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Chapter Text

Prologue: Once Upon A Time...

(...which introduces characters we don't know, characters we only think we know, and characters we do know whom we may not recognize.)

Fabletown—Manhattan, New York
1936

"I do wish they'd hurry things up a bit," Sgt. Harold Thumbwise groused, arms crossed over the dark fabric of his midnight blue uniform. "Always the problem with Gullivers, assuming us smaller folk have nothing better to do than wait around for them to notice us."

Used to his partner's naturally prickly demeanor, Lt. Acorn didn't bother to turn away from the window.

The two of them had come to Fabletown to perform the unfortunate yet necessary task of receiving a prisoner. Well, more precisely, they had hitched a ride in the truck which had come down from the Farm that afternoon, tucked carefully away in the glove compartment. That mode of transportation had the advantage of discretion, keeping them far from the prying eyes of curious Mundanes, but it had lacked in terms of an interesting view. And while the janitor Flycatcher's kind assistance in reaching the appropriate floor had saved them what would have otherwise been a very long trip indeed, the swift delivery had precluded any sightseeing.

Now they were sitting on a low windowsill in the Woodlands Building, just across the hall from the office of Fabletown's sheriff—the better to avoid the dangers of careless feet as they waited. It was only there, looking down through the window at the rushing lights of traffic on Bullfinch Street below them, that Acorn had his first real glimpse of New York City. The sight made his tiny heart ache with longing, and he was determined not to let his bittersweet enjoyment of it be ruined by the perpetually grumpy Lilliputian.

After all, the odds were stacked firmly against his ever seeing it again.

While certain hard-dying Smalltown traditions guaranteed continuing cooperation between its police force and Fabletown's sheriff, extradition was not a task they were customarily required to perform. Under normal circumstances it was the messenger birds that flew the routes between Fabletown and the Farm that were responsible for ferrying their wayward youth home, as they were far less likely to attract the attention of the Mundane world. Unfortunately there had been a bit of ugliness surrounding the last incident, and until ruffled feathers were smoothed—figuratively speaking—it fell to Smalltown's Mounted Police to perform that duty.

The quest for a barleycorn bride was a grand right of passage for Smalltown's young men, dating back to the community's founding when the jar of enchanted barleycorns from which the small women grew had been removed to Fabletown for safe-keeping. Over the two centuries in which Smalltown had prospered in its isolated corner of the Farm, its population had naturally grown, and the frequency of such happenings had just as naturally grown with it. Though he would hardly prefer the usual punishment for the attempted theft of community enchantments—execution, after all, was rather a drastic response to boys being boys—Acorn often felt that Fabletown's sheriff could ease their troubles with a harsher sentence. Clearly, the slap on the wrist earned for a first offense was doing little to discourage the foolishness.

He knew better than to voice these thoughts, however. The single time Acorn had shared the opinion with Thumbwise, his partner had fallen suspiciously mum on the subject...

Thumbwise's grumblings trailed off once it was clear Acorn wasn't going to respond to his ill humor, their silence quickly devoured by the soft knick-knick-ing of knitting needles. Frau Totenkinder, Witch of the Black Forest, was settled in her rocking chair near the door. No doubt she too waited patiently on the dubious pleasure of the sheriff's company. Of even less doubt was the knowledge that her business would be seen to long before theirs—a right Acorn knew even his partner would be reluctant to contest. The Lilliputian officer might carry a disproportionately large chip on his shoulder, after all, but Thumbwise was a long way off from suicidal.

Still, when Thumbwise settled down on the windowsill with a frustrated sigh, Acorn decided to take pity. Dragging his whiskered nose away from the glass, he turned and sat down beside his partner, curling his tail about his feet.

"I'm simply eager to be home is all," Thumbwise said after a brief glance. "The sooner we're back on that Mundy contraption and headed back to the Farm, the better."

Adjusting the strap of his saddle to lie more comfortably, it was Acorn's turn to let out a sigh.

"I understand," Acorn said quietly, resting his head on his forepaws, "but I hope you can understand why I'm in no hurry."

Thumbwise turned a concerned eye toward his partner, though his expression was also wary, as though fearing some particular argument. Acorn thought he knew why. It was becoming fashionable up at the Farm for animal Fables to rail against their circumstances. While he shared their unhappiness, he had never been one to raise his voice with theirs publicly. But, while their exile miles from civilization was far from ideal, there was more to his dilemma than simple dissatisfaction.

"I don't belong in a place like the Farm," Acorn lamented humbly. "I feel...stifled out there."

Thumbwise made a faint noise in his throat.

"It might be diminutive by a Gulliver's standards," Thumbwise argued, "but Smalltown's no meager village anymore, Acorn. And it's still growing."

"It's never been a question of scale, you know that," Acorn soothed, meeting his partner's eye. "I'm no country mouse, Harry. A quiet life goes against my basic nature."

Thumbwise opened his mouth to respond, but Acorn halted him by speaking.

"Ninety years, Harry," he said painfully. "Ninety years on Smalltown's police force, and what have I seen? The usual pattern of rowdy drunks and neighborly disputes, and the occasional Mundy fox straying too close to the border—"

Thumbwise made an unpleasant sound at that last.

"That was ugly business..."

"Don't get me wrong, I love my job," Acorn said, "but I'd give anything to stay here. In Fabletown. In a real city. Anything. I mean..."

Stuck for words to appropriately express his feelings, Acorn looked back to the window.

"It's Manhattan," he finished, wistfully. "You don't get more city than that."

And at that moment, Acorn felt regret for the fleeting glimpse he had been given of something he would never truly be able to have.

He had, after all, signed the Compact upon which Fabletown was founded, as had been required of all who sought shelter under its protection upon fleeing the Homelands. In doing so, he had agreed to its laws, in particular those protecting the secrecy of its existence. And Fabletown law solidly restricted the movements of those Fables which couldn't pass for the Mundane humans native to their new home. Too much at risk of revealing their magical nature to the Mundies, Acorn and so many others like him were thus confined to the Farm on its isolated property upstate.

Thumbwise said nothing, likely having nothing that could appropriately answer his partner's melancholy. They fell into silence once again, save for the repetitive sounds of needle and rocking chair, leaving Acorn feeling very poor, and very foolish in his brooding.

Fortunately they didn't have to wait for long. The door swung open. From it stepped a lovely, dark-haired woman. Though her attire had changed in the years since her last administrative visit to the Farm, her dignified bearing definitely hadn't, and Acorn easily recognized Deputy Mayor Snow White.

"Don't insult my intelligence by pretending you aren't planning a leave of absence," she said over her shoulder as she left the sheriff's office. "I'm just saying, you had better appoint a stand-in before you do if you expect to have a job when you return."

The other party in her conversation was preceded by a plume of smoke and a grumble that, while quite put-upon, was still almost a growl.

Bigby Wolf, Fabletown's sheriff, had been forbidden under the Compact to set foot on the Farm, owing to his fierce reputation in the Homelands and an unpleasant history with several of the Fables living there. Acorn had never laid eyes on him before, but even stripped of his fangs—for the time being—he thought the infamous Wolf cut a daunting figure. In man-form Bigby was stocky and solidly muscled beneath his rumpled shirt and tie, and with his square, stubbled jaw and long hair falling into his face, perhaps a little furrier than Acorn thought a proper human probably ought to be.

"C'mon, Snow," Bigby argued, artfully managing not to lose the cigarette perched on his lips as he did spoke. "Be reasonable."

Ms. White turned, raising a serious eyebrow.

"I think I'm being more than reasonable," she said. Shifting her stance, she lifted her chin. "Jack Horner is back in Fabletown, and who knows how long he plans to stay. He causes enough trouble when you're here to keep an eye on him. I hate to think what he might accomplish if you leave."

The Wolf took a deep drag off his cigarette, exhaling smoke through is clenched teeth. This time, the noise that left the sheriff's throat definitely was a growl.

"No Fable in their right mind would want my job," he muttered, at least half as argument, and maybe more than half as complaint. "Even if they did, its not like there's anyone experienced enough to trust with the job."

"Perhaps Grimble—"

Bigby let out a snort.

"The troll's decent muscle, and his nose is almost as sharp as mine," Bigby allowed, "but he's not exactly what you'd call observant. Jack could walk out of here with half of Fabletown in his pocket and Grimble wouldn't notice—and that's if he was awake to see it in the first place."

Ms. White ignored his dismissive tone with an exasperated wave of her hand.

"Then name someone better," Snow demanded finally. "Anyone has to be better than no one at all."

Acorn and his partner watched the argument unfold in curious silence, each of them caught between the desire—now shared between them in the wake of this odd, awkward moment—to speak up, be done with their business and on their way, and a reluctance to intervene that was grounded solidly in self preservation.

Although the momentum of their exchange was such that it could have circled uselessly for quite some time, in the end, their interruption wasn't needed.

A lull in the conversation hit on a dead moment of utter silence that brought it to an abrupt halt, and it took Acorn a moment to realize why. Frau Totenkinder had finally ceased her rocking and sat watching, her knitting resting still in her lap, and the sudden quiet commanded all of their attention.

"I may know of a suitable candidate, Gaffer Wolf," she said, idly preparing another stitch as if it were nothing of real consequence. The corner of her mouth lifted almost imperceptibly, her too-sharp eyes roaming to the windowsill as she spoke. "You did, after all, say anything, did you not, my good mouse?"

Looking up as the Wolf's attention fell speculatively upon him, it was all Acorn could do to stifle a squeak.

Chapter Text

Chapter One: Curiouser and Curiouser

(In which Javier experiences guilt, denial and car trouble, and a black panther is poorly substituted for a white rabbit.)

12th Precinct—Manhattan, New York
2011

Even focused on his call as he was, Javier had only to hear his partner's voice to know something was seriously wrong. The case which the call concerned being mostly wrapped up anyway, Javier let the speaker fall away from his ear. Unfortunately, Kevin was too far down the hallway for him to make out the words of his partner's conversation with any clarity, but Javier's instinct was supported by the slope of his shoulders and the pain written in the lines of his forehead. Javier watched as his partner closed his cellphone, eyes roaming the hallway for a moment as though he didn't know where he was before he ran a hand over his face and returned to the bullpen.

Javier ended his call as quickly as he could, trying to keep the meaninglessness of the "hmms" and "uh-huhs" from being obvious to either the officer on the other end or his partner. Setting the phone on its hook, Javier watched his partner discreetly, trying to assess the damage. Kevin had his attention on the paperwork in front of him, but the way he was moving the sheets around had distraction written all over it. Bad news, but not news that his partner felt merited interrupting his work day. Something personal, then, painful but not devastating.

Javier decided to risk it.

"What's up?" he asked, unsurprised when his partner looked up with an expression of confusion.

It constantly amazed him that Kevin could be so oblivious of how transparent he really was. Kevin claimed that wasn't the case with everyone, but sometimes he was so easy to read that Javier had a hard time believing it. Even the stories he heard about his partner's time undercover in Narcotics had always been met with a healthy dose skepticism. It was just difficult for him to imagine Kevin keeping a secret from anybody.

"Was that Jenny again?" Javier asked when it seemed no more information was forthcoming. "Because I told you, dude, it is still harassment when—"

Given the spectacularly ugly break-up and his ex-fiance's unwillingness to let it die it was usually a good bet, but Kevin gave a startled blink, finally pulling out of his subdued silence.

"What? No. Javi..." Kevin took a deep breath, closing the file in front of him and resting his weight against his elbows on the desk in front of him. His hand rubbed the back of his neck as he released the breath slowly. "It's not about Jenny."

For a moment an odd expression of concentration crossed his face, as though he were considering his words very carefully.

"I just got a call from my cousin back home," Kevin admitted slowly, and Javier thought it strange that he seemed reluctant to part with even that much. "He— My old partner..."

While he was caught off guard by Kevin's unusual struggle for words, Javier easily understood the pain his partner felt behind it.

"Shit," Javier managed softly. "I'm... Shit. I'm sorry, bro."

Relief crossed Kevin's face briefly and he nodded, eyes searching his desk emptily. They both knew Javier had been there. Seconds passed quietly between them before Javier spoke again.

"When's the funeral?"

Again, Kevin's expression seemed oddly conflicted.

"This weekend," he answered reluctantly, a few empty beats passing before he sat back, not meeting Javier's eyes as he added. "I probably won't go, though."

"Why not?" Javier asked, surprised. "You're from, what, Albany?"

"Uh, near Albany, yeah..." Kevin answered slowly.

"That's not that far," Javier argued. "I'm sure Gates would give you the time."

"I don't know..." Kevin said, trailing off uncertainly. There was a pause in which he seemed to wrestle with some decision. Finally, in a low voice, he admitted uncomfortably, "I just... I didn't leave under the best circumstances. I don't know if I'd still be welcome."

The plea in his partner's eyes just then was as clear as if it were written down in front of him, practically begging him not to push for details. If Kevin wasn't ready to talk about it, Javier wouldn't. Still, that couldn't stop him from making an observation.

"But you want to go," he said, certain of it as he spoke, though the way Kevin's head dipped slightly soon confirmed it.

"I...yeah. Kind of. It's been—" Kevin cut himself off, blowing out a slow breath. "It's been a long time since I've been up there. I've got family I haven't seen in ages..."

"Then go," Javier told him firmly. "Visit your family, say goodbye to your partner. Screw what anyone else thinks."

And that was really the end of that, though it took Kevin another few hours to commit to the decision strongly enough to approach Gates. While their new Captain wasn't quite a poster-girl for the milk of human kindness, it was a simple enough request to honor.

"You might as well take that time off too, Esposito," she called out archly as Kevin was leaving her office. "Having just one of you is like having only half a cop anyway."

That evening, they met Kate and Castle at the Old Haunt for a quiet drink. Kevin never spoke of his old partner, and none of them asked even though they all knew the topic weighted heavily on his mind. At one point, Castle managed to drag his partner away for what Javier would later be forced to admit was some surprisingly effective cheering up. While they were gone, Kate approached him discreetly with a question.

"Are you planning on going with him?"

The first thought that entered Javier's mind was that Kate was joking with him, the kind of familial ribbing they frequently resorted to to break the tension. It would have even been a good time for it. But there was a certain element of playfulness lacking in her tone, and when he met her eye she seemed quite serious in a way she never put on for show. His second thought was to deny it, of course. Only, the words died on his lips before he could speak them as he confronted the fact that it had indeed been in his head to do just that.

"You've been treating him like he's made of glass ever since his engagement fell apart," she said, by way of explanation. "As if he's about to break and you've got to be the one to put him back together."

Still frozen in the process of shifting gears, something like confusion must have shown in his face.

"I won't make any awkward accusations for you to deny," Kate told him directly, eyes locked on his with certainty despite the faint line creasing the space between her eyebrows. "Just... Whatever you're thinking of doing, make sure you do it."

And it didn't even take a detective to see what that was. Though, how Kate of all people could have wound up projecting her constant hit and miss with Castle on him and his partner... That just didn't make any sense. Because he and Kevin...weren't. And he had never—

His mind stuttered over the idea far longer than was probably a good sign. Too long in any case, for just as he was finally—maybe, almost—about to respond, or demand just where the hell it had come from, Castle had chosen to return with his partner. Javier wound up drinking a lot more than he had originally planned when he first entered the bar—and more than was strictly proper given the reason they were there. His only dubious consolation was that, for the most part, Kevin had been too distracted to notice.

As he pushed himself through work the next day, Javier found himself wishing he had indulged a little more, because the sweet mercy of a hangover might almost have been enough to drive other thoughts from his mind.

If the observation had come from almost anyone else, Javier would have been a lot more comfortable dismissing it. From Castle, he never would have given it a second thought. From Lanie— Well, Lanie liked to pretend she knew a lot of things she really didn't. Kate was another animal altogether. She wasn't the sort of person who normally made other people's private business her business, and she had never been the type to speculate idly.

Apparently Kate thought she saw something, and he knew she wouldn't have spoken up about it if there hadn't been some pretty damning evidence...

Looking back over the weeks that had passed since things had died with Jenny, he had to admit that, on the surface, her first accusation had a point. It had been so painful seeing his partner hurt like that—a hurt he had simply done his best to try to fix. Javier didn't see how anyone with a soul could not. It was possible that some of his efforts might have driven straight past supportive and right into solicitous, but in Kevin's case he knew it had been necessary. After all, a lot of people went through bad break ups, bad divorces, bad whatevers, but Javier had never met anyone so sure that they had found the One.

Not that Javier had ever believed in happily ever after, but Kevin certainly had.

Javier still didn't know the circumstances of the argument that had brought everything crashing down. He could only imagine that Kevin had been asked to make some compromise on something that hit close enough to the root of who he was that he finally had been unwilling to budge. That alone wouldn't have been enough, of course, but having become personally acquainted with Jenny's unholy lust to control every little thing, he couldn't imagine that she'd have let it go without a fight...

Javier pulled reign on that thought process quickly. Kevin had loved her with all his heart, and just because it was over didn't mean it was fair for him to think those things about her. Not that he had never had those thoughts while she and his partner were together—and perhaps voiced a couple of them. While he was being honest with himself, he supposed he had to admit that a few of the things he had said about Jenny in the past might have sounded a bit catty. Though Javier didn't think he had been completely out of line with some of it...

