The Big Comfy Couch is the place to be, the place to be, the place to be! The Big Comfy Couch is the place to be! Tra la la la la la laaaaaa. (Sung to the tune of 'Who's afraid of the big bad wolf'.)

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

Quick note before you begin, this chapter is set to have happened at the same time as chapter 11.

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 12. Who Expects the Unexpected?

Cosmo was exhausted. Between not having Wanda's comforting presence and all the energy he'd used up poofing things into bushes, he felt completely drained and empty. His magic had pretty much given out on him only minutes ago and as he leaned against the wall of his cell, he hoped that he'd been able to do enough.

He'd lost count of the number of things he had managed to turn into bushes, not a hard thing to do since he had trouble counting to four as it was, but it had seemed like he'd been doing it forever, and even his arm ached from trying to hold his wand out of the little opening.

His respite however was short lived when there was a jar of the cell and Cosmo fell forward to land on his face.

"Ouch!" he cried out loud as he sat up and touched his now sore nose.

"A little warning before the bus comes to a stop next time would be nice!" he said in sarcasm.

There was a soft, but audible 'click' and Cosmo looked to his right to see a shaft of light begin to stream in. A small door to his cell began to open along the line of light and not thinking on anything but escape, Cosmo quickly scrambled up and made a quick beeline for it. Through the growing opening he zipped…only to be unexpectedly stopped by the feel of metallic string closing around him from all sides.

He felt himself jerked upwards then and as he blinked, he realized why he had not been able to get very far. He had been caught in a net.

"Whoa there! Well, aren't you the spunky one," came a mocking voice from behind him.

Cosmo turned and gaped in shock at the human that seemed to sneer at him in open disgust. Dressed in a brown jumpsuit with a singular patch across the right side of his wide chest which read "Minion 16", the man was nothing more than a massive collection of skin and fat, and his little eyes shown through the folds on his face with clear, mean streaked, maliciousness.

"Thought you would try to take off from us, did you? Without giving us the honor of showing you the lovely accommodations we have set aside for you? Tsk tsk. Such bad manners."

The reply of 'Actually, Wanda says I have no manners' came to mind, but Cosmo found that his frozen tongue could give no voice to it as he continued to take in the far from handsome visage that stared in at him.

"Hey Charlie, check this out."

Minion 16, now named Charlie, looked away from the captive Cosmo and towards where another man stood. Cosmo tried to follow the human's gaze to see what it was that had managed to capture and contain him, but he could not see anything past the vast midsection of Charlie.

"Looks like this one was giving it all he had to get free," said the other man obviously referring to the damage that Cosmo had inflicted upon his cell.

Charlie, nodded as he turned to look back at Cosmo with a contemptuous expression.

"Hm. Sure does. I'd be willing to bet this might be one of the ones the boss is looking for. None of the others has shown anything even close to this one's gumption."

"You think so?" asked the other man, a far better looking specimen than the first human, in wide eyed awe as he joined Charlie's side.

Cosmo couldn't help but look up at them in surprise.

No one had ever looked at him in awe before. Worry and fear, yes. But never awe.

Cosmo frowned. And what in the world did gumption mean?

"You kiddin' me Mike? With that green hair and green eyes and trying real hard to get away, I'd say so. Too bad the boss isn't in right now. He'd be down here in a shot to see this guy."

The other human, Mike, nodded.

"What do we do with him then?"

Charlie shrugged.

"Put him in a holding cell like all the others until the boss gets back."

A cell? With the others?

Though a little part of him did wonder what the heck was going on, Cosmo had no real inclination to find out. He just wanted out. Now.

And so, with that, Cosmo pulled out his wand and held it aloft.

"Um, as much fun as this hasn't been, I really have to go now," he said before he quickly flicked his wand.

"Thhippt!"

Charlie laughed.

"Uh, helloooo! You're in a net. Your magic, or whatever you guys use, won't work inside it."

Cosmo stared numbly at his wand. How could he have been so stupid? He knew his magic wouldn't work against a net. Why had he even tried?

