"A Strange Bond"

Note: Alpha is still on light duty (Pearl's orders), so she goes to the Theater/Community Center to see what's what. TF meets her there, and decides to join her inside. When she gets there, she's ambushed by a group of children eager for a story. When Alpha tells a personal story of her own, he is absolutely floored by what he hears...though not in a bad way. Alpha learns something that floors her, but not in a good way.

I'm afraid I've let 'It's A Boy' fall to the wayside, but I'll get back to it in a bit. This chapter seriously crosses over with that story, though, so don't be surprised when it eventually pops up there! I've been listening to the same white noise thing on YouTube for the past however-many chapters, so this time it was 'Peace of Mind' by Kevin Macleod for a change of pace.

"Chapter 25: Fractures and Storytime"

March 31st

Pearl lowered the back of Alpha's shirt and shook her head. "The bruises are hardly visible now. If you're still this sore, you may have cracked something back there."

Alpha bit back an annoyed retort. She had figured as much herself, but she was going just a little bit stir crazy. "If I did, it'll be mostly healed by now anyway."

"No tingling or numbness anywhere?" Pearl asked. If Alpha had indeed fractured her spine, this was cause for concern!

Alpha shook her head. "No, none at all. When do you think it's safe to get back to work? Harry had to take over my hunt on the twenty-ninth."

The Witch turned away and put the kettle on for a pot of tea, and her answer, while not unexpected, was disappointing. "Not for at least another week. You'll just have to take over one of his hunts later on to make it even, if it matters that much to you. You like chamomile?"

"Don't remember if I've ever had it," Alpha adjusted her shirt and came over to help, but Pearl waved her off.

"No, sit down. I could do this in my sleep." She measured out the dried chamomile flowers and put them in a tea strainer. "What are you going to tell Roy when he asks?"

Alpha sat down and watched; she didn't need to ask for clarification. "I'll just tell him it's taking longer to heal than we thought, which is true. I see no reason to give him the particulars."

"Don't you?" Pearl set out two teacups.

"No," Alpha frowned. "What would that accomplish? What's done is done, and I don't see any reason to upset him."

Omen jumped onto the table and batted Alpha's tea spoon onto the floor. "Fetch!"

Alpha grumbled and bent over to pick it up, then gasped as she moved in a way that her back did not appreciate. "Dammit, Omen, ye did that on purpose..."

Pearl tutted and scooped up the cat. "Naughty kitty. Outside with you."

Alpha scowled as Pearl brought Omen to the door to let him out. The cat peeked over Pearl's shoulder and stuck out his rough pink tongue, and Alpha responded with a rude gesture of her own.

Pearl opened the door and said without turning around, "I hope that wasn't directed at me, young lady."

"It wasn't," Alpha rolled her eyes. "Getting back to what you asked me, what's the point in tellin' him about somethin' that can't be helped now?"

The kettle began to steam, but it wasn't whistling yet. Pearl came back and joined Alpha at the table. "The point is, he's no fool. You told him it would be three days or so, because we thought it would only be that long, and it's already gone a bit longer than that. We're at about a week now, so he's bound to ask questions. Do you intend to lie to him?"

"No!" Alpha was offended by the question, but she deflated when she remembered that she and Tooth Fairy had lied to each other in the past about their own well-being. It was a bad habit that they were both working on, and she had to admit that Pearl was right. He wasn't a child, and he deserved better than that. "I'll tell him if he asks."

Pearl wagged a finger. "Lie by omission..." She sing-songed. The kettle began to sing, almost as if in response.

"When did you turn into a pedant?" Alpha smirked.

"Learned it from you." Pearl patted Alpha patronizingly on the head as she got up to brew the tea. "It's like you said, he already knows you got injured. He might actually feel better to know that you were honest with him, and that he didn't have to find out by accident. In fact, Omen demonstrated one possible scenario. And if Roy finds out by doing something like hugging you too tight, he's bound to feel terrible."

