Author's Note: I had to throw Wanda back into the mix. It kept happening again and again in my head, and I prefer it this way than to have her separated from them forever.

Chapter Seven: R & R

This bordered on treachery. Were he not attuned to his master's habits he'd never dare attempt it. Were he not so in love with Wanda it pained him at times, he'd also never attempt it. His hands shook and he pointed the wand at his beloved. Unless Doombringer elected to wake early, the spell would ensure she'd be there and back before Doombringer noticed her absence. It was the best Juandissimo could do for her, and the minor defection made his stomach roil. Doombringer could kill him for this, if he weren't so useful; she'd probably torture him instead.

His hand trembled and he lowered his arm for a second. Was it worth it? Was it worth being flayed alive to permit his beloved a brief respite? Then again, if he allowed her this, maybe it'd indebt her to him and give him a better chance to win her over again. And maybe, while she was down there, she might be able to pinpoint Remy.

He sighed and kissed her forehead. Before, he'd used the wand to put her to sleep. Now he woke her and waved it once more.

"I love you, Wanda."

Timmy couldn't sleep. The hard stone floor didn't encourage relaxation, and Cosmo had fallen silent, only whimpering once in a while. He was constantly and painfully aware of Tootie and their situation, to the point where he'd probably only succumb to fatigue if someone clubbed him over the head and helped. Tootie's reprimand kept popping into his mind and he was tempted to tell her off, but then he'd have to admit Jorgen had cast the spell, and it involved more speaking about things she shouldn't know. Plus, Cosmo and Wanda had seemed so much happier with Chester than with him. His throat tightened.

Maybe they would have liked him better. Maybe he should have received them in the first place, especially since Timmy was only good at screwing everyone over. He hugged his knees and this time, when Cosmo lifted his head to howl, he joined in, tears burning the corners of his eyes.

A bright pink flash blinded him and the three prisoners yelped. Cosmo was the first to recover. Timmy's vision changed from the pink flash to an alternating green one, as Cosmo tackled it.

"Wanda!" he cried.

"Wanda?" Timmy and Tootie echoed.

His vision cleared gradually and he saw his godfather nuzzling Wanda, who was back to her normal form and lying on the floor. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, and her wingtips were black. Startled, she wriggled out from under and gaped at them. Shaking her head to clear it, she gnawed her lip.

"How did I get here? Juandissimo knocked me out and then there was a bright flash…" she frowned and Cosmo bowled her over again.

"You're okay!"he said. He stepped back. "You feel different."

Wanda's gaze took in the shabby cell and then Tootie. Swallowing hard, she backed up and into Timmy without looking. Her hands were shaking and she reached for her wand, which she didn't have. Another jump brought her into Timmy's lap.

"There's another human here," she whispered.

"Tootie already knows about you two," Timmy said darkly. "Apparently, she's known for a while. She even knows you were arguing."

Cosmo licked Wanda's face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said. I was only joking, baby."

She ignored him and looked up at Timmy. "She knows about us?"

"Yes, I do," Tootie said. "And I'd appreciate if you talked like I was here, because I am."

"Sorry, sweetie," Wanda said. "We're not accustomed to someone else knowing about us."

"Without exploiting it," Cosmo added.

He rested his head in Wanda's lap and rubbed it along her stomach and thighs. Still disoriented, Wanda shuddered and didn't speak. Timmy wrapped his arms around both godparents and had a brief moment of superiority- 'see, they're mine and not yours'. But did they really belong to someone better? His heart clenched. He probably didn't deserve them in the first place.

"Juandissimo brought you here," Timmy said.

"It certainly wasn't Doombringer," Wanda said and shuddered. "What a horrible woman."

"She did something to your wings," Cosmo said. He lifted his head and nudged one with his paw. "They're turning black and leathery."

"That'd be the dark magic, hun," she said. Shuddering again, she proceeded to tell them what had transpired during their separation. Tootie edged closer and Timmy glared, but she held her ground. When Wanda finished, she sighed and hugged Cosmo.

