About another 4 months had passed since Nora had ran into Arthur at the bar. For the first couple of weeks since their last encounter, Arthur had blown up her phone, asking to talk to her before she eventually decided to block him. She had kept his number in hopes that he would change his mind and leave Willow, but also felt that it was too far of a stretch. Arthur, in Nora's opinion, was foolish to leave her for the skank. She looked the type to drag him to all of Fairy World's nightclubs and parties in hopes to stay young. She shuddered as she remembered how Willow's face was caked with multicolored eye shadow and wore a white mini skirt that barely rose above her knee. It also didn't help that she had a rose gold belly button ring and wore a crop top to match her foolish skirt.

As she got out of the shower to get dressed for work, she found herself looking at the mirror longer than she normally would. The make-up that lied on the counter hadn't been touched since Arthur had moved out, and the mirror still had a few of Nora's pictures with Arthur during their wedding and even days after they bought their first house. As she threw on her usual cyan dress, she found herself glancing at the pictures and her untouched make-up. She hadn't felt much need to wear any since there was no one around the house to amaze with her looks. Nora grabbed a comb out to deal with her wet hair, allowing for some straight hair to escape her curly top.

Surely there had to be some other reason Arthur had fallen for Willow other than her looks. She wasn't even that much prettier than Nora anyways..she maybe just had a good day with her stripper make up for once. She just couldn't wrap her head around it. How did Willow's supposed beauty make Arthur throw away the relationship they had? Nora thought she knew him, but even the closest people can become strangers.

Now that she thought about it, she hadn't been getting much attention from anyone now that she had stopped wearing hers. Her friends barely asked her to hang out anywhere anymore, and she got hardly any matches from the speed dating event she went to a few weeks ago, not that anyone looked classy enough for her. One of her "dates" was wearing a stained white t-shirt for crying out loud!

Well..fine..maybe a little lip gloss won't hurt..

Nora grabbed out a light pink lipstick and applied it to her lips. She didn't feel that anyone was worth her putting on blush or anything extra, but Willow calling her an old lady when Nora was only 35 played in her head. She seriously doubted that she would be anywhere near the Fairy Academy, but who even knows at this point. Nora didn't expect them at the bar a few months ago, but she still caught a whiff of her little attitude. She almost wished that Willow would turn up so she could give her a lesson in modest clothing..

Nora swore as the alarm of her phone went off, telling her that she had 10 minutes to poof to the academy classroom. She applied the rest of her lipstick, gathered the graded tests into her briefcase, and made her way towards the Fairy Academy, praying that none of her students had finally decided to show up early for once.

"Alright class. That's it for this afternoon. Before you leave to go to your drills, I'll remind you to read chapters 7 and 8 in your textbooks. I'll also have your homework printed out so that you guys will be better prepared for the next exam. Have a good rest of your day.", Nora groaned as the bell rung, all her delinquent students poofing out like a bunch of animals. She rolled her eyes as she sorted through all the failed tests and took out a copy of the homework packets she had planned. Teaching probation level 14 had never been a dream come true for her; she would have much rather been helping Jorgen instruct drills on the field, commanding them as much as she pleased. But the one person she wouldn't argue with was Jorgen himself, and when he laughed at her when she applied, she knew it was game over. Otherwise, it was pounding time.

Well..his loss, she thought to herself as she scrummaged through the drawers, trying to find extra printer paper. Damnit..I could have sworn I had just bought some paper the other day. What the hell happened to it?

After a few more minutes, Nora slammed the file cabinet drawer shut and rubbed her temples. Of course she thought about poofing an extra stack, but decided against it. One of her goals as a teacher was to demonstrate herself as someone who has committed to her role as a fairy rather than someone that wasted their magic on stupid, insignificant wishes. Even though her students were no longer in the room, Nora still liked to keep her reputation up. Maybe it would make people appreciate her again..

Nora left her desk and the classroom building, looking around at the other classrooms where different probation levels where held. She flew though the aisle of buildings, most either blacked out from the inside completely, or the teacher was not in the classroom. She kept going, in hopes that at least one person hadn't left for their lunch break yet until she finally found a lit room, towards the end of the hall.

Nora's eyebrow arched as she studied the building she found. It was a lighter pink that unusual and had a welcome mat that had smiling animals on it. The building also had a sign that said, "Daycare Area" towards the top in alphabet block letters, which Nora found to be incredibly stupid and odd. Since when did the fairy academy or any other military base have a daycare? There are no kids here..are there?"

She entered the room to find her thoughts mistaken. The room was painted pink with a sunshine in the left corner, with rainbows, flowers, and butterflies circling the rest of the room. Along the purple rug, children that looked no older than 4 or 5 were gathered messily around, playing with the toys that scattered across the room. Some were busy coloring and drawing pictures on the tables, while others, like the little girl with bright pink hair, who couldn't look any older that 2, was busy playing with the stuffed teddy bear in the corner. Nora looked at the girl closely, the bright pink hair almost the exact same shade as Willow's. She also noticed that she had her skin tone, but her sapphire eyes threw off the similarities they shared.

