Fortunately for Lorenzo, the next day was Saturday. He didn't have to worry about missing school, which he wouldn't have attended anyway. He awoke languorously, taking his sweet time walking to the kitchen and quite enjoying his current state. He retrieved the book he had flung at Wanda's head the night before and found the faeries attempting to cook breakfast. It was going as well as one might expect, which was fine by Lorenzo's standards because he didn't need to eat like normal creatures. Instead, he fed directly off magic and right now, he was brimming full with it.

He leered at the faeries, who looked uneasy at his frame in the doorway. Lorenzo smirked and they turned away, but only for a second. Wanda smirked back, looking like she had an idea of what was in his mind. He glowered; she was a fucking bitch, that was what she was. How dare she fucking assume anything. After all, she was just Timmy's faerie godmother, nothing more. She wasn't even his biological mother.

Lorenzo snorted. Timmy's biological mother was dead and Timmy was still bitching about it, as if it meant anything. The whole reason Timmy wasn't out greeting his godparents was because he was so upset over his parents' demise. He didn't see what the big deal was-people died all the time. Timmy was just a kid, true, but he wasn't a very bright one. if he were, he'd know there might be a way to bring them back. After all, his godparents possessed a link to all of the magic in the universe. Cosmo was the most powerful faerie in existence. But, no, Timmy never used his head.

Lorenzo knew one thing. Once he eradicated Wanda, he'd celebrate. He'd throw a party and perhaps make Cosmo watch while he danced around with Cosmo's wife's head on a pike. He let this thought show in his expression, but Wanda didn't seem perturbed. If anything, her smirk broadened. His smirk vanished; she was making him uneasy now. He didn't like the idea of losing control, especially not to her.

The doorbell rang and the trio jumped.

"Get the door," Lorenzo snapped.

"We're not supposed to be here," Wanda rejoined. "You are. You, or, rather, Timmy, is supposed to be here. Or did you plan to explain yourself somehow?"

Lorenzo growled. The frach had a point. His eyes flashed and he balled his fists. He didn't want to cede control to Timmy. For one thing, Timmy didn't appreciate the power he had over his godparents. He had all of this power at his fingertips and he treated his godparents like they were living, breathing creatures with needs and wants separate from his own. Who cared if they were living, breathing creatures? They didn't deserve to be treated with love and respect. They had let him down once and Lorenzo had never forgotten that. Moreover, they were just tools.

For a few seconds, everyone just stared at each other. Wanda grimaced, heading for the door anyway, as Lorenzo thought she might. To his surprise, though, Timmy wrenched control over the body when Wanda opened the door to reveal Chester, A.J., Tootie, and Trixie. The last gave Lorenzo enough pause that Timmy snuck in.

Trixie Tang shouldn't be here. For one thing, Trixie didn't give a damn about Timmy. He thought she'd demonstrated that sufficiently before, but he was wrong. Then again, yesterday, Trixie had reached for Timmy's hand after his parents' deaths. She had shown sympathy for Timmy's dilemma and it grated on Lorenzo's nerves. People weren't allowed to change. They had to remain the same, stagnant, so that he could act up;on what he knew. If they didn't, then he couldn't plan and act accordingly.

He sunk beneath Timmy's consciousness for the time being and brooded on the unfairness of it all. He was like a petulant child himself, though don't let him catch you thinking that. He would have eviscerated anyone who'd tried.

"Trixie?" Timmy said, shocked. Wanda edged closer to the living room to watch the interplay. She could sense Timmy's presence now as opposed to The Other, who was just a lack of presence. The Other radiated malevolent dark magic, akin to anti-faerie magic but not quite the same. If anything, his magic was subverted, altered subtly from what anti-faerie magic ought to be.

"Hi, Timmy," she said. Tootie shot her a dirty look; Wanda knew enough to tell Tootie resented sharing any space with Trixie, much less being by her side.

"You know my name?" Timmy said and Trixie sighed.

"Yes, of course I do," she said. "I know your name and where you live. I mean, I had to ask for directions because you live on the other side of town, but I came anyway."

"Why?" AJ said. "Statistically speaking, you're one of the least likely people to show an interest in Timmy's life."

"Maybe I do care about him," Trixie snapped. "Maybe it's none of your business, nerd."

