Midsummer-Night's Dreaming

"Fair little Fae."

At the tinkling little voice, Fae Ressel looked up from her bed where she lay reading and saw Puck standing on her night table. "Hey there, minnie-mite!" she said. "You've been gone too long this time." She screwed up her face pretending to think. "What's it been? Two months now?"

The six-inch tall fairy laughed and skipped down onto her bed and gave her a little kiss on the cheek. "Oh, I will have a fine tale for you next time. Titania wants my help to distract Oberon from his latest infatuation with a cute little mortal. The girl has turned the king's head, and Titania needs it turned back round again."

"Just the sort of thing you specialize in, huh?"

"Ah, my little Fae, how well you understand old Puck. Nothing is more fun the tweaking the king of the Fairies, and it is particularly droll when I can do it without fear because it was ordered by my queen."

Even though only six-inches tall, Puck easily hopped up onto the bed beside her where Fae was curled up with an issue of Astrophysical Journal. "Tomorrow," he announced, "I will cast a spell on the king to make him think he is the prize bull in Lord Huffingham's herd." He laughed. "The next day, I will be banished from the Scottish countryside forever." He gave a last little hop and landed cross-legged between her and the journal. "And on the day after that, Titania will invite me back, the king will have forgotten, and everything will be as it will be."

Fae shook her head. "One of these days you will get in serious trouble again," she warned.

"Ah, tut, tut." Puck waved dismissively. "I've learned my lesson. Stay on the good side of Titania. That's the trick." Puck sighed, and leaned back against the periodical. "The reason I have been so long is that I have been working on your little magical problem, my fair little Fae."

"My 'curse', you mean?" she said. She did not let her skepticism reach her voice.

"The very thing," he said seriously. "I've told you how the vile nymph, Hyleoroi, cursed you because your mother helped your father avoid her charms."

Fae had heard the story about how her parents had met, but she was not sure she believed all of the magical events Puck had told her about. Puck had told her that her problem, she had been born with a hare-lip and cleft palate, had been caused by the nymph's magical spell. Really? A birth defect caused by a magic spell? She did not know if it made her feel better to think she had been cursed by fate or cursed by a nymph, but she still had to live with the result. She did not believe in all that magic stuff he spouted all the time—but then again, he actually was a fairy, and fairies were magical...

Stop, she told herself. You are a scientist, and scientists don't believe in fairies. Even ones that took the magazine from her hand, folded down the corner of the page where she had been reading, and laid it on the bed.

"I came to tell you," Puck announced, " that I have found a way to cure your curse." He smiled at her.

"Sorry, but the doctors all agreed some years ago that because of the structural abnormalities of my palate, they don't think surgery was the answer."

"Oh, no, no, no." Puck smiled. "Not some mortal, patch-work fix for the nymph's malediction, but a true cure." The little fairy positively beamed. "I have found that the curse can be broken by love. True love."

Fae laughed. "Now I know you are teasing me just as you tease all the other mortals. True love? What should I do, start wearing a bag over my head?"

Puck took her large hand in his small ones and stepped closer so he could look her directly in the eyes. "My dear little Fae. True love is coming. I have it all worked out. With the kiss of true love, the nymph's curse will be lifted. Today your true beauty lies hidden within, but once the wicked curse is broken, the whole world will see you as I see you—a true beauty, inside and out.

She blinked, distressed by the moisture that had formed in her eyes. Her parents, and especially her mother had worked with Fae long and hard getting her to accept her condition. Her counselor too. Fae had had a difficult childhood, but she had worked grimly to excel at everything she attempted. She had accepted her deformity, but Puck's casual promise of true love lifting a "curse" had caught an edge of raw emotion she thought she had sealed down tight.

Rolling away from Puck to the side of the bed, she pulled a tissue out of the box and blew her nose. "Puck, I really don't want to hear anything about that. I am who I am. Please, let me be."

The fairy climbed the bunched pillow beside her and tenderly patted her shoulder. "I will not speak of this again with you if you wish, but events are already unfolding." For a time he just stood there silently beside her. Finally he said, "You shall see."

When Fae turned to look at him, there was no one there.

