Disclaimer: Fairly Oddparents, sadly, does not belong to me.

Chapter Three: Examination

She had no idea he hated her this much. Then again, when she thought about it, it was blatant in the way he reacted to her, but maybe he hated her because she thought he hated him. If she tried to appease him and force herself to act nice, he might change his tune.

It was worth a try, because all the work he was putting her through was ridiculous. Honestly, she'd never assigned this much work to him…more than twice a week. All right, so she was getting her comeuppance and she wasn't terribly pleased, but what was she to do? He had her nailed and not in a pleasant way, either.

Scrubbing the bathroom tiles with a toothbrush was difficult work and she gazed at them contemptuously, hoping by despising them enough, they'd get frightened into gleaming. Unfortunately, it didn't work and she was left with toothpaste and (she reflected with a bitter smile), Timmy's toothbrush. Hey, if she had to do this, why shouldn't she make him suffer a little too?

No, but that was why he was doing this in the first place. If she'd just told him she loved him when she started babysitting him…she'd be in court pending a lawsuit. Besides, if Tootie was creepy, imagine what he'd think of her, six years older and still acting like her younger sister. Ugh- thinking about it made her shudder.

Very carefully, she removed her long red hair from the accustomed ponytail. Why did everyone in her house have to tie their hair back? She preferred it cascading over her shoulders- when no one was looking. She only looked pretty when she knew no one could see her.

Besides, who needed to look feminine when they were invoking terror in everyone? Being dainty meant being weak, as far as she was concerned. Therefore, only she could appear weak in front of herself, no one else.

Out of the corner of her eye, she swore she saw Timmy standing there, watching her. Instead of laughing at her, like she'd envisioned, his gaze was querulous, and she wondered why. Shouldn't he be happy? He finally won…this round, at any rate.

Perhaps his conscience was bothering him. That was a possibility, wasn't it? After all, she'd never known him to do anything cruel in his life without repenting. If he let her go, then she could go back to being in charge of him and all of this could be forgotten.

He walked inside and closed the door behind her. She jumped slightly, on edge. What was his deal, making sure they were alone like this?

Sighing, he sank to his knees and, retrieving a bucket and a sponge, began to help her. He didn't meet her eyes nor did he speak to her. It was as though she wasn't there.

Something akin to pain flickered in his eyes and she jumped again, unaccustomed to him being in pain if it wasn't her fault. He sighed, hanging his head low as he scrubbed. Other than the split second expression, nothing else was discernible.

For a while, they worked in silence, the only indication they recognized each other's presence when their items ran into each other. Otherwise, Timmy ignored her. She'd never seen him so cold and impassive in his life. Usually, that was her department.

Once, when she scrubbed near the tub, she felt his eyes on her. When she turned in his direction, he quickly shifted away. She didn't ask him why- for some odd reason, it felt almost forbidden to break the silence.

A bitter smile rose to her face- so this was what Tootie and he experienced when she sentenced them to this. Needless to say, it wasn't exactly fun, but why was he volunteering to help her? He hated her; he wanted to watch her suffer. This made entirely no sense.

"Vicky?" He called and she jerked her head in his direction. (He was working on the other side of the room and, although it was not a large room by far, with his frigidness, it might have been the other end of Dimmsdale).

"Yeah?" She murmured, concentrating on obliterating a black spot and not on his voice. Instead of barking out a reply like, 'yeah, twerp!', she kept her tone low. After all, she hadn't the foggiest idea what he was thinking under that pink hat.

"Never mind!" He snapped, so loud she stared at him. His entire frame shook with anger and he flung the sponge at her before leaving the room…and locking her in again. Bastard.

Okay, what on earth had just happened? Why had he randomly flipped out on her? Random explosions were, once again, her department, not his. Was it 'act like your polar opposite day' or something? Jeez.

She took slim comfort in the fact she now had a sponge to scrub with, not his cruddy toothbrush. Heh, let him brush his teeth in the morning and find that. If only she could bring herself to laugh at his misfortune.

The fact remained that he knew her biggest secret and she knew nothing to blackmail him with. The ball was in his court and he could easily ruin her life by dialing a few numbers. Just thinking about it made her sick.