"Oh..." Alpha hadn't thought of that! "You're right. Very well, I'll tell him."

"Good. Sugar, dear?"

"No, thanks."

Alpha's windows were dark when Tooth Fairy arrived at The Hollow, but he saw Omen strolling along one of the cobbled streets, and he fluttered down to investigate. "Hey, Omen. What's new?"

The cat looked up and dropped the dead mouse he was carrying. "Not much. Alpha just left Pearl's after a check-up, and I think she said she was going to the Community Center to visit with some of the kids."

Tooth Fairy narrowed his eyes a bit. "Not that I'm not glad she's taking it easy, but that's really not like her. She's been fighting tooth and nail to keep busy."

The cat sat down and licked a forepaw, ignoring the unintentional pun. "True. She's anxious to get back to it. Pearl says she can't."

"Why not?"

Omen began to clean behind his ear. "I'll just let Alpha tell you herself."

"Or you could tell me," Tooth Fairy suggested, putting his fists on his hips.

The cat laid back his ears and twitched his tail. "Do I look like your girlfriend to you? Go ask her yourself. I'm not spending the day in the doghouse for gossiping. Again."

And with that, Omen retrieved his mouse and trotted off.

Tooth Fairy let his arms drop and shook his head. "Well...I don't know what else I expected from a talking cat."

He took to the air once more and arrived just as Alpha did. She looked up when she heard the familiar patter of fluttering wings, and he waved as he came down to greet her.

"Hey, Roy." She grinned as he came over with open arms.

"Hey, Alpha." Tooth Fairy kissed her before enfolding her in a gentle hug. He had expected her to be fully healed by now, and Omen had only made him even more positive that she knew something he didn't. "So, I just ran into Omen."

Alpha rolled her eyes as she stepped back. "Say no more...I was going to tell ye."

"He didn't really tell me anything, just that you went to see Pearl and get checked out." Tooth Fairy tilted his head in concern. "You all right?"

She nodded, and then took his arm and guided him off to the side; they were blocking the door, and a group was approaching to go inside. Standing by the building's brown brick wall, Alpha lowered her voice to keep anyone from overhearing. "I'm fine. I'm just takin' a bit longer to heal than we thought I would."

"Why?"

There it is. "It wasn't really obvious before, but now Pearl thinks I might have gotten a fracture or two on the way down." Alpha didn't pause for breath as his eyes widened in horror, and she put her hands on his shoulders as he sometimes did with her. "If I did, it's mostly healed by now. Everything's fine. I'll just need another week, is all."

Tooth Fairy nodded and let out his breath in a gusty sigh. He took this unwelcome news well enough, all things considered. "Okay. If you want, Dr. Hismus can probably take an X-ray to be sure. I'd bring you to my doctor, but..."

He shut his mouth as if he had said too much.

Alpha cocked her head, then gently prompted, "But...?"

Tooth Fairy licked his lips as he sometimes did when he was nervous. "Outsiders...generally aren't allowed in my town. And I haven't asked for permission yet..."

"Oh," Alpha nodded, and her brow furrowed. She couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't done so, and while she didn't want to jump to any conclusions, it was hard not to think that he was keeping her a secret for some reason. This was something they would have to talk about at some point, but she didn't know if she was up for it today. "Well, I'm no' much for doctors anyway. Want to go in?"

Tooth Fairy had read her expression well enough, and he mentally kicked himself. He was keeping her a secret for the time being, but it wasn't because he was ashamed of her. Far from it! "Alpha, I can explain."

"Roy...it's fine." Alpha tried to reassure him that she wasn't upset. "We're the same way here when it comes to strangers."

