It had been completely unexpected, as her son's due date was still two weeks into the future. She'd been standing outside the garden gates, waiting for Michelle to come out of her classes when all of a sudden she'd felt a warm wet pooling around her thighs, drawing no little amount of attention to herself as she dropped her things. Donella sprang into action immediately, gathering her friend's belongings quickly and leading Rae out of the Garden. Michelle would go home with her friend Venus until Iris could come pick her up. It was the sort of thing they had planned – though not for such a sudden situation.

Rae was rushed to the ward, unable to be taken to taken to The Human Plane in the surprise of the moment, her contractions starting on the way.

She was terrified; she knew the risks of a premature birth. She was frightened the baby wouldn't make it or that there would be complications with the birth. She fought to keep her composure, biting back tears as the contractions shot through her, as fairies swarmed around her, and the only thing she could think of was her husband.

At any moment, she was certain that he would come rushing into the ward, right to her side and he would take her hand and quiet her fears. He would be there for her as he always was, and she kept her head turned toward the only set of doors in the room, the only way he could come in, waiting for the doors to burst open.

The contractions worsened and the nurses spread an odd salve across the lower part of her stomach that numbed her, took all the feeling from her waist down, and her breath quickened, deepened, making her head spin and she was certain that if she weren't laying down that she would have collapsed.

She began calling for him, begging the nurses to find him, bring him here, please! And it was all they could do to calm her, to assure her that they were trying to get in contact with her husband, but no luck.

She followed their instructions in a daze, breathing and pushing at intervals and squeezing the nurse's hand as she knelt by her side, all the time wishing it were Tracy'shand, Tracy's voice reassuring her that everything was going well.

She couldn't focus, she could hardly even hear the chorus of cheers from around her as the head nurse held her son, tiny and pink and crying at the top of his small lungs, distraught to be out in the world as Rae was without her husband at her side. She let out a shaky laugh, vision swimming as they took him away, too, and one choked sob before she passed out.

It was an odd sensation that woke her up after the stressful delivery. Her thoughts immediately flew back to her son, who had been taken from her to be cleaned up and placed in the neonatal unit for specific tests to make sure he was healthy despite his premature birth. Her heart ached with the hope that he was okay.

But as she stirred awake, the peculiar feeling persisted. She recognized it as fingers, brushing against her cheek and she smiled, feeling whoever sat next to her shift their weight, leaning forward and ducking their head to her, taking her in a kiss.

"I'm late," he said sadly as she opened her eyes. "I'm so, so sorry, my honeybee." He rubbed his thumb rhythmically across the crest of her cheek, and she reached up, removing his hand and smiling gently. She wasn't mad, quite the opposite, she was just so relieved that he was finally there. His fingers curled around hers. "I talked to the nurses; Lucas is doing well, thought you might want to know."

The knot in her stomach slowly disappeared, the promise of her son's safety quelling her fears. "Where were you?" she asked gently.

He leaned forward and pushed a stray strand of hair from her face, kissing her forehead. "Trapped," he whispered. "Little girl had a nightmare, and with me knocking about in her room, she woke right up, screamed and got both her folks involved. Had to spray myself invisible and stand out of the way until she went back to sleep and I could get the tooth. Poor thing, she was up and absolutely hysterical. Took every ounce of will power not to show myself and help calm her. Probably should have, though, considering that left you here alone, while I was on assignment. I'm so sorry," he repeated.

She hushed him and told him not to fret about it. She told him that Michelle was with Iris, and he took out his cell phone so that they could call their daughter.

It was his sister who answered the phone, and they had a brief chat, telling her that everything was well; Yes, Tracy was here now, is Michelle behaving? They thanked her for taking their daughter at such short notice and all Iris could do was laugh. She asked if they wanted to talk to her, she was upstairs reading.

A beat passed asTracy's sister went to hand the phone to the little girl she was looking over.

There was the soft rustle of static between them as Michelle took the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, flower,"Tracysaid gently to the phone, which was set on speaker and between them. "Mam and dad wanted to know how you're doing."

"I'm okay. Did mom have a baby?" she asked.

"I did," Rae answered. "You're a big sister now, Shell. You've got a baby brother."

"What's his name?" she asked.

"His name is Lucas, dear."

"Tell him I said welcome to the family. He's going to like it here."

Both parents had to suppress laughter at their daughter's antics. "I sure will, flower," he said gently. "Why don't you put your Aunt Iris back on for me? I need to talk to her about you staying there for the night until mam gets out of the hospital. Is she there?"

"Yeah, one second."

