AN~ I have to go back to school in a few days. I don't want to. Spring break went by so FAST!

findthefourth: No, not really. she's a bit annoying, but she gets better once you get to know her.

By the time they made it outside, Henry was already there, waiting in his car, as Mustardseed had predicted. Sabrina collapsed on the front seat with a sigh.

"I am not going back in there until the party is over." She groaned.

"How come you get the front seat?" Puck asked, sliding into the back.

"Because this is sort of technically my car, it's my dad, and I got here first." Sabrina said. "Plus I'm twelve and you're eleven."

"Actually, I believe he's twelve now." Mustardseed said. "Seeing as I'm feeling older than I did before, and have had a growth spurt. My apologies on our informal introduction, sir." He said, addressing Henry. "Am I correct in assuming you are Sabrina's father, Henry Grimm?"

Henry eyed Mustardseed with raised eyebrows, then looked at Sabrina.

"I like this one. Why can't he be your best friend?" He looked back at Mustardseed. "Nice to met you, too. Yes, I'm Henry. And you are..."

"Mustardseed." Mustardseed supplied. "I assume you'd like to go out to eat? I can reccomend some really good restaurants near here, and after that we can find you a place to park your car for the next two weeks. There's a place around here that's very cheap."

"Free, actually." Puck said. "If you're talking about father's garage, I fixed that before we left. No charge anymore."

"That's useful." Sabrina said. "Now can we go eat? I'm exhausted."

"Of course." Mustardseed said. "Henry, you'll want to turn left once we reach the park, then drive three blocks. After that, turn right and drive another block and a half. It's the restaurant on the corner. It's run by a friend."

"Everafter?" Sabrina asked.

Mustardseed shook his head. "They're all at the Golden Egg. But he knows about them."

"How many people are there in New York that know about everafters?" Sabrina asked.

Puck and Mustardseed looked at each other and shrugged.

"Fifteen? Twenty?" Puck asked.

Mustardseed nodded. "At most. We've all given a human a leg up now and then, but most of them are dead by now."

"Dead how?" Henry asked suspiciously.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Old age, Dad. Seriously."

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, young lady!" Henry snapped.

"Then don't be so suspicious." Sabrina returned. "This is your turn, by the way."

Henry turned the car sharply, speeding up to avoid getting caught in a red light, and narrowly missing an approaching car.

"Who taught you to drive?" Sabrina complained, sitting back up.

"Your grandmother." Henry said tightly.

"That explains it." Puck grinned. "Can we do it again?"

"NO!" Sabrina and Mustardseed shouted together.

"Yeesh, no need to be so forceful about it." Puck muttered. "I was just asking."

"Well, stop asking." Sabrina said. "And since when do you drive like this, Dad? Mom was always the risky one."

"I was careful when you were in the car." Henry replied. "But you have to be a dangerous driver in this city."

"Another reason to not come back." Sabrina said.

"This is it!" Mustardseed interrupted. "Park!"

"Where?" Henry asked.

"You just passed a spot." Puck said. "If you and Sabrina hadn't been arguing, you'd have seen it. Nice job."

"Shut up, Puck." Sabrina said.

Henry sighed. "We're going to have to go around the block and get back to that spot."

"No, we're not!" Sabrina said. "There's a guy pulling out right in front of you!"

"What? Where?" Henry asked.

"Right there!" Sabrina pointed.

Henry zoomed into the spot quickly, making Sabrina and Mustardseed uncomfortable again, but giving Puck a bit of enjoyment.

"He did it again!" Puck grinned.

"Fun." Sabrina said. "I'm not sure I'm hungry anymore."

"Yes you are." Puck steered her to the restaurant. "Remember how much you were looking forward to normal food?"

"Mmmm..." Sabrina said, allowing Puck to push her. "I can smell the pizza now. Yum... Carbs, oil, bread, pepperoni..."

Mustardseed blinked. "Is there something wrong with her?"

"My mother makes odd food." Henry said. "She does most of the cooking at our house, and Sabrina isn't fond of it. So she doesn't get much to eat at home."

"It doesn't help that whenever there's something I do like to eat, someone else always eats it all." Sabrina said, shooting Puck a glare as they walked into the pizza parlor.

"Hey, it's not just me." Puck protested. "Daphne eats a lot, too, and Elvis steals everyone's food. Plus, you're living in a house with what, ten other people?"

"Wow, you can count!" Sabrina said sarcastically. "Congratulations, you've passed kindergarten!"

"Great." Puck said. "Get me through fifth grade and we're good."

"Fifth?" Sabrina asked. "Excuse me, but I'll be in seventh!"

"Sixth, actually." Puck said. "You missed last year. And I bet you've had a pretty spotty education before that."

"So what if I have?" Sabrina asked. "At least I've been to school."

"Table for four, please." Mustardseed told the waiter. "Two kid's menus for the ones squabbling like infants."

"Excuse me?" Puck was saying. "I'll have you know that I've been tutored by some of the greatest, smartest- wait? What's this about a kid's menu?"

