Sugar felt disoriented. It was misty and damp and unfamiliar, and Fee's voice was ringing in her head. It sounded small and then suddenly, "wake UP, Cream Puff!"
Sugar jolted to. She was in front of a tiny cottage in an unfamiliar landscape. "I've got good news and bad news," Fee's voice said in her head. "And some weird news."
"F-fee?" Sugar said, uncertainly. "What's going on?"
The last thing Sugar remembered was graduating from university with honors. Ready to pursue her heir requirements. Taking a photo with her precocious cousin/best friend.
"Well, we got stuck" Fee sighed, disembodied. "So now you're starting over. I sent you to a great little town. It's very ... fanciful. You'll like it!"
Sugar's head hurt. She eyed the empty cottage warily and checked her inventory. No more wealth of recipes. No more homework. Just a camera and a wooden stick.
"What's this...WHOA."
"Oh yeah," Fee said. "I gave you the family gift. From Grandma Shawnya's side. You'll need it."
"Fee," Sugar said, her voice cracking. "I don't like this. Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine," Fee said airily. "I'm going to look out for you now. Remember the conversation we had the night before graduation? About finding a spouse?"
"Y-you said I couldn't marry Cathy," Sugar sniffed. She had fallen quite head over heels for a girl from her seminar classes.
"Right," Fee said gently. "Or the werewolf boy from that party."
"Oh he didn't count," Sugar muttered.
"What did I say?" Fee prodded.
Sugar sighed, "a worthy spouse with nice features that I can love."
"And what else?"
"It's not a chore. It's our birthright," Sugar recited, sitting on the stoop. "Fee, am I all alone?"
"No," Fee said. "I'm talking to you aren't I?"
It took some getting used to. That's for sure. Sugar's first course of action was buying a bed and a multitab. And adopting a puppy so she wouldn't be so very alone. She named her Baklava.
Fee's voice was silent the night Sugar met Sean. He had pink hair. Sugar loves pink!
The connection was instant and intense. She knew this was the man she wanted to spend her life with.
There was only one problem.
"What'd I miss," Fee said, sounding very much like there was food in her mouth. "Oh, Cream Puff, no! He's marri--"
Too late.
Fee was definitely eating. It sounded like popcorn.
"Oh, she mad," Fee observed.
Well, as predicted, that was all very dramatic. But time was running short and Sugar had a job to do.
"Uh, Sean," Sugar said in the post-coital glow of certain chimes. "The Watcher wants Ava to live with us."
"The Watcher said what now?"
It wasn't *really* the watcher. Sugar wanted desperately to make amends. She had lots of guilt.
Ava was less than interested. "You humiliated me," she raved. This just made Sugar feel worse.
Ava accepted her lot with as much dignity as she could muster. She got a Watched makeover.
And tried to avoid hissing the word "witch" at the raven-haired monstrosity her ex-husband had left her for. At least there was a puppy.
"Who has a horrible sociopathic home-wrecker for an owner? You do! Yes you do, cutie!"
It did not soften Ava's mood that Sugar was preggo. Especially since she and Sean had tried for many years and failed to create a nooboo. She swallowed her bile and focused on her work. Ava is a workaholic.
Sugar had decided to give her accidental nemesis time before she attempted talking to her again. That five day "betrayed" moodlet is not messing around. And besides, awful as the consequences, Sugar felt sure of her choice.
She didn't even mind becoming beast-sized.
She and Sean were very excited for the nooboo. It was all either could think about.
She went into labor early in the morning. Ava was the only one home, and gave her a disinterested look before heading off to the summer festival.
Sugar called a cab. She gave birth to an orangey-yellow little witch girl. She named her Morgana.
Sugar fell in love right away.
