Welcome! You are now entering the quiet little borough of… The Big Comfy Couch of Denial-ville.

Governor: Eternal Optimism

Population: Usually one, but often variable.

Town Logo: "Where happy endings happen all the time!"

(…) means twin's telepathy and ((…)) means Cosmo and Wanda telepathy.

No, I don't own FOP or any reference to its varied characters mentioned herein, and unless the new episodes that follow 'School's Out' begin showing the love again, I wouldn't want to. So, for now, Butch Hartman can keep his name tacked on…even if it is for nothing more than the royalties at this point.

Oh…and I don't own The Big Comfy Couch either. That belongs to some broadcasting company in Tennessee I think. : )

Fairly OddParents : The Next Generation

Chapter 8. Patience is a Virtue, But Not One of Cosmo's

Even though Cosmo was happy, bliss would not have been the right word to describe him at that moment. Sure he was having a great time hanging with Tommy and granting a few fun, if really basic, wishes, but it just wasn't the same without Wanda there to share it with.

Okay, so she probably wouldn't have been interested in the pie eating contest, playing virtual reality games for four hours straight or pretending to be mole people, but still, she would have been around to watch and probably even smile over it all at least a few times. Yes, Cosmo would have been far happier if she did participate, but seeing her smile or laugh at his antics was only one step below, and that would have been bliss even by itself.

Cosmo loved to see her smile. He adored hearing her laugh. And he totally knew it was worth anything to be able to be the one to get her to do those things. He always rather thought he was just about the only one who could. Maybe that was why she had chosen him. Sure he'd been trying his heart out to impress her and get her interested, but in the end hadn't it been when he just stopped trying so hard and been himself that she'd finally laughed and truly smiled in ease? That of course had led to their relationship really taking off. And ever since, he'd made it his chief role in life to see that Wanda never forgot to smile and laugh. It kept her happy and relaxed and truth be told, Cosmo thought she was just plain gorgeous when she did those things.

Now if he could just get Tammy to be happy with him too, then the world would be aces.

Oh, he had noticed the girl didn't seem all that overly interested in him. She rarely said anything to him in fact except when she was unhappy at him for some silly thing or mistake he'd made. Not that he'd meant to cause problems of course. She just didn't seem to understand that he just wasn't like Wanda. Then again, to his mind, no one could ever be just like Wanda.

At least Wanda understood him for the most part, though Cosmo wasn't quite sure if she really got what was going on with Tammy and him. He'd asked her about it a dozen times…or maybe two dozen times…he wasn't sure about that it either. He'd lost track. But what it came down to was that Wanda just kept insisting every time that Tammy was slow to warm up to people and he just had to be patient.

That one always threw him for a loop. He did hope she remembered who she was talking too when she said 'be patient'.

He'd never been very good with that one.

In a universe where instant gratification was just a wand flick away, why should he have to be patient? He'd sort of learned a long time ago that with Wanda, that would have to be adhered to a little better if he wanted to keep having any chance with her, especially in the beginning. Particularly after the time he'd gotten to a park they were supposed to meet at, a little too early, and couldn't wait the whole hour before she was expected to show. He'd been in such a hurry to have her there that he'd broken one of the biggest rules fora fairiy that had not had academy training and transported her right to the park. It took a lot of energy to do without thorough training for it, but she'd appeared before him just as he'd planned.

Except…she was wrapped only in a bath towel having just finished a shower.

He hadn't known anyone could yell his name quite so loud before that day. Of course, he hadn't known how red a fairy could turn and how far down their neck it could go before that either. So what if she'd refused to talk to him for a week after that. It was still one of his favorite early memories of being with Wanda and it was made only better by the fact that he now knew exactly how far down the red could go when she was really embarrassed. Yes, when Wanda blushed, she really blushed.

Cosmo grinned happily to himself at the rare thought and the even rarer mental picture that followed.

"Uh, Cosmo? Hellllloooooo……Ground control to Major Cosmo…… COSMO!"

"Huh?" Cosmo asked as he blinked and turned to look at Tommy. The kid had called pretty loudly, but it still didn't compare to Wanda's yell. Especially the one from that day in the park…

"Cosmo! Will you wake up here."

"Uh, oh! Sorry, Tommy. What were you saying?"

Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Oh, never mind. Geez. When you get distracted, you really get distracted, don't you?"

Cosmo smiled proudly.

"Yep!"

Tommy sighed.

"So what the heck were you thinking of that apparently bears more importance to you than the government's secret plots to control mankind?"

Cosmo looked at Tommy with clueless abandon.

"I was thinking of something?"

"That mile wide grin on your face said you were."

