"Mother!" The small dark-haired girl called out to me, and I turned to look at my daughter. She smiled up at me with her smooth pink lips, and I felt my heart melt a bit.

"What is it, darling?" I asked.

"You didn't tell me my story." Her soft voice rang clearly through the gloom of night. She batted her long dark lashes and continued. "You promised to tell me the story about how you and Father met."

I smiled as the memories rushed through my head. It seemed so long ago, which partly it was. Andalasia seems to stop time from moving at its normal pace.

"I did promise." I whispered to myself. I returned to her bed, kneeling down on the soft rug next to it. "Okay dear. The story of how your father and I met." I cleared my throat. "I didn't always live in Andalasia. Once I lived in a far away land called New York City."

"There's no such place." She scoffed. I laughed.

"That's what you think." I continued. "I lived there for several years, working as a…" She didn't know the term 'fashion designer', so I altered my story. "seamstress. I spent many years there alone, with just some friends for company. And then, one day, I attended a ball. But you see, love, I attended the ball with another suitor."

"Mother!" She looked at me, scandalized. "But what about Father?"

"I hadn't met him yet, darling." I calmly explained. "I attended the ball with a man named Robert. We were…very close friends. While at the ball, Robert found another friend of ours. A female friend." Her eyes grew wide, but she said nothing. "Her name was Giselle. He asked her to dance with her. She had come with a very handsome man, and he asked me to dance."

"Is that Father?" She asked excitedly.

"Hush, love." I scolded gently. "So we danced. It was amazing. I couldn't stop looking at him. But then, as he was leaving, a wicked witch came! She turned into a vicious dragon, and terrorized us all! But then Giselle, sweet little Giselle, she vanquished the dragon! She shoved the dragon from the tallest tower! But she forgot her shoe inside the ballroom. Now your father, the handsome man I danced with, came and said that he was to marry the lady whose foot fit the shoe. He placed it on my foot and it fit perfectly!" I sighed at the memory. "And then we ran away, to Andalasia, where we were married. We lived happily ever after." I finished the tale, absolutely sure that it was the most truthful, unbiased retelling of that fateful night's events. My young daughter looked up at me with a doubtful glare in her crystal blue eyes.

"Yeah, sure Mother." She said, sarcasm that she must have picked up fro me in her voice. "I'm sure that's exactly how it went. Because we all live in such a perfect fair tale."

I laughed, seeing much too much of myself in the young girl. "I suppose it does sound like a fairy tale to you." I agreed. She smiled and nodded. "Good night, sweetheart." I kissed her forehead and slowly walked out, sneaking glances at her small form. I heard her heavy breathing by the time I reached the door.

I walked down to my own bedroom, finding Edward inside.

"How is she?" He asked.

"She's fine." I assured him. I laughed. "She's a character, though. I told her the story of how we met."

"What did she say?" He asked, looking at me with those same crystal blue eyes.

"She told me that it was just a fairy tale." I sighed. As usual, Edward surprised me. He gave me a quick glance, one that combined amusement, confusion, and something that made me thing I was missing the obvious.

"She's right." He said frankly, wondering why I wasn't seeing it. "It is a fairy tale."