"A Strange Bond"

Note: What happens when Tooth Fairy, distracted by thoughts of his evening with Alpha, gets careless and is seen by a human child? Not just any human child, but the kid from the bowling alley? He gets in Dutch with Mother Nature, that's what! The next day, Alpha notices how subdued he is, and they talk it out. It's high time to wrap up February and go into March!

"Chapter 15: First Warning"

February 14th/15th

In much the same way that Santa 'just knew' who was naughty and who was nice, Tooth Fairy 'just knew' whose homes he had to visit. If he simply saw these kids in passing while out and about as a 'human', he wouldn't know them from Adam, but when he was working it was different. Like many things magical, he never thought to question it; it simply was.

Not that his mind was fully on his job tonight, though! His mind was filled with thoughts of Alpha, of their first kiss, and what the future might bring. Bowling was an easy sport to pick up, and she had held her own quite well. He was the better bowler, but she had impressed him all the same. Maybe they would have to go again sometime.

Tooth Fairy circled back to visit a house that was very near where their bowling date had taken place. The kid had still been awake, since it was still rather early when Tooth Fairy left for work, but now it was safe to go in. As he neared the house, his mind called up the boy's relevant information. Evan Lucas. Six years old. Lower central incisor.

As he climbed silently through the window, Tooth Fairy halted in place. He recognized this boy. Hey, it's that kid from the bowling alley. He was okay, but his dad was a real piece of work!

Tooth Fairy saw that the bedroom door was shut, and he was relieved. Once, he'd had to duck behind a dresser when another kid's father unexpectedly got up to use the bathroom, and he'd very nearly been caught. He didn't want a repeat of that!

He tip-toed over to the bed, made the exchange, and slipped the tooth into his pouch with the others before turning to leave. He would have to tell Alpha about this when he saw her tomorrow, and-

And he tripped over something in the semi-darkness, managing to keep his feet, but he was unable to suppress a loud grunt. He froze as he heard blankets rustling behind him, and then he shut his eyes in despair. He didn't have to turn around to know that Evan had sat up and seen him. He waited for the screams, but they never came.

"Who are you?" Evan whispered, squinting at the little wings on the back of this bear of a man.

Tooth Fairy sighed, then turned and knelt down. His face looked yellow in the dim glow of the night light. "I'm the Tooth Fairy."

"You're the guy from the bowling alley," Evan frowned as he tried to figure this out. "Are you wearing fake wings?"

Tooth Fairy shook his head and fluttered his wings a bit to prove it. "No. But you're right. I was at the bowling alley today."

"Wait, if you're the Tooth Fairy...how come you're a boy?"

Why on Earth wasn't this kid afraid of him? It was worrying that the boy didn't automatically start screaming at the sight of a stranger in his bedroom! Weren't his parents teaching him about stranger danger? Perhaps he thought this was a dream.

Tooth Fairy would have left right away, but he wanted to make absolutely sure that he hadn't scared the boy. It was bad enough to be caught, but he would never forgive himself for traumatizing a child! He shrugged and replied, "Just sorta worked out that way, I guess."

Evan pointed at Tooth Fairy's wings and asked, "Can I touch 'em?"

Being asked something like that, out of the blue and by a stranger, brought Tooth Fairy up short. He shook his head, his voice gentle but firm as he denied the boy permission. "No, you may not. I'm a stranger. And I'm not even supposed to let you see me."

"You gonna get in trouble?" Evan clutched his teddy bear a little closer, looking remorseful.

"Maybe," Tooth Fairy said, but he knew the answer was 'definitely'. He'd really put his foot in it. Literally!

"Because of me..." Evan looked down. "Because I didn't pick up my toys..."

Tooth Fairy was still worried about how much trouble he would be in, but he couldn't help but feel sympathy for the kid, and he shook his head. "Nahhh, because of me. I didn't watch where I was going. Speaking of 'going', I have more teeth to collect. Go back to sleep now, okay?"

"But I'm not tired."

Poof!

Tooth Fairy jumped and looked over his shoulder as Evan sank back onto his pillow and back into dreamland. A dark figure stood in the window, and Tooth Fairy sighed when he recognized him. "Hi, Sandman..."

Sandman, wide awake as he always was while he was working, approached him and offered a hand up. "Hi, Tooth Fairy. Can you give me a lift to the roof so we can talk?"

