When Jamie reached the upstairs floor, he was surprised and yet somehow expectant at what he saw. Jack was pacing back and forth in the hallway, muttering to himself again. Jamie figured that was just a habit picked up from three hundred years of isolation, but right now, he needed Jack to speak with someone aside from himself.
"Jack," he said, and when he didn't get a reaction he repeated, "Jack!"
The winter spirit halted in his tracks and spun to face his friend. There was a panicked sort of desperation in his eyes and Jamie stifled a rush of sympathy. Jack hated it when people felt sorry for him. He took a deep breath and said, "Mom wanted me to come get you. You have to meet everyone."
"I don't want to, though," Jack said flatly.
Jamie sighed. "You're acting like a little kid. Come on, where's the guy who threw a snowball at the Boogeyman's head?"
The older teen was silent and Jamie knew he had hit his mark, or at least somewhere close to it. "You weren't afraid when there was a big wave of nightmare dust coming towards us, right? Or…ever, really. You're not scared of anything."
"Everyone's scared of something, Jamie," Jack said softly, thinking of all the miniature heart attacks he had whenever he heard ice cracking. Right now though, he wasn't afraid of drowning. He was afraid of how he would act in front of all those people, all those reminders that his baby sister had grown up and had a life after his had ended. He was afraid he would let something slip about himself and his past, or that he wouldn't be able to even think straight and end up making a fool of himself.
"It won't be that bad," Jamie replied after a long pause. "I'm pretty sure you can handle whatever Aunt Linda throws at you, and the only other person who might be a problem is Brianna. She doesn't even talk much, just stays on her phone all the time. Everyone else is really nice, I promise."
Jack looked at him with an unreadable expression, and then smiled slightly. "It's weird. Normally I'm the one reassuring you about things."
"Normally I'm the one acting twelve," Jamie deadpanned, then laughed. "Come on. They'll wonder what's taking so long."
Jack's breath rushed out and he nodded slowly, hesitantly trailing behind Jamie as they made their way back to the dining room. His stomach curled in apprehension as the younger boy pushed the door open. For a moment, their arrival went unnoticed. Linda appeared to be speaking to (and highly irritating) her younger sister Susan.
"I'm just saying, what do the other children at school say about Sophie's hair? And the teachers? It can't be leaving a good impression, Susan, she runs around looking like she had her hair sawed off by a madman."
"She likes it that way, and I'm not one to protest my children expressing themselves," Susan replied calmly, though her knuckles were white as she gripped her coffee mug. "If Sophie likes cutting her own hair and doesn't let what other people say bother her, then I don't have a problem with it."
"Because God forbid children express themselves, right?" Amy chipped in humorously, pushing her square glasses further up her nose and reaching across the table to ruffle Sophie's uneven blonde tangles. "Soph, do people pick on you because of your hair?"
The little girl shook her head. "They ask why it's like that sometimes but leave me alone after I say it's the way it is because I like it. My teacher says it suits me, too."
"There you go," Susan said to Linda, narrowing her eyes at her sister as if daring her to push the subject further. Linda really shouldn't have been saying anything about Sophie's hair considering her daughter Amy had dyed her own a shade of fire-engine red, and Chelsea didn't even seem to care about her hair at all. It looked uncombed and hung barely past her jawline.
Jack wildly thought that he was the absolute last person who should have stepped into a conversation about messy hair, and might have bolted out of the room right then if not for the fact that Jamie had taken a firm hold of the back of his hoodie. When had that happened?
Jamie cleared his throat, breaking up the tense silence. "Uh, we're here."
And suddenly all inhabitants in the room were looking straight at them.
There was a time Jack relished attention, and would pull increasingly spectacular stunts to get it, just out of desperation to be noticed. But since the battle with Pitch and his induction into the Guardians four years ago, he'd stopped feeling the need to make himself known. Once he knew he wasn't going to be ignored anymore—not by everyone, at least—he felt content with the small amount of people he knew would acknowledge him. Namely the Guardians and his grand total of eight believers. So, twelve total.
There were a bit more people in this room than twelve. Counting the very young Addie and Gavin and excluding himself, there were fourteen. Okay, maybe that wasn't so bad and his mind was just making it seem like there were more than there was, but the majority of them were people Jack was completely unfamiliar with. Their scrutiny made him feel a discomfort that could only just be put into words, and he took an involuntary step backwards.
Susan stood and moved over to them, placing a hand on Jack's stiffened shoulder and saying, "Well, everyone, this is Jack."
"Jack Fr—Overland," he mumbled, ducking his head in the barest of greetings. He really needed to get his introductions under control; eventually someone would get suspicious at his false starts when it came to his surname.
You're Jack Overland right now, he told himself. Not Jack Frost. The thought left a strangely hollow feeling in his chest.
It was the twins' younger brother David who spoke first. "Nice to meet you," he said shyly, smiling at the older teen. Jack hesitantly smiled back.