"But now that we have you here, we can escape, right?" Timmy said.

"I don't think so," she said. "I can only do little things so far, and it makes me sick just to try."

"Yeah, but Cosmo can't, and you can, and you're the only way out of here," he said. "And besides, you haven't even really tried. I'll put it in wish form."

"It won't help if we don't have wands," she pointed out. She lifted herself and looked him in the face. "Sport, are those tears in your eyes?"

"I was thinking about something depressing," he hedged. Wanda stroked his hair.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "We'll get out of here."

"Can I talk to you guys in the bathroom?" he said.

"The bathroom's a weird place to talk," Cosmo said.

"Sure, sweetie," Wanda said and looked around again."Where is it?"

"I'll lead the way!" Cosmo said and jumped to his feet. Wanda rose too and frowned, unaccustomed to walking like a normal being in that form. They trailed, single file, into the bathroom, and Timmy closed the door behind him. Thanks to space confines, Wanda had to sit on the toilet in order for them to fit. Cosmo rested in front of the shower and Timmy stood in front of the door.

"What's up?" Wanda said.

Timmy swallowed. Now that they were alone, the words clogged his throat. He didn't know how to begin. Only he remembered the incident and he was ashamed to mention it, ashamed they'd agree with Jorgen or they'd find a way to abandon him because he didn't deserve them. Mistreating them was one thing. He could mistreat them because they were his and he was free to do whatever he wanted to them. Admitting why it didn't matter was another. Admitting why was showing himself more vulnerable than he really wanted, considering he'd ignored the weeks of dreams before the wish and then tried to deny the rest.

"You can tell us anything," Wanda said gently.

"Even something really stupid, like saying you can't go to the bathroom by yourself," Cosmo said.

Timmy snorted. "That's not it, Cosmo."

"Well, that's good, 'cuz I dunno where Wanda would go if you had to pee," Cosmo said. "This place gives new meaning to the words 'dark and dank'. Ooh, look, there's a cockroach!"

"What is it?" she asked.

"I dunno how to say it," he said and shuffled back and forth. Thanks to the confinement, he had to narrowly avoid treading on Cosmo's tail.

"Try anyway," Wanda said gently.

"It's probably not any stupider than anything I'd say," Cosmo said brightly.

"Have any of your other godkids wished they didn't exist?" he said. He didn't look at them; he stared at the ground. He sensed them exchange a look and Wanda moved to drift and put her hand on his shoulder, except she couldn't float and fell off the toilet. Grumbling, having landed face first on the floor, she pushed herself back up. Then she had to back step, or she'd step on Cosmo. Leaning over, she placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"If they had, we wouldn't know about it," she said. "It's part of the wish. Jorgen keeps a list of all the children who wish and doesn't tend to tell us unless there's a life threatening emergency revolving around the wish."

"Oh," he said. "So if I wished it, you wouldn't know either."

"Did you?" she said sharply.

"I bet Crocker's life was better without you," Cosmo said. "Ooh, and A.J.'s. And Vicky's. Ooh, ooh, and all your other friends too and-"

"Shut up," he snapped. There was a moment of stunned silence. He couldn't remember telling his godparents to be quiet so rudely before. Cosmo was so happily detailing everyone's lives without Timmy, and it only reinforced Jorgen's attitude. He never should have brought it up with them. They wouldn't understand. They wouldn't even know, since this wasn't life threatening, and it didn't matter anyway. Gritting his teeth, he glared. This was pointless.

"Was it something I said?" Cosmo said innocently.

"That's exactly what happened, isn't it?" Wanda said quietly, completely ignoring Cosmo's comment. "Sport, you should know, we've seen the aftermath of those wishes. They're not pretty."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" he snarled. "It's not bad enough I don't deserve you in the first place, but now everyone has to rub it in? Why should I care about you if you're only stuck with me because I was born?"

