The twin suns shone through the window, providing sufficient light for Tracy to work by. It was early in the morning, and he was due to work soon. He picked the phone up from the cradle, shouldering it as he shuffled through the stack of papers. "'Lo!" he declared into the mouthpiece, stooping down to pick up a paper he'd dropped. A man's voice began prattling away on the other end, a voice that Tracy recognized to be Rae's father. The fairy interrupted him waiting as he came to a sputtering stop. "Morning, sir! Everything all right on your end? You sound a bit frantic…"

There was a pause on his end. "Tracy…?" he asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Yessir."

"Could you… put Rae on, please?"

Tracy could hear the slight tone of unease in his voice, and that gave him praise. "Sure," he said after a moment.

Rae was in the kitchen, handling a pot of tea and two mugs. Tracy told her that her father was on the line and handed her the receiver, helping her cradle it between her shoulder and ear. "Hi, dad!" she bubbled.

Tracy pecked her on the cheek and took one of the mugs from her hands, allowing her to hold the phone in a much more comfortable manner.

Tracy sipped the tea, sitting at the kitchen table and shifting through the papers. It'd been years since his last job as a Caseworker – rehabilitating Rae, as it happened – but that didn't mean he was free of paperwork; quite the opposite, in fact, he was required to fill out a collection sheet every few weeks, so that Fairy could keep track of progress. Despite the fact that he was running on his eighth year as a Tooth Fairy, he was still fairly new at the job – many on his team had been doing runs since they graduated the academy, literally hundreds of years. It wasn't so much a disadvantage as it was a learning experience. After Lily set things straight with that one bloke in Dispatch, his job had become much more enjoyable.

Tracy didn't have to be at work quite yet – he still worked the day shifty, so he got to spend plenty of time with Rae before they both went off to work (she had been able to get a job at Fairy in administration.)

There was a clatter, the sharp, painful noise of shattering ceramic.

Tracy looked back to see Rae standing there, phone to her ear and ceramic shards at her feet. He bolted up and moved carefully around the mess to her.

She severed the connection, handing up and seeming shocked to see the mess at her feet, grabbing a rag and trying to mop up the tea, tears stinging at her eyes. She barely heard Tracy, his concerned voice as he hovered over her, supporting her and taking the rag, picking her up from the floor. "Rae, love, what happened?" he asked gently, pushing her hair from her eyes.

"M-mom," she breathed. "Mom's… mom died." She choked the words out, resting her forehead on his shoulder and he held her, crooning into her ear until her sobs quieted. Tracy sent her from the kitchen to clean up the broken ceramic and make her a new cup. As he heated the water, he could hear her sniffling in the next room.

He went to her, holding her close as she calmed. "The—" she hiccupped, "The funeral's next week." She said, and he held her.

"Back in Mesa?" he asked, and she nodded, taking the mug and supping tentatively. "I'll talk to Lily today, and we'll go first thing tomorrow morning."

And go they did.

It was a small hotel room, comfortable enough for the two of them as they spent the week with Rae's family, many of whom Tracy had never met, who were surprised to learn that Rae had wed, and were more than a little cautious of him.

They didn't see Rae's father until later the evening they arrived in Mesa. He was at home, pale as a ghost and somber, a startling contrast to the boisterous man Tracy knew. It was sad, to see him so disheartened, to see him lose the person who meant absolutely everything to him. A knot formed in Tracy's chest at the thought of losing Rae.

When her father saw them, he frowned. "Rae?"

She went to embrace her father, tearful and just as heartbroken as he was, but after a moment, him hugging her back with a confused look on his face, pushing her back and studying her face.

"I'm so sorry, dad, I – I don't know what—"

"Rae, how long have you been married?" he asked. Of course he knew the answer.

Rae stuttered over her words, unsure of how to answer. Of course she knew the answer, but it was just a startling question. "Three years."

He turned away. "Sorry. I must be… imagining things, too much stress these last few days. For a moment I thought…"

He left the two, muttering quietly to himself, and Rae moved back to Tracy, confused. He held her and she looked up at him, a question in her eyes.

The knot in his chest had dispersed, fallen into oblivion with the rest of his stomach, and he kissed her. "He thinks," Tracy explained, "that you look the same as you did on your wedding day." He paused, the knot returning and forcing its way up his throat. "Come on, I think we should… go back to the motel, now."

