Rating: PG-13

"Blair!"

Blair woke up with a start, unsure if he'd actually heard a yell or if he was dreaming.

He reached for his glasses and stared at the illuminated dial on his watch. 2 am. He'd been asleep for, what, an hour?

"Sandburg! Get your ass up here."

There was no mistaking that for a dream and he almost fell out of his bed, stubbing his toe as he tried to untangle himself from the bedclothes, and was standing at the foot of stairs before he was really awake.

He switched on the downstairs light. His friend and partner had his bedroom lamp on.

"Jim? What's wrong? What's the matter, man?" Blair started to climb slowly up to Jim's room, hanging on to the rope on the wall, noticing the cold wood under his bare feet and how his toe was throbbing.

"I'm hallucinating. I don't know if it's something I ate or if it's a goddamn sentinel thing."

Blair could hear the panic in Jim's voice and took the remaining steps at a dash.

"We had the same thing for dinner, what else have you..." Blair's words died in his mouth as he reached the top of the stairs.

Jim hadn't noticed Blair's sudden stillness. "I've seen jags, wolves, a ghost, but I know this isn't real. I don't know what to tell you, but there's a fairy at the foot of my bed."

"You're not hallucinating, Jim."

Blair turned to the now familiar form of the Tooth Fairy. "What are you doing here?" he asked her, trying to keep his annoyance from his voice, but failing.

Jim sat up. "You can see it too?"

"She's not an it," Blair said, as the Tooth Fairy fluttered angrily. "She's the Tooth Fairy."

"Oh, that's just great," said Jim, falling back in his bed. "We're both seeing things. Shall I ring for the men in white coats or will you?"

"Shh, Jim." Blair turned to the fairy hovering over Jim's bed, a wide smile on her face. "I repeat, what are you doing here? And don't tell me you are just passing through again?"

"She's been here before? When? How? What is going on?"

This time both Blair and the Tooth Fairy said, "Shh."

"You wouldn't say anything to him, so I thought I'd see if he knew how you feel. I hadn't even said one word to him before he started yelling for you!" the Tooth Fairy said.

Jim was sitting with his arms folded and his jaw had that tight set Blair knew only too well. It could mean another trip to the dentist before too long.

"I thought we agreed you were not to invade Jim's privacy again."

The Tooth Fairy shook her head slowly. "Nope, don't remember agreeing to anything like that."

Blair found he was grinding his own teeth. He took a deep breath. "Okay. You won't go away until I talk to Jim, THEN will you leave us alone?"

"I might...."

Blair counted to 10, and then went and perched cautiously on the end of Jim's bed. "Jim, I need to ask you a couple of questions."

"This had better be good, Sandburg. You and I are both having some weird auditory and visional experience and I'm being told to shh in my own bedroom!"

Blair nodded distractedly. He turned back to the Tooth Fairy. "If this doesn't go the way you think it should can you wipe the memory of this from Jim's mind?"

"Hey, don't I get a say in this?" Jim butted in.

"Please, Jim." Blair turned to the fairy."Well?"

"Yes, I can do that," she said.

"Will you do it?" Blair insisted.

"Oh, fine. Yes, I will. Just get on; some of us have other places to go."

"Don't let us hold you up!" snapped Jim.

"Jim! Don't make her angry. She can be nasty if she's angry," Blair said, remembering the incident with the pencil. "Okay." He took a deep breath. "So, Jim, have you ever had sex with a man?"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

Blair just waited.

"No," Jim said, finally.

The Tooth Fairy gasped.

"Okay, okay. A long time ago, yes."

"Did you enjoy it?"

"Yes, as I said, it was a long time ago, but yes. Why?"

"One more question, would you like to have sex with me?"

"In front of her? Is she blackmailing you or something?" Jim's eyes narrowed and he glared at the Tooth Fairy.

"In a way," Blair said, quietly. "Please, just tell me the truth; do you want to have sex with me?"

"No."

Blair felt his heart fall, as the Tooth Fairy gasped even more loudly.

"For me," Jim continued, "the words 'having sex with someone' implies answering an immediate need. I would like to make love to you — there's a big difference in my opinion. As I thought you weren't interested, I didn't pursue it."

"Really?" Blair's eyes opened wide. He felt as if he'd climbed the rainbow and fell down into the pot of gold.

"Ahhh, that is so sweet," said the fairy. "Stupid, but sweet."

Jim chose to ignore her. He smiled at Blair. "Really," he said, softly. "But not in front of the wee folk or any other members of fairy land or the spirit world, or anywhere else!"

"No, I'm with you there."

Blair stood up. "I guess I should explain about this visit, but not with you half naked. It's too distracting. You put a robe on, and meanwhile you," he pointed to the fairy, "come with me!"

"But..." she said, looking longingly at Jim.

Blair grabbed the very tip of one of her wings, knowing that it would grow back if he damaged it.

"Hey! Don't touch the wings!"

Blair let go, and with quiet mumblings, she flew down the stairs after him, only looking back once with a sigh.

"Now," Blair said, once they were well away from Jim's room. "You've got your wish, I did as you asked, but we need to lay down some ground rules."

"I only obey the guild laws."

"I'm sure I could find a way of contacting GRIMM and lodging a complaint."

"You wouldn't! They could demote me or worse..." She shuddered.

Blair longed to ask what she could be demoted to, but this conversation was more important.

