Author's Note: This is probably the longest chapter I've written for this story. I had more to say than I thought.

The sad thing is that the scene that's meant to be serious ended up being lighter than the one following it. And I really need to watch The Secret Origins of Denzel Crocker again.

Please read and review, even if you've never done it before. I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Chapter Eight: Baby Back up

As far as conversations went, this was probably one of the most awkward she'd ever had, including when she'd had to explain the 'wands and the wings' to her godchildren. She shuffled, restless, and ignored the cold look she received from Crocker's manservant, Lorenzo, who was wearing a butler's outfit and looking positively murderous. Then again, from what Crocker had told her, this mood was common. It gave her the chills and she avoided looking at him and her estranged husband, who kept finding excuses to bring them extra things, like napkins, sugar, etc. At this rate, they had enough for a large feast.

They were eating breakfast outside at an iron table painted white (Crocker didn't seem to notice she was shaking or that Cosmo had accidentally touched the table and leaped away, yelping). It had been centuries since iron could affect faeries the way it used to, but old fears remained prominent. The last time she'd been near iron, it was because some idiotic villager had gone on a fairy hunt and started throwing it around to see if it burned anyone. Wanda rubbed her wrists, remembering how the cold impersonal metal had suddenly heated up and seared her skin. Out of the corner of her eye, she looked up to see Cosmo too rubbing his wrists and staring at her longingly. At his side, a male with piercing purple eyes and dark, almost black hair had his hand on Cosmo's elbow to keep him from walking over again. Even in a human form, the man's ears were still pointed.

In addition to the iron table she loathed, they sat astride iron chairs and Wanda flinched every time her bare skin touched it. Today, Crocker had ordered her to wear a pink gown with slits along the legs and a deep plunging neckline. The gown was rather dressy for everyday occasions- it was also form fitting and she had a difficult time moving in it, in addition to the stiletto heels he forced her into. Faeries didn't walk in heels. They didn't walk, period. He seemed to expect her to automatically adjust to suddenly being human and thrust into his role, because he'd been planning it his entire life. She wanted to hate him, but couldn't, thanks to the way he'd misused their powers. Cosmo whimpered and she looked up at him.

They sat outside the kitchen on a little balcony overlooking a vast stretch of land Wanda thought had probably belonged to Doug Dimmadome, since it was huge. Acres of acres of green bounded as far as the eye could see. The mansion Crocker had claimed could have fit Timmy's house ten times over, if not more, and the balcony had enough room for five tables. Iron railing prevented them from going over the edge, since this particular kitchen was on the fifth floor, and her heart pounded in her chest. Iron- why? Why hadn't he just wished the damn mansion surrounded by butterfly nets and be done with it?

Her mind was wandering, trying to provide her with other information than the current conversation. The floor beneath her feet was tiled and sparkled in the sun, high overhead. It didn't warm her- she was cold inside and on edge, out of sorts. She didn't know quite how to handle herself, even if Crocker had forced her to be his consort. That hadn't changed her overall personality, aside from losing her affection toward Cosmo.

Crocker laid his hand along her cheek and she flinched. Cosmo growled and the man holding his arm tugged him back toward the kitchen.

"Mine!" Cosmo snapped, muffled because the man had covered his mouth. He pleaded with her with his eyes and the man dragged Cosmo back inside. She thought she could hear the echoes of telepathy they'd lost when Crocker broke their Bond.

((Wanda!))

Her stomach cramped and she slumped over, onto the table. Its cold touch on her bare skin made her scream and she jumped up, reaching for her wand and then remembering she didn't have it. She trembled and hugged herself, rubbing her arms and glaring at Crocker.

"What is with you and iron?" she spat.

"You don't like it?" Crocker asked. "I thought it complemented the kitchen well."

"Iron," she swallowed hard, "used to be poisonous to us."

"Really?" he said. "I thought you were only afraid of butterfly nets."

Wanda hugged herself tighter. "We are. But iron could actually kill us."

Crocker pondered this and Wanda pondered Cosmo sending her a mental message, which shouldn't have been possible. The magic had severed the Bond. After all, she felt nothing toward Cosmo in terms of actual affection and anything she thought about him was with an outsider's point of view. She had watched with detached amusement as Cosmo had gone crazy about Crocker pawing her when they came into the kitchen this morning. He'd let his hand linger near her chest and Cosmo had almost killed himself trying to get to him.

