Chapter 28

[[thanks for reading! Hope you like this chapter!]]

.

.

Aella POV

I woke up to Poppy licking my face, and looking at the feet of my living room furniture. Confused, I sit up and rub my face. I look around and remember last night. Nick is passed out next to me, still naked. I sigh and stretch and Nick's hand is suddenly on my leg, startling me.

"WHOA…shit. You scared me, I thought you were asleep." I breathed.

"I was." He says, sitting up. He quickly realizes he's naked and he pulls the blanket over his middle.

I stand and walk into the kitchen to push the power button on the coffee pot. I walk from the kitchen into my bathroom, Poppy clumsily running behind my feet.

After a quick shower, I'm in my room with my toothbrush in my mouth, rummaging through my clothes and tossing what I want to take onto the bed. Nick brings in two mugs of coffee, setting one on my night-stand. He leans against the door frame and chuckles while watching me, sipping from his mug.

I slide on a simple maxi dress and rush back into the bathroom to do my hair and face.

"I'm glad you're getting some entertainment from me." I tell him after spitting out my toothpaste foam. He brings my mug of coffee and hugs me from behind as I take it and sip from it.

He kisses my shoulder and lingers, smelling my skin.

"Your smell is stronger after a shower." he says, kissing my shoulder again.

"Should I wear something else then…since we'll be at the airport, and traveling….." I ask him.

"No. No..you look beautiful in this, and it's probably more comfortable than wearing pants. I'm going to be with you the whole time, you don't need to worry about anyone bothering you." he explains.

"It's not that I'm worried about someone bothering me, but I'm worried about my smell bothering other people." I tell him.

He nods, smiling. "I get that. But no love, only orcs and those with our sense of smell can smell you, and even then they'd have to be very close to you. I wouldn't worry about it."

"Mmmkay." I settle. I kiss his lips, which have been flavored with coffee, and continue putting my makeup on and fixing my hair.

He leaves the bathroom, finishing his mug of coffee.

A few hours later and a million puppy kisses goodbye, we're at the airport waiting for our flight to board. Other than work, I was only around Nick at home. We occasionally went places together, but mostly stayed home because he didn't like getting out much. Being with him at the airport, I found out why. The airport was bustling with humans, elves, orcs, and sometimes other creatures. Humans and elves noticeably moved away from orcs. I got more stares than usual because I was holding his hand throughout the airport. I didn't give a shit about other people's opinions, and I know Nick didn't either, but I still felt a veil of worry in him. We sat in the seats at our gate as people filtered around.

"So are you gonna tell me what you're worried about, or do I need to dig a little deeper?" I asked him. "Hm?" He looked at me confused for a few seconds before he gave up and sighed.

"I see you noticing the people staring at us. It worries me because I don't want you to end up how I did. With the way people stare at me….I don't want you to end up miserable, not wanting to leave your own house. You're too beautiful to be hidden away." he says in a low voice, fidgeting with the label on his water bottle.

I slide my hand into his, lacing our fingers. I lean closer to his ear so he'll hear me clearly.

"Nick, I don't care that people are staring at us. It doesn't bother me at all. If they want to judge us based on what we look like, let them. They have no idea how amazing you are, and that means I don't have to share." I tell him. His ears twitch and he bites his bottom lip to hold back a smile. He tightens his hand on mine. A little girl with gold hair was wandering around the small row of chairs, entertained by the tiny doll she was holding onto. She stopped in front of us, looking at Nick. He smiled at her, and her eyes shifted to me. She came to me and stood looking up at me with her hands on my knees. Her radiant green eyes shimmered and I reached into her, curious at what she was feeling while staring up at me. A swirling innocent blend of awe and curiosity. I watch her eyes move from my eyes to my shoulder, and down my arm. I look at my arm and the sunlight beaming in from the window behind us caught the right angle of my skin to show its shimmering colors. Her finger comes to my arm where there was an area of reflection, and she runs her finger down my arm. She looks at her finger and her eyes drop in disappointment.