Because he was still worried over Wanda. Even now that he was out of his original prison, he still could not feel her.

A mix of fear and anger overwhelmed him just then and unable to help himself, Cosmo grabbed hold of the strings of the net and began to yank and pull at them in futile desperation.

"Let me outta' here! Lemme' out, lemme' out, lemme' out!"

"Man! You weren't kidding Charlie. He is a feisty one!" grinned Mike.

"Or crazy. Maybe stupid. Heh, maybe it isn't one of the one's we're looking for after all."

"Hey!" yelled Cosmo indignantly. "Watch who you're calling crazy!"

Charlie leered again as he shook the net back and forth several times, viciously wiping Cosmo about unmercifully.

"What's the matter you little freak? Don't you want to stay and play with all your little friends?"

"N-n-no," Cosmo managed to chatter through his teeth as his head spun wildly for a moment after the shaking he had just gotten.

"Too bad pal. You're going to be here a while."

Cosmo looked up.

"Y-you wouldn't mind telling me where here is would you? I really should tell my wife where I'm at."

The men laughed with cruel gusto.

"Listen to that! The little freak is worried about his wife! As if you nasty little things would actually get married. Ha! But just in case you really do, then you might want to check the work floor first. I'll bet we got her already."

Cosmo quieted again quickly at the thought.

'What if they do already have her,' he wondered as the men held the net before them and moved towards a door at the other side of the room. If that was the case and she was already a prisoner, then what were they going to do to get out?

His green haired head shook quickly.

No. They couldn't have her. She was too smart. Then again, these guys were too. They knew about the nets and a fairy's inability to use magic against it, and if they knew that, then what else did they know?

"Welcome to your new home freak," said Charlie as he opened the door and stepped through.

"Whoa," said Cosmo in huge surprise.

From their position high on a metal catwalk, Cosmo looked down at a sight he could never have possibly imagined in his entire life. Ringed around a massive factory work room were some twenty huge bee hive shaped cells each filled to the brim with hundreds and hundreds of fairies. Fairy God Parents to be exact.

"You…you caught all of these fairies?" asked Cosmo, his poor mind whirling as he scanned the many cells dazedly for Wanda.

"Well, they didn't hop in their cages when we asked now did they?"

"Uh…no?"

Charlie snorted.

"You're definitely not the brightest light bulb here pal."

"Wha…what are you going to do with us?"

"Me? Nothing…well, save for putting you up in one of our deluxe suites that is."

Cosmo gave a grimace as he muttered.

"If these are deluxe suites then I want my money back."

Charlie walked down the stairs leading to the work room floor as he smirked.

"Sorry, no refunds given."

Cosmo crossed his arms stubbornly.

"Yeah? Well, I'd like to speak to a manager about that."

"The boss ain't in right now. But I expect when he gets back, he'll be in here real quick to see you."

Even Cosmo could see that he was very shortly going to be held prisoner in one of the many cells and in an effort to delay it, he kept talking as he gripped his wand tightly to his chest. They had to take him out of the net sooner or later, and when they did, he would have to be fast with his wand to get out of their hold. He just hoped he'd been able to rest long enough to build up at least a little of his magic back.

"Why the rush to see me? Like you said…I'm just a stupid fairy."

"And it could just be an act."

Cosmo couldn't help but laugh. Wanda would have been hysterical on that one he thought for a second.

"Me? Acting? Yeah right! Now who's crazy?"

Charlie passed several cells and Cosmo looked into them to see the eyes of the fairies within, some he knew, some he didn't, staring at him in fear and worry.

"Seen your girlfriend yet?" asked Charlie with a nasty grin.

Cosmo couldn't help it. He glared up at the human but only received more derisive laughter. A moment later, Charlie stopped before one of the last containment cells.

"Well, here we are little freak. You're new home. Say hello to all your new housemates!"

Charlie held the net out carefully and as Cosmo saw Mike prepare to open the top of the net, he gripped his wand with white knuckled intensity. It was almost time.