Tooth Fairy accepted the offered hand and got to his feet, his eyes on the floor. It was a toy fire truck he'd tripped over. He sighed. "Yeah..."

As soon as they were on the roof, Tooth Fairy turned his back and walked a short distance away. For Sandman to show up when he did, that could only mean one thing; Mother Nature was aware of what had happened, and had sent him to run damage control. She would probably be along soon.

"You're in trouble, you know." Sandman's voice wasn't unkind, but Tooth Fairy still hung his head.

"I know...You don't think he'll remember this, do you?"

Sandman let Tooth Fairy have his space. "If he does, it'll be as a dream."

Tooth Fairy folded his arms. He was so angry at himself! "Well, at least that's something. So, what now?"

When Sandman didn't answer right away, Tooth Fairy turned to see if he'd fallen asleep, but he hadn't. Finally, Sandman shook his head. "This might be grounds for a warning. The first of three. I'm sorry, Tooth Fairy; the rules are absolute."

The rules are absolute. He'd heard that one before. "Right...You can go back to your rounds. I'll wait for her here."

Sandman was looking not at Tooth Fairy, but behind him. "She is here."

Tooth Fairy reluctantly turned to face Mother Nature, who stood with her hands folded in front of her and a very serious look on her face. Unable to maintain eye contact, Tooth Fairy looked down at his shoes. He heard Sandman leave without a word, and he didn't know if he was relieved not to have a witness or disappointed that he would have to be alone with her for this.

Mother Nature approached him, and he continued to stare down at his feet. She sighed. "Tooth Fairy? Look at me, please."

He nervously licked his lips and did as he was told.

"I know I don't have to explain to you how serious this is. Fortunately, it was a child who saw you. If it had been one of the parents, they could have become violent, and if you did manage to get out safely-" she paused when he dropped his gaze once more. "You know what that would mean."

Tooth Fairy nodded and finally found his voice. "They would start looking into things. And maybe they'd find something. Then we'd all be in danger of being discovered, and...Mother Nature, I'm really sorry. I know I messed up."

"Yes, you did," Mother Nature agreed, then smiled softly. "But all things considered, it could have been much worse. Now, I'd like you to tell me exactly how it happened."

He rubbed at his mouth as he tried to gather his thoughts. "Well...I was distracted."

"'Distracted' how?" she asked.

"Uhhh...I was...I was thinking about what happened earlier, and I tripped over a toy. The noise woke him up."

"Something happened today?" Mother Nature persisted. "Another human saw your wings?"

"What? No, nothing like that. I was out bowling with Alpha, Santa, and Carol. Then they went home, and we went for a walk, and..." Tooth Fairy rubbed the back of his neck and looked down again.

"And...?"

Even as upset as he was, Tooth Fairy found himself fighting a smile. "She kissed me."

Now Mother Nature smiled. "I see. I can understand how the memory would be distracting."

Tooth Fairy looked up again, sensing that the lecture wasn't quite over, but now it seemed that it wouldn't be as stern a lecture as he'd thought. He was right on both counts.

"Even so, you ought to know better. Your performance far outshines that of your predecessors. For over four hundred years, you haven't gotten a single warning...until now." She frowned as he ducked his head again, and she hoped he wasn't about to cry. As big as he was, right then he looked uncommonly like a little boy who had just been told, 'I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed'. She reached out and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "This isn't something I ever want to do, but you've left me with no choice."

He nodded, dry-eyed but miserable. "I understand."

And yet, justice was tempered with mercy. "I don't like giving warnings anymore than you like receiving one. And this was an accident, not an act of malice. If you can go the rest of the year without another incident like this one, your warning will be expunged and you'll have a clean slate."

Tooth Fairy's head shot up so fast that it actually startled her. "Really?"

Mother Nature nodded with a little smile. "That shouldn't be too hard for you. But no more getting distracted. Do we have an understanding?"

He nodded, fluttering his wings and hovering about a foot in the air before he remembered his manners and came back down. "We do."

"Good," Mother Nature turned to go, then halted and looked back at him. "Oh! Congratulations, by the way."

Before he could thank her, she disappeared as if she had never been there to begin with. There was a soft 'whoosh' as air rushed in to fill the space she had just occupied. He shook his head and flew off to find his next stop. As relieved as he was that his disgrace might not be permanent, he soon grew somber once more. He had a feeling it wouldn't be long before the rest of the Council found out about his shame. Sandman wasn't a gossip when he was awake, but he was a notorious sleep-talker. I've never gotten a warning in my entire life! How am I gonna live this down? Even if it isn't permanent, a warning is a warning.

