When Lilian got the black envelope, everyone knew what it meant.

It had been something they'd all hoped to never receive, and, for the most part, hadn't. There'd only been one instance of someone getting it before, and that was Alexis who had refused to do the job, much to Vera's frustration. When she first held it in her hands, Lilian couldn't believe it. Alexis, Vera, Rina, Tyler and Miranda were all around to watch her open it, slide the work paper out, and read it silently, all of them peeking over her shoulder. A funeral. A funeral for a little girl who'd died of cancer. A little girl who'd loved princesses. Lilian was shaking a little, but she was nothing if not the most professional of them all, sans Vera, so she was going to give this job the proper respect it deserved. Still, now standing near the snack tables where the wake was being held, she could hear Alexis's comment loud and clear.

"Goddamn dude, what a bummer."

She wasn't wrong. A wake is, after all, a type of party. It had initially been Tyler's idea to issue the black envelopes, including wakes as part of their efforts, and everyone had uncomfortably agreed to go along with it, but thankfully they'd rarely had to go through with one. Lilian tapped her fingers on the plastic red cup in her hands, sipping her cider as she watched permanently bereaved family members hug one another, kiss one another, hoping to find some kind of solace in a world so cruel it would kill a child. Lilian sighed and turned back towards the table, scooping some chips up in her hand and shoveling them in her mouth. Suddenly she noticed a girl, about on the cusp of teenagerhood, standing next to her.

"I can't believe they actually did it," she said.

"You and me both," Lilian said, lifting her drink to her lips.

"It just seems...gross, right?" the girl asked, "like...like yeah, she liked princesses, but she's not here."

"She's kinda here," Lilian remarked, glancing over her shoulder at the open coffin, making the girl smirk as she added, "but I suppose I understand the mentality of bending to the whims of a dead child. Having her interests be represented at this wake makes it feel less like she's gone and more like a celebration of sorts. It would've made her happy, and that's what we should all spend our time doing if we have children, making them happy."

"I guess," the girl said, shrugging as she and Lilian turned to face the crowd once more.

"How did you know her?" Lilian asked, and the girl sighed.

"Support therapy," the girl said, "I have cancer too, but mine's nowhere near as aggressive. All the kids in the therapy know one another. We aren't exactly friends, but we are friendly. We all thought she'd get better, she was so young, it just doesn't seem fair."

"A friend of mine worked a party about two years ago," Lilian said, "a birthday party, where this little boy ate some candy and died as a result. Ever since then I've been acutely aware of how nasty the world is, even though I experienced it firsthand myself as a child. The world doesn't care about your age, your innocence, your purity. We're all fodder. But it also doesn't kill with malice. It's ambivalent to us. It's not personal."

"...wow, you're depressing," the girl said, "I like you."

The girl and Lilian laughed, before the girl was called away and had to leave. Lilian grabbed more chips.

"She's not wrong, you are depressing," a voice said, and Lilian turned to see Greg there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, confused.

"I do therapy work for kids in the hospital," Greg said.

"You're not a child therapist," Lilian said.

"I'm a kid on the inside," Greg replied, the both of them chuckling; Greg pushed his hair from his face and turned to look at everyone, continuing, "giving kids therapy is much different than giving therapy to adults, but especially giving dying children therapy. That's a very unique experience. A lot of people think kids cannot comprehend the magnitude of their situation, but they're much more intelligent than most adults seem to believe. Kids understand more than we think. Certainly, the idea of nonexistence is weird to them, because all they know is the five or six or seven years they've been alive. The older they get the easier it becomes, but when they're very young, like a lot of the children in this hospital wing are, it can be a bit more difficult, but that doesn't make it any less important. They're already in a scary situation, the last thing they need is a lack of understanding of said situation."

Lilian smiled warmly. Greg was such a good person, and she was grateful to know him, as her therapist or not. She turned with him and together they stood there, snacking, drinking, watching. So many families, so many kids, clearly this child had been loved, and that made her all the more sad. They were so loved, and yet...they weren't here to experience that warmth. And then she saw him.

"You alright?" Greg asked, noticing Lilian tensing up.

"It's him," she whispered, pointing to a man in a suit, "...it's Michael."

                                                                           ***

Vera had only done a few parties in her time being a proper employee, and most of those were for very little kids, kids so little that they probably wouldn't be able to remember having her there when they got older. But still, a gig was a gig, and she was more than happy to abide. But this party was different, this was for a young girl, about 9, who would in fact recall having her there. Though, to be honest, she felt a little strange being there for a 9 year old. She figured a kid that age would feel embarrassed having a costumed character at their party. What she didn't know, however, was that it had been the kids request. The front door opened while Vera contemplated how this day was going to go, and a handsome, tall, black man was standing there. He smiled politely at her, then allowed her to enter.

"Thank you for coming," he said.

"...there's...not really anyone else here," Vera remarked, laughing awkwardly.

