AUTHOR'S NOTE: You guys have no idea how worried I am about this chapter. I've never written stuff like this before so I am so so so so so so so so so so sooooooooooo sorry if this royally sucks. There is a very large chance I am going to end up editing the life out of this thing, especially if I don't get many reviews on this. I'm not hinting (not much anyway) but I seriously would appreciate the feedback, on this chapter especially. Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgggggghhhhhh! Scared!

And I'm sorry that this is shorter than normal! The next few should be a bit longer.

Well, I hope you all like it…. I'm off to go hide in a corner with a very large packet of cookies.

This chapter is dedicated to Kori-Luna-Rose19 and Ghost 5926.

DISCLAIMER: Dreamworks owns Rise of the Guardians. I own my OC Annabelle.

Chapter 9 – This is New to Me

Luckily Jack was being serious when he said he had a photographic memory, and it only took him a few minutes to navigate us out of the maze of tunnels. Like last time I couldn't see anything, but Jack held onto my hand the whole time, and I trusted him to guide me in the right direction.

We got back to North's workshop and all the lights were out. Everyone must have been asleep, so that was a bit of a relief; less chance of us getting caught.

Jack had been smart and closed his window behind him. I on the other hand had forgotten and left my window wide open, meaning my room was now freezing cold. We silently ducked back in the window and touched down gently on the floor, me closing the window behind us. I realised that we hadn't given each other our staffs back so I held Jack's out to him. He took it and passed me mine and we immediately shifted back to normal.

Jack held a finger to his lips, motioning for me to be quiet before he opened the door out to the hall and waved his hand to for me to follow him. We both tiptoed down the hall to North's office. Jack reached for a small white box on top of his bookcase before we quickly and quietly made our way back the way we came, opting to sit in Jack's room instead of mine since the temperature in mine was close to the same as the inside of an iceberg.

We sat down on Jack's bed and he opened the box he'd taken from North's office. It was a small first-aid kit. Jack began to gently clean up the few small cuts on my face that I'd got from the fight with the pixies with a cotton pad. He was so careful not to hurt me; when I winced once he apologised straight away and continued even more tenderly. It was so sweet. Of course, me being me, I blushed. Jack chuckled.

"What're you getting flustered about this time?" he asked, a hint of teasing in his voice.

I glared at him. "I'm not getting flustered," I replied quickly, the heat in my cheeks fading.

He threw the cotton pad into the trash can next to his bed and sat back with his weight on his hands, a mischievous grin on his face.

"You're a really bad liar you know," he smiled.

I took another cotton pad out of the box. "Shut up and keep still," I muttered.

He sat up and did as I asked, and I started to clean up his cuts. He had less than me, having more experience in fighting than I did, but some of the few he did have were pretty bad. I tried to be as gentle as I could, and apparently I managed as he didn't wince once.

"Thanks," he smiled as I leaned back when I'd finished.

I smiled back and turned around to put the bloody cotton pad in the trash.

"Anna, your head!" Jack said suddenly.

I turned back to face him and touched the back of my head, wincing at the sharp pain. Examining my hand I saw there was quite a lot of blood on it.

"When did he do that?" Jack asked angrily.

I frowned. "Must've been when he flipped me and held me against the wall. My head did hit a rock but I wasn't really paying much attention."

He sighed and grabbed a wad of tissues out of the box. "Turn around."

I did as he said. I tensed as he touched the tender cut on the back of my head, dabbing at it with the tissues.

"Sorry," he murmured before touching it again more gently.

I tried to relax, knowing that if I tensed up it would just hurt more. I let out a breath I didn't even realise I was holding and let my shoulders drop.

We sat in silence for a few minutes as Jack wiped the blood away from the back of my head. He stopped for a few moments before a different sensation replaced the dabbing; the gentle brush of a comb.

"I'll get the dried blood out of your hair," he explained quietly.

I didn't say anything; I just sat there as he slowly pulled the comb through my hair. I stared down at my lap and smiled slightly. Even when he was just combing my hair he was so sweet about it. I blushed again, and was grateful that nobody could see me; if Bunny was here right now he'd have a field day with teasing me.

I closed my eyes and calmed my breathing, not wanting Jack to see how nervous I was getting. I was concentrating so much on breathing evenly that I didn't notice Jack's fingers replacing the teeth of the comb. I shivered and my eyes shot open but I didn't turn around.

"I think I got it all out," he murmured.

"…Thanks."

I slowly turned round to face him. He kept his hand on the back of my head, looking into my eyes. I swallowed, my heart speeding up. He slowly pulled me closer to him, leaned in and kissed me. Even though I had kind of guessed he was going to do that, it still took me a few moments for my brain to register the fact that I was being kissed and for me to start to kiss him back.

We both pulled away at the same time to get a lungful of air, and we both smiled.

"Looks like I'm not the only one with a crush," Jack grinned.

I groaned and punched him on the arm. "You just had to go and ruin the moment, didn't you?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm not exactly used to these situations."

I sighed. "Yeah, me neither," I admitted.

His face turned serious again. "Do you actually…you know…" he looked down, embarrassed. "…like me?"

I blushed again. I seriously had to stop doing that. I took a deep breath. "…Yeah. Yeah, I do Jack."

He looked back up at me and he held my gaze for a few moments. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Then his face split into a grin.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you said that," he smiled.

I laughed. "I'm kinda relieved I actually managed to say it," I admitted.

Jack chuckled before leaning back, putting his weight on his arms.

"I hate to drop everything back down to reality but what're we gonna do about Jacobi?"

I sighed and shrugged. "I don't know. You were right about him being a liar and all, but I don't think he was lying about knowing what happened to the Destined Spirits. If he does know then we need to find out."

Jack frowned. "What makes you think that he was telling the truth?"

I bit my lip. "I…I'm not sure. I just feel that he was." I shook my head and dropped it into my hands. "Sorry, I know I'm not making any sense."

Jack leaned forward again and squeezed my shoulder. "Don't worry. Listen, if you say that you think he's telling the truth then I believe you. We'll keep looking for him and we'll fight him and the pixies until he tells us what we want to know."

I looked up and smiled. "Thanks Jack."

He smiled back and kissed me on the forehead. I started to giggle before biting my tongue, knowing how silly and girly I must've sounded. Jack laughed before looking up at the clock on the wall. I followed his gaze before standing up.

"It's really late. I'd better get back to my room," I said.

Jack stood up too. He seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"Um…you could always sleep in here if you wanted," he said quietly.

My eyes widened and I blushed madly. Jack realised what he'd said and blushed too.

"No! Not like that…um…I just meant cause your room's really cold and stuff…" He looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry, it was just an idea. You don't have to."

I bit my lip. He was right, my room was really cold. I was just worried this was going to be really awkward.

But I knew Jack. And I knew he wouldn't try anything, so I took a deep breath and nodded.

"That would be great, thanks."

He looked up, his cheeks still slightly red, and smiled shyly.

Neither of us looked like we were going to move, so I did first, walking back over to the bed and laying down, tucking my wings in and curling up with my back facing Jack. A few moments later the light went out and I felt Jack lay down on the other side of the bed.

We both lay in silence for a few minutes, just listening to each other breathing. At one point Jack put his hand on my shoulder. When I didn't move or protest he moved it down to my waist before slowly snaking his arm around my stomach. I gently leant back until I felt my back press against his chest. Nothing else happened; he just held me. Neither of us said a word or even turn to face each other.

We didn't move from that position all night. Soon I felt my eyes getting heavy so I closed them and drifted off to sleep.

It was the best night's sleep I'd had in a while.