A/N: Sorry it's a bit short, dears, but I'm hoping to get some of your input on things you might like to see happen in the next chapter or later on. Thanks for all of your reviews - they make me feel like it's Christmas!

Chapter IX

Fia? It's Charlie.

So my mother didn't sic the wolves on you, huh?

Not yet. Busy? We need to talk.

Coffee?

After arranging where to meet, Charlie threw down his phone and sighed. This was not getting any less complicated.

When he arrived, she was sitting on a chair in the corner, sipping a cup of something. He ordered something he knew he probably wasn't going to drink and made his way over to the couch next to her.

She had her hair up in that same messy bun, and, even though she had glasses on today, he could see pronounced rings under her eyes. Her skin was oddly a kind of grey, and his gut wrenched at knowing she looked so weary because of him.

"Hi," she said softly, looking decidedly at her cup.

"Hi. Look. We need to get something straight." He took a deep breath. "Do you want me to say yes or no?"

She quirked an eyebrow and one corner of her mouth at him in amusement.

"Straight for the big guns, huh?"

"It's not funny. You told me to forget about it, so that's what I was going to do. It's not because I don't – or wouldn't – I mean-" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "If you want me to, I'll think about it. And maybe we could . . . go out to eat or something."

He reluctantly looked back to her face to see that she was smiling slightly, and a blush was blossoming on her pale cheeks.

"Um . . ." She pulled her legs up onto the chair and wrapped her arms around them. "I wouldn't say no to dinner."

He felt himself grin and wondered why that answer made him happy – this was only going to make things more complicated.

She grinned shyly back, and realization dawned on him. It's because she was beautiful.

"Are you free tonight?"

She bit her lip, but then nodded at him. Then she pulled out her phone and started typing something. Charlie was very confused, but waited, and was soon rewarded with a message alert from his own phone.

"It's my address."

He grinned at her again. "Seven?"

"Sounds good to me," she said, standing up. "I gotta go. See you then."

When Charlie got home, there was something outside his door. On further investigation, he saw that it was a single, large Sunflower, with a note:

For tonight. They're her favorite.
-M

He blinked, looked at his watch, and blinked again. They'd only made their plans maybe fifteen minutes before. How could she have possibly been able to arrange this so fast?

Sighing, and shrugging it off as more "stupid Faery" stuff, he took the flower inside and began to contemplate the one thing he'd been trying not to think about.

He arrived at Fia's apartment a few minutes early, and hesitantly knocked on the door. Surprisingly, she answered after only a moment. For a second, he was awestruck that she seemed to be ready to go, but then her appearance reached his brain from his eyes, and he choked.

"Guh – I-" He held out the Sunflower, mouth still open.

She was wearing a simple purple blouse with a green undershirt and jeans, but she was also wearing heels, and her hair was down.

Her hair was spectacular. It reached her hips, and was thick and midnight black. She actually looked more like her mother than ever, except that her hair was thick and looked unstyled, and her eyes (now free of glasses) were especially brilliant green. Moreover, a little color had returned to her skin, and, just to the side of her right eye, he even caught a single speck of . . . Sparkle.

She smiled and took the flower from him.

"Thanks." She opened the door wider so he could enter, closed it behind him, and then went into her kitchen, saying, "Sit down if you like. I'll just find a . . . something. For this. Did my mom give this to you?"

"Uh . . . Guilty."

Charlie felt a wave of relief when she laughed.

"Meddler. Thanks for being honest. Um . . ."

She noticed a mostly empty Cherry Coke bottle on her bar and grabbed it, then rinsed it out and added water to put the Sunflower in. Charlie just watched, grinning.

When Fia returned, she smiled and shrugged sheepishly at him.

"Uh, ready to go?"

"Yeah," he said, standing and placing a hand on the small of her back, to walk out with her.

She let out a small gasp and tensed. He sent her a questioning look only to find her gulping.

"Uh, maybe you shouldn't touch me."

He backed away immediately, his brown eyes widening.

"Sorry, are you okay?"

She chuckled a little nervously. "Yeah, just . . . One of the unfortunate side effects of being Fae. I get . . . uh . . . easily . . ." She trailed off, watching him for realization that didn't come. "Worked up."

It took him a moment to understand. Then he blinked. She meant aroused. He felt his face heat up and saw that she was also blushing fiercely.

"Just from-" She nodded. "Oh. Wow."

Fia laughed. "I know. It's stupid."

"No, it's not. Is it like that if anybody touches you?"

"Uh, no. I mean, it's a little like that if it's someone I'm attracted to, but . . . so far . . . Only you have been this bad."

"Oh . . . Sorry?" he said, not sure if he should be, but realizing he wasn't, really.

She laughed again and said, "Trust me, you have nothing to be sorry for. But you might want to be careful of contact with me if you don't want to be jumped."