"You learned nothing from most of those tutors, and if you two continue to act like this, I'll have him get you high chairs and bibs to go along with it." Mustardseed replied. "Please, act your age. You're embarrassing me."

Sabrina blushed bright red. Puck scowled, but shut up. Henry gave Mustardseed an appreciative look.

"Nice job." He said, following the waiter to the table. "Can I take you home with me?"

"Yeah, you can break up the fights between him and Uncle Jake!" Sabrina cut in.

"I am coming back with you." Mustardseed said as he sat down at the table. "No matter what anyone else does. I think it's time for a change. I've been here too long, and accomplished almost nothing."

Sabrina, Puck, and Henry all followed suit, picking up their respective menus.

Sabrina made a face. "I'm too hungry for these meals."

"Yo think you're too hungry?" Puck asked. "I'm a growing boy, I need my energy!"

"I'm growing, too!" Sabrina said. "And my body isn't listening to me about how to use its energy right now!" But then she looked down at her place and sighed. "Oh well. At least we get crayons."

"Can I eat those?" Puck asked.

"Well, you can." Sabrina said. "But I wouldn't if I were you. They're made of wax."

"Maybe if I put lots of salt on them..." Puck said, eyeing the crayons thoughtfully.

"Don't." Mustardseed said. "Or I'm getting you that bib."

"Hey!" Puck protested. "We weren't fighting! ...Well, not a lot anyway. Just bickering!"

"I said don't embarrass me." Mustardseed said. "Your eating crayons embarrasses me."

"Can we please eat something off your menu, then?" Sabrina asked. "I'm starving."

Mustardseed looked at the two kids, both of whom where looking pathetically at him, then sighed and passed over his menu.

"Fine." He muttered.

Puck grinned snatching the menu. "Softie."

"Puck." Sabrina muttered through clenched teeth. "Now might not exactly be the best time..."

"Oh." Puck said, remembering the consequences. "Right."

"Can I see the menu, too?" Sabrina asked.

Puck considered saying no, but one glance at Mustardseed set him straight, and he moved the menu over so that she could read it, too.

"What would you like to drink?" The waiter asked, returning to the table.

"Coffee." Henry said.

"Water, please." Mustardseed asked.

"A huge soda." Puck said.

"Decaf for him, caffeinated for me." Sabrina said. "Other than that, same thing, please."

"Wait-" Puck said, but the waiter was already gone. "Who said I wanted decaf?"

"We've all seen you on a sugar high." Sabrina said. "And I, for one, do not want to see that again."

"I second that motion." Henry said. "I couldn't go anywhere for a week without being covered in who knows what."

"Still not doing anything productive, Puck?" Mustardseed asked.

"Hey, I think saving her butt is plenty productive!" Puck said, pointing at Sabrina.

"Mother might disagree." Mustardseed said. "She's not an everafter, she's not royalty, and you're obviously infatuated."

"Hey, I'm right here." Sabrina said. "And one, Yes I am, two, who needs to be, and three, I certainly hope not!"

Puck was very red as he shook his head vigorously. "No, no, no. Not at all. Who could be in love with that?"

"Thanks a lot." Sabrina said. "But at least you can see what I look like. I wouldn't know if you were the handsomest man on the planet, through all that dirt."

"Good thing I am so filthy, then." Puck gloated. "You wouldn't be able to concentrate if I was clean."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Let's just order our food, shall we?" She nodded at the waiter, who gave her a thankful look.

"I'll have the tortellini soup." She said with a smile.

"Lasagna for me." Puck said. "And lots of it."

"Two slices of pepperoni, please." Mustardseed asked.

"One plain, one sausage." Henry said.

"Coming right up." The waiter nodded.

"What was that about being an everafter?" Mustardseed asked.

"Remember the thing about the cocoon?" Sabrina asked

Mustardseed nodded.

"Well, it turns out that unless you're a fairy, if you go in one, it kind of... kills you, so the cocoon has to change you to keep you from dying." Sabrina said. "I'm an everafter now, with multiple very difficult to control powers that keep popping up out of nowhere and causing trouble."

"Sounds dificult to get used to." Mustardseed said.

"It is." Sabrina said. "I mean, flying is amazing, and some of them are nice, but no one asked me if I wanted to be an everafter, and- thank you." She said, moving her hands so the waiter could put down her tortellini, then continuing as he moved around the table putting down more food. "Now not only are my next-door-neighbors trying to kill me, but they're also gong to want me to get them out of the barrier, not to mention how my family reacted-"

"Huh?" Henry said.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Please, Dad, you practically threw a hissy fit, and it wasn't even my fault!"

"Actually, I think he threatened to disown you." Puck said through mouthful of lasagna.

"Not helping, Puck." Henry said tightly.

"So on top of Dad being mad at me for no reason, Daphne's jealous, Uncle Jake wants to analyze me, Granny tries to be helpful, but half the time she isn't, and Mom so busy being distracted by who knows what that she barely pays attention to anyone!"

Henry blinked at his daughter. He'd had no idea what she was going through was so difficult.