What had been up with that best-man crap anyway? Just because Kevin had planned to marry the woman didn't grant her dominion over his entire life...

While the topic ricocheted back and forth through his brain for most of the day, it was only later, in the privacy of his own home that he really took the time to examine things close up. He was glad that he had waited. Left quietly holding his head in his hands, he didn't think he could have handled answering anyone's questions. Though if he tried, the conclusions he had come to might best be expressed by a shift in vocabulary.

The deeper he dug, and the farther back he looked, the more he saw catty being replaced by words like jealous, and solicitous by words like clingy. And smitten. And lovesick.

And doomed.

Waking up Saturday morning, Javier weighed the merits of never getting out of bed again. Unfortunately, his resolve only lasted until around 8:30. That was roughly the time he remembered that all that time he had spent feeling sorry for himself, Kevin had been mourning a friend.

Once he got through letting guilt over that lapse bludgeon him in the face, Javier also remembered that his partner was set to leave later that day. The funeral wouldn't be until tomorrow, but Kevin had always been the type to plan things out in detail. An early start today would get him there ahead of most of the traffic, he had said during one of the few moments Javier's mind had been still enough to listen, and any time he had to spare could be spent visiting family and friends.

It was all very sound reasoning, but it didn't give Javier much time to figure out what happened next.

Since he had so far failed so badly at it, Javier decided he had to tell Kevin how he felt, if for no other reason than to prove to himself he still knew how to handle things like a goddamned adult. It wasn't like he had to declare his undying love, just...interest. It was there. Javier had never tried very hard to hide the fact that he was bi. It had never been an issue with is partner before, and if he knew Kevin at all this wouldn't make it one now. Even if his partner wanted nothing to do with that kind of relationship, at least it would settle things. Then he could try to put the whole awkward thing behind him.

Javier wasn't even sure he wanted to acknowledge the tiny little sliver of himself that hoped for another answer entirely.

Around ten o'clock—after a shower, a pathetic attempt at breakfast, and a number of false starts far more numerous than he would have liked—Javier pushed himself to string together the necessary, agonizing steps of grabbing his keys and heading out, hoping to catch his partner before he had a chance to leave.

Unfortunately, luck didn't seem to be on his side. When Javier reached his apartment, Kevin's car was gone from it's usual space, and when he called his cell, just to make sure, his phone went straight to voice-mail. Later, he would look back on that simple fact as a warning from the universe that he had foolishly failed to heed. Kevin was addicted to that damned phone—probably worse than anyone else Javier had ever known, except for Castle. If nothing else, the failure to reach Kevin before his departure should have signaled him it was time to pack it in and admit defeat, at least for the time being.

But strategic withdrawal was for sane people, and after one stunning realization and two sleepless nights, Javier was running on only about half a tank of that anyway. And as he contemplated getting in his car and driving home, Javier was forced to face two unmistakeable truths.

The first was fairly simple: He was enough basketcase already. Sitting on the issue over the weekend until Kevin returned home would be nothing short of torture. The second, while no less simple, was one that he easily might have pretended not to see. Every hour Javier waited was another chance to second guess himself. Another chance to lose his nerve.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, make sure you do it."

While he hadn't been thinking much of anything before Kate had said it, Javier thought it was excellent advice. One of these days, she might even follow it herself.

In the mean time...

"Near Albany", his partner had said. He could do that. Guessing the greater portion of Kevin's route wouldn't be that hard, and weekend traffic being what it was, he might even have a chance to catch him up.

It was a little crazy, but it was a start.

Apparently, though, fortune favored the truly pathetic, because after almost a full hour of driving (convinced the whole time that this was one of the stupidest things he had ever done) Javier hit a lull in which he actually managed to spot Kevin's sedan several cars ahead of him. Keeping a good shadow on a suspect always had been one of Javier's better skills, so after that things got easy quick. Though the realization that in less than forty-eight hours he had managed to move straight from cluelessly crushing into legitimate crazy stalker territory was a little troubling all on its own.

He hadn't been trying to avoid notice, but the main roads were moderately crowded and in a sane world, his partner had no reason to suspect he was being followed. Though, given the odd turns both their lives had taken ever since Castle had come on board, Javier thought that perhaps Kevin should have been looking. Just in case. He had hoped that once they turned off the highway and away from the main flow of traffic his partner might notice his presence, but once they veered off the route heading into Albany the road quickly gained more bends and turns, and even Javier had difficulty maintaining line-of-sight with his partner's car. When he passed a crumbling stone wall bearing a sign designating private land Javier was relieved, since obviously wherever Kevin was headed he would likely be there soon.

Though those high hopes lasted all of about three seconds.

Just as he passed his engine made an odd chugging sound, only to die moments later. As the car rolled to a stop, Javier thought he heard the faint ticking of cooling metal as if the car had overheated, but the dials on the dash said otherwise. Hopping out of the car, he ran a hand over the hood...which was warm, but not more so than it should have been. Passing a frustrated hand over his face, Javier did the obvious and pulled out his phone. As if to make up for his earlier luck in finding Kevin on the highway, there was absolutely no reception to be had.
His options were clearly few. Javier decided that his is best bet was to simply take off up the road on foot and hope that his earlier guess had been right about how close they had to be...

At least the weather wasn't terrible. Though it was past noon, the air was still cool, but he had been smart enough to bring a jacket at least, and once he was walking things warmed up quickly. After following the road for nearly a mile the thick forest that loomed on both sides started to thin a little, just enough so that he thought he could make out fields and what was possibly a barn on the other side. The way the road angled it looked like it doubled back on itself just a little—which wouldn't be the first time, and Javier was just about fed up with that shit. Even if the farm he saw wasn't where Kevin was headed, the owners might be able to point the way—or at least let him use their phone to call a tow.

It was cooler still under the trees as Javier cut through the woods. Leaves and damp earth slid under his feet. It crossed his mind that if by some impossible insight he had known he was going to wind up hiking, he would definitely have chosen better shoes... As he approached through the trees, Javier could make out the barn more clearly, and the large house beyond it. He thought he saw Kevin's car parked there. Before he could get close enough to get a better look, however, he heard a soft nose behind him.

Turning around, Javier's eyes took a moment to adjust from the brighter view of the light beyond the trees. That was only part of why he found himself staring, however. Once his mind managed to appropriately process what his eyes were seeing, all rational thought abruptly fled.

Surprise, confusion, and terror were all that was left behind as Javier found himself practically nose to nose with a very large black panther.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two: Fish, Ponds, and Things of That Sort

(Which concerns a long-overdue reunion wherein awkwardness is mostly a matter of scale.)

Long ago, a friend in Fabletown had given him some advice for learning to blend in amongst the Mundanes: "Don't pretend to be who you're supposed to be, be who you're supposed to be."

More specifically, she had suggested he use the new false name that they had given him as often as he could—in his own head whenever possible. It had helped, and after a while when he introduced himself as Arthur LeSouris, even if it hadn't really been the truth, it had stopped feeling like a lie. It was like the old saying that clothes made the man. Over the last seventy years, slipping on a new name and identity had come to feel a bit like slipping on a new suit: uncomfortable at first, but everything fit better once you had a chance to break it in. A name was only ever just a name if you didn't believe it...

As he measured things, Kevin Ryan wasn't someone he pretended to be, and hadn't been for a long time.

The isolated little patch of forest seemed such an unlikely place for that man to be, yet there he was all the same. He had taken off his jacket to lay on letting his limbs stretch out loosely, his back and shoulders resting against the low stonework wall that wound its way through the trees. Almost prone, his arm rested easily on top of it, and once more he was struck by an strange moment of dissonance. Having been the way he was for so long, most days he never even thought about it. Now that he was back, however, it suddenly felt so odd to think about how the wall he had once looked up at during his patrols every day was probably no taller than the coffee table in his apartment.

Further driving it home was his cousin's presence mere inches away—inches that once wouldn't have seemed 'mere' at all.

Despite the numerous differences in temperament that had always contrasted them like day an night, the family resemblance between he and his cousin had once been striking. Now they no longer had even species in common and, even half-lying as Kevin was, Twigleaf, perched atop the wall that divided Smalltown's territory from the rest of the Farm, still fell short of meeting his eye.

And he did wish his cousin could be convinced he didn't need to shout. It wasn't necessary—he was human, he wasn't deaf—and it made it very difficult to gauge how upset he actually was.

"—haven't heard anything from you in ages! All anyone could tell me was that you were still playing cops-and-robbers out in the Mundy. I almost couldn't get a hold of you at all!"

"I know, Twig, I'm sorry. I just..."

Kevin trailed off helplessly. It was difficult for him to put into words. The emotions there were...complicated.

He had known going into it that his tenure as sheriff would only be a temporary assignment. Still, Bigby's return had left him with a dilemma. Cut free from the obligations of the position and uncertain what his next step should be, he had paid a visit to the Farm. He had never anticipated he might regret that as much as he inevitably did. Perhaps that had been a little naive, but it was a quality of immortals to be in some ways unchanging, and no matter how canny his investigative talents there would always be some things he just wouldn't see. He had been so happy in those years away...

So happy that it hadn't even occurred to him until his return to the Farm how many there had expected him to stay.

Frau Totenkinder had told him it was possible, of course. The spell she had woven could be undone, and the witch would level no additional debt to do so beyond the favor he already owed. In the beginning knowing he had a way out had been reassuring, as the idea of spending his life as something so differently else had been an intimidating one. Over the course of a decade, however, he had grown surprisingly comfortable with it. The years he had spent in Fabletown—in New York City—while the Wolf fought in Europe had been everything he could have wanted them to be. Strange and confusing in the beginning as he had learned to adapt to his new form, but amazing nevertheless. Being human wasn't something he had ever particularly wanted for himself, but as it stood it was the only way that he could have what he did want...

Once he made it clear he had no intention of casting that aside, the reactions had been varied. Many of the animal Fables had resented the freedom he now had to come and go as he pleased. Others had felt his decision to live as a human was simply unnatural. Nowhere, however, had there been more bruised feelings than in Smalltown where, for some, a feeling close to national pride had colored his departure as nothing short of betrayal.

Acorn had always been a square peg, in Smalltown and at the Farm—uncomfortable in his place but with a place there still. Acorn wasn't coming back, however, and it had been made clear that Arthur LeSouris would find little welcome in either.

That had been more than sixty years ago, and he hadn't been back since. If there was no place for LeSouris, there certainly wouldn't be for George Krigner. Or Luke Browning. Or Andrew Klein. It had finally taken Thumbwise's death to give Kevin Ryan the solid reason he had needed to return.

So he had.

His cousin must have seen his distress at the recollection, for Twigleaf flattened his ears sympathetically, placing a consoling paw on his arm. Kevin barely felt the touch, but it was a tremendous comfort all the same. Like Thumbwise, Twig had been one of the few who had known him well enough to understand the decisions he had made.

"I forgive you," Twigleaf finally said, though with an exaggerated sigh he added. "Though if you could write more than once or twice a decade from now on..."

Kevin smiled at that and opened his mouth to make that promise but the words were interrupted by an angry roar that carried distantly over the trees. It was difficult to pinpoint the direction, but he thought it might have come from somewhere close to the farmhouse. Twigleaf, meanwhile, had taken those moments to climb up his arm and onto his shoulder, claws prickling faintly where he gripped the fabric of Kevin's shirt. Confident that his cousin had a good enough hold not to fall Kevin stood, grabbing up his jacket as he did so, and headed back the way he had come.

"Wait," Twigleaf exclaimed, startled, "you're running toward the cat? Are you nuts?"

Fortunately, from his vantage, it would have been nearly impossible for Twigleaf to see Kevin's faint smirk at the words as he ignored him.

When they came out of the trees, they quickly saw they weren't the only ones who had come to investigate. The farmyard was milling with creatures. A few were human, or human shaped, though most were animal and many were decidedly neither. If it was every Fable within earshot Kevin wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest.

"What's going on?" Kevin asked as they reached the edge of the crowd.

Unfortunately, the first creature to respond to his question was Reynard.

It wasn't that Kevin disliked the fox—on the contrary, during his last disastrous visit, the envy Reynard had voiced had been refreshingly nonjudgmental. The problem was simply that, like most tricksters, he could be an awful lot to handle. It was an observation that had proved so true time and again that it was even relevant in his life out in the Mundane. More than once, Kevin had thought that if not for the difference in species, one could almost imagine Castle and Reynard had been separated at birth...

"Bagheera caught some stupid Mundy snooping around," Reynard told him, an excited grin stretching his jaws. "One of the blackbirds told me he's got him cornered alongside the barn."

A Mundy on the Farm? That was bad. That was possibly very bad.

The Farm was Fabletown's best protected secret, undiscovered by the outside world for more than two centuries. That wasn't by luck alone. Some of the most powerful and expensive enchantments their magic users could wield had been layered around the place. Spells to confuse the mind and discourage curiosity. Spells that would cause the road to loop back around on itself, or wreak other havoc on visitors who approached without their destination firmly in mind. Under normal circumstances, a Mundy shouldn't even have noticed the turn off the main road, let alone made it far enough to breach their perimeter.

And then there was the inevitable question of what was to be done about it now. Everything that Kevin had heard told him that Rose Red, the Farm's new manager, while notoriously laid back was a fairly shrewd operator. He had spent far too many years in Mundy law enforcement to be comfortable with the easy solution there. Hoping to help mitigate the damage if it was possible, Kevin pushed his way carefully through the crowd. He was aware of the fox taking advantage of the wake he left behind in order to follow, but as he finally drew near enough to get a good look, he spectacularly failed to give a damn.

The disorientation he had been experiencing out at the wall held nothing on what he felt once his eyes fell on the large cat and the man it had trapped against the side of the barn. A few seconds flit past before Kevin was actually able to accept that what he saw was happening, a hot bolt of shock flaring in his chest.

Because he shouldn't be here—God, he couldn't be here...

And yet, somewhere behind the furious panic, there lived a part of him that wasn't as surprised as it should have been.... As though it really couldn't have been anyone else.

From almost the moment Kevin met him, Javier had managed to get past his defenses in a way very few people did. In a way no Mundane ever had, that was for sure. Living amongst them it was dangerous to get too close...and it was never just his own secrets at risk. With Javier, however, it was difficult for him not to want to open up. In their conversations Kevin always found himself sharing more than was wise, and the proof stood in front of him that he had let slip too many details he should better have kept hidden. Javier knew more true things about him than even Jenny had, and Kevin had planned on spending—

Well, they could have had the rest of her life together, anyway. He had even made arrangements to tell her the truth about himself. Before...

Pain bit deep as he remembered how things had fallen apart between him and Jenny, pain he had finally thought he was handling. Had been handling, with his partner's help. Sudden doubt stung him that he could even continue in his present course without Javier. With his engagement ended, very little still tied him to his current life. A few friends but mostly acquaintances, and a job that he enjoyed but that he didn't think could ever be the same without his best friend and partner.

And, God... If he had to return to Manhattan and face Beckett and Castle's confusion over his partner's disappearance? He didn't think he could stand being there, forced to pretend ignorance of that loss. He knew he would never be able to handle that.

No. If Javier died for his intrusion, Kevin Ryan might as well die with him.

And that life might not be all he would be forced to leave behind. He didn't know what he would do with himself then, but he wasn't sure if he could ever be a part of Fabletown again—Farm or city—having paid that price for its secrecy.

"What's wrong?"

The voice in his ear, tight with concern, brought Kevin abruptly back to himself. Sitting on his shoulder as he was, it was impossible for Twigleaf to have missed Kevin's tense reaction to the scene in front of them. Though it was more than his cousin's precarious position that kept him from turning his head to answer. Eyes locked on Javier, it took him several moments to find his voice, even then stumbling over the words needed to explain.

"I— It's..." He swallowed dryly, finally managing, "That's Javier. My partner."

"How modern," Reynard joked cheekily, sliding past Kevin's feet in his rush to gain a better vantage. As unsteady as Kevin's knees were, the fox was lucky he hadn't knocked him over. "And here I'd always ignored those rumors you'd gone native..."

Under the circumstances, the joke shouldn't have been funny. And it wasn't, at all...but somehow his mind refused to discard it.

Kevin knew Reynard was only joking and was prepared to ignore him in favor of the more pressing business at hand. Yet there was another part of him—a part that was far too used to Castle, and the way the writer's nonsense occasionally bore fruit—that insisted on turning the words over at least once before discarding them. His thoughts were all running together anyway at that point as he desperately sought a solution to the tragic disaster he saw ahead of him...

And when that solution formed in his mind he almost could have laughed. Because it was absolutely crazy—an idea worthy of Castle at the best of his worst—but it could work.

He doubted Javier would like it, but short of treason it was the only way Kevin could see of getting his partner out of this alive...

Chapter Text

Chapter Three: The Sky Is Falling

(In which everyone does their best, but nothing makes sense and there really isn't any time for proper explanations.)

Javier wasn't entirely sure how, but he was convinced this whole thing was Castle's fault. Until the writer had shown up, his career had been blessedly free of ridiculous things—things like goddamned jungle cats showing up where they honest to God did not belong. As if the tiger those rednecks had smuggled into the city hadn't been absurd enough. And right now Javier had no idea how it was possible for a freaking panther to be running loose in upstate New York, and to be quite honest he didn't really care...

He just really wished it had occurred to him to bring his gun.

