Ya' know, this is the only chapter in this entire story that worries me. But I'm not saying how or why. I'll let your reviews confirm or deny my thoughts. Otherwise…it's good to see you all again and I hope you enjoy this week's edition! ;)

(…) 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 26. When You Need it Most

Cosmo stepped back into the workroom, his eyes searching for, and finding, the only thing in the entire room he wanted to see.

Wanda.

Still unmoving, she had been turned to lie on her back and beside her was Wandissimo, holding one of her hands as he looked at her gently.

Cosmo went over quickly and at the sound of his approach, Wandissimo looked up. Taking in Cosmo's assured stride and resolute though worried expression, the dark haired fairy gave pause for a moment, as if undecided about something, before he gently placed Wanda's hand back down and stood. With all the seeming of respect, Wandissimo backed up several steps as Cosmo came up to Wanda and kneeled beside her.

The green haired fairy looked down at his wife fearfully. He'd never seen her like this. She'd been completely knocked unconscious and for a fighter like her to be put out just didn't seem possible.

How badly was she hurt? Would she be okay? Was she even alive? He didn't even know how to tell other than by her conscious presence in his mind. A presence he'd missed so sorely for almost a day.

His lower lip quivered and caught up by the emotion, Cosmo carefully slipped an arm under her shoulders and pulled her up to cradle her against him as if she were made of nothing more than tissue paper. He continued to look at her face intently as if staring at it would let him see her thoughts. He strained his brain reaching into her mind for some sign she was aware, some signal that said she was alright…but there was nothing. No response came to his insistence.

((Wanda?)) he questioned to her hopefully.

His chest began to constrict and his eyes started to burn as those first tell tale indications of crying began to build.

((Please Wanda. Please wake up. Please…please be okay. You have to be okay. I…I need you. I love you! Please!))

Cosmo leaned his head down onto hers and as the tears came, so to did a soft quiet sob.

It wasn't fair! It wasn't right! It wasn't supposed to be this way. She was supposed to have rescued him. She was supposed to have beaten the bad guy, let him loose and been happy that they were back together again. She was supposed to be awake and fine! She was supposed to be perfectly all right and ready to go on just loving him and fixing his mistakes. She was supposed to be the devoted godmother she'd always been, ready at a seconds notice to stand between her godchildren and any danger before them. She was supposed to be perfectly fine. Not…not this!

Tommy and Tammy, with worry in their eyes, moved to stand in line beside Wandissimo and briefly looking at the many hundreds of fairies that all watched the piteous sight before them, they saw many who could not help but shed their own silent tears.

To the children, this was not as it should have been. Fairies, especially fairy godparents did not cry out of despair. They were creatures of laughter and joy, of happiness and mirth, of fun and hope. This went against all of nature as far as their opinion went and they wanted so desperately to console Cosmo…to help Wanda…to put things back to right. But neither dared move any closer. They were frightened by the scale of the sadness before them and somehow, though tears formed in their own eyes, they did not feel at liberty to be a part of Cosmo's pain. She was his wife. It was so much more personal for him. Their sadness could not even begin to compare, so how could they possibly console him when they could not truly understand the depth of his grief?

Though every fairy there was in some way touched by the heartrending despair shown, Cosmo neither noticed nor cared. His bitter sobs consumed him so wholly that he was aware of nothing as he held onto his wife as if her body were a life preserver and his last chance of survival in the middle of an empty ocean. So filled with anguish was he, that he not only did not notice all the others watching him, he also did not notice as a tiny dot of light began to glow from between his body and his wife's.

Tommy and Tammy's fear slipped away quickly at this new and completely unknown development, and not understanding what had begun to happen, they looked over at Wandissimo and the fairies beyond him for some clue as to the relative level of safety or danger from this. The range of expression displayed however gave them no clue. Most looked on in curiosity while others smiled in expectation. A few looked on in nervous worry and the dark haired fairy directly beside them watched in forthright surprise. His surprise, however, did not appear to be over what it was that was happening so much as his surprise that it was happening at all. It was a curious concept and left the two to consider that if he could figure it out, perhaps they could as well. This of course brought their attention back to the phenomenon and the kids watched as silently as everyone else as they tried to discern the meaning behind it.