"It doesn't now?" Crocker asked.

"No," Wanda answered. "We're immune."

"Returning to my previous point," he said, staring at her sidestepping the table and chairs without even brushing against them, "do we have to…do that again?"

Wanda's stomach slammed in on itself and she thought she might vomit. Crocker wore a white track suit with a pendant around his neck- magic, green and pink, swirled within it. Her hands slicked with sweat and she rubbed them against her dress.

"I don't know," she answered. She'd rather be bound up in iron and shoved into a butterfly net than endure it again.

"I thought, you know, some people only do it once and then they have a kid," Crocker said. Wanda suppressed an irritated sigh.

"Until yesterday, you didn't know how children were born," she pointed out. She sensed green eyes upon her and spun, but they were gone when she glanced at the kitchen.

"What if I used your power to make sure you were pregnant, and then bred an army of super half human, half faeries?" Crocker said. His eyes gleamed and Wanda backed up, into the iron railing. Clamping her teeth on a scream, she backed up against the wall.

"We could wait the natural way," she said and inhaled shakily. "It'd take about a month to tell."

"Or we could do it with magic!" he cheered. She pressed up against the wall and missed her wings. Her breath hitched in her chest and she hated the way Crocker looked at her, like she was a sex object. She was supposed to be his consort and loyal to him, or so she had told Cosmo, and she was…in a matter of speaking. She didn't particularly want to be his consort, as she'd imagine any sane woman would agree.

"It'd be better to wait a month," she said. "After all, uh, you don't want me to get baby back up."

Sweat beaded on her forehead. She hoped Crocker was completely ignorant of women, because if he weren't, he'd smell the lie a mile away.

"Baby back up?" Crocker asked. "What's that?"

"It's when a woman gets pregnant right after she's already carrying a baby," she lied. She had a sudden image of a woman pregnant and loaded, like a pinball machine and, despite the situation, she almost laughed. Then she had another image, of someone inserting a quarter into the pregnant woman machine, and getting a 'free play' with another baby ball. Now she really did laugh, helpless, and wishing she felt enough for Cosmo to yearn for his touch and to be near him. If the Bond was restored, the first thing she'd do was make sure Cosmo was within arms' reach every second of the day. Without the Bond, she felt so horribly alone and terrified, in a way she'd not been since she was a young girl, watching her father's Mafioso shake down innocent faeries.

"Oh," he said. "That can happen?"

No, you twit. Women can't get pregnant again. We're not like cats, for God's sake.

"Sure," she said. "It can definitely happen, and you wouldn't want me to get sick that way, would you?"

He stared at her and she counted the seconds mentally. She quickly added, "If I'm pregnant once, and you get me pregnant again, I'll have baby back up. It'll be one baby on top of another, and then I'll explode."

"You're serious?" he said and she nodded, praying he bought it. She didn't know if she was pregnant, because Crocker had only created a reality where it was possible for her to carry infants, not one where she had to bear young. The green eyes were upon her again and she looked at the kitchen, where Cosmo was lingering with the swinging door held ajar. She held a finger to her lips to indicate he be quiet.

"Hmm," Crocker said. "What if I cloned the baby you had?"

"You could do that," she said. There better not be a baby.

"I could clone it…and raise them all to be my minions!" Crocker said. He cackled and she shivered, sliding her back along the clay wall to stand beside Cosmo. Though they were within arms' reach, it didn't make her feel any better. He touched her hand and her stomach clenched.

"I still love you, Wanda."

"I'm going to be ruler of the world!" he said and tugged on the pendant. Magic she didn't know she still had wrenched out of her body with such force, she stumbled backward and Cosmo held her upright. His touch on her bare arms made her stomach clench harder than before and she thought she might be sick. Lips quivering, she pushed away from him and he held tighter, spots appearing before her vision. It felt like a knife had sliced into her chest and plunged deeper, toward her heart. She swallowed back another scream, because she didn't want Crocker to know Cosmo was here too. Instead, she determinedly pushed away from Cosmo and staggered to the loathsome iron chair.

"I don't need to ask permission…do I?" he grinned and she groaned, imaging a giant butterfly net over the palace.

((Wanda…))

She jerked her head and stared at the kitchen door, but Cosmo was gone now. She shook her head. Impossible- without the Bond, they wouldn't be able to read thoughts. Perhaps she ought to consider herself lucky Crocker hadn't transferred the Bond to him. She choked back bile again.


