Title: Time
Pairing(s): older!Sophie x Jack
Genre: Drama, Angst
Summary: In which Jack learns just how valuable time really is.
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters, only the story itself.
A/N: I'm not really sure where this came from. All I can say about this one is, uh, sorry!
beta'd by the simply fantastic darex2xdream
The older you get, the easier it is to lose track of seconds, minutes, hours. Days begin to lose their value once you realize you have more of them than you know what to do with. It becomes harder to remember what day it is, or even what month. Of course, there are still moments that will stay with you forever. Laughter that brings tears to your eyes over the silliest things, quiet nights alone with loved ones, the joy that comes with the first sight of an old friend.
Being immortal meant you didn't measure time with days or months or years. Time is accounted for by breathtaking sunsets and the warm taste of coffee and shared smiles.
However, not all of these remembered moments are happy.
It was a very cold Sunday. The only reason Jack had known it was a Sunday was because of the ringing church bells that cut through the crisp morning air. He was much better at keeping track of months rather than days, but he always knew when it was Sunday.
He was on his way to Chicago, letting the wind carry him as a light smile kept its place on his face. Today was Sophie's 23rd birthday and he had such a craving to see her.
She had moved there about a year ago, straight out of college. No matter how old she had gotten, Sophie was always filled with very big hopes and dreams. Even though she matured with age and became much more responsible (unlike her brother), Sophie never really "grew up". She was still filled to the brim with creativity and childlike wonder. She never lost her fascination for fantasy and fairy tales, something Jamie had passed down to her. And although she had to face adult responsibilities now, like getting a job and a house and paying taxes, she managed to find other ways to keep that young innocence Jack loved so much about her. She found writing was the perfect outlet for her bursting imagination, and worked part-time to pay the bills while spending time on the side writing her stories and novels.
Jack loved nothing more than reading what she wrote. To him, it was like taking a peek inside of her beautiful mind. She wrote about dragons and castles and mysteries and time travel and love. He couldn't count the number of quiet nights he had spent reading her latest masterpiece while she sipped away at her coffee (always peppermint mocha, no matter what time of year it was) and worked on the next one. They shared so many long minutes together without saying a word.
Just a week earlier, before Jack left her small apartment after she had fallen asleep, he left a note on her desk telling her to meet him at "Bean There, Done That" on her birthday. Bean There was a little coffee shop located at the heart of the city, Sophie's absolutely favorite place to visit. She had told Jack numerous times about how much she loved it there, and he figured there was no better place to celebrate her 23rd year alive. He knew she would most likely be out late with her friends as well, but he wanted to be the very first to wish her happy birthday.
So that Sunday morning, he found himself sitting on the roof of the building, legs dangling over the edge, waiting for the young woman to appear. In his pocket was a velvet box with a bow on it. It held a small silver ring, one with intricate patterns etched all around that looked very much like the beautiful frost that decorated every window Jack got close enough to. Jack planned on giving her the ring in hopes it would remind her of him whenever he couldn't be around.
He had been waiting for roughly half an hour when an ambulance raced by, sirens almost deafening. Frowning, Jack watched it until it had disappeared from sight. He knew it was silly to worry, but it had gone in the direction of her apartment, which was only a few blocks away…
After a few moments of silent indecision, he jumped up into the air and wandered off towards her apartment, hoping to meet her halfway to ease his worried mind. He was never one for waiting, anyway.
A few blocks down, he caught up with the ambulance, which was pulled over. Frowning, he drifted closer to see what had happened, as a group of people were all gathered around something on the ground. Finally, he got close enough to see the blond hair stained red with blood.
They say not a single breeze could be felt in the Windy City that day, and the next day Illinois was hit with their worst winter storm in history.
Jack Frost knew very well that everyone had to die. In the almost four hundred years that he had been around, he had seen deaths of every kind. But what he couldn't quite wrap his mind around was why people had to die so soon. He had all of eternity to throw snowballs and fall in love and make new friends, where as some people were lucky to even live at all.
She was only 23, for God's sake.
He found out later that she had rushed across the street without really looking, too much in a hurry to get to where she was going. Likewise, the taxi that had hit her was also late, and didn't even slow down as it whipped around the corner and plowed over her frail little body. The driver didn't stop, either, and no one ever found out who it was.
Jack had never felt so responsible for someone's death. Winters and blizzards had taken plenty of lives, but he always tried not to blame himself. Weather was unpredictable, and he couldn't keep track of everyone who got lost in a storm, no matter how hard he tried.
But Sophie…Sophie's death was different. If he hadn't gotten so involved with her, she might have lived to be a hundred. If he hadn't have had her meet him there so early…if he hadn't have had her meet him at all…She could have fallen in love. She could have gotten married. She could have had kids, and grandkids, and maybe even great grandkids. She could have seen the world like she wanted to. She could have gotten a book published, and everyone would have known who the beautiful, sweet, caring Sophie Bennett was. But instead she was dead before she really even got to live, and it was all Jack's fault.
These were the thoughts that plagued him for such a long time.
He himself only told two people what had happened, while he let everyone else find out for themselves. First, he told Bunnymund, who had loved the girl almost as much as Jack. No matter how old she was, Sophie always spent every day before Easter helping him paint eggs. Jack knew he would never forget the pain he saw in his face when he told him what had happened.
The second person was much more painful to visit.
No matter how much Jack apologized, no matter how many times he said he was sorry, so so sorry, Jamie refused to believe it was Jack's fault. Not for one second would he throw the blame at the white haired boy who had loved his sister as much as he did. This only made Jack feel so much worse.
Eventually, Jack came to terms with what had happened and returned to his old self. Sophie would always be in his heart, and he knew he would never forget her. He made sure of that by wearing the ring he had meant to give her on her birthday, never taking it off for a second. Although he still blamed himself for her death, he was able to move on. After all, there were still kids who needed him.
But he swore to himself to never fall in love with a mortal again. It was too painful when he lost them. And he always lost them, eventually.
He watched Jamie grow old and have kids, and grandkids, and great grandkids. He watched after all of them, and was there when Jamie peacefully passed away. Jamie believed in Jack until the day he died, even though he lived to be ninety. They were best friends until the very end.
And every Sunday, the winter spirit could be found in a small graveyard, talking quietly to two headstones very close together with the Bennett siblings' names engraved into them, telling them all about the latest mischief he had gotten into.
A/N: Yeah...did I mention I was sorry?
Don't worry, I have something great in store for all of you for Christmas... *cough*anditmayinvolveaverytipsyjac kfrost*cough*
Thanks for reading!
