(…) 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 22. Breadcrumbs to Cosmo

Wanda, Tammy and Tommy sat in the leather interior of the well appointed limo and quietly listened to Mr. Ibrahim as he spoke on the phone with the police. He'd given whoever was currently on the other end a run down of everything they'd discovered to this point and though it seemed that for the most part he was well received, there was still some questioning. In the end though, AJ had won out and several available officers were being sent to rendezvous with them at the factory.

As AJ continued with his phone calls to various people within his company, Wanda noticed Tommy and Tammy looking at each other with regular quick glances.

She sighed.

They were communicating telepathically again though they were trying to keep from doing anything too noticeable to show it. Particularly in front of AJ. Wanda could have told they were doing so even without the furtive glances. They didn't know it yet, but their fleeting looks were only one of more than a hundred different signals they gave off when they talked silently. And Wanda saw every one.

It wasn't all that hard for her really. She'd learned them all years ago just from watching Cosmo doing ever single one himself.

A lift of the eyebrows here, a twitch of a finger there, a barely perceptible bobbing of the head, a toss of a shoulder, even the movement of vocal chords in the throat as if saying a particular word out loud…it was all there. Cosmo would even shudder if he was 'thought speaking' fearfully or sweat slightly if he was talking nervously. And that was barely the tip of the iceberg. With him, she was like a living lie detector. His signals were so particular to just him, that she didn't even need to hear the lie in her head to know when he was fibbing. The subtle, and regularly not so subtle, body language he displayed made it perfectly clear to her. He was like an open book.

And yet he still managed to mystify her.

9,915 years and he could still surprise her and take her off her guard. Oh, he'd float along happily with whatever little system or routine he had going for himself just then, and just when she was sure she could predict every little thing he did down to the precise minute…Bamm! He'd go and change it on her.

Sometimes it did annoy the hell out of her. She'd make plans around however he was doing things at that point and suddenly he'd change, and everything just went right out the window. Including whatever plans she'd made. But to be fair, she found his strange style and changing of habits to be quite intriguing as well. It challenged her to guess his next moves. It motivated her to stay focused on him even during the most mundane of chores. And it encouraged her to keep her mind open to new and different and strange.

In fact, he'd appeared at just the right point in her life; when her mind had been most open and ready for someone so radically different from what she knew best, and it was entirely possible that had his timing in that one instance been off…had he appeared at any other point in her life, she might not have thought quite the same about him.

To think about it now as an older and mature adult, she wasn't sure if even his charms would have been enough to out weigh his strangeness . She wasn't sure she would have fallen for him, or at least given him the chance, if she was only just now meeting him for the first time. She wasn't sure she'd have had time for his randomness.

But fortunately, she had met him all those years ago and she wouldn't have changed that for the world. Sure he was hard to understand at times. Sure he didn't always make things all that easy for her. Sure interacting with him was sometimes more like interacting with a child rather than an adult. But darn it, she was happy with that. She was content with that. And in her mind, it really was an ideal blending of personalities.

She wasn't a fairy who liked to just sit idle and wave the wand when she needed to. She liked to work through things. She preferred that in fact to just sitting about. It made the times when she did relax that much more appreciated. Besides, working hard made her feel as though she were really contributing, like she doing something worthwhile, sometimes even important.

Cosmo's occasionally insane style and random way of doing things not only kept her on her toes and thinking, but it kept her occupied with work to do. No, she didn't like getting in trouble for the some of the more inappropriate things he did. But she needed to have that opportunity to cover for him just as much as he needed her to do it. Once more, it made her feel like she was doing her very best. Especially for him.

And he repaid her a million times over for it with all the other things he shared with her.

He gave everything he was - what little there was of it - only to her. His love, his confidence, his trust, his gentleness, his soul... All these he willingly offered up to her on a silver platter, so close she didn't even have to reach for it. It was all placed directly beneath her very fingers. Oh, and the fun he gave to her life! That alone was worth even the worst of his mischievous nature. And the things he could get her to do when he shared his pastimes with her!