I hear a woman's voice call out "Lilly?" a few times before I see a slender woman with matching golden hair coming towards us upon spotting the little girl. The girl turns around to her mom, excited:

"Mommy look at her skin!" she says, pointing at my arm.

As the woman gets closer to us, I see her pointed ears. She looks at us and gives us a fake smile before taking her daughter's hand and pulling her along back where she had come from. The little girl waved bye at us with sad eyes and Nick sighed.

After a few seconds of silence he says, "That more than anything, is what bothers me. Not the staring." He looks over at me with his yellow eyes, and back over to where the woman and her daughter disappeared. He didn't have to explain for me to understand.

When they started calling out sections of the plane to board, Nick grabbed my hand and stood up, bringing me up with him. I followed him to the ticket checker and she cleared us to board. We settled into our seats, which were much larger and more comfortable than I was used to on a plane.

As the last of the passengers made it onto the plane, the last pair was the slender elf and her little girl. They settled into the same row as us, but across the aisle. The little girl sat in the seat next to the aisle, and so did I. Nick loved the window seat for the pictures he took. After she was buckled in, her mother buckled herself in and was immediately in a phone call. The little girl was playing with her little doll's hair when she starts looking around the cabin of the plane. Her eyes finally made their way over to me and Nick and she gasped and perked up in her chair. She waved at me excitedly, smiling as big as her mouth could stretch.

I elbow Nick to get his attention and we both wave at her. She looks up at her mom, who is still on her phone oblivious, and looks back at us smiling.

"You're the fairy lady I saw earlier!" she whispered loudly with her little hands cupped next to her mouth. I feel something spark in Nick and suddenly the little girl has his full attention. I nod a little bit at the girl, but put my finger to my lips signaling her to keep it a secret. She nods, a huge smile on her face. I feel Nick's hand on my leg at the same time as the ping of the pilot's announcement before take-off.

.

Nick had arranged a shuttle to take us from the airport to the resort. What looked like a regular SUV on the outside, was a very luxurious interior on the inside. The seats wrapped around, like a limousine, but comfortably held five people instead of a group. A small rectangular section in the center just wide enough to make a thin trough of ice for whatever drinks needed to be held cold during the ride. The driver put our bags away for us while we settled into the truck.

I'm looking at everything in the truck and talking to Nick during the ride to the hotel.

We were talking about the little girl on the flight and how precious she was, although her mother wanted nothing to do with us.

"I can't wait to stretch out on the bed." I tell him as I lean my head on his shoulder.

"We're probably not going to be in bed very much, honestly." Nick says.

A sly grin crawls up my cheek. "We'll see about that…" I tell him. He smiles at me sarcastically, which is unusual for him, so I pry. He's excited for something. Very excited…but shows no signs on his face or body language. I sigh.

"I wish that fairy gave me the ability to read minds too." I say out loud.

"That's a terrible idea." Nick says without missing a beat, making me chuckle.

"Why?…" I ask him, failing at hiding my smile.

He brings his face close to me and says in a low voice, "You were already dangerous before anything happened. Now you're able to feel the emotions of the people around you, you have blood that is essentially nectar, your eyes allow you to see in the dark, your skin is iridescent, all with a goddamn flower being your fuel. Now add reading minds to that?! You'd be fucking unstoppable…" he finishes, his yellow eyes looking over my face. I'm stunned into silence because he laid out everything exactly right.

"Holy shit…" I say, realizing the magnitude of it all.

He nods in agreement.

When we pull up to the hotel, the driver comes around to the door and opens it, ushering us out. There were already people gathering our things from the back of the truck, all of them wearing the same colored shirt. Nick grabs my hand and leads me up the stairs of a huge house. A beautiful elf woman walks up to us, smiling. A very small fairy sitting on her shoulder, holding onto her shirt. She introduces herself and sees my worried face looking at the fairy.