They arrived in a gloomy world reminding Timmy of a possible future where Vicky had ruled. Clouds overhung the horizon and Dimmsdale appeared deserted. Poof whimpered, clinging to his baby brother, and Timmy hugged him. Cosmo and Wanda's magic had transported them to the front entrance of a huge, imposing mansion and younger Crocker shivered, prompting his faeries to float nearer to him. Wrought iron gates blocked the mansion from the street and it was the faeries' turn to shudder.

"Iron…" past Wanda whispered.

"Why doesn't he just shove a giant butterfly net on the mansion?" past Cosmo snapped. Whatever ill effects their drugs had had on them seemed to be gone now.

"Shall we go in?" Timmy suggested.

"I'm in there," Crocker said and stared up. "I can feel it."

"Like I said," Timmy said, "Shall we?"

"There's a spooky vibe around this place," Cosmo said.

Wanda swallowed hard. "It's like death in there."

Poof whined and sunk low in his brother's arms. Timmy looked at Crocker, who straightened his back and his resolve. It was weird to see him without his ear on his spine and no hunch. He touched the doors, which flung open at the light brushing. Startled, he turned back to Timmy and Timmy was darkly amused to see his cockiness had gone out the window. However, he was not pleased to see past Cosmo and Wanda sink to the floor and press closer to their godson.

"What's the matter?" Timmy asked.

"It's soaking up our magic," Wanda moaned.

"Can you change into something and shield yourselves?" Crocker whispered. Timmy looked around them. They were within a giant lobby, with shining candelabras overhanging the gigantic space. His entire school could probably have fit inside the lobby, and ahead of them were two spiraling staircases heading straight up. The tiles gleamed, brilliant black that hurt Timmy's eyes after the electricity above, and he had the impression it was supposed to. Squinting, he could see two doors at the far ends of the room to the left and right and the red velvet on the staircase. His hair stood on end.

"We could…" Wanda said.

"I don't like this place, Wanda…" Cosmo whimpered. "I wanna go home, Denzel."

Footsteps echoed in the lobby and the two faeries vanished, transforming into wristbands on Crocker's wrists. Poof turned into an earring in Timmy's left ear and he had to admit, though it was a weird disguise, it was kinda cool. Crocker and Timmy exchanged a look and hastened to hide beneath the staircase. It was a long walk and they just barely made it behind the stairs in time. They peered out.

"What was that?" an older Crocker demanded, holding a bundle in his arms. It fidgeted and he pressed it to his chest.

His godmother, now in human form and looking extremely fatigued, nonetheless held out her arms. She wore a simple yellow sundress and flats, like she had dressed in a hurry. "No one. Can I please have my baby?"

"No," Crocker spat. "She's mine! My first minion for my army!" He paused. "Those bright green eyes are going to change to brown right?"

"Bright green…" Timmy whispered. Beside him, the younger Crocker looked at his wristbands and Cosmo smiled at him. The Wanda wristband tensed, responding to her future self's distress.

"Please me have my baby," Wanda pleaded. "I did what you wanted, now let me have her. She's mine."

"I don't think so," Crocker said. "You don't want your mother, do you? Do you, Aurora?"

Aurora whimpered and reached out for Wanda. Timmy's heart ached and beside him, younger Crocker growled. Timmy smacked him to shut him up and past Wanda shifted into a tiny mouse, whiskers twitching. She stared at her older self and Cosmo shifted into a mouse beside her. Poof whimpered, fidgeting on Timmy's ear. Timmy sensed he was about to cry.

"You took away my magic," Wanda said. "You took away Cosmo. No one has seen my godson or my Poof for over a year. Just let me have her. Please."

"We've been gone for a year?" Timmy whispered to Poof. Poof didn't answer. Wanda's eyes filled with tears and his did too. Uh oh.

"I took away Cosmo?" younger Crocker croaked and Timmy smacked him over the head again to shut him up.

"She's mine," Crocker cackled and Wanda made one last, desperate grab for her daughter. Crocker squeezed the pendant, a strange translucent ball with a charm wrapped around it around his neck and flung Wanda fifty feet away from them. She caught herself before she crashed into anything and swayed, the effort to hold herself up more than she had estimated. Timmy, younger Crocker, Cosmo, and Wanda yelped and Poof burst into tears. Wanda sobbed and the baby in Crocker's arms screamed, setting off a magical cavalcade. A storm gathered in the lobby and past Wanda had to step on her husband's tail to keep him from rushing to her future self's aid. He stopped, stunned, as thunder boomed and lightning flashed in the lobby.