'Wait for it…wait for iiiiiit…' intoned Cosmo silently in anxious preparation for action.

But the chance for freedom never came.

Before the top of the net had even begun to open, before he'd had time to even lift his wand, Cosmo felt his body squeezed tightly from behind, his arms pinned against his body. He looked down to see a long handled pair of tongs holding him through the mesh of the net.

"Opps. I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that all wands must be checked in at the door. It's a wand free establishment you see," laughed Charlie as he let go of the net handle as another human held the tongs tightly. The wand in Cosmo's hand was duly plucked away and Charlie held it before Cosmo's face.

"Feeling a little empty handed there, freak?"

Cosmo nodded with a scared stare as Mike worked the net down and off of Cosmo's head carefully.

"You should be," laughed Charlie as he pushed the star topped point roughly against Cosmo's forehead briefly, leaving a little dimple from the pressure.

A second pair of tongs were wrapped around Cosmo's neck and as these now established the human's control over the fairy's only partially needed ability to breath, the lower tongs were released just enough to allow the net to be removed from Cosmo. Once the net was off, the lower tongs were tightened again before the two humans holding Cosmo were joined by yet a third. The third however carried a long pole with a large fork like end that buzzed ominously when a small button was pushed.

Charlie stepped to the side as a door at the front of the thick glass cell slid open letting the three humans with Cosmo step into a safety room. The first door slid shut completely before a second door, leading directly into the holding area of the cell, was opened and the man with the long pole waved it out in front of him as he ordered, "Get back all of you. Get back."

One little powder blue haired fairy girl, at least a good seven thousand years Cosmo's junior, was unable to get away as quickly as the man ordered and without a trace of remorse on his face, the man touched her back with the end of the pole. The little fairy gave a high, shrill shriek of surprised pain as the power of the electricity with which she had been hit, pushed her away and into the arms of several fairies close by.

Once everyone had backed up to a reasonable distance, Cosmo felt a hand placed on his back as the tongs on him loosened and with a following hard shove, Cosmo was propelled forward through the air several feet before he managed to pull up to a stop and whirl around. The men stepped back into the safety room casually, apparently assured there was no one who could do anything. But Cosmo was determined to be free and find Wanda, and in a show of reckless daring, he charged forward towards them. The door slid shut quickly and before Cosmo could stop himself, he slammed into it with an awful sounding thud. Momentarily stunned, he fell to the floor where he shook his head slowly to clear it as he heard Charlie on the outside laughing uproariously.

"Oh yeah! You're a real bright boy. I can see we'll need to keep an eye you, won't we?"

Cosmo stood up shakily and as he watched Charlie and the other humans walk away, he started pounding on the thick glass.

"Hey! Let us out of here! Let us out! You don't have any right to keep us here! Come on!"

Finding himself completely ignored, Cosmo quickly dropped his show of bravado before turning to look at the other disheartened and unfamiliar fairies trapped in the cell with him.

"Well, this stinks," he said with a grimace as he slouched down to sit on the floor miserably.

There was a soft chuckle to his left, though it was devoid of any true mirth given the situation, and Cosmo looked over to see a head of black hair move through the crowd of fairies towards him.

"It would seem that not even the stupidest fairy in the universe has luck enough to escape this disaster, eh?"

Cosmo looked to see Wandissimo Magnifico step out before him with a grim smirk across his handsome features.

Cosmo rolled his eyes with a scowl.

"Oh great! Not only am I stuck in here with a hundred fairies I don't know, but I just have to be stuck in here with one I do and don't like! What are you doing here Magoo?"

Wandissimo smiled.

"It would seem, the same as you. Trapped. But I wonder…how is it you were trapped alone? What has become of my muy bonita Wanda?"

Cosmo's indignation at Wandissimo's presence slipped away as he looked down sadly.

"I don't know. She was with our goddaughter Tammy and I was with Tommy. She went to the library and the art school and Tammy's friends house, but they weren't home before I got caught."