The light had started off tiny at first. Just a dim sparkle really. Hardly enough to illuminate even a shoebox, but it was not content to stay as such. The light began to glow with an increasing brightness, and it quickly became clear that it did not only grow in intensity, but in size as well. Brighter and larger it grew until it was a white hot light surrounding the two, blinding everyone that watched so that Cosmo and Wanda could no longer be seen. Tammy and Tommy squinted against the light but could make out nothing within it, so powerful was the glow. It was almost like looking into the sun.

For long seconds it remained before it finally commenced to fade, not away into the air, but into the reemerging fairies. It seemed to seep into the husband and wife and when it was gone, the fairies that were left behind in the wake of that immeasurably bright light were not the same fairies that were there before the light had come. These two fairies were not dull; their skin and clothes no longer dim from lack of magic. They now fairly glowed with a brilliance of color unmatched. The hair upon their heads seemed as if they were no longer just a part of them left to adorn the top piece. It was as if every strand was alive with its own sense of life and purpose. The color of their clothes was so vividly bright, they almost did not seem to be real or something that should ever have been allowed to be seen on the surface of the earth. So brilliant did their colors shine, that they themselves gave off their own warm and radiant light.

To the others looking on, it was as if the Cosmo and Wanda with fairy magic were only mere shadows of the Cosmo and Wanda they now saw. These were the real fairies within and all things paled in comparison to them.

His face still buried in the swirl of her hair, Cosmo discerned none of this and so too did not notice when Wanda's left hand flexed ever so slightly.

Suddenly in his head, so soft to as hardly be more than a faint whisper of a breeze, there came, ((Cos…Cosmo?))

Cosmo gasped sharply as he pulled his head up to look at Wanda's face.

((Wanda?))

Pink eyes opened slowly to greet him and after a second, a small faint smile formed on her lips.

((Hi Sweetie,)) she sent with a tired sounding feel.

Cosmo's frightened look was swept away in a heartbeat as pure rapture filled him and he smiled in delight.

((Wanda!)) he practically yelled in her head in joy as he hugged her tightly to him.

Wanda winced as her right hand moved to hold her left side, and sensing her pain Cosmo loosened up immediately.

Wait…Sensing her pain?

Cosmo could again feel her emotions. He could again sense her presence. He could again tell whether she was happy or sad, content or in pain…

Pain…

((Wanda? Are you okay? What's wrong?))

The fairy smiled gently.

((Just a little sore sweetheart. I'll be alright with a little rest I think.))

Cosmo gave her a somewhat disbelieving look and Wanda sighed before she reached her left hand up to touch his cheek tenderly as she continued to stare deeply into his worried eyes.

((I thought I'd lost you,)) she whispered into his head after a few moments. ((I was so afraid that something had happened to you and that I'd never find you. That I was alone forever…))

((I…I was scared too,)) replied Cosmo. He quickly went on though, his words coming faster and faster, in an almost desperate bid to relay to Wanda everything he'd thought while away from her.

((I wanted to keep thinking that you would come and save us, but it was so hard to believe when I couldn't even feel where you were or if you…well… And then…then when I found out it was going to be a trap for you, I didn't want you to come, but…I knew you had too. Because…because of the all those kids. And… all I could think of was how worried I was over you and how scared I was for you and then, then when you talked to me right before you came in…I don't think I was ever so scared in my life…but then you came in through the door and I saw you and even though I was still afraid I was so proud and happy to see you and you were so brave and, and strong and beautiful and, and, and…))

Cosmo mentally choked on the words as a saddened frustration filled him. Even in his head he couldn't get them right. He just couldn't find a way to say everything he wanted to tell her. Everything he wanted to convey was just lost the moment he tried to explain them.

((It's alright Cosmo,)) came her soft understanding answer. ((I know.))

While normally, such a reply would have placated him and he would have completely believed that she did get what he was trying to say, it just wasn't enough this time around for Cosmo. He had to tell her somehow exactly how he really felt just then.

((I love you, Wanda,)) he suddenly said and then, seized with the fiercest urge he'd ever known, he leaned his head down and kissed her.

