A/N: Chapter two is here with all the standard disclaimers. Now I should get back to my NaNo.

He'd searched all over the garden and the trees behind the yard for hours, but all he'd found were some squirrels and a few crows that had plenty of rude things to say about being pestered by the American teenager. By the time that Francis opened the patio door and called out that dinner was ready, Alfred was nearly convinced that he'd just seen some sort of large insect or small bird, or maybe even nothing at all. Alfred brushed the dirt from his knees with a sigh and walked over to collect the garden sheers as he headed for the house. Hadn't gotten a thing done to help the roses and all he had to show for his time was dirty jeans.

"Will I have to start dragging you in from the garden now?" Francis asked with a fond smile and a chuckle, leaning against the door frame. "They are quite lovely, non?"

Alfred stuck his hands in his pockets once he'd put the sheers down just outside the door. "Yeah, they're pretty. Mom would have liked this place."

The older man sighed softly and reached a hand out to settle it on top of Alfred's head, ruffling his hair gently. "Oui, she would have. I hope you come to like living here too. You'll make friends soon enough. Matthieu as already met someone; did he tell you?" Moving his hand to Alfred's back, he guided him into the house and slid the door shut behind them.

"Albino kid, yeah. Gilligan or something, from Germany," Alfred said. As if he could forget about the guy Matt had spent an hour talking about while they'd been hanging up pictures, just because he'd actually come up and said hi to his wallflower brother. Which, Alfred could admit, was pretty rare. Matt was the definition was invisible most of the time. "A little too full of himself if you ask me."

The teenager was promptly flicked in the side of the head as his younger brother by one year walked past, carrying a small stack of plates. "It's Gilbert, and like you're the one to talk, mister I'm the hero, you have to be the sidekick."

"Dude, you carried that dumb bear around until you were twelve, like hell you were going to play the hero," Alfred said with a snort, grinning. In the face of teasing Matt, worrying about fairies that weren't real was completely put out of his mind.

"I was seven and Kuma isn't dumb!"

Alfred didn't really get much more time to himself until it was time for bed. He sprawled out on top of his blankets, some of the first things he'd pulled out of the moving boxes, just dressed in sleeping pants and staring at the ceiling. The room was nice enough, he'd admit. And it looked out on the garden, which was why he'd put his dibs on it.

Rolling over, he looked out the window with a little smile. Maybe he could get used to this place after—

Something flashed across his window and promptly interrupted his thoughts. What the hell had that been?! Alfred snatched up his glasses and jumped up to his feet and ran tot he window, blue eyes going wide.

There was definitely something fluttering around the roses, moonlight catching on the wings and flashing gold. It was too far away to see much of anything, but he could see enough to know one thing. That was not a bird, and it wasn't a damn bug either.

He didn't even bother to grab shoes or a jacket as he ran out of his bedroom and down the hall for the patio door. The teenager only just managed to keep himself from slamming the door open. He didn't want to scare it away, whatever it was out there, so he slid the door open as quietly as he could, stopping when it was open just enough for him to slip through.

The thing was still fluttering around in the air over the roses and Alfred couldn't help but to stare, utterly transfixed. It almost seemed to glow even, and not just in the moonlight. Very slowly, he crept forward towards it, holding his breath. At last, he was only two feet away and could see exactly what he'd spotted that afternoon.

It looked almost human, if he could ignore the wings on its back and just how small the tiny creature was. Alfred thought that he would be able to completely enclose it within his fingers if he just reached out to snatch it. He swallowed heavily. It really was a fairy. One with blond hair and pale skin, wearing a tiny green tunic that looked like leaves layered together.

He must have made a sound or gasped, because the fairy spun around and stared at Alfred with the greenest eyes he had ever seen, eyes that were wide with shock and surprise. For a moment, they just stared at each other, human and fairy.

And then in an instant the moment was over and the fairy turned back around with a curse, shooting off towards the trees. No matter how fast Alfred scrambled after him, he couldn't keep up. "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" But the fairy was gone and he was left alone, head spinning. A fairy. A real fairy.