"Anyway, they probably wouldn't listen to a human," the Tooth Fairy finished.

"As you've pointed out, I'm not just any human; shaman, remember? But I'm sure Jim wouldn't mind hammering nails all around the loft. I understand fairies don't like iron?"

The fairy had gone pale. "You wouldn't.... What do you want?" she asked in a quiet voice.

"Simple, you and all the others leave us alone during any future intimate moments."

"How can I tell if you two are about to make whoopee? I could be flying through and 'woops'."

Blair tapped his finger against his mouth. "I know a lady who makes ornaments from iron."

"Okay! Honestly, you should be grateful to me," the Tooth Fairy said sulkily.

"Jim mentioned blackmail, it's a nasty word but that's what your behavior amounts to. Your choice, I'm giving you a chance to leave with your wings intact and your head held high."

She sighed "Very well."

"I want your word as the Tooth Fairy."

"I promise," she said, sullenly.

"Show me your hands," Blair said. He'd noticed her hands were hidden behind her back.

Slowly she brought her hands forward and uncrossed her fingers.

"Shall we try that again?"

"All right! I promise! Happy now?"

"Yes. And you'll tell all the others to stay away unless invited?"

"Yes." The Tooth Fairy had landed on the couch and was hanging her head in defeat.

"Good. One final thing... thank you."

The fairy's head popped up.

"I may not appreciate your methods, but I'm glad you made the effort. And I'm sure Jim will be once he's gotten over knowing fairies and the unseen have been darting in and out of the loft." Blair rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how he was going to explain all of it without Jim going ballistic.

"But you need to leave now." He tried to look sternly at the fairy. Not that it was easy when he felt like dancing around the loft himself at the thought that Jim loved him.

She smiled broadly. "Time's up, huh? Okay, but if you need me just clap three times and I'll come in a flash!"

And then she wasn't there anymore.

Blair breathed a sigh of relief and then he noticed Jim sitting on the stairs, smiling at him.

"I always knew you could be a strict teacher. But picking on a small fairy," Jim shook his head in mock despair. He stood up slowly. "Of course, I'm sure you have your reasons." He started walking down the stairs.

Blair's mouth ran dry as he watched. He swallowed. There was something predatory about Jim's movements.

He remembered Jim had spoken. "I never thought I'd have to reprimand the Tooth Fairy! But I'm glad she kept pushing, her and the Easter Bunny, and a fairy godmother," he said.

Jim stopped in his tracks. "All of them have been here? I thought you were joking."

Blair walked forward to meet Jim. "No joke, we've even had a visit from Cupid, but we were oblivious, and stupid, according the Tooth Fairy. I'll tell you all about it another time," he said, undoing the belt round Jim's waist and sliding his hands over Jim's chest. "I will have to thank them all, though. I never thought I'd get this lucky."

"Me neither," said Jim, stroking his hand over Blair's hair. He smiled tenderly. "You sure we're not dreaming?"

Blair reached around and pinched Jim's bum.

"Ow!"

Blair grinned. "Feels pretty real to me. Would you like me to rub it better?"

"Oh, I want you to do so much more than that!"

"Yeah?"

"Oh yeah." Jim lifted Blair's chin with his finger, and lowered his head, and suddenly the Tooth Fairy popped back in.

"Woops! Sorry, forgot my backpack!" And she was gone again.

Blair shook his head. "Iron. Must get some iron nails tomorrow."

"You mean today, Chief. How about we continue this upstairs? If she does turn up again, maybe we'll both be too distracted to care!"

"God! I like the way you think, Jim. But I will give some more thought as to how we can keep these folk out!"

Jim slipped his arm around Blair's shoulders and steered him towards the stairs. "If you need to burn sage, let me get out of here first, okay?"

"You're taking this well," Blair said.

"What, the Tooth Fairy?"

Blair nodded.

"I guess I'm feeling generous. I've finally got the love of my life in my arms; I can afford to be charitable."

Blair smiled. "If you put it that way, then so can I."

He turned towards Jim and, slipping his hand around Jim's neck he pulled Jim into their first kiss.....

Epilogue

Jim 'clinked' his glass against his lover's. "Happy New Year, Babe."

"Back at you, man. It's been a good year, hasn't it. Who'd have guessed at this time last year we'd end up sharing a bed!"

He smiled and lifted Jim's arm from around his shoulders so he could snuggle in even closer. Jim moved to accommodate him.

"And all thanks to a little lady with wings and a backpack full of teeth."

Jim laughed. "Yeah, just add that to one more crazy aspect of the Sentinel/Shaman thing."

"One person I'd loved to have met was Santa. I do wonder sometimes who or what else is real and we just don't see."

"I don't!" Jim said emphatically. "There are enough monsters in the human world without finding out the dark side of fairy tales also exist. For every good creature, there may be a bad one. Do you want to discover there really is a monster under the bed?"

"No, I guess sometimes ignorance is bliss. There're too many tales of nasty creatures in folk tales I really wouldn't like to meet them." Blair shuddered. "Still meeting Father Christmas would have been cool."

"Very cool," Jim agreed.

Blair realized that Jim was humoring him, but that was okay. He had a feeling that maybe in spring he and Jim would find out where the man in the red coat spent his holidays.

"So shall we go up and make some fireworks of our own?" Jim asked.

"Oh yeah, start the New Year with a bang! You take the glasses through to the kitchen and do your checking that all is secure. I'll turn the tree lights off."