All those fake crushes, all those desperate cover-ups were for nothing. Sure, they may have deceived Tootie (that might be up for debate, since she was fairly certain that girl was smarter than most people gave her credit for), but they no longer worked on Timmy. He knew she didn't like anyone in her age group, that she was the person she'd tried to deny for so long.

More so than her corruption, her greed, and her thirst for vengeance against the world that had wronged her so long ago, this struck her as being morally wrong. Okay, so most people knew she had virtually nothing in the way of morality (or humanity, for that matter), but that wasn't entirely true. She did, but she kept it shut up lest people get the wrong impression and step all over her. Above all, she detested the thought of being construed as weak and fought it every day with her cruelty.

But she digressed. Falling in love with Timmy had, even now, become the only thing in her life she consciously objected to. How could she fall for someone when he was just a kid? Moreover, why couldn't she forget him? No matter what relationship she was in, no matter who she dated, she couldn't drive him out of her mind. And it was driving her out of her mind.

She couldn't exactly recall what she'd wanted when she was younger, perhaps just to rule over him until she fathomed her emotions. Since that had never happened, she continued to be cruel while wondering what the hell she was doing to this poor kid. He'd never done anything to deserve her hatred and yet here she was, dishing it out as though he were a terrorist and he'd killed her entire family (good riddance to them, though). It was completely baseless, moronic, and an utter lie. The trouble was, now that she was exposed, what was she supposed to do? Especially considering his own hatred of her…

Once upon a time, in the land where princes fought for princesses and bedtime stories were good enough to be true, she'd seen a fortune teller. She couldn't have been more than five, old enough to be an only child for one more year. Way back then, when she was happy with herself and who she was, before she hated the world, she'd seen the future.

And, ironically, back then, she'd believed in fate. She sincerely thought a Prince Charming was going to sweep her off her feet and deliver her to a great castle in the sky where she'd only have the best and he'd never leave her. Yes, she scorned herself now, but when she was five, it was her only wish.

In that carnival, as her parents rushed off to do something (to this day, she couldn't recall exactly what and it didn't matter much to her, anyway), an enchanting young woman with beads dangling from her glasses, a scarf over her mouth, and more scarves and jewelry than she knew what to do with, beckoned to her. Her voice was soft, magical, and Vicky followed her, feeling as though she was floating more than actually walking. Whatever powers this woman had, she was at her disposal.

The woman led her into a small, curtained room and laughed at her age. Vicky, confused but feeling so at peace, merely smiled softly. Everything was right with the world, this lady would take care of her.

She then began to tell her everything that would happen to her in the future. Although most children would have tuned her out at the first paragraph, she paid the utmost attention, unable to tear her eyes away from this strange gypsy. They wove a spell around her and she stared, transfixed.

The gypsy told her she would grow up to hate the world and everyone within it, except for one, small boy. Here she nodded, not entirely certain what she was talking about. Oh, but everything sounded so pleasant, so sweet…this woman could make hatred endearing.

She then told her the boy would be six years her junior and she'd fall hopelessly in love with him. That, no matter what she tried, she would be unable to cast him out of her mind. He was her destined love and it was best not to fight destiny.

Feeling lethargic, she nodded again and watched the strange woman weave her magic. A slender sliver of hair slipped out of her scarf, tied over her head, and she blinked at the pink hair revealed. But then it fit, didn't it? She wasn't human, she was something else. Something else…

Breathing deeply, placing her hand on her face, she smiled wistfully at her and told her life would be hard and cruel. People would cower in fear of her, but she would not be content with that, even if she lied and claimed she was. No, she would never be happy until she had the one she pined after.

Then, she whispered her name and vanished, taking the room with her. There she was left, staring at the vast wastelands and wondering if it was all a dream. Just a wonderful, magical dream.

She never told her parents about it and, in a few days, Tootie was born. By then, it was too late. Everything was set into motion and she could not change it if she wanted to.

Shaking her head, Vicky scrubbed absently at the tile. A pink lady? A woman who had magic? Simply impossible…and yet…

"If I'm meant to be with him, then why…?" She left the sentence dangling. She didn't dare find out the answer.

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