She'd never been much of a dancer before him. But he was such a mover that she'd hardly had a choice but to try. Strangely enough was how much she found she liked it. He was a carefree joker and couldn't help but get into trouble and look at the lighter side of life. Once he was on the scene, Wanda had had to throw most of her restrained control and stuffy idea of living right out the window. And laugh? Good heavens could he make her laugh! He could get her going so badly, laughing like a hyena practically, her sides were splitting in agony over it and her head would ache afterwards. The joke didn't even have to be a terribly good one. He just needed to tell it.

Wanda sniffed slightly and blinked back the quickly forming tears, wiping away the few that made it out.

God how she needed to laugh again. One day without and she was already an absolute mess.

Imagining it was Cosmo's face and not her own reflection staring back at her from the window, she put a hand up to the glass to touch where his cheek sat and stared into the green of the nonexistent eyes. Such an extraordinary shade of green they were too. Nothing save for the new grass and leaves of spring could even come close. Not even the fish shaped bush they were passing could compete with the vivid green of his soul melting eyes.

Wait… Fish shaped bush?

Cosmo's image was gone in a heartbeat and Wanda leaned closer to the window to stare out quickly. The bush in question was indeed fish shaped. But more than that, it was formed almost exactly like the goldfish forms she and Cosmo assumed when in their bowl, and so neatly shaped was it that it could not have been a mere accident that it looked that way. That had been totally cut by design.

Or was that magically created by design?

Wanda continued to stare outside along the side of road intently, and when another bush began to come into view, she leaned forward with a held breath. It almost looked like…like…

Yes! Another goldfish shaped bush!

Wanda smiled broadly. That silly, empty-headed husband of hers! He'd left markers…a trail to follow him by. At least it first seemed that way. But when a third and then fourth fish flashed by, she was absolutely positive.

Somehow he'd managed to mark his passing with his wand, though it begged the question, how could he have had the chance to use his wand to mark a trail and not use it to get free? What in heavens name were they dealing with here anyway?

Wanda turned to look at Tommy and Tammy, the two already looking at her smiling face. She pointed out the window and they watched as they went by another goldfish topiary. They looked back at Wanda and grinned at her in understanding, then with a silent nod, the three went back to looking out the window, watching as the green fish kept on coming. One by one…

Leading them on.

Like breadcrumbs.

To Cosmo.

xxxxxxxxx

(That makes a hundred,) thought Tommy to his sister. (Should we tell Wanda?)

The girl glanced at their godmother and smiled.

(I don't think she needs to know the count, Tommy. I think she's happy enough just watching them go by.)

Tommy looked at Wanda himself and was quite amazed at the transformation.

She sat tensely leaning forward on the edge of the seat and with a determined smile on her lips, her once sad eyes shone brightly as she stared with serious intent at each fish they passed, hope written across her face plainly. She was ready at a seconds notice and without a bit of hesitation to jump to Cosmo's aid should he have suddenly appeared on the road. And Tommy didn't doubt she'd probably just jump right out the window in her haste.

(Guess you're right,) the boy stated as he gave his own little smile. Okay, so it grossed him out still when she and Cosmo held hands or hugged, but he'd rather have that than a depressed godmother any day.

(We gotta' be getting close now, don't ya' think?) he asked.

Tammy gave him a quick and guarded glance.

(I hope so, though I'm still worried all the same.)

(By what? We're heading in the same direction as the fish. What's there to worry about?)

(Maybe, but what if the fish we seem to be following, aren't a complete trail? What if the fairy magic was taken when he was still only halfway there? He could still be anywhere and all we'd have then is wherever the last fish is. And what if these fish were actually supposed to lead us the other way? Maybe he was one place first, and then transported to a different place. We could have passed him back at that first fish she saw.)

(Oh man!) Tommy said with a stricken look before again taking a brief glance at Wanda.

(We should probably keep that to ourselves too, huh?) he asked.

Tammy nodded.