Wandissimo rubbed his chin absently as he quickly cast a look around the huge room.

"Then it would seem that unless my gorgeously beautiful purple eyes deceive me, Wanda may be one of the only fairy godparents still un-captured."

Cosmo perked immediately.

"Wanda's not here?"

"No. Which means we still have a chance for freedom."

Cosmo sobered quickly as his earlier worry returned.

"Maybe," he replied slowly as he looked at his feet.

Wandissimo stared at Cosmo is surprise.

"¿Cuál es éste? You do not believe that your wife could rescue us? You are a far bigger idiot than even I first thought! If anyone should have cause to believe that she would find us, you should. How many times has she saved your pathetic neck? How much more intelligent is she above all others? How much more talented a fairy? How much more beautiful?"

Cosmo rolled his eyes as he gave Wandissimo an annoyed look.

"Well I know all that!"

"Than dare I ask you to explain the meaning behind your apparent lack of faith?"

Green eyes drooped back down.

"She's the only one I would trust to save us, but if she's not even around to find the breadcrumbs…"

Wandissimo looked at Cosmo with some confusion.

"Wait…What do you mean 'if she's not even around' ? And what of these breadcrumbs?"

Cosmo sighed.

"I left a trail for Wanda to follow to find me, but if she's not around to find them, then we don't have much hope."

"I still do not get it. Why would Wanda not be around?"

"Because, because…I can't talk to her, and she can't talk to me, and I can't feel her and I…"

Wandissimo interrupted quickly

"Well of course you cannot talk to her now. You are here and she is not."

"No. We don't need to be in the same room to talk. We…we…" Cosmo debated quickly whether he should say anything.

"We talk up here," he pointed to his head. "And I should be able to feel her…her…spirit, her presence. I should be able to tell that she's still okay. I should be able to tell if she's mad or happy or worried… But I can't feel anything. It's like…like she's…like she's gone. Gone gone."

Cosmo saw Wandissimo pull back slightly as though startled.

"You can talk to Wanda without speaking? You can feel her emotions?"

Cosmo nodded.

"And she can do that back. We've always been able to, but now…it feels like she's not a part of me anymore."

He shivered as he turned his eyes to gaze down at his feet.

"I've never felt so cold and empty before."

Wandissimo said nothing for a few moments and Cosmo didn't look up. He didn't want to see the look of joy he could easily imagine on his long time rival's face at the prospect of Wanda being separated from him. Had he not been so sad he might have heard a softer note in the voice beside him.

"Hmmm. I do not think that anything…permanent, could possibly have happened to her. It may be that you are just separated by too great a distance or perhaps something is interfering with your…ability. I think that even if she does not find your trail, she should be able to find us all by the amount of magic located all in one spot if she considers the idea in time, which I for one believe she would. So you see? We stand every chance and hope of being rescued any minute."

It was at that moment that the color of every fairy present suddenly went dull, and with a jumbled chorus of "Ow's", "Ouchs" and "Hey's!", those who had been floating fell to the ground with heavy thuds.

Cosmo looked in astonishment at a now flattened Wandissimo.

The lavender eyed fairy looked back with a grim sigh.

"Well, maybe not."

Ohhhh, poor Cosmo! He has no idea what's going on and all he wants to do is find Wanda and make sure she's alright. Isn't that just so sweet? I wonder what Wandissimo makes of that. Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to explore that sometime soon… Oh, and the answer to last weeks query would be, Mrs. Lovejoy, the good reverend's wife. Always so worried about the children and the biggest gossip in Springfield!

Mucho gracias to the following reviewers! Wow! 7 of you! That's the most reviews for a single chapter to date! You guys rock out loud!

Band Geek 727 - I am so glad you liked the last chapter. It was such a pain to write, but I promise to keep trying my best!

