merendinoemiliano-Thank you!

Claire felt horrible. It was like she had run a marathon-every muscle hurt and screamed in exhaustion. Any movement at all sent daggers of pain shooting into her already throbbing skull. Oh yeah, and her mouth was dry.

The incessantly chopping sound didn't help either. It was so loud. What kind of alarm was that anyway?

She didn't care. She just wanted it off. Eyes still shut, she smacked the thing to her right.

A startled squawk was not the sound she had expected. She cracked her eyes open and was greeted by a mass of blue and silver. That didn't seem right. She blinked hard, ignoring the jolt of pain that followed, and the mass started taking on a definite shape.

Jim stared down at her, eyes wide and pupils dilated. His scruff stood on end like a cat's when spooked. Had he always been able to do that?

Any further thought on Jim's physiology abruptly ended as he squeezed her in a rib-breaking hug. "You're okay!" he cried as he nuzzled her affectionately. "I was so worried…"

"Jim," she wheezed, "I'm happy to see you too, but breathing is kind of important."

"Oh! Right." He released her, flushing purple out of embarrassment. "Sorry. It's just-you've been out a while."

Claire frowned. "How long, exactly? And what is that noise?"

"Um, that would be because we're in a helicopter."

She blinked. "What?"

She looked around, finally taking in her surroundings. They were in a thickly padded space, with several circular windows lining the curved walls. Claire looked out one of the windows and blanched. The ground was several thousand feet below them. She leaned against the headrest of her worn chair. So they really were in a helicopter. No big deal.

Then a crucial question popped into her head. "Hey, Jim?" she asked slowly. "Who's flying this thing?"

"Ah, that would be me," Vardan piped up from the cockpit, waving at Claire. "All changelings have basic pilot training. Janus Order required it. Glad to see you're up, by the way!"

"Thanks," Claire said, still in a daze. "And the other trolls? There's no way something bad happened to them right-"

"No, no, they're fine," Jim reassured her. "We got them in the other helicopters, see?"

Claire followed his gaze. Sure enough, about half a dozen helicopters were following them.

She furrowed her brow. "Okay, there is no way we fit a hundred trolls in six helicopters."

"That's where I came in," a familiar voice said.

Claire whirled around to face the voice and gasped. Merlin smiled wearily back at her. "Hello, fair Claire."

She bit her lip, not sure how to respond. If she was being honest, she still hated the old man's guts for deceiving Jim and being a major ass in general, but right now, he looked so old. Old, exhausted, and pretty bruised up. She couldn't help but feel an inkling of pity for him.

"Hey," she said as politely as she could muster. "So, um, what exactly did you do to the other trolls?"

"I shrank them."

"You what?!"

The wizard shrugged. "It's actually quite simple magic. True, they weren't too happy about it, but James here convinced them it was for the best. Good thing, too. I wouldn't have had the strength to duplicate more flying machines if he hadn't gotten them to agree."

"Oh." Claire let her head fall on Jim's shoulder and wriggled closer to him. "I, for one, am glad you didn't shrink me."

"Of course not. That was quite the magical feat back there-I did not want to strain your body any further. I can still scarcely believe you're already awake."

Claire knit her eyebrows in confusion. "What exactly happened? I remember…there were so many explosions. I wanted to get us out, and…" She racked her brain, but drew a blank. "Nothing."

Jim shifted in his seat to face her. "It was like when Gunmar was chasing us through Trollmarket, and we were trapped in the gyre room," he started. "There was no way out, but…you wouldn't take no for an answer. You summoned another portal, even bigger than the one down in Trollmarket." He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "You're the reason we're all alive."

"Are you telling me that I-I can do magic without my shadow staff?!" she looked over at Merlin incredulously.

"Yes," he answered simply. "It seems the prolonged exposure to the Skathe-Hrün has gifted you with the ability to perform shadow magic. A dark, forbidden magic, might I add, and one I wouldn't use often, if at all. It takes a greater toll on its user than normal magic."

But Merlin's warning faded to the background as the reality that she could do magic set in. Even though her staff was destroyed, she could still make portals. Not just portals-maybe any kind of magic, like Merlin! She could properly fight again!

"I have to agree with Merl there," Jim said, interrupting her train of thought. "I'm more than thrilled you can make portals again, but I don't want you to overexert yourself. I don't want to think about what happens to your body after all your hair's turned white."

Claire gazed at him quizzically. "What do you mean? It's just the one streak."

He chuckled nervously. "Um, yeah, about that…it's two streaks now. Actually, it's the whole bang."

"What?!" she yelped.

She scrambled for her phone, only to remember with a groan the Janus Order had confiscated it. Jim cleared his throat and held up a freshly summoned shield. Despite her panic, she couldn't help but smile. That was Jim, ever the thoughtful boyfriend.

She stared at her reflection. Jim was right; the snowy white streak had spread across her bang. During the battle and escape, her hair had come undone. All of her barrettes were gone too. She could hardly recognize herself.

"For the record…" Jim said, dismissing the shield in a flash of light, "I really like the new look. Better than the old one, even."

Claire glared at him. "Are you saying you didn't like how I looked before?"

He paled. "Nononono, you were beautiful then too! It's just-"

She giggled at the horrified expression on his face. He was just too easy to mess with! "It's okay Jim," she said, snuggling closer to him. "I'm just teasing. And I agree with you-I was getting tired of those barrettes anyway."

He let out a high-pitched whine. "Don't scare me like that! I'd rather fight another legion of changelings than face the wrath of Claire Nuñez."

She closed her eyes. "Smart choice."

Slowly but surely, Jim relaxed too. He placed his arm around her and sighed in contentment. His chest started vibrating with purrs, but Claire didn't tease him for it this time. It was actually kind of soothing. It let her know he was happy.

In no time at all, they lulled off to sleep.

A/N: Finally, after all that action and angst, we finally have some fluff. Wow, I missed writing it. Claire officially looks like the model she is in Wizards-I honestly loved the redesign of her so much.

To make sure there isn't any confusion, every changeling knows how to pilot a plane, helicopter, drive a truck, etc. They need to make sure they're adept at everything the Janus Order might need. Yep, those helicopters are sanctioned to fly anywhere in the United States-as far as the government knows, the Janus Order is just a stinking rich travel agency. And where's Blinky you ask? Well, the trolls begrudgingly accepted being shrunken down-but only if their leader agreed to as well. Unfortunately, since Vendel died, that leader would be Blinky. Yeah, he's not happy about it either.

Okay, enough fluff! Next chapter, more angstttt-