"Is it really that bad?" Henry asked.

"Well, you're not exactly making it easier!" Sabrina said. "I have nobody I can really talk to at home except Puck, and half the time, he's pranking me or arguing with me!"

"What about that Bella girl?" Henry asked.

"I may trust her, but it's hard to confide in someone who betrayed you less than a year ago." Sabrina said. "It kind of puts a damper on the relationship." She immediately attacked her food with gusto, ignoring everyone else.

Puck blinked. "I get the feeling this is a sensitive subject. Let's change it."

"Good idea." Mustardseed grinned. "But your tact needs some work."

"Four thousand years of habit are kind of hard to break." Puck said. "This is good food, by the way. Nice suggestion."

"Thank you." Mustardseed said. "I come here whenever Momma has a day off. She's the closest thing to a cook we have there."

"Still haven't replaced the guy mom threw the soup at?" Puck asked.

Mustardseed shook his head. "He told all his friends, and nobody would come to the place when they heard how Mother treated our staff, no matter how much money we offered."

"That's what Dad's precious tax dollars were doing, huh?" Puck said dryly. "Honestly, if Moth wasn't such a brat, I'd thank her for offing him."

"She'd probably think you were proposing to her." Sabrina snickered through a mouthful of tortellini.

Puck shuddered. "That girl is desperate. And scary."

"You're telling me." Sabrina said.

"What exactly happened here?" Henry asked. "I never got details. Come to think of it, I didn't get details on most of your near-death experiences."

"That's because we didn't want you to go on a rampage." Sabrina said. "You can be a little unpredictable when you find out that Daphne and I were in danger."

"Well, I promise I won't freak out now... too much." Henry said. "What happened?"

"We came to Faerie to get Puck better and had adventures." Sabrina said. "First off, Oberon practically captured us to get Faerie on his side, then we attacked him on stage and he went off to nurse his pride. While he was there, Moth poisoned him. Granny offered to put us on the case after Titania transformed into something creepy that I don't want to explain, and Moth came back to the hotel with us. While we were on the case we were attacked by Yahoos, almost destroyed in a train crash, kidnapped by pirates, put back in the orphanage, handed off to a serial killer, and I was sprayed by a noxious cocoon and poisoned by Moth. Then, after that, we got chased all over New York by a giant Wicked Witch of the West robot and I almost fell off a hot air balloon to my death."

"I saved her twice during that." Puck said. "Pretty good, considering I was asleep most of the time."

"True." Sabrina said. "Thanks for that. Hey, do you still have the robot?"

"Yeah, I think it's in my room." Puck said.

"How did you get it through the door?" Sabrina asked. "It's like, six stories tall!"

Puck shrugged. "I asked your uncle."

"But you were still mad at him then!" Sabrina said.

"I got over it." Puck said. "And that was a good way to prove I wasn't still mad. It was one of those guy things where we made up without ever actually talking about anything important."

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Oh. One of those moments. The ones I completely don't understand because of my lack of testosterone."

"Yup." Puck nodded. "Those."

Henry had turned slightly red at the mention of hormones coming from his daughter's mouth, and decided to change the subject.

"I see why you didn't want to tell me about that, Sabrina." He said. "I would have, up until three days ago or so, probably 'freaked out,' as you put it. But I'd like you to know that you can come to me with things like that now. I'm your dad, and I want you to trust me enough to talk to me."

Sabrina nodded. "All right. You won't throw a fit when you hear how close to death I've come, and I'll tell you about them."

Puck made a face. "Can we stop with the mushy father-daughter bonding moment? I thought you guys got that over with already."

"We did." Sabrina said. "Mostly. But we may have missed some things. I've never done much in the bonding department. It just sort of happens."

"What do you mean?" Mustardseed asked.

"Well, either I'm close to someone or not." Sabrina said with a shrug, eating another tortellini. Once she was done chewing, she continued, "I don't go out of my way to make our relationship stronger. I just act how I'd normally act, and if there's a problem, I try to fix it in the easiest way possible. Most of the time someone else takes the first step. If it's bad enough, a third party will get involved.

Puck snickered at that. Henry sighed.

"Another reason Mustardseed would make you a better best friend." He said. "I doubt he'd be nearly as stubborn."

Puck rolled his eyes.

"Please." He said. "You can't live with my family and not be stubborn. He's just quiet about it. And more-" He shuddered "-mature."

"It's not such a bad thing, you know." Mustardseed said. "You should try it sometime. Check, please!"

The waiter came over a few seconds later, the bill in hand.

"Here you are, sir." He said, placing it on the table.

"Thank you." Mustardseed said. "I'll pay." He told Henry.

"No, I'll do it." Henry protested.

"Let him pay if he wants to." Puck said. "We've got plenty of money."

Henry sighed in defeat and let Mustardseed pay, heading for the car.

Sabrina grinned. "He's not as tough as he pretends to be, is he?"

Puck shook his head. "Your dad's a softie."

"But I love him anyway." Sabrina said. "When he's not being a butthead, at least."