It was a kiss. But a kiss unlike any other. It was a kiss filled with such richness of affection, such desire for closeness, such sweetness and passion for an enduring love that no one who witnessed it could make a sound. Not an 'Oh', not an 'Ah', not a sound passed from the multitude. This was a kiss far beyond such a mundane and belittling sentiment and everyone present knew it. An unusual reverence for the moment filled the warehouse workroom with an almost tangible feel.

As the onlookers watched in awe, the distant sound of a door slamming shut came to their ears.

Tommy, having looked in the direction of the sound, turned back to Wanda and Cosmo to see that though the two were done the kiss, they were still looking only at each other deeply with enamored smiles.

"Guys, it may be just a guess, but I think Daddy is going to be here any minute with about ten other cops. You all have to get out of here."

Cosmo and Wanda continued to smile at each other and without a single word, they each extended a hand towards the large closed warehouse door. There was a soft tinkling sound followed by a vermilion colored cloud of sparkles and magic mist and the door disappeared completely. This was followed by the two each giving a quick wave of the same hands and the captured minions, most still unconscious and those awake fully trussed, suddenly found themselves within a locked cell. One last wave of their hands brought out a pile of still useless wands, and with hardly a bit of trouble, each wand seemed to find its way unerringly to its correct owner.

"Whoa!" said Tommy and Tammy both wide eyed.

"Uh, I'm a little confused here," Tommy added. "I thought the magic was turned off to all the fairy godparents. And didn't that crazy dude say that they couldn't use magic anyway with all that stuff around?"

"It is still off," confirmed Tammy with a look around at the fairies who had begun to walk outside though the huge doorway en mass. "See? The rest of them are all still dull. But I agree that I don't get what ever is going on with the tungsten still all around."

"It is because the magic that they possess, or perhaps it would be better to say the magic that possesses them, at this moment is not fairy magic," said the black haired fairy from beside them.

The kids looked at him as he continued to watch the two fairies with a somber and melancholy air.

"Then what kind of magic is it?" asked Tommy and Tammy in unison.

Wandissimo sighed as he turned to the kids.

"It is the magic of true love. You see, the magic of true love is unlike all other forms of magic in the universe. It is created only by the two who share it and their pure joy in each other…that is one reason why our own fairy magic is unable to affect the course of true love. Because it is not fairy magic, it is not under the same rules and thus not affected the same way. It transcends all other things… Conquers all other things."

"Including tungsten vulnerability."

"So it would seem."

"But why wouldn't it have come out before this? Why couldn't they use it earlier?"

"Ah, and that is one of the great mysteries of the universe. It is rarely understood by anyone and yet makes sense only to those that share it if only in the existential essence. It is above thought…beyond thought…it just simply is. It is seen and felt without any conscious sense and it is an uncontrollable thing. It strikes those that too all others would seem the most unlikely of couples and passes by what would appear to be a perfect match."

Tammy smiled as she watched Cosmo helping Wanda to stand so very carefully.

"It hits you when you least expect it, but usually when you need it most," the girl said softly remembering what Wanda had told her about love only the day before.

Wandissimo looked at the girl in surprise.

"Sí. I cannot guess why it would have manifested itself in this way even now. Perhaps it felt compelled to by their love. Perhaps by his despair. It may well be what even led her here in the first place. No one here except for those two could possibly say."

A vermilion cloud of magic poofed up before Wandissimo just then, and as it faded away, a small pink cell phone floated before him.

Wandissimo looked over at Wanda.

"Call Jorgen please. He'll need to know what's happened," she said in a soft voice.

"But their phones…will they still be out?" asked Tommy.

"It won't matter even if they are," replied the fairy as she looked over at the kids with a benevolent and peaceful look on her face as she stood with Cosmo's arms still wrapped protectively around her.

Wandissimo nodded and dialed the number. There was a pause as he waited before he said, "It is I, Wandissimo. We should all very much like to go home to our godchildren. Would you please be kind enough to turn the tower back on."

There was another pause as Jorgen asked a question on the other side.

"Of course! Did you doubt that she would?" was Wandissimo's annoyed answer.

Pause.

"Thank you," he closed almost shortly.