"Oh no need to worry about Evie here. She's very sweet, and only sits on my shoulder so she doesn't get stepped on or swatted at. She loves meeting new people" She says, looking down at the tiny girl crouched on her shoulder, her hand clinging to her collar. She brings her hand up, and Evie gently jumps down into it, crouching again and holding onto her thumb. She slowly brings her hand forward towards me when Nick's hand went in front of me, guarding me.

"Wait.." he says, the woman bringing her hand back to her chest, an apology forming in her eyes.

"The last time a fairy got near her, she was sent to the hospital. I don't want that happening again, so we'll just be moving alo-" he was explaining to the woman but before he could finish, the fairy had flown out of her hands and was floating in front of me like a hummingbird, staring at me.

"Nick, it's okay…" I tell him, not taking my eyes off Evie. I held my open palm out for her, and she gently landed in it, holding onto my pinky. I brought her closer to my face and I see the elf woman smile, but Nick moved closer to me, his face worried. When I get her close enough, I can see details in her face, the color of her scales, and the shape of her wings. Her eyes were a very light green, almost exactly like the little girl on the plane. I loved that fairies didn't wear clothes. Their scales covered everything, and her wings were beautiful.

"You smell like home…" she says,with the frailest voice. Her little arms hugging my finger as she snuggles her face against me.

Nick looks at me, and it's obvious he's now learned that fairies can smell me too.

On my hand, I feel warmth and a small humming coming from Evie. I smile at Nick, who's now got that ' I've-seen-this-face-before' look.

"Babe, I can feel her loving me" I whisper to him, excited.

The woman who had her was smiling adoringly at Evie, nodding. Evie suddenly darted up, and back onto the shoulder of the elf woman, saying something into her ear. The woman looked at me, and chews on her lip for a few seconds before saying, "could you excuse us for a second? Ganine, could you show them to their room?" she motions to another elf woman, who nods and motions for us to follow her. I look back for Evie and they've gone around a corner. Nick's hand gently tugs at me to come along.

"We'll come find her later, I promise. Let's get settled into our room and go find some dinner, I'm starving." Nick says. We follow them down a hallway that leads outside to a garden. A path of soft gravel leads us through the garden to a cozy house that was just small enough to still be considered a cottage. The woman walks up the steps and unlocks the door for us, propping it open with a hook on the frame.

As she hands the keys to Nick she says "This is suite 2. You have the entire house to yourself. In every room is a small purple button that is pushed only in the event of an emergency. In the kitchen you'll see a round speaker with buttons on top, push the silver button to reach the main house if you need anything at any time. It is a pleasure to have you as guests, and we hope you enjoy your stay." she waves and walks off with the others after they put our things inside.

Nick looks back at me smiling as he leads me up the stairs and into the house. I close and lock the door behind me and we both walk around and look at everything.

Every single room was completely furnished, and clean. It was open, airy, and smelled like they had just finished cleaning the house with flowers. Nick finds the sitting room, full of very cushy sofas, pillows, and blankets with a huge tv in the wall.

"This looks like it was built for pillow fights." he says. I laugh and I keep walking to see what the dining area and kitchen looked like. The dining table was round with four chairs around it, a slim vase with a single yellow flower standing in it. I turn the corner into the kitchen, which was simple, but cute and had all the appliances and tools you'd need to make a meal if you wanted to. The cliche fruit basket on the counter, with a pamphlet from the hotel welcoming us to the suite. I open the fridge and it's full of fresh vegetables, water bottles, several types of wine, and beer. I hear Nick come into the kitchen behind me and I hand him a beer.

"Hey…now it's a party." he says as he takes it and twists the cap off. I chug water from a water bottle while noticing the round speaker with buttons on top.

"Oooo let's go look at the room" he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me to the set of stairs near the front door. The stairs led to a small hallway with a sitting area, and one door. Nick opened the door opened to a huge bedroom. He smiles and says "come see this..."

