Hey there, remember me? I finally got off my lazy arse and got some more of this fic churned out. This chapter isn't very long, but it sets the stage for some good scenes (I hope)in upcoming chapters. I'm really worried that this whole fic is going to seem quite rushed as far as pacing goes, and if it reads that way, I apologize. I'm having a really hard time with this 'origin' fic, mostly because all the scenes/stories that pop into my head for these characters takes place later in Tabby's life. I already know her backstory for the most part, so my creative juices are only flowing for 'more interesting' stories when everything is already established. Having to sit and actually write "How Tabby Became Cosmo & Wanda's Godchild" is giving me some problems because I'm finding it hard to make it interesting. :(

Anyway, here it is, in all its glory. Hope everyone enjoys it.

Disclaimer: FOP universe and characters belong to Butch Hartman. Tabby and everyone in her storyline belongs to me.


Chapter 3

"Tabby! What's going on up there? Are you all right?" Wanda barely heard a voice call from the stairway as the nanny climbed quickly. Tabby was still screaming, her head thrown back with her eyes closed tightly, and it was a miracle the little pink haired fairy had heard anything at all.

"The nanny's coming!" Wanda hissed to Cosmo, who was floating with his eyes tightly closed, and his hands clamped down tightly over his ears. He made no sign that he had heard his wife, so she flew to him quickly and grabbed his arm. They poofed back into the dollhouse just as the bedroom door burst open.

"Tabby? Tabby!" the nanny cried, going to her knees before the screaming child and giving her a stern shake. "TABBY!" The little brunette immediately quieted and gave her nanny a shocked look. "What's the matter? Why are you screaming?"

"Strangers!" Tabby cried, staring at her nanny with large eyes and pointing where Cosmo and Wanda had been a mere moment ago. "Strangers in my room!" The nanny gave the girl a confused look.

"Strangers?" she asked and followed where Tabby was pointing. "Honey, there's no one here. Just you and me." The little girl shook her head violently.

"Nuh uh! They were here! Little people with wings and crowns and funny colored hair!" she cried, and the two fairies within the dollhouse gasped. Could they be taken away even if the nanny didn't believe Tabby?

"Little people with wings, huh?" the nanny said, straightening up. "So, what are we talking about here? Pixies? Sprites? Fairies? Are you playing some sort of game?" Tabby swung her head back and forth quickly.

"No, no game!" she cried, tugging on her nanny's shirt. "They were here! Right there!" She pointed to the spot again, only to have the nanny push her arm down.

"There's no one here, Tabby," the young lady said with a sigh. "There's no possible way that anyone could get up here without me knowing."

"But—"

"No buts," the nanny said firmly as she walked toward the door. "There are no such things as little people with wings. No such thing as pixies, or fairies or whatever it was you thought you saw. They're not real."

Tabby, realizing the futility of arguing, said nothing. The nanny was never going to believe her anyway, so why bother. But she was sure she had seen two little people--one girl, one boy—and she was also sure they had had wings. But they were nowhere to be seen now, and it was if they had never been there to begin with. Maybe she did imagine them. But they had seemed so real. And the girl even talked to her. Maybe—

"Tabby?" the nanny called as she reached the door, breaking the girl from her thoughts. "Remember, they're not real. They're just pretend, okay?" Tabby nodded.

"Not real. Just pretend."

"There ya go," the young woman said with a smile. "If you see them again, just keep telling yourself that they're not real, and they'll go away, okay?" Tabby nodded. "Good girl. You be good while I fix some lunch, okay?" The little girl nodded once more, and the nanny smiled before walking out and closing the door behind her.

"Not real," Tabby whispered to herself once the nanny was gone. "Just pretend."

"How does SHE know fairies aren't real?" an annoyed voice called from behind her. Tabby whirled around and saw the two little people back again, and the boy looked mad. "Has she ever MET one? How rude!"