"Hello.", a soft voice grabbed Nora's attention towards the front desk, "Ma'am. Is there something I can help you with? Are you here for pick up?"

"No I don't have any kids. I was just coming by for some printer paper."

"Oh alright. Here", the male fairy got up and dug around the filing cabinet, pulling out an un used packet of printer paper, handing it to Nora. He was a good bit taller than what she remembered Arthur was, and was much skinnier and lacked the muscle that Arthur had. His seaweed green hair reached to about his shoulders and his emerald eyes lived behind his thin, reading glasses. He also wore a lime green sweater and black, somewhat skinny pants.

"Uh thanks. What was your name? I don't think I got it."

"Oh..I'm sorry. My name is Linnie. Who are you?"

"Nora. I teach probation level 14 a couple of buildings down. I just needed some printer paper for the homework assignment.", Nora said, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course dear."

"First off, don't call me dear!", Nora snapped, causing Linnie to squeak, "Second, why in the world is there a daycare center here? I thought this was a military school. Is Jorgen softening up or something."

"Uh well..", Linnie stammered, shaking slightly at Nora's impatience, "I guess it's for parents that are still training. I'm not sure. Some parents choose to bring their kids here and then take them home in the evening since not everyone sleeps here."

Nora huffed, studying the man in front of her some more. She admits that he did resemble Arthur's lanky body type and rather smart appearance, but other than that, he reminded her of almost nothing like him. His eyes seemed more focused on compassion rather than intelligence like Arthur's, who would sometimes stuff his into a book or newspaper. His voice was also a lot higher pitched, and he seemed tense by her attitude rather than turned on. However, Nora did think his submissive little attitude was cute. The way he would occasionally look down at the floor when they spoke made Nora's heart pump a bit.

"Um..well..can I help you with anything else, N-Nora?", Linnie asked as Nora kept analyzing him.

"You..uh..want to get drinks sometime?"

"Oh, you meant like coffee?"

"No. Like a Martini or something."

"Oh no, I don't drink."

Nora frowned hearing his response. What kind of wuss doesn't drink? How does he not get stressed out by these little brats that scream and cry on his floor every day? What about Jorgen? Doesn't he get on his nerves every once in a while?

"I..uh..wouldn't mind getting some coffee one morning if you want.", Linnie whimpered, getting Nora's attention once again. Nora watched as he played with his thumbs a bit, like a little kid confessing something to his parents. It was adorable but it made him look like Arthur's immature little brother.

"Well, anything to get out of the house at this point. It's gotten so quiet over there. It's driving me up the wall.", Nora complained.

"Oh? Why? What's wrong?"

"It's not really any of your business but my husband had moved out a little over a year ago."

"Aw dear. I'm sorry. Are you doing alright?"

"Eh..so and so. The house is just so quiet and dark all the time.", Nora replied, taking a sticky note from his desk. "Here's my phone number. If you'll give me yours, I'll text you later this week so we can meet up."

"O-oh alright then.", Linnie said, writing down his number on another sticky note with his name on it.

"Alright. My evening class is about to start so I'm gonna head out. Keep your phone on you, Linnie."

Linnie nodded quietly before the pink haired girl begin to cry loudly, giving Nora a cue to leave the room as quickly as possible. As she left, she heard Linnie try to shush her and tell her in the warmest voice she heard to anyone that she would be alright.

Nora's chest tightened as she made her way back to the classroom. She thought about all the times she would come home after her students had decided to draw private parts on the desks and chalkboards and throw paper planes and spitballs at her. She would often wear out her yelling voice before coming down and breaking into tears, leaning on Arthur's shoulders for comfort. If it were an especially bad day, they would wrap themselves with a blanket and curl up on the couch, watching Nora's favorite program, Crime Stoppers. She missed being told that everything would be alright, and she wanted that sense of warmth back into her life.

As she made her way back to her classroom, Nora continued to think of Arthur and the little girl Linnie comforted back at the daycare. Now that she thought about it, she did seem to have his eyes, and her hair was beautiful and silky; one of the few things Willow had that Nora envied. It is possible..no..it had only been a year. Nora shook her head. There was no way. She had never seen Arthur or Willow around the campsite, so there was no way the academy would let just any child in their school.

After her evening class had finished, the final bell rung, allowing Nora to pack up her things and head home. Once she had finished giving Cs Ds and Fs to the last few tests, Nora packed them up in her briefcase, before walking out the door to make sure no suspicious activity was happening around the campus. But as she floated around…

"Nora?", a voice asked. She turned around to see Arthur, in a cyan military uniform much like the rest of the students.