His spirited dash across the open field might have made his instructors back in basic very proud. Still, the uneven landing after he vaulted the short wall surrounding it had almost turned his ankle and dropped him on his ass. In that split-second of instability Javier had experienced possibly one of the most intense moments of fear he could ever remember...because he had been dead certain that if he went down there would be no getting up again. It was second only, perhaps, to what he had felt upon reaching the barn when he had discovered the doors needed to open outward, and he had suddenly found himself trapped—

Because by all rights it should have ended there.

Yet once it had Javier backed up against the splintery wall of the barn the thing seemed unusually content to wait. Crouched low, its eyes were locked on his, tracking his movements, its tail lashing anxiously behind it. Otherwise it was still save for the minute twitching of muscles whenever Javier made the slightest move—ready to spring, though it never did. More than once, as he had looked around desperate for some possible means of escape, it let out a loud, rumbling squall that commanded the most primitive parts of Javier's attention.

He was therefor only dimly aware of what else was going on around him—aware only that, contrary to all logical sense, they seemed to have drawn a significant crowd. Javier would definitely have been running the opposite direction if given even half a chance. That it mostly seemed to be farm animals closing in around them should have struck him as bizarre...

It would later, of course. Later—when his mind wasn't so preoccupied with the idea of very big teeth and the uncomfortable proximity thereof.

Then, during one of his very brief glances, Javier spied his partner over the crowd of animals. Kevin was staring at him with a vaguely dumbfounded expression, one which Javier thought should have been a little more panicked under the circumstances. The panther let out that warning noise again, and Javier was forced to look away. When he managed to find Kevin again he tried to call his partner's name. Fear had his voice frozen in his chest, and it took a few tries to get enough air behind it to be at all audible.

Strangely, the panther followed Javier's gaze, glancing over its shoulder toward his partner before returning its attention back to him.

Looking back, Javier would always classify this as the last time the world had made sense in any conventional meaning of the word. Nothing in his life—none of the insane mischief Castle had ever gotten up to, no moment of the mind-breaking challenge of his past two days, nor even any of the very strange happenings that would one day follow—could or would ever approach the magnitude of strain those next few moments inflicted on his sanity. And it all began with that moment when the panther managed to do something impossibly more terrifying than trying to eat him...

It spoke.

"Does this Mundy belong to you, mouthful?"

Javier's brain stalled, but apparently those words were all that was needed to startle his partner into action. Kevin waded carefully through the violently diverse herd of fauna that had gathered to watch the scene play out. Still stunned, Javier would have loved to ask his partner what was happening, but he couldn't even begin to formulate a question that held any degree of coherence.

And Kevin...didn't exactly help that.

As soon as his partner reached his side Kevin lifted a hand, cupping his face gently. His own skin was warm from exertion, slick with the sweat of fear and Kevin's palm felt cool against his cheek, but it was the gesture itself that startled Javier the most. Kevin had never touched him like that...

"Baby, what are you doing here?" Kevin asked him, looking him in the eye.

Javier was caught by the unmistakable, urgent fear pleading from his partner's eyes, which was why he didn't question the endearment, didn't flinch when Kevin's other hand slid behind his neck— Though it was perhaps only half of why he didn't fight when his partner pulled him in, bringing their mouths together in a desperate kiss.

The kiss itself was surreal enough, aggressive and messy in a way he would never have imagined Kevin's kiss would be—and he had very recently spent an embarrassing number of hours in speculation of that exact detail. Even more surreal, as it ended Javier became aware of the chorus of murmurs that had risen around them. He was suddenly reminded of the crowd that had come to surround them—animals and, now that he had a moment to finally see them, other things that his brain had too much trouble comprehending to begin to name. And the panther still waited nearby, of course, sitting now though its tail lashed unhappily as it watched them, its head tilted slightly in what almost looked like surprise.

His brain had flat out stopped working, and when Javier felt Kevin's gentle tug on his sleeve, he could think of no response but to follow.

Unfortunately, the cat had seemed to have other thoughts about their easy retreat. Whipping around in a smooth motion it easily overtook them, crouching low directly in their path.

"Let us through, Bagheera," Kevin insisted evenly.

"Don't let your years on two legs fool you into forgetting your place on the food chain," the panther warned, and Javier could hear an agitated rumble carrying beneath the words.  "You still have to answer for what you've done."

Though his partner had stopped when the panther blocked their path, positioning himself between the panther and Javier, Kevin seemed oddly unintimidated.

"Then I'll answer to Rose Red," Kevin told it firmly. "Please, let us through."

The panther looked between the two of them briefly before it stalked off. The motley herd parted quickly to allow it to pass, and the last Javier saw of it was a discontented lash of its tail. Javier felt as much as saw the breath Kevin released, tension lessening in relief, though it was not banished entirely. Groping almost blindly Kevin reached behind him, slipping an arm around Javier's shoulders and dragging him in close as he directed their path through the shifting crowd around them.

As they made their way through the unnaturally diverse flock, Javier could hear an excited buzz beginning to rise amongst them. Most words were lost amongst the overwhelming hum of impossible voices, but one outburst startled Javier and had him halting in his tracks. The source of the alarm turned out to be a panicked bird of some sort.

"Treason!" It screamed, flapping and squawking hysterically, "He'll lead them all down on us! We're done for!"

Javier found himself strangely grateful for the noise, as it drew away from the mass of attention which had otherwise been focused on him. Kevin's hand tightened slightly on his shoulder as his partner urged him on.

"Ignore the chicken and get inside," a voice spoke low in his ear.

Only...that voice wasn't his partner. Turning his head slightly, Javier looked toward Kevin and saw for the first time the small mouse clinging precariously to his partner's collar.

It was wearing little overalls.

Right. Of course it was.

At the center of the farmyard there was a tall stone building, maybe two or three stories of architecture that looked vaguely old fashioned and just as vaguely out of place. When they reached the door, Kevin all but shoved him inside, closing it quickly behind them. When they were halfway up a flight of stairs the mouse suddenly hopped off his partner's shoulder onto the bannister, dashing down to have words with what Javier thought was a very confused looking badger. Kevin didn't let Javier stop, and he didn't look back.

His partner turned them toward a room off the top of the landing, some kind of guest room. Once the door fell shut behind them, Kevin released the death-grip from around Javier's shoulders. For a few moments Javier could only stand there, staring silently at the wall in front of him as Kevin started pacing. His mind was hung up on the impossible, painful task of grasping a thought—one that made sense—but the last few minutes had left him absolutely no ground to stand on.

Finally, as his partner made another restless pass across the floor of the tiny room Javier managed to latch onto something concrete.

"Kevin?" His voice was kind of weak and uncertain, but it was a start. "Kevin."

Behind him he heard Kevin's footsteps slow to a halt. Javier thought about turning around, but right now the wall was good. It was a wall. A wall busy doing...nothing unusual, which was what walls were supposed to do. Part of him was afraid that if he turned around he'd see...something. That some other crazy goddamned thing would show up and send him barreling off of whatever cliff it was his sanity was teetering on at that moment.

Though that analogy felt too generous by half.

"Kevin," he said again, slowly, trying to formulate his thoughts. Failing to find anything quite adequate to express what he was feeling he settled. "What the fuck?"

He heard Kevin's hesitation, could feel weird tension creeping into his partner as he froze. He could imagine the exact kind of deer-in-the-headlights look Kevin would be wearing with that kind of indecision. After a few moments without response Javier did turn around finally. His partner's face just as he had pictured it, eyes distant and slightly narrowed, nervousness cutting wrinkles into his forehead as Kevin chewed his lip thoughtfully. Noticing Javier's eyes on him Kevin gave a slow blink, expression turning a bit helpless as he sought the answers Javier desperately needed.

"Uh," Kevin stammered, meeting Javier's gaze with wide eyes sympathetically begging his patience. "Uh, just...give me a minute. Okay?"

Javier processed the request with a slow blink, dragging both hands over his face. He took a few slow breaths letting them fall back to his sides.

"I'm dreaming," Javier reasoned eventually, though he wasn't sure if he was telling Kevin or himself. "I'm dreaming. Or dead. I wiped out on the highway and this is some kind of weird-ass death dream..."

"You're not dead," Kevin insisted firmly, looking him in the eye. "And believe me, I want to keep it that way. If you calm down and follow my lead, that might even happen."

"Calm down?" Javier asked. He was relieved to note his voice managed to stay relatively even, almost resembling normal though nothing else did. "I'm not the one who's pacing, Kev, and you're not the one that almost got eaten by a freaking panther."

His mind stumbled over the end of that last sentence, the way he almost had earlier, and for a faltering moment there was a similar threat that it might not recover.

"I mean...that is what happened, right?" Javier asked hesitantly. "Those things down there happened. I'm not..."

His eyes slid away from Kevin's for a moment. The words hallucinating and crazy slipped in through some neglected crack in his defenses, and it was all Javier could do not to start panicking again. That fear and uncertainly must have shown, because Kevin's face abruptly softened.

"No, Javi, God no." Kevin soothed softly. "You're not—"

Kevin lifted a hand to his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze that drew Javier's eyes back to his.

"It happened," Kevin confirmed solidly with a nod. "Is happening. There are...things happening that I really don't have time to explain."

He waited a moment, eyes searching Javier's for understanding. He thought Kevin was being deliberately vague, playing it safe maybe, but even if he didn't understand what was going on he still trusted Kevin enough to accept that last without challenge.

"Okay," Javier allowed feebly, even managing a slight nod.

"Okay," Kevin said, repeating the word and even the motion almost absently. "Okay. Listen... I don't know how it's even possible for you to be here, but you've stumbled onto something you really weren't supposed to see. You're in danger, Javi, and there might be a way to get you out of it, only..."

The uncertainty that stole over Kevin's features then was a little odd, lacing strangely with the fear that had been there only a moment before.

"Only what, Kev?" Javier asked, not entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.

Kevin hesitated, examining Javier's face carefully, nervously. If everything else about the situation hadn't been so dire, Javier might have thought he was almost embarrassed.

"In order for my plan to work," Kevin said, "we'd kind of have to pretend we're engaged."

Javier stared.

"What?"

And Javier almost immediately wanted to apologize for the question. He knew Kevin really was doing his best to be gentle with the situation, and Javier was doing his best to understand it. In fact, he hadn't not understood, but his brain was apparently stuck in "what" mode until such time as proper answers were provided. He saw the frustration in his partner's eyes. Finally, Kevin released a huff, rubbing awkwardly at the back of his neck.

"Fine," he said, "I'll make this easy for you."

He couldn't quite manage to look Javier in the eye as he lowered himself to one knee.

"Javier Esposito, will you marry me?"

Chapter Text

Chapter Four: A Marriage of Inconvenience

(In which further questions are raised, most of which are not answered, but even then Javier is quick to sense when things start going rapidly downhill...)

Seven or eight passes of the question through his mind refused to change its content whatsoever.

Speechless, Javier found himself backing up a step, falling to his seat as his legs collided with the edge of the guestroom bed. Fortunately—perhaps—he was saved from the need for a response when they were intruded upon by Kevin's, er...friend, from before. Not that Javier immediately noticed when the mouse squeezed in under the door, of course, but the creature's raised voice drew both of their attention quickly. Javier was distantly rather proud of himself when he managed not to overreact to the sight.

Or really react...at all.

"Rose is coming," the mouse shouted, scaling the leg of a chair that stood next to the door.

They hardly had time to process the words before the door swung open. Javier didn't know what exactly he might have been expecting, but the petite young woman who walked through it definitely wasn't it. She had very short, very red hair, and was dressed in black jeans and a short white t-shirt that left her midriff exposed. Despite the large crow which was perched upon her shoulder she appeared so absurdly, blessedly normal that Javier almost laughed.

Though that laugh did end up escaping him, nervously as she took in the sight of them, head tilting slightly as she greeted them with a smirk.

"Am I interrupting something?"

It seemed to dawn on Kevin slowly how different the scene looked from before now that Javier was seated on the bed. His face was bright red by the time he scrambled up off his knees.

"Miss Red, I, uh, this isn't—"

Sadistically, Javier found watching Kevin struggle against his flustered stammer oddly comforting. At least he wasn't the only one who had been thrown just a little ways out of his depth.

"Okay stop," she said, holding her hands to interrupt him, which was probably best for all involved. "First just tell me who you are and what you're doing here."

Kevin paused, and though the question seemed straightforward enough for a moment Javier thought his partner's expression suggested some sort of internal debate.

"I'm—"

Javier saw Kevin's eyes flicker over him for just a moment before he answered.

"You'd probably know me as Ace?" he managed finally, his voice and words oddly uncertain. "I'm here for the funeral in Smalltown."

Whatever the significance of that last detail Rose's eyes widened just slightly in surprise, though she recovered with a quick blink. Looking over Kevin's face she gave a slow nod.

"Wait, I do remember you..." she said slowly. "You used to work for my sister back when she ran things down in the City."

Kevin nodded slowly, letting out a long breath.

"Yes," he answered quietly, wetting his lips. "A long time ago."

"And him?" Rose asked significantly, tilting her head in Javier's direction.

Kevin's eyes followed hers, almost reluctantly, the expression in them when they met Javier's was painfully apologetic. Kevin braced himself with a shallow breath.

"This is Javier Esposito," Kevin told her, slowly and very carefully. "My...fiance."

The hesitation was so slight even Javier almost missed it. Rose's attitude shifted almost immediately in response to his partner's words, and even the bird on her shoulder shuffled its feathers in a way that seemed quite agitated. Though Javier was lacking the significance of this revelation, his ignorance did not save him from being very much aware of the tension in the room.

"He followed me here," Kevin continued to explain, words spilling out very rapidly. "I— It was an accident. A mistake. He didn't know what was out here, and I haven't even told him anything yet."

"Yet?" Rose asked with a frown. "Just the fact that he's seen what he has forces things. I know what you're thinking, but a handfasting spell isn't cheap, Ace. And on such sort notice—"

As she spoke, Kevin reached into his sleeve. At first glance, what he pulled out resembled a fine silver necklace, only it appeared strangely of a piece, as though woven of thin threads of the bright metal rather than formed into links. There was also a peculiar shimmer to it that put Javier in mind of the transparent heat that hovered over pavement in the summer. As odd as the thing looked to him, however, Rose's words cut off almost instantly and she seemed genuinely taken aback, and even the mouse let out a soft squeak of surprise.

"I haven't told him yet," Kevin repeated, letting the unusual emphasis speak for itself.

Despite his own uneasy curiosity about the thing, Javier thought their reactions made sense if they were buying into Kevin's...plan. Mindful of his partner's conviction that his own life was riding on this, he told himself that this was a good thing, and resolved to let Kevin continue to do the talking and try to keep his mouth shut just a little bit longer.

Rose took a moment to consider. While she didn't precisely relax, the alertness of her posture eased, and Javier felt their situation had been downgraded from being a threat to merely being a problem.

"Your timing is terrible," she said, a touch wryly.

"I know," Kevin said, his tone remorseful and pleading. "I didn't mean to disrupt anything. Thumbwise was my partner and a good friend. Just—"

Kevin paused, looking down a little sadly at the slender silver cord that was pooled in the palm of his hand. Closing his fingers over it he dragged his free hand through his hair.

"You can do the ceremony, right?" he asked Rose, sounding a little desperate. "Twigleaf and another Fable can witness, then we'll just go. Drive straight down to Fabletown so he can sign the Compact, and from there it's King Cole's problem."

Whatever Kevin's solution really meant, it was plainly an attractive option from the way Rose considered it, but she shook her head with a sigh.

"You've been living among the Mundanes way too long if you think things will settle down with some kind of civil ceremony," she said, not unsympathetically. "You two are already the talk of the Farmyard. No doubt my sister and her husband have already heard about it in the next valley over, and I know the 13th Floor sorcerers keep eyes here, so I wouldn't be surprised if Fabletown already knows as well."

He saw Kevin wince, though from his lack of any other reaction Javier would have guessed she wasn't telling him anything his partner hadn't already known.

"We have to do this right, Ace," She finished firmly, "otherwise no one is going to feel safe or happy."

And Kevin didn't seem to like that answer, but apparently he couldn't argue with it.

"Okay," he said, returning a resigned nod. "After the funeral?"

Rose nodded.

"Of course," she said. Then, her lips drew slowly into a broad smile. "And don't worry. It'll be an event. I mean even if this wasn't the first handfasting in over a century, I'm pretty sure it's a Fabletown first, if you get my meaning."

Kevin groaned pathetically, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No, Rose, please..."

"Nope," she said, holding up a finger to shut him up. "I don't get many legitimate excuses to throw a party, and you don't get a choice."

Dragging a hand over his face Kevin let it go with a drawn out sigh.

"Fine," he agreed wearily. "Then can we please have a moment so I can explain exactly what he's gotten mixed up in?"

Javier was all for that, and he felt an embarrassing amount of relief at Rose's consenting nod. Or perhaps it was just the fact that the crow would be leaving with her. While he had kept most of his attention on the conversation that damned bird had kept eyeing him throughout like he was something edible. The weight of its attention had been disproportionately unsettling—almost ridiculously so after his encounter with the panther. For some reason his mind kept spitting out random trivia he'd heard about how birds had evolved from dinosaurs...

For some reason, it had never been easier for him to believe.

