Disclaimer: I don't own the Fairly Oddparents or its characters. I only own Lexi and the other OCs.

Chapter 4

Three minutes until the first bell.

Timmy sat at his desk in homeroom, staring intently at the clock. Every few seconds he shot a worried glance at the empty seat in front and to the right of his.

Two minutes.

Come on, Lex. He craned his neck, trying to see out the door and into the hallway. By this point, only a few students were left, hurrying to get to their classrooms before the bell signaling the start of the school day.

One minute to go.

Timmy fiddled anxiously with his hat. Where was she? Still sick, perhaps, but it wasn't like Lexi to miss more than one day of school in a row. She rarely got sick.

The fleeting thought of Lexi just skipping school passed through his mind, but he disregarded it immediately. If Lexi was cutting, she would have told him so he could skip, too.

The bell rang.

Timmy's heart jumped into his throat, and he glanced nervously down at his fairies, disguised as erasers on his desk. "Guys," he whispered urgently, after looking around to make sure Crocker wasn't nearby. "No Lexi."

"Maybe she's just running late, sport," Wanda suggested.

Timmy brightened, nodding. Lexi wasn't very concerned with punctuality, especially where school was concerned. She often appeared by first or second period with a calm explanation that she had overslept or a wish had not gone according to plan.

Yes, that was it. Lexi had slept in, or still wasn't feeling well, and was coming in late. That had to be it. The other possibilities were too scary.

By second period, Timmy was beginning to worry again.

By fourth period, he was starting to panic.

And by lunchtime, he had given up all hope. Lexi was not going to be in school.

When Lexi awoke the next morning, her head spun as she recalled all of the details of the past few days. Remembering the sight of Diamond being sucked into the big book of rules, Lexi's heart began to pound. She glanced over at the hamster cage on the table beside her bed, and the light blue hamster sleeping inside, and sighed in relief.

Everything was okay now.

Realizing that this was her first normal day in New York City, she bounded out of bed and pulled on her usual clothes. Today was Saturday, and her father had called off work to spend the whole day with her. This would probably never happen again, so Lexi was determined to make the best of it.

And apparently her dad was, too, for when she walked into the main room of the apartment, which contained a small kitchen off to the side, she found William standing at the stove, flipping pancakes. "Dad?" Lexi said in astonishment, pinching herself on the arm to see if she was still dreaming.

William turned, grinning at his daughter. "Surprised to see me still here? I told you, sweetie, I have the whole day off today."

"No, it's not that." Lexi took a seat at the table, staring at him. "It's just…I've never seen you actually cook before." Back when her parents were still together, Amanda was the only one to ever make meals. Even after the divorce, when Lexi would spend nights at her father's house every other weekend, they almost always either ordered out or microwaved something for dinner.

William gave her a strange look, almost like he was about to tell her something, but paused and chuckled. "Just a new hobby I've picked up, I guess. You've been gone a whole six months."

That didn't seem like a very long time to Lexi, but she shrugged and dug into the plate of pancakes that he set in front of her. "Wow, Dad. These are awesome!"

He took a seat across from her and smiled. "I'm glad you like them, Lexi. So I was thinking we could take a walk in Central Park today. I know it was always your favorite place. And I have something I need to tell you."

So Lexi hadn't misread the look he had given her earlier. "Um. Okay, Dad. Should I be worried?"

He chuckled again…since when did her father chuckle so much? "Not at all. I think you'll be happy, actually."

Lexi finished the pancakes and slid her chair back from the table. "Uh, okay. I've just gotta, uh…feed my hamster before we go."

"Go ahead," William called as she raced back to her room. "I'm glad you got to bring your pet along with you."

Lexi slammed back into her bedroom and shook the hamster cage lightly. "Diamond, wake up!"

Immediately, the small blue hamster disappeared, replaced by Diamond in her fairy form, floating above the cage. "What's wrong, sweetie?" she asked worriedly, glancing around the room as if expecting another human to barge in.

"Nothing," Lexi laughed, so glad to have her godmother back. "Me and Dad are taking a walk in Central Park. He says he wants to tell me something. Maybe you can turn into a butterfly or something and come with us."

"Whatever you want, kiddo." Diamond waved her wand and appeared as a tiny light blue butterfly. "Lead the way."

Timmy stood on the sidewalk outside of Lexi's house, staring at her front door and trying to figure out what he should say. "Mrs. Sanders, I have reason to believe your only daughter has been kidnapped by evil creatures who want to suck out her magic that you don't know she has" just wouldn't cut it.

His fairies appeared as birds beside him. "What are you waiting for, Timmy?" Cosmo asked eagerly. "Did you forget how to knock again?"

"No, Cosmo," Timmy said irritably.

Wanda seemed to know what he was thinking. "Why don't you just ask her if Lexi's okay since you haven't seen her in school? For all you know, she could still be sick."

"If she was sick, she would have called to tell me," Timmy grumbled, but decided that this was the best strategy. "But alright. I guess that makes sense." Taking a deep breath, he marched across the street and up to Lexi's front door, which he knocked on assertively.

A short women with shoulder-length blond hair and green eyes – Lexi's mother – opened the door. "Oh, Timmy," she said, forcing a smile upon seeing who was at the door. Timmy wasn't surprised – it was no secret that Lexi's mother did not like him. "What a surprise."

A surprise? Timmy stared at her for a moment, unable to come up with a response. Why would her daughter's best friend coming to check on her be a surprise? "Uh, I'm just here to see if Lexi's okay. She hasn't been in school for two days, you know, so I just…uh, got worried." He faltered, hoping he didn't sound too much like more than a friend.

