Harold has lost everything. All he wants to do now is just rest. A pint sized Fairy Queen has other ideas!

Disclaimer: This story is fiction. Any resemblance between actual people or events are accidental and unintentional. TG themes are presented within and if that would offend you please pass this story by. As always I am thankful for Janet Nolan and Holly Logan for their patience for dealing with my poor grammar and their efforts in making this fantasy readable.

Harold knew he should move on, but he was so tired. The transit cops would be along soon and would force him to go back outside into the cold. Even though the station rang loudly with the hustle and bustle of the city's denizens on their way cattle like back to their homes didn't prevent his eyelids from growing heavy.

If he'd still had a job or even a place to stay, he would've already sought help for he knew he was ill. He'd even gone there today where it had all ended, ground zero. What a strange name for where once the two huge buildings had once stood. Buildings, no, they'd been a city all in their own right. A place where he had once put everything he had into being successful. Harold had escaped with his life that terrible day they’d fallen, but had still lost something there. Not just the business he had worked so hard to make successful, but the will to continue pretending he was someone he was not.

It just wasn't worth it anymore. For no matter how hard he tried fate brought his efforts tumbling down in ruin before him. He'd trusted his parents when they told him he had to be like 'this' or had to excel at 'that'. They were his father and mother... they wouldn't lead him wrong or astray, would they? Once he had tried to tell them he felt something was amiss, but just didn't know how to put it into the right words. His father sternly told him to put such silly fantasies aside and concentrate on real things.

Trusting and not wanting to let down this person he loved, he tried. He'd graduated Valedictorian of his high school, and gone on to Harvard where he stayed in the top five percent of his class. Still, the doubts and desires he refused to admit returned no matter how hard he tried to bury them. Hank threw himself into his work pushing his company onto the Forbes's listings almost by pure force of will.

Still it wasn't enough. He’d had his share of lovers and once, had found one that seemed the right one. Hank wanted a family in the worst possible way, for every time he saw a baby or group of kids playing his heart would melt. She had not wanted children. No matter had hard he'd tried to make their marriage work it too, had ended in failure. He'd even wondered if he was gay, but although he admitted to some curiosity, that wasn't it either. Hank just couldn't seem to find the right person for him.

Now it seemed that the dust from his failure would be the cause of his last breath. That horrible dust from that day when all that he'd worked for fell. Rumors of people falling sick from the toxic dust had started some years ago, but he was sure that it was the cause of his own declining health.

His family had washed their hands of him, calling him weak for not being able to get back up after all that had happened. With nowhere left to go he'd ended up homeless on the street. To her credit, his mother had tried to help him, but after she died no one else had bothered. All that mattered now was just to close his eyes for just a few minutes.

“Mister, this is for you,” a young voice said close by.

Forcing his oh, so heavy eyes open, he saw a young girl maybe 6 or 7 in some kind of costume maybe for Halloween or some school event. A fairy princess or queen, perhaps, with her pin-on butterfly wings and a crown of plastic and fake sparkles. She had blond hair and blue eyes and although it took his befogged brains a moment, he was alarmed that her mother would let her speak to such an obvious failure such as himself.

Looking down at his hand he saw she had placed in it, a cheap plastic ring like you would get from a gumball machine. Fake stones covered the cheap silver finish over an image he guessed was supposed to be a fairy.

“You shouldn't talk to strangers,” his voice rasped. “Your parents will be worried about you. Where are they?”

Ignoring his questions and concerns, she earnestly told him, “My fairy Godmother came to see me and gave me this magic ring. She told me I had to give it to someone who needed it real bad, and I would know who when I saw them.”

‘Just great,’ he thought,’ now I'll get noticed even faster.’ He just wanted to close his eyes...

“Mister! Wake up! You have to use your wishes,” the little Fairy Queen demanded.

“There’s no magic for someone like me. Why don't you make the wishes for me, okay?” His numb fingers fumbled, trying to give it back to her.

Turning to let him see her wings, “No, I can't use it. I'm learning how to be a fairy Queen. You have to make the wishes.” She looked at him owlishly, “Magic is there for everyone if you believe.”

