I thought I posted this chapter earlier but I'm actually glad I didn't because, hell, I wouldn't want to be left with a cliffhanger like this one, especially if it involves poor Tecna in the state she's in.

Chapter Three: A Lover's Struggle

About half an hour later, Nurse Ophelia returned to check up on Tecna. She was just the same as she was before, only now she resorted to moving suddenly in Timmy's embrace rather than screaming in tremendous pain. Every few minutes she would do this, and Timmy was patient enough to allow her to readjust her position in his arms after each sharp pain. Though, inside, Timmy was slowly beating himself up for this, at this point he would do anything to take away Tecna's pain. He would be willing to move planets and stars just for this to be all over. As the nurse came into Tecna's bedroom, he turned his head towards her with an expression of great fear in his eyes.

"Please, tell me you have found a way to get rid of this magic virus?" He begged helplessly.

"Based on the magic sample that I took from her earlier, this virus can only be removed from within. The virus itself is located at the core of Tecna's magic, within her heart." Ophelia explained, "We have to figure out a way to get to her heart and remove the magic virus, in the meantime it's best for her to sleep. I've obtained a strong magic potion that will take away any feeling of pain long enough for her to fall asleep. Unfortunately this means that she will have to stay asleep until we can find a solution."

"As long as I stay with her." Timmy insisted defiantly, but Tecna just struggled to shake her head in protest.

"No, Timmy, sooner or later you have to get back to Red Fountain." She told him before moving with a twitch, still in his embrace. He looked deeply into her eyes, those tired teal eyes that begged for relief, he wanted so badly just to hold her, frozen in time and without pain.

"I can't, Cupcake, I refuse to leave you like this... If I did, I would have failed you as your boyfriend.., and your hero. I never want to do that." He whispered soothingly, "Just sleep, give yourself some peace from all of this torture."

"You.., you're too good to me." Tecna sighed dreamily as he placed her gently on her bed and wrapped the blankets around her.

"This might be a little more difficult than usual, the potion has to be given intravenously in order for it to find the source of her pain and numb it long enough." Nurse Ophelia interrupted the romantic moment while the couple turned their gaze towards her.

"Whatever you have to do." Tecna answered with a tired tone in her voice, and Ophelia began to bring out the equipment she needed. After Tecna was given the potion and her arm was wrapped in gauze to prevent the injection from moving, she looked sleepily up at Timmy's face. As the potion began to take effect, her eyes started to get heavy. Timmy reached out his hand and squeezed her free hand tightly

"Don't worry Tecna, everything is going to be okay.., I promise." Timmy started to play with her hair once more, and make sure she was comfortable under her blankets.

"You have to leave in a few hours, I'll be sure to inform you if anything happens." Nurse Ophelia reassured him, he stopped playing with Tecna's hair and stood up abruptly to face her.

"Nurse Ophelia, this magic virus could take her away from me, do you think I would willingly leave her when I'm this scared?" Timmy asked in a fearful whisper.

"We are working the best we can, and I realize just how scared you are. You've already lost her to the Omega Dimension and you don't want anything like that to happen to her again. Believe me, we don't like this any more than you do." Ophelia continued to reassure Timmy. He knew she was right, but just the mention of that horrible dimension filled with the most vicious criminals in the universe, and the memory that Tecna had to survive alone, facing them without end, it sent shivers down his spine. It took him a moment to gain back his composure after Ophelia's statement.

"I'm just afraid that if anything does happen, it'll be too late and I would have lost her already. I wouldn't be there for her." He pleaded, "And I promised that everything would be okay, how am I supposed to keep that promise if I'm stuck at Red Fountain?"

"Just leave it to me, aside from Ms. Faragonda and the rest of the Winx, you'll be the first to know." She told him as she left out the door. He just sighed and bent down on his knees, staring longingly at his beautiful fairy of technology and continuing to caress her hair between his fingertips.