"No..." Tooth Fairy shook his head with a heavy heart. He took her hands in his, wanting to set the record straight. "You're really not. Your people have accepted me far more easily than mine would accept you. You're a member of the Council, so I could probably get the go-ahead to bring you there, no problem, but...I...Jeez, no matter how I put this, it sounds terrible. They're not...friendly. Even when someone could get permission to bring a non-Fairy friend, those friends usually weren't treated very well, and I don't want that to happen to you."

"Ye think I can't take it?" She asked.

He shrugged and looked down. "You could probably take having it done better than I could take watching it happen..."

Alpha smirked. "So, it's not because I'm your dirty little secret?"

He looked up again and blinked. "Gods, no! Alpha, I'm so lucky to have you in my life; I could never be ashamed of you. It's them I'm a little ashamed of..."

She folded her arms and lost her smirk. "That bad, hm?"

Tooth Fairy sighed and looked away. "Just based on what I've witnessed in the past? Yeah. They'll probably make ya feel about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit."

Alpha laughed at that!

He gave a subdued snicker and went on, "Most of 'em are okay, as in they'll mind their own business and not harass you, but some of us can be pretty brutal."

"So can humans." She pointed out.

"True..." Tooth Fairy began to play with his dental floss. "But other than the odd anomaly, humans don't really have magic. It could be dangerous, and...I guess I've just been putting it off. I'm sorry if I gave ya the wrong idea."

She smiled and kissed him. "No, they're all valid points. Look, I won't pressure you about it. I just want to spend time with you, and I don't care where that happens. Besides, you're always welcome here."

"Why, thank you," He grinned.

"C'mon," Alpha took his hand and led him inside. "Someone usually reads or tells the kids a story right about now, so I thought I'd sit in and kill some time."

Tooth Fairy squeezed her hand. "Might wanna watch that around Father Time."

"Ooh, good point!"

Six children were hovering near the Story Carpet when Alpha and the Tooth Fairy entered the building, and four of the kids gasped joyfully and charged at them. "Alphaaa!"

Tooth Fairy opened his mouth to caution them, but Alpha beat him to it.

"Gently, now, gently; Alpha's back is sore," She held up her hands, then knelt down when they obligingly stopped a foot away from her. "How is everyone today?"

"Goooood." They chorused.

Little Zoe held out her arms. "Can I have a huggie?"

"Sure!" Alpha opened her arms. "Not too tight, now."

Tooth Fairy didn't bother trying to hide his wide smile as he watched the four children converge on Alpha for a gentle group hug. It was beautiful to watch. Even as early as it was in their relationship, knowing that he wouldn't be able to have children with her made him a little bit wistful. It was clear to him that interacting with these kids helped fill the void in her heart, at least a little bit, and he could tell that she would defend these children every bit as fiercely as she would have defended her own. And, loving kids as much as he did, so would he. But now his mind was rambling on about a moot point.

He noticed that the other two children, who remained near the Story Carpet, hadn't approached and were looking a bit unsure. Well, that made sense to him! They knew Alpha very well, but he was a virtual stranger. He would have been concerned if the children were comfortable with him right away!

Tristan, who seemed to be one of the more impish children of the group, looked between Alpha and Tooth Fairy, who had arrived holding hands. "Ooo-oooh, is he your boyfriend?"

A Goblin woman, presumably Tristan's mother, hissed in an undertone. "Tristan..."

Tooth Fairy couldn't help but laugh. "I am."

Alpha took this in stride and stood up to take his hand. "This is Roy. Some of you have seen him before. Do ye want to say hello tae him?"

"Hi, Roy!" The children dutifully greeted him.

Tooth Fairy smiled and gave a brief, friendly wave. "Hiya, kids."

Zoe took one of Alpha's hands and Cynthia took the other, and Tooth Fairy trailed behind as Alpha was fairly dragged, laughing, over to the Story Carpet. "Storytime! Alpha, you gotta tell us a story, you didn't tell us one in forever!"