She followed, numbly, unsure of what to think.

He sat up with her when they got back, talking and trying to explain to her what her father had seen. He wasn't over stressed or delusional. It was very possible that he had in fact been right.

"What do you mean, he could be right?" she asked sharply.

Her husband sighed, leaning into her and cradling her against him. "Magic and love… they're the same thing, but sometimes, magic and love work together. The ceremony, my honeybee. Do you remember that? Those marking that my sisters painted on you? You know how that was to… connect us, magically connect us. But I think… because your father's correct, I think, when he says that you look the same…" Tracy sighed, kissing her temple. "Fairies live for… so long. Hundreds of years, a thousand if you live long. Humans… humans don't. And the magic, the magic that… connected us… I think it recognized that. It…" he took a deep breath. "It fixed that."

She was still underneath him. "What do you mean?"

Each of her words, slow and confused and sharp as a knife that cut through him and sent pangs of unease through his chest. "You won't… age, like a human would, anymore. The magic slowed you down… to protect us."

"So…" she started slowly, her voice low and hollow. "I'm going to live… for – for… oh my God." She breathed, her fingers tightening around the sheets.

"It's… it's not a bad thing, honeybee, I promise. It's—"

"Tracy," she interrupted, bowing her head.. "Tracy I love you. More than anything, I love you. But… I can't tell you how much it hurts right now, loosing my mom like this. People get to go with their loved ones, after so long. I just get to watch everyone die."

He could hear the unsteady tremor in her voice, and it broke her heart. Magic had many little quirks about it, more of which would crop up over time, he was sure, but this one – the one that would let them be together for centuries – it hurt her, and it broke his heart to see the grim realization dawn on her face as she looked up at him.

"I can't do this. I can't watch everyone I love die," she choked, her voice thick and her cheeks wet with tears. He held her to him as she sobbed, the implications hitting her hard. He held her until her body stopped trembling, until her hands, once grasping the sheets, fell limp and her breathing came in little wispy hiccups and she slept.

He moved as gently as he could, sinking down into the bed to lie with her, trying not to disturb Rae. His heart ached for her now more than ever because this, this he couldn't fix. No amount of love or magic or belief could. She wasn't much more than a pile of blankets, rising and falling slowly with her breath, and he slid down next to her, burying himself under the covers and slowly wrapping an arm around her, as not to wake her up. The poor thing had exhausted herself in her woes, and he wanted her to rest, to get a proper rest and maybe she wouldn't be so miserable in the morning.

There was a gentle sniffling noise from beneath him and he looked, seeing her looking, weary-eyed, up at him. "M'sorry, didn't mean to wake you," he breathed. "Go back to sleep, honeybee." He wanted her to rest; between the emotional taxation of her mother's death, the grim understanding she'd come to today, and the funeral tomorrow, she needed it so much.

She looked at him for a moment, dazed and confused, and he could tell she hadn't truly woken up. He held her closer, running a hand down her shoulders, the curve of her stomach and waist, drawing her hips closer to him. "I'm sorry, Rae." He said, his mouth at her ear. "I'm so sorry, I didn't—" he stopped as he sniffled again, and he kissed her forehead. "I can't imagine what this is like, and I'm sorry, honeybee, truly. But it'll get easier, won't it? That's what time does, just like it would normally. Everything will be okay, you watch. I'll make sure of it."

She let out a muffled sob and buried her face in his chest. He moved his hand up and stroked her hair, rubbed at the back of her neck and kissed the crown of her head. "If it's any consolation, you've got me, and I'm not going anywhere, you can count on that. Every time something hurts I will always be there for you, my love."

She settled against him, eyes closed. "I love you," she choked. Feeling him there with her, holding her, didn't change the fact that she would age as a fairy, and watch every human she knew die around her, but somehow it made it better. He always made things better.

"I love you too," he crooned, his hand at the back of her neck encouraging sleep.

"Please don't leave me," she slurred, half asleep and fearful.

"Never, honeybee. Never." He muttered, craning his neck to rest his cheek against the top of her head. He closed his eyes and, with the rhythm of her steady breathing underneath him, his evened out to match hers, and they fell asleep together.