"Cosmo, shush!" the pink haired girl said before turning to float toward Tabby. "Hello, sweetie. Can we try this again?" The little girl gasped and suddenly found a hand clamped over her mouth. "Please don't scream again Tabby, or your nanny will come back up. We're not here to hurt you, sweetie, we're here to be your friends."

Tabby's eyes flicked back and forth between the two new people in her room. She could feel the pressure of the pink haired girl's hand on her face, and she wondered—could imaginary people touch her? Since she had never had an imaginary friend before this, she wasn't sure, but she didn't think so. Maybe these two people weren't imaginary, after all. Then what could they be? They looked like the pictures in her storybooks, but her nanny had said there were no such things as fairies, so wouldn't that mean that they're still just pretend? Ugh, this was so confusing.

The pink haired girl smiled.

"If I take my hand away, will you promise not to scream?" she asked softly. The green haired boy suddenly flew next to them.

"You better make her promise not to shriek, shout, yell or yodel, either," he told the other girl. "She's got quite a set of lungs on her." The girl shot an annoyed look at the boy before turning back to Tabby.

"We won't hurt you," she said again, smiling kindly. "So please don't make any loud noises, okay?" Tabby nodded against the girl's hand. "Okay. One, two, three!" The hand was removed and the pink and green haired people scrunched their faces up like little kids afraid of bad tasting medicine. When the air hadn't been pierced by the high-pitched wail of a 4 year old, the two relaxed and smiled at her.

"There," the girl said. "See? We're friends!"

"You're not real," Tabby said softly. "Nanny says you're just pretend."

The green haired boy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms angrily as he turned slightly, muttering something under his breath Tabby couldn't make out. The girl with him ignored him, and floated closer to the little brunette.

"Well, nannies don't know everything, sweetie," she said with a kind smile. "We are real, and we're here to be your friends." Tabby wrinkled her brow.

"Friends?" she asked, doubtful. The only people who said they wanted to be her 'friend' were the many nannies her parents had hired, and they never stayed too long. The pink haired girl nodded, the big curl in her hair bouncing happily.

"Uh huh," she said, her smile growing wider by the second. "I'm Wanda, and this is Cosmo." The green haired boy had recovered from his pout and smiled and waved at the mention of his name. "We're your fairy godparents. We're here to grant you wishes and make sure you have fun and are happy."

"You're not real," Tabby repeated, shaking her head slightly. "You're just pretend." Wanda shook her own head, a gentle smile on her lips.

"No, sweetie, we're really—"

"Just pretend," Tabby said again as she turned and walked toward the bedroom door. "No such things as fairies or friends. Nanny says." The little girl struggled with the doorknob as Wanda flew close, nervously fidgeting with her wand.

"Tabby, your nanny is wrong," she said softly as her old friend 'worry' began to edge into her mind. "Fairies and pixies DO exist, and so do friends. We're fairies and we're here to be your friends!"

"NO!" the little girl yelled, startling both fairies. "YOU'RE LYING! YOU'RE NOT REAL!"

Her struggles with the doorknob finally paid off as the latch released, and she ran through the crack as the door swung open. Wanda hurried to the doorway in time to see her new goddaughter run clumsily down the hall and start down the stairway. The pink haired fairy risked a trip into the hallway to peer around the corner and make sure Tabby made it safely to the bottom of the stairs before returning to the bedroom, quietly closing the door behind her.

"What was THAT all about?" Cosmo asked once she had returned. They had been godparenting for a lot of years, and he couldn't remember a child ever reacting like Tabby had. "What's the matter with her?"

Wanda didn't answer. She was staring blankly at the floor as she replayed the scene over and over in her mind. Reactions of newly assigned godchildren tended to fall into three distinct categories; confused, disbelief, and happy. Anger was not necessarily the first thing you reacted with when you discover that you suddenly have magical fairies at your disposal, so Tabby's outburst was surprising, to say the least. She had gotten so angry at the mere idea of having friends, and seemed quite close-minded for one so young. Wanda was torn between thinking that they had either been assigned too late, or just in time. Cosmo probably would have voted for 'too late' if asked, and Wanda might have agreed with him had she not noticed one, small thing.