A massive bed against the wall, large windows with layers of curtains that were pulled mostly shut. Along the other wall is floor-to-ceiling shelving with vases of all different shapes ans sizes, but every vase was full of my radiant orange Crocosmia flowers. I covered my mouth as I gasped. Nick, who was smiling, walks over to the bed, noticing a small square piece of paper. I walk into the bedroom looking at the wall covered in flowers, in the middle of the wall, separating the shelves is an open door that led to a beautiful bathroom. A round tub with embedded seats. A large walk-in shower. A vanity with two sinks, perfectly folded towels in every size, one wall coming from the shower lined with clean hanging towels, and a digital clock with the time and weather glowing from the surface of the mirror. I was about to say something when I was suddenly hit with a thick cloud of nervous, almost nauseating. I walk out of the bathroom realizing the silence, and Nick is standing right outside the bathroom door, waiting for me. His hands were together, holding something in them. Before I could ask him anything, he says:

"I know I'm not perfect…but somehow you make me feel like I am. I know we've only known each other this past year but it feels like I've known you my whole life. I uh….I put all this together because I honestly believe that I'll spend the rest of my life with you." he says in a shaky voice, my eyes starting to water. He smiles at me through his nervousness and continues…

"And so I have a few things for you..that I hope you like. The first one, I had Dorghu make because I know how much it will mean to you…" He opens one shaky hand, bringing it up to me. It's a necklace, a silver chain holding a very small glass jar. I gently pick it up and look at the jar, my heart starting to race.

"Inside the jar is a small tuft of hair from Ollie's chest…" Is all I hear him say before I'm covering my mouth, tears overflowing my eyes and streaming down both cheeks. I clutch the necklace against me as I start sobbing and he comes to me pulling me against him. He kisses the top of my head and holds me.

.

After a few minutes, I've stopped crying and his hand comes to tilt my chin up to look at him. He drops a soft kiss on my lips, and whispers, "I have one more thing left."

"Jeez, Nick…" I chuckle, sniffling and wiping my wet cheeks. His cloud of nerves has returned…he takes a step back and brings his hand up. In his fingers is a thin ring, black on the outside, rose gold on the inside. My eyes grow wide as I look at him, but before I could find a breath he says,

"This isn't an engagement ring, don't worry." he says, smirking at me. I release the breath I didn't know I was holding, and he continues:

"This is me giving you my commitment. We've never talked about marriage or anything, and I'm okay with that. Based on what you've told me about your past relationships, I don't want to do anything that will make you feel rushed or uncomfortable, so I'm in full support of you setting the pace and direction of our relationship. My commitment to you is being the absolute best of me that you deserve, because this is it. I've chosen you. Even if you and I don't stay together, I wont be like this with anyone else. I don't have any interest in finding anyone else in the world. As long as I'm alive, I will never stop showing you how much you mean to me. This ring…" he says as he slides it onto the ring finger on my right hand. "…is a reminder that you will never be alone again. You're it for me, Aella." He says on a sigh of relief and I launch myself into his arms, crying again.

Later that evening we're sitting at a little table on the porch of our suite, the sun had already gone under the horizon but it wasn't completely dark yet. Nick found the resort's room service information and ordered us dinner. I watched the resort keepers walk between the suites and gardens, lighting the thin torches that lined the paths. Nick turned on music but kept the volume low. I was fidgeting with the ring he gave me, swirling it around on my finger with my thumb and pinky. I was deep in thought thinking about what he said when he gave it to me, when he comes out onto the porch holding a bottle of wine, one glass, and a beer for him.

"Dinner should be here in a few minutes." he says, setting down the drinks. He sees that I wasn't paying attention and he comes over sliding his hands down my shoulders, pulling me from my thoughts. He leans down and kisses my cheek before whispering, "And then after dinner, you can help me find out how big the tub is…"

He stands and walks back to his side of the table like he didn't just say that. I look at him smiling.