(Definitely. She doesn't need anymore to worry about than she's already got.)

(Um hmm,) agreed the boy.

Thankfully though the fish kept coming and as they drove into the main entrance to Ibrahim Scientific Electronics Enterprises Robotics Manufacturing complex, the kids saw as the fish topiaries led away and down a side delivery road.

"This is it," said Mr. Ibrahim.

"This is were you make the Vic-Bots?" asked Tommy.

"It sure is. We don't have to send a single thing out for production. Its completely contained and built on these grounds. The only thing coming in is raw material and the only thing going out is fully functional robotic babysitters."

(With a major flaw,) added Tammy to Tommy.

The boy smirked but refrained from repeating it aloud. He wasn't sure if Mr. Ibrahim would let them actually walk around the complex with him, but he didn't want to guarantee that the man wouldn't by saying something to upset him.

"So what now?" asked Tammy.

"Well, I see the guard coming over now and I'm going to talk to him while we wait for the police. I'd like you three to wait in here for now. I'll be back in just a minute."

With that, Mr. Ibrahim stepped out.

"Hey Wanda, did you see the bushes going down that other street?" asked Tommy as he used a little switch to open the windows so that on one side of the car they could clearly see Mr. Ibrahim talking, and on the other, they could view the side road.

"Yes," the fairy replied with an animated nod of her head. "Hopefully it doesn't go much further than this."

"Do you think he could be here? That Cosmo and the others are close by?"

Wanda took a sharp breath as she turned and stared hard at the side road for a long minute.

"I certainly hope so," she finally replied in a whisper.

A flashing light caught Tommy's eyes just then and looking out the back, he saw five squad cars and one unmarked police car roll up behind them.

When the cars all came to stop, a tall brown haired man stepped out from the unmarked car to walk over to Mr. Ibrahim quickly, and if he hadn't already looked so familiar to the kids, his voice would have placed him completely.

"AJ! How are you?" greeted Tim with a broad smile as he extended his hand to Mr. Ibrahim.

The dark skinned man took Tim's offered hand and shook it solidly.

"Never better Tim. And you?"

"Oh, not bad, but I'll admit to being a lot happier when this mess with those robots is cleaned up."

Mr. Ibrahim nodded.

"I'll agree to that. Look, thanks for coming out here. You don't know how much I appreciate you coming and taking a look around with me. I really don't know what's been going on in here since my project leader apparently took off, but he came here enough to say that he was up to something and I don't know what we're going to find. I would expect no more than what I should, which would be an automated manufacturing facility working to peak efficiency. But other than that…"

"Believe me, its no trouble at all. You not only saved me from another four hours of boring leg work at babysitting services, but you may also have jumped me three steps forward in the investigation. I'll take that any day."

"Well you can thank them for that. If they hadn't come and told me what was going on, I'd still be in a meeting none-the-wiser."

Mr. Ibrahim pointed towards the car and Tommy and Tammy nearly jumped when their father looked at them, his eyes going wide.

"Tammy? Tommy?"

Tommy and his sister sunk their heads down a little with nervous smiles.

(Oh, we are so snagged,) said Tommy glumly.

(Not to mention in trouble,) added Tammy as their father turned back to Mr. Ibrahim, no longer quite as happy as he was before.

(Man, when we find Cosmo and they get their magic back, I am definitely wishing he doesn't remember this!)

(I'm with you. At least he didn't see Wanda sitting over by the other door.)

Tommy and Tammy turned to look at their fairy godmother, only to find that the no pink eyes greeted them.

The kids looked at each other in stark surprise.

Wanda was gone.

xxxxxxxxx

Yes, Wanda was gone. Again.

As soon as Timmy had appeared and his attention was stuck on AJ firmly enough, she'd climbed right out the open window. Firstly because she couldn't take the risk that Timmy saw her and some mistake was made ending with her being drawn back to Fairy World. Secondly, she just couldn't sit still any longer. She'd had to go.