As much as he'd hated this job in the beginning, now it meant the world to him! He'd lost so much, but he still had his job. In a way, Mother Nature was like a second mother to him, and he had failed her.

He needed to talk to Alpha...

He pushed that thought from his mind. Work first, then sleep, then talk. Maybe if I sleep on it, it won't seem so bad.

He was wrong.

When Alpha opened her door the next day, her greeting died on her lips. Tooth Fairy looked like he hadn't gotten enough sleep, and it was plain as day that something was bothering him. Before she could ask what his trouble was, he enfolded her in a bear hug and hid his face in her hair, a sure sign that he was upset. She let him, rubbing his back without a word and only stepping back when he did.

"Hey," He looked down.

"Hey..." She took his arm and moved so that she no longer blocked the doorway. "Come inside."

"Thanks."

Alpha frowned at his back as he passed her, and she shut the door behind her. "What happened after ye left?"

Tooth Fairy turned back to face her, incredulous. He knew his mood was obvious, but he could have just been having one of his 'bad days'. It wasn't unusual for him to behave this way around her when he was feeling low. "How do you always know?"

Alpha didn't have the heart to tell him his poker face needed work; she folded her arms and pointedly looked down. "Because every time something's wrong, you become fascinated by your feet. And ye were fine last night, I thought. Or maybe ye don't want to talk about it..."

He looked down again and heaved a deep sigh. "I got my first warning last night."

While she didn't fully understand how serious this was, she could clearly see that this had upset him, and she wondered what he could have possibly done to earn it. "What happened?"

Tooth Fairy ran a hand through his hair and aimlessly paced the room. "I was seen. First time it's ever happened. It was the same kid from the bowling alley, if you can believe it. He wasn't scared, so that's a plus, but it's still against the rules."

"Oh. I'm sorry..." Alpha shook her head. Her own words sounded trite to her, but she didn't know what else to say.

"Tch...yeah, so am I. I've never gotten a warning before. Never. And to have someone I've always looked up to be disappointed in me..." He shook his head. "I'm just so mad at myself I could hit something."

"Oh..."

"And to make matters worse," he stopped pacing and faced her again, his arms spread wide in a gesture of frustration, "Sandman knows about it, and he talks in his sleep! Pretty soon everyone will know. Did you know that Jack Frost is the only other Council member to receive any warnings? At least in my lifetime, that is..."

Alpha shook her head, but said nothing as he raised his voice. It seemed like he just wanted to vent, not listen to advice, so she let him.

"And it was because of something so small. I tripped over a toy. A toy! I could've avoided it, it was bright enough in there, but I wasn't paying attention. Over four hundred years of doing this job, and now my reputation is gonna be shot! Four hundred years, right down the toilet." He paused for breath, and he realized that he'd been yelling while Alpha simply stood there and listened with an occasional nod. "I'm sorry. It's not you I'm mad at, I don't know why I'm yelling at you."

Alpha came over and held out her arms to offer a hug, but she waited for him to either accept it or move off. She herself sometimes didn't like to be touched when she was angry, and she knew that he was the same way, but now he welcomed it and she held him tight. "You're not yelling at me; you're just yelling. And you're justified. It sounds like it really meant a lot to ye. Your no warnings streak, I mean."

He nodded, hugging back. "Yeah...I might not have wanted this job at first, but if I had to lose so much because of it...I wasn't gonna have it be for nothing. It's not even a permanent warning, if I can avoid trouble for the rest of the year, but still..."

"It's still a letdown for ye. I get it."

He sighed, feeling himself begin to relax. This had been festering since the night before, and while he hadn't meant to go off like that, it had been a relief to do so. It felt good to not only be able to freely express himself around her, but to have his feelings validated, not shut down. He didn't have to be a certain way around her; he could just be. "Yeah. But anyway, a rant session isn't what I came here for. You said there was a place you wanted to show me?"

Alpha let go of him and fixed him with a concerned look. "Ye still want to do this? We can go another day."

Tooth Fairy shook his head, giving a small but genuine smile. "I could use the distraction. If you still wanna go. I'd like to see it."

"I'm game if you are."

