Only gonna say this once; I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS! I own Darcy and any other oc characters later on. Please review, I need to know what you like (or don't like) and I'd love to hear your recommendations about where to go with this fic. Thank you, hope you all enjoy.

Jamie's parents first tell him that his cousin Darcy is coming to live with his family, in their, so far unused attic, 3 days before she's due to arrive.

Jamie, who'd been prepared to go see Jack at his pond with Sophie, looks up from his breakfast cereal and stares at his Mother. She looks out the window, frowning.

"Why's she coming to stay?" Jamie asks, and she stops washing the dishes.

"Darcy…is having some problems at home." After her father died she stayed in Ireland for some time, and then moved to their old home on Lake Michigan. For whatever reason, she spent 6 months in California, on the coast, and then moved to Alabama to stay with her mother's relatives, and now she wants to move here, with them, in Burgess, Virginia.

"Sounds to me that she's got a gypsy soul." Jamie's father said out of nowhere

"Why didn't she come here first?"

"Well, I don't know, Jamie, maybe she's got her own reasons. You can ask her when she arrives, alright?" Jamie nods and thinks back to when he last saw his cousin.

Darcy is 8 years older than Jamie, and mentally, she used to be even older. Not because of intelligence (Darcy wasn't just smart, she was a genius, it had seemed to him when he was younger), but because of her sheer imagination. His cousin could tell the most wonderful stories when they were little; her vocabulary was larger than most children's, adding to the effect. They were very close when Jamie was younger, but after Sophie was born, he never heard from her.

At the end of his Mom's pregnancy with Sophie, Jamie's parents had to spend two weeks in the hospital. Darcy had been on winter vacation, and had flown out to stay with him (she didn't want to stay home, she said to his Mom, because her parents were at each other's throats).

They'd had a great time; Darcy showed him how to make shadow puppets, how to tell the differences in nearly identical, unlabeled spices, and had showed him how to make the best snow forts! Darcy taught him how to grease up the bottom of his sled so that it'd go faster, and to get water on the track before you go sledding so that it'd ice down and be that much more risky! But, most of all, Jamie remembers Darcy first telling him about Jack Frost.

Jamie grinned; Darcy, inadvertently, was responsible for introducing him to his best friend.

"Can you handle having her around for a bit?" Jamie's Mom asked, worriedly. He nods and grins; he can't wait to introduce her to Jack.

"Sure! I can't wait to see her again, it'll be just like before!" A shadow crosses his Mom's face and she gives him a sad look.

"Jamie, dear, listen. You have to understand that…some things can change." He nods, not knowing what to take from this. Darcy was…she used to be his idol. Once, if he can remember correctly, he asked her to marry him (he was maybe 4 at the time); Darcy had giggled and explained to him that she was a little too old for him, and to ask again in…say 14 years, if he still felt the way he did.

"Alright."

His Mom smiled and dried her hands on a dish towel. "What are you planning to do today?" Jamie grinned.

"I want to take Sophie sledding. Can I, Mom?"

"Just be careful dear." Jamie grins.

"Don't worry, I'll keep her safe."

(line)

Jamie and Sophie wait for Jack in the woods by his pond, and Jamie is so happy to see his friend and give him the news that he doesn't mind the customary snowball-to-the-face that is Jack's greeting.

Sophie plays in the snow drifts as Jamie tells Jack everything about Darcy that he can remember.

Jack is tickled as Jamie relays to him that Darcy was the original one who made Jamie believe in him; that she might be a believer, his first believer.

"Wanna come with us to the airport to get her?" Jamie invites, still excited.

"I'll follow the car," Jack gestures to the frost on his hoodie, and Jamie blushes, feeling beyond stupid.