Rae was more than happy to return the book to the library. Her literature professor had let them chose a work to study for the last couple of weeks. She had chosen the wrong one, no doubt. Where the sentences weren't dry and choppy, they were long and winding and almost completely devoid of point. It had been a dry read and she was more than glad to be rid of it. She was using her lunch hour to return this book and check out the next one she would need for her class. The thin hardback she held in her hands slid down the return shoot before she strode purposefully into the classics section.
Over the low-rising bookshelves, she spotted a familiar figure, and smiled mischievously as she rounded the shelf, sneaking up behind him. He was in his work suit, hunched over the computer in one of the small wooden chairs, his legs nearly at his chest. His knee bobbed up and down in a nervous manner and she hugged him from behind – he jumped, slamming a hand down on the keyboard to close the window. She shot back at his sudden, violent outburst, confused and frightened and he stood, looking frazzled for a moment before forcing himself to calm down, embracing her warmly.
She gave a nervous laugh at his antics, the shock subsiding quickly. "What're you doing here?" she asked.
"Just… using the internet, here. Fairy doesn't have access to a lot of the, ah, special information you lot have. Just… doing some research is all. What's that?" he gestured to her book, a ditch effort to grab her attention from him.
"Ah, The Iliad." She nodded down at the book. "It's for school."
"Brilliant." He said absently. "This… this is your lunch hour, isn't it?" he asked, checking his own watch. She nodded. "Right. Well, have a good lunch then, careful getting back to campus, allright?" he looked at her, seeming to come out of his nervous stupor at this. She promised she would be. "Allright. I ought to be getting back to Fairy." He gave her a quick kiss. "I'll see you back at the apartment."
Rae watched as he hurried out of the library, out onto the patio reading area, and vanished.
She sighed, still rather confused. Still, they did make it work. Rae had started college and things became so much easier for them. Her tuition included boarding in an apartment complex for students. She was without a room mate, which meant that Tracy was free to come and go as he needed, without having to worry about who would be with her. He held his job and began living with her, flitting between FairyLand and The Human Plane as needed.
Rae's apartment was perfect for her college years. Close to the campus and in the city, private and she never had to worry about roommates. It was small, true, but more than enough for the two people who lived there. One spent the majority of her time at the university, and the other in another plane of existence.
It was lonely, sometimes, but they made it work. They spent as much time as they could together, Tracy switching shifts and taking work on the opposite hemisphere to be with her while she was home, able to spend the evening, nights and early morning with her.
They were happy together.
College itself was an interesting experience for Rae. It had its ups and downs, the dog days and the weeks that seemed to go by in the blink of an eye. With the experience came a familiar panic, one that she hadn't felt in years, the sudden, suffocating pressure of what if? But he was always there for her, to calm her fears and uncertainties and over the years, they only became closer. It was an odd relationship, if they were to be honest. There was a certain stigma, in his world, for inter-species marriage. Fairies were very accepting when it came to love, they knew not to meddle or oppose, but that didn't change the fact that he was in love with a human.
Humans, by fairy standards, were untrustworthy and cruel. They took every chance to deceive and only had their own benefit in mind, and Rae understood fully why they would feel this way. Between Fairy-Human history from centuries ago and the Dream Killers that Fairy almost constantly processed, it wasn't hard to understand why humans had been stereotyped as monsters in their culture. Even Tracy was a bit weary of meeting new people on the human plane, being introduced to her friends and family, even despite his work with humans, knowing that they're all different.
Though, perhaps he was entirely justified for being a nervous mess at the thought of Rae's parents being told that he was a fairy. Rae had already met his parents – they had thought she was a wingless fairy as well, and Tracy had politely corrected them. She had been mildly embarrassed for the misconception, but they welcomed her warmly.
But how, he wondered, would her parents react to being told that she was with a fairy? Provided of course, that they believed it at all!
He stayed up with Rae for hours on end while he prattled away, talking over scenario after disastrous scenario and she merely listened, watching as he readied for bed. When he sat down, throwing the covers back, he looked at her, realizing that she hadn't said a thing the whole time. She merely smiled and flicked off the light, snuggling up to him as he lay down. "Do you want to know what I think?" she said, finally, and he held her, egging her on. "I think my family will love you almost as much as I do."
He laughed nervously. "I can only hope so." He said. "Do you think we… do we have to tell them…?" he felt her go still beneath him and the knot of anxiety in his chest tightened. "Right away. Do we have to tell them right away? About me being a fairy. I mean, for God's sake they're your parents and I'm sure they just want what's best for you. Do you really think that I'd be part of that plan, if they knew?"
She lifted her chin and kissed him. "I do. I really do. But," she said. "if you don't want to tell them, we don't have to. Not yet. Eventually, though, we have to. You know that."
He sighed and told her that he did, holding her as they drifted off to sleep together.
They hadn't believed, at first. Tracy didn't blame them; no adult ever did, not until they were face to face with magic, and even then some didn't. Tracy had been patient with them, a disposition born of years as a caseworker, though he felt he could be sick at any moment sitting in front of them with Rae and explaining why he didn't have wings, where Fairy Land was, and that yes he loved their daughter very much. In that instant, where her parents understood that she had fallen in love with a fairy, something inhuman, and that he loved her back, it felt suddenly suffocating in their apartment, an arm slung around her as they sat on the couch facing her parents. He had to excuse himself, exiting into the hallway of the apartment complex.