"Alright," Rose said, turning toward the door. "I'll get started on the arrangements."

Unfortunately, once the door had closed behind them, silence fell on the room. Instead of providing answers like he had promised Kevin just sort of...stood there, chewing on his thumb like he sometimes did when he was very nervous. Not that he could blame him, but Javier felt he had been more than patient enough already...

"Kevin—"

With another sigh, Kevin held up a hand to stall him. Javier did stop, mostly out of recent habit, but he wasn't happy about it. He was just about to let Kevin know that too, when his partner spoke.

"Privacy please, Twig?"

The words made no sense until Kevin turned toward the answering silence near the door. His expression somehow managed to be as as affectionate as it was exasperated, and Javier realized he had all but forgotten the mouse was still in the room.

His partner clearly hadn't.

"Fine," the mouse said, its high, soft voice taking on a tone Javier thought sounded a bit put out. "I'll just go help Rose plan your big gay Gulliver wedding."

The mouse scrambled quickly down the chair leg, exiting beneath the door just as he had come. A short beat passed in which neither of them spoke. As Javier stared at his partner in silence he felt his gaze narrowing into a glare.

"Wedding, Kevin?" he blurted out finally once the pressure of frustration broke through. "What the hell is going on?"

Kevin finally turned to look him in the eye, visibly struggling with a response. Eventually he gave a nod—actually more of a head-wobble—before he spoke.

"Look, Javier, it's..." He winced slightly. "It's a really long story."

The look on his face was apologetic and almost...embarrassed. As if he thought he had made a really bad joke.

"In that case, bro," Javier said slowly, "you should really start talking now."

Chapter Text

Chapter Five: Small Talk

(Which contains shoe dropping of all sizes, and related puns become completely unavoidable.)

"Okay," Kevin said. "Okay..."

He trailed off for a moment, expression contorting with a sort of harried uncertainty as he struggled visibly for the answers he had promised. To himself, Javier thought that he might yet manage to live a happy life if he never heard that word again—from his partner's lips or anyone else's. It had already been said far too many times today, and the circumstances forced him to conclude that the word okay had long since ceased to hold any kind of meaning.

"So— Okay," Kevin finally started, eyes watching Javier carefully as he hesitantly began to outline their situation. "Think of this place as a sort of...refugee camp. Like Casablanca, but without the Nazis."

"Dude, you stole that line from Men in Black."

And calling him on it sounded a little inane, even to him. Javier blamed the strain he was currently under for that being the first connection his brain decided to make. Then again, perhaps it was simply that ribbing Kevin's nerdiness was familiar. Safe. The rest of it...wasn't so much.

"Yeah, sure," Kevin allowed, releasing an exasperated breath, "but it's still a metaphor that works."

"Look, Kev," Javier said, making sure his partner met his eye. "I know you're trying to soften the blow or whatever, but I'm pretty sure I'm done trying to break, alright? So just...give it to me straight."

Kevin let out a slow breath, nodding. He turned, pulling the chair the mouse had vacated closer to the bed before he sat down, facing Javier as he considered his words carefully. From what Javier could see, Kevin wasn't happy with his options. His hands worked in vague, useless gestures between them as if bidding those words to come. Finally his partner let out a sigh that was half a groan, and the words came.

"A long time ago—like, hundreds of years ago—there was a war," Kevin said, halting, reluctantly, as if each word hurt as it was drawn out of him, like pulling a thorn. "And rather than submit to enemy rule, hundreds fled looking for a safe place—"

Kevin let out a short laugh, soft, offering a brief smile.

"Well, safer , anyway," he amended. "So they left their Homelands, and came to the New World."

Kevin paused, eyes roaming his face as if tracking how well Javier had followed so far. So far, it all sounded relatively straightforward, but Javier was painfully aware he was likely only lacking in pertinent details.

"Alright," Javier said, offering a slight nod to encourage his partner to continue.

Kevin wet his lips, forehead creasing in a way that was almost painful to watch, quiet a moment before he took in a quick breath and plowed ahead.

"The thing is though, Javi?" he said, voice lifting with an uncertain lilt. "When I say things like 'New World' and 'Old World', I mean that in a very real way. The Homelands are..."

He hesitated again, though only briefly this time, like he was finally working up the momentum he needed.

"They're a place that's not here," Kevin concluded finally, dropping the rest with a slow nod. "They aren't a part of this world."

And Javier had been following along. It was a lot to take in, but he wasn't stupid, and he thought his brain was slowly acclimating itself to how insane this whole situation was. He decided to test that theory.

"So the animals are...what?" Javier asked slowly. "Rejects from Wonderland or something?"

Oddly, Kevin seemed to bristle at the question just a little.

"Yes, Javier," Kevin answered, his tone somewhat tight. "Some of them literally."

A couple seconds passed as Javier chewed on that last detail, and Kevin finally shook off his irritation.

"So, wait," Javier interjected, trying to take a more active role in the conversation. It made him feel a bit less helpless. "Are we talking about storybook animals from actual storybooks? I mean, when you called that panther— Are you saying that was the real Bagheera? From The Jungle Book?"

"Exactly." Kevin said, seeming relieved that Javier was on board so far. "And not just animals, humans too, and other things—"

"There was a sunflower walking around out there," Javier interrupted suddenly, hardly even realizing until he had. "It, uh. It had a face."

Because he seriously wanted confirmation about that one. Thankfully Kevin nodded, and though a faint snort of amusement escaped him it was adequately sympathetic, and Javier chose not to take offense.

"Collectively, we call ourselves Fables," Kevin said next, looking him in the eye very carefully.

"And you're one of them," Javier said, slowly, and he wasn't sure exactly what he was feeling at that moment, but he was glad to have kept it out of his voice all the same.

And Kevin nodded in confirmation, even though they both knew it wasn't really a question. Javier had expected it was the case, but the admission still left him a little stunned. Javier thought that had less to do with the existence of other worlds or talking animals than it did the secrets his partner had obviously been keeping—from him. A sharp, angry spark of betrayal flared in his chest. Javier did his best to crush it, because he knew it was irrational, but he still couldn't help but feel hurt.

"We've been hiding our existence from the Mundane world for centuries," Kevin said, and Javier could tell from his tone and expression that he felt a little exposed. "And part of how we've managed that is by keeping any of us that can't pass for Mundane humans up here on the Farm, where they won't be seen."

Kevin let out a breath, then, shaking his head as he fixed Javier with a sharp stare.

"Jesus, Javi... There have been breaches and exceptions in the past, but until now no Mundy has ever seen the Farm. Your finding this place is...kind of a big deal. Huge. And it's got to have a lot of people freaked out."

"So, people are going to want me dead because I stumbled on your hidden colony of fairytale animals?"

Kevin tilted his head, weighing the words.

"Pretty much?" Kevin answered with a wince. "Or maybe not dead, but nobody's very happy about it."

Javier couldn't help but let out a snort in response to that obvious understatement.

"Right," Javier said slowly, digesting as best as he could. "I think I can work with that."

Silence returned, but it was a far easier silence than before, Kevin waiting patiently on Javier as the new information settled in his brain. There didn't seem to be any way for him to absorb it that felt remotely sane, but as long as he had enough evidence that it was real, Javier supposed it didn't really have to be.

"So," Javier said after a long moment. "I mean— I always wondered why you never talked about your family, and where you were from. Guess now I get why."

And it was kind of a stupidly obvious observation, but it was a start. Still, Kevin seemed to turn the statement over with some thought.

"Where I'm from..." Kevin repeated slowly, eyes drifting a little.

His forehead creased rather distressingly, as it often would when he worried over some very crucial decision. Whatever that decision was, Javier could tell when Kevin made it, taking in a slow, deep breath before their eyes found contact again.

"Would— Do you think you could handle a small tour?" Kevin asked, belatedly wincing as if at an unintentional joke.

"That really a good idea, Kev?" Javier asked, thinking about the frightening variety of teeth and claws he had seen out in the farmyard.

Kevin released a faint laugh.

"Probably not," he admitted with a half-smile, though it faded a little after a moment. Kevin seemed to hesitate, but whatever his doubts were he snapped out of it with a shake of his head.

"There's something I need you to see."

Getting permission from Rose Red turned out to be easier than either of them had anticipated. She was apparently heavily engrossed in the wedding arrangements—and that was something Javier knew he and Kevin still needed to talk about. Javier decided he needed to make a list. Her only stipulation was the assignment of a security detail, as much for Javier's safety as their own.

For this purpose, she asked Clara to shadow their activities on the Farm.

Clara, to Javier's infinite dismay, turned out to be the crow that had been eyeing him with predatory intent upstairs.

"I don't get it," Javier said as they stood in the foyer, watching with trepidation as Clara dove out the front door ahead of them, "what's a bird going to do if that panther comes back or I try to escape?"

Kevin opened his mouth as if to answer that question, though he seemed to reconsider with a wince.

"I'll tell you if you want," Kevin said, eyes on his in one of the most earnest expressions Javier had ever seen, "but you'll probably live a much happier life not knowing."

And really, after everything he had seen in the past few hours, Javier would have to have been a lot stupider than he was not to take that advice.

Kevin had been less than forthcoming with details about their destination, and as they walked that didn't appear likely to change. Given his partner's obvious uncertainty, Javier couldn't bring himself to ask. He was too afraid that any prying might spook Kevin into changing his mind. Now that his life wasn't in (immediate) danger, however, Javier finally had the chance to get a better sense of the place. The farmhouse itself seemed slightly out of place, but there was the barn, of course, and some kind of small workshop, which both looked fairly normal; but some of the surrounding architecture was...bizarre, to say the least. Just beyond the farmhouse they passed what honest to God looked like a giant boot. The path was lined on both sides with odd little houses and small cottages of all kinds. Animal inhabitants stared from yards and windows as they passed—

Though, to be fair, Javier was pretty shameless about staring back.

Apparently, however, none of this was part of the tour Kevin intended. As they went, he commented on very little. In fact, the most Kevin said the entire time was to offer a word of warning, not about some dangerous animal or bizarre creature, but an ordinary looking man with blonde hair that glared daggers at them as they passed.

"He's not dangerous or anything," Kevin concluded awkwardly. "Just try of avoid him. Thunderfoot and I just, uh...we don't get along."

And they pretty much lapsed into complete silence after that, because no way in hell was Javier even going to ask.

The path led them into the woods surrounding the Farm. And the wood itself was inhabited with Fable life, Javier saw, though the wildlife—if it was even appropriate to call it that—became noticeably more sparse the further they traveled. And, as they progressed, Kevin's steps became more hesitating and unsure. Finally, they came within sight of a short, crumbling stonework wall. Kevin stopped just in front of him, staring ahead. As Javier came up beside him, he caught a brief glimpse of helpless terror on his partner's face. It faded as Kevin turned to look at him, ticking a faint, reassuring smile. As if Javier were the one whose body language was screaming total panic...

"This is as close as we're allowed to go without permission," Kevin said finally, after a long, slow breath that managed to release some of the tension from his shoulders. "It's been a while, but there should still be a spot along the wall where you can see it..."

They followed the wall for several yards, Kevin's eyes carefully scanning the trees, before he apparently found what he was looking for.

"Yeah, there it is." Kevin said, voice dropping to a whisper.

Kevin set down the small bag he'd brought with him, lowering himself to his knees behind the wall. Taking his cue, Javier sank down beside him. Out of the bag, Kevin retrieved a pair of binoculars—Javier assumed he must have borrowed them from the farmhouse for this purpose—and, resting his elbows on top of the wall, he searched the woods beyond. After a short moment, Kevin passed them to Javier, pointing to some spot within the trees.

"About sixty yards from where we're at there's a large tree. You'll know it when you see it."

Kevin's voice was thin with anxiety, and Javier found himself oddly reluctant to look. After a moment, however, he did as Kevin instructed, searching the trees carefully. It took him a moment to find it, but Kevin was right, he really couldn't have missed it... Though most of the trees grew close together in this wood, this particular specimen had space cleared around it for several feet. The tree itself was tremendous, easily dwarfing its neighbors. But it was neither its size nor its prominence that made it stand out. At first glance, it seemed like there was ivy or something growing up around the tree, covering its roots and climbing up into the branches,but the coverage was too thick, too solid—too strange. Once he managed to adjust the binoculars for a clearer view, Javier quickly realized what it actually was he was seeing, and that realization literally took his breath away.

"Dios mio..." he managed, once the shock had cleared enough for him to speak. "Are those...buildings?"

And he couldn't drag his eyes away, but he felt Kevin nod beside him.

"That's Smalltown," his partner said quietly, and the note of sadness that crept into his voice finally managed to draw Javier's attention back where it really belonged. "On its own scale, it's actually the largest Fable community in this world, with a dense population, mostly of mixed Lilliputian descent."

"Lilliputian?" Javier asked. The word sounded familiar, and with a little effort he managed to place it. "Like from Gulliver's Travels?"

"Exactly like." Kevin said. He paused before he continued, drawing a sharp breath like a man about to leap. "And... I used to serve as a member of its Mounted Police."

"That's where you're from?" Javier asked, though it took a moment for his brain to parse the significant and obvious problem in his partner's claim. "Wait...you used to be one of them? A Lilliputian?"

Kevin actually let out a soft laugh, and Javier felt a stab of irritation, because if Kevin was putting him on right now, God help him...

"Uh, no," Kevin said, "not exactly."

And it was really the degree of his partner's fidgeting that saved him from an untimely end. Kevin wasn't looking at him, choosing instead to peel and pick at the moss growing between the stones of the wall.

"You know the old story, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse?" Kevin finally asked him, and the nervousness strangling his voice all but reduced it to a squeak.

"Sure," Javier said, "but I'm not sure where you're headed with the metaphor."

"It's, uh, not a metaphor," Kevin said with a wince. He finally managed to look Javier in the eye, and the expression creasing his forehead looked almost painful. "I, uh... I used to be a mouse."

Kevin's attention hung nervously, waiting on Javier's reaction. It took him an unfortunate amount of time to even begin to find one. Javier turned and sat back against the wall, needing something solid behind him. Mirroring his movements—likely unconsciously—Kevin did the same.

"Sorry..." Javier began slowly. "The way my day's been so far, I honestly cannot tell one way or the other if you're joking."

"I'm not joking," Kevin told him, very simply.

Javier took a slow breath as he tried to work that detail into his reality. It probably should have been more difficult, but somehow it just felt...right. Kevin had always been oddly unassuming—in their profession it had made him fairly unusual. Yet while in anyone else it might have seemed an ill-suited trait for a police officer, Kevin had always managed to make it work for him. Though he wasn't assertive by nature he was certainly capable of it, and people frequently underestimated him, both physically and in other ways. Many were the occasions when defense lawyers who had met Kevin in preparation for a trial assumed his testimony would be easy to counter. Their inevitable surprise once he demonstrated just how wrong that assumption was would probably never stop being amusing.

Kevin wasn't just a man frequently overlooked, he was a man who expected to be overlooked, and who had learned to use it to his advantage. As insane as his partner's confession was, oddly, it seemed to fit. All in all, Javier's mind seemed worryingly able to accept his partner's status as a former rodent.

It was probably a sign of brain damage.

For better or worse, though, at the moment Javier simply didn't have the energy to try and pick that apart. He decided the best thing he could do was be honest.

"Okay," he started, running a hand over his face. "Okay. Not saying it won't be weird later, but right now I've got nothing left. So...okay."

There was that word again.

Kevin frowned, quiet for a moment as he seemed to take stock of just where this left them.

"I'll accept that," he said finally, managing a jerky nod.

And, yeah, Javier could imagine a few dozen ways he could potentially have reacted that would have been much worse.

"So, uh, how?" Javier asked, once the silence threatened to stretch out into something unrecoverable. "And why?"

"The how's pretty obvious," Kevin said, though he wilted slightly under Javier's blank stare. "Er, magic."

And, okay, "magic" probably was the most obvious answer, but Javier was still getting used to there even being a question.

"Why is...harder," Kevin continued, answering the rest of Javier's question.

Or at least, he seemed willing to make the attempt, because he thought over his words for a very long moment before he managed to speak.

"Fables are flesh and blood just like anyone else," Kevin finally said, voice slowed by the efforts of what he was trying to explain, "but there's also this other dimension to us. Magic is a part of it, but there's magic and there's magic."

Kevin frowned, apparently realizing how confusing that was, then clarified.

"I mean, there's magic that does things, and then there's the magic that makes us who and what we are," Kevin explained. "And no one's really sure if the stories that exist about us here in the Mundane world only reflect who we are or if they define it. Either way, our basic nature is written into us like our DNA."

He fell silent for a moment, eyes falling to his hands where they sat in his lap.

"I never wanted to be human," Kevin admitted slowly. "I was happy with who and what I was. It was where I was that was the problem."

He cast a glance over his shoulder, over the wall, back toward the strange, small, sprawling town in the middle of the woods.

"Smalltown's a good place, it was just a bad fit for me," Kevin said, turning back to look at him. "I didn't really have a lot of options. When I signed the Fabletown Compact, I agreed to confine myself to the Farm and...well, compared to a cottage or a burrow in some field somewhere it was the lesser evil."

Kevin's shudder was almost comical.

"And I did love my job," he said, "but...all the years I lived out here it felt like a part of me was missing. And we'd hear the gossip that made it up here from the human Fables in Manhattan..."