Cosmo was silent for a moment as he cast back in his memory to what he had been thinking of. It took the fisherman in his head several times of trying before the hook actually made it into the water.

"Oh, that. I was just, ummm, remembering things. That's all."

Tommy gave him a disbelieving gaze.

"You? Remembering? What exactly? You looked like you thought you were in heaven or something."

"Exactly!"

Feeling rather smug that he'd covered up nicely, Cosmo smiled. Wanda would be thrilled that he hadn't let such a personal memory slip.

Tommy groaned with a roll of his eyes.

"Cosmo, you're cool and all, but definitely weird," said Tommy with a smirk.

"And Wanda wouldn't want it any other way!"

The black haired boy grinned knowingly.

"So that's it, huh. Thinking of her again?"

Cosmo began to twiddle his wand between his fingers almost anxiously, not noticing the way Tommy deftly moved away from in front of the potentially lethal magical device.

"Well, I just can't help it. I don't like when she's gone for so long."

"You don't like being alone?" asked Tommy curiously.

Cosmo nodded his head.

"I feel like I'm going to mess everything up when she's not around. She's so good at everything and I'm just, well, you know. I can just do so much better when she's with me."

"Why?"

Cosmo shrugged.

"I don't know. She just, just makes me feel like I can do anything. She always believes in me and always helps me and always tells me I can do things even though I know I can't."

"So she's pretty supportive, huh?"

Confusion flickered across the fairy's face.

"Wait. Which one? Pretty? Or supportive?"

Tommy sighed tiredly.

"I meant to ask if you thought she was really supportive."

"Oh! Always. Well, she's pretty too. But definitely supportive. And I really do try so hard to show her I can do everything she says I can, but sometimes, no matter what I do, I just mess it all up."

Tommy looked at Cosmo understandingly.

"I think you're doing fine, Cosmo."

The fairy godfather perked up for a second.

"I am?"

"Sure."

Cosmo went glum again.

"Tammy doesn't think so."

Tommy waved it off.

"Don't worry about Tammy. She's just a pain sometimes."

"But she's smart, like Wanda."

"Yeah, but too smart. Sometimes she looks at stuff too seriously and her idea of fun isn't always the same as ours."

Cosmo agreed to that.

"Well that's true!"

"She knows lots of stuff about art and always does pretty good in school too and she can talk really well to others, but sometimes she doesn't realize that people don't always like the way she just says what she thinks or her opinions. She doesn't mean to be like that. Its just the way she's always been. You shouldn't take anything she says so personally."

"Yeah, but what about when she doesn't say anything?"

"Aw, she just doesn't know what to say yet, that's all. She never says anything until she knows someone well."

"But she talks to Wanda all the time. Even right from the start."

"That's just because they have a lot in common. Like you and me."

Cosmo gave a reflective look.

"Soooooo you think maybe she'll be okay with me eventually?"

"Sure. Just give her time."

Cosmo smirked.

"That's what Wanda keeps saying."

"And is she usually wrong?"

The green haired fairy smiled.

"Nope. Well, almost never. There was that one time in Calcutta where she thought it was okay to eat in that one restaurant and they served us monkey brains for dessert… Then there was the time she said that having a pneumatic escape tube to Texas was a dumb wish… Oh! And then there was the time she thought I could actually do the grocery shopping, oh man was that ever funny! And then there was the time…"

"Okay! Okay! I get it. But do you think she's wrong about waiting for Tammy to get used to you?"

"Ummmm…Probably not?"

"Right. Now can we please take advantage of the fact that there are no girls here today and get back to having fun?"

"Yay! Fun!"

"Now that's more…uh oh!"

Cosmo looked at Tommy curiously as the boy was silent for a second.

"It's that robot! It's coming up! Lets hide!"

"You mean like 'hide and seek'?"

"Yeah!"

"Cool! Where do you want to hide?"

"The tree house?"

"Yeah!"

Tommy looked at Cosmo, and Cosmo at Tommy. They looked…and looked…and looked…and looked at each other.

"Cosmo!"

"What?"

"The tree house, remember?

"I remember."

"Then make with the magic already before that thing gets up here!"

"Uh, excuse me, but I believe you've forgotten to put your request in the form of a wish first," stated Cosmo firmly with crossed arms and a haughty turn of his head. Even though Cosmo was not right all that often, there were times when he knew he was, and when that happened, he didn't let anyone deviate from it.

"Alright, alright! I wish we were in the tree house already!"

"One game of hide and seek getting underway!" said Cosmo with a grin before the two were poofed away just seconds before the door to Tommy's bedroom flew in.

