A/N: I'm very happy to see that there's some interest in Gunther/Jackie after all. Thank you very much for the reviews, everyone! Now let's see if the two star-crossed lovers can come together again...

Jackie was sitting alone by a table at the corner, right below a moose's head. She was staring into a cup, seemingly oblivious to the world around her.

For a moment, Gunther was stunned. How long had she been here? Why did she come here, of all places? Should he get his hopes up? For a minute or so, he just stared at the girl, who never once looked up. Clearly, Gunther's father Magnus had noticed. He put down the blowtorch and the sheep's head and walked over to his son.

"She been here three hours.", he began explaining.

Well that answered one question.

"She order nothing but a cup of gløgg[*]", he continued.. "Should ask her either to order some more, or leave. But then I remember, you like that girl. Maybe you want to talk to her?"

"I will" Gunther replied and got off the chair. "Thanks dad."

"Wait!" a woman's voice called out as Gunther was heading away from the counter. He turned around and looked at his mom, who promptly handed him a hot lingonberry pie.

"She must be getting hungry. Bring her this. Is her favourite, not right?" she said cheerfully.

"That…that's right." Gunther answered, and smiled forcedly. "Thanks mom, the very thoughtful of you."

"Is on the house, of course." She continued, still cheerful. "She look like she could need some cheering up, poor girl. Be nice to her, not right?"

Gunther nodded. Judging from his mom's behaviour, you'd think she still believed Jackie was his girlfriend. Maybe she did. Gunther suddenly realized that he had never actually denied it. After all, how was he going to explain what had happened between them: "Well, you see, one day she asked me to marry her, the other day she treated me like air"? And of course, the fact that he spent an entire afternoon and evening at Jackie's practicing for a dance contest didn't do much to discourage his mom either. He'd brought a lingonberry pie that time, too. She said she loved it, and told Gunther to bring his mom her compliments.

She'd said she loved a lot of things. But so far, she'd only ever stood by one of them. It wasn't pie, and it wasn't him.

Gunther stared at the pie as if it was mocking him.

"Right." He turned to Bjørgen "Uncle, could you deliver a message to Kick…?"

After telling Bjørgen what the message was, he walked down to the corner table where Jackie was sitting, stirring into her cup. It was empty, except for a handful of raisins on the bottom. He harked. She barely looked up.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" he asked her friendly.

"Sit wherever you like. Your family owns this place, after all."

Okay, not exactly the answer he was hoping for, but at least it wasn't a "no". And Jackie didn't sound angry or anything like that. Just tired. He sat down opposed to her so he could look her in the eyes.

"So.." he began.

"Why do they have to put so much raisins in this drink?" she interrupted him, staring into the cup. "I don't like raisins"

Okay, now she was just trying to avoid the subject.

"It's traditional", he said, his voice sounding a little firmer, "But Jackie, about today –"

"I know what you're gonna say" she butted in, and grabbed a piece of the pie.

"You do?"

"Yeah. That I shouldn't listen to Kendall. That she doesn't know what she's talking about. That she was angry and upset, and wasn't thinking about what she was saying and yadda yadda. But what if she's right?"

"She's not right."

"Oh yeah? Tell me one thing, Gunther – Does Kick like having me around?"

Gunther hesitated. Good question. Should he give her an answer that would discourage her from chasing Kick around? This was the perfect opportunity to do so. But dammit, he refused to lie about his best friend. He didn't want Kick to come across as a bad person when he clearly wasn't:

"He loved having you around!" Gunther told her truthfully. "In the beginning."

Apparently, that was the wrong angle.

"Ah, so it's like Kendall said" she muttered, "He needed me to build up his ego."

"That's not what Kendall said!" Gunther objected.

"It's what she implied." Jackie took another piece of pie, reminding Gunther that he came in here because he was feeling hungry. He picked up a piece, too.

"Kick doesn't need you to build up his ego, and he never did. He was genuinely flattered that you're his fan. It's just that…well, after a while you were coming on too strongly."

"So you're saying that he appreciated me in the beginning, but then he got fed up, and now he's just tolerating me."

"He's not tolerating you!" Günter snapped. It about 0.1 seconds to realize the implications of what he'd just said.

"I mean, he's not just tolerating you." Gunther hurriedly corrected himself. "He thinks of you a friend."

"Does he?" the tall girl muttered in disbelief. "And when did he ever call me a friend?"

"At your birthday party", Gunther revealed. "When you beat up his brother for taking his room. That's when he said: "Sometimes having a friend like Jackie isn't so bad"

On reflection, Gunther realized that it probably didn't sound that flattering, but those were Kick's exact words, and he didn't want to sugar-coat it

"Oh, great, so I'm his henchman!" she growled. "He likes me when I'm useful to him."