As Michelle went to hand the phone back to Iris,Tracytook the phone off of speaker and meandering over to a corner of the ward room.

"Here she is, dad."

"Okay flower; we love you, and we'll be home soon. Behave for your Aunt now."

She promised she would and handed off the phone.

Hours later, Rae sat in the hospital bed, cradling the little bundle that had just been returned to her. The room was dark and quiet, the only sound the steady humming of the lights and the quiet gurgling noises coming from her son. She hushed him, bouncing him gently in her arms. "Lucas," she crooned, as he began to fuss.

By this time, her cheeks were stained and there was nothing left in her, no energy or tears, and she focused wholly on her son, who was squirming gently in her arms, and she crooned to him;Tracykneeled next to her, never leaving her side, and she passed the tiny bundle to him, letting him hold his son.

"Hello, bud," he whispered to the newborn, who had begun to cry for the motion of shifting from one parent to the next. Tracyrocked the baby gently, a careful technique born of having to cradle Michelle so often in her infancy, and the little boy was quieted almost instantly. Rae smiled at her husband, though he didn't see it – he was such a good father, though he fretted about it all the time, worrying over his mannerisms around the kids, how he handled them, and he would never believe her when she told him, but she could see it. He was a wonderful father, and she and their children alike were the luckiest people on either plane of existence, to have him.

Before long, a nurse came back to take Lucas to the neonatal ward. In the morning, the nurse said, they would bring him back and let him rest with his parents before the final bath – from what his wife told him when Michelle was born, it was almost like a christening. The bath was prepared of a mixture of The Waters and other herbs, most of which could only be grown inFairyLand. Except, instead of the bath signifying an acceptance into a human religion, it was more practical, acting as a medical procedure of sorts, making the young child less vulnerable to potent magic. Often times, this was done for full fairy newborns, as extra precaution. The amount of magic in a child's body could sometimes prove dangerous, even with the bath, but for half-fairies, it was almost essential. Humans were so sensitive to magic, and with Rae's heritage, neither parent objected to the bath.

For the night, though, they were left allowed to remain with her for the remainder of her stay in the ward. Come the morning though, they would take their new arrival home.

It'd been a long day, Rae thought, returning home with Lucas. Things had to be done very carefully when dealing with The Human Plane – it'd been so long, nearly half a century that she'd dropped off the face of the planet. To them, the humans, she no longer existed. She couldn't exist, for the sake of keeping her family safe, and they were careful to do everything in such a manner as to be as discreet as possible. Doctor's appointments were paid in cash, she used a false name and gave a false address. The phone number and email address were marked as preferred methods of communication, and those she gave freely. Neither could be traced and both could be changed at any time.

To be home after a long day in her old world was such a comfort – she hadn't realized how taxing it was to be so far from the constant energy of magic, so far from home. So it was good to be back, sitting on the bed and nursing Lucas with Michelle sitting at the edge of the bed, telling her about her day at The Academy.

There was a knock on the bedroom door, andTracypeeked his head in. The little girl got up and ran to him, allowing him to hoist her into the air. "Oh, hello, flower!" he as he moved carefully to the bedside, leaning over and kissing his wife quickly before he could lose balance. "Hello, honeybee. And hello, little man! Oh, look at you," he held Michelle at his hip and, with his free hand, tried to smooth down the infant's spiky brown hair; it was a useless effort. Lucas continued to suck on the bottle as he stared curiously up at his , setting Michelle down. "You comfy there, with you mam?"

"Shell, dear, go get ready for bed," Rae said, and her daughter ran off to put on pajamas and brush her teeth, leaving her mother and father.

She turned to her husband. "I took Lucas to the clinic today." She said, "While Shell was at The Academy."

He took the baby from his wife's arms, holding the bottle as well once he was settled. The baby smiled up at his father when the man cooed at him. "Yeah? What did Doctor Miles have to say?"

Doctor Miles was a human practitioner whom Rae had gone to for the day. He wasn't disclosed any information when Rae took Lucas, inquiring if he shared the same 'deformity' as her daughter.

It was an advantage to have a doctor on The Human Plane – Fairies rarely had the ability to tell whether their children were going to be winged or not.

"Well?"Tracypushed, bouncing the boy in his arms.

Rae didn't say anything, but merely smiled and shook her head.

Lucas was a wingless fairy.

He looked down, removing the empty bottle from the baby's mouth and handing it off to his wife, who sat it on the bedside table. "Oh, sorry about that, mate," he said softly. "S'my fault. Like your old dad, eh?"

"With any luck," Rae whispered warmly.