Amanda's eyes narrowed a bit, but with surprise instead of suspicion. "Why Lexi hasn't been in school…" she pondered, shaking her head. "Timmy, of course she told you…"

"Told me what?" Timmy's heart began to pound in his chest.

"Lexi moved back to New York, to live with her father."

The words hit Timmy like a speeding train, so hard he nearly fell over. He wasn't sure if he felt relief that Lexi wasn't in danger or shock that this had nothing to do with their usual enemies. "Lexi – New York – moved – what?"

"I can't believe she didn't tell you," Amanda said softly, her expression almost pitying. "She was so upset when I told her, so worried about keeping up your friendship. She must not have had the courage to break the news. I'm sorry, Timmy."

He didn't respond because he didn't know what else to say. Somehow he managed to nod and, his mouth dry and his vision blurred, walked back to the sidewalk. He waited until Amanda had shut the door before he sat down on the curb, his fairies, still disguised as birds, fluttering over to him.

"She's gone," he whispered, staring at the pavement, unable to look at them. "And she didn't tell me."

Even Cosmo didn't have anything funny to say to that. "I…I don't know why that would be, sport," Wanda said faintly, looking upset as well, as Lexi was her distant cousin. "Are you sure she didn't mention it?"

"I think I'd know if my best friend told me she was moving across the country!" Timmy nearly shouted. Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed his pink hat off of his head and threw it to the ground.

"I don't know, Timmy," Cosmo said seriously. "Maybe Lexi didn't tell you because she wanted to move away from you."

His godson stared at him, horrified, but the green-haired fairy did not seem to realize that his words had been at all offensive. As Timmy thought about it, though, it did make sense. "Maybe you're right, Cosmo," he mused. "I mean, why else wouldn't she tell me? She must be mad at me for some reason."

"Did she seem angry the last time you saw her?" Wanda asked. "Did you say anything that might have upset her? You know how easily Lexi gets mad."

Timmy shrugged helplessly. "I don't know, I don't think so! But I must have. Why else would she just leave the state without telling me?"

"Well…" Even Wanda didn't have an answer this time.

"Poof, poof," Poof chimed in glumly.

As the reality of the situation began to set in, Timmy rose to his feet, pulling his rumpled hat back onto his head. "Lexi's my best friend. I'm not gonna let her leave without saying goodbye just 'cause I made her mad, when I don't even know what I did!"

"Sport, Lexi's all the way in New York City. What can you possibly do now?"

Timmy grinned, an idea forming. "If fairy magic can take me all the way to Fairy World, it can definitely take me to New York."

Her father was nervous, Lexi noticed as they walked through Central Park, one of her favorite places in the world. She had completely forgotten about how cut off from the bustle of the city some parts were – it brought back so many memories.

"Dad, come on, spit it out," Lexi said after nearly ten minutes of silence. "I'm about to explode! What's the big secret?"

William sighed heavily, leading her over to a nearby bench and sitting down. "Sorry, Lexi. This is just such an amazing thing for me, and you're such an important person in my life." He chuckled – again. "I guess I'm just a little nervous here, as you can probably tell."

This was getting a little too sappy for Lexi's tastes. "Dad. You're chuckling again."

He full-out laughed this time. "I know, I know. Okay, I'm just gonna come out and say it. Lexi…I'm getting married."

His daughter's bright blue eyes grew large as she stared at him for nearly twenty seconds without saying a word. He was just about to speak, ask her if she had heard him correctly, when she suddenly burst into laughter. "Ha! Wow, Dad, you really got me. Okay. What's the real thing you had to tell me?" William looked at her blankly. She abruptly stopped laughing. "Wait. You're not…serious, are you?"

"I'm very serious, Lexi." His face fell – this was obviously not the reaction he had been expecting. "I've been dating Elise for several years now and we both feel very strongly that this is the right time, especially with you living with us for the next few years."

Lexi had thought this couldn't get any worse…until she heard the name of the woman her father was going to devote the rest of his life to. "Elise?" she squeaked, remembering the lady her father had started dating only a year after the divorce.

She remembered a tall lady with auburn hair that was always curled or straightened or some other nonsense, and a face never not packed with makeup, always laughing that irritating high-pitched laugh and trying to act like she was Lexi's new mother. And that had only been when they just started dating.

Lexi had had no idea that they were still together after so long.

"You know Elise," William encouraged, as if this was a good thing. "You met her a bunch of times before you moved."

"Yeah, I sure did," Lexi grumbled, nauseated. Elise was basically the opposite of her in every way. And her father wanted to marry her. Lexi would have to live with this woman, and see her every day. All in a tiny apartment.

William smiled, mistaking his daughter's resentful hesitation for a sign that she was coming around to the idea. "See, I knew you'd remember. She's coming over for dinner tonight so you two can catch up – she hasn't seen you in almost a year!" He stood up and stretched, still grinning. "Come on, Lexi, let's get the rest of this walk in." He started off again, calling back, "And don't worry, Elise hasn't changed a bit!"

Lexi sat on the bench for a moment longer, staring after him in shock and horror. "Great," she muttered finally, jumping up and racing after her father.

Diamond, still in butterfly form, fluttered quickly alongside her, but Lexi was too upset even to make a sarcastic comment.

Author's Note: Poor Timmy. At least he knows that she's not in any danger, but he knows that she didn't tell him she was leaving and assumes it's because she's mad at him. How do you think his plan will go to get her back? And poor Lexi. Her father just dropped a pink, glittery bomb on her life. Do you guys think she'll come around to the idea of a new Barbie-esque stepmother, or resort to her usual hijinks to break them up? Thanks to my three loyal reviewers – I really appreciate you guys continuing to give your support! Let me know what you think!