"Now you're asking for trouble…" I tell him, right as a short jingle came from the speaker, letting us know someone was at the door. Nick walks back in the house and I pull the cork from the bottle and pour some in the glass he brought. I hear talking from inside, and then footsteps getting closer. Nick comes out onto the porch, followed by someone. Both of them carrying containers of food.

I turn and look and its the woman who greeted us with Evie, who was sitting on her shoulder. When she saw me she immediately fluttered over to me, landing gently on the table in front of me.

I folded my hands on top of each other on the table and rest my chin on them, so she's standing in front of my face. She cautiously walks towards me, and I notice Nick pause in unpacking the food to watch her. She looks me all over, inspecting me. I don't think she'll hurt me, so I stay very still. She runs her tiny hands along the skin of my arms, my face, she comes to my lips and eyes. She looks into them curiously and I can feel her warmth again.

I heard the elf woman whisper something in elvish, and Evie crouched a bit as she looked back at the elf. Her warmth dissolved and she stepped back away from my face.

"I'm sorry m'lady" she says in her little voice.

"She's not a bother at all" I tell the elf, lifting my head up. "Actually…can she stay for a bit?"

Evie perked up so much that she was floating within seconds of me asking. Her pleading eyes looking at the elf, who was contemplating her decision. She thinks for a few seconds and then says,

"May I sit? There was something I wanted to talk to you about."

Nick pulls out a chair from the table and he takes the container from her and sets it on the table, continuing to set things up so we can eat.

"First, in case you forgot, my name is Alais." she says while sitting in the chair Nick pulled out. Evie noticed my hands were unfolded while talking to Alais and she uses my pinky to help herself into my hand for a seat. I notice the lit torches casting a flickering shadow in my hand, the sky completely dark now.

"The resort, while it may receive most of its income from the suites, attractions, and amenities, is also the largest fairy sanctuary in the region…" I glance at Nick when she says this, and he's failing at hiding his smile. "In larger cities people are often too busy to worry about fairies, so they tend to turn to foraging, gathering, and hunting in order to eat. This survival mode makes them very cranky creatures. If we took the time to know them and care for them, we'd find that they are very very sweet, and loyal. The sanctuary has thousands of volunteer fosters around the country, most of them being within 100 miles. Any fairy that comes to us for rehabilitation or healing is fostered and nursed back to pristine health. From there they have the choice to go back out independently, or be adopted by someone who can provide care for them if they need it." she says, smiling.

I look down at Evie who was sitting quietly in my hand, smiling up at all of us.

"Alais has been fostering me for several months now, and she's been so wonderful…" Evie starts, looking at Alais, who nods as if she's giving permission. Evie continues:

"…But I'm at the end of my fostering period with Alais, and I made the choice of finding a family that would be comfortable taking me in rather than going back into the world on my own." Her eyes look down. "But I made that choice last week, and we still haven't found a family willing to adopt me. People see fairies as pests, and with me being so tiny…" she trails off.

I slowly cup my hands around her, and pull her towards me. I put my face close to hers, and she comes to my face and hugs my nose.

"Aella…." I hear Nick say, in his warning tone. Before I could say anything Evie looks up at him and backs away from my face.

"I should let you guys eat. If Alais says it's okay, I'll come back tonight." Evie says, before fluttering back to the shoulder of Alais.

"Yes, we'll let you get back to your evening." Alais says, standing. Nick walks her out and I'm sitting in silence, not really hungry anymore.

Nick comes back, rubbing his hands together ready to eat. He puts his plate in front of his chair and he brings my plate to me, noticing my silence.

"Hey, you alright?" he asks, nudging me.

"Yea, just thinking about Evie." I tell him, sighing.

"I was thinking, tomorrow we can go to the fairy garden they have here, as cliche as the name is. It looks like a pretty cool place, I think you'd enjoy it." he says, putting my plate down. I grab his hand and look at him, and he brings his lips to mine.

"Would you be mad at me if I said I wasn't hungry?" I whispered at him.