"I dreamed about it more than once," Kevin said, "and then one day, out of the blue I had this opportunity sprung on me. A role for me to fill down in Fabletown, and the job itself was temporary, but the change that made it possible didn't have to be. And it was a choice I never would have imagined myself making, but it put everything I wanted most in my reach, so I took it, and..."

And Kevin trailed off into silence, finishing with a loose, mute gesture that Javier imagined was meant to encompass every moment of his life ever since.

"So that's why, Javi," Kevin finished sadly. "Our laws forced me to choose which was the most essential part of who I am...and in the end, species wasn't it."

Javier was left at a loss for what to say. He felt Kevin needed some reaction, though.

"Talk about 'you can't go home again'," he said, finally.

It felt trite in the face of the harsh decision his partner had been put to, but there was really no better way for him to say it. Kevin seemed to understand that, and he nodded with a sad smile.

"But I could have, Javi," Kevin countered softly, taking a breath. "I still could. That's the problem."

"What do you mean?"

"The enchantment that made me human was designed as temporary," Kevin explained. "There's no expiration date, but it isn't exactly permanent either, like curses are. It left me the option of having it reversed once my job was done."

Kevin shook his head.

"It wasn't a big deal at first," he said, "but once it was clear I didn't intend to go back things changed. I wasn't the first Fable to make a choice like this, but most that I know of either did it for love or for the common good, and those are reasons most Fables can understand. But almost no one on the Farm understood my reasons. They think I did it because I was unhappy, and—well, a lot of the Fables here are unhappy, but they felt my choice was extreme. Unnatural."

"But you did do it for love," Javier said, not realizing he had spoken until Kevin looked at him in confusion. "You love New York. I've heard you talk about your walks at night, Kev. You love the noise and the energy. You love the crowds, and you love the people even when they're rotten. You love how you can always manage to find something new, no matter how many times you've walked down the same street. I don't think anyone could hear you talk about the city and not realize what it means to you."

Kevin's eyes turned distant, soft, and a faint smile touched his lips.

"This is why you weren't sure about coming back, wasn't it?" Javier asked, emboldened. "You were worried they'd give you a hard time."

"Something like that," Kevin confirmed with a shallow nod. "Most of the Farm sees me as a deviant, but in Smalltown I'm practically a traitor. A lot of Fables in the city don't take the Farm crowd seriously—I'm told it's better now, under Rose, but for a long time complaints were just ignored. And Smalltown...well it might not even exist as far as the average Fable is concerned. But most people in Smalltown like it that way. They don't like being overlooked, but they're proud of the independence it gives them. So when I chose to leave, a lot of them saw it as showing where my loyalties really lay."

Kevin shook his head, looking back at Javier with a quirk to his lips that was hardly a smile.

"Fable or Mundane," Kevin concluded, "we're all Gullivers in Smalltown."

"I can't say I don't have my regrets," he said, after a while, "but I've never regretted the decision itself. And I don't regret coming out here, apart from the trouble it's caused. It was good seeing my cousin again. It was something I needed to do."

And Javier was relieved to hear that. He didn't doubt for a second that Kevin meant it, and he felt like several anxieties he wasn't even aware he had were laid to rest.

The walk back to the farmhouse was fairly quiet. It was a different, more comfortable quiet than the one that had lead them out that day, but it was still awkward in its own way. Because there were still questions that Javier needed to ask, and with the crow shadowing their every step it didn't seem safe to ask them. Once they came within view of the Farmyard, however, Clara abandoned their close company, landing on top of the barn for a wider view. Javier figured he had his chance.

"Okay, so what is that weird silver thing, and how did it manage to save my ass?" Javier asked.

And he had decided on the long walk that it was best to open the conversation this way. Even if it avoided the greater part of his question entirely, it also avoided touching directly the topic of their apparently looming marriage.

Kevin's step stuttered, as if he had completely forgotten. Then again, it was entirely possible that in the course of revealing so much of himself he had. Kevin flicked a searching eye toward the sky to locate Clara before he relaxed just a little. They were already close, walking shoulder to shoulder as they normally did, but Kevin apparently felt they needed more to protect the privacy of their conversation, or perhaps just to add veracity to the relationship they had claimed. Kevin drew in a little closer, resting his hand on the small of Javier's back. The warmth that rose in his stomach fought with tightness in his chest as he forcibly reminded himself that Kevin was only pretending. Still, some masochistic part of him couldn't help but cling to how good it felt. And still another, more rational, part couldn't help but point out that if everything he had seen and been told hadn't managed to shake the affection he felt for Kevin, then he really was in a whole lot of trouble...

"It's called a handfasting spell," Kevin told him, voice low and close to his ear. "Marriages between Fables and Mundanes don't happen often at all, but when they do the enchantment gives a little extra insurance that the important secrets will be kept. It's a geas—a type of spell that places constraints on the target's behavior."

And Javier tensed, not liking the idea, but Kevin seemed unconcerned.

"I know that sounds bad, but it's not a major one," Kevin reassured him. "All it would really do is prevent you from revealing our existence to other Mundanes. And you'd be required to sign and obey the Fabletown Compact, but that's kind of like dual citizenship."

But Javier could tell from the too-earnest look on his face that that wasn't all. He chose to call his partner on it directly.

"No way there's not a catch in there, Kev."

Kevin made a faint noise, tilting his head slightly.

"Well, I'll also be responsible for any crimes you might commit under the compact," Kevin said. "Whatever punishment you would suffer, I would too, and there are laws on our books punishable by beheading."

Kevin paused. His voice had become a little thin, but he pushed forward with more strength in it.

"Anyway," he finished, "I trust you not to get us in trouble like that, so it's really not a big deal."

And Javier just flat out didn't know what to do with Kevin saying that trusting him with something like that wasn't a big deal, but as he let his thoughts drift his mind made a connection, and he spoke without thinking.

"It was meant for Jenny, wasn't it?" Javier asked.

He immediately wished he hadn't, because he knew the answer, and right now Jenny was the last thing he wanted to talk about. Kevin seemed somewhat reluctant to approach the subject himself, but after a moment he nodded.

"Yeah," Kevin admitted quietly. "If we were going to be married, I thought she deserved to know the truth, but I never got the chance before..."

"I never asked before, and you don't have to tell me," Javier said, figuring he might as well reap some benefit from the subject now that it was open. "What happened between you and her, Kev?"

And Kevin stopped, his expression showing as a slightly startled wince before it faded into one that was merely uncertain...and somewhat embarrassed. Javier waited patiently for a few seconds, and finally Kevin turned to look at him, his hand moving up to rub the back of his neck.

"She bought traps, Javi," Kevin said, voice laden with a definite horror that was balanced against his uncertainty. "Lethal traps—when I specifically asked her not to. And, okay, sure, they were Mundy rats, but it was still barbaric and unnecessary..."

Kevin trailed off, shaking his head. His expression was more than a little pained.

"I mean, that wasn't it," he said quickly, "but it's kind of what made me take a step back. And when I did I started to see a lot of things I hadn't let myself before. About how she walked all over me and I kind of let her. How I was always the one making the compromises in our relationship. I mean— Jesus, Javi, she talked me out of having you as my best man. I mean, you're not just the guy who keeps my ass alive every day, you're also my best friend."

"And... I never really meant to break it off with her, actually," Kevin admitted with a breathless laugh, seeming a bit baffled by the memory. "I just wanted to put things off for a bit, make sure I knew what I was heading into. But she took it badly, and said it was now or never, and...I tried to call her bluff. So she decided she was breaking it off. And a week later she tried to change her mind, but..."

Kevin took a slow breath, stepping back from the recollection and looking Javier in the eye.

"I'm no stranger to change, Javi—I mean obviously—but if I'm going to change who I am, I think it's important it be into someone and something I can live with."

And Javier thought that he understood that...as much as he did anything any more.

"Anyway, you can refuse the geas," Kevin said cautiously, "back out of the marriage. And I know it's kind of screwed up, but I wouldn't suggest it. There are alternatives, but none of them are really great. It's possible they might arrange to have your memories of the Farm erased, but those kinds of spells are risky. They're also expensive and hard to come by—even more than what I've got on hand, and that one cost me three times what I paid for Jenny's engagement ring."

"Of course," Kevin said, his voice dull, "it's also possible they won't authorize that expense. In which case they might—"

He cut off abruptly, and the hand at Javier's back tugged lightly in a gesture that was almost an embrace. Judging the terror which showed in his partner's eyes, however, Javier wasn't even sure Kevin was aware of it.

"I just...I don't know what I would do with myself if that happened. If they..." Kevin's eyebrows drew together as he struggled with his words.

"Hey," Javier interrupted softly, drawing Kevin's attention back to him. His face was pale in a way that made the blue of his eyes look surprisingly vulnerable. And Javier knew it was probably a terrible idea, but he slung his own arm around Kevin's waist to draw him closer. "I would be honored to be your husband in the eyes of Fabletown."

And the smile that Kevin flashed him then all but killed him. Because his partner was right, this false relationship they had to look forward too was less than ideal. Still, while it was about as far from any scenario Javier might have imagined on his drive up here, he imagined the situation could have been far worse.

After all, Kevin still didn't realize that Javier kind of wished it was real.

Chapter Text

Chapter Six: Relatively Relative

(In which proper introductions take place, and it's all painfully civil—though just as painfully embarrassing.)

Twigleaf cornered Kevin on the stairs very early the next morning. He was fully cognizant of how absurd that might have sounded to anyone else, but the fact was that outrage knew no minimum size, and Kevin knew his cousin had every right to be angry with him. Not that Twig had decided to simply say so, of course. On the surface, all Twigleaf was really telling him were the details of the preparations that had been put together for the wedding, but that didn't mean he wasn't perfectly capable of making his ire known, all the same.

After dwelling with their oversized neighbors for so many centuries, passive aggression was something many of the Farm's smaller Fables—and mice in particular—had managed to elevate to a fine art.

"Anyway, the funeral is set to happen around nine o'clock," Twig was saying, pacing along the banister to vent his frustrations as he spoke. "Rose thinks it should all be over by noon at the latest, and then the you can get yourself hitched, run off back to the City with your Mundane and forget the Farm all over again."

The words hurt like a physical blow—worse, because they stung completely out of proportion to anything else his cousin could have mustered. Because it was a sentiment Kevin had heard from plenty of others—too many others—but not one he had ever thought he would hear from Twigleaf.

"I haven't forgotten anything," Kevin said, and there was tightness in his lungs that made his voice sound very small. "I haven't. I just—"

And Kevin felt helpless at that moment, with no clear way to express his frustration.

Twigleaf's ears were pressed back in distress enough for the both of them, and his tail curled around his feet, and Kevin had to resist the urge to go down to his knees beside the bannister to put them eye to eye. Because it didn't feel right looming over his cousin like this, but kneeling wouldn't have felt right either, and more than anything else about being back here he hated that—hated never feeling right. Because that was the sharp note of censure always implicit in their accusations that he had forgotten—

That he hadn't just forgotten the Farm or those that lived there, but that he had forgotten himself—what he used to be—as well.

Kevin hadn't—he honestly hadn't—but he also couldn't lie and say he wasn't enjoying his life in his new skin. And there was a world of difference between forgetting something because it meant nothing to you and trying not to think about it because it simply hurt too much, but he knew it would have been impossible to frame that in any way that others might actually believe...

"I haven't forgotten the Farm, Twig," Kevin said wearily, hoarsely, resting his weight on his arms as he leaned against the bannister beside his cousin, "and I especially haven't forgotten you. You're one of the few things left here that it doesn't kill me to still think about. And I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch like I used to, it's just—"

He hesitated, but the momentum was built up, and if he couldn't tell Twigleaf then there was no one he could tell—not when Javier was so close to it himself—and he suddenly found himself saying it all at once.

"God, Twig, just...just so many crazy things blew up on me this past year," Kevin said, finally. "There was this cold case that opened up that was close to a friend of ours, and Javi and I got kidnapped and tortured because of it, and we found out that our captain was involved, and then he got killed, and our friend almost died, and I was so desperate to hold onto something good that I almost—"

Kevin cut off with a ragged sigh. Relevant or not, right now he couldn't afford to confuse things by bringing up the way he had let Jenny mess with his head. He shook his head with a helpless laugh.

"It's been a rough time for me," Kevin finished, weakly. "For us."

A few seconds slid past in silence before Twigleaf spoke.

"It doesn't sound like he takes very good care of you," his cousin said, unhappily, though he sounded somewhat mollified.

Kevin looked over at him and saw his cousin looking back questioningly, the tension from earlier relaxed. Kevin couldn't help but smile.

"He takes excellent care of me," Kevin countered softly. "I don't know what I'd even do without Javier."

"Then I should get to meet him," Twigleaf insisted carefully.

And there was a note of hurt in his voice, but also a cautious curiosity, and Kevin realized that was what had upset Twigleaf in the first place. Because Kevin had been doing his best to keep Javier as separate from the others as possible, and Twigleaf must have thought he was ashamed of him. But even with that revelation, Kevin found himself torn—not liking the idea of blowing his cousin off, but uncertain how Javier might handle that.

"I just don't know if it's the best time, Twig," Kevin said. "He's a Mundane. They can be—fragile. I know he doesn't look it, and he'd probably kick my ass if he heard me say that, but it's true. I'm just... I'm worried this is going to wind up being too much for him."

Because Kevin knew that, at the beginning, it very nearly had been.

"Just...just give us some time, okay?" Kevin said. It was the only promise he could make, and he owed his cousin at least that much.

Twigleaf seemed to consider this for a moment before he gave a slight nod.

"Alright," Twigleaf said finally. "I can come back later. I still have some wedding errands to run in Smalltown anyway."

And with that, Twig was down the bannister again, leaving Kevin to go about the few hours he had left to spare that morning in a dubious sort of peace.

Javier was still asleep when Kevin returned to his room. Rather than risk waking him, Kevin took a seat in the chair and took a moment to gather his thoughts. It was kind of funny, but it really wasn't until that moment that the reality of the upcoming wedding really impacted on him—like he had been so busy making sure Javier didn't freak out about it that he hadn't given himself the chance for a proper freakout of his own.

Which...was legitimately ridiculous, given that they had shared the bed last night.

After everything Javier had been through the day before, no way had Kevin been about to let him take the floor, but Javier had argued he had caused Kevin enough trouble already. With neither willing to let the other suffer, they had been forced to compromise. Oddly, Javier had been the more resistant of the two of them. Kevin would have expected it to be the other way around, though in hindsight he supposed it did make sense. Just because Javier was bisexual didn't mean he had ever thought of Kevin that way, and given their friendship and the pretense they were currently working under, Kevin could understand the situation being awkward.

At least Javier seemed to have slept peacefully.

Kevin waited for as long as he could before waking him. He would have liked to let him sleep, but Kevin would need to get ready for the funeral soon, and he hated to think of Javier waking without him. He had been worried that Javier might freak out again, or that he would need to be convinced again that the day before hadn't been a dream. But though that last had actually proven a necessity, it had taken a lot less effort than Kevin had thought it might. Once Javier had Kevin's reassurance he seemed to take the rest, if not quite in stride, then certainly very well.

Though Kevin soon discovered that Twigleaf had apparently decided that "later" meant while Kevin was in the shower.

It had been kind of an unusual shock, returning from the bathroom down the hall to find the two of them in the middle of conversation—Twigleaf sitting on the bed, and Javier on the floor beside it having put himself at eye-level—though not exactly an unpleasant one. The interaction between them was noticeably awkward, but, from what little Kevin saw, surprisingly successful, and he couldn't help but find his partner's efforts remarkably touching. Not that he would have expected to find Javier up on a chair like a sitcom housewife, Kevin was simply surprised by this meeting of two parts of his life he would never have imagined could coexist peacefully.

"Javier was telling me how you met," Twigleaf filled in helpfully as Kevin closed the door behind him. "You didn't tell me you were partners at work, too."

Kevin cast a surprised glance at his partner.

"I figured if my being here was such a big deal, the Fables down in the city are probably going to check anyway," Javier said.

Kevin couldn't fault that. It made sense.

"Actually they probably already have," Kevin said, after thinking about it a moment.

Which meant that, once they were done here, he and Javier would have to make sure to see things through in Fabletown as soon as possible.

"Anyway, I thought you had errands?" Kevin said, raising an eyebrow at his cousin. "How did you manage to get back from Smalltown so fast?"

"Reynard gave me a lift," Twigleaf said. "You have no idea how excited he is about all this."

But Kevin could imagine. He managed to bite back a groan—though the topic brought another question to mind.

"I know gossip in the Farm's probably already gotten stupid, but how bad is it in Smalltown?" Kevin asked, not really sure he wanted the answer.

Twigleaf made an unhappy noise, confirming his worries.

"The Lilliputians I talked to, it's about what you'd expect, with them being all stodgy and calling it a scandal. As usual. Opinions are more varied among the animal Fables there. Most just think its bizarre."

Kevin echoed his own unhappy noise, and saw Javier wince in sympathy.

"Though," Twigleaf said suddenly, voice taking a cheerier note, "you should expect to see Arrow and a few of his birds at the wedding, at least."

"Oh?"

Kevin was surprised at that. Pleasantly surprised. Though, on second thought, perhaps he shouldn't have been. Arrow's guard had always kept aloof from most of the Farms issues.