The other children echoed Zoe, even the two that had hung back, and Tooth Fairy moved to sit unobtrusively off to the side. He still felt a bit like an intruder here, and he knew that parents could be very defensive. Still, none of the other adults in the room seemed to mind his presence, and a few of them greeted him in passing, which he returned. He watched Alpha to see what she would do.

"Whoa, whoa, those things are attached, y'know!" Alpha laughed and gently freed her hands, then pulled up a chair for herself. "So, you want a story, do ye?"

"Yeah!" Tristan plopped down right where he was, sitting cross-legged. "Criss-cross applesauce, guys!"

The other kids sat down in a similar manner, except for one Witch child who seemed to be in her own little world and was spinning in circles.

Alpha called to her. "Lexi? Lexi, sit down, luv. That's right. All the way, on yer bottom, there ye go. Now, what story do you want to hear? 'The Hungry Caterpillar'?"

"Nooo!" They shook their heads.

"Hm...'The Cat In The Hat'?"

"Nooo!"

"Hmm...I think we have some 'Berenstain Bears' books around here somewhere..."

Cynthia shook her head again, and spoke up. "I wanna know about you when you were a kid!"

The other children greatly liked this idea, and Tooth Fairy had to admit, at least to himself, that he was curious as well.

Alpha hadn't expected this. "Oh! Hm. Well, that was a long time ago. What kind o' story would ye like to hear?"

Zoe piped up. "Were you ever bad?"

Alpha exchanged a look with Tooth Fairy, and he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Well, were you?"

She smirked back, and turned back to the children. "Well...I do remember this one time. Now, I should warn ye, parts of this story are a wee bit scary. But as you can see, I'm still here today, so it has a happy ending. And there's a lesson to be learned, too."

"Poop on that; lessons are for school..." Tristan grumbled, causing the other children to giggle, and Alpha to suppress a smile. Rather than acknowledge his mild transgression, which only would have egged him on, Alpha got on with the story.

"I was about your age when this happened. At the time, I had a habit of wandering off without tellin' anybody, and I didn't always want to do what my parents told me. Now, I had two older brothers, and I always wanted to do what they were doing...even though I sometimes got on their nerves a bit. If they were off with our Da, learning how to tend the sheep, I wanted to be a part of it. Mum wanted me to stay inside and learn how to work the spinning wheel. Do ye know what that's like for a girl who likes to do boy things?" She leaned forward a bit. When the children shook their heads, she droned, "Booooooriiiiiing."

They giggled, and Tooth Fairy found himself being drawn into the story.

"So, I did what any naughty child would do. I broke the rules every chance I got. And, one day, that got me intae big trouble."

"Oooh," Tristan grinned, and the other kids took this up and said right along with him, "You got in trouble!"

"Aye," Alpha nodded, folding her hands on her lap. "So I did, but maybe not the kind o' trouble you're thinkin' about. One day, my brother Andrew and my brother Copin decided to explore the moors when our father had business elsewhere. I don't remember where he went now, but it kept him away for most o' that day."

Tooth Fairy listened as attentively as the children.

"Well, I wanted to go too, but my brothers said no. They said I was 'too little', and then they told me to go back inside. And that really made me mad, y'know?" She made a fake mad-face and asked, "You ever get mad sometimes?"

"Yeah!" They answered, and Tristan added, "I hate being called 'too little'!"

"So did I!" Alpha nodded, "So ye know what I did?"

The children shook their heads.

"I watched them go, then I snuck out after them." Alpha replied in a conspiratorial whisper. "I followed them for I don't know how long, and they never even knew I was there. Now, along the way I got distracted by the pretty heather."

"What's heather?" Asked Cynthia.

"It's a flower," Alpha explained, "One that grows in Scotland, where I'm from. It's purple. Very nice to look at. I thought it might be nice to bring some home to my mother...and I also thought I might be in less trouble if I showed up with a present. That doesn't work, by the way. So, I went off and picked a bouquet of heather while my brothers went off in another direction. Now, I just want tae point out that this was a very dangerous thing for me to do. I could have gotten lost forever, and it rains a lot in Scotland. And it gets very chilly."

