Author's Notes: Mmmmm... Well, one of the necessities of rewriting is to go over stuff you already have I suppose...

Chapter 2: Fox

Fox was dressed in a dark blue, strapless, evening gown. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail with an ornate silver clip. She had on diamond earrings and a small silver chain with a pendant. She was clearly made up to go out for the evening. But that's was the furthest thing from her mind.

Fox was fretting over Alexander. He was fussing and running a fever.

"Huwts." Alex whined as he rubbed at his forehead with a small balled up hand.

"Oh, sweetie... Are you sick?" Fox asked. She held him close and laid her cheek on the crown of his head gently as she rocked back and forth on her hips to try and soothe him.

Something had started plaguing Alex at regular intervals recently. Every two weeks or so he'd get inconsolably fussy and start complaining that his head hurt. Fox would try everything to take the pain away and get him to sleep but nothing she did ever did any good. Usually, right as she was at her most desperate and just about to call the doctor, Owen would sweep in and calm him with just a touch. Fox wasn't stupid, she knew Puck's magic was at hand somehow. But to see Alex calmed so quickly and efficiently with Owen not so much as blinking an eye...

Fox had to admit it made her feel a little bitter sometimes.

Owen never bothered explaining to her what was troubling Alex either. Which seemed unnecessary to her, why should she be kept in the dark? She tried to explain this to David but he seemed unconcerned. He viewed Owen as an unlimited resource, therefore in his view Owen would always be there to make sure Alex was okay so that she wouldn't have to. Which was a valid enough view, she supposed, given the circumstances. Owen was rather effectively tied to Xanatos, and almost more so to Alex. She didn't like to think about that very much.

Just then David came in, looking just a bit like 007 in his high end tuxedo, with Owen trailing in behind him. Fox knew exactly what was going to happen.

"Oh, Alexander..." David gently took Alex from her and held him close.

"He's been fussy all night again." Fox lamented.

"Owen, you seem to know what's wrong with him." David shifted and handed Alex off to Owen. "Is this something we should be worried about?"

Owen held Alex with his left hand and passed his right over Alex's forehead a few times. Alex sighed and stopped rubbing at his head. He still looked miserable though.

"It's not going to stop until..." Owen stopped. He'd been addressing Alex. He looked up at the two of them.

"I wouldn't trouble yourself sir." Owen answered. "I'm sure it will work itself out in time."

David's posture relaxed considerably.

After a silent moment David looked over to Fox, who was still looking at Owen with a troubled expression on her face.

"Are we ready to go my dear?" David asked.

"David, if Alex is sick then really shouldn't we stay here and look after him?" Fox asked.

"I really don't think that's necessary sir." Owen interrupted. "I'm sure Alex will benefit from a full nights rest. You and Fox should go and enjoy yourselves." Fox scoffed.

"You're not fooling anyone." Fox said to Owen. "If Alex really IS sick then should you really take him flying all around New York?" She asked, her voice full of confrontation.

The air between them crackled.

"Alexander is not sick, nor did I have the intention of gallivanting across the city with him." Owen said more stiffly than normal.

"What are you going to be teaching him tonight then?" Fox asked. "How to stay safely at home and not interfere in dangerous situations?"

"Perhaps if you were less aversive of magic then more of his lessons could be at home." Owen's voice was steely and cold.

This was a common argument among the two of them. Ever since Titania and Oberon's spectacle last year Fox had been wary of any mention of the Third Race. Conveniently turning a blind eye to the fact that both she and her son had that blood in them she often turned her dislike of them towards Owen. Owen was a prime example of why they made her so uneasy.

Puck, at best, was a mischief maker. A dangerous one at that who liked to cause nothing but trouble for mortals. It was hard to convince Fox that he had any good intentions no matter how attached he seemed to be towards her family. But here he was parading around as Owen Burnett, a man she'd known almost all of her life and one she had thought she'd known to be respectable, hard working, and trustworthy.

To find her mother was Titania... That had been a terrible shock, but one that was almost forgivable in a sense. For someone as detached from her parents as she was to find out her mother came from an entirely different world was almost reasonable. But to find out that beneath strong, upstanding Owen lay the terrible trickster Puck... It was almost as if they'd all been manipulating her life from behind the scenes from the start. And now they were trying to do that to her son as well.

It didn't help that Owen was terribly secretive of his life as Puck, which ended up including the lessons he gave Alex.

"David... we're going to be late for the benefit." Fox said in a stiff voice after a moment.

"Of course." David said.

Xanatos had been watching the interplay between Owen and Fox very carefully. He'd thought to take Alex out of the room, but decided that his presence was most likely the most effective dampener the two of them had. It was only their mutual protectiveness of him that caused the two of them to fight.

Fox wrapped one of her arms around one of David's and let herself be led out of the room. Owen sighed and turned his attention back to Alex. Alex was giving him a reproachful look.

"Oh, are we blaming me now?" Owen's voice shifted. He morphed into Puck and tossed Alex up into the air. Alex floated there for a moment before coming down slowly into Puck's arms again.

"Your mother worries so much. You've got to understand that it's just in her nature to fight over you. If you could recall the circumstances you were born under you'd know why." Puck explained.

"But now that she's gone lets see if we can't get rid of some of that excess energy that's giving you so much trouble..."

Alex's eyes practically glowed with excitement.

"What you teach tonight Puck?" Alex asked.

"Oh, nothing terribly exciting I think." Puck lamented. He dug around in his sash and pulled out a necklace. He held it up in front of Alex, who took hold of it gingerly.

The necklace was a mossy colored, translucent stone that resembled quartz. It had gold molding around the top of it that had a small loop through which a golden chain was threaded.

"Alex, what can you tell me about the owner of this necklace?" Puck asked innocently.

Author's Notes: I actually wrote out a whole scene with Xanatos and Alexander having a 'discussion' in a different room while Fox and Owen argued. But I didn't like how it came out so I just skipped over the bit where Owen and Fox fight. The tensions are there, I think that's enough.