He could hear them through the door, just faintly, though he was able to make out some words. He couldn't be angry, they didn't know better. They were just concerned, as any parent should be when confronted by their daughter who was in love with someone of a different species. Particularly a species they had previously thought to be the stuff of fantasy.
He removed his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and the voices on the other side of the door calmed after a minute or so, Rae having talked her parents down from whatever fury he was sure they were in.
The door opened and he felt her hands on his arm, gentle. He looked up. "M'sorry," he said, his voice low.
She merely smiled up at him. "Will you come back in?" she tugged gently on his arm. He shoved the glasses back on and followed her into the apartment, shutting the door behind him and taking his seat by her.
"You allright son?" Rae's father asked, and Tracy apologized to her parents.
Rae laughed, cuddling up to him and whispered to him, "Imagine what it'll be like when our folks meet." And he blanched at the thought. Part of the reason why he got along so well with those who weren't willing to believe was because he was a wingless fairy, as was his mam – but his father was winged, and Tracy wasn't sure how Rae's parents would handle that. "Try not to pass out," she pecked him on the cheek.
But that had been months ago, Rae thought as she returned to the apartment later that evening, after her classes had let out, to find him already home. It was a pleasant surprise, but she was worried all the same. He was acting awfully peculiar, and she was concerned for him. Work hadn't given him problems in so long, but it wasn't out of the question that his team had gained a young, bull-headed fairy with a wing bias. She knew there were plenty of those.
Before she had the chance to ask him, to make sure that everything was okay, he rushed her out of the apartment building, down to the local park just off of campus.
Tracy had never been this erratic before, and she became worried as they walked together, watching as he wrung his hands together, fidgeting with every step.
Whenever she asked him if he was okay, or brought up work, he'd assure her that he was fine and change the subject.
They ate dinner at a small bistro near the park grounds, a lovely, locally owned place that Rae often went to for lunch. She'd taken him there once, but he knew it was one of her favorite restaurants in the city.
Over the evening, his edgy demeanor seemed to disappear. She made a note to ask him again when he was himself, less jumpy and calm as he usually was, but for now it was a nice improvement. She hated seeing him nervous or jumpy when they were out in public – when he'd first started living with her on The Human Plane, he'd been quite weary of being out in public, for fear that somehow, someone would know. That fear had dissolved, replaced by a careful confidence that he looked positively human.
He tried to relax that night, he could see that he was worrying her, but just the thought of what he was doing was enough to put him on edge. What if it upset her? What if she said no? She'd told him over and over again how happy she was with him, what if she wanted to stay how they were now? What if doing this distanced her?
By the end of the night, they crossed the bridge together, the lights from the city dancing crazily in the reflection of the moving water below them, only making him dizzier. "R-rae," he stammered, grabbing her arm and stopping her. She turned back to him, head tilted slightly, wide eyes on him. He grabbed her hands, heart thumping against his ribs. "I love you, Rae." He said sternly.
Her eyebrows arced. "I love you too," she said, surprised at the force of his words.
"N-no, I… Rae." He held her to him. "I love you so much. More than I've ever loved anyone, more than I – You mean so much to me, I – I don't know what I'd do without you."
She placed a sudden kiss on his mouth, silencing him. When she pulled back, she looked questioningly up into his face. "Tracy, please," she begged, keeping a hold on the front of his jacket. "What's gotten into you lately? What's wrong?"
"N-nothing's wrong, Honeybee," he muttered quietly, leaning his forehead against hers. "You know it's almost been six years since the Bus Stop," he said, and she could hear his voice cracking. "And for as long as I've been alive – and that's a long time, too – I don't think… No. I know I've never met any one who… not after all this time. I mean there's no one… I wouldn't... ah, bugger. I ruined it, didn't I?" he asked, miserably, tilting his head back away from her.
Rae laughed. For a terrifying moment, he thought she was laughing at him. He sputtered indignantly as she giggled.
"Ruined what?" she asked kindly, beaming up at him.
He swallowed hard, plunging his hand into his pocket and withdrawing a small velvet box, fingers trembling. Over the pounding of his heart and the blood rushing in his ears, he could hear her whispered "Oh my God." Whether it was in disbelief or dismay he couldn't tell.
He grabbed her hand and looked her in the eye. "Will you marry me?" he asked, his voice coming out much more composed and confident than he felt. Her free hand flew to her mouth and he could see tears welling up in her eyes. His heart sank – he'd done it wrong, he must have. Human and fairy courting traditions were so different, and he'd tried researching, spent so much time looking up ways to propose to her, human ways, but most of them involved airplanes and sounded dangerous or ridiculous.
Rae pressed her lips together and smiled, nodding.
Tracy's heart stopped in his chest and his eyes widened. "What?"
"Yes," she answered happily. "Yes!" Rae threw her arms around his neck and he caught her. He nearly dropped the box in surprise, grabbing her shoulders as she took his face in her hands, kissing her deep and dizzyingly.
They were getting married.