"What's going on?" Crocker asked.

Wanda struggled back, trying to reach her daughter again, and Crocker responded by channeling the lightning at her. Timmy, not thinking, blindly reacting, dove for her and knocked her over. He had no idea how he'd run so fast, but the crying earring on his ear had probably done something for that. Wanda stared, dazed, at him, and Poof had stopped crying. Meanwhile, the baby in Crocker's arms wailed and brought a sudden downpour on Crocker. The staircase was singed with lightning.

"Timmy?" Wanda said. "Poof?"

"Turner!" Crocker snarled. He advanced and Wanda hugged Timmy to her stomach. She forced herself to her feet and Crocker squeezed the pendant again, stilling the sobs and the storm. Wanda backed up, holding her arms protectively in front of her godson, and Timmy remembered what past Cosmo and Wanda had said about the mansion soaking up their magic.

"Attack Turner and his faeries!" he commanded the baby and squeezed the pendant. The baby shook a new, blue rattle and past Crocker, along with Cosmo and Wanda, burst out from hiding.

"You're a monster!" past Crocker screamed and his future self stopped, staring back at him. Past Crocker looked at him with his lower lip curled and his fists balled. Past Cosmo and Wanda, Timmy could see, were still mice. Meanwhile, his Wanda trembled against his back.

"Me?" future Crocker said stupidly.

"You'd hurt Cosmo and Wanda?" past Crocker snapped. "Cosmo and Wanda, who love you and would do anything for you? Cosmo and Wanda, who are the best things in your life? How could you even think of it?"

"I spent my entire life being mocked and laughed at for believing in faeries," his future self snapped. "I lost everything because no one believed me. And now, using them, I got it all back, and then punished everyone. You should be thanking me."

"What did you do to Cosmo?" Timmy growled.

"Kept him away from Wanda, of course," future Crocker said. "He's too dangerous around her. There was one night where I could have sworn…"

"Wanda," Timmy said in an undertone. "That baby's not Crocker's, is it?"

"She's Poof's little sister," she said and smiled weakly. "Completely his little sister."

"I thought only guys could-"

"I'll explain later," she whispered. "I'm so glad you and Poof are okay."

"I should be thanking you for hurting the two creatures that matter more to me than anyone else on Earth?" past Crocker growled. "I should be thanking you for making my godmother cry?"

"I don't remember them ever being my godparents," future Crocker said very coldly, "and even if they were, they abandoned me. You have no reason to be angry at me, and every reason to join me."

"You disgust me," past Crocker said and spat at his feet. He stared at him. "You betrayed them."

"Wow…" Timmy muttered. "Past Crocker really has a different point of view than the one we know and hate."

"Well, sport…" she frowned. "He might have actually loved us, once."

"You don't understand," future Crocker said and hefted the baby. Wanda growled, low and dangerous, and Poof hissed. The covers fell around the baby, thankfully clad in a diaper, and iridescent green eyes peered at them. There was no mistaking that shade. Her hair had little pink curls, with tiny flecks of purple. Anyone who couldn't see who her parents were had to be, like Crocker, deluding themselves.

"This is power. This will prove to the world and everyone who ever laughed at me, everyone who ever hurt me, that I was right," Crocker said. "My daughter and I will show the world. You'll see."

"No, I won't," his past self said. "Cosmo, Wanda, I wish we were back home!"

Timmy felt himself being ripped from Wanda's arms by their magic, and Crocker reached for his pendant to retrieve the power. In a last ditch effort, Wanda tore the broach from around her neck and threw it at Crocker's head. Startled, he dropped the medallion and Timmy found himself being sent along the time stream with Poof, younger Crocker, Cosmo, and Wanda. Poof screamed, reaching out for his mother, and Wanda hugged herself to keep from crying.

"I love you!" she called. "Be good! Think of a way to fix this!"

"Stop them, damn you!" future Crocker snarled and squeezed the medallion. Pink and green magic raced to meet the spell previously enacted and Timmy felt the push backward change momentum in the wrong direction.

"Uh oh."