"No, of course not baby" he chuckles and asks, "You're tired aren't you?"

I nod and stand up, putting the lid back on my plate so I can put it in the fridge. Nick goes to the rail on the porch and looks out into the gardens, where there were a few hanging lanterns to keep it from being pitch black. I refill my wine glass and walk into the kitchen to put my plate away for tomorrow. As I shut the refrigerator door, Nick's arms slide around me and gently take the wine glass from my hands.

"Whoa whoa….what are you-" I was saying as he turned me around and pushed me against the fridge, kissing me. He set the glass on top of the fridge and pulled me into him as he took a few steps backwards. He breaks the kiss, leaving me breathless.

"Okay…" I say out loud. A long evil grin crawled up his face and he suddenly picked me up and tossed me onto his shoulder. He jogs up the stairs, swatting my butt as he goes. I can't get a word out because I'm laughing and trying to pinch his butt. We go through our room and the smell of the flowers hits me as we go by, and then he stops in a dark room. He flicks the light on and he sets me down gently on the bathroom floor. I move my hair from my face and stand up, punching his arm.

"Ah! Heyyy I was nice, I didn't throw you down. But next time I will!" he said sarcastically. I'm catching my breath when he goes to the tub and starts pushing buttons on a panel on the wall. There were no knobs to turn for the water, only the small panel that had soft buttons to operate the tub. After a few button pushes, water pours from a wide and almost flat spout coming from the wall. He pushes another button and foam starts forming.

"Really, Nick?" I ask through a smile. "Bubbles?"

He shrugs, "I like bubble baths, they're very soothing." he says, biting his bottom lip to hide his grin.

"You're full of shit" I tell him, chuckling.

He slides his shirt off over his head, and pulls me to him. He puts his face very close to my face, his eyes looking over my body. "Yea, we'll see what you'll be saying here in a few minutes…" he whispers.

"Is..is that a threat….Officer Jakoby?" I ask him, sarcastically. A growl rumbles from his chest as he smiles. He didn't know it yet, but every time I heard his low growl, I was instantly turned on. He slid his hands up my dress, and pulled it off over my head. He looks down where my thighs meet and bit his bottom lip. I stand and slowly slide them off while turning around. I unhook my bra and look at him over my shoulder as I slide it off and toss it aside. The water stops running in the tub from being full, and I carefully step into it. I kneel down and move to a seat and look back up at Nick, who's sliding his pants and boxers down his legs. He steps in slowly and moves to me, immediately kissing me and pulling me into his lap. He gently pushes into me and guides my hips to move so I'm comfortable and able to feel all of him.

Just over an hour later we're laying in bed watching a movie. My head is laying on the crook where his arm meets his shoulder, dozing off to the blue flicker of the TV. I feel Nick tap my arm, and I open my eyes. He gets up and goes to the window to open it a bit.

"What's going on?" I ask, half asleep.

He mumbles something and then motions to me. Something tiny floats over to me and after blinking a few times, I see it's Evie. She gently lands on the bed and comes to my face to hug me, then comes and lays down in my hand. Nick stands next to the bed, looking at her.

"Ssssso….you sleeping here?" He asks out loud.

"Nick don' be an asshole.." I tell him, tossing a pillow at him. I re-position the way I was laying so Evie could have her own little section of pillow. Nick crawled back into the bed as she curled up and spread her wings to cover herself but I curled my hand around her anyway.

Nick POV

When I get back into the bed, I turn the TV off and settle in next to Aella. I slide my arm up and down her back until I fall asleep.

.

When I wake up the next morning Aella is still asleep, her one hand still curled gently around Evie. I quietly shut the door to the bathroom and start the shower.

As I was about to finish when I smell Aella's sweet scent, and when I turn around she's walking up to me completely naked. Her hair was a mess, but she was still the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

"Can I join you?" she asks, already knowing the answer.