"I know, it's...it's a tough situation. Um," the man said, shutting the door and pulling his sports coat on, "I have to go to work, it was something I couldn't get out of, awful scheduling conflict, and as a result, we weren't able to really plan a proper party, so I figured, this way-"

"We're not a babysitting service, sir," Vera said, feeling a little annoyed.

"I know that, but..." the man said, sighing, approaching Vera, his voice lowering as he glanced past her towards the hallway; he added, "...her mother died last year. And not from some, long, drawn out illness. Just a heart attack, right in the middle of making her lunch while we played outside. I had to keep her from going back in the house once I found her. She needs this, please."

Vera had to admit, that hurt her heart to hear. She looked back at the hall before turning her attention back to the man as he headed for the door.

"Is there anything...anything I should do? Anything specific?" Vera asked.

"Whatever she wants, I guess," the man said, "good luck."

With that he exited, leaving Vera alone in the living room. She groaned and threw her arms up in frustration. Then she turned and looked around, taking in her surroundings. The house was well kept, clean and organized, with all manner of family photos either hung on the wall or placed on various shelves. Vera approached one near the TV, it featured the man, his dead wife and their daughter and she picked it up, smiling. The family looked so happy, and it reminded Vera of her own family when she was little. At least, before things got bad. Vera then put the photo down and headed to the hallway. She walked down the hall and knocked on the bedroom door that was clearly marked as a childs, with stickers on it, before opening it when she received no answer. Peering inside she found it empty. She felt confused, then noticed, through the window, a treehouse in the backyard. Vera walked back out, headed through the sliding glass door that led to the backyard, and went to the treehouse. She sighed, reached out and grabbed onto the ladder hung from the treehouse to the ground, climbing up. When she got to the top and looked inside, she noticed the little girl, sitting in the corner of the treehouse, dressed as a fairy herself. She looked up and caught Vera's eyes, her eyes filled with tears.

"...are you a fairy too?" the little girl asked, and Vera nodded slowly as she pulled herself up into the treehouse and sat cross legged across from the girl, who sniffled and then, tapping her plastic light up wand on the floor, asked, "can you make wishes come true?"

"Uh, well, depends on what the wish is. Something easy? Sure," Vera said, "for example, I can get you a piece of cake."

"I don't want cake," the girl whispered, "i want my mom."

Vera felt that in her soul.

                                                                         ***

Lilian, with Greg still, was watching Michael's every move. How he acted around the adults, appearing as if he were totally normal. As if he wasn't an absolute creep. Lilian grimaced and tapped her foot anxiously as Greg sipped his drink and bit the cheese cube off the top of his toothpick.

"What is he even doing here?" she snarled through her teeth.

"He must've known her, or knows someone who knew her," Greg said, "you say he's a judge on the child beauty pageant circle, so maybe one of these girls is a contestant of his, and he knew her by proxy. Maybe she participated herself. I don't know."

That's when she saw Anna, and got even more confused. Why would his assistant be here? Anna, however, wasn't with Michael. She was a bit aways, leaning against a wall by herself, sipping a drink and wiping at her eyes, clearly having been crying. Lilian looked at Greg, who returned the glance, raising an eyebrow.

"Come with me," she said, and he nodded. Lilian grabbed Greg by the arm and led him through the room, towards the hall. As they passed closeby, her and Anna caught sight of one another - which was what Lilian was attempting to do - and Lilian jerked her head towards the hall, indicating Anna should follow her. Anna nodded solemnly, finished her drink and set the glass down before wiping her mouth on her jacket sleeve and heading into the hall with them. Once the three of them had gotten down the hall a bit, they formed a semicircle and looked at one another.

"What are you guys doing here?" Lilian asked.

"He was a friend of the families, judged her older sister in pageants," Anna said, making Greg snap his fingers.

"If only I were a bettin' man," he said, making Lilian smirk a little.

"He used to bring gifts to the hospital for the child, only to hope to run into her sister, who, by the way, I say is older, but...she's 14. She was 9 when he started judging her. Thankfully, her parents are watchful, they don't leave him alone with her, but still...they felt obligated to invite him."

"Why are you here?" Lilian asked.

"Why do you think," Anna said flatly, sounding defeated, "to possibly vet new girls for pageants."

"At a WAKE?" Greg asked, now sounding pissed, "that's absolutely vile."

"...you don't even know the things I've seen, heard, had to hide. You don't...you don't know what a gift it is to be deaf until you hear a grown man take advantage of a young girl," Anna said, making Lilian's skin crawl; Anna continued, "he's an animal. No impulse control. I always have to clean up after him. Smooth things over with these poor girls after he's done his damage. Now I'm tired of it."

"I want you to come with me to the police," Lilian said, "I don't feel safe taking it myself. I need someone who's close to him."

"As if the police wouldn't be on his side," Greg mumbled, surprising Lilian, who looked at him until he added, "you know they're simply a force there to keep people like that in power because it's things they themselves support. The police aren't there to help you and I, ordinary citizens, no, they're a mobile task unit for the elite, a shield for the wealthy. I'm just saying, don't be surprised if they don't care."