The more she had stared at the side road and the bushes that lined it, the more she was sure he was close. Cosmo was nearby. She just knew it. She still couldn't feel his presence, but something kept insisting that she was right. Intuition maybe? Her gut instinct? She couldn't be sure, but she knew something was telling her he was here, something was prodding her forward, and she wasn't going to sit back and question it.

Coming up to the first bush closest to her, she paused as she looked at it carefully, noting again how much like Cosmo in goldfish form it really was. She reached out and touched a leaf, a warm tingle filling her at the contact as she closed her eyes for a brief moment. There was barely anything left to the magic that had created it, and she couldn't truly sense it as magic. But her husband's essence, his spark of life was interlaced with his magic, and that she could feel in waves from the leaf. That was a mark on her heart and soul and nothing could ever have made her forget it.

Suddenly the fairy started to run along the road following the trail of bushes as quickly as she could, touching each bush she passed as if drawing strength from them. To the very end of the complex they took her before the bushes gave out and she was left to stand for a moment and look around. To her left was the last building in the complex. To her right lay a small field with an eight foot fence and another industrial complex beyond it.

She felt a pull back to her left and without another thought she followed it around to the front of the building and quickly slipped in. The moment she did though, she was filled with a strange, eerie, stifling feeling, as though something were seeking to suppress her. It made her feel weighed down, bad in a scared anxious way, and everything within her nearly screamed to get out now. Get out before whatever was roaming these walls could get her. But it wasn't an option.

((Wan-a!))

The fairy nearly staggered back as the connection flickered like a shot through her. For a second, one so quick it was only belief that assured her it was him, she'd felt Cosmo's presence.

((Cosmo?)) she thought back quickly. ((Cosmo, where are you?))

She listened intently but nothing came back. Not immediately. But when it did, it ripped through her again, disjointed and broken.

((…da!...et ou…! …s a …p!))

((Cosmo? Please, where are you?))

((N…! Don……ome any…er!))

Wanda took a deep breath. His messages were so broken she could hardly even begin to tell what he was really saying, but one thing through the exchange was perfectly clear. He was absolutely terrified.

Anger for that welled up within and though she couldn't tell why he was so terrified, it angered her all the same. Someone was doing something he clearly was not happy with and she wouldn't stand for it. Though she'd felt his terror through that momentary link, she'd also felt a pull towards him and like a raw dose of adrenaline, it took total control and she began running through the building and its seemingly endless chutes of metal and pipes.

She took no notice that she did not run into a single human. She didn't care that there were no noises of industry at work. Not for a second did she even consider what this building was for or what was really the purpose of the machinery around her. It made no difference to her whatsoever. All that mattered was that every time Cosmo tried to speak within her mind, it drew her closer to him. The transitory flashes of his conscious sense were vague hints as to the location of his physical self and even with the growing feel of suppression and fear, she continued to call out to him to keep his answering snippets of turmoil and dread guiding her. But as she progressed, as she moved further into the building, the replies became fewer and farther between, and soon they stopped all together.

((Cosmo? Cosmo!)) she called out.

His last reply was nothing more than ((Go!)).

She frowned.

((Not without you!)) she stubbornly insisted as she quickly came down a set of steps to end before a closed door.

She stopped and stared at it in dread anticipation. The door itself was like a culmination of the fear she'd been feeling growing since she'd entered the building and she didn't even want to touch it let alone open it, but Cosmo was somewhere beyond it and she had to go forward. There was no other choice.

Wanda grabbed the door knob and turned it as quickly as she could with a push, letting go of it the moment it moved forward. Touching it had been like touching fear in a corporeal form and the first instinct that jumped up within her was to turn and run in blind panic. In fact the only thing that kept her from doing just that was her overwhelming desperation to find Cosmo.

The door finished swinging in and Wanda stepped forward into a dim but rather large room, and for a moment paused as she looked through the dim murk towards what appeared to her to be a line up of huge upside down bee hives. She had no time to discern anymore than that though, for suddenly, several bright lights were turned on to shine directly into her face.

