Jamie and Marie -instead of going back to the house- had decided to go on a walk, following a trail in the snow-covered forest surrounding the town. It was starting to snow lightly, and the sunset created a beautiful hue shining off the snow. Jamie had his hand intertwined with his wife's and was looking around at the scenery when he sighed quietly. Marie looked at him.

"What is it, Jamie?"

Her husband simply shrugged his shoulders a little before turning to face her. "I had hoped to see Jack today. I thought he'd return to Burgess for the first day of winter like he did when I was a child; he would always play in the snow with us and whatnot. But today, and for the past few years actually, I haven't seen him. When Jackson mentioned him this morning, I had honestly… f-forgotten about him." He sighed, guilt flooding his mind. He knew how much Jack depended on him and his other strong believers to support him. Now Jamie realized that he had forgotten about him, and who knows how Jack could react to that.

"I, I just hope he's okay."

Marie put her free hand on her husband's shoulder. "Jamie, relax. You've got to remember, he is a guardian now. He's probably really busy with them and spreading winter across the northern hemisphere. Not to mention it is almost Christmas; North probably has him working overtime. And hey, who knows, he might stop by-"

"Later? I see you still have faith in me, Marie, unlike your husband here." A voice said jokingly. It came from no other than the winter spirit himself. Jack Frost had been sitting in a tree farther up along the path, and hopped down to the couple. He was smirking and Jamie rolled his eyes playfully before smiling at the immortal teen. He offered his hand out to Jack, and the spirit took it happily, though startled when he found himself pulled into a hug by his long-time friend. He laughed a bit before pulling back.

"So how have you two been? It's been quite some time since I saw you guys. Man you've gotten tall, Jamie. You're taller than me now. Oh, how are Nicholas and Liz? How old are the kidos now?"

Marie smiled a little. "Nicholas is ten, Lizzy is eight… and Jackson is five."

Jack now had a look of confusion on his face. "Jackson? You guys had another kid?" His eye widened slightly as another thought occurred to him. He glanced down for a second.

"Has is really been five years?" The winter spirit barely whispered.

Jamie nodded uncomfortably. "Yep, five years…"

Jack took a small step back and looked down at his feet, leaning on his staff. "I uh, I'm sorry I haven't… it's been so hard to keep track of everything nowadays and…"

Jamie cleared his throat. "Jack, it's okay. I understand; it's alright." He put a hand on his friend's shoulder, but the winter spirit shrugged it off.

"No, it's not…"

Jamie frowns slightly. "Jack, you're a guardian now. A lot of kids believe in you, and you're kept busy by bringing winter to all of them. Not to mention whatever tasks the other guardians give you. Me? I'm an adult now. There are other kids who need you." Jack looked down at his feet again, drawing in the snow with his staff.

"It's hard to grow up, but I got through it. Marie got through it. Eventually, my children will as well. You need to learn that I won't always be here. Perhaps… perhaps it's time for you to grow up too, Jack."

The winter spirit's head shot up suddenly, shocked by what Jamie had said. For a second, there was a look of hurt in his eyes. His expression then changed to one of anger, and it began to snow around the group.

"Grow up? I grew up three hundred years ago. I was on my own, no one could see me! I had to fight for myself, and I had no idea who I even was! What do you think I did during those first few years? Just sat around playing with kids who didn't enjoy snow? Back then, kids hardly played outside in the winter due to fear of becoming sick! So what did I do? I learned how to take care of myself! Tell me, how did I not grow up?!"

Jamie soon grew furious. Things he had always thought about but never said boiled up to the surface. "You don't take responsibility for the things you do! All the blizzards the snowstorms; Hell, Jack, you made the iceberg that sank the Titanic! Yes it was on accident and you did everything you could to help, but you still didn't admit to it until asked by the guardians! You need to learn not to let your emotions control your powers! You killed people that day-"

The wind picked up speed, and Marie shivered as the two men in front of her continued to argue.

