A/N: I would just like to point out that where I come from, the legal age is 16 for "adult situations", and even though this fic (probably) won't contain "adult situations", it does seem slightly less wrong to me than it might for those of you in the U.S. or anywhere else where the age of consent is higher. If this is the case, and it really bothers you,just pretend like Timmy and Vicky are like two years older than I said they were. - Sky.

Chapter 10 - Knowledge

For a moment, neither of them said anything. The pair just looked at each other, clutching at their chests as they tried to get their breath back. Vicky was trying desperately not to smile at Timmy's expression, at the way he looked. Clearly this was the first time he had ever done something that could even be deemed slightly illegal, and now a look of liberation played about his face as the adrenaline in his blood told him that he'd gotten away with it. There was a streak of mud on his cheek from where he had collapsed onto the wet grass after squirming his way through the tiny window. He had kicked and struggled to put his awkward adolescent body at the right angle, and he had caught his jeans on the latch more than once. Only after she had made sure that Timmy was safely through did Vicky climb up herself, and Timmy had watched in awe as she did it with very little fuss and a great deal of ease. She, too, had fallen on the grass as the position of the window did not allow for any other option, but she had even done that more gracefully than Timmy had managed. There were just two very small dirt stains on her knees.

"Are we safe?" Timmy asked eventually, in between wheezes.

"We're safe," Vicky replied, casting a furtive look back to the window.

"That was pretty cool, Vicky," Timmy conceded, and even though it was hard to tell in the darkness, Vicky was certain that the boy was blushing. It was then that the smile escaped her lips. She suddenly felt so...

... so forgiven.

"It wasn't really," she said in a small voice. "All I did was break through a window."

"I couldn't have done it," Timmy replied honestly.

"That's because you're not a mad delinquent."

They both began to laugh, nervously at first, but it wasn't long before the intense situation got the better of them. The whole evening had been such a crazy one that everything about their past together could be forgotten, if only for tonight. Vicky even managed to forget that the boy who stood before her, who had once been a boy she loathed with all her soul, was the boy that she was now madly in love with. For some reason she could see him as just Timmy, this guy, this wonderful guy who managed to somehow care about those he was meant to hate. It didn't matter that he didn't love her, it just mattered that he was there.

"What?" Timmy asked. Vicky snapped out of er daydream.

"Huh?" she said stupidly.

"You've got this odd little grin on your face," Timmy said, flashing her a big, jaunty one back.

"Have I?" Vicky asked lightly. Her head was still spinning from the sheer truth of where she was and who she was with. Timmy nodded at her.

It was then that the coldness of the night penetrated Vicky's senses at last, awakening her to what was going on and what she had just done. She bit her tongue, determined not to let her attitude screw this up. Timmy was with her, and he wasn't crying or yelling or telling her that he hated her. In fact, she would have said that despite how bizarre their meeting was, Timmy was actually having a good time, and she wasn't going to let her old self ruin it. She just wasn't. She flopped down onto the grass and crossed her legs, hiding her head in her hands as her inner battle raged on.

"What's wrong Vicky?" Timmy asked, sitting beside her. She didn't answer him. Every word was like a dagger in her heart, reminding her what she had done. How foul and horrible she had been to a boy she was meant to care for, and how ashamed she was. She wished he would stop talking.

"Please, Vicky, tell me," Timmy said in an anxious voice. Vicky wanted to push him away, to yell at him to shut up. It was then that she knew that while she might have felt like he forgave her, she wasn't ready for it yet. She still had so much to payback, maybe she'd be paying it back forever, but she knew she wasn't finished. Not yet. She got to her feet.

"Vicky?"

She ran.

-

She didn't stop until her senses told her that something wasn't right. She looked around her, blinking the tears from her eyes so that she could see clearly at last. Vicky stood, cold and miserable, in a street she did not recognise. Crooked streetlights cast an eerie glow over street signs bearing names that she'd never heard of. A lot of the buildings seemed to be boarded up and abandoned, too. This was a part of Dimsdale that Vicky had never seen. She sat on a low wall, breathing heavily as she pushed her sweaty hair out of her eyes. She tried to remember where she had ran from, trying to retrace her steps, but everything just looked the same to her. So decayed and forgotten and hopeless. She closed her eyes once more, and buried her head in her hands.

-

A walk that would usually have taken Timmy about fifteen minutes had swallowed half and hour of his time so far, and he wasn't even half way home. He kicked his feet out at loose stones as he ambled along the empty streets of Dimsdale, with so many thoughts chasing each other through his mind that it was difficult to pick one out from the crowd. His hands were hidden deep inside his pockets, and he had his head bowed against the night. For a moment, for a very brief moment, Timmy had felt happy for the first time since his birthday. He couldn't explain it, not really, but the evening with Vicky had opened his eyes. He had always known that there was more to the red head than a fiery temper and a pair of fists, but for the whole time he had been under her care he just hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. He had wanted to hate her for what she did to him, and he did, but it was the lingering feeling of debt in the back of his brain that stopped him from doing anything about it. It was because of Vicky that Timmy had gotten Cosmo and Wanda as godparents, and even though she didn't know it, Vicky was responsible for the happiest times of Timmy's life. She was the one to thank.

Timmy had always wished that there was a reason that Vicky acted the way she did, but he had never gotten close enough to ask her. He wanted to find out what made her act so bad, so he could get on with forgiving her. Timmy had realised that tonight, when she had finally began keeping him safe. Once, he would have thought that he could never have forgiven Vicky, and the thought didn't bother him, but now he realised that he had to. He had to, or her life would be forever marred by the girl she used to be. She'd changed, Timmy saw that now, and the only thing that was holding her back were her memories and her regrets.