With a yelp of surprise, she quickly threw an arm up over her sensitive eyes, but the lights had already done their job and she'd been startled enough to prevent her from making her way back out the door before it was closed behind her.

Wanda heard the slamming of the door, but did not bother to try and look. It would have been completely pointless not to mention go against what she wanted in the first place which was to find and free Cosmo.

((Wan…a!))

She heard his voice in her head again, though it still had that same choppy disjointed feel, it no longer seemed quite so far away as before and she lowered her arm in response to it to look about for him. The lights had been moved from her direct line of sight, but reverse images of their flash seemed to dance before her eyes as she blinked to clear them away.

She wanted to see Cosmo. Needed to see him in fact. But he was not the first thing she saw when her eyes had cleared enough to look. What she saw first was the upside down bee hives and the hundreds of fairies trapped within.

As she gawked in stunned amazement, a voice called from her right.

"Welcome my little fairy friend. So good of you to finally join us."

Wanda shivered at the familiarity of the voice, conflict running through her at the many memories, too many, it induced. The happy memories said she had too look. She had to see what had become of him. The mother within her compelled her to gaze at him. The other side of her, the fairy side, the side that recalled all too easily the unhappy fearful memories in which he figured, said she didn't want to know what he was now. What had become of him. How far he had fallen.

It was neither side though that found validation for her next action.

When she turned to face him, it was a third side to her that controlled the movement. It was the wifely side of her that had made the choice.

He had taken her husband and caused not only terror from Cosmo, but pain and worried fear from her as well. He'd turned the last twenty-four hours of her life into a living, breathing, nightmare and the anger within for it all commanded her to look at the one that had caused this. It ordered her to look at him, but more than that, it ordered her to stand and defy what he had done. She had to challenge him and his reasoning for doing this to them. And she had to do what ever she could to save her Cosmo from him. Save all of them from him.

Pink eyes found the glittering black dots behind thick glasses and Crocker gave a crooked grin.

"Now the fun begins."

Oh, another cliffy! Yay! "And that's why she's called Cliff Hanger!" Lol. Geez…I've got to get out and away more often. Hanging around little, little kids is starting to mess with my brain. First the 'Big Comfy Couch' references, now a 'Between the Lions' reference. Okay, well, maybe I should just stop watching public television with them and more Nick instead, lol. Of course specifically FOP in that instance. Now if I could just afford cable again, I could make that happen. Blah! And no, I don't own 'Between the Lions' or a public television station. It would be cool if I did though. ;)

Okay…lots of thank you's to do so here we go!

Band Geek - "Clearly Madame Giry, genius has turned to madness." Lol. Another phantom fan! And how apropos a statement for last chapter. I like it! Wow. I'm sorry about you not being able to smell things. I never even considered that anyone like that would read this. I only used it to further illustrate how angry he is and to what depth of vindictiveness he would go. But yes, since the sense of taste is linked to your sense of smell it would stand to reason that things don't taste different to you whether you have a cold or not. But to be fair, everyone has a slightly different count and arrangement of the various taste cells on the tongue. This allows all people to taste things a little differently to some degree. Some have more sweet taste cells, some more for salt, and some more sour. I know a few people in my family who love the taste of a raw lemon (yuck) but I can only deal with it in my tea. On the side note of weird, my sense of smell is so acute and so dead on, that if some new food or culinary concoction smells bad to me, I won't bother touching it because I know it will taste bad to me as well. And every time I have to stop at a gas station I get a headache from the fumes. Consequently I take aspirin everywhere with me! In the summer, if I even pass a gas station, I can smell the fumes from it. Ah well. Glad you liked last chapter.

Wanda Wish - Scary and dark his mind definitely is. Although considering that I wrote it, I wonder who is really more demented? Lol. I'm glad I could make this story even better for you. The bad part is that it means I've raised the bar on my own skills once again. Sheesh. If this keeps up I'm going to need to take a writing class just to surpass what I've done so far so I don't disappoint you all! Lol. It's that Virgo perfectionism again.