Jack got up in Jamie's face, tears forming in his eyes. "Don't you think I know that?! I know how many people I killed! I tried to help them, but they couldn't see me! I watched as people jumped off the ship, dying in the freezing water! I've dealt with the guilt of what I did every day since it happened. I feel terrible after every blizzard and snowstorm and avalanches on the mountains and… p-people falling through ice…"

"All because of your temper-tantrums! You're just a big child!" Jamie was now yelling at the top of his lungs, leaning over Jack. The winter spirit now began to cower, backing up from who he used to think of as his closest friend.

"It's no wonder the guardians ignored you for three hundred years! In fact, I probably would have done the same!"

Jack opened his mouth to respond, but then shut it tightly. He backed further away from Jamie and Marie, tears threatening to roll down his face. He closed his eyes and looked away. He shifted his body towards Marie.

"I-It was n-nice seeing you, M-Marie… Tell J-Jackson I might s-see him around." The winter spirit then quickly spun on his heels, away from the couple and flew off, rustling the tree branches in his hurry.

Marie pulled her hand away from Jamie's and gave him a hard stare. He looked at her.

"What?"

She looked ready to slap him. "You know damn well what! How could you blow up at Jack like that? You've told me numerous times about how sensitive he is, and then you go and do that! I thought you were worried about him about five minutes ago."

Jamie's eyes narrowed at his wife. "Why are you siding with him? You remember the blizzard two years ago! You remember what happened!"

Marie now had tears in her eyes; the memories still burned her heart. "Of course I do! But for all we know that could have been a complete accident! Jack might have been protecting us!"

"What if he hadn't been? What is it was just some stupid fit he had?!" Jamie screamed.

"Then that is that! There is nothing we can do to change it! Jamie, Jack hasn't even seen us in five years! There was no way he could have meant to do what he might have caused! The last time he saw us is when Lizzy was three! He couldn't have known! We hadn't even planned for it yet!"

"It doesn't matter if he knew or not! It doesn't change the fact that we lost her! How are you not as upset as I am over this?!"

"Because I have forgiven Jack! It wasn't his fault!" Tears rolled down the woman's face, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. Quietly, she started again.

"Losing Katelyn… was the hardest thing I have had to deal with thus far in my life. And for a while, yes, I despised the winter and anything related to it including Jack for taking her away from me. She was only two years old. It was a freak accident. If it is anyone to blame, it is me for going out in the damn blizzard."

"But Jack caused the blizzard; he never stops to think what might happen when he does!" Jamie retorted.

Marie raised her voice again. "We do not know that he caused it just because he wanted to, Jamie!"

"Why are you defending him?!"

"Because it seems like nobody ever has before!" She pauses, looking away from Jamie for a minute. "He had no clue that I'd be out that night with Katelyn and Nicholas in the car."

"But-"

Marie cut him off. "Jamie, just listen to me. Jack is learning from his mistakes. Did you not see the look in his eyes when you mentioned the incident? He obviously has enormous guilt over that; same with the blizzard and snowstorms and everything else! And if we tell him about the blizzard two years ago, he would feel horrible over that as well.

"Jack didn't have anyone to teach him how to use his powers back then, no one to tell him when to stop. The guardians ignored him for the first three hundred years of his existence! But now they are helping him, now he has a family. One who can watch out for him, teach him how to control his powers better; someone to say "Stop"."

Jamie crossed his arms, but guilt was starting to make its way into his mind. "Then you admit he was acting childish?" He was grabbing at scraps now, trying to win the argument.

"No! Ugh, Jamie that is not the point!" Marie huffed before calming herself. "What I am saying is that Jack is trying. He is growing up; he is learning from his actions and from others' instructions." Marie turned away from her husband, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Jack is your friend, Jamie. It's about time you start acting like it."

This chapter is a little longer than the previous, but still its pretty short. I'm happy with it, but I feel as if some of the characters are out-of-character. I don't know, I did my best. Chapter three will be up next week, hopefully a little longer of a chapter. :) Read and review!