#

"Here's the cleaned up data from last week's run. Do you see what I see in 412b?" Logan Wright pointed over Fae's shoulder to the jagged line of the infrared spectrum displayed on the screen.

Fae looked up and smiled at him before turning back to the computer. She pointed to the graph. "You mean this little dip right here at 890 nm?" She tapped the screen and grinned. "Yep, I'm liking it for methane." Keppler 412b was the twelfth exoplanet they had observed in the infrared during a transit of its primary, and it was the first for which they had seen a definite spectral feature appear. "If we see that at the next transit..." she clicked the file entry for the planet and checked the transit predictions, "...at the end of this month, and the next one after that, I do believe we will have a publishable result."

She pushed back from her desk, raised her arms, and stretched. She needed to remember to move more often rather than staying hunched over the computer. "Can we get any telescope time anywhere?" she asked. "Who owes us favors for a few photons?"

Logan looked smug. "As soon as I saw it, I called Jenkins at Kitt Peak and traded our time slot on the Mayall in June for his slot in May. We have a block of time from before first contact right on through the whole transit, and it's in our own backyard."

"Perfect!" Fae got up and gave Logan a hug. "A few more data points and this could be a major publication for us. And if we find a few more signals..."

"Well, don't get your hopes up," he said with a smile, "but I can see the faint glimmer of tenured faculty positions in our future."

Fae smiled at Logan's hope, but inside she cringed. She had been a post-doc long enough to know her chances for such a position were slim. Not that an important publication or two would hurt her credentials, but with her speech impediment, a true faculty position was highly unlikely. She worked well with grad assistants, but lecturing with her nasal, wispy voice to a class full of astronomy students was out of the question.

Logan continued to smile at her, and she shared his feeling of success. They were a team. On the first day of Physics I at USC, Logan had sat down beside her, and they had been friends and colleagues ever since. Logan looked like one of the well-built, blond surfer boys who hung out at the beach, except he lacked the perpetual tan. Instead he sported an astronomy researcher's pallor. The one time he had gone to the beach with friends, he had come back the next day with an uncomfortably bright-pink sunburn. Logan was an out and out geek, but he was not one of those quiet, mousey guys who looked at their shoes when they talked to you and knew nothing of life outside of the lab. No, Logan was a big, enthusiastic puppy of a geek who led a somewhat slobbery social life both inside and outside the astronomical research community.

For a time after graduation they had gone in separate directions, but now they were both post-docs in the Astronomy Department at the University of Arizona in Tucson—partners again. Fae, quiet and reserved as she tended to be, enjoyed working with Logan because things happened around him. Together they made an excellent research team. Logan liked developing equipment to measure the unmeasurable, and Fae enjoyed the long, detailed analysis involved in making those measurements speak to theory.

They chatted for a few more minutes about the results, but then Logan held up a finger. "New subject. How would you like to go out with Prissy and me this weekend."

"Logan, why do you call her that? Her name's Priscilla, and you know she doesn't like that name."

"Yeah," he smiled, "and you notice I never call her Prissy when she's around." He shrugged. "I don't know. It just seems to fit." He looked off in the distance for a moment before he returned his attention to her. "Hey, don't change the subject—you, this weekend...?" He pointed his finger at her and looked hopeful.

"Don't be silly. You know I won't be a 'third wheel' when you guys are out on a date."

Logan's smile got broader, and Fae had a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Not to worry," he said. "We've got that covered. Seems that Prissy's old boyfriend, Edgar, is back in the area, and he'll come along as your date."

Wonderful. Her research partner was now setting her up for dates. "Is this a good idea? I mean, did you tell him about...?" She waved her hand up towards her face. Ever since a boy in junior high had called her 'smash face,' she had been sensitive to other people's reactions to her appearance.

"Why would that matter? You are the most interesting person I know, and if he's enough of a bonehead not to be able to have a fascinating conversation with you, then that's his loss." Logan looked at her with his big eyes. "Come on," he begged. "It's not like you're going to marry the guy."

Marry the guy? Abruptly she remembered Puck's promise of true love. The thought that this 'Edgar' would be her true love, break the curse, and sweep her off into the happily-ever-after terrified her. She could not speak.