"What kind of anti-capitalist hole did you crawl out?" Anna asked, making Greg laugh.

"I'm not anti-capitalist. I love money just as much as the next guy. I just happen to believe that peoples worth and value shouldn't come at the expense of it," Greg replied, shrugging, lifting the remainder of his drink to his lips. Anna then turned her sights back to Lilian and sighed, shaking her head.

"I can't," she whispered, "I can't, he would...it would be..."

"Anna," Lilian said, "he tried to do it to me too. When I was these girls age. He came into my dressing room, he tried to do it to me. We can stop him, right now. We have the means, together, the two of us. We can put an end to lots of girls suffering. We just have to be brave. Now goddammit I am a princess, and I'll be damned if I'm going to allow the continued abuse of my loyal subjects at the hands of a tyrant."

Anna looked Lilian in the eyes for a moment, and then she smiled.

"...okay," Anna said, "I'll help."

                                                                                 ***

"She used to tell me fantasy bedtime stories," the girl said, sitting with Vera in the treehouse; she continued, "at nighttime, she would sit on my bed and she would tell me stories until I fell asleep, and my favorite were the fairies. She wrote stories about fairies that got made into real books. But she was always telling me new ones, ones nobody else had heard yet."

"That sounds special," Vera said, "my mom worked a lot when I was young, but she tried her best to be there for me. You should hold close to those memories, cause those are the ones that are the best, that bring you comfort."

"Dd she stop trying to be there?" the girl asked, and Vera sighed, shrugging.

"She and my dad had a lot of problems together, but they tried their best to make it good for me. Still, by the time I was twelve or so, I guess they figured I was old enough to stop pretending, and they started fighting a lot more until my mom finally left. I always thought maybe I'd done something to make her leave, but I know it wasn't me. She still loves me, but...but I'm still mad at them both for not working things out more for my sake, but then I feel selfish because that wasn't what was right for them. It's hard. Being an adult is difficult. You know your dad is doing his best for you, right?"

The little girl nodded, and looked down at her wand again, as Vera thought about things. Thought about Tyler. His insecurities about being a father. Maybe she was being too harsh on him, cause she had her own thanks to how her family had fallen apart. Maybe she should try to be more understanding, listen to him more. She promised herself she'd talk to him more openly about this when she got home tonight. Vera looked out the window of the treehouse, noticing the wind chimes hanging, blowing in the breeze, before she smiled and looked back at the girl.

"You know," Vera said, "fairies are often not able to be seen by people. So maybe...maybe your mom is a fairy. Think about it, you can't see her now, can you? So who's to say she isn't out there, watching you, granting wishes? Have you wanted something lately and gotten it?"

The little girl thought for a moment, then looked up at Vera.

"I wanted a fairy at my fairy party," she said, and Vera smiled.

"And here I am," Vera said, making the girls eyes light up. She crawled across the floor of the treehouse, wrapped her arms around Vera and hugged tightly, Vera hugging her back.

Vera finally got it. She got why Lilian, why Alexis, why they all did this job. Having been on the boss side of things for so long, she had a lot of trouble understanding why they would choose to do this, but now she got it. Now it made sense. She understood why Lilian had fought so hard for Maddie. The best gift you can bring to a child on their birthday isn't an item.

It was comfort.

                                                                                ***

Lilian approached Michael through the crowd, Anna and Greg behind her. As she got closer, he turned his focus towards her, the people he was talking to turning and walking away. Michael looked her up and down briefly, then snapped his fingers at her.

"I know you!" he said, "you started judging recently, right?"

"You do know me, but not for that," Lilian said, "I used to do pageants when I was little. You were a judge then."

Michael's eyes widened a little in surprise. He was almost never approached by adult women he'd judged as a child.

"Oh, well, it's nice to see you maintained an interest in the work," he said, "if you ever need help with anything, please don't hesitate to ask my assistant," he added, pointing at Anna behind her.

"Actually, funny you say that, because I already did," Lilian said, leaning in towards him and lowering her voice, "and you're done. You're done doing this. I'm not going to let you do to other little girls what you tried to do to me. I was lucky enough to have an overly watchful mother. You may have been the judged, but now...you're about to be the judged."

With that, Lilian turned, along with Anna and Greg, and walked away, leaving Michael white as a sheet and speechless. When they got outside, the two of them hugged Lilian, who started crying, and she thanked them both. The thing about bravery, Lilian had learned from Maddie, wasn't that the bravest thing you could do was act, not just want to act. Maddie had spoken up, had saved her father, and that bravery, from a child, had made Lilian realize she could do the same thing for other young girls. But, funny enough, Maddie was about to one up her again, because right now, Maddie was opening the door to the apartment to a terrified Lux.

"...are you okay?" Maddie asked.

"no," Lux said, pushing her way into the apartment, Maddie closing the door behind them.