"Who's Arrow?" Javier asked, having clearly noticed Kevin's reaction.

"Captain Arrow is a falcon. He runs the Farm's...aerial defenses," Kevin told him. "His birds have always had a close tie to Smalltown. If Arrow's coming... People have a lot of respect for him."

Kevin knew he certainly did.

"Don't hawks and things eat mice?" Javier asked curiously.

Twigleaf tensed, and even thought Kevin knew he really should have seen it coming he couldn't help but wince. And he was at a loss to explain either reaction, but fortunately Javier was more than capable of reading the changed energy in the room.

"I just broke some kind of weird rule, didn't I?" Javier asked awkwardly.

"Not so much a rule as...kind of an etiquette thing?" Kevin said.

"Don't worry," Twigleaf said, moving to pat Javier sympathetically on the arm. "No one expects a Mundy to know these things. Anyway, we're family."

And Kevin was oddly proud of his partner when Javier didn't even twitch.

"I'll make sure and explain the Compact better before we get back to the city," Kevin told him slowly, "but a big part of it is that crimes against other Fables back in the Homelands have been pardoned. Talking about them is considered...kind of rude?"

Javier nodded slowly at that, clearly filing it away for later, and by unspoken agreement that was the last they said about that.

Kevin still had to get ready, and now that he was convinced interacting with his cousin wasn't about to send Javier plummeting over the edge he had teetered so close to the day before, he let them talk as he went about his business.

By now, he really should have known better...

"Acorn?" he heard Javier ask a short time later, amused confusion in his voice.

Kevin turned around to see his partner's eyebrow raised perilously. He decided to head him off at the pass.

"It's a family name," Kevin told him firmly, with just a hint of warning.

"Oh, of course," Javier quickly agreed with a nod, clearly ready to forget he'd said anything.

But then Twigleaf had to speak...

"I don't know why anyone'd expect me to call him by his Mundane name," Twigleaf said, indignantly. "He has to change it every few decades anyway...I'd never manage to keep it straight."

And Kevin managed not to react, hoping that his cousin's words and their casual tone might go unnoticed, but he watched Javier go slightly still, and Kevin knew his partner was turning them over in his head.

"Kevin..." Javier asked, slowly. "How old are you?"

"That's...kind of a complicated question," Kevin hedged, turning away to concentrate on his tie.

And it wasn't like he was pretending to have trouble focusing on what he was doing, because he could feel Javier's eyes on the back of his head, and that made it almost impossible to form the knot properly.

"Kevin."

Kevin gave up and turned around with a sigh.

"Look...I don't know," he admitted. "Not exactly. Time worked a little different in the Homelands."

"But you were born there," Javier reasoned slowly, nudging.

When Kevin didn't answer right away, after a few moments Javier prodded with another question.

"How long have you been here?" Javier asked.

Kevin let out a slow breath.

"I think it was...maybe the mid-1840s?" Kevin managed quietly, after a bit of thought. "I spent around ninety years in Smalltown before I moved on... I've been human for more than seventy."

He watched Javier's silence carefully, his heart starting to pound, because if this was it—if this was the moment he lost his best friend—he didn't know if he could ever recover.

"Look, Javier, I—" Kevin's voice cracked just a little. "I can't help being what I am. If that's going to be a problem..."

If it was...Kevin didn't know what, but, thankfully, it didn't look like he would have to find out.

"No, it's not a problem," Javier said quickly, sounding almost surprised with that. "Maybe it feels like it should be, but it's not..."

Javier shook his head, somewhat dazed.

"Maybe I've just had so many shocks in the past three days that I'm all shocked out," Javier said, ticking a faint smile.

Of course, having surmounted that particular hurdle, Twigleaf apparently decided it was time for full induction into the family—which, when Kevin saw his cousin's short dash for the tiny bag he had brought with him, was met with a dramatic groan.

"Really, Twig? Now?"

"Isn't this the done thing when meeting the family?" Twigleaf challenged archly, though he looked at Javier as he said it.

And now Kevin was absolutely certain that this was some odd form of revenge.

Javier, for his part, seemed vaguely bewildered—it probably had something to do with being presented with a stack of photo albums that were each the size of a postage stamp. Kevin thought his partner's "all shocked out" theory was no doubt being put to the test, because he could all but see the gears working as Javier wrapped his head around the idea that the miniature city he had glimpsed the day before came complete with tiny photographers with equally tiny cameras...

"I...guess?" Javier answered bravely.

Twigleaf looked back his way, and Kevin was forced to accept defeat.

"Fine," Kevin said with a sigh. "I'll go see if Rose has a magnifying glass..."

It was a short time after he returned with it—a very short time—that Kevin's preparations were disrupted once again by a muffled sound that he was almost certain had begun as a startled laugh.

"Oh what now?" Kevin said, turning toward his partner.

"Sorry," Javier managed, sounding sincere until he added, "just...you. With the vests."

Glancing over his partner's shoulder at the page, Kevin wilted a little. Though, considering that his partner was looking at a photograph where he still had whiskers and a tail, it was far from the worst thing Javier could have said by a very wide margin. In fact, the subject of his partner's ribbing was so familiar it was almost a relief.

"Man or mouse, is it wrong for a guy to want to look his best?" Kevin said, managing an admirable impression of blithe indifference.

The words earned him a snort from both his cousin and his partner.

"Hey, remember that argument we got into that one time that ended with you losing that bet?" Kevin asked, smiling. "And then I got to pick your wardrobe for the next six months?"

Javier let out a faint laugh.

"Unpleasantly," Javier answered. "Uncomfortably. But I did it."

"Yes, you did," Kevin allowed, "and you looked fantastic."

Javier's reaction to that was a little more awkward than usual. Kevin had to remind himself again of the ruse they were supposed to be presenting. But though he felt a little guilty for enjoying his partner's discomfort, when Kevin realized Javier was blushing he couldn't help but smile.

It occurred to him a short while later that, normally, it was at this point in recalling the story around others that they wound up having to explain themselves to defuse the odd looks it got them. Twigleaf hardly seemed concerned by it, however, and in hindsight Kevin realized it probably didn't sound as strange when people thought they were a couple. That realization was oddly relaxing. Kevin had been nervous about their deception being uncovered, but as he thought back on the number of jokes and misunderstandings he and his partner had been subject to in the time they had worked together, he realized they barely had to try.

As long as they could hold up the charade until they left, then everything would work out fine...

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven: Hare Trigger

(In which a second kiss proves even more disarming than the first, magic animals discuss gay marriage, and Kevin is given some heavy food for thought.)

Once he was finished getting ready, Kevin brought Javier down to breakfast, and a few final plans were made.

Kevin didn't like the idea of leaving Javier behind, but his partner wasn't about to let him miss the funeral for his sake. In any case, it wasn't as if he were really leaving Javier alone, or even in uncertain company. Javier would be safe enough inside the Farmhouse, and barring some bizarre and unforeseeable circumstance, there was no reason for him to leave it. Though Rose would be busy with other matters, anyone entering with the goal of causing trouble would still certainly face her wrath. Rose's assistant, Brock, had promised to stay alert for trouble, and Twigleaf had promised, without being asked, to keep an eye on matters as well. There was really very little likely to go wrong within the next few hours...

Still, no one felt like taking the risk of saying so out loud.

In a weird way, Kevin was remarkably proud of his partner. Javier seemed to be handling everything so well—so far—and had even managed a remarkably polite greeting as Twigleaf introduced him to Rose's assistant. Though, fortunately, Kevin had been present and able to interrupt before his cousin's mischief could cause any awkward mistakes to be made.

"His name is Brock Badger," Kevin corrected quickly, casting an accusing glance at Twigleaf, who seemed in far too good a mood to let it interrupt his high spirits. Glancing at the Fable concerned, Kevin raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, how did 'Stinky' even become a thing?"

The badger snorted unhappily, unmoved to answer, though unfortunately Twigleaf seemed content to speak up for him.

"Let's just say you're not the only one who's been dating outside his species," his cousin offered brightly.

And, really, seventy years was a long time, but when had Twig become such a gossip anyway? Kevin couldn't tell whether his partner was trying to be diplomatic or if it was simply a sign of panic, but Javier's focus remained locked on his plate. For his part, Kevin couldn't quite keep himself from blushing. Brock grumbled irritably as he removed himself for more coffee.

"Court a skunk once," the badger muttered, "and people never let you forget it."

Soon it was time for Kevin to leave. He would have liked the chance to speak with Javier in private before he went, but unfortunately there wasn't time. What was more, both Brock and Twigleaf seemed frustratingly determined to watch the two of them say their goodbyes. It was a smaller audience than the one they had entertained in the Farmyard, but it was one they still needed to fool nonetheless.

And with Twigleaf so clearly invested in Kevin's relationship with Javier, it was not a performance they could afford to neglect.

"I promise not to take any longer than I have to," Kevin told his partner as they stood in the entryway.

That much was sincere, at least.

Kevin knew he was just drawing things out, making excuses for himself not to go. He knew Javier didn't need this kind of reassurance, but Kevin had never been the type to leave a man behind. Mercifully, Kevin thought Javier understood that much. Otherwise his partner would definitely not be okay with that sort of protectiveness.

"Take as much time as you need," Javier told him, firmly.

Kevin nodded silently in response. There was a sort of blank fuzziness buzzing in the front of his mind that made anything more intelligent than that impossible. They were standing so close—they always stood close to one another, but this was closer—and somehow, without him noticing, Javier had taken Kevin's hand in his. It took a confused millisecond for his brain to process that physical reminder of the roles they were playing.

Still, somehow, by the time it did Kevin was already leaning in for a quick kiss.

His heart was beating rapidly with something that was almost panic—as if, in some irrational part of his mind, he was still half afraid that Javier was going to punch him. As hurried as it was the kiss was a little sloppy, and their noses mashed together just a bit. This time Javier had seen it coming, but Kevin thought that might have done them more harm than good. After all, as good as he and his partner were at navigating each other's actions, this particular maneuver wasn't something they had ever before needed to practice.

The awkwardness of it brought sharply into Kevin's mind the memory of his first kiss—or rather, his first in the fashion in which humans most often did it. A kiss that had been half a joke as his oldest and dearest friend in Fabletown had teasingly demonstrated a human kiss to him in the simplest way she could. The fundamentals had been the same, of course, as the kissing he had been used to—the closeness of being nose to nose, of breathing each other's air—but the mechanics of how mouths were engaged with one another had been entirely different.

The two of them had shared many kisses after that one, though they had proven better as friends in the end, and Kevin had enjoyed the company of numerous other women in the seventy years that followed. Kissing was one of the many parts of being human that he had unexpectedly come to enjoy. Yet, whether it was the difference in genders or simply a trick of his memory Kevin wasn't entirely sure, the kiss he exchanged with Javier felt strangely new...

And oddly, like that long ago demonstration, Kevin thought it too felt somewhat like a tease.

Perhaps even more strangely, as Kevin headed out the door to attend the funeral of a friend, his heart felt disarmingly light. This, of course, was not to last.

"What is wrong with you?" a voice interrupted, bringing Kevin's steps to a halt.

The tone was harsh and accusing, dismissing the vague, warm confusion that had briefly overtaken Kevin's thoughts. Turning around, he was not at all surprised at what he saw.

It was Thunderfoot. Of course it was.

Kevin had been worried the day before when he and Javier had passed Thunderfoot on the path toward Smalltown. Well, if he was going to be completely honest with himself, Kevin had been worried about everyone they had passed, just a little bit, but Thunderfoot's presence had concerned him especially.

As he had all too briefly explained to Javier, Thunderfoot had never been a friend of his.

While many of the Farm's inhabitants had found Kevin's choices in life distasteful, it would not have been outrageous to say that Thunderfoot was offended by his very existence. Ironically, for the most part this was a result of how very much they had in common. Like Kevin, Thunderfoot possessed a form very different from the one he had been born to. As a man Thunderfoot was blue eyed and blond, and attractive by most human's standards—it had been remarked upon years go that he and Kevin could almost have passed as brothers. Yet those similarities seemed almost designed to heighten the resentment the other Fable felt for him...

A visual reminder that, though on the surface their circumstances were similar, Kevin had willingly turned his back on the very things Thunderfoot had been denied.

Now, it seemed clear that Kevin's concerns had been far from misplaced. Still, Kevin considered himself lucky. After all, he thought as he waited patiently for Thunderfoot to say his piece, at least whatever scene the other Fable was about to make wouldn't be taking place in front of Javier.

"Some of us would give almost anything to go back to being what we were," Thunderfoot said as he looked Kevin over, shaking his head, "but you have to come around flaunting how much you don't even care."

Kevin said nothing. It was an old accusation, and one he had long ago tired of answering. It had been worth addressing when his cousin had said it—Twigleaf mattered to him, and he cared a very great deal about the difficulty his human form created in relating to his cousin. And he had cared about others he had known in Smalltown whom he had been unable to speak with for decades. But, where Thunderfoot was concerned, the other Fable was right as far as it went.

Kevin really didn't care at all.

"And now you're bringing around this human," Thunderfoot continued, venomously. "A male, Mundy human. That's not just dangerous it's sick."

"Jesus, Thunder," Kevin said, wearily but there was a bite of something hard and sharp underneath. "Not everything is about you."

And Kevin hadn't quite noticed until he had spoken the way his hands had balled into fists. Thunderfoot seemed disarmed by his words, and Kevin's voice surprised even him. At the other Fable's stunned expression, he couldn't stop himself from continuing.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe that's the sin you're supposed to correct in order to break your curse?"

Because Kevin had thought about the nature of Thunderfoot's curse more than once, with the sort of guilt he too often felt for things that weren't honestly his fault but which effected him nonetheless.

"Even the smallest of us had roles to play in the war against the Adversary," Kevin said, "but you chose to lead your warren into battle against a goblin in the name of honor and glory. Your honor and your glory, Thunder, and your hares died because of it.

"Thistlepelt died because of it," Kevin reminded him, pointedly. "It's been more than two hundred years since his mother cursed you, and you still haven't found a doe that could see past your curse and release you. And there could be a lot of reasons for that, but personally I think it's because you haven't given them any reason to. Why should any self-respecting female waste their time falling in love with the hare underneath the man when that hare acts like a self-centered child?"

Thunderfoot had grown pale with a kind of horrified shock, and Kevin honest to god felt a little of it himself, because while he had thought those things before—many times—he had never said them out loud. Yet the anger that had been simmering for nearly sixty years finally seemed to be flowing up from where it had so long remained hidden, and now Kevin felt almost helpless to stop himself from venting it.

"This isn't a punishment for me," Kevin said, voice tight, enunciating slowly so that Thunderfoot had no choice but to listen. "I chose this. It's not something I ever wanted, but I chose it anyway for the sake of the things I did want, and I'm happy with my choice. It's my right to be happy about it, Thunder, and you need to stop expecting me to feel sorry for  it."

Kevin stopped, taking in a deep breath, and as he did the tension in his lungs eased. It felt for all the world like letting go of something he hadn't even known he was holding.

"And Javier is the most important person in my life," Kevin finished, evenly, "Fable or Mundane. I won't be made to feel sorry for that either."

Kevin was shaking a little bit as he turned and walked away, leaving Thunderfoot speechless behind him.

Thankfully he managed to regain some measure of composure before he arrived. The funeral was a somber affair, carried out with every inch of the dour, dignified propriety that Lilliputians were wont to muster. Thumbwise was laid to rest in a cemetery on the outskirts of Smalltown, just a few yards past the wall. Like the rest of Smalltown's perimeter, Fables more than a foot tall were forbidden entry without permission. Most Gullivers required training just to move safely within Smalltown's borders. Even Kevin had not been exempt, back when he had returned for his first visit after his transformation. Due to his unique circumstances, he had only ever required the most cursory learning on the subject, but it had still been terrifying for him to realize just how much damage he was capable of simply by being careless...

Kevin watched the proceedings from an section reserved for oversized mourners, doing his best to ignore the askance looks that some others cast his way. Unfortunately, the gossip that inevitably reached his ears was more difficult to ignore.

Animal Fables were often shameless about whispering under the noses of humans when they thought they couldn't hear—which, if one was an inhabitant of Smalltown, was often as simple as speaking at normal volume. Which, to be quite honest, was a habit Kevin himself had been guilty of before his transformation. Yet, while Kevin's hearing was nowhere near as sharp as it had been before the witch's spell, it was still far sharper than average for a human—a detail few on the Farm had ever gotten the chance to learn, and which, by now, even fewer remembered.

Most of what he overheard was unsurprising. A few of his former colleagues from the Mounted Police still harbored hurt feelings over his desertion of Smalltown, and his untoward dalliance with a Gulliver was apparently just the proof they needed to feel justified in their derision. Unnatural was another word he heard used to classify his relationship with Javier. Others echoed Thunderfoot's accusation of his involvement with a Mundane being dangerous as well as disgraceful—which, all things considered, wasn't a standpoint with which Kevin could easily disagree.

"They aren't even real people," he had heard one Lilliputian say to a beetle at his side.

"Let the mouse have his fun with the Mundy," the beetle had replied dismissively. "It won't last more than half a century."

And those words, more than any other had managed to hurt him, though the sad reminder also managed to lend perspective to some of his thoughts from the previous day.