"She was crying," the pink haired fairy said quietly. Her husband shook his head.

"No, she was YELLING," he said as he crossed his arms. "Trust me on this, I know yelling when I hear it." Wanda looked at him then, and the annoyed look he expected wasn't there. What he saw instead was a mixture of sadness and confusion.

"Wanda?" he asked softly, reaching for her.

"She was scared, Cosmo," his wife said, her voice wavering. "That little girl was so scared she was crying!" Confusion passed over the green haired fairy's face as he looked back at his wife.

"Why? We're not scary!" Cosmo cried, throwing his arms into the air. "Why would she be scared of us?"

"It's not us personally, sweetie, it's what we represent."

"Huh?"

"Friends, Cosmo," Wanda explained softly as she gently landed on her goddaughter's bed. "We told her that we're here to be her friends. She's never had any before, so it scared her."

"Oh. So now what do we do?" Wanda shrugged.

"There's really not a whole lot we CAN do right now," she said with a sigh. "If we push too fast, we'll scare her even more. We just have to take it slow and show her that we're not going anywhere. We have to let her see that we really are here to be her friends." Cosmo looked doubtful.

"I don't know, Wanda, she didn't really seem like she really wanted us here," he said quietly. "Maybe this assignment was a mistake after all." His wife shook her head, a look of determination crossing her face.

"She's our new godchild, Cosmo," she said, that familiar decisive tone to her voice. "We can't leave just because our initial meeting didn't go as expected. It's like Jorgen said, she's a miserable, lonely child who needs us, so we're going to stay here and at least try to help her."

"But Wanda . . ." Cosmo started, but could go no further because he wasn't exactly sure what to say. Sure this kid seemed pretty lonely, and miserable, and withdrawn, and perfectly in need of godparents. Lonely child + miserable childhood + busy parents fairy godparents. It was practically the first thing they taught you at the Fairy Academy, right after 'Point Wand Away From Face'. But her angry reaction had caught Cosmo off guard and didn't exactly endear her to him.

"I think she really needs us," Wanda said softly, breaking her husband from his thoughts. "She just doesn't know it yet."

"I guess," Cosmo said quietly. There was no use in arguing and he knew it. Wanda was right, and he'd realize it once his brain had a chance to process all that she had said. That's the way it usually worked, anyway.

"She'll come around soon, sweetie, you'll see," Wanda said as she hugged Cosmo tight. He shrugged within her embrace.

"I hope so," he said as he curled his arms around her and held her to him. It was a half lie, because at this stage in the assignment, he hadn't formed any real feelings toward the girl one way or the other. And if that was the way she was going to act towards them, staying detached would be easy with this godchild.

"Besides," Wanda was saying as she rubbed his back. "If you want to leave, we'd have to go see Jorgen again. And I doubt you'd want that." Her husband snickered.

"You got me there," he said with a slight laugh. "I'd rather stay here than face him!"

"Then it's settled!" the pink haired fairy said with a smile as she pulled back. "We're staying! Let's go unpack!" Without giving her husband a chance to respond, Wanda disappeared into the dollhouse in a puff of light pink smoke. Cosmo looked toward their new home and sighed.

Maybe Wanda was right. Maybe this kid just needed a few days to warm up to the idea of godparents. Maybe she just reacted the way she did because of how young she is. Maybe things will all settle down really soon.

Cosmo raised his wand to follow his wife into their new dollhouse home. A thought flittered through his mind quickly, and he scarcely had a chance to even register it.

Maybe he'd be able to stay detached this time. Maybe he could keep himself from caring.


Short, I know. But there are more chapters to come. Hope I'm not starting to suck!