Timmy stared at the little green bird for a while before he realised what he was seeing. "Cosmo?" he said quietly, the sound echoing mournfully on the still night air. The bird didn't move, didn't twitch. Timmy cocked his head and looked at it again. "Cosmo?" he tried again, but he didn't sound as sure. The bird ruffled it wings and took flight, and Timmy watched it until he couldn't see it anymore. He shrugged and carried on home.

As he expected, his parent's car was not in the driveway when he arrived. Even though he knew it must be nearly midnight, he didn't think that they would come home until tomorrow was half over. He didn't mind though, not really. He had too much on his mind to have to deal with his mother and father. He slouched up his stairs and into his bedroom. He was about to collapse on his bed when he noticed that there was something already on it. It was a letter, bearing the Fairy World seal. He reached down with trembling hands to pick it up, clicking on his bedside lamp as he did so. As he carefully tore the envelope open, he tried not to notice the empty goldfish bowl that stood on the table out of the corner of his eye.

Mr. Turner,

As head of the Fairy Council, it is my duty to inform you that your Fairy Godparents (Cosmo #169, Wanda #244) have been removed from your service. Several days ago it was brought to my attention that you have been retaining your fairies' service without due cause, i.e. sufficient suffering (under the Cause for Distribution and Service of Fairy Godparents Act). As you are probably well aware, this directly goes against the Rules and Regulations of the Fairy Godparent Scheme.

It was also brought to my attention that this continued service was due to interference by a senior Fairy (Jorgen Von Strangle #12), and that you were well aware of the illegality of your fairy godparents continued service. It is therefore the decision of this Council that you, your former fairy godparents and Mr. Von Strangle should attend a hearing at Fairy Court to explain your actions. The trial will be held in a fortnight. An escort will arrive at your place of residence an hour prior to the trial's commence.

During this time you will not be able to contact your former fairy godparents or Mr. Von Strangle. You are, however, granted access to a lawyer. Please send your reply, (enclosed with this summons), ASAP.

Your Sincerely,

Jupitus Starr #02)

Head of the Fairy Council

Timmy dropped the letter onto the bed. All thoughts of Vicky were pulled from his head as he thought of what lay ahead of him. He had had no idea that Jorgen was putting his neck on the line in allowing him to keep Cosmo and Wanda for longer than he should have. What he really wanted was to talk to them about it, but the letter said he would not be allowed to contact them. His stomach dropped as he thought of them, and Jorgen, all cooped up in some rotting prison back on Fairy World, because of him and everything he had done.

Because of Vicky.

Because she had left.

Timmy threw himself onto his bed, crushing the letter beneath his body. This was all her fault. He wrenched the bandage from his sprained wrist and flexed it. It still hurt, but Timmy didn't care. It was just another heartache in a long line of other things that were all Vicky's fault. If she had just stayed with him, stayed on as his babysitter, then none of this would have happened.

Timmy rolled over on to his front and sat upright. He brought his knees up and rested his elbows on them, the old anger he used to feel towards Vicky having returned at full tilt. Once again she had found another way to destroy him, but Timmy hadn't noticed because he had been too busy feeling sorry for her! He screwed up his hands into vicious fists and began to pound them over and over on his duvet.

"Why did she have to leave?" he angrily asked his empty room. He tried to ignore the tears that were streaming down his face. "Why did she go? She knew, I know she did, she knew I needed her!" He got to his feet and slammed his door loudly, the crash sounding strange and unwelcome in the peacefulness of the house. Timmy put his back against it and slid down slowly towards the floor, his eyes fixed distantly on his window and the little flutters the curtains made as the breeze caught them.

He lowered his eyes to his fingers, which were entwined clumsily in his lap, and his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "She wanted to stay," he said bitterly. "She did." He took his hat off and ran the fingers of his other hand through his messy brown hair. Something felt wrong and awkward, as though there was a stone in his shoe that was cutting his foot. He wanted to shake it out, but the blood held it in. Old blood, old feelings, refusing to make way for anything new.

He'd seen it in her eyes. She had wanted to stay. When Timmy's father told her that she wasn't needed anymore, Timmy had seen her crushed. He had seen some wall behind her eyes fall down and all that was left behind was a frightened little girl.

"But she still left!" Timmy roared to the empty room. "She wanted to stay, but she didn't! She left so she could hurt me one last time! She only left to hurt me!" Even as Timmy said the words he knew they weren't right. He knew that he was missing something important.

Suddenly, a thousand images blurred through his mind. The way Vicky had become skittish around him as he had gotten older, the way she hadn't even looked at him when she had been told she wasn't needed anymore. She had cried constantly since Timmy's seventeenth birthday, since she had left him behind. Timmy brought a hand to his mouth and held it there, as if he didn't even realise he was doing it.

"No," he whispered. "It can't be true."

But Timmy couldn't shake the feeling off. It all made sense. A crazy, twisted sort of sense. Vicky had always been one for wanting what she couldn't have. Because even if Vicky did... love Timmy, she must have known that there was no way he could ever love her back. No way he could want to after everything that she put him through. Timmy closed his eyes as it hit him like a lightning bolt straight to his heart.

"She didn't leave to hurt me," he murmured. "She left to save herself."

-

07.07.06
Not Forgotten.