#6, snow

"Sally, come quick! I have great news!" Jack called out to an empty Halloweentown, wandering around at rapid pace. Where was she? Ohhh, this was too good to wait! No matter, he'd find her eventually! "Sally?"

Snapping his fingers he headed off to the graveyard. Surely she'd be there! Jack knew she liked placing forget-me-nots on the grave. Why didn't he look there before? "There you are! I knew I'd find you here!"

"Oh, hello Jack," she said quietly, spinning around to face him, a basket full of half-wilted flowers swinging from the nook of her elbow as she did so. "How are you?"

"I'm fantastic! Come with me, quick, there is something I want to show you!" he said, positively beaming. Grabbing her hand before she had a chance to respond, he marched off toward the main square of town.

"What is this about Jack?" Her tone was half curious, half worried. Though Jack meant well, half his 'good news' generally turned out to be rather bad. The most notable of this 'good news' had to be the mishap he'd had with Christmas, and as Halloween was just behind them, she feared it may be something similar. Oh dear.

"I've finished my invention, my dear Sally! Ohhh, wait until you see!"

Finally they made it into the town square, and Jack released her hand and lead her over to a great machine set off to the side.

"Now! You see, Christmas is supposed to have snow," he said, confirming her fears. Readjusting her basket slightly, she sighed and waited. "Well, whenever we try to celebrate it here, we never get any! I've tried importing it from Christmas town, but ohhh... It always melts!"

"So what does this have to do with it, Jack?" she asked, trying to sound sincerely interested. Of course, she was interested, but it took some work to hide that worried tone in her voice.

"I've made my own snow, and this machine here will spread it around throughout the holidays, making sure we have snow for the whole season! As much or as little as we'd like, Sally!" Jack was, if possible, beaming even more as he said it. He'd been anxious all day about telling her the good news, and finally he was able to! Watching her face to see her reaction, his grin faded slightly as her face fell.

"Oh," she said, looking away from the machine to Jack, putting a smile on her face. "That's great news!"

"What's wrong, Sally?" he asked, stepping towards her. Though she tried to hide it, he could tell something was up.

"Well... Do we really need snow?" she said quietly, looking at him. "To me, it's always seemed kind of... cold and lonely, don't you think?" That, and how much time would he spend in it? All this talk about it, would he even spend time with her?

"Cold and lonely?" he asked, scratching his chin and scrunching his face up, before standing up to his full height and letting out a hearty laugh. "Oh Sally! Can't you see? Nothing can chill these bones as long as you're with me!"

Gasping, she suddenly wondered whether she was blushing. Jack reached out to grab her hand, sliding the other around her waist and span her around enthusiastically, sending the flowers scattering around the square.

"Christmas and snow and missle-toes, none if it would matter if you weren't here! It's all fascinating, but none of it can warm this heart or make me feel alive like you do!"

"Oh, Jack..." she said, smiling despite herself as she span around. Stopping he leaned forward and placed a kiss on her lips.

"Why, I even think I'll raise my glass to you during our Thanksgrieving dinner!"

Uh-oh, here we go again. Oh well.


Author's Note: For 15pairings on LJ. Don't own anything.