Commander - I'm grinning like the Cheshire cat right now! I love the fact that you see Wanda the same way I do. I just think she's awesome! Its funny though that there aren't a lot of us out there. I've seen plenty of Cosmo fan clubs (many of which I've joined, lol), but I can't recall seeing a single Wanda fan club. Maybe its time to get one going… And there's no worries about writers block for the general plot of the story. I've had that mapped out completely from the beginning. It's the individual lines of the chapters that sometimes don't like to get out of my head, the last chapter being a perfect example. It took me an entire week to get that thing finished!

Wanda Wish - I agree. A bad day (or chapter!) once in awhile is a good thing. Its helps keep everything in perspective. And Cosmo does have some logic and common sense. We even occasionally see a smidge of it in the show (consider some of the jokes and obscure references he makes). He just doesn't always acknowledge its there or utilize it proficiently. Of course I've always wondered if there isn't a reason for that. Something to think about, eh?

Lilylynn - Welcome, welcome, welcome! I'm so thrilled you think this is awesome. I know, there were some sad parts and a few yet to go, but there will be some good ones too very soon. Its always good to see fellow fans of Cosmo and Wanda as the cool couple they are!

Faye Lunacorn - I just want to pound the person who took Cosmo too and when we get to the end, we'll all have even more reason too, but that's for later…he he. So far I'm pleased with how this has been working out and yes, the little bits Wanda keeps remembering are part of the heart tugging I wanted to encourage from everyone. So glad its working as planned, Mwahahahahahaha! Lol. As for a joyous reunion…ummm…can't divulge to much but I can say that there will be some things going on that may push back the best part of that moment. True love and the ability to sense each other…there is a reason for that as will be explained much later. And finally, there may a few more twists to come! We'll have to see. 'Hi Mr. Jackhammer! I'm Trixie21 and this is Mr. Writers Block…What? I'm just trying to be a good hostess.' Lol.

Aerinsoul - TY for the birthday wish! I've hidden the cheesecake from everyone except my wonderful reviewers so you can all have a piece, but the Cosmo hugs are all mine. Well, a few for Wanda too. I wouldn't want her to think I was trying to take him away! I'm glad you thought the chapter turned out alright. It was just sooo hard. Thank goodness its done! I'm you're only hope for good reading huh? I sure hope I don't disappoint. I loved literature in Honors English (not that I learned that much in there!), but I loved reading all the stories in the first week we were given the book and I usually had two page analyses written on each by the second week. I love reading! The only things better about that class was when we got to act out the stories or really talk about it in depth. One of my faves was the Mask of the Red Death. Very cool. Old world morbid, but still with effect. Anyways, try to have some fun this year and good luck. Anti fairies? As long as it's Anti Cosmo, I'll be cool. I'll take him and his bad luck any day! Well, mostly I'll take him. Yeah, I think he's cool too. Cosmo is still way cooler though! Crocker? Officially, I haven't completely decided. Its still up in the air. Does seem to be the obvious choice though, huh?

Kraven the Hunter - Of course I wrote something to you. I knew you'd catch up eventually. Okay, re chapter 8's question -"Although if what I think just happened did, then "the back of his head slammed into something solid" would make more sense as "something solid slammed into the back of his head." - I think it could go either way. But when I was writing it, I had him moving backward, so it seemed to make more sense to me that he hit something that wasn't moving versus something moving forward to hit him while he stood still. Just my lowly view of course. Chapter 9... Heaven forbid someone should kill off Cosmo! They'd have the whole of Cosmo's fandom breaking down their door! Lol. Chapter 10... Off topic is cool. Now I have something interesting to look up. Chapter 11... It should be a strain. She's so used to sharing the load (however small a part that may actually be) with Cosmo, that it should be a little harder to do the bigger things alone. Tammy is a pip isn't she? Very feisty. The kind of girl I wish I was sometimes. - "Though if Jorgen cuts their magic, does that mean Cosmo won't be able to keep sending out magic bursts?" - I think the chapter above answered that! Lol. And yes, we'd all pay to see Wanda finally give it to Mama Cosma but good even if only just once.

By the by everyone…

¿Cuál es éste? Means…"What is this?" Of course you all knew that, right?

Adios!

Trixie21