"You sure picked a good time to show it," Tootie grumbled, inching closer to Timmy and frowning at her crush.

"Can we come in?" Tootie asked and Timmy stepped aside for the quartet to enter. Timmy was pale and shaky; Wanda doubted he'd slept well, if at all. Lorenzo had probably kept him up all night with that damn book.

"How are you?" Trixie asked and, for once, to Wanda's shock, the girl meant it. She was genuinely concerned about Timmy's welfare.

"I'm...I don't know," Timmy said honestly. His lower lip quivered and he collapsed onto the couch. He then did a double take. "Why is there a chip bag under the couch cushions?"

"Oh, that's my bad," Cosmo said.

Chester stared at Cosmo and Wanda. "Your aunt and uncle?"

"Yeah," Timmy said faintly. "I think I owe them an apology."

"For what?" Tootie asked, though her eyes narrowed. Wanda knew she wouldn't outright contradict anything Timmy said, but she might have her suspicions about how Timmy treated Wanda. Timmy was oblivious, but Tootie had been watching Timmy for over two years now. She had to know about his relationships with his faeries.

"It's all right, hon," Wanda reassured him. "We'll talk later, but I appreciate the apology."

"I love you guys," Timmy said and his eyes welled with tears.

"We love you too," Cosmo and Wanda chorused and then left to give them privacy. It was odd to be forced to leave, but they couldn't disguise themselves without magic. They felt like the odd people out because of it.

To occupy themselves, they crawled upstairs to Timmy's room. it had changed drastically in their absence. Gone were the blank blue walls. Instead, posters lined the walls of black dragons, anti-faeries, and dark symbols Wanda didn't care to examine closer. There was also one poster that disturbed her, which appeared to be hentai, except...no. She wasn't going there.

"How the heck could Lorenzo have such a formed personality after being stuck in Timmy's mind for two years?" Wanda wondered aloud.

"How can he be interested in..." Cosmo trailed off, spying the same poster she had. He shuddered, clinging to her. She hugged him back. That poster would stay in her mind for a while; she could use brain bleach.

"I don't know," she said and shook her head. "I don't want to know. Do you?"

"No, not really," he admitted, grimacing.

Without her magic, Wanda was forced to do things the old-fashioned way. Nonetheless, she had no qualms ripping the poster off the wall and tearing it into pieces. If she could have incinerated it, she would have. She was severely tempted to.

"But how could such a perverse interest come from something that was wished for by a child?" she asked, unable to help herself. She shuddered, hugging Cosmo tightly.

It wasn't as if they hadn't dealt with pedophiles before. They had. After all, they raised children. Sometimes, the children had adversaries worse than Icky Vicky and Crocker. In another universe, Crocker might've been a whole different kind of person, one who preyed on Timmy in multiple ways. Wanda shuddered. But that didn't explain Lorenzo's behavior now.

"I don't know," Cosmo said. "You're the smart one. Aren't you supposed to know?"

Wanda shook her head. "Not smart enough."

Her lips curled in disdain. "But smarter than Lorenzo. I hope he hasn't jumped into Timmy's conversation with his friends…and Trixie and Tootie."

She shook her head again. "I can't believe Trixie showed up. I could've sworn she only cared about Timmy as a plaything, someone to push around."

"That's what I thought too," Cosmo admitted.

They'd had plenty of godchildren who'd had crushes, too, usually of the opposite gender but not always. (And they'd had a few godkids who'd had crushes on them, which made things very awkward). These tended to work out differently depending on personalities; Wanda sensed a power about Timmy's relationship with Tootie, though she never would've told Timmy that. Timmy had enough on his plate without worrying about his future paramours.

"I hope there won't be a fight," she muttered. She knew how much Tootie resented Trixie's presence. Tootie and Trixie were almost never in the same room together, much less in each other's space. Tootie hated all of the rivals for Timmy's affection, including Veronica, Cindy, and anyone else who happened to crush on their little pink-hatted godson. Wanda didn't know how someone who was ostensibly so unpopular had wound up with a harem.

"Maybe we should check on them," Cosmo suggested and she nodded.

"Let's go back downstairs," she said and then her expression darkened. "And maybe make sure Lorenzo hasn't slaughtered them all."