And so, for the rest of the late afternoon and into the evening, Tommy and Cosmo had a blast confounding the monstrosity, which was trying to catch the boy to make him dig a new flower garden in the front yard, with one of the best games of 'hide and seek from Vic-Bot' ever.

From the tree house, to the attic, to the living room, to the broom closet, to the bathroom, to hiding under the bed, there was no room, no space available in the house and around the yard, that wasn't utilized in the game.

"Psst, Tommy…here it comes!" whispered Cosmo happily.

Tommy smiled at the green sparrow that sat on the tree limb above his hiding place.

"Okay! I wish we were hiding in the basement!"

Cosmo grinned widely and with a flick of his wand and a pale green poof smoke, the two were immediately transported to the basement.

"Man, it is ever dark in here," said Cosmo as he poofed a flash light into his hand and turned it on, accidentally shining the beam right into Tommy's eyes.

"Ahhh! Turn it off! Turn it off!" yelled Tommy half blinded as he quickly covered his eyes.

Cosmo did as he was told.

Suddenly therecame the loud bang of the kitchen door.

"Great! Our cover is blown. I wish you would go find a new place for us to hide, Cosmo. Hurry!"

"You got it Tommy!"

With that Cosmo poofed out of the basement and into the living room where he quickly considered their options.

"Hmmm, behind the couch looks good. Or maybe beside the recliner. Oooo, the china cabinet would be good, but then again the bookshelf has that big space behind it…"

Just then, Cosmo felt something grab the back of his shirt by the collar abruptly, and with a choking pressure against his throat, he was yanked backwards viciously with a jerk. Back he flew with dangerous speed, and for a moment was aware of nothing except the wind whistling past his ears until he passed through a small opening and into a very small, dark space.

That was all he had time to recognize though before the back of his head slammed into something solid and stars flashed across his vision. They lasted only a moment. The second following consisted of him falling to the floor of the room as he asked weakly, "Can I go out to play mommy?" before his world went black and he knew even less than he normally did.

Ha ha! Did I not say that something was going to be happening soon? So sad that it has to be to my poor adorable Cosmo. I'm so torn up over it. But you know what they say. You always hurt the ones you love. So did anyone else laugh over that "park" incident like I did? ; )

Okay everyone. Thankies time!

Faye Lunacorn - Thank you! I aim to please! I've long been convinced that taking my time and covering all the points as much as possible is the only way I can write anything worth sharing. Some people hate me for this, preferring instead a Readers Digest version. But I just can't do that! I won't say I'm the most detail oriented person on this site,but I try to avoid glossing over things too quickly. As for Wanda and her "history" lesson…Its just something that seemed right to me. She can be so serious sometimes. Not a typical fun loving fairy, and to imagine her a young fairy like that…I don't think it would take anything less than someone like Cosmo to bring out her lighter side. And you felt bad for Wandissimo? Yes! That means I'm doing my job! I'm not a "Juan" fan myself, but I've decided to let him have a small piece of my attention in this. He'll be making more appearances as this goes on and will play a decent part by the end. And do I detect the hint of a Red Dwarf fan? ; )

Aerinsoul - I try to update anything I'm posting at least weekly. And that's actually a jump from what I originally thought I would be able to do with this. I had to take a bit of a hiatus from my Yu-Gi-Oh fic, Sugoroku's Story, because of the research I have to do for it, and that allows me to update this a little faster. If I get too much farther ahead though, I'll try to throw two chapters at you all at once. I'm glad you like Wanda in that last chapter. I liked it too personally. It gave a little of her thoughts on the way Cosmo has changed her life without actually going into the absolute "HOW" they met. Sometimes the moment of meeting isn't as important as the "WHAT" that happens afterward. Hmmm… Does Jorgen know you 'borrowed' his big glowing friend?

Commander - YES! I read Origins! And I liked it! I'm pretty sure I read "A Fish Called Wanda" too at some point, though I can't remember it. I think I have to reread it to refresh my memory. J And we must have Cosmo and Wanda fluff! The more the better! Wait until we hit towards the end. Sniff…so touching. So cute. Soooo…fluffy. LOL. Tammy is a good girl. And even though she is quite adroit at looking at the two sides of an issue and finding a happy medium, she does get a little blind when it comes to people and what they think of her opinions or "side". She's not exactly a know it all, but she can come off that way. Fortunately she was able to see her initial opinion was based upon lack of thorough information and with her need to be clear about what ever is going on around her, it was only matter of time before she realized something wasn't right. And I agree! If only everyone were like that! Tommy on the other hand is a bit more empathic, more in touch with his gentler side as it were. He's still all boy and he acts a like one, but he thinks about other people and their feelings just a bit more.

Until next time everyone!

Y'all come back now, ya' hear?

Trixie21