After a very happy reunion, Lucy and Mara left for their little faerie house in the backyard, leaving Niles to help Ashton get situated for the night. The couch was too small for Ashton to sleep on, and Niles was using the extra bedroom for storage, so he set Ashton up in his bedroom and took the couch himself.

What a wild day, Niles thought, staring up at the dark ceiling of his living room. He sighed and rolled over. I never in a million years expected to see Ashton again. He looks... so much better than he did when he left here. Happier. 

Despite everything on his mind and the exciting events of the day, Niles fell asleep quickly. But he wasn't asleep for very long. 

Niles couldn't say what it was that woke him, as the house was still dark and silent. But there he was, wide awake and staring up at the dark ceiling again. He glanced at his bedroom door, which he had left open in case Ashton needed him. 

Hearing no sound from within, Niles got up and tiptoed to the bedroom door to check on Ashton. Old habits die hard, he thought ruefully, thinking back to all the nights he used to hold Ashton after one of the faerie's many nightmares. 

He squinted in the dark and caught his breath, just able to make out Ashton's tall, shadowy form in the gloom. He was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and had hunched over them, burying his face in his arms.

Niles pushed the door open a little farther. "Ashton?" he called softly. Ashton lifted his head at the sound of Niles' voice. "Are you ok?"

"Ah," Ashton wiped at his eyes, and Niles' heart sank. "I'm ok."

Niles walked over to him and sat at the edge of the bed. "What happened? Why are you awake?" he asked. Now that he was up close, he could see how tired Ashton looked. It wasn't a simple type of tired, like the kind that came from missing a few hours of sleep. No, it was a bone deep exhaustion that haunted Ashton's eyes.

"Oh, it's nothing," Ashton waved his hand in dismissal. "Really. I just had a bad dream. It still happens from time to time. I'll be fine."

"A nightmare?" Niles asked. "You didn't... get those magically removed or something?"

Ashton shook his head. "No. That kind of magic works short term, but dreams eventually push back through. Your mind needs to dream to process things. But it's ok. It's not as bad as it used to be. I'm used to it now."

Niles placed his hand on Ashtons knee. "I'm sorry, Ash," he said softly. "Even if you're used to it, it's still awful."

Ashton shrugged, not meeting Niles' eye. Niles bit his lip. "Would you like..."

"Some water?" Ashton finished. He finally looked at Niles, the ghost of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. "Sure, I'd love some. Thanks."

Niles stared at him, taken aback by Ashton's good-natured quip. He didn't think Ashton had it in him to tease. "Cheeky," he muttered under his breath, turning to go into the kitchen. Ashton chuckled softly behind him, and Niles smiled to himself.

Ashton was looking better by the time Niles returned with the water. Ashton sipped at it slowly, and Niles sat at the edge of the bed again, trying not to yawn. He glanced up when he heard Ashton set the cup on the nightstand and saw that Ashton had settled back down under the covers.

"Oh, are you done?" Niles stood up and reached for the cup, but Ashton caught his hand. Niles paused and looked down at him. 

"Can you stay here tonight?" Ashton asked. "Please?"

Niles blinked at Ashton, freezing with his arm still outstretched. With all the nightmares Ashton used to have, Niles was quite familiar with comforting him, but it felt different now that Ashton was human sized. Sharing a bed with a little faerie didn't mean anything after all. It was literally just placing them on the pillow next to you so that you could reach them easier if they needed you in the middle of the night. But sleeping next to Ashton as a human? It felt like a line he shouldn't cross.

Niles looked into Ashton's tired eyes, and he groaned inwardly. He couldn't just leave him like this. "Fine," he relented. He sat back down and gripped Ashton's hand. "I'll sit here with you until you fall asleep." It was the best compromise Niles could come up with— honoring Ashton's request without sleeping beside him.

Ashton breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you." He clutched Niles' hand like a lifeline and closed his eyes. 

Niles ran his thumb across Ashton's knuckles and studied his tired face. He still didn't know what to do with Ashton. Ashton had never existed in the human world before— he had no birth certificate, no ID, no... nothing. How was he going to get a job, let alone an apartment? 

Anyone who looked at him could tell there was something different about him. The sharp teeth, pointed ears, and angular features all marked him as "other." He was a very striking-looking faerie, Niles had to admit. Beautiful in a harsh, otherworldly way. It was hard to keep your eyes off of him. But such an alien look might frighten people, and frightened people sometimes did horrible things.