Thinking back, Kevin remembered his reaction of horror upon finding Javier in the Farmyard, and his conviction of just how devastating his partner's death would be. Reexamining it now, Kevin was forced to ask himself if losing Javier really would have soured Fabletown for him forever. After all, though Javier was his closest friend, Kevin had always known he was destined to lose him to time eventually. Still, in spite of Kevin's knowledge of the limited term in which he operated with his Mundane acquaintances, Javier had always managed to push past his defenses in spite of his better judgment. Indeed, Kevin felt closer to Javier than he could ever remember with his friends in Fabletown—Farm or city—even those whose company he had kept for nearly a century.

Even Thumbwise, who had been closer to him than anyone but his kin, had never approached the easy rapport Kevin had always had with Javier—and that had been before, when Kevin had still needed to keep so much of himself hidden. Now, Javier knew practically everything about him, and while a voice in the back of his mind whispered that it should have left him feeling naked, all he could manage was a strange sense of relief. Rather than fear, Kevin couldn't bring himself to entertain any doubt that he could trust Javier, not only with his own secrets but with those of Fabletown as well. And that was a confidence he had never felt, not even with Jenny, which in part was why he had put off telling her for so long...

Thinking back on his confrontation with Thunderfoot, replaying the exchange in his head, Kevin decided that, with his engagement to Javier or without, there would have been no need for him to change even a word.

When Kevin returned to the Farmhouse, there was talk going on there as well. Brock and Reynard were seated at the table in the kitchen. Twigleaf and a blackbird whom Kevin didn't know by name—though that wasn't unusual, there were close to two dozen around the Farm at any given time—perched on the back of a chair nearby. At first, he felt a faint note of alarm that Javier wasn't there, but after a few words made the topic of their conversation plain, Kevin decided his partner was probably hidden away in their room upstairs for the protection of his sanity...

They were discussing the upcoming wedding.

"I don't understand the fuss, to be honest," the blackbird chirped sharply. "It may have been more than a century ago, but it's not as if Mundanes have never married into the Fabletown secret before. As for the Farm's security being breached, it's alarming, surely, but after two hundred flawless years it was only a matter of time."

"Well, there's also the fact that the Mundy in question is male," Brock interjected, clearly finding the bird's own arguments worrisome. "That's...not even something that's happened within our own ranks yet. A lot of Fables already view the Mundane world as a corruptive influence, and many of them are going to see this as proof."

Inwardly, Kevin groaned. As if the climate surrounding the issue in the Mundy world weren't stupid enough...

"Well," the blackbird responded, cocking her head slightly as she ruffled her feathers—though whether it was with surprise or embarrassment Kevin couldn't guess. "You know, I can never tell with mammals anyway."

"I think the expression they have down in the city is 'haters gonna hate'," Reynard broke in, grinning. "It's not like it's anyone else's business but theirs."

"Says the fox who single-handedly made sure the entire Farm knew within hours of Javier's arrival," Kevin finally interrupted, making his presence known.

The others at the table all turned toward him, seeming somewhat abashed about their conversation, but Reynard's grin simply widened, the trickster not even bothering to pretend to look ashamed.

"What worries me is the fact that the Farm's defense was flawless, before yesterday," Brock said, still clearly concerned. "For a Mundane to make it past the distraction spells our sorcerers have put in place...it's troubling, to put it mildly."

Kevin frowned at that, thinking it over for a moment, because Brock certainly had a point.

"Maybe it's because he was following me, specifically," Kevin hazarded, uncertainly. "He wasn't looking for the Farm, and didn't know what was out here."

Outside of his one-time dealing with Frau Totenkinder, sorcery wasn't something Kevin knew a great deal about, but he knew intent was often a large part of it. Oddly, it was the blackbird that addressed this theory with a quick shake of her head.

"It shouldn't have mattered," she said thoughtfully. "He still should have gotten spectacularly lost. We don't even know why he followed you out here in the first place."

"Maybe it's because it was True Love," Twigleaf offered helpfully, with an optimistic pitch to his voice that drew the attention of everyone else at the table.

"True Love doesn't apply to Mundies," Reynard said dismissively, as if the fact should have been obvious.

His cousin bristled visibly.

"It had better," Twigleaf stated sharply, "because if Javier doesn't make my cousin happy, I'll do whatever is in my power to make that human miserable for the rest of his days."

And, honestly, if there was one thing Kevin hated about being human it was blushing. Having been thrown off balance by this turn in conversation was bad enough without being forced to show it. He mumbled some vague excuse about checking up on Javier, exiting the room to his cousin's cheery reminder to bring his fiancee down for lunch.

Feeling strangely overwhelmed, Kevin had to paused on the stairs to collect his thoughts.

Often times when working a case Kevin could recognize that a piece of evidence was significant, even when he didn't yet possess enough information to understand exactly how. He was therefore used to filing pertinent details away in the back of his mind until he knew enough to put them in context.

Since the moment first he had first seen Javier cornered against the barn, Kevin's primary concern had been keeping his partner alive, and things had progressed so quickly afterward that he had scarcely any time or energy to spare on anything else. Yet his mind had done what it always did, retaining and sorting the details that slipped past his immediate comprehension until there were enough for him to form a clear picture. Now, Kevin was startled to realize that he had become so caught up in answering Javier's questions that he had neglected asking any of his own...

And that the answers might change everything.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight: Trial or Error?

(In which a third kiss decides whether or not a fourth will seal the deal.)

"Three days."

Javier looked up suddenly at the sound of his partner's voice. Lost in thought, he hadn't even heard Kevin come in. The obvious joke sat on the tip of his tongue, and he debated briefly whether or not to go ahead and make it. Not that he had never before described his partner as being as quiet as a mouse, but before it had never actually meant anything.

With little else to do while waiting, Javier had spent a large part of the day wondering about that—about all the ways in which yesterday's revelations might change the relationship he had with his partner, regardless of their scale. Among other things Javier had thought about how, at its core, both his partnership and his friendship with Kevin had always been built in large part on a solid foundation of flippancy and good-natured ribbing. In a job like theirs, that kind of joking around could be just as crucial a part of having each other's backs as any physical protection they offered one another—in a way, part of their duty to one another was simply keeping the other grounded, sane. And Javier had been uncertain how any of the new information he had about Kevin might fit eventually into their relationship—which parts would be the ones that inevitably became just another part of their routine and which might be completely out of bounds.

And, while he was forced to acknowledge the possibility that their friendship might never be the same after all of this, Javier refused to even consider the possibility that it wouldn't recover at all.

Largely, Javier had concluded that, at least for right now, it was probably a bit too soon to risk joking about most of it. That didn't make it any less tempting, though. The idleness of waiting had left Javier feeling anxious and just a little bit helpless, and he hated feeling like that. The impulse was there to crack a joke, as if it could help him regain some control over the mad situation he had found himself in...

But when Javier saw the look on Kevin's face as he stood in the doorway—strangely tense, almost nervous—concern drove that impulse from his mind entirely. Though he had been expecting Kevin to be upset in the wake of his ex-partner's funeral, the expression he wore wasn't at all one that Javier had imagined. Caught off guard, it took him a moment to even register Kevin's words, though even then he failed to take any immediate meaning out of them.

"Huh?" Javier found himself responding, very intelligently.

Kevin hesitated a moment. Bringing the door shut carefully behind him he stood there silently, and Javier could almost see him gathering the courage and momentum needed to carry him through whatever it was he needed to say.

"This morning," Kevin began, slowly. "This morning you said you'd received too many shocks over the past three days, but you'd hardly even been here for one."

Kevin paused, looking him over for a moment, and a painfully worried line etched itself on his brow as Javier's eyes met his.

"Javier...why did you follow me all the way out here? What was so important it couldn't wait?"

And Javier's brain stalled as he realized what Kevin was getting at—the pieces of the puzzle that his partner's brain must have finally managed to put together. Because it was now—it was now on top of everything else—that he was going to have this conversation with his partner. And Javier knew for certain that, in contrast to his earlier uncertainties about where their friendship might go from here, this would definitely change their relationship...and change it irrevocably.

"Kev—" Javier started, but his throat was dry and his voice failed him.

Seconds slid past and he was unsuccessful in finding it again, though not for lack of trying. Yet nervous impatience—and perhaps, in some small part, his partner's blessedly generous sense of mercy—forced Kevin to move forward without him.

"Because you know what I think?" Kevin continued shakily, plowing along awkwardly as if he hardly noticed Javier's silence. "I think that we each know each other pretty well, but even the people we know we don't always really know them, not a hundred percent. I mean, obviously there's a lot you didn't know about me until yesterday. And you—"

Kevin stopped, shaking his head.

"You know, one thing I've always envied was how you never hide who you are," Kevin said, and for a moment the anxious expression on his face was broken by a faint smile. "You know who Javier Esposito is, and it's just not in your make-up to give a big goddamn about what other people think of that. I envied that so much, and I don't even think I would have found the courage to come back here, not without that example—without you."

He seemed to stumble for a moment, a bit of confusion worming its way into Kevin's expression. Pausing once again he wet his lips.

"So..." Kevin finally continued, hesitantly. "So I guess I never really considered you might not always be open about everything. Which is dumb, I really should have. And...well, after I found out you were interested in other men there were a couple of times when I wondered if maybe— If you ever thought about me that way. If you ever thought about us as more than just a partners and friends. But I always just assumed that if you had you would have come out and said something, so it was never more than curiosity."

And when that confused look crossed his face again, and when Kevin's eyes squeezed shut, Javier felt his stomach twist.

"This marriage isn't real, Javier," Kevin continued quickly, opening his eyes to search Javier's face. "It's not. If you followed me out here hoping for something that was...?"

Kevin's words ran out, but his voice cautiously raised the last into a question. One that Javier felt it was rather pointless, at this stage, to deny. He acknowledged it with a silent nod that Kevin mirrored briefly. And it was stupid how much it all stung, especially since Javier had come out here expecting his partner to let him down gently, but so much had happened since his arrival that he had forgotten both his original intentions and the expectations that had come with them almost completely.

And Kevin's eyes still looked a bit bewildered, but, oddly, so did his smile.

"I don't know if we'd even work that way, Javier," Kevin said, cautiously, "but I do know there's no one in this world—in any world—that means more to me than you. And..."

Kevin faltered briefly. Looking down at his hands, his smile turning a bit wry and self-conscious when he looked up at Javier again.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is—it's not something I ever imagined myself wanting, but then so much in my life hasn't been. And...and I think I'd kind of like for us to try."

And Javier could only stare at him for a startled moment until everything finally clicked into place.

"You— What? I don't—"

Javier stopped himself very quickly, because if he didn't get a grip on himself or his thoughts he ran the risk of screwing up something that was potentially very important. So he didn't ask Kevin if he was sure, or if he was serious, or anything else stupid like that. Instead, Javier waited for Kevin to answer those questions on his own—

Which is partner chose to do wordlessly, leaning in for a kiss.

It was slow this time, holding none of the urgency of their first kiss, but though it was almost ponderously careful, neither was it as awkward as the second—a kiss that wasn't for show, a kiss that wasn't for anything or anyone but the two of them. Kevin kissed like he was solving a case, letting himself feel it out with all of his focus—

And it was almost exactly what Javier had imagined a kiss from Kevin would feel like.

"Yeah," Kevin finally managed, having apparently found his answer, and said it breathlessly, half a laugh whispered against Javier's lips. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind doing that again."

Yet, as he drew back, his expression quickly grew serious.

"I mean I— I've spent so much time lying to you," Kevin said, looking him over again with an uncertain frown. "And none of this was part of the package you thought you were signing up for. So I understand if you don't—"

And Javier felt he was entirely justified in cutting Kevin off with another kiss, because his partner had done entirely too much talking already.

"I'm not convinced you ever lied to me about anything important," Javier said when it had finished.

Finally at a loss for words himself, Kevin smiled.

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine: Holy Matri-moley

(In which Javier's life flashes before his eyes...which, given the existence of talking panthers is probably long overdue.)

Though it was difficult for him to quite appreciate the irony, in the end Javier had to admit he was kind of glad that the marriage looming ahead of him wasn't real. Truth be told, the idea of marriage had always scared him, and more than just a little. Though he would never stoop to being so dramatic as to say it out loud, something about the whole thing terrified him to the very center of his being.

It wasn't a fear that he had ever adequately been able to explain, though he figured that his mother's relationship with his father—or her lack of one—might have been a part of it. Javier had never known his father growing up, and that had been exactly how his mother had liked it. Though he and Castle had that in common, Javier hadn't felt up to sharing that bit of trivia with "famously fatherless". The writer was welcome to let his wild imagination run with his own origins, but Javier knew that in his case it very likely wasn't something he would be happier knowing.

Javier had been more curious about the subject as a child. Unfortunately, his questions had repeatedly been answered with silence, and after a while he had learned to stop asking. Over the years, that silence had led Javier to develop some very particular fears, though it wasn't until he was a teenager—a young man, more aware of the world and desperate to understand his place in it—that he had finally worked up the courage to ask again.

Fortunately, his mother had been able to lay most of his fears to rest.

In any case, what she had been able to tell him hadn't been much—hardly more than a name, which she now believed had been fake, and her reassurance that she had loved the man at the time. That he had been handsome and sophisticated and exciting. And how it hadn't quite soured until his proposal. It had seemed very sudden, and after she had accepted it he had changed. He had turned possessive, jealous, suspicious and controlling. She had grown to fear him, and upon learning she was pregnant she had known she had to walk away.

While it had been a small relief to learn even that much, still her account of the man's behavior had troubled him greatly. Javier had learned very quickly over the course of his first few relationships that he held a jealous streak of his own, and he would be the first to admit that his control over his temper wasn't what it could have been. Over the years, his concerns had grown into doubt, and his doubts into new fears that he might hold the potential to do the same—that the promise of marriage, of having that claim on another person, might one day turn him into someone he very much didn't want to be.

And those fears only applied to marriage—not the commitment involved, but marriage itself.

He knew it was irrational—he couldn't pinpoint when it had become a full-blown phobia, but he had long ago been forced to acknowledge that it had. There had only been a handful of times in his life where a relationship lasted long enough for it to become an issue, and it never got any easier for him to explain. That conversation never went well, and had, in one form or another, spelled the end of those relationships without exception. The only time Javier had managed to express those fears successfully had been the last time, with Lanie—though not even to Lanie herself, but to Kevin, once the breakup had finally happened.

Which, it occurred to him now, might go toward explaining why his partner was treating him like a fragile god-damned flower, against all sane logic.

"Kevin," Javier slapped his partner's hand away testily. "I know how to tie a tie. Let me tie it."

Kevin subsided his nervous attempts at unnecessary assistance, sticking his hands in his pockets to pace the room a couple feet away. The hovering was becoming somewhat frustrating. Though to be completely fair to his partner, Javier had to admit that there were some fairly hefty extenuating circumstances involved in Kevin's clear concern for his mental health.

Oddly though, if anything the peculiarities seemed to have made the whole situation easier to swallow. Because Kevin had been right. The wedding they were headed for wasn't real, and not even the decision to let their relationship change would make it so. They were friends—closer than anything, but still only just learning how to be anything more. They weren't there, not yet.

And then there was the nature of the wedding itself.

Between the expected guests—animals, mostly, of all types and sizes, some of who knew Kevin personally, but most of whom would be there purely for the spectacle—and the wedding party—Twigleaf as Kevin's best man, and the fox who, for some unfathomable reason, had volunteered to be his—and the minister—Rose, actually, for which Javier found himself absurdly grateful—the situation was so unbelievably surreal that his usual fears had backed down, as if there simply wasn't enough familiar ground in which they might take root.

Javier smoothed the borrowed tie against the front of his shirt—he had been more than happy not to ask where it had come from—and spared his partner a brief glance. Kevin had finally stopped pacing and stood by the window, staring out at the Farmyard with a pained expression. Javier was hesitant to ask, at first, but finally decided he was better off knowing now than having another surprise sprung on him.

"How bad is it?" he asked his partner cautiously.

Kevin shook his head slowly.

"Where in hell did Rose even get rainbow streamers?" Kevin asked softly.

He sounded utterly bewildered. Javier joined him at the window and let out a surprised snort.

"Jesus Christ..." Javier muttered, shaking his head. "What are the odds that's the worst we have to look forward to?"

He wasn't optimistic about the answer. During their brief encounter, Rose had struck him as more than canny enough to realize how ridiculous it was. He was almost certain she was doing it on purpose out of some twisted revenge for how inconvenient this all was—or perhaps it was simply out of boredom. Beside him, Kevin let out a faint whimper.

"Is it too late for me to come up with a new plan?" Kevin asked. "I think I'd like to do that very much..."

"You know, I think it might be," Javier said, a little amazed at himself to be joking about the situation.

"Guess we should just get it over with," Kevin said, turning to look at him with a faint smile.

Javier leaned in slowly for a kiss, smiling into it when Kevin returned it readily.

"Mm. I'm all for that plan," Javier said, when they were finished.

"Well any day, then, gentlemen," a voice spoke up behind them.

Javier didn't even bother to turn around, though he let out a soft laugh when Kevin ducked his head against his neck with a small noise.

"Oh, now he decides he's embarrassed," Twigleaf said with a long-suffering sigh. "Well get it out of your system now. And get your tails downstairs before Rose sends up the crow, please?"