She slides her arms around me, hugging me. She kisses my back and steps in front of me, taking all the water. "It sounded like you said join…not takeover.." I tell her while I smile and I walk over to the wall of hanging towels. I was curious to see how long she could go without being affectionate towards me, which normally isn't long but half of that was my fault. So without being obvious, I quietly kept to myself but focused entirely on our vacation to maintain my good mood. I don't want to give myself away if she decided to pry. Tying the towel around my waist, I walk around the wall dividing the shower from the rest of the bathroom. I walk to the kitchen and get some coffee started. I turned around after grabbing some mugs and Evie was walking across the counter, startling me. I jumped and almost dropped the mugs.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you…" she says, her tiny hands covering her mouth.

"No, that's alright. I had forgotten you were here." I sighed and put the mugs down.

She climbed into the fruit bowl, to the top of the stacked oranges and apples and sat on top, looking at me intently like she waiting for me. I had been mulling over a thought since last night, and now that she was here, I could ask her without Aella knowing about it.

"Last night when you were telling us that you couldn't find a family to adopt you, you sounded like you were hinting at wanting Aella and I to adopt you?" I asked. She perked up, nodding.

"Normally….I wouldn't mind, but the last time Aella came in contact with a fairy, that fairy was sick and it caused Aella to be in the hospital for days while it turned her from human to…whatever the amazing being she is now. She almost died." Evie's head shot up and she stood when she heard what happened. I kept explaining…

"Aella just lost her dog a few months ago, and it's still very raw to her. To help heal that, I adopted a puppy for her. We're both cops so we're almost never home. She has so much going on right now, I'm not sure if we can add caring for a fragile fairy to that list." Her face dropped again, and she sat down again, her head down. It pained me to see her like that, defeated.

"Okay…" she whispered, and I almost didn't hear it. I didn't know what to do, or how to comfort something so tiny. I'm afraid of crushing her on accident, which is a big reason why I was resisting adopting her. I poured coffee from the pot into my mug, trying not to focus on Evie. Aella's footsteps are heard coming down the hallway, and I peek over at Evie hoping she'd perk up with Aella. She walked around the corner and smiles when she sees the coffee. Her hair is up in a wet bun and she's wearing one of my t-shirts and a pair of her shorts.

"Ooooh you read my mind!" she says, wiggling the whole way to the coffee pot. Her eyes move to Evie, who's still sitting there defeated. My heart sinks because I'm pretty sure I know what's about to happen. Aella's face fell serious and she immediately put her mug down.

"Evie? What's going on, why do you feel like that?" She asks her, reaching out to carry her. Evie slowly climbs in her hand and Aella brings her hand to face level. Evie blinks a few times, her head down as if she's timid.

"I was told by your partner that you guys won't be adopting me. I'm so sorry for all the loss and trouble you've endured recently. You are such a beautiful soul and whenever you decide to adopt, I hope they know how lucky they are to have you. I'll um…just be heading back now…" she says in the saddest but most genuine voice, successfully making me feel like an asshole. She stands in Aella's hands and lifts herself into a flutter.

"W-…wait!..What do you mean we aren't adopting you? I didn't know I had the option to adopt you! Nick is that why you brought me?" She asked. I was not prepared…

"I…..I brought you to this resort so we could visit the fairy garden. I didn't know they also did adoptions, I guess I missed that part of the description. But…with everything going on, I don't think it's the right time to adopt a fairy Aella, I'm sorry." I tell her, deciding honesty was the best route. "Why wouldn't it be the right time?" she asked me… "I'm still learning how my body works, and how to heal myself if I'm ever hurt. Evie would be such an amazing fairy to keep…" she says, cupping her in her hands again.

Evie snuggled against her cheek: "I knew right away Aella was perfect for me."

Aella looked over at me, and I'm pinching the bridge of my nose. I made the mistake of looking up at her, only to find her coming over to me with huge watery eyes. I hugged her and looked at her for a few seconds. I looked down at my feet, trying to hide my defeat. I fail and she catches me smiling.

I knew I had lost.