Niles pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Is all this even my responsibility? he wondered. Or am I trying to take on more than I should? And what am I supposed to do next?

***

When Niles woke up the next morning, he felt something soft against his cheek. He glanced to his right and caught his breath. Sometime during the night, Ashton must've crawled out of bed to sit beside him on the floor. He was clutching Niles' hand and had fallen asleep sitting next to the couch with his face pressed against the side of Niles' neck.

Ashton, what the hell? Niles thought. What are you doing here, bud? Ashton had been clingy as a patient, but Niles was not expecting that he would still want to stay close to him as a human. 

He freed his left arm from his blanket and patted Ashton on the head. The faerie stirred at his touch and lifted his head to look at Niles with bleary, half-asleep eyes.

"Ash, what are you doing here? I know I left you in the bed last night," Niles began. Ashton sat up and stretched his free arm overhead, not letting go of Niles' hand. 

"I had another bad dream," he explained, yawning.

Niles wasn't convinced. "Mhmm. So why didn't you just wake me up?"

"Felt bad waking you up twice in one night." Ashton glanced around the room, looking tired. "Sorry, I usually don't have these... dreams too often anymore... it's just... being back here... made me remember a lot of stuff. I wasn't expecting that."

Oh. Now Niles felt like a jerk. He sat up, and Ashton held onto his fingers tighter. "Do you... want to talk about it?" Niles asked curiously. Ashton had never talked about his dreams before. After nearly four years, maybe he would open up. Niles felt like he could help Ashton better if he understood what he was experiencing.

But, to Niles' disappointment, the faerie was already shaking his head. "I'd rather just forget about it," he said. "I don't want to relive it twice."

"Sure." Niles patted his hand, and Ashton finally let go of his fingers.

"Are you feeling well enough to go to the clinic with me?" he asked next. "I'd like to give you a physical and get some blood work from you. I want to see if your DNA has changed at all since becoming... human."

Ashton shrugged. "Sure," he said. "Whatever you want."

After getting up and dressed, they headed to the clinic, Ashton insisting on driving the whole way with the windows down. Niles couldn't help but smile at the way Ashton squinted into the sunlight, the wind whipping through his wavy hair.

He looks so happy, Niles thought fondly. I would've given anything four years ago just to see that exact expression on his face.

The first portion of the physical examination was uneventful. Niles had conducted so many physicals on Ashton in the past that the faerie was used to it. He made a face when he had his blood drawn, but otherwise, he did fine.

As for the genome sequencing and comparison, Niles spent nearly all day in the lab, not wanting to entrust such a task to another doctor. Ashton hovered by him, looking bored. Niles had to strictly charge him to stay put in a chair by the door, not wanting the faerie to get too curious and break or contaminate something.

With the results finally in hand, Niles studied Ashton's DNA closely, comparing it with a human's, woodlands', and water sprite's. To his surprise, Ashton's DNA had characteristics of all three.

"Ashton, come look at this," he breathed, waving the faerie over.

Ashton did so, looking at the slide curiously as Niles pointed at the stained glass.

"You're missing the protein marker for magic reception," Niles explained. "Which I'm positive you would have had before you made your wish."

"Oh?" Ashton looked intrigued. "What else is there?"

Niles squinted. "Your telomeres are shorter," he said next. "Much, much shorter than the average faerie's." He sighed. "I guess this really does mean that you have a human life span now."

"I already told you all this," Ashton reminded him, and Niles shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's important to know that the science supports it," he said, turning back to study the slide.

Some of Ashton's DNA was distinctly not human, and Niles figured those genes accounted for the traits that were still faerie. After looking at the slide for a few more minutes, Niles patted Ashton's shoulder and turned to draft up an initial report.

"Let me just write something really quick," Niles assured Ashton, who was looking fidgety. "I'll make a full report later when I can fully study this, but I should at least record the preliminary findings."

"Yeah, do what you need to," Ashton brushed him off and moved to look through a microscope at a different slide.

Niles let him be and quickly got to work. Damn, I still have to tell the board about this, he thought, pausing to study the faerie as he moved around the room. This... this is huge.

But part of him held back, wanting to keep Ashton safely hidden for as long as possible. Well, Niles justified. I should at least have some findings to show them before I tell them about Ashton's change.