The Trix watched from a nearby tree, satisfied with what they had accomplished. Icy smiled wickedly when she saw that Nurse Ophelia was putting Tecna to sleep.

"This is so perfect, they have no idea that when the fairy of technology is in a deep enough sleep, her body temperature will drop drastically, and there will be no way to wake her up unless they can reverse the effect." She informed her sisters.

"But what if they manage to do that?" Darcy asked.

"Only on very rare occasions has this particular magic virus been reversed." The witch of ice answered, "Those occasions are way too rare for us to worry about."

"Though.., there is that lovesick Specialist we have to deal with." Stormy spat.

"We can take out that pathetic Specialist in one blast, what are you worried about?" Icy inquired.

"Dare I remind you ladies that the power of love will always conquer." Stormy replied, "Remember what happened to return Bloom back to normal after Darkar got his hands on her."

"As absolutely gag worthy as that sounds, you're right Stormy.., let's just hope that Griselda won't take pity on him." Icy thought as another wicked smile spread across her lips.

It didn't take long for the potion to take full effect, and Tecna was in a peaceful, deep sleep under the constant watch of her knight in shining armour. His heart raced effortlessly as every second passed, knowing that there was no way Griselda was going to go easy on him and let him stay with Tecna, he didn't know what to expect next. Suddenly, as he was distracted for just a moment, he could hear soft sniffing, almost as if someone was crying. His suspicions were right as he recognized the way this person cried, it wasn't loud and whaling, it was as if the person was trying to hide it, unfortunately as much as she attempted, it was plainly obvious that it was Tecna crying in her sleep. This was the breaking point for Timmy, he couldn't take it anymore. He attempted to gather his beloved technology fairy in his embrace, careful not to touch the gauze on her arm, but as he touched her, he noticed her skin was as cold as ice, and along with the tears in her eyes, she was shivering uncontrollably. The room itself was not cold, and the window wasn't open, so there could be only be one explanation for why Tecna was so cold, it was because of the magic virus. Now Timmy knew he couldn't leave her side, and he would fight with every ounce of blood, sweat and tears he had in him to stay with her. It didn't matter how cold Tecna felt to him, he gathered her in his arms, cradling her and wrapping the blankets around her as warmly as possible, unfortunately it wasn't working. Nothing he did could bring her body temperature up again. After a few minutes of trying, he frantically called the rest of the Winx into Tecna's bedroom.

"Girls, something is terribly wrong, Tecna's freezing!" He panicked, and the girls ran into the room like a shot.

"I'll call Nurse Ophelia right now!" Bloom responded, taking out her cellphone.

"No, I've left it up to her long enough!" Timmy protested, " Tecna is slowly dying and all she is doing is research. We haven't even figured out how to get rid of this magic virus and by the time she does, we could lose Tecna for good!"

"Timmy, listen to us, Nurse Ophelia is a medical professional, if she can't find the information necessary in her scope of expertise, then she will spare no hesitation to find someone who does. Even if that means taking Tecna to the Magix Hospital." Layla tried to reassure him, but nothing she could ever say would change his mind.

"Do you think I'm going to just stand by and watch the love of my life suffer, I'm sure any of the other guys would be feeling the same way!" Timmy argued.

"I know that Helia would stop at nothing to spare me from any pain or harm." Flora insisted.

"Exactly, I'm no different!" Timmy yelled, "And I think I know who the sick twisted psychopaths are that did this to my Cupcake!"

"The Trix, why would they want to do anything to Tecna?" Musa asked, "I mean Tecna specifically, she didn't do anything wrong."

"I'm not sure, but I have every intention of finding out." Timmy hissed furiously, "Girls, please watch over Tecna while I'm gone, and let me know if anything else happens." And with a vicious stare in his eyes and his blood heated to a boil in his veins, he looked back at Tecna, learning over his beloved and giving her the most passionate kiss he had in him.

"Just hang in there, Cupcake, I'm not going to lose you." He whispered softly before heading out the door.

Happy new year!