King Aran stood on the outside balcony as he looked at the setting sun, appearing calm despite his mind racing. He had thought he has seen a lot in his time in the world. But yesterday proved there was still a lot he couldn't take into account.

He glanced through the window into the master bedroom, seeing his daughter laying unconscious in bed. She had been unconscious for almost a full night and day as her body restructured and reformed itself to make her human. He had never before thought of 24 hours as a long stretch of time. He was 200 years old, and fully expected to live for another several hundred years. For him a day was no time at all. But since his daughter had almost died from cutting her wings every second until she regained consciousness seemed like an eternity.

The human who called himself Jeff was sitting next to her, holding her hand as he watched over her. Every time Aran checked in on his daughter the human was right there by her side. Even when he had fallen asleep for a few hours he had remained firmly in his seat. Aran still didn't know what to think of him, but he had to admit this continuous vigil was softening his opinion slightly.

Aran looked over as Ilma walked over to him. "I just checked on Annabelle. Her color is returning and her pulse is strong. It shouldn't be long now until she wakes up."

"Good."

She sat down on the balcony bench, pulling Aran beside her as she gave him what he often referred to as her 'wife look'. "How are you?"

"I just don't understand." He said warily, sounded more bewildered than angry. "I just don't get it. She's given up so much. Her family, her home, her kingdom, everyone she's grown up with. The abilities and longevity that we have. And for what? For him. For them? For at best the chance to potentially experience 50 years at best in their world. I just don't understand someone willingly wanting to live in their world as one of them."

Ilma looked at her husband as a smile took hold of her face. "That was a very good speech you gave at the town square, when Annabelle first returned here. I especially liked the part about how marrying me brought our two nations together. Although I noticed that you left out a key detail in the story."

"We really don't have to-."

"That originally you were supposed to marry my older sister Katia, since to join two kingdoms together the oldest heirs of both ruling households had to marry one another. And instead you met and fell in love with me, the lowly younger ineligible princess. And you went before the two kingdoms and argued for two straight days, telling them I was the one who you were meant to be with. And do you remember what you said when they threatened to strip you of your title unless you married Katia?"

Aran smiled as the memory of standing there before the council, nervous and yet determined, took hold of him. "I said, 'I would rather live the life of a peasant with the woman I love then rule a kingdom alongside someone I don't'."

"Exactly. You were willing to give up everything for what you held dear to your heart. So while you may not be able to understand someone giving up being a fairy to live the life of a human, I know you can understand following your heart for love. Even if their decision might seem crazy to most others."

He pulled his wife closer as he gently kissed her on her lips. "Well, I know for a fact that what I did seemed crazy to many at the time, and I've never regretted it for a moment. So maybe you're right. Maybe there's hope that she will be able to find the happiness she should have. She was certainly willing to risk everything for it. She chanced dying to get what she wanted."

"What she did wasn't as big of a risk as you might think."

Aran frowned as his wife stood up. "What do you…she would have died if I hadn't rushed in."

"Our daughter isn't suicidal Aran. She knew exactly what she was doing." With that Ilma walked back inside, sticking her head briefly out of the entrance. "Do you really think I wouldn't have tried to stop her if I didn't 100% know you would have done what you did?" With that she walked over to her daughter, leaving Aran by himself to contemplate.

Aran sat on the balcony in amazement, thinking over everything he had just heard. After several minutes of contemplation he got up and walked into the bedroom. He loudly cleared his throat as Jeff and Ilma looked at him. "Um, young man. Can I speak to you in private?"

"It's ok, I'll let you know if Annabelle wakes up." Ilma said.

Jeff silently got up and followed Aran out to the balcony. To say he was nervous was the understatement of all time. It was nerve wrecking being with a woman's father under normal circumstances (the one or two times he actually got to that stage). But being with a large intimidating fairy king was at a whole other level.

"Listen, Jeff." Aran said. While he still sounded uncomfortable saying his name, he no longer spoke it as if he was spitting out battery acid. "I have to imprint upon you the enormous sacrifice my daughter has made to be with you and your kind. She has given up more than you can possibly imagine. Obviously I'm beyond the ability to prevent her from going with you. But I have to make sure she's not going to be spending the short time she had in misery and sadness."

Jeff took a deep breath as he looked the man in the eye. He had known this talk was coming since Annie had been brought to her parent's bed to recover. He was nervous, and not entirely sure at what he was going to say. So for once he instead spoke directly from the heart, with no ulterior motive or preconceived speech. "Sir, I'm not sure what exactly you know about her time in our world, so I'll just tell you what I know. She has been through a lot of hardships and has been hurt more then she has had a right to." He quickly barreled on as he saw the look of dread pass through Aran's eyes. "But she has also shown more strength and courage then anyone I've ever known. She's fought tooth and nail for everything she's gotten. And through it all has remained pure of heart and has a sense of decency unparallel to most. She's made both myself and everyone she knows a better person, even when we think we can't be one. I can't promise you that nothing bad will ever happen to her there. But I can promise that she has the strength to survive anything, and will no doubt take the world by storm and make it a much better place."

As Jeff looked at Aran he could tell that his doubts were slightly vanishing from his words. Aran slightly smiled before he looked somber again. "I'm well aware that my daughter is strong. But I don't always see it, and occasionally need it to be pointed out to me." He sighed as he readied himself for his next argument. "I assume by now you're aware of my daughter's feelings for you."