Tooth Fairy's sense of direction meant nothing when he was on the ground, especially when he was surrounded on all sides by trees and couldn't see where the sun was in the sky, but he wasn't worried about getting lost. Alpha walked a little ways ahead of him, and she stopped and pointed out a tangle of dormant honeysuckle vines. "See the game trail?"

He bent to look, and nodded. "Yeah. Must be hard to spot in the summer."

"It is," she nodded and pushed the vines aside, gesturing for him to go ahead. "After you."

He gave a small bow, causing her to snicker, and ducked under the vines. The path was more or less clear, and he looked back over his shoulder. The trail they were on was so narrow that they had to go single file to avoid getting scratched by the blackberry bushes on either side of it. His wings were hidden again, just in case, so he could see her without having to turn far. "Just keep going?"

"Aye, it's right up ahead. Listen."

Tooth Fairy paused, and he could hear a stream in the distance. "Yeah, I can hear it. You come here often?"

She chuckled and gave him a very light push. "Bit late for pick-up lines, sir."

"It wasn't!" he laughed. The laugh trailed off when he parted another clump of vines and found that they were at the bank of the creek. It stretched about thirty feet from bank to bank, and a downed tree lay across it like a bridge. He could picture how green, how alive this place would be in the late summer, and he sighed. Mother Nature was indeed an artist!

Alpha sidled past him, then pointed at the tree. "Oh, that's new. Must've fallen down in the storm they had here last week. Shame...I liked that tree."

"Mm," he gave a sympathetic nod, then pointed at where the tree had broken off from its stump. "Looks like it was dying for some time. It's hollow inside."

She nodded, shrugged in a 'such is life' manner and smiled. "So, what do ye think o' the place?"

"It's beautiful here," he smiled, "Kinda like a Bob Ross painting."

Alpha cocked her head. "Who?"

He chuckled. "Oh, he was some artist who had a TV show. I usually fell asleep before he was done, but he was pretty good. Don't tell anyone I used to watch it, though. I'll never hear the end of it."

She shook her head as if to say 'you know better', and said, "I won't, but if ye get made fun of for that, it says more about them than it does about you."

He took her hand as they looked for a good spot to sit and have lunch. "Must be nice not caring what people say about ya."

"Who says I don't?" she blinked.

Tooth Fairy wasn't sure if he'd just put his foot in his mouth, and he backpedaled. "I mean, I'm not sayin' you don't, I just..."

Alpha smiled and rolled her eyes. "It depends on who it is and what they're saying. Robert actually gets away with a lot because he's just an eejit, and he usually doesn't mean any harm. Someone like Pearl, or Punky, or you...that'd be an entirely different matter."

"Why would I do that?" he shook his head.

Alpha shrugged. "Didn't say you would. How did we get from 'paintings' to this?"

"No idea." he snickered.

Tooth Fairy unfolded the blanket Alpha had brought and laid it on the ground. It was still cold, but he was used to flying in blizzard conditions from time to time, and she didn't seem to feel the cold as much as a human would, so they were relatively comfortable as they sat and ate their sandwiches.

It occurred to him that she was almost always in human form when he saw her, even when she didn't expect him to show up, and he didn't realize he was staring until her eyes shifted uncomfortably.

"What?"

"Oh!" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was just wondering...can I ask you somethin'?"

She smiled. "Ye just did, but go ahead."

"Okay, well...I remember you saying before that you were more comfortable in your other form, but now whenever I see you, you're..." he stopped speaking when her face lost all expression and she looked away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, no, just...A few reasons, really, and most of'm aren't happy ones." she wrapped up her half-eaten sandwich, her appetite quite gone.

"I'm sorry..." he said gently, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"It's fine." Alpha had a sip from her water bottle, having composed herself, and she looked at him again. "Ye had no way of knowin'. It just felt safer. The other form is bigger. Stronger. And I can be pretty damn scary when I want tae be. It's usually a bluff, but it's enough."

Even though Tooth Fairy's mind had been in chaos during the stand-off with The Founders, he remembered seeing her charge in like she meant to football-tackle the lot of them, teeth bared, ears flat, hackles raised. If he'd been thinking about it then, he might have regarded her with a lot more caution. He nodded. "I wouldn't wanna tangle with you in that kinda mood, that's for sure."

"No," she gave a mirthless chuckle. "Neither did they. But I didn't want tae mess with them, either. Do ye know what it's like to be in a constant state of fight or flight?"

