"The problem with that is hitting other people that are innocents in the warehouse, or missing guards that are just outside of it," he points out gently.
"...you and Savannah did, in fact, wind up killing everybody in the warehouse," Bella points out. "And I knew there were guards present. I'm assuming here a reasonable state of knowledge about where I'm aiming my magic carpet bombing."
"I mean in a future warehouse situation. I uh - yeah, we did end up killing everybody in the warehouse."
"I - maybe there's a way to do automatic defensive magic? Put a shield up and be safely asleep inside it where no - ink monsters or anything can get you."
"...That sounds worth doing. I'll try it before I go to bed, maybe, passing out during the daytime wrecks my sleep schedule."
And then there are snuggles. "Any other experiments we can do? I bet you can do some cool things to technology if given the chance."
"I'm afraid I'd break any technology I got if I tried to do something more complicated than fix a cracked screen."
"Yay, toys. I mean, if you have busted stuff cluttering up the garage, that's another thing entirely, but I don't want to touch anything hard to replace."
"No big deal. I'll - try magic on various things that come up in everyday life, get a feel for it."
"Okay. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help? Fairy princess magic is pretty cool."
He grins at her, and then starts being a huge magic geek and talking about his various magic projects - he's still trying at true invisibility, something that works on cameras along with people, but there are other things, too. One to be bulletproof, for example.
College approaches. There's a big shopping trip for all the essentials. They rent the furnished apartment above their store from the same Avalon landlord, and move in, a few weeks before school starts. It has one bed in it. They wind up falling asleep on each other all the time already, quite innocently; Charlie doesn't fuss. There are housewarming presents.
Bella's birthday is a short while before the start of classes.
"Bella," he says, confused, "Why is there a huge bowl with a bright red bow on it under our bed?" Pause. "Why is it filled with condoms?"
"What - what? I didn't put that there. And I can't really see Charlie doing it, it must have been your dad."
'Congrats on the apartment,' it reads. 'Now if you make me a grandfather before I'm fifty we will be having words. Here you go.'
"Dad did it," snorts Darren. "Wow. Wow."