Rating: PG-13

The seat wasn't designed for comfort, but Blair tried to meditate and focus on the sounds around him. Not for the first time he wished for sentinel senses. Then he could dial up and hear what was going on with Jim.

He fidgeted. He didn't have enough padding on his backside not to feel how hard the seat was beneath him.

"Jim in with the dentist?"

The small voice right by his ear made him jump, but he tried to cover it.

"You again," he said, through gritted teeth, and opened his eyes.

The Tooth Fairy was fluttering about a foot away from his head.

She smiled. "How's my favorite not gay shaman?"

Blair picked up a magazine that had been left by a patient and held it up in front of his face, determine to ignore her.

She flew in front of the paper right by Blair's nose, causing him to cross his eyes.

"Go away."

"Huh! What happened to the 'curious about everything' student?" she asked, studying him with her hands on her hips. "Oh, I get it! You're worried that people here will wonder about you talking to yourself!"

She looked around. "They are all too worried about the noise coming from that room to be concerned about you, but...." she blinked."There, I've taken us out of time."

Blair looked around. Everyone seemed to be slightly out of focus.

"The only person here who notices anything is him." The Tooth Fairy pointed to a toddler sitting on his mom's knees.

He was staring at them, his thumb in his mouth.

The Tooth Fairy frowned. "The younger they are, the more they notice."

She blew a long raspberry at him, and the child burst into tears.

His mother jingled him up and down, trying to soothe him, and then an old woman was standing there, stroking the child's head and making soothing noises. She was almost unremarkable; average height, average build... her clothes were well tailored and her hair was pulled back in a bun.

The child's mother smiled at her as the child stopped crying and began to giggle.

No one seemed to find it strange that some woman had just appeared and was talking to the child.

Blair frowned. There was a glimmer around the old woman."Is she..."

"His fairy godmother, yeah. Not all of us have wings. She'll look after him until he grows into a teenager. Even us fairy-folk have difficulties with human teens."

The Fairy Godmother straightened up and suddenly it was as if Blair had put his glasses on. She appeared in sharp focus.

She turned to the Tooth Fairy. "Did you have to do that?" she asked. "You should be nice to these children."

The Tooth Fairy shook her head. "Nothing in the guild rule book about being nice."

"Guild?" Blair asked.

"The Guild of the Romantic Imps and Mythical Minorities, GRIMM, for short."

The Fairy Godmother snorted very unattractively. "I preferred the Tooth Mouse. Had no union problems with him."

"GRUFF was dissolved," the Tooth Fairy said.

Blair shook his head in bewilderment. "What's GRUFF."

"Gathering of the Rumored, Unreal, Figurative, and Fabled," the Fairy Godmother replied. "Some of us objected to the Unreal part of the title. What do they teach these shamans these days?"

"Look, ladies, I don't want to get involved here, but I came here to help Jim and..."

"Jim? Oh, your lover!" said the Fairy Godmother. "You two make such a lovely couple."

"For the last time, we are not a couple!" Blair's voice rose.

"Oh touchy, isn't he!"

"I know, they are both so obvious to the rest of us, it's unbelievable that they can't see it themselves."

"I must admit I had to fan myself when you told us about being in Jim's room that night. Phew! That was hot!" The Fairy Godmother waved her hand in front of her face.

Blair was horrified. "What were you doing invading Jim's privacy?" he demanded of the Tooth Fairy.

"Oh, you know, just passing through...." She brushed something off her wings.

The Fairy Godmother laughed. "We all pass through now and then, but we don't all see your partner... coming."

"WHAT!" Blair exclaimed.

"It wasn't a big deal...." the Tooth Fairy said.

"I bet that's not what he said!" the Fairy Godmother sniggered.

Tooth Fairy glared at her. "I thought he was in pain at first, until I saw his hand moving beneath the covers...."

"Tell him the rest!" The Fairy Godmother said, breathlessly.

"Well..." the Tooth Fairy hesitated for a moment.

"He breathed your name as he came!" the Fairy Godmother sighed.

"He was probably just dreaming," Blair said, torn between being annoyed and hopeful. "Everyone has weird dreams. I knew one lady who dreamt about her accountant, and she said he was, well, very obnoxious."

The Tooth Fairy laughed. "Oh the Oneiroi are good at their job of creating dreams..." She paused for effect. "But your Jim was very much awake!"

The Fairy Godmother shook her head. "Sad. These humans just don't seem to get anywhere without us pushing them over. Well, my job is done here. Don't you go upsetting young Todd again, young lady." And she was gone.

"Young lady! Huh! Anyone would think she's ancient or something!" the Tooth Fairy rolled her eyes. "Oh, it sounds like I hear another tooth being pulled. Must go." And she flew off.

Blair's ears 'popped' and the sounds of the dentist waiting room descended on him. Everything came back into focus again.

The door into the dental surgery opened and Jim came out, a lopsided grin on his face as he shook the dentist's hand.

Blair stood up. "How did it go?" he asked as Jim walked over.

"She's cleaned it and filled it," Jim replied, slurring his words. "Said to take pain killers once the injections wear off."

"How many injections?" Blair asked.

Jim grimaced. "Three," he said.

Blair grimaced in sympathy.

"Let's sort out the paper work and get out of here," Jim said.

"Yeah, we can pick up the painkillers on the way home. Maureen at the pharmacist knows what you can take."

Behind the receptionist Blair saw the Tooth Fairy appear carrying three human teeth which she set down on the floor and watched as they shrunk down in size to fit in the back-pack she was carrying.

"What do you do with the teeth you pull?" Blair asked the receptionist, while watching the fairy.

"They go in the incinerator," the receptionist said, "but don't tell the children."

"Do they ever ask what the Tooth Fairy does with them?"

The Tooth Fairy stopped what she was doing to listen.

"We tell them she builds castles from them."

The fairy shook her head. "Fairy dust," she said, smiling.

"Right, Chief, let's go."

Blair couldn't help glancing back as he followed Jim.

The Tooth Fairy blew him a kiss – and Blair walked into the door.

"Sandburg! What's got into you? I'm the one who's had the numbing injections..." Jim pulled his partner through the now open door.