Tooth Fairy slowly shook his head. The image of her growling at Evan's father came to mind again, and now he thought he understood it. "No."

"Ye're always lookin' over yer shoulder. Yer guard is never down, because you just know that the moment ye relax, that's when somethin' happens. I'm only now learnin' about a lot of the messed-up things they did. We found journals when we gutted the mansion..." Alpha had another sip of water, and her hands were beginning to shake.

Tooth Fairy scooted closer and put his arms around her. "It's okay, you don't have to talk about it...But if you need to, ya can." He wasn't so sure he wanted to hear it, but he knew he felt better after telling her his troubles. How could he not listen to hers? Especially after he'd ruined their date by upsetting her.

Alpha nestled her head against his chest and hugged back. She hadn't even admitted it to herself up until this point, but this was the other reason she was frequently in her human form. She liked being smaller than he was. "I could only get a few pages into the first one before I had to put it down. I don't have much to tell as far as those go. But I know the real reason why they sent us up on Halloween to let the humans catch a glimpse of us here and there."

"Why?" he rocked her. She wasn't crying yet, but he had a feeling she probably would, and he felt terrible.

"The cavern is much larger than the city itself," she sighed, closing her eyes. "They could have expanded the boundaries to accommodate a growing population, but they didn't want to do that..."

His heart sank. "Oh, no..."

She nodded. "They were thinning us out. They knew...the little bastards knew the humans would go on the defensive. Many times, we couldnae even bring our friends back for a proper burial, because we had no idea where they were. And those two played it off like some 'tragic accident' every time, and I just swallowed it because I didnae want to believe it of them. How could I have been so stupid?"

"Don't say that..." he whispered as she quietly began to cry. "No, you're not stupid..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Heyyy..." He continued his slow rocking, and dipped his head to kiss the side of hers. He didn't have her gift for words when people were crying, but he could still be there for her, like she was for him. "Hey, if I can cry, so can you...I gotcha..."

Alpha sniffled and almost immediately began to calm down. "I didn't mean to ruin it..."

"You didn't ruin anything. It's okay."

She sighed and sat back again. "I was never sure what they could do, because they were always so secretive. I had to act like I wasn't scared o' anything, and I was good at it, but...always. I was always afraid. With them gone, for the first time in centuries, I feel safe. Thank you," she said as he passed her his handkerchief. "Plus, I'm not hitting our meat supply nearly as hard these days."

"Yeah..." He nodded and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I didn't mean to bring up something like that. I didn't know."

"I know..." She smiled a little. "Actually, it's kind of a relief. I mean...how does one bring up somethin' like that, anyway? Hi, how was your day, by the way this happened."

"Heh..." He shook his head. "Yeah. I can't just start cold either. I gotta work up to it."

They sat and watched the creek in silence for a while, and eventually Alpha got her sandwich back out and finished it. Aside from her slightly red eyes, she seemed perfectly fine again, if a little subdued, and he shook his head as he watched her. "How do you do it?" he asked.

She swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and wiped her mouth with the napkin she'd brought. "Do what?"

Tooth Fairy picked up a pebble and tossed it into the creek. "You've lost so much more than I have, and I was going out of my mind over something that really happened centuries ago, and..." He trailed off, unsure how to phrase it in a way that wouldn't upset her again.

She knew what he meant, though, and she shook her head. "Sooner or later, everyone faces the hardest thing they've ever gone through. It doesn't make a difference that someone has it better or worse than you; if it hurts, it hurts. I don't want to say ye get used to it if it happens enough times, because you really don't...but...if ye can look back on all the times you made it through all that mess and all that pain, you can say to yourself, 'I thought I wouldn't get through those either. But I did. And I can again.' And ye do. Plus, screw The Founders. I'm done givin' them power over me."

Tooth Fairy stared at her with a certain sort of awe, and then he smiled. Gods, I love this woman!

Alpha made a slight face, and did something Tooth Fairy immediately recognized; she was trying to work a food particle out of her teeth without being super obvious about it, and before he could offer she turned to him and asked, "Got any floss on ye, by any chance?"

He laughed softly, reached into his pocket, and held out a little white container. "Have we met?"

Maybe their day hadn't been completely ruined after all.

Note: TF is a giant teddy bear! Alpha opens up a little. He hasn't had to be 'the shoulder' very often, but hopefully he did okay!