Fight for me,

If it's not too late...

Help me breathe again

No, this can't be how the story ends...

Jack had shown her the time of her life that one day a year ago. Now she sat in a hospital, her head was pounding; she felt like she was about to fall over and she closed her eyes. She hated that she was here, that she couldn't even watch the snow out of the window as she waited to see what the doctors would say. She was here because she'd collapsed and had effectively had a seizure when she'd never had anything like that happen before in her life. It was five days after her birthday and here she was stuck in a hospital. She hated being in hospitals, well... okay no that was a lie. She didn't hate them so much as she was just always uncomfortable being there knowing that there was so much disease that easily spread from one surface to another; as clean as a hospital was supposed to be... it never was. At least not in the waiting room or in any of the rooms that were used for patients though at least those rooms were mostly sanitary in comparison to waiting rooms. At least they hadn't stuck her in some gown. She really hated those, she wondered what could be wrong with her; this wasn't the first time she'd lost her balance, but the seizure... that was a new thing. She'd told the doctors to run blood tests and anything that they thought they needed to. They'd taken what had felt like a pint of blood to run all sorts of tests to find out what had caused her sudden seizure after she had been poked and prodded and had answered the same questions half a billion times. No, she'd never collapsed before. She'd never fainted, never felt ill. Yes she'd been dizzy on a few select occasions for no reason but that was it. It was never something that happened consistently. No, no one in her family had a history of seizures or anything that would be close to it. Yes there was a history of cancer, of a brain tumor, no she hadn't been in a hospital or had any sort of strange thing happen to her since she'd had her gallbladder removed when she'd been 26. Kari rubbed her eyes. Why did this have to happen to her? Alex had come by and had spent several hours with her, but now it was dark out and he had been shoved out of the room and told to go home. She'd had to reassure him half a dozen times before he'd been content to leave her. Kari knew her father would have been next if it wasn't for his being a district manager and kept away by work, not that she really minded because he'd always been that way and they weren't particularly close; never really had been. The last few months had been very rough on her since her father had suddenly decided days after her 30th birthday to effectively stop paying for the things he'd been paying for the last half year. As if that hadn't been bad enough, had not been stressful enough for both her and Alex, this had to happen.

"Kari?" She rubbed her eyes again and looked at the doctor who seemed to look a little exhausted himself.

"You should be sleeping."

"I can't until I know what this is."

"Well, it's still going to be a while before we get all of the results back. So far you seem to be in perfect health though, for the most part."

"How much longer doc?" She asked, she was tired, in more ways than one. She just wanted this all to be over with so she could return to trying to find a second job... or a better paying job, whichever came first. Things had just snowballed for her after she'd had to leave one job because of health issues, nothing related to what was happening now, and she'd found one only to have its pay not be enough to do more than pay for rent and gas costs for the month. How were they supposed to get through this? Kari withheld her concern and merely nodded to the doctor.

"Try and get some sleep."

"I'll try." She promised and turned her attention back to the window, watching the snow fall slowly. A soft smile touching her lips as she watched. It was one of the few things that made her happy nowadays. Truly happy. There was nothing wrong with her relationship with Alex, but it wasn't how it had begun and Kari knew it was a part of her that she'd inherited from her unfaithful mother; instead of giving into the desire for something more exciting, though, she'd stuck it out with Alex because of many reasons. She still loved him and while she knew she could leave him and be okay... life would be more miserable without him on many levels. She loved Alex a great deal and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, she couldn't imagine... well no... she could imagine life without him it's just that she didn't want that life. Even if someone else could come along and make her feel special, it wouldn't be the same as what she had with Alex; they were too deeply bonded and like she'd admitted to Jack once... she didn't have any secrets when it came to Alex. Maybe she hadn't told him about the dreams she'd been having about getting married or becoming pregnant, but she figured those were just dreams fueled by her own impatient desires. Like any woman, she longed for those things, but she didn't speak of them. She knew that someday the two of them would get married, but for now they couldn't afford it and they most certainly couldn't afford a child. Especially not now. Kari sighed, she'd had to concede that there was the very real chance that she'd never have one. The economy... no, the government just wasn't going to make it easy for her to care for herself let alone another life. No... unless the government turned the economy around so that wages matched prices... or lowered prices again and opened more jobs... it just couldn't happen. It made her sad to think about this reality, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. It was just how things were and although she wished she could change it she was a realist. There was no magic wand or anything that could change the fact that companies she applied for didn't even grace her with an interview. No interview, no job; no job, no money and no money meant not being able to move to a better place. Not that she hated the little apartment she'd lived with Alex in for so long, just that she had just enough ambition to want more.

There was nothing wrong with wanting a little more, to live in fair comfort or at least the same amount she had been used to as a child and in her teen years. She'd dreamed of even more than that though, years ago before she'd given up on her dreams to be a writer when she realized that it would take more money to become a writer than she could come up with. As Kari lay against the hospital bed, watching the snow fall, she wondered if the reason she hadn't seen Jack as of late was because he had finally succeeded. That he had found Jamie and she hoped with all her heart that was the case; despite all that had happened to recently, she still felt that Jack deserved to find Jamie. To have eternal happiness even if such a thing was beyond her, the concept was one she could understand even if she could never hope to have it for herself. She didn't want to fall asleep just yet, just in case Jack stopped by as the winter spirit always seemed to know where she was without her having to tell him. She figured he'd discovered her new home those years ago because he'd looked for her on the globe of belief. Jack had spent past nights with her telling her stories of the Guardians that he had learned from them. They were never boring, in fact she'd always looked forward to them and perhaps that was why she dreamed of the five Guardians battling Pitch when she had finally given into exhaustion.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" The voice sounded familiar.