"Where are your brothers now?" Asked Zoe.

Alpha faltered only briefly. "They're in Heaven, luv."

"Oh..." Zoe looked down.

Alpha glossed over this, more to avoid upsetting the kids than to avoid the issue herself. "After a while, I got tired, and I decided it was time to go home. But do you know what happened?"

The kids shook their heads.

"I didn't know the way home," Alpha said gravely. "Everything looked the same to me. And I didn't know where my brothers went, either. And it started to rain. I walked, and I walked...and I was very scared. I should have listened to my brothers and stayed at home. I should have listened to me Mum and learned how to make yarn at the spinning wheel. But that night found me alone on the moors, frightened, cold, and wet. And, after a long time, it got dark. And I was so tired. So...I curled up in a thicket and fell asleep."

The kids would have been on the edge of their seats if they weren't sitting on a carpet, and even the Tooth Fairy leaned forward to hear the rest of the story. Obviously it turned out well, because she was still there to tell the tale.

"Did you cry?" Asked Cynthia.

Alpha nodded. "A little. You see, I'd never been away from home at night before, and I didn't know if I would ever get back. Also, all those years ago, there were still wild wolves in Scotland."

"Like you?" Lexi took her fingers out of her mouth long enough to ask.

Alpha shook her head and smiled. "No, not quite. These wolves couldn't walk on two legs like me, and they couldn't turn into people or talk. They were just normal animals. Not actually bad, they could still be very dangerous. And for a six-year-old, hearing wolves howling in the distance is a very scary thing indeed."

"Did they get you?" Tristan's eyes were as round as dinner plates.

Cynthia turned and swatted his shoulder with one of her six hands. "'Course not, stupid! She's right here!"

"Ow! Alpha, Cynthia hit me!" Tristan held his arm like he had been punched.

"I saw that," Alpha frowned. "Cynthia, you know better. If you're goin' tae fight, I'll just stop the story right here."

The other children turned and pressured Cynthia to apologize; they wanted the rest of the story. The little Spider girl rolled her eight eyes and grumbled. "I'm sorry...but he's still stupid."

"None o' ye are stupid," Alpha said firmly. "That wasn't very nice, either."

"Okay, okay...sorry."

Tristan immediately stopped with the crocodile tears. "That's okay. Alpha, can we have the rest of the story now? It was just getting good!"

"All right, if ye all promise to behave," Alpha tried to look severe, but she was quite sure that Tooth Fairy could see the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth in its effort to escape.

"We promise!"

Alpha nodded, satisfied that the squabble was over. "All right, then. And no, the wolves weren't after me at all. They were far away, and howling is just how they tell each other 'here I am'. But at the time, I didn't know that, and I thought for certain that they were coming to make a snack out o' me! And, somehow, I managed to fall asleep through all that. And then someone found me."

By now, Tooth Fairy wasn't sure who was more interested in the story; the children, or him! It had been a long time since he'd heard a good story, and he was enjoying this!

"I was sleepin', but it wasn't really a good sleep. I was cold, and I dreamt I was swimming in the ocean and couldnae get back to shore, no matter what I did. So, when I heard a small sound in real life...could've been a twig snapping, but it sounded more like someone snappin' their fingers...I opened my eyes to see a pretty lady sittin' next to me. She asked me how I got all the way out there, but at the time I didn't understand much o' what she was sayin'. We mostly spoke Gaelic at home, and she spoke to me in English. I knew some English, though, and I at least knew that she'd asked me a question."

This got Tooth Fairy's attention. Why would a lone woman be out on the moors at night, in the rain, snapping her fingers? It didn't make sense for a human to do so...but this scenario reminded him of something he'd forgotten about centuries ago.