Finally Logan reached over and closed her laptop. "Look, it would be a favor to me. This guy, Edgar's been hanging around all week, and I want to give him somebody else to talk to besides Priscilla. I don't think there's anything there anymore, but I'd rather have Priscilla all to myself. So, Saturday night?" He looked at her expectantly then added, "Please?"

When Logan looked at her with those big brown eyes, she could not refuse. "Okay, but I think the whole things sounds pretty awkward."

"Ah, it will be fine. You'll see. I thought we'd go out to eat then maybe hit a club or drive up into the mountains."

"The mountains, please," she said immediately. She did not like the noise in the clubs and did not like to dance where other people might stare at her. If she had to do this, the mountains seemed a better choice. "Maybe we could drive up Gates Pass Road and show the stars to the uninitiated."

"Oh, Prissy will be fascinated by that," he said sarcastically, "but I like that idea."

After Logan left, Fae tried to get back to the analysis she had been working on, but she kept getting distracted by a series of stray thoughts that chased around in her head. She was not comfortable in social situations, but Logan had dragged her in to other things on occasion, and she had enjoyed herself. Still, her being a distraction to Edgar sounded as if it could be uncomfortable. No, it would be uncomfortable, but she would do it for Logan's sake.

The one thought she avoided thinking about at all, was Puck's promise of 'true love.' Whatever he had meant by that, she did not want to think about it. Puck's reputation as a trickster was well documented in literature and legend, but he had never done anything to Fae except bring her unusual flowers and pretty little knick-knacks from around the world. She could not imagine that the little fairy, whom she had known all her life, would do anything mean. But then again, she could not imagine true love either.

#

Edgar Worthington turned out to be a decent guy. He was tall and dark with chiseled good looks that shaded towards aristocratic, but maybe it was just the fashionable argyle sweater and creased kakis he wore. His shoulders were broad, suggesting he had been well built at one time, but now he was a little soft around the edges. Both he and Priscilla Pennymaker had been together at Yale's business school, but after they had gotten their MBAs, they had gone off in different directions. Bank of America had hired Priscilla and moved her to Tucson as an associate investment manager in their Arizona operations. Edgar had gone directly to Wall Street where he worked long, hard hours trying to make a name for himself on the Street. He had taken advantage of one of his rare vacations to fly out west to see his old classmate, but other than casual chit-chat about what was going on in their lives, he did not seem to be making an obvious play to renew their old relationship.

To the contrary, he seemed more than content to talk with Fae. Although at times he seemed a bit full of himself, he made an effort to draw Fae out about her work. She tried to keep things simple, but she could tell he did not understand everything she said. Still, he seemed to get the gist of the work she and Logan were doing to understand the atmospheres of planets beyond our own solar system.

On the other hand, she found it difficult to understand precisely what Edgar did at his investment firm. At one point she asked him to explain the 'credit default swaps' she had heard of, but got lost in his explanation of the roll they played in the financialization of a developing economy. Fortunately he had enough tact to recognize her blank expression, and he steered his end of the conversation back to some of the adjustments he had had to make to living in New York.

After their dinner, they drove west towards Tucson Mountain State Park. Logan drove Priscilla's Cadillac because it had much more room and comfort than his ten-year-old Toyota. Fae sat in the back with Edgar. Although Priscilla frequently touched and stroked Logan while he drove, Edgar was a perfect gentleman in the backseat, and he told Fae a series of amusing stories about strange things he had seen in New York.

Rather than drive all the way up to the park, Logan pulled off into one of the turnouts that had a small parking lot and several picnic tables. The sun was long out of the sky, and the stars had the pristine brilliance of the desert night. As they got out, she reached back into the car for her jacket. A breeze flowing up from the city below ruffled her hair. The air was still warm with the heat of the day, but she knew the temperature was dropping. Sometimes Logan could be long winded.