"Yes, it's a rare disease. Normally it shows up only in children but it seems to have been lying dormant in her until now." Kari slowly opened her eyes, it was Alex who was standing next to her bed, the doctor was talking with him in a soft tone.

"What is it?" She asked quietly and the two turned to her, surprised she was awake.

"I'm sorry... we've never come across this sort of strand of it before. It's called Fucosidosis, it's a disease we see in children as young as infants. There's been no documented case of an adult having it because... Well, most don't live past the age of six."

"So you're saying there's no cure." The doctor gave them both a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry." Kari smiled a little.

"Don't be." She gave the doctor a reassuring smile and the man quickly left. There was a long bit of silence before Alex hugged her and began to cry. Kari hugged him close.

"You can't die... you just..."

"Shhh. It's okay. You're still young Alex, you can do this; I know you can."

"I can't live without you." A soft smile tugged at her lips as she tried not to cry herself. She had to be strong, for the both of them.

"Yes you can... and you must. Alex... I want you to live life to its fullest... for me. Even if you never find someone else who catches your eye. I want you to live life for us both." Her voice cracked a little and she cleared her throat before going on.

"Please Alex..." The brown haired youth just clung to her, unable to speak as tears streaked down his face unchecked.

"I want you to know... when the time comes, and it may yet unexpectedly, but when it does... you have my blessing. You shouldn't ever feel that it's a dishonor to my memory if you come to love someone else. I want you to be happy. Never doubt yourself and live like there's no tomorrow. Promise me." Alex was silent, even when he had cried until there were no more tears to be had.

"Promise me Alex." The youth nodded, his dark green eyes were bright with tears he wanted to shed but no longer could. He was miserable.

"You won't be alone, ever... I promise this. I know someone who will watch out for you."

"Who?" She didn't answer, knowing that he wouldn't believe in the winter spirit, but that wouldn't matter. Alex stayed with her until he was shoved out the door again. This time Kari waited up as long as she could, even feigning sleep for the doctors, she saw the golden sand creep into her bedroom and couldn't stop the smile. It stopped above her, swirling as if waiting and she reached out to touch it, putting all her desire and thought into seeing Jack again in hopes that the sand would relay her message back to Sandy. She stayed up then a little longer before forced into sleep, but she didn't doubt that she would have good dreams; Sandy would see to that.

The next day she couldn't help but grin a little as she heard loud complaints about the cold in the hallway followed by the giggles from children from the nearby rooms. It could only mean one thing. Jack. He slipped into the room.

"I swear it wasn't my fault... I didn't mean to freeze it." Jack said as he stood by the door but out of its way as a nurse came in with what looked like red jello but it didn't wobble as she expected it to. Instead the nurse just shot Kari an apologetic look as she set the tray on her lap and left. Kari's grin only widened when she stuck her spoon in the jello... or rather she tried to but the thing was froze solid.

"Uh huh... and I suppose you know another winter spirit who can freeze things Jack?" Jack pretended to look affronted for a moment before grinning momentarily. It didn't last though as his expression became serious.

"What happened? I got your message from Sandy in case you were wondering." Kari shrugged, she wasn't going to tell Jack she was dying. Jack didn't need to hear something like that if he hadn't found Jamie yet.

"I was wondering if that would work. I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"I want you to do what you can to look after Alex... he's... going through something I can't help him with and he's incredibly upset. I'm afraid he might... might do something drastic and I want you to be there to keep an eye on him. Make sure he doesn't go that far. Can you do this?" Jack nodded.

"Great!" Kari beamed at him, though Jack's curiosity was in his eyes. Kari had no intentions of telling him.

"So I haven't seen you for a few days. Does that mean that you found him?" Jack's eyes brightened a little.

"Um, yeah... but he doesn't remember anything." Jack perched on the end of the bed, his staff leaning against one of the metal rails.

"I took him to Tooth and he remembered his childhood, but... he doesn't remember the last four years we shared together... he doesn't remember I love him." Jack's face fell. Kari shifted to move to the end of the bed and she wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry to hear that Jack". She pulled back enough so that she could meet his gaze.

"He loved you once, there had to have been a reason. I'm sure he will again. What's not to love?" Jack gave her a sad smile.

"Thanks."

"Seriously, if I hadn't been so bitter when you first found me I might have fallen in love with you. You have a good sense of humor, you're kind, you're compassionate... not to mention your good looks." Jack flushed a little, stumbling back and he would have fallen if Kari hadn't grabbed his wrist, her eyes dancing with her merriment. Jack felt a little foolish, but he smiled back nonetheless.

"Honestly though, what isn't there to like?"

"I could say the same... I mean, how can people not like you?" Kari shrugged a little, letting go as Jack regained his balance.

"Humans don't like things that are different Jack. I and Jamie are obviously the exception to this rule, but most tend to be scared of things that can't be explained. I'm one of those things that can't be, just like you. What I've done in the past... what I do still... science can't explain it and no one can out right prove it. So, people tend to be skeptical because they want some sort of proof that can either be measured by science or there is some physical proof that they can see, feel, taste, hear... you get the idea." Jack nodded.

"Anyway, best you can do is spend time with Jamie now. Remind him why he liked you so much. You'd best get going, even if he is a spirit you should spend as much time with him as you can." Jack nodded with a sheepish grin.

"I guess I'll see you later then huh?"

"Yeah, next time I'll be home." Jack smiled, she still hadn't told him what was wrong, he realized but he also realized that it couldn't be that serious if she had just shrugged it off so easily.