"It's not a matter of whether you're useful or not. Friends do each other favors. You did one for him, and he did one for you. He made sure you had an awesome birthday party, remember?"

"Yeah...he did" This reminder actually seemed to change Jackie's facial expression. She grabbed another piece of pie as a look of guilt came over her face.

"Gunther...about that party?"

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you come?"

"Because you didn't invite me." He replied, trying not to sound bitter. To his secret glee, this made Jackie look even guiltier.

"You..." she hesitated "You could've come anyway. Kick brought a lot of guests to the party. You could've joined then."

Now it was Gunther's turn to feel awkward. The truth was, he wanted to go, but he didn't want to be just one in a crowd of impromptu guests. But on that evening, he'd gotten an idea. He was going try and be just a little classier, arriving like a Johnny-come-lately with a flower in hand and a smooth attitude. But just as he rang the door, Jackie came running out, her mind fixed on giving Brad a good beating, and the moment was spoiled.

"Uh...I wanted to, but then you suddenly got very busy."

The conversation was interrupted as Gunther's mom came over to their table with another lingonberry pie. He looked down at the table and noticed that the old form was empty. They – or mostly Jackie - had already eaten the whole thing. Jackie thanked Helga and immediately helped herself to a piece of the new pie.

"Healthy appetite, not right?" she whispered admiringly to her son before she left.

"Speaking of that party…" Gunther continued when they were alone once again, "What exactly did Kick give you for your birthday? I never figured that out."

Jackie looked at him uneasily. "Well…it was…kinda silly, really, no big deal…Just a…uh…" She put her elbows on the table and looked down. "Look Gunther, I know it must seem really weird to everyone that I'm so obsessed with Kick. Kendall was right about that, don't deny it…"

He didn't deny it. But then again, he didn't say anything at the moment. However, he had already decided not to further pursue the subject of mystery birthday gifts.

"It's just that…I'm an only child. Both my granddads died before I got a chance to know them. My mom only has sisters. My parents got divorced early, and my dad moved to another state. So basically I grew up without any men in my family, but that only made me more fascinated by all that macho and adrenaline stuff. To me, that was like looking into an exotic, alien world." She sighed. "I don't know if you can understand that, having grown up in a family of fierce Viking warriors…"

Upon hearing this, Gunther suddenly got an idea. By his standards, it was a bold, even foolhardy idea, but maybe that was exactly what he needed right now. He looked around. The tables next to them had been abandoned during their conversation. Nobody would overhear this.

"Jackie?" he said with his voice lowered. "Can you keep a secret?"

She just looked at him for a moment. Then she replied: "I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"Well, I've never had anyone confiding in me before."

That would have to do. Gunther got closer.

"My parents aren't really Vikings."

"They're not?"

"No! Vikings in the twenty-first century? I can't believe everyone's still falling for that!"

"But then why…wait, so they're only acting like that as a sales gimmick for your restaurant?"

"Well, it's a bit more serious than that. You see, back home my parents were…kind of like actors. They played Vikings at festivals, fairs, carnivals and Christmas parties. And in the summers, they were employed by an amusement park. They'd learned all about old Norse culture and customs, including traditional cooking. Bascially, they were trying to be as authentic as possible."

Jackie listened with interest. "That sounds cool" she commented. "Why did they stop?"

"They never really stopped, that's the problem. Have you ever heard of a guy called Joshua Norton?"

Jackie hesitated.

"He used to fantasize about becoming Emperor of America" Gunther explained, "Until he ended up believing he really was the Emperor of America. And my folks…after a while they just couldn't get out of character, not even after work. They acted like Vikings all the time, and they couldn't seem to snap out of it."

"Was that a problem?"

"It wasn't until…" Gunther sighed. "Remember at take-your-father-to-school day, how furious my dad got when Morton on front row called his warrior kilt a skirt?"

Jackie giggled. "Hee hee, yeah…"

"The same thing happened while he was working at the amusement park once. Some teenaged boy made a remark about his sk…kilt, and dad threatened him with an axe."

Jackie stared.

"Nobody was hurt, and dad might have gotten away with it if he was using one of the park's plastic axes. But he insisted on carrying a real axe. Anyway, the story made it to the press, and the park decided that dad was bad for publicity. He was fired. Even though most people just laughed at it…" Gunther suddenly realized that Jackie was giggling herself silly.

"Yeah, just like that." He remarked dryly.

"I'm sorry" Jackie said grinning, "But that is pretty funny."