"Dude, you're shaking," Chester said and Timmy nodded. Without Lorenzo controlling him, he felt oddly weak and unstable. Lorenzo was insane, it was true, and a psychopath besides. But he was powerful and had cunning on his side. Timmy didn't always know what was happening when Lorenzo was in control of his body, though. Sometimes, he blacked out and when he woke up, Cosmo and Wanda looked upset. This was a pattern he hoped didn't hold, because finding out he'd done things when he was unconscious was disconcerting.

He'd bet Jimmy Neutron would know what to do. That stupid boy genius always knew everything. Timmy's heart clenched. He kind of missed him and Cindy. He missed the way life used to be, although it'd only changed in the last day and a half. Could he be nostalgic for Crocker breaking into the bathroom if only because his parents had still been alive? Or was that ridiculous?

Timmy didn't care. He sank in on himself and Tootie and Trixie sat on either side of him. The girls eyed each other like cats about to hiss and launch into a fight. Timmy almost wished he'd know who the winner would be. Tootie had never fought her own battles, but then again, as far as Timmy knew, Trixie had never needed to fight a battle in her life. Plus, girls fighting over him. That was kind of cool.

He needed to focus, but he'd never felt less capable of it in his life. His ADHD was going crazy and the only chance he had of focusing would be if his parents suddenly showed up again. But they weren't. They were never going to walk through that door again. Tears streaked his cheeks and Tootie and Trixie took each of his hands and squeezed. They then glared at each other.

"Can you stop?" he asked, barely aware he was speaking. "Or could you at least stop looking like you're going to maul each other?"

"I'd love to have girls fighting over me," Chester said and Tootie and Trixie switched their glares to him instead.

"I don't think we ought to be encouraging them to fight," AJ said. "Although…I wonder who'd win."

"Boys," Trixie scoffed.

"Seriously," Tootie said and then scowled deeper, realizing she'd inadvertently agreed with her rival.

Trixie's phone rang and she glanced down at it. "It's Veronica. I need to meet her for shopping and girl stuff, you know how it is. I know you don't want to come, so I'll talk to you later, Timmy."

"Really? His parents just died and you're going to ditch him when he needs support?" Tootie said and Trixie glowered.

"I came here," Trixie said. "I talked to him. There isn't much I can do, Tootsie. And anyway, aren't you, like, his true love? I wouldn't want to cramp your style."

Tootie was incensed and balled her fists, looking like she wanted to punch Trixie out. Cosmo and Wanda slipped into the room and Timmy was about to make a wish when he vaguely remembered Lorenzo wishing away their magic. If that was true, then nothing he said would make any difference. Not to mention it explained why his prior wish had gone awry.

"It's Tootie," Tootie snapped. "And fine. Go ahead and run away, like a coward."

"Dude, they're really going to fight over you," Chester said, sounding impressed.

"No, they're not," Wanda said before the girls had a chance to speak. "Sorry to disappoint."

"That's okay," Timmy said dully. "I don't mind. Go ahead, Trixie. Go see Veronica and do whatever it is girls do."

Trixie looked mildly affronted, as if she had expected a different response. However, she leaned forward and kissed Timmy on the cheek.

"I'll be in touch, Timmy Turner," she said and then walked out. Timmy held his cheek in awe. Trixie almost never showed affection for him and when she did, there were usually strings attached. It penetrated the hollowness and depression he'd been in since his parents perished, but not by much. It felt like nothing was going to break through that barrier.

"Sure she will," Tootie muttered as soon as Trixie had closed the door. "Do you really believe that girl? 'The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this bitch'."

"She's okay," Timmy said. He looked at Tootie. "Why are you here?"

"Because you're my true love and because Vicky's at our house and our parents are gone," Tootie said and Timmy blinked.

"What happened to your parents?" he said, tugged out of his own misery by his sympathy for Tootie's. Tootie had a tougher life than he did; he'd have thought she wouldn't have kept a faerie godparent because she didn't know how to keep a secret. Clearly, things had changed in that regard. Either that or Fairy World realized she needed a faerie anyway. Timmy didn't know how they thought and didn't care-it was none of his business.

"Vicky drove them away," Tootie said in the same dull voice Timmy had used before. "I don't know where they are now. They moved out and left no forwarding address, so it's just me and Vicky."

