"Poof! Whatever are you doing here? Not that it isn't wonderful to see you, but…"

Poof slowly shifted his gaze from where the doorknob used to be to look into his mother's welcoming eyes. He smiled slightly.

"Hey, mom."

"Well, what do you think you're doing, just standing there? Come in!"

The purple-themed fairy walked into the familiar foyer, inhaling the familiar aromas of the house he had grown up in when his parents were on break from different godchildren. This house in Fairy World was much more desirable, mostly because living in the fishbowl with godchildren reminded him too much of Timmy. Even when he came close to other children, it certainly wasn't the same. The never-changing, three bedroom house brought great relief to the young fairy, whether it was between godsiblings, or vacationing during his first year (and just starting, second) year of college.

Poof immediately sat in his favorite chair in the corner by the window. His mother sat on the couch against the opposite wall and crossed her legs, smiling lovingly at him.

"What suddenly brought you home? You never visit us during the weekends…" He could sense the playful guilt trip in Wanda's tone. Poof smiled fully for the first time all day.

What he really needed to tell his parents had not been bothering him for only today, but for a solid week. At first, the news startled him. Then, he had suddenly burst into hysterical, happy tears. And finally, as he has been for the past few days, broke down in stress and panic. Being the equivalent to 19 years old and having just begun his second year of college, the news had broken him dramatically.

And to make matters worse, he knew it was mostly his fault.

He knew immediately after receiving the news, he would need to tell his parents no more than two weeks from that point. But there was first the trouble of organizing his thoughts himself, and talking to his girlfriend, Carling Ellenwood, about it.

Just after Poof had been born, and seeing how the baby had done more good than harm, the Fairy Counsel had finally repealed the no-baby law. Luckily, this was decided only a few months after Poof was born, so his classmates weren't at all much younger than he was.

Fairy World was also able to reopen the old fairy high schools (back when the older fairies were kids, elementary and middle schools were co-species, and high school was back to respective home planets; Fairy world decided to carry on this tradition), including Carl Poofy Pants High, where Cosmo and Wanda had met.

Carling was actually one of the first of the flood to be born just after the law was passed, making her one of the older children of the grade. Poof had met her when she was one of many who started Spellementary school halfway through the term. The purple baby instantly fell for her. Unlike his counterpart's tastes this time around, and who though the new fairy was "too nice" for his liking, Poof found himself barely able to speak to her. Sure when it came to being the most popular kid in class and everyone simply adoring him, Poof had inherited his mother's social skills. But when it came to talking to the girl he really liked, his father's traits kicked in as he started stuttering and blushing, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"H-hey, C-C-Carl-"

The girl with aqua hair giggled, "It's Carling, Poof."

His stomach dropped in excitement.

"Y-you know m-me?"

"Yeah! You're famous. And, you're really cute."

Carling floated to Poof's level and gave him a small peck on the nose, and flew off with a chuckle. Poof's cheeks turned a rosy red as he watched after, but only blushed harder when he told his parents after school.

They kept teasing him and claiming that he was "in love".

Throughout Spellementary school and Starling's Secondary school, Poof had Carling in nearly every class of his. Starting about 7th or 8th grade, Poof realized that Carling was slowly drifting away. Sure, they were at the friendship level of "we talk to each other in class a lot", but they were never truly friends. Poof saw that starting in the awkward teen years, Carling had developed a spot with the "popular" girls in school. Poof, himself, was still somewhat popular (though not in the "popular guys" group), but the fame barely lingered; all because he was the one fairy baby that brought back infancy to Fairy world.

You see, Carling could never, ever hurt a fly or anyone else. Yet, she had developed close friendships with each and every girl in the group, as well as being kind to everyone she wasn't friends with in the grade. Whenever the other girls had decided to do something particularly mean to someone else, Carling had the incredible ability of talking them out of it. Sometimes, when they didn't listen, she would walk away disapprovingly, and strike up a conversation with whomever was sitting alone.

As much as Poof wanted to talk to her, there were a few good reasons they haven't really talked to each other outside of class. Well, he was never really alone during school, so he was never the "lonely" person Carling would approach to talk to. Poof's best friend, Warren, practically clung to him starting in elementary school. He had been picked on at first, until Poof came to the rescue (as per usual), and pretty much deemed him his hero. They have been inseparable best friends ever since.

A second very good reason is that Poof would screw up big time. In class, he could keep his mind and voice steady as they talked about whatever class they were in. But out in public?

No. No way.

He'd just get all tongue-tied and embarrassed, and…

"Why don't you just ask her out, lover-boy?" Warren teased one day at break during sophomore year. Poof turned to his best friend in astonishment.

"W-what?" Poof's face flushed red at the mere thought; this did not go unnoticed by the other fairy.

Warren smirked, "See, you go red just thinking about it! Just do it already!" With a hard shove from his friend, Poof stumbled in the direction of his crush. Unable to regain his balance, Poof tripped over his own feet, and fell right in front of Carling.

The entire schoolyard went silent.

Poof gulped nervously, and smiled up at the beaming girl.

"Hey, Poof!"

"H-hey, Carling…"

He really should, one day, thank his best friend for making him ask her out nearly four years ago. But, really, what teenage boy would really expect their crush to ever say yes?

"So, what brought you home so suddenly?"

Poof snapped out of his thoughts to see his mom give her one-raised-eyebrow look. She knew that whenever he had gone into deep thought, the situation at hand was rather serious.

He got up from his chair and instead sat next to his mother on the couch. Poof grabbed Wanda's hand and looked her in the eyes.

"M-mom, I-I…" Poof trailed off, breathing heavily. What was he supposed to say? "C-Carling…"

With a crack in his voice when stating her name, large tears rolled down his cheeks. He pulled his hand back and put his elbows on his knees, burying his face in his hands.

Poof was so terrified. Terrified about how his mother might react; terrified how his father might react; terrified of what this all now meant for his future.

"Oh, Sweetie…"

Wanda pried his hands from his face and started wiping tears away. Poof refused to meet her gaze.

"Mom, stop. I'm not a little kid anymore."

Wanda simply laughed and gently lowered his head to her lap, and started comfortingly stroking his hair.

"Don't give me that. Your brother did the same thing about two months before he turned eighteen when he started having a breakdown about the tests, college, and losing us. And he didn't complain when I tried comforting him."

A lot has changed over the course of eleven years. In the fairy family now, they had stopped having emotional breakdowns when Timmy was mentioned, and actually would laugh while they reminisced on their favorite memories. This mostly happened between Wanda and Poof. Wanda would tell Poof funny stories about the family before Poof was born. They were still cautious around Cosmo. Even though he could still laugh when he remembered specific stories, but both of his family members could still see some hurt in his eyes.

Poof smirked at what his mother said, "Well, yeah, but that just makes him a sissy."

Wanda tweaked his nose as a joking punishment for what he just said, much like she did when he was little. But she instantly went back to stroking his hair.

"What is it you need to tell me?"

The tears sprang back in his eyes, but he tried even harder to swallow them back.

"M-mom… C-Carling…"

He bit his lip for a second and waited for the tears to reside. Wanda waited patiently.

"Carling is pregnant."

~0~0~0~0~0~

Yay, the second chapter is up!

Now THIS is where the story is about to pick up. Explanations are pretty much done, so this is where the plot will really start picking up.

Review if you want to leave a suggestion or comment on the story!