Aerinsoul - Ah. You were thinking madness as in Cosmo being mad at Crocker perhaps, lol. Sorry for the confusion. Yes, Crocker has descended to a new low what with his plans for genocide for the fairies. Too bad he doesn't know about that loophole that Pixies can take their place if there are no other magical creatures on earth, eh? The Dairy of Anne Frank does have its sad points, but the optimist in me likes to focus on how they managed to live despite the fear and terror. They truly did try to make the best of a terrible situation and the closeness of the family and their friends is a testament to true loyalty and fellowship. And no you're not pathetic. You're creative. And there's nothing wrong with that. My DA art isn't always easy. It can take hours (and sometimes days) to get some of it finished. My last C&W submission, A Relaxing Afternoon, took three days to do!

Commander - I would never laugh at you! You're too awesome a writer! I'm kinda' flattered actually that I caught you off guard enough that I left you speechless. Its been my experience that most writers usually have plenty to say in reviews. The fact that you didn't, suggests to me that I said everything well enough that you didn't need to say anything. Anyway, sorry about the nightmares. I swear it wasn't intentional. I was just really trying to convey how far down Crocker has gone. I hope you liked it otherwise. Oh, and since you'll be reading this AFTER you get back from vacation…I hope you had an awesome time and got a great tan! ;)

Amras Felagund - I've actually been doing a little of both booing and pitying Crocker. He has been through a lot, but does it give him the right to treat others so badly? Of course not. Any way's, we still have more than a few chapters to go yet, but I'll ask now so I won't have to later…what format would you prefer I send this to you as? I have MS Works Word Processor, WordPad, and Notepad. Not everyone has MS Works and Notepad is annoying unless I go in and format it all. I would think that WordPad would be easiest as most people have it and it keeps all my original indents and paragraphs. Let me know. :)

Fairly-Odd-Teen - "The deep recesses of Mr. Crocker's mind…" Scary wasn't it? Oh yes. I'm definitely a 'phan'. Lol. Since 1989 actually due to a really nice teacher I had at that time. Thank you Mr. V! I enjoyed the movie immensely, though initially I was a little put off by the change in order for some of the scenes, but it was still great. I've seen it twice on stage (the first time was actually in London) and ever since the first time I read it, I've been collecting the book with every different cover I can find. I know I'm weird, but I don't mind! Lol. Oh… And I hope you did well on that test!

Lara Luna - Thank you so very much for being determined enough to keep slogging through this and letting me know! Lol. I totally appreciate you and all the other readers and reviewers for doing so. I was quite happy after reading your review and am immensely pleased with how much you seem to like my humble little offering. The details, the references, they all help to keep me as interested in finishing this as much as it helps keep it fresh for all of the readers. Well, that, and I can't stand to get too boring. I like spice, and trivialities help to jazz it all up for me. As for the twins…I actually wrote up a character bio sheet for both so I would make sure to keep them in reasonable order from chapter to chapter. And trust me, it was a good thing I did!;) Updating every week is a personal commitment I wasn't actually going to make with this story, being as it began while I was still working on a massive Yu-Gi-Oh fic. I had to take a break from that though and that freed me up to offer this FOP fic weekly instead. The trick for me though was not to put up chapter 1 until I had at least five or six done initially and I was sure I wanted to finish it. And yes, I absolutely enjoy writing this. Enough so, that I believe I would have written this even if only for my own enjoyment.

Kraven the Hunter - Yay! I'm glad you liked my explanation of how he could afford minions and the lack of spazzing to the phrase "FAIRY GODPARENTS!". I worked quite hard on that. And don't worry, more detail to it to come. From Crocker himself. And the Phantom reference was only added because I was making a big reference to it by quoting some 5 lines from the musical in last weeks reply to Fairly Odd Teen. It's just me being paranoid that I've forgotten to mention something important. I've seen some great stories get pulled because of things even less than that.

Later all!

Trixie21