Another kink meme prompt one-shot, definitely not as good as Frost Flower Funeral. This one really, really fought me, and was very much an artistic challenge, as it were.
Disclaimer: I don't own, you don't sue, and everyone's happy.
Jack really needed to pay more attention when he was upset. The storm had started out as it should have, nothing more than an inch or two of snow, something the residents of Burgess were used to. He hadn't meant for his frustration at the moon to escalate the storm, and he definitely hadn't meant for this to happen.
The woman in the car was screaming her head off, her large belly poking out and making Jack cringe. He really hadn't meant for this to happen.
The car was stuck. No up, no down, no in, no out. It was stuck, and this woman was getting ready to bring a child into the world. A little boy, if they weren't just using the male pronoun for the heck of it.
The woman was alone, her husband had rushed out to get an ambulance before the baby ended up being born in the car. At this rate, the baby might still be born in the car. He'd managed to slow and stop the snow at a reasonable rate, giving the man and the ambulance a fair shot at getting to the woman. Now, all he had to do was wait.
This was going to take forever.
The woman just kept screaming and Jack watched her anxiously, not really sure when things were going right or if something was going wrong. He had always avoided places where people were screaming their lungs out in childbirth. It was messy and disgusting in ways he really did not like to think about, but he couldn't leave this woman alone.
"You are going to be an extraordinary one," she gave a week laugh, rubbing her belly a little as she spoke to it, "just think of it, already an amazing story for everyone to hear and you aren't even born yet. You'll be a stubborn one, I can already tell."
Jack listened, and couldn't help the depression that overwhelmed him. This little boy already had a loving family to take care of him. Already had someone who would be there for him and the little boy would probably never be lonely and-
Jack had to cut himself off and take a few deep breaths before he started another storm entirely. It wasn't as if the kid got to choose his parents.
Nor where he was born, and it looked like the where was going to be right here, right now. And that Jack reminded himself, is entirely your fault Frost.
Jack honestly didn't know what to do. He was doing his best to keep the air around the car from getting much colder, made sure the wind wasn't having an effect on the car's battery so it would still work, but otherwise, he wasn't sure he really could do anything other than stand guard.
Which was getting harder and harder to do the more the woman screamed, and she was screaming a lot. Suddenly, car lights and siren sounded nearby. The ambulance! Jack slammed his staff to the ground, eliminating as much ice as he could on the roads that had begun to freeze.
The ambulance was able to get a lot closer than they normally would have if he hadn't interfered, and they rushed out to the woman, and it appeared that she was, in fact, going to pop out the kid right here.
Jack took that as his cue to turn around and focus on de-icing the way out. He had NOT signed up for this.
Even as he worked along the back road towards the main road (which was properly salted and would give them no trouble) he could hear as the woman's screams escalated and finally stopped. When he returned, they had wrapped up the child and the father was holding him while they pulled the weak mother onto the ambulance.
The baby's eyes were open, and he was staring at his father.
"Your actually really cute." Jack spoke, flying above the father, just high enough the man wouldn't be able to move through him. For a second-just one second-he could have sworn that those eyes locked onto his. He shook it off as the family made its way into the ambulance.
No one can see you. He reminded himself firmly He wasn't looking at you, probably wasn't really looking at anything, and it's your job to make sure everyone here gets safely to the hospital.
With those thoughts firmly in mind, he followed the ambulance all the way to the hospital, clearing the way and ensuring that the snow and subsequent ice didn't interfere with the safety of the people inside.
...
He couldn't help himself from watching the small child. Every time he wasn't out making snow he was watching him. From a safe distance to ensure there was no effect on temperature, of course, but he was there, all the same.
The Bennetts, as he had discovered they were called, took their healthy baby boy home in only a few days. He followed them home, to a house surprisingly close to his lake.
Jack didn't know why he couldn't leave the smallest Bennett alone, but he figured it was because he had been the cause of the little guy almost dying. So he swore to himself that he'd watch over little Jamie Bennett.
...
There were times during Jamie's toddler years-too many, far too many for Jack's sanity-where he thought that Jamie could see him. A part of Jack felt like maybe in the back of his mind, Jamie remembered something. It was a false hope, and he knew it, but he couldn't stop it. He forced himself to watch from a distance, to try and take somewhat less of an interest in Jamie. He had a job to do, and there was fun to be had everywhere. So he went other places, didn't spend every moment he could in Burgess.
But he always checked on Jamie when he came back.
...
Jamie grew up a strong believer, and he didn't give up easily. He loved the snow, which his parents apparently attributed to his being born in the snowstorm, and Jack thought that it was because he'd had a winter spirit was following him around, but he was biased.
"What are you reading?" Jack tended to talk to Jamie the most. He talked to himself plenty-part of only a few ways to keep his sanity-but he talked to Jamie the most.
Jamie was reading a fairy tale book. One on Griffons and Manticores and other mystical creatures it seemed.
"Hmm... well the Griffons are real, but I'm not sure about Manticores. I'm not even sure that that's a real word." Jamie kept reading, ignoring Jack, not that Jack had been expecting a response.
"Jamie! It's time for dinner!" His mother called to him from downstairs, and Jack flew down to the kitchen window. As he watched, he heard Jamie babble about the creatures from his book, and felt a pang of bittersweet sadness as the frost on his fingers covered his view. He loved Jamie, he really did. He hoped Jamie would never stop believing in the unlikely, in the impossible. He hoped Jamie kept his spirit.
Jack would always believe in Jamie, even if Jamie didn't believe in him.
...
The world may have been crashing down around him, but some things, to Jack, held true no matter what. When he saw one light-only one, in Burgess-he knew. Who else could it be, but Jamie Bennett?