Once everyone had assembled, Logan went into his 'star-talk' mode pointing out Jupiter and Saturn in the sky as well as some of the bright constellations and other objects visible in the clear, dark air. Fae knew about the inner working of stars and the equations that described their temperature gradients and energy outputs. However, she was not terribly familiar with the night sky itself, and she always enjoyed listening to Logan as he showed her the actual objects, or at least the locations of the objects, they studied. Standing there looking up at the magnificent spectacle, Fae could not help but feel humbled by the universe.

Their companions seemed to take it all in, but at one point Edgar interrupted. "Tucson is not nearly as pretty as Denver is from up in the mountains."

Fae immediately countered. "It's actually much prettier. Tucson has one of the most restrictive light trespass codes in the nation. We need it because without it most of the equipment up at Kitt Peak National Observatory would be useless."

In the weak light from the city, she could see a puzzled Edgar looking at her. "But that's what—forty, fifty miles?"

"As it is," she announced, "from the observatory you can still see Tucson's sky glow off to the northeast."

"Hmph," Edgar said. "And all this time I thought it was just because of all the dim bulbs in Tucson."

Edgar and Priscilla laughed, and Logan even chuckled. A small, social smile twitched to her lips, but for the first time she was offended by something Edgar had said. She started a retort, but, before she had a chance to say anything else, she noticed something... strange. The stars were moving, and she had a bit of vertigo for a moment. She looked overhead and saw a number of small pinpricks of light moving slowly around the zenith. No, she quickly realized, the stars were not moving because she could still see Arcturus and the stars of the Dipper above. These new lights in the sky were not stars because they moved too fast. They were getting brighter too.

Fae heard a giggle and looked over to see Priscilla twirling surrounded by the little lights. Fae looked back up at the sky. More swirling lights had joined in, and a little laugh bubbled up from inside. The lights looked funny, and suddenly she realized she felt—strange. Little tickley feelings ran up her arms and legs. She looked down and saw a faint red tint around her fingers. Fascinated, she brought her hand up in front of her face. The red color flowed from her fingers and down her arms. As it flowed, warmth sufused her skin—and sensuality. Fae might have been a virgin, but she was no sexual novice. No, the internet had educated her, and her toys kept her happy. The red glow had no physical heat, yet the skin of her arms were experiencing all the wonderfully arousing sensations she had always associated with her genitals. Fascinating.

Her fascination grew to wonder as the glow continued to spread up her arms and across her chest. She felt rather than saw the glow as it crept up the sides of her breasts, and she thought she would faint with joy as the sensations concentrated in her nipples. She wanted more. Her light jacket was too warm, so she shrugged out of that. Her top was in the way, and she quickly pulled that off over her head, flung it away, and raised her arms to the sky. Free! She was free—and excited.

The sensation in her nipples demanded attention. Fae's breasts were not large, and her bra was more for modesty than anything else. She shed it without a thought and pinched her tingling buds between her thumb and forefinger. The extra stimulation made her groan with excitement. Her pinch also shot a burst of excitement directly to her loins. She looked down and saw the red glow moving past her waist towards her sex. Trembling with anticipation, she waited impatiently while heightened sensations flowed behind the glow. Quickly she shucked off the remainder of her clothes then leaned back against the a picnic table. She did not trust her trembling legs to support her.

The feeling intensified, and a pulse throbed between her legs—not the pulse of an intense orgasm, but pulses of warm, moist, demanding need. A hand stroked her back, and she thought she would melt. She reached out and touched the warm, naked body next to her. A male body she discovered as she let her hand wander down to the rampant organ between his legs. The lights swirled all around her now like stars in her eyes. She was mesmerized, and the lights were all she could see. But she did not need to see. All she wanted was the hard cock in her hand to be inside her needy, wet pussy.

Evidently she was not the only one in need because he drew her into a crushing embrace. Fae could not resist running her hands up and down his back reveling in the feel and textures of his skin—every pore and crease on the outside of his body. In addition her hands could feel all the cords of muscle and bone inside. She reached farther down and clutched at the cheeks of his ass. They were hard with muscle, and she squeezed them with her hands.

While she explored his body, he explored hers rubbing and stroking her back down to her hips. In another moment he seized her rear and sat her on the edge of the picnic table. Her legs parted automatically for him, and in a moment his large, warm cock slid into her.