"Ew," Chester and AJ said in unison. They looked at Tootie awkwardly; clearly they hadn't expected to be stuck with girls when they visited Timmy.

"Yeah, I know," Tootie said, smiling halfheartedly.

"We're going to the arcade," AJ said. "I don't know if you want to go."

"No," Timmy said. "I don't know what I want."

That was what was so easy about Lorenzo; he didn't have to think about what he wanted. He didn't have to think for himself because Lorenzo did it for him. The only thing he needed to do was to hang out in his mind and sometimes, not even that.

They left; thus, Timmy and Tootie were alone, except for Cosmo and Wanda, who snuck back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the duo but otherwise not interfere.

"Icky Vicky 24/7?" Timmy said and Tootie nodded, looking stricken.

"It's awful," she said. "I'd ask if I could move in here, but you have enough problems as it is. Plus, you wouldn't want to deal with me 24/7 either."

"Why don't you just wish it?" Timmy said. "You have a faerie godparent now."

"No, because Da Rules said something about not moving into another house with a faerie godparent without permission," Tootie said. "Blah blah blah, something. I didn't pay attention. That book is friggin' huge."

"Tell me about it," Timmy said. "20 gagillion rules about what not to do and still, he found a loophole."

"He?" Tootie repeated, blinking. "Who's 'he'?"

"Never mind," Timmy said, abashed. He hadn't meant to admit Lorenzo's existence out loud, let alone to Tootie. Still, he had to admit-he needed help. Maybe she wouldn't be such a bad ally. At the very least, she'd understand what he was going through, since she'd essentially lost her parents too. It was almost worse, because at least Timmy knew where his parents were. Tootie's parents could be anywhere; they just didn't care enough to stick around. Tootie would probably never see them again, not unless Vicky died for some strange reason.

Knowing Vicky, though, she'd outlast them all out of pure spite.

"Seriously, Timmy," Tootie said and leaned forward. "Something's going on with you. I can sense it."

"Oh, now you can sense things?" Timmy snapped, trying to keep her at arm's length now.

"Allow me," a voice whispered in Timmy's mind and Timmy sank gratefully into the cold, dark embrace. Lorenzo had surfaced, which meant Timmy didn't have to face his horrible world right now. Maybe not for a long time.

It was the coward's way out. He ought to fight. He tried to turn his head to look at his faeries, but he couldn't. Lorenzo had full control over his body and was walking toward the door, because the bell had rung. On the other side stood Icky Vicky and Timmy shuddered inwardly.

"Who the heck are you?" Vicky demanded and Lorenzo leaned against the door frame.

"Timmy's cousin," Lorenzo said smoothly. "You know, it's a shame for a girl like you to be alone on Saturday night, especially when I have access to an unlimited credit card."

No, Cosmo and Wanda had access to that credit card, unless Lorenzo was planning on swiping it. Then again, he wouldn't put it past him. The only thing Vicky respected was money, so he had Vicky's attention now. Her pink eyes lit up with greed.

"Do you?" Vicky asked. He could practically see the dollar signs in her eyes. "I heard there's a new spot opening up in town. It's called Il Maestro."

"I've heard of it," Lorenzo said, who hadn't but wanted to sound cool. "That sounds perfect. Why don't I pick you up around eight?"

"Okay," she said. "I guess I can do that. You'd better be loaded."

"Oh, believe me, in more ways than one," Lorenzo said and Vicky snorted, looking over to Tootie.

"Come on, brat," Vicky called. "You need to clean the house."

"I just did!" Tootie complained.

"I'm planning on messing it up again, so you need to clean it now!" Vicky commanded and Tootie grumbled, reluctantly joining her sister's side.

"Kids, am I right?" Lorenzo said and Vicky rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it," she said. "They're more trouble than they're worth."

"Exactly," Vicky said. "See ya."

The two left and Lorenzo closed the door behind them. Timmy didn't know why he'd want a date with Vicky, not unless he had a trick up his sleeve. Or planned on humiliating her/punishing her for what she'd done to Timmy before. The latter seemed the most likely; he seemed big on revenge.

He wasn't looking forward to Lorenzo's date with Vicky. Maybe he could just black out for a while and it wouldn't matter anymore. Cosmo and Wanda could deal without him.