"Yes sir, I'm well aware of her feelings. I've been aware of them for a shamefully long time."

"I'm not going to pretend that I have a great deal of understanding of your species. But I hope you have the sense to appreciate what you have in her, considering everything."

"I'm well aware. I apologize that it has taken me this long to fully realize it. But I know how special and amazing your daughter is. And I also sadly know how many times I've pushed her away from me. And that no matter how many times she's bounced back and given me another chance, even she has a breaking point. So while I can't promise that I can completely change overnight, I can say that I will do everything I can not to hurt her and see the horrible look on her face when I do."

Just then they heard Ilma yell "Come in here. She's awake." Both men ran inside and over to the bed, where Annie was slowly opening her eyes. She looked up at everyone before her gaze settled on her father. "I'm sorry. I know you must hate me now…"

"Oh, no darling no. I could never hate you." Aran said, hating the tears that were threatening to spill over her eyes. He took hold of her hand as he looked at her with true affection. "It doesn't matter if you are a fairy or a human. I will always love you no matter what."

She nodded her head, grateful to have heard that, before she looked over at Jeff. Seeing this Ilma placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "I think we should give them some time." Before he could protest she steered her husband out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Jeff pulled up his chair and sat back down, nervously laughing as he looked at her. "So, where do we start?"

"I know you have a lot of questions Jeff."

"That's kind of a understatement."

"I'll try to answer as many as I can." She took a deep breath as she prepared herself. "I came to your world to learn more about people. I always had a fascination with them, and my father felt it would be best if I got to know you better through hands on learning. It was always meant to just be temporary. But then I met you, and everyone in the study group, and suddenly-."

"Annie." Jeff said. "It doesn't matter."

"But Jeff-."

"Annie, you can spend the next several hours explaining yourself. But I don't need a long explanation. All that really matters is that I've finally realized what exactly you mean to me. And that I'm finally ready to stop denying how I feel and am ready to be with you. That is, if you'll still have me." He paused as he flashed her a trademark grin. "A lowly human."

Annie gave a laugh that was a cross between a chuckle and a sob. As she sat up in bed she wrapped her arms around Jeff, pulling him down as her lips met his. Her heart swooned as he grabbed hold of her and kissed her back, his passion and affection for her felt with each movement of his lips and touch of his fingers.

After several moments she pulled away, grinning like a love struck girl. "My human prince."

"My fairy princess."

XXXXXXXXXXXX

She took one final check around her room, seeing if there was anything else she wanted to take with her. She had packed up all the books and knickknacks she planned to take with her, checked every nook and hiding place for hidden treasures. As far as she knew she had everything.

"You ready?"

Annie turned to Glawar, who was sitting on her bed. "Yea, I think so."

She smiled as she slid off the bed and walked towards her. "I wanted to give you something, so you won't forget me when you're living your great human life."

"Glawar, I could never forget you."

"Well, hopefully this will help make sure of it." She reached into her pocket and handed Annie a large blue stone. "It's the one we found when we were on that field trip. Remember, I snuck away and you ran after me and we stayed by the river skipping stones. And when we finally came back you lied and said you had spent all that time searching for me."

"I remember." Annie smiled as she looked at the stone, seeing that it still had A and G carved on its smooth surface. She wrapped her arms around Glawar as she pulled her into a deep hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you to. But at least you got a pretty good looking man out of it. You'll have to tell me if what they say about human males is true."

"Glawar!" Annie shrieked as her friend simply smirked. The two women hugged one more time before walking out of the room, seeing her parents and Jeff in the sitting room.

"So everything will go back to the way it was." Jeff said.

"That's correct. Once you two go back the world will reconfigure itself to how it was before Annabelle left. You two will be the only ones who will have known that anything ever changed.

"Ok, I've got everything." Annie said

They all got up as they went over to her, though Jeff hung back to give her time to say goodbye. Ilma hugged her daughter tightly, leaning her head on her shoulder. "Goodbye sweetheart." She wiped Annie's tears away as she pulled back. "I know that you're going to do great things there. I love you."

"I love you too mother." She hugged her one more time before turning towards her father. Before she could say anything the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a flat crystal. "This, this allows you to communicate with us, from your dimension to ours. Anytime you want to talk, day or night…" His voice choked up as he handed her the crystal.

"You'll definitely be hearing from us when you're baby brother or sister arrives." Ilma said.

Annie nodded her head at the remembrance that she soon would have a sibling. She hugged her father, who hugged her tightly back. "I'm going to miss you. But, you're all grown up now and are able to make your own decisions and choices. And it's time I realized that Annabe-, I mean, Annie."

Annie pulled back, fresh tears falling down her cheeks. "I love you father."

"I love you to. With all my heart."

Jeff went over and gently placed a hand on Annie's shoulder. As she looked up at him Ilma pulled Jeff into a hug. "Goodbye young man. Take care of my daughter."

"I will." As Jeff extracted himself Aran held out his hand, shaking Jeff's hand more kindly then Jeff was expecting." "Goodbye, Jeff." He said with distain.

"You really don't like my name do you." Jeff said with a grin.

"No, not at all." Aran said, returning the grin. Aran waved his hand as a large doorway of light appeared. The three fairies (Aran, Ilam and Glawar) stood together as Jeff and Annie grabbed her things. Aran had just enough time to remove the oxygen filtering leeches from their necks before they stepped through the doorway back to the human world.