Wandissimo turned the phone off and it disappeared out of his hands immediately. A few moments later the kids saw a distinct change in the purple eyed fairy. His color had returned and with a pleased smile he rose up into the air to float. Just outside the warehouse, there was an almost deafening cheer from the other fairies when they felt their magic return to them as well.

Tommy suddenly started and ran to the open door to call out quickly.

"Hold up everyone! We need to make sure these guys don't get away with too simple a punishment. I have an idea, but I'll need everyone's help!"

The boy quickly called his idea and in a second, there was laughter and smiles from all around before a massive poof of fairy magic filled the area outside the door. When it cleared, every fairy outside had poofed away to their godchildren, all leaving something valuable from their godchild's home in their stead. Each was carefully marked to ensure that in time, it would be returned to their appropriate owners.

Tommy and Tammy looked over at Wanda and Cosmo, noting that their brilliant colors had faded somewhat and they no longer had quite the same other worldly appearance about them anymore. They were still brighter than any normal fairy, but it was definitely fading. With a last quick flick of their hands, the massive pile of valuables was placed into the remaining cells. The moment the magic was done however, the two fairies finished fading back to their normal color.

"Awww, its gone," whined Cosmo. "And I really liked that magic."

Wanda smiled indulgently.

"Don't worry sweetie. It hasn't really left. Its just gone back into hiding. That's all."

Cosmo looked at Wanda with wide eyes.

"So we still have it?"

His wife looked back adoringly.

"We always did."

"Ohhhhh," was all Cosmo could say in fascinated reply.

"Um, excuse me," interrupted a soft voice from behind them.

They turned to see a powder blue haired fairy floating over to them, a dull colored crown held in her hands.

"I think you might want this back."

"Hey! My crown!" said Cosmo happily.

The fairy nodded.

"It got a little dented when that human threw it," said the fairy apologetically as she showed him the spot that was pushed in slightly. "You could probably have it fixed, unless you want a new one instead."

"No way! Crowny and me have been together through too much for me to get rid of him!"

Seeing that Cosmo was not going to relinquish his hold on his wife, the fairy placed the crown onto Cosmo's head and the instant it was in place, it shone gold again.

"And where else am I going to find one that fits that well?"

The fairy smiled at him before looking at Wanda.

"Hi Wanda. Are you okay?"

Wanda nodded.

"Oh, I'll be fine Fleur," Wanda said. Then with a knowing smile she said, "And I think Lily will be too once you get home to her."

Fleur grinned with a nod.

"Thank you Wanda!" she said before she zipped out of the workroom and poofed off for Lily's home.

Wandissimo gave a faint smile.

"I should go as well. My godson is not a particularly independent boy and I'm sure he'll have missed me."

The fairy started to float out of the workroom, but just at its door, a voice called him.

"Hey Magoo."

Wandissimo looked back at Cosmo.

"Thanks," said the green haired fairy.

Wandissimo blinked, gave a single slow nod of his bead, and floated backwards several feet to be clear of the tungsten's suppressing qualities before poofing off in a cloud of lavender fairy smoke.

The sound of numerous sets of feet was now heard through the thin wall and it was clear that the officers were only steps away from walking in.

"Here they come! You guys gotta' go now!" said Tommy in anxious panic as he started to push the fairies out of the workroom.

Once clear, Cosmo raised his wand, but Wanda quickly stopped him.

"But what about you two?"

"No. We have to stay. Daddy will expect us to still be here. Just go!"

"But…"

"Don't make me wish it," warned Tammy with a sly smile.

Wanda sighed gently.

"We'll see you at home then."

Cosmo and Wanda poofed off, and a moment after, a door opened from the catwalks above, the very same one that Tommy and Tammy had entered by earlier, and in stepped the twin's father, Mr. Ibrahim and ten officers.

Timmy looked down at the piles of valuables stashed in nineteen of the cells before spying the men stuck in the last. He gave a perplexed look before it suddenly turned into stark astonishment when he saw the kids.

"What in the world…Tommy? Tammy?"

The kids looked at each other briefly before they smiled innocently up at their father and waved.

"Hi Daddy!" they chorused cheerfully.

Ha! Timmy has found the kids! Think they'll be in trouble after all this? Lol.

Trixie21