. We'll just pretend this never happened, and things will go back to normal. Bye!"

Without giving him a chance to respond, Tabby forcefully slammed the receiver back into its cradle, before immediately taking it back off and laying it to the side. If he tried to call back, he'd get a busy signal. Besides, it didn't matter how sorry he was for canceling, he had another date, and he wouldn't want to be late.

Large tears rolled down Tabitha's cheeks, and she wiped them away quickly. If Cosmo or Wanda happened to come into the hallway, they'd see her crying, and that wouldn't do. She didn't want sympathy, not from Derek, and not from them. All she wanted to do was forget; about the dance, about this once-in-a-lifetime date with the guy she'd had a crush on since fourth grade, and about any pain or humiliation she was feeling right now. She'd go in, tell them Derek had to cancel because of a sick mother, and then suggest that the three of them go to the movies, or bowling, or to a monster truck show. Something, anything, to get her mind off of this mess.

As she walked back toward her room, she heard her godparents talking quietly. Knowing it was wrong to eavesdrop but doing it anyway, she stopped, back against the wall near her bedroom door.

"I'm so glad she's going to this dance," Wanda said as she straightened up her goddaughter's bedroom. "It's just what she needs." Cosmo was seated on the bed, and cocked his head at his wife, an eyebrow raised.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's just been spending so much time with us, I was beginning to worry that she was becoming too isolated from the other kids her age," Wanda explained as she picked up a dirty tee shirt. She used her wand to clean it and hung it back in Tabby's closet. "Kids can't spend ALL their time with their parents, or godparents, as it were."

"But I spent all sorts of time with my Mama, and I turned out all right!" Cosmo exclaimed, jumping back into the air. "I'm perfectly normal!"

Tabby unknowingly shared an eye roll with her godmother before uttering a soft sigh. She couldn't tell them that Derek canceled on her, and she couldn't stay home all night, either. Like it or not, she had to go out, if only for her godparents' sake.

"I wonder what's taking Tabby so long," she heard Wanda say in an effort to change the subject. "If she doesn't hurry, she'll be late!"

Hurriedly wiping her cheeks dry, Tabby casually walked into her bedroom. "That was Derek," she said and was surprised to find her voice steady and upbeat. "He's got to help his mother run some errands, so he said he'd just meet me at the dance." Cosmo frowned.

"Hmmph!" he scoffed, folding his arms. "Some nice guy! He lets his mother push him around when he should be paying attention to his girlfriend!"

After sharing another eye roll with Wanda, Tabby uttered a short laugh. "I'm NOT his girlfriend, Cosmo."

"Hmmph, again!"

"So, I guess I'll need you guys to poof me there," Tabby said, feeling her stomach tighten. The longer she stayed here, the more she'd wear down and possibly blurt out the truth.

"Okay, but let's get a picture first," Wanda said and enchanted the camera to float and perform automatically. Then the two fairies flew to either side of their goddaughter.

"Uh, heh, that's okay, I should really get going," the teen said shakily as she grabbed her purse. Her defenses were crumbling, and if she didn't leave soon, as in NOW, she'd start crying.

"You still have time," Wanda said, exchanging a glance with her husband. "We'll just take one pic—"

"Really, Wanda, it's not a big deal," Tabby rambled. The knot in her stomach was spreading to her chest, and she could taste the tears in the back of her throat. "I'd like to get going. Please."

"But Tabby," Cosmo tried, but was cut off as the teen shook her head quickly.

"No! I want to go, and I want to go NOW!" she cried, causing her godparents to exchange another look.

"O-okay, sweetie," Wanda said as they raised their wands. "Use the compact in your purse to call for us if you need anything." Tabby nodded, offering them the best smile she could muster. They kissed her cheeks and told her to have a good time before poofing her away. She appeared behind the large hedges in front of the school, and kept herself hidden long enough to wipe away the few tears that had gotten free.

Once the offending tears were gone, Tabby emerged from her hiding place. The double doors that led to the gym had been propped open, allowing the cool May air in, and the noise from inside out. Music filled the air, as did the laughter of her classmates. Her stomach twisted, and she felt she may be sick.

Heart pounding loudly in her ears, Tabitha slowly walked up the stone steps, through the open doors, and into the cheerily decorated gym. Someone laughed to her right, and fear gripped her heart. Soon enough, everyone would be laughing at her, laughing at the girl who dared think that one of the most popular guys in school would ever REALLY go out with her.

She felt like screaming.

-X-X-X-

"Did she seem a little . . ." Wanda started, glancing at her husband just seconds after sending their goddaughter away.

"Yeah."

"Should we . . ."

"Oh yeah."

Tabitha's fairy godparents raised their wands in unison, and quietly disappeared.

As I said, future chapters will feature the fairies very, very sparingly, as this is all about how Tabby 'grows up', both in mentality, and in the eyes of her godparents. If I get enough complaints regarding the prominent usage of my OC--and the general lack of C&W 'screen time'--I'll pull it from here and put it up on my DA account.

As always, thanks for reading and toss me your two cents, if you please:)