"I thought I was still dreamin' at first, so I asked her, 'When did I get out o' the water?'. And she sort of blinked, and answered back in the language I knew, 'Well, it's raining now, so in a way you're still in the water'. And she asked me again, 'How did you get all the way out here?' And then I realized I wasn't dreaming, and I just grabbed ontae her and started bawling."

"Aw," Tooth Fairy said before he could stop himself, and blushed when Alpha glanced at him with a smile.

"And I said what any child would say in a situation like that; I told her I wanted to go home. And she picked me up and began to walk." Alpha paused as she remembered something, and she glanced at Tooth Fairy. Or, more specifically, his wings. "Thinkin' back, I'm not entirely sure she was human. But as it turned out, she told me she noticed that a man and two older boys were also out wandering the moors that night, calling out for someone, and looking every bit as scared as I was."

Lexi took her hand out of her mouth again. "But she was a stranger. Aren't strangers bad?"

Alpha considered how to answer this one. "That's a very good point, Lexi. And no, not all strangers are bad. Ye just have to be very careful, especially when you're little, because it can be hard to tell the good strangers from the bad ones. That's why it's important to listen to what your parents tell ye, even if their rules are boring sometimes. Lucky for me, the stranger who found me was one o' the nice ones."

Lexi stuck her fingers back into her mouth.

"So, this lady carried me across the moors, somehow managing to avoid rolling her ankle on the loose rocks that littered the ground. To this day, I have no idea how she found her way! It was almost like she could see in the dark." Alpha smiled as she remembered the kind woman. "She talked as she walked, and before long I wasn't scared anymore. I asked her what her name was, and...oh dear, what was it? I've forgotten...I think it began with a 'C'."

Tooth Fairy had a moment of thunderstruck intuition, and he hesitantly asked, "It wasn't 'Cori' by any chance, was it?"

"Yes, that's it!" Alpha pointed a finger, then frowned. "How did ye know?"

He realized his mouth was hanging open, and he shut it as he shook his head. He didn't want to derail the story, but this turn of events had really thrown him for a loop!

"What is it?" Now more concerned than confused, Alpha turned in her seat to look at him.

"You'll never believe it."

"Try me."

Tristan grew impatient. "What?"

Tooth Fairy stared at Alpha with something akin to shock. "I think you met my mom that night."

Alpha went pale. "Well...that explains why it felt like she had wings, even though I couldn't see them!"

He shook his head. "This is too weird..."

"Ye know what's even weirder?" Alpha almost seemed to have forgotten the children in her surprise. "The name 'Cori' has several different meanings, depending on where in the world ye are, but one of them is, 'lives in or near a hollow'."

They stared at each other for about three seconds, and then they were laughing. The kids looked from one of them to the other, somewhat confused, and finally Cynthia got up to leave.

"Wait, Cynthia, the story isn't done," Alpha called after her.

"Bored now," Cynthia called over her shoulder and went to play with the toys. Still, Alpha and Tooth Fairy both noticed that she stayed close enough to hear the rest of the story.

"Well," Alpha shrugged, "to be fair, we did interrupt the story. Time to wrap things up! Now, Cori brought me back to where she had seen the man and the two boys, and when we were close enough I heard the man calling my name, and I realized it was my Da! And I'm afraid I forgot my manners a bit; I called back, and began struggling to get down."

Tooth Fairy chuckled at this. Knowing his mother's temperament, this would have been taken in good humor, and she simply would have been relieved and gratified to have reunited a lost child with her family. He did feel a wave of nostalgia, though; as seldom as he thought of her, at times he still missed her dearly.

"The lady...Cori...put me down, and told me to 'run along and don't trip'." Alpha smiled and sent another look in her boyfriend's direction.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," He nodded with a gentle smile.

"Well! My father was so relieved that he forgot to scold me for runnin' off, and the four of us went home, where I was given a bath and sent to bed. The next day, me mum celebrated my safe return by puttin' me on punishment. I wasn't allowed to go out and play. In fact, I wasn't tae leave her side, or she told me I'd be in even worse trouble. And I didn't, either. Of course, nobody believed my story about the 'nice lady', but that was okay. I knew the truth."

