Jack laid in bed with Sophie. She had cuddled up to him, wrapping a blanket tightly around herself to brace against his cold body. The two of them were quiet. She traced the ice patterns in his sweatshirt. Jack could tell there was something on her mind.

"… You aren't weirded out, are you?" she asked. Ah, there it was.

"No," he replied. It was the truth. He wasn't taken aback by her profession. He embraced it. He was ready to hold on to it as long as she still felt that way.

"And… it's okay, you know. If you don't feel the same." she looked up at him. "But… you don't know, do you? That's why you kissed me. Because you feel something, but you don't know what it is."

She had him pegged. He nodded and stroked her hair back behind her head. "How I feel about you… it's different than how I feel about Jamie. Or Tooth or North or Sandy or Bunny or anyone else. I… I don't know what it is for sure. But… I'm okay with how you feel. It doesn't scare me. And that's a start, right?"

She snuggled closer against his chest. "I know… even if you did, it'd be impossible. Us. So… I'll be okay even if you figure out you don't like me like that."

Jack frowned and stroked her hair. She was right. And Jack wasn't even sure how to express his emotions, even if they were mutual. He first needed to figure out what love was. And how he was supposed to feel. Yes, Sophie explained it. And this was exactly what he thought when he was with her. But what was it supposed to feel like? There had to be a sign. Something that just jumped out and said "Hey! You're in love!" He hadn't felt that.

"Go to sleep, Sophie." he muttered.

"Tell me a story."

"You're such a brat."

"Please?" she begged, clutching his sweater.

Jack smiled. "Fine.

"Once there was a boy. He always liked to have fun. He would do tricks and make up crazy stories to entertain the village kids. No one took him seriously, not even his own family. He was always smiling.

"One day, he took his sister out ice skating. His sister was young. He knew he had to protect her. As much as he always had fun, she was the world to him and he would be devastated if anything happened to her.

"But something went wrong. They didn't realize how thin the ice was. Soon after they started skating, the ice started to break under their feet."

"Jack, this doesn't sound like a happy story." Sophie muttered. Jack continued.

"His sister was terrified. He promised she would be alright. She didn't want to believe it, saying that he always played tricks on her. But not this time, he assured her. He said she didn't have to be scared. They were going to play a game. Hop scotch. He hopped across the ice and reached for a long, hooked stick. The boy quickly pulled the girl out of danger. What a relief! The young girl was out of danger! They smiled at each other, glad for the safety. But, their relief was short lived. The boy fell through the ice."

Sophie sat up and looked at him. "That's not the end, is it? That can't be the end."

Jack shook his head. "No, it's not. The boy was chosen. He was reborn. And for three hundred years, he wondered: Why? Why was he chosen? Why was he there? And what was his purpose? He had forgotten all about his past life. His family, his sister. All forgotten. And for three-hundred years, he was alone. No one could see him. As much as he tried, as much as he begged, not a single soul… until one night, a boy who was losing faith. The invisible boy helped to bring it back. And through that, the boy saw him. At last, someone saw him."

Sophie studied his face. Her eyebrows furrows. "Jack. What were the names of the boy and his sister?"

"The young girl was Jill. And her big brother was Jack."

Sophie pulled back. "Wait… you were human? Before you were Jack Frost? You were…"

Jack smiled. "Yeah."

"Why are you telling me this now? Why not before?"

"You asked for a story, so I told you mine." He put a hand on her head. "Now the story is over. And it's time to sleep."

"You didn't say anything because we didn't ask?" Sophie tilted her head.

"Good night, Sophie." Jack slipped out of the bed and picked up his staff. Sophie crawled over and hugged him around the middle. He stroked her hair. "Good night, Sophie. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, Jack."

— — —

Jack spent the night and half of the day around different parts of the globe, bringing forth winter and egging the children into having fun. There were still those that didn't believe in him. Of course it wouldn't happen in a decade. He didn't expect them to. It was a slow spread through the world. It was mostly by word of mouth. So it was easy to play a few pranks and start a few snowball fights. He was content just to bring joy to them.

He had all the belief he needed. As long as Jamie and Sophie still believe… the thought crossed his mind. But their faith would only last so long. If he was lucky, it was last as long as their lives. Even then… it was so short.

They had spread the belief to the neighborhood kids, though. And it had spread through most of North America. Some kids in Pennsylvania had caught a glimpse of him.

When he returned to Virginia, Jamie, Laura, and Sophie were outside building a snowman.

"Ah! Jack, just in time! We need more snow!" Jamie grinned, waving at the winter spirit.

"What? You didn't get enough last night?" Jack smirked, dragging his staff along next to him. Snow built up along it's path. He helped them finish the snowman and stood back to admire it with Sophie.

"It's really lumpy." Jack pointed out.

"That's because someone didn't give us enough snow to roll it properly." Jamie snapped playfully.

"What? You think I give you all the snow? Please. Snow's a natural occurrence, you know. Like rain? I just give enough to have fun in." Jack snickered. "Though, sometimes I'll get bored and make blizzards."

"Well, now that we used all the snow in the backyard, we need more. Chop chop." Jamie snapped, smirking.