It was getting late, but Niles had Ashton do a basic fitness test next. After sitting around all day, Ashton seemed more than happy to move and blow off some steam. The test was simple enough, but Niles quickly realized it wouldn't be enough to give an accurate representation of Ashton's endurance and strength.

We need different equipment, Niles realized. What we have here isn't enough to capture what he's truly capable of.

"Umm, here, let's go to the gym," Niles suggested. "I want to check on something."

Ashton didn't have a problem with that, and he happily followed Niles back outside, breathing out a huge sigh of relief at not being cooped up anymore. Once in the car, Niles rolled the windows down for Ashton again, and the faerie stuck his head out the window this time.

Niles had Ashton start on some simple weight machines, but when it was obvious that the faerie wasn't having difficulty with even the highest settings, he switched him to free weights.

"These are called dead lifts," Niles explained, demonstrating. He dropped the bar and added a few more weights to it. "Now, you try."

Ashton did so immediately, lifting the weights like they were nothing.

Oh dear, Niles thought. He quickly added more weight to either side, but Ashton didn't have a problem with those, either. So, he just kept adding.

Gradually, a small crowd gathered to watch, looking more and more impressed as Ashton kept adding weights and lifting. One of the gym managers even wandered over to tell them to knock it off, warning them that the bar wasn't equipped to handle so much weight.

"We're just a regular gym," she said. "We don't get the bars for this type of powerlifting."

Ashton looked disappointed, but Niles was relieved. Part of him didn't want to see how much farther Ashton could go. 

"Ashton," Niles said faintly after the gym manager had walked away. "Are you aware that you could probably break the human world record for weightlifting?"

"Oh?" Ashton asked curiously. "That wasn't that heavy, though. How weak are humans, then?"

Niles didn't know what to say to that. He knew that faeries, like ants and certain beetle species, could lift objects well above their own body weight. But he hadn't expected the same characteristics to transfer over to Ashton as a human.

"Umm, do you... want to try running?" Niles asked, and Ashton looked confused.

"Ok, but why?" he wanted to know.

"I just want to see how fast and how long you can run," Niles said. "Get a better gauge of your abilities compared to a regular human's."

Ashton was more than happy to keep moving after sitting so long, so Niles directed him to the treadmill, showing him how to start it and adjust the speed. Forty minutes crept by like that, with Ashton looking completely unbothered as he ran. Niles peeked at the treadmill to check his progress, and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Thirteen miles? he thought. He's already run a half marathon? What the hell is up with faeries? This... really puts their physical prowess into perspective. If they were all human sized, they'd rule the world.

"Umm, you can stop now, if you'd like," Niles suggested, and Ashton looked up.

"Oh, sure," he said agreeably. "Umm... how do I stop this thing?"

Shit, I never showed him, Niles realized. No wonder he just kept running.

He quickly turned the machine off, and Ashton stepped down, wiping the sweat off his face with his t-shirt. Niles tried not to stare as he handed him a water bottle.

"Sorry," Niles said. Ashton accepted the water bottle gratefully. "I forgot to show you how to turn the treadmill off."

"Nah, it's fine," Ashton told him. His breathing was already starting to return to normal. "Did you get the information you needed?"

"Umm, not quite," Niles said. He reached his hand out. "Can I see your hand, please?"

Ashton looked confused, but he did as Niles asked. Niles quickly timed his pulse before letting his hand swing back to his side.

"Ashton, you're a machine," he sighed, and the faerie tilted his head. "You could win any human sports competition if you wanted to, I bet."

Ashton grinned, his shark teeth flashing. "Too bad I don't want to do that," he said.

"Well, what do you want, then?" Niles pressed. It's been over 24 hours since we reunited, and I'm still at a loss, Niles thought. What exactly is he searching for? What did he need so badly that he left home to find it?

"I just want to stay with you," came the unexpected response. "That's all."

Niles blinked. "O...kay," he said. "Sure."

Ashton smiled, looking satisfied. "Can we go home now?" he asked. "I want to go bother Lucy."

Niles laughed and patted him on the shoulder, already steering him out the door. "Yeah," he said, head still reeling from the day. "Let's go home."

___________________________________________________

A/N: Idk anything about sequencing a human genome. I also don't know anything about weightlifting. This chapter had both. I had to make a lot of internet searches today. 

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to comment and vote and see you in the next part.