Tooth Fairy nodded sagely, having expected that. Human adults were less open to stories like this one being true, and logic would dictate that no sane person, male or female, would be out on the moors on a rainy night! Also, children were known to tell the occasional tall tale, so her parents could be excused for being skeptical.

"After that night, I became a very well-behaved little girl. I didn't talk back. I did as I was told. I even tried to learn how to use that dumb old spinning wheel," She stuck out her tongue, and the kids giggled; Cynthia had wandered back by now, and was cuddling a stuffed dragon plushie. "And that lasted for about a week, all told. But I never did wander off like that again. And that's the story of how I learned a valuable lesson...and met someone who turned out to be more than what she seemed."

The kids clapped, and Tooth Fairy and a few of the other adults joined in.

Lexi's mother came over, finally having noticed what her daughter was doing, and cleaned the child's spittle-soaked hand with a wipe. Lexi whined until this was done, and seemed to contemplate sticking her fingers back into her mouth in an act of defiance, but with her mother watching she couldn't quite get up the nerve to do so. Lexi looked back up at Alpha, and said out of the blue, "I like you better as a lady than a wolf."

"Lexi..." The girl's mother chided.

Alpha wasn't exactly offended, but she was a little confused. None of the children had ever said something like this to her before, and she didn't know what brought this on. "Why is that, Lexi?"

Lexi shrugged and looked down as if she expected to be scolded.

"It's all right, I'm not angry. Why did you say that?" Alpha encouraged her, and when Lexi's mother nodded to show it was all right, the girl grew brave.

"Because you can't eat us up when you're a lady," The child said in that matter-of-fact way that children had.

Alpha's stomach dropped, and her voice grew even more gentle than before. "Why on Earth would I ever want tae eat ye?"

Lexi looked down and mumbled, "'Cause Viola said so...She said if we were bad an' made too much noise, you'd get mad and eat us."

Zoe, Tristan, and Cynthia nodded, but the other two children didn't seem to know what this was all about.

Several of the parents gasped. Alpha turned white as a sheet as her face took on a thousand-yard stare. Tooth Fairy gaped.

Lexi saw their reactions, and she wondered if she had just done something bad. Her lower lip jutted out and began to tremble. "I don't want you to..."

"No..."Alpha got up to approach, but Lexi shrank back, and Alpha froze and got down on one knee right where she was instead. "No, Lexi, I would never do that. Not ever. I love ye too much! Viola was...she was a very mean person. She wasn't tellin' ye the truth. Okay?"

Lexi ran forward, crying, and flung her arms around Alpha. The hug must have hurt, but Alpha gave no sign of this as she hugged back.

"Oh, luv...I'm so sorry you were scared. And I'm so sorry it was me that scared ye! But I'd never harm any of ye. Do you understand that?" Alpha was fighting back tears of her own, but she was determined not to cry in front of these kids. This revelation was upsetting enough!

"Yes," Lexi sniffled, letting go and rubbing her eyes, still hiccuping a little.

Lexi's mother was horrified. "Alpha, we had no idea! I would've told her, and...Alpha, I'm sorry."

Alpha nodded and got to her feet, rubbing at her sore back a little, and Tooth Fairy was at her side in an instant. "It's no' your fault. The ones responsible for that have been dealt with. I just wish I knew about this sooner."

Tooth Fairy saw how hard it was for Alpha to hold it together, and he spotted a stack of construction paper and some crayons on a nearby table. He whispered in her ear, "Need a minute?"

"Aye," She whispered back.

Tooth Fairy turned to the kids, who were beginning to look rather bored. "Say, I have an idea. Who likes to color?"

"Meee!" The children raised their hands and bounced up and down.