"How about we go ice skating instead?" Jack suggested.

"I'm down." Jamie raised his hand.

"I don't have ice skates." Laura said nervously.

"Don't need 'em." Jack tapped her boot with the end of his staff. "Those look fine. You'll slide."

Laura looked down at her shoes and back up at Jack, then to Jamie. "Where are we skating?"

"There's a pond close by." Jack jumped on the fence. "Jamie, Sophie and I go skating there every winter." Sophie looked up at Jack with a strange expression. His suggestion wasn't a new one, so he was curious about it. Maybe his story had something to do with it.

Jamie shoved aside the loose fence board and squeeze through. He held it open for Sophie and Laura to climb through. Jack landed next to Sophie and walked ahead with her to the pond.

"Um… guys, that doesn't look frozen enough." Laura pointed out. There was a very thin layer of ice covering the still surface.

"Don't worry, I got this." Jack lept onto the ice and it thickened. He skated across the surface, touching it with his staff and freezing the top of the pond until it was thick enough to safely walk across.

Jack skidded to a stop in front of them and held out a hand for Laura. He smirked at Jamie. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Don't try anything funny!"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Jack pulled Laura onto the ice and winked to Sophie. "Save me a dance, Soph." He helped the woman onto the ice and carefully pulled her to the middle. The siblings followed him on.

Jack looked at Laura. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah." she steadied herself. "I… um… I don't know how to skate."

"Don't know how to skate?" Jack laughed. "You'll be fine. You're not really skating anyway. You don't have blades." He spin her around and she struggled to stay upright. Jack caught her by the arm and helped her up. "Just relax! You'll be fine!"

It took a while, but Jack managed to get Laura calm enough to move on her own. Jack called for Jamie and spun Laura over to him before leaping over to Sophie. The girl grinned and took his free hand.

"So, how are you okay with ice skating after what happened?" she asked.

Jack shrugged. "For years I've been skating. It was my first memory. Playing on the ice. After remembering what happened, that didn't make much of a difference."

"You are amazing."

The winter spirit threw up his hand with a flourish and bowed his head. "Thank you, m'lady."

They skated across the ice. He lifted her as they lept over a rock in the middle of the pond. He spun her, holding her hand all the while to keep her light on her toes. He used a bit of the wind to make it easy to skate across the surface. He danced with her, careful not to knock her with his staff.

They spun and stopped. Jack had a hand around her waist. Her sweatshirt had crept over his hand in their dance and he felt her warmth of her body. They stopped very close to each other. His hand slackened to her hip. She didn't seem bothered by his touch. He just wanted the feel of warmth. It was a source of comfort.

They smiled at each other. She stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. He had been caught off guard. His eyes widened a bit in surprise and ice shot from the end of his staff.

Suddenly, Sophie pulled away, gasping and holding her hip. "Oh, god, ow. Ow, ow."

"Sophie?" Jack stepped forward. What just happened?

Sophie pulled her hand away, frost clung to her skin, seeming to imbed itself. She looked up at Jack with a mixture of shock and pain. The boy stepped back. He did that…?

"Sophie… Sophie, I'm so sorry. I didn't—"

Jamie was quick to Sophie's side. "Sophie, what happened?"

"Jamie, I'm fine." she breathed, holding the frost-bitten handprint. "It was an accident."

Laura knelt in front of Sophie and peeled her hands away. She touched it tenderly, causing Sophie to hiss in pain. The woman looked up at Jamie, "We should take her to see a doctor."

"I'm fine!" Sophie insisted.

"If it's frostbite, we should see the extent of the damage. Just to make sure there's no tissue damage." Laura explained as she stood up carefully.

Jack stepped back, horrified. What had he done? He didn't expect the surge of emotion to also emit a surge of power. Sophie got hurt because of him.

Jamie turned to glare at him. But the glare quickly faded when he noticed Jack's horror. He looped an arm around Sophie's back to help her off the ice. "We'll talk later, okay, Jack?"

Jack nodded numbly and watched the humans disperse. Jamie and Laura took Sophie to the ER. He stood on the ice for who knows how long, leaning against his staff. The boy slumped down on the rock in the middle of the pond and looked up at the sky. The sun had set. When had it set?

There was the Moon. Looking down at him. He pulled his hood up, ashamed. He was getting caught up in Sophie. He was forgetting his purpose.

"This is wrong, isn't it?" Jack asked the Moon. "I'm supposed to protect children. I'm supposed to save them. And bring fun to them. But… Sophie…." He looked back up. "You've let me do this for three years now. You haven't said a thing. Were you waiting for something like this to happen? For me to mess up and… hurt them? Were you expecting me to? Did I need to find out that I shouldn't be doing this on my own?" He waited for the Moon to respond. He clenched his fist. The moon was silent as ever. "You never say anything!" he cried, jumping to his feet. "What am I supposed to do?!"

His frustration was insatiable. He wanted to grab the Man in the Moon and shake him until he received answers.

"I just…" Jack shakily looked at the reflection in the ice. "I just want answers. Just for once."

Jack only received silence. He needed a distraction. He flew off for a brighter hemisphere.