"Anyway, it was so embarrassing that we decided to emigrate. And since cooking for guests and tourists used to be an important part of their act, they decided to go into the restaurant business when they got to America."

"How about your uncle?" Jackie asked, pointing at the fat, bearded man who was coming from the basement with a sack of potatoes. "Was he also a carnie Viking who couldn't get out of character?"

Gunther was hoping that she wouldn't ask him about Bjørgen, but they had already come this far…

"No, that's a different story. He used to be a restaurant cook at an IKEA warehouse."

"What happened?"

Gunther groaned. "He…he misread the labels one day and used some expired cream in the meatball sauce. Way expired…"

He paused.

"Let's just say it got ugly, especially since it happened in a furniture store. From what I've heard, they had to replace almost the entire couch section."

This time, Jackie didn't giggle. She burst into a loud, ringing fit of laughter.

Gunther nodded. "Yeah, all right, I guess that is kind of funny", he admitted with some reluctance. "But it wasn't for uncle Bjørgen. He was fired, of course, and when news of the lawsuits got out, no other diner or restaurant in Scandinavia would hire him. That's why he moved with us."

Jackie wiped away a tear and looked at Gunther with a big smile.

"Whatever you do, please don't ever mention this to him. In fact, don't even say the words "meatballs" or "cream" in front of him. Every time he even thinks about that episode, his speech gets all slurry and garbled."

The two kids looked at each other for a moment.

"As you might have guessed already, he still thinks a lot about it." he said with a shrug.

"Gosh, Gunther, I had no idea…"

"Promise you won't tell anyone?"

"Of course, of course. Except for Kick, that is."

"What? Why would you tell him?", Gunther asked her almost angrily.

"I mean, he already knows about this anyway…right?"

Gunther lowered his shoulders. "Actually…no, he doesn't."

"You haven't told Kick? But he's your best friend!"

"Yeah, but he also think my dad is cool. He might not think that if he knew that dad is…well, like you said, a carnie Viking. And having a cool dad is pretty much the only advantage I got over him. I prefer it if he thinks my dad is Hägar the Horrible rather than a clown."

"Hägar is sort of a clown, too. He's in the funny pages, after all" Jackie pointed out. "And even if your dad is a clown, at least he's a badass clown with an axe…"

Their hands touched as they both reached for the last piece of pie. For a few seconds, they stared awkwardly at each other before Gunther let her have it.

"Seriously, though.", she continued, staring into the air. "I'm only one you've told this too?"

"Uh huh."

For a minute or so, Jackie said nothing. She just chewed slowly on the pie while she continued staring into empty air. Then…

"Gunther?"

"Yeah?"

"Can't we just start all over?"

"Start all over with a what?"

"With us."

"From the very beginning?" As far as Gunther could tell, there was no "us" in the very beginning.

"Well…maybe not quite. How about…from the day before the big dance-off?"

Well, it's the second best thing to Widowmaker's Peak, he mused.

"Works for me. But...what does that mean for us, exactly?"

Jackie shrugged with a smile. Then, unexpectedly, she kissed him - If only briefly, and only on the cheek.

"We'll see.", she said cheerfully, and got up. "Later, little carnie Viking." She chirped as she skipped towards the exit. By the counter, she stopped for a moment, and stared at Magnus and Bjørgen with a goofy smile on her face. Then she guffawed again.

"Sorry..." she evntually managed to sob. "You guys are okay. I...I gotta go now. Oh hi, Kick.", she greeted her suited up classmate briefly upon leaving the restaurant. As she closed the door behind her, everyone in the restaurant could hear Jackie having another laugh attack.

Gunther got up. "Kick? I thought Bjørgen told you –"

"Not to interrupt, yeah. And I didn't, did I?" He smiled. "So everything's all better, it looks like?"

"It's no worse than it was before lunch, anyway."

Kick put an arm around his friend's shoulder. "Don't be so modest, Gunther. From where I was standing, it looked like you did great. You made her laugh, and that's always a very good sign. Unless she was laughing at you, of course."

"Nah, I can safely say she wasn't laughing at me."

"No problem, then." The young daredevil turned his head.. "By the way, you got some lingonberry on your chin", he added with a smirk.

The End

A/N: So what do you think? It might seem a bit too open-ended and noncommittal, but that's what I was going for. I figure Jackie's going to need some time to get over her obsession. You might wonder why I ended up giving much more space to Gunther's origin story than Jackie's. Well, I wanted Gunther's story to be an icebreaker.

Footnote: [*] Gløgg is a traditional Scandinavian hot cider made with red wine, spices, almonds and raisins. There is also a child-friendly version made with fruit juice instead of wine. Rest assured that's what Magnus served Jackie.