"Great! C'mon, I'll show you kids how to draw a horsey." He waved everyone over to the table, and as the kids ran over to claim their art supplies he gave Alpha's hand a gentle squeeze and whispered, "Go on, sweetheart. I'll check on ya in a few."

Alpha nodded and beat a hasty retreat for Room C, which was empty at the moment and had become the semi-official meeting room for the City Council. Thankfully, she made it inside before the tears came.

Tooth Fairy was privately surprised that the parents in the room were okay with him interacting with their kids, but he took it as a good sign. He would have enjoyed drawing pictures with them, if he wasn't so concerned about Alpha. Even though he had grown comfortable with expressing his emotions in front of her, he also understood that sometimes a person just needed to cry alone, and he knew that this setting was too public for her to allow such openness for herself.

Cynthia looked at Tristan's drawing with scorn. "Horses aren't green, dum-dum."

Tristan looked over at hers and snorted. "They don't have bird wings either, dipstick."

"It's a pegasus." Cynthia nudged him, smirking. "Dingbat."

"Turd." He smirked back.

Zoe giggled at them and colored her own horse pink.

"Hey," Tooth Fairy frowned. "Enough with the name-calling. And anyway, that's what's so fun about drawing. You can make it any color you want, and why not give it wings, huh?"

"You like my pegasus?" Cynthia asked, showing it to him.

"Sure!" Tooth Fairy grinned and pointed at the drawing's face. "You gave him eight eyes, just like you! That's pretty neat."

"Thank you, Roy!" Cynthia smiled, taking her drawing back to work on it some more.

"You're welcome. Zoe, can I see yours?"

The little Witch shook her head and covered the paper. "It's not done yet. I wanna show you it when it's done."

"Oh, okay," Tooth Fairy nodded, then glanced over his shoulder. Alpha still wasn't back yet. He anxiously poked out the tip of his tongue, then tapped out a beat on the table and got to his feet. "Tell ya what, you can show me when I get back, okay?"

"Okay."

Tooth Fairy left the children behind with the other adults and went off in search of Alpha. He met her as she was coming down the hallway, and although her eyes were red and a little puffy, she seemed composed. "Hey...You all right?"

Alpha shrugged and went into his open arms. "Not really...She was afraid of me. She's known me all her life. I held her the day after she was born, and she was afraid of me. How many more of'm were told I'd eat them?"

He sighed, rubbing her back, but very lightly. "Well...now that you know about this, you can set the record straight. I'm real sorry this happened, Alpha..."

"Yeah, me too..." Alpha stepped back and forced a little smile. "Well...spilt milk. Fortunately, there's a relatively easy fix for this one...I'm just sorry it happened at all."

"Yeah..."

Alpha hugged him again and sighed. "Thanks for the break, luv...What're the kids up to? Still coloring?"

"Among other things," Tooth Fairy smirked as he remembered the name-calling, which brought back some amusing memories of his antics as a child, and he kissed the side of her head. "They're drawing horses for ya. Wanna go see?"

"Aye," Alpha linked hands with him and they ambled back down the hall. "So, that nice lady was your mum. I still can't wrap my head around that one!"

"Me neither!" Tooth Fairy chuckled. "I remember her telling us all about how she found a lost little girl one night as she passed through Scotland, and the details were similar enough to make me go 'hmm', but I didn't think it was actually her until you said her initial. This has got to be the weirdest coincidence I've ever seen or been a part of."

"Can't say the same," Alpha smiled back. "Down here, weirdness is par for the course, so at this point I just sort of go with it."

"Maybe that's why I fit in better here than I do at home," Tooth Fairy said wryly.

"You stop that," Alpha tapped their linked hands against his hip in a mild scolding. "You're not weird. Wait...am I weird?"

Tooth Fairy knew bait when he saw it, and this time he took it with a mischievous smile. "You're...quirky."

"Well, I found the right man, then!" Alpha smiled back.