Kevin let out a helpless laugh, muffled by Javier's shirt—a giggle, really, though he would never have insulted him by pointing it out.

For all their stated intent, it still took the both of them several minutes more to finally set foot out of the room, let alone take the next, significant, step forward. The distance to the front door—across the landing, down the stairs, and into the foyer—felt like an impossible distance, and yet it seemed they found themselves standing there far to quickly.

Kevin reached for the doorknob, and Javier did his best not to hold his breath.

Murmurs of assorted noise and energized chatter greeted their ears as the doors opened, though they very quickly fell silent, replaced by an almost unnatural hush. The farmyard had been set up with numerous chairs and benches, most of which were occupied by spectators, though just as many could not use them and were forced to stand. As Kevin and he had seen earlier, streamers of rainbow-colored crepe paper had been strung from the farmhouse door to a series of decorative arches. The farthest arch had been decorated with flowers—hastily, it was quite apparent—and it was there that Rose was waiting for them. Beside her the fox serving as Javier's best man sat on a chair, and Twigleaf upon the back of another on the other side.

Javier took a deep breath, and beside him he felt Kevin do the same. Taking that as their cue, they each spared the other a quick glance, telegraphing their shared misery before setting out together in step.

The music began with their first steps out the door. A discreet scan of the area had revealed the band. They were...human. Some of them. As far as Javier could tell. Or at least the flutist was, and the blonde, blue-clad young man with the horn who seemed to be leading them. The cat with the violin tickled something familiar in Javier's memory—probably something from his childhood—but placing it was the farthest concern from his mind at that moment.

He couldn't imagine that it mattered anyway.

Simply placing one foot after the other had them standing before Rose Red far too soon. Javier could almost feel panic pressing in like the edge of a knife in his back when Kevin's hand gently squeezed his. Keeping himself steady with a careful attention to his breathing Javier turned to face him, returning his partner's grasp. Beside them, Rose Red offered them both an encouraging smile before she spoke.

"I would like to begin by thanking everyone for joining us today," Rose began, addressing those who had assembled. "I know that all of you are aware I've never been one for tradition, and because there's nothing traditional about the union we've come here to celebrate, I see no reason to start now."

There was a wave of diverse and peculiar noises from the spectators. From the way Kevin briefly pressed his lips together to suppress a smile, Javier was forced to interpret it as laughter.

"You have been gathered here today to witness, not only the first handfasting of Fable and Mundane seen in more than a century," Rose continued, "but also to witness the first marriage of any Fable to a member of the same sex."

Rose paused, with a significance that was solemn but earnest in its attention to the matter.

"As long lived as we are," Rose said, "we run the risk of becoming set in our ways. In Fabletown especially, the letter of law and contract can overshadow its spirit. But here on the Farm, the preponderance of differences between us all have forced attitudes of compromise, of tolerance, and of equality of all people's happiness. And we know, even better than those Fables living in the city, that love takes all forms."

A soft murmur rose up from the crowd, one that sounded overwhelmingly agreeable, and Javier noticed in Kevin's expression a soft surprise.

"It is therefore that I invite any Fable with a just argument against this union to speak," Rose continued finally, "but I also warn that any unjust arguments would best be swallowed and forgotten until the end of your days."

As if for emphasis, Clara chose this moment to reclaim her usual perch on Rose's shoulder. The crow's beak smoked ominously, and Javier decided that he was definitely going to ask Kevin just what the hell…

Just as soon as the Farm was a few miles safely behind them.

Whispers could be heard among the assembly, but clearly whatever objections the Fables had prepared, none considered them just enough to risk Rose's wrath.

Satisfied, Rose turned toward Kevin.

"Acorn Mouse," she said, "do you take this man, Javier Esposito, as your husband, to be bound together beneath the law of Fabletown, Farm and City, and the Compact that protects us all for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Kevin said.

"And do you thereby accept the responsibility of being his keeper and his protector, and of safeguarding the secrets of Fabletown, in the full knowledge that you will bear equal punishment for any crime committed by your new husband under the Compact?"

"I do," Kevin said.

His answer, solemn and without hesitation, prompted another murmur of whispers from among those watching. Rose, for her part, gave a satisfied nod before turning to Javier.

"Do you, Javier Esposito, take this Fable, known to you as Kevin Ryan, as your husband, to be bound together beneath the law of Fabletown, Farm and City, and the Compact that protects us all for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Javier said, and though his mouth was drier than it had ever been in his life, his voice was strong.

"And do you thereby accept the responsibility of being his protector, and of safeguarding the secrets of Fabletown, in the full knowledge that your husband will suffer equal punishment for any crime you might commit against the Compact, knowing that the highest penalty is death?"

And though it was less than a second, in the space between the end of her question and his own answer the silence was so tense and perfect that Javier thought he heard not just his own heart hammering away, but Kevin's as well.

"I do," Javier said.

"Then give me your hands," Rose said.

He and Kevin each complied, offering their clasped hands before her. Twigleaf had carried the handfasting spell looped around his neck, and at Rose's cue he removed it and handed it to her. The thing uncoiled strangely—it seemed less like it was being unwound and more like it was...waking, slowly. It seemed to move almost imperceptibly her grasp, the ends swaying languidly like the tail of a cat. Once Rose had it unwound, she let it hang free for a moment at full length, and it seemed longer now than when when Javier had first seen it, the shimmering quality of it even more eye-catching in the afternoon sunlight.

And Javier nearly flinched as Rose looped it slowly around their hands and wrists, binding them together.

It felt neither warm nor cool as it touched his skin. In fact, Javier could hardly feel it at first—just a tingle, a tickle that he couldn't honestly be sure he actually felt at all. But when it vanished, sinking into their skins—that he certainly did feel. Neither warm nor cold, it still evoked a shudder and Javier was aware of it constricting tightly around him—tightening around his hands, around his throat, his heart—binding him to his very soul. And Javier knew exactly what Kevin had meant when telling him earlier about the geas... Almost instantly he understood that, more than having sworn to keep the secrets he had learned, revealing them would be all but impossible.

The geas now bound his hands from writing them, and his tongue from voicing them for the understanding of other Mundanes. As disturbing as the notion was, oddly, Javier found himself taking a small amount of comfort from it. At least in this way it would be harder to condemn Kevin—and himself—by mistake.

"Then by the powers granted to me by the Compact," Rose said, "under our laws I hereby declare you wed."

She offered them both a cheeky grin.

"I think we all know what comes next," she said.

This time, when he and Kevin kissed in front of the crowd it felt quite natural...as well it should, since they had spent every one of the few spare minutes they had practicing.

(And though Javier would have liked to have been spared the knowledge of what a "cat-call" sounded like when the person making it was, in fact, a fox, he had to console himself with the fact that there were far worse things.)

There was a wedding party afterward, though one that was mercifully brief. Mostly it was a release of tension after what Javier understood had been a stressful and alarming situation for everyone involved. A few introductions were made that hadn't been made previously, including the two human Fables from earlier. Though from the awkwardness of those introductions, Javier thought it may have been an attempt to put him at ease.

"And this is Blue," Rose said, introducing the young horn-player. "Without him this wedding probably wouldn't have been possible on such short notice."

"What she means," Blue clarified, "is that she called me and told me there that there was a Mundy on the Farm, and that she urgently needed my help."

"I didn't lie," Rose insisted.

"No, you didn't lie," Blue admitted, seeming a little embarrassed, "you just didn't tell me you wanted me to use the magic of the Witching Cloak to help you set up for a party."

With that introduction had come the reminder to report to Fabletown proper in Manhattan so that Javier could sign the Compact as soon as possible.

"I'll let them know they should be expecting you down in the city," Blue told them.

He tugged the tie of his suit, and the garment suddenly shifted, changing into a full-length cloak of velvet that was the deepest, richest shade of blue Javier had ever seen.

"I'm sure they'll excuse you for waiting a day...or two," Blue added bashfully, "but try not to keep King Cole waiting."

Rose thanked him and kissed his cheek, which set them turning an amusing shade of pink. And then Blue pulled the hood over his head, and in an instant he was gone.

The party wound down quickly after that. Once it was over, Rose called for a tow truck to take Javier's car back into the city. Kevin and Twigleaf made their farewells—with a promise made under threat of violence that Javier would remind Kevin to stay in touch. Then Kevin, Javier and Rose all three of them hopped in Kevin's car and drove down to where Javier's had been abandoned.

Javier noticed that the trip back to his car was far shorter than the twisting walk he vividly remembered from his way in.

Together, the three of them pushed his car past the property sign that, according to Rose, was the boundary for the enchantments which shielded the Farm from unwanted eyes. Sure enough, no sooner had the wheels rolled past than Javier's phone chirped to life to alert him to a few missed calls from Kate. There were also a couple of texts from Castle, asking him about how things went. Javier didn't know how Castle even knew he had come out here—or what he knew, as far as that went—but he was unable to hold back the laugh at the thought of the questions both he and his partner would face...

All the impossibility of that had happened over the past few days, and Castle wouldn't be able to pry it out of him with a knife.

Still, an official version of events was something that he and Kevin would both have to discuss on their way back to the city.

Unfortunately, it seemed it wouldn't be the only thing for them to think about. Before leaving them to wait for the truck, Rose turned to Kevin with an unhappy smile.

"The wedding went better than I hoped it would, but I'm sure you're aware of the prevailing sentiment," Rose told them, sadly. "It's an incredibly lazy pun, but feathers have been ruffled. And as much as I enjoyed the excitement, it would probably be a good idea if you didn't come back until things have had the chance to settle down a bit."

Rose spared a brief glance at Javier, smiling regretfully.

"That probably won't be within your new husband's lifetime," she said.

Kevin took a deep breath before he managed a slight nod.

"I understand," he said. He sounded both unsurprised and resigned. "Will you tell Twigleaf I'm sorry?"

Rose nodded, offering him a sympathetic smile.

"Of course," she told him. "Though I think this time he'll understand."

And with a parting wave, Rose headed back up the road toward the Farm.

They had just settled in for what they had thought would be an uneventful wait—and, sitting on the hood of his car side-by-side, Javier had just begun contemplating finding some way to occupy that time—when a voice spoke up, startling them both.

"I'm hurt, Ace. You came all the way out here, and you didn't even stop to say 'Hi'."

The voice, though amused, held a gruff edge that immediately raised the hairs on the back of Javier's neck.

They both turned around—himself in alarm, and Kevin with what he thought was merely surprise. They easily found the speaker, who was leaning on the wall beside the sign nearby. He was a man—or at least he looked like one, though knowing what he now did Javier had difficulty believing it. He appeared to be in his late forties or a fit early fifties, though given Kevin's true age Javier felt the observation was practically useless. Though he was of about average height, the muscle stacked onto the man's compact frame gave him an unmistakeably solid presence. His dark, greying hair was longish and shaggy, his chin and cheeks covered a dark stubble. He wore a faded flannel shirt and jeans, and with his sleeves rolled up past his elbows Javier could see the thick, greying hair that covered his body from knuckle to neck.

In spite of the faint smile on the man's face—or whatever he was—Javier couldn't help but be somewhat disturbed by his presence. There was something vaguely predatory about him. Given the choice, weighed against meeting this guy in a dark alley, Javier thought he might prefer to face the panther once again.

Kevin didn't seem to share Javier's sentiment, though, and slid off the hood of the car to greet him. Javier reluctantly followed.

"Bigby," Kevin said, sounding almost astonished as he shook the man's hand. "What are you doing out here? I thought you weren't allowed on Farm property?"

The man—Bigby—gave a faint snort.

"You're way out of the loop, kid," he said with the ghost of a smile. "I'm not, but the next valley over isn't Farm property. It's mine now. A retirement gift for my long service to Fabletown."

Kevin returned his smile.

"Come to think of it, I think Rose did say something," his partner said. "And I heard about the retirement. I also heard something about you settling down and having kids?"

Bigby barked a laugh—and that really was the only word for it.

"Six of the little monsters," Bigby said, "though you'd have to ask Snow if I've really settled at all."

Then his eyes shifted toward Javier, who far from feeling offended by being forgotten was just happy enough not letting his anxiety show.

"You know, I've heard a few things too," Bigby said, sounding almost amused. "But Reynard isn't exactly a credible source if you're looking for news instead of gossip."

Remembering his few interactions with the fox, it was impossible for Javier to find flaw in that assessment. Kevin for his part winced.

"Bigby, this is Javier Esposito...my new husband," Kevin said. "Javier, this is Bigby Wolf."

And with that introduction, Javier suddenly understood exactly who—and what—it was standing in front of him. The Wolf's eyes narrowed slightly. Javier barely managed not to squirm. Kevin didn't seem concerned, but there was something hostile in those eyes—something watchful and suspicious—that hadn't been there only moments before. Knowing what the fox must have already told him about what happened at the Farm, Javier couldn't make any sense out of that.

It was hard to feel comfortable facing that kind of uncertainty, and nearly impossible to judge how he should respond. Javier's mind settled itself on the only thing he could do, even if it felt a little suicidal.

"Sir," Javier greeted politely, extending his hand.

Bigby just stared at his hand for a moment. Kevin frowned, confused, for the first time seeming to take note of the Wolf's naked mistrust. Finally, Bigby took Javier's hand, gripping it very briefly before dropping it like something unpleasant. Then the Wolf turned away to look at his partner.

"Your truck is coming up the road," Bigby said, "but before you head off... I know Rose gave you the informal heave-ho, but remember that my land up here isn't part of the Farm. You ever want to pay someone a visit, maybe we can work something out."

He spared Javier one last brief, frowning glance before his eyes returned to Kevin.

"Take care of yourself, Ace," Bigby said.

It almost sounded like a warning, but the Wolf didn't choose to elaborate. And though he remained to watch them both as they arranged things with the driver it was the last thing he said to either one of them. Once that business was concluded, Javier and Kevin were finally free to head back into the city...

Their departure struck him as strangely anticlimactic. After everything that had happened over the past two days, Javier thought it should have felt life changing, earth shattering—yet in spite of all that he had learned, coming back home it seemed like very little had truly changed. And maybe that was how it should be...

Because it didn't feel like an end to anything, it felt like a beginning.

And Javier still didn't know if he believed in happily ever afters, but for Kevin's sake he could certainly give it a try.

Chapter Text

Epilogue: ...Happily Ever After?

(In which matters may not be resolved as easily as anyone believes...)

The Wolf watched as the mouse and his new husband departed. Still he waited, and it wasn't until the dust on the road had cleared that he spoke, breaking the silence of his apparent solitude.

"Well, are you going to come out, Maddy?" Bigby said. "I'm not stupid or arrogant enough to think even I would have smelled you if you were actually trying to hide."

There was no answer, at first. Yet after a moment a very small shadow detached itself from the leaf-shade of the nearby trees, and a tiny blackbird lit on a fallen log beside him. The bird stretched her wings, and her shape began to change. Soon, she had returned to the form she favored these days—that of a lithe, night-black cat with the barbed tail of a devil.

It was said that a cat may look upon a king, and in this instance Bigby thought the expression was fitting. It was fear of his predatory past that kept him barred from the Farm, and that same fear had made him the obvious choice for keeping peace down in the city. But no fear greeted him in the eyes of the Fable sitting before him. The shapeshifting witch, Medea—also known as Sycorax—was one of Fabletown's most powerful sorcerers, and she awaited his words with the kind of forbearance and disregard that only a witch or a cat could muster.

"So you'll be reporting on all this nonsense to Totenkinder, then," Bigby said. "Or whoever it is on the 13th Floor that you actually report to."

"Oh eventually," Maddy purred. "Though knowing her, I would be surprised if she didn't have some notion of it already."

Bigby acknowledged her point with a grunt. Frau Totenkinder was the eldest and most powerful of all of Fabletown's magic users. Her knowledge was far reaching, and what she didn't know for subtlety was probably not worth knowing. Given the complicated internal politics of the 13th Floor mages, it more than went without saying that she had her own resources keeping tabs on the Farm.

In fact, Bigby thought, it was entirely possible that Totenkinder knew more about what was going on than any of them had even begin to realize.

"My sources on the Farm say it's True Love that helped the Mundy get through the enchantments keeping it hidden," Bigby mused, not bothering to disguise his skepticism. "I have my own theories, but what's your professional opinion?"

For as subtle as Totenkinder was, secrecy and deception were Medea's domain, and she had woven every bit of that expertise into those very same spells when she and the other sorcerers had first laid them. In spite of her apparent lack of concern, her tail twitched slightly in distaste.

"I suppose it is theoretically possible," she admitted coolly. "True Love can be a potent magical force, and one of the very few that can be found native even in this Mundane world. The Mundy would have to be particularly single-minded in his task to manage it, however. While it makes for quite a romantic story, personally I believe there are other forces entirely at play."

Silent, Maddy contemplated the road down which the newlyweds had departed.

"Decades ago," Maddy said, "Totenkinder chose to transform a mouse into a man. Though it is not common knowledge, I'm sure you're aware that such whims have written the histories of some of the best known citizens of Fabletown. Now, however indirectly, that choice has brought the Mundane among us..."

Her tail lashed just once, unhappily. Bigby gave a snort. Neither one of them was foolish enough to believe the situation had resolved itself as harmlessly as it seemed.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see."





The End?