About a week had passed since the incident at the Beaugrenelle Paris shopping mall. Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor considered themselves lucky that they and the new French Changed Daily had escaped from T.H.E.M.'s grip unscathed. Pamela and Maxime seemed like quite the dangerous foes, especially Pamela. Doctor Doctor had witnessed first-hand how cruel and ruthless the former Changed Daily could be. It made the cyan-hued former baddie wonder what else this two-faced French woman was capable of. Was it possible she could target her family next? Was Pamela even the type of baddie to want to hurt a child? Doctor Doctor wasn't sure she wanted to think about it or think about what could happen if Pamela somehow got her hands on Zoë.

Late one night, on American Independence Day (which fell on a Tuesday this year), Doctor Doctor woke up with a start, and she knew almost immediately what it was that just roused her: another childhood memory. These days, she was more of a light sleeper. Bouts of insomnia aside, she could never be sure what woke her in the first place: the flutter of a drape, the slight chill of wind, recurring memories, a mother's intuition, or just slight paranoia. She looked over to see Professor Professor lying on his side next to her, murmuring and noticeably dribbling in his sleep. She'd never have to worry about waking him up; he'd slept through exploding bombs, tornadoes, hurricanes, thunderstorms, and even a fire before.

She sat up and rubbed at her eyes to wipe away the sleep, only noticing right then that Titania was standing right there at the foot of the bed with Zoë asleep in her arms.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Titania was quick to apologize. "That was the last thing I wanted to do."

"Kakogo chyorta?" Doctor Doctor asked. "What are you doing in my home? And why do you have Zoë with you?"

"I thought I'd just drop by and check on her for a little while."

"Don't ever do that again. I thought you were going to run off and kidnap my daughter."

"Understood. Though knowing you, I have a feeling you'd go to the ends of the Earth just to make sure your family was safe. You have my word that I'll never even lay a finger on Zoë's head."

"Don't push your luck. She's his child, too."

"I've noticed. She seems to have gotten his lungs."

Just as Titania had said this, Zoë began to fuss. Before Zoë could go into a full out scream again, however, Titania put a bottle in her mouth and she started sucking noisily. She held the human child with the same kind of experience she'd had with Wulfrun, Leoffled, and many many illegitimate children she'd had on the side.

"Thank you," Doctor Doctor could only say. "I appreciate it."

"No problem. This is just what I do. Why don't we take this conversation to another room?"

"Of course." Doctor Doctor started lifting herself up off the bed. "What for?"

"I just don't want your husband hearing us talk, that's all."

"Well, if we're moving our conversation somewhere else, can we do it in Zoë's nursery? She'll have to go back to bed soon."

Titania shrugged. "I guess I don't see why not."

Doctor Doctor proceeded to follow her into Zoë's nursery. There, she watched as the faerie queen sat and rocked back on the chair.

"Can I ask you something?" Doctor Doctor asked.

"Of course," Titania replied. "What is it?"

"Do you ever worry that one day, your past will catch up to you?"

Titania pursed her lips. "Sometimes, though nothing's really happened to support that as far as I'm concerned. Are you asking because you're worried of what your daughter might think of you if she ever found out you used to run T.H.E.M.?"

"Um..." Doctor Doctor hadn't actually considered that to be her reason for asking. "I guess? I'm just worried that my enemies could track me and my family down and possibly hurt us. Have you seen how dangerous T.H.E.M. is nowadays? Just a week ago, Pamela sent a bomb to the new chief of the French U.Z.Z., and I think it was her way at getting revenge against her for 'not standing up for her'. I've seen first-hand just how cruel and cold-blooded she can be. Have you considered how much of a threat she and her father could be to you or Oberon or your family?"

"I've... considered it. It's not easy to think about that sort of thing."

"Is this especially because you're a mother?"

The rocker creaked as it swayed back and forth. "Yes, exactly that. I can't bear to think about possibly outliving my descendants, especially when I've already done so in the past. I can't bear to think about losing Wulfrun or Leoffled. They're far too valuable in this world."

"You love your children that much, huh?"

Doctor Doctor plucked up the bib rag from one of the drawers and handed it to Titania. The rocker leaned back, and the faerie queen took it without even grazing her hand.

"Of course I do. I cherish them just as much as I cherish Oberon, possibly even more so. It takes an unimaginable amount of pain to burn away one's fingerprints and past, literally and figuratively. Trust me, I would know, but that's not what you're asking in the end." Titania lifted her gaze to the former baddie. "You're asking for an ally who's willing to get their hands dirty should we need to go above and beyond to protect the people we love."

"I'm glad you understood."

"Of course, anything for U.Z.Z." After a maddeningly long pause, Titania finally broke the silence. "You can go on back to bed now. Don't worry about me. I've already had enough cups of coffee to send humans into cardiac arrest, so I won't be sleeping until she wakes up."

"Thank you. I appreciate the help..." Doctor Doctor ended on a pause as if there was something else she'd meant to say, but nothing ever came.

Doctor Doctor then sauntered off back to bed and started spooning her husband.