Hank sighed, “If it will make you leave me alone, alright.” He was of a half a mind to say something mean and nasty to her, but it just wasn't in him. Even now laying here he wanted the best for this pesky blond menace.

“I wish when you grow up you will be healthy and happy,” he said pushing the ring back at her.

She stomped her small foot, “No, you did it wrong! You have to make a wish for you!”

Somehow he even managed to smile at her rather cute display of anger. Well that was one way of getting back at her for disturbing him.

“Okay, I wish when you grow up and are ready that the special someone who you love and whom you make happy will find each other and live happily ever after.” he said thinking he was going to see another display of temper.

“You can't do that! The genie in Aladdin said you can't wish someone else happy.”

Suppressing a cough, “I think he said he couldn't make anyone fall in love. I wished that you and the person that would make you both happy would meet when you're ready. Now will you leave me alone, my Queen?”

“No, you still haven't made a wish for you, and you get three wishes. This is the last one so don't mess it up!” she demanded, scolding him, her hands on her hips.

Feeling like he was drifting, he thought about what to wish for. He'd wished for her to healthy and to find love. ‘Oh yeah, that's it,’ he realized.

“I wish you'll find that special friend who'll share all your happy times and make them even better. Who'll make the sad times not as sad and always be there when you need them. Because they'll always be there for you, you'll always be there for them, sharing life and making it a happier one for everyone.”

Sure enough he heard her say, “Oh no, you used up the last wish” as the light faded...

“Wake up, Hope!” she heard. Pulling herself upright rubbing her eyes she looked around confused. “What happened?” she asked feeling kinda strange. “Who are you?”

“I'm Faith, and you're my twin sister Hope. My Fairy Godmother gave me a ring and I gave it to that smelly man.” she said pointing to the still figure on the bench behind them. “He got the wishes all wrong! All of them was for me, and not one for him!”

Hope blinked uncertainly, “I remember a little, I think. Kinda sorta remember being a grown up, but everything is kinda woozy. He was very unhappy and sick, but I don't know about being a little girl.”

Faith screwed up her face thinking hard, “Well, you woke up when he went to sleep. If you don't want to be my sister, maybe if you wake him up you'll change back.”

Hope looked up into her sister's eyes seeing tears threatening to well up. Then she looked over at her old body laying there, remembering had sad that life had been. The old dreams she had never dared remember on waking were still there, and all she had to do make them come true was take her sister's hand and walk away.

An old woman sitting a short distance away watched the twin girls run into their worried mother's arms. A smile touched her lips as she swished and flicked her wand, “Done, done, and done!”

Some of her colleagues wouldn't have put their trust in a little one like Faith, but it'd been unlikely Harold could've given anyone else his attention and trust. He'd been a good person, but because of the inner conflicts inside his heart, he could never trust himself.

‘Faith will help her new sister love and trust herself and, if needed, the old Harold is still there to help them both if the girls get into something bad. In time when no longer needed, he and Hope will merge, and finally the life that was always meant to be, will be there for both of them.

A small commotion occurred when a passing transit cop tried to rouse the homeless looking guy lying down dressed in a ragged overcoat. A few curious passersby watched but faded back as the cop radioed for help after an examination.

She got up and went by without even a glance. Her attention was for the living, although this time it had been very close. ‘Sometimes the hardest assignments are the most fulfilling,’ she thought, watching the happy family board the train. The twins' mother had wanted another child but couldn't because of complications from Faith's birth. Having twins now should keep her busy enough to fulfill that desire. Faith had wanted a sister, and poor Harold had wanted a life he could never admit to wanting. Yes, indeed a difficult assignment.

Even with magic there were no guarantees in life. There was just one more small adjustment she wanted to make. It was so small only a twitch of her wand was enough to suffice. All of Harold's wishes had been for Faith. Fortunately, Harold's wishes had been vague enough for her stretch things, as it were to include her sister Hope as well. If she decided that Harold's wishes applied to both girls because they were twins, what of it? She was a Fairy Godmother after all Capiche?

With a satisfied smile, she boarded her train.