Silence ensued. Timmy kicked the door and glared at his godparents. "Why should I care about you at all?"

"Whatever happened in that alternate future, it wasn't true," Wanda said.

"Yeah, Jorgen just likes to make stuff up to torture kids he doesn't like," Cosmo said. "And us."

"Everyone was happier," he said. "Their lives were better 'cuz I was never born. Chester was making selfless wishes, you guys and Jorgen were glad you didn't have me around, and my parents were rich."

They were silent again and he scoffed, kicking the door. They didn't have an answer for him. He thought so. Folding his arms across his chest, he stared at the wall and avoided looking at either godparent. Resentment burned in his chest and he hated everyone, but most of all himself. The flipside of his anger was fear and he was afraid to examine it too closely.

"Jorgen lied to you," Wanda said flatly. "Usually, when kids wish they were never born, they want to see they're appreciated. But Jorgen thinks it means you should do selfless acts without expecting anyone to care if you're doing them. So he'll hammer it home the only way he knows how."

"By making you completely miserable," Cosmo said.

"So?" Timmy said. Tears burned his eyes again and he rubbed them.

"None of it was true," she said.

"How do you know?" he countered. "You didn't see it."

"You're right," she said. "We're here because you are. But that doesn't mean we don't want to be."

"We don't want to be here," Cosmo pointed out. He sniffed. "I smell another human."

"Tootie?" Wanda said.

"No…" Cosmo said.

"Remy," she said. "To get back to the subject-"

"Remy's here too?" Timmy groaned.

"Yes…why did you think Juandissimo was?" Wanda said tersely.

"Uh…" He hadn't. Chagrined, he rubbed the back of his neck and gnawed the inside of his lip. He had to do it lightly, or he'd cut himself. He'd learned that lesson early on.

"Getting back to the subject at hand," she said. "Jorgen wouldn't have assigned us to you unless he thought you needed us. No matter who else had us in that alternate future, you are more important than they are, because your need was greater."

"Yeah, but Tootie doesn't have godparents," he pointed out. "And she had to be ten times more miserable than me to get you for a day."

Again, they exchanged a look.

"I don't know why she doesn't have godparents," Wanda said slowly.

"Yeah, but we don't know everything," Cosmo said.

"Even if you can be selfish and rude, we still love you," Wanda said. "We will always love you. We're glad you exist. And we wouldn't change that even if we could."

"But we would change our surroundings," Cosmo said. He sniffed and pulled a face, which was impressive enough considering his form. He stuck his tongue out and winced. "Jeez, did you have to pick a bathroom?"

"You mean it?" he said.

"About the bathroom, yes," Cosmo said. "Blech."

"Don't be an idiot," Wanda reprimanded him. "Of course we mean it, Timmy."

"I love you too," he said. He looked at the floor again. "You wouldn't really be happier with Chester?"

"He doesn't even get good TV," Cosmo scoffed. "And his hat isn't a pink aphrodisiac."

"Cosmo!"

"What's an aphrodisiac?" Timmy wondered.

"You're gonna have to go back to Doombringer, aren't you?" Cosmo said.

"Probably…" she frowned. "At least I got to see you two. I'm glad you're all right."

"Hey, Timmy?" Cosmo said.

"What?" he said.

"Do you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes?" he said. He grinned wolfishly.

"What are you two going to do? You're not even in the same form," he said.

"Maybe not, but we should still talk," Wanda said. "And in the meanwhile, you can act a little nicer to Tootie, since she's stuck here with us too."

"Yeah, yeah," he said and shuffled back. He didn't really know why they needed alone time, but he wasn't in the mood to argue now. Instead he plopped back down into the cell and stared at her, who had her head on her hands and was curled up in a ball. Adults were weird. His parents had wanted alone time for no good reason too. And it wasn't like Cosmo and Wanda could do anything, when one of them was a wolf.