Noble Descent Part 2
Title: Noble Descent Part 2
Author: TalliW
Pairings: James Lester, Nick Cutter, Jenny Lewis
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.
Summary: James Lester is of noble descent and the heir to the throne of a mighty folk.. His new position changes everything for him and his team.
Part 1 is here
Lester woke up with a kink in his neck and drowsily took in his surroundings. He was shocked to see he'd fallen asleep at his desk in the middle of the day. That had never happened before.
His gaze fell on Cutter, still snoring peacefully in the chair, and slowly his memories came back.
Harold's accident, the Fair Folk and Cutter with his idiotic questions. At least the fairies hadn't wreaked havoc in the ARC. He should be grateful for that.
"Have you slept well, Milord?" a blonde fairy asked, in a soft voice, and landed on Lester's nose. Lester blinked, irritated. She was even more tiny than the rest of them.
"Don't bother the king, Pixie Ann. You know what happened the last time," the fairy guard leader chided.
The tiny girl jumped up and down on Lester's nose and giggled. "I like his nose. It's bigger than me."
She slithered down the bridge of Lester's nose like a slide and then floated gratefully in the air.
A snort from Cutter's direction drew Lester's attention from the fairy child. So the professor had woken up finally too.
Instantly Pixie Ann flew over to Cutter, mischief evidently in her mind.
Cutter held his hand out to her. He smiled with satisfaction when she landed on his hand and tripped up his arm.
"Careful, Cutter. Fairies have a wicked sense of humour," Lester warned but as usual Cutter ignored his advice.
Pixie Ann hopped on Cutter's shoulder and grasped one of his blond strands. "I like your hair. You would look pretty with flowers in it," she whispered. Giggling she moved her tiny hands through the air in a circling motion.
The next moment daisies and cornflowers were interwoven in Cutter's hair. The fairy squeed excitedly. "Now you look like a fairy-tale prince."
Cutter furrowed his brow and carefully checked his hair. He pulled a face as he felt the flowers and tried to remove them. But they seemed to be stuck.
Lester had difficulties in holding back his mirth. That would teach Cutter to take his warnings seriously.
Cutter got livid. "Undo that instantly," he ordered. He only earned a grin from Pixie Ann before she vanished.
Lester turned to the fairy guard leader. "Please, remove the flowers from his hair!"
"I'm sorry, Tiero. I can't undo the actions of a fairy child. Their magic is still too wild. It could end fatally if we were to try it. But don't worry. It will dissolve in seven hours."
"Bloody hell, I can't run around like this until it's time to go home," Cutter cursed.
"You can wear a helmet," one of the other fairies said.
The next moment a Roman centurion helmet with a big red plume covered Cutter's head.
Lester was unable to hold back his laughter this time. Cutter looked too hilarious with the helmet and flowers in his hair still sticking out at the sides. Lester was certain he hadn't had so much fun in ages.
Jenny Lewis stared dumbfoundedly at the chuckling Lester and at Cutter with an impressive helmet on his head. And were those cornflowers in Cutter's hair?
She considered leaving them alone again but the team's latest exploit at the museum had raised more dust than expected. Apparently some valuable artefacts had been destroyed by Becker and Connor whilst they were piling up and removing boxes around the sun cage.
After having to deal with a group of blinkered specialists who had prattled on for hours about the importance of a small broken-off shard, and threatened the whole empire with legal action, Jenny needed to talk to Lester.
Without preamble, Jenny came right to the root of the matter and explained the messy situation to Lester, who promised to straighten out the sore subject with his superiors. Satisfied with this answer, Jenny turned and left the office.
Cutter sighed in relief. He was thankful she hadn't said anything about his strange attire and the presence of tiny winged creatures in the room.
"I'm glad Jenny isn't easily shocked, " Cutter said. "It's not every day you see fairy tale creatures in the flesh."
Lester regarded him for a moment. "Miss Lewis has some wonderful traits but in this case you are wrong. She can't see them. I've already told you only very unique people can."
Lester ignored Cutter's ‚"But," and continued. "However the helmet on your head and the flowers in your hair are another matter. But I'm counting on Miss Lewis' discretion. Otherwise the medics might arrive with a straight-jacket in a few minutes."
To the fairy guard leader he said, "Now remove the helmet and keep your young away before something bad happens."
"Of course, Tiero. I'll make sure Pixie Ann does not bother you again," the guard leader answered with a bow of his head.
Cutter, now without the helmet again, glanced at Lester.
"What now? I can't sit here and wait until I look like my normal charming self again. Can your fairies at least help me to get out of here without the whole team seeing my predicament? Something like a not-noticing-me spell?"
"Cutter, this is the real world..." Lester started but was interrupted by the indignantly uttered words, "Of course we can," from a female fairy with long brown hair, who was now blushing furiously.
Lester raised his eyebrows. There seemed to be a lot of things the lessons about the Fair Folk had skipped over.
"So you can do a not-noticing-me spell?"
All thirteen fairies nodded altogether.
"All right. Then have at it!"
The guard leader grinned devilishly. The next moment the fire alarm started and turned the ARC into a mad house. People were running everywhere in panic until Becker and his soldiers finally established some order and led the people outside.
"Now you can walk out of here. They are too busy to notice your headgear."
Lester sighed. It would have been too good to be true that fairies might behave decently for once. But considering the chaos which had gone on when the siren had started it probably wasn't such a bad idea to have a fire drill occasionally.
Cutter shrugged and set off to his own office. He was sure there were enough reports waiting for him to kill a few hours.
Cutter had locked the door and closed the blindfolds in his office before he noticed the three fairies next to him.
"You know I wasn't expecting you scaring up the whole ARC. I thought you might just wave your hand and everyone would have ignored me for the rest of the day."
"That we could have done," one of the fairies confirmed. "But where would have been the fun in that?"
As the staff slowly returned to work, relieved it had been only a fire drill, Lester observed the remaining fairies of his guard. He was worried since he had seen three of them following Cutter to his office. He hoped they didn't plan to play pranks on him or harm him in any way. Cutter wasn't a threat. The man would keep quiet about the secret.
Determinedly, Lester dialed the number of Rosaline Lester. It was time familiarise himself with his position as fairy king. Hopefully his great-aunt could provide him with more information than the lessons in his childhood had entailed. To be able to control his folk he had to know about the fairies' dark side and their dirty tricks.