"I'm Amy!" Amy announced, raising her hand exuberantly. Chris introduced himself with a bit more grace than his sister. Soon introductions were flying around the table, very nearly overwhelming Jack with sheer numbers even though he already knew most of them.
As soon as the noise settled again Susan said, "There's an open chair between Sophie and David, if you want to sit there. Jamie, go sit by Shannon."
The two boys obliged and when they were seated, Jack found himself the center of attention once more.
"How old are you?" Hunter shot off immediately, leaning forward curiously.
"Seventeen," Jack answered, crossing his fingers under the table.
"Where are you from?" the young boy asked next.
"Here," Jack answered truthfully, then replied with, "Where are you from?"
Hunter looked happy to be asked. "We live in Philadelphia!"
"That's a long ways away," Jack replied. This was easier than he thought. Maybe it was because he was dealing with a kid rather than an adult. "Where does everyone else live?"
"Pittsburgh for us," Chris said with a friendly look. "Whole family's from here in Burgess, though. Uncle Oliver says we've been here a while."
Jack exchanged a glance with Jamie and Sophie, all stifling a grin. To his relief, the topic of conversation veered away from him when Dan said, "Where is Oliver? I'd have thought he'd be here by now. Maybe it's traffic."
"He does have to drive all the way from Princeton," Shannon pointed out. "I bet he's been travelling all day, so he'll probably be here soon.
Linda sniffed haughtily. "Princeton isn't very far from Philadelphia, and you and Dan made it here on time. With four children, no less."
"Uncle Oliver's also a college professor, Mom," Amy said testily. "I bet he had some work to do. And hey, when's Dad supposed to get here? Is he still working?"
Chris unsubtly nudged her under the table, and Amy settling for sending her mother a silent, narrow-eyed look which the blonde woman returned.
"What does your uncle teach?" Jack asked curiously.
To his surprise, it was the very quiet Chelsea who answered. Without looking up from her book she said, "American History at Princeton University. He teaches some Mythology on the side, too."
"He's a cool guy," David added. "He knows a lot of stuff."
"Most of it is boring," Brianna mumbled grumpily, tapping away at her cell phone. Shannon frowned at her daughter.
"Bri, put the phone away, we're catching up with the family."
With an overdramatic sigh, the teenager sent one final text then snapped her phone shut, shoving into the pocket of her jeans and slumping down in her seat, arms crossed. Amy rolled her eyes at her cousin, and Jack raised his eyebrows at Jamie as if to say, You weren't kidding. Jamie just nodded with an uncomfortable expression.
"So Jack," Linda said suddenly, and the winter spirit felt a stone drop in his stomach. She was the last person he wanted talking to him. Nonetheless, he turned and gave her his attention.
"Yeah?"
Her sharp green eyes narrowed in on him and her fingernails tapped against the table. Jack was forcibly reminded of Cruella DeVille. Susan sent her sister a warning look, which Linda, as she did with everything that didn't suit her interest, conveniently ignored.
"I hope you aren't taking advantage of my sister's hospitality," she said coolly. "It was very generous of her to take in a homeless stranger, and it would be very unbeneficial for you to do anything that would betray the trust she has given you."
"Linda! That was completely unnecessary!" Susan snapped sharply, glaring angrily at the woman. Linda didn't even glance at her and kept her cold eyes focused on the teenager across the table. One could have heard a pin drop in the tension-filled silence that followed. Jamie and Sophie both looked uncharacteristically furious at the accusations their aunt was throwing towards the winter spirit.
Jack's hands curled into fists on his lap and he thought of his staff upstairs, lying safely tucked under Jamie's bed. This was what he'd been afraid of, and he very dearly wished he had the ability freeze that woman's superior look solid. Even Bunnymund wasn't this aggravating, even on his worst days.
Forcing himself to remain calm and stoic, he looked her straight in the eye and answered, "I like to think I haven't given Mrs. Bennett any reason not to trust me, and I intend to keep it that way. I'm perfectly aware of what she's done for me and while I'm still not entirely sure why she did, I'm going to repay it the best I can."
He tilted his head to one side, unable to resist adding in, "I don't even know you, shouldn't there be some kind of time passage requirement before you make assumptions about me?
You don't know anything.
Linda, as well as a few other members of the family, looked completely floored at his answer. The blonde woman sat stunned for a moment, then her face twisted into a hideous scowl that would put Eve—hell, it'd put even Pitch Black himself to shame.
And Jack, to his credit, couldn't find himself caring.
A/N:
It's past midnight as I write this I NEED TO GO TO SLEEP YOU GUYS. Gah, but I need to do Snowflakes too…
Reply time.
paracuties: No worries, I am a girl :D And thank you! I'm doing my best, so hearing things like that means a lot.
Silver-09: We shall see about Uncle Oliver. He's going to be an interesting character for sure.
IThinkInPoetry: Thanks for the idea, I implemented it to the best of my ability. I'm sorry you have a real-life Linda in your family, that sounds terrible…
daughterofthehunt: Most families tend to be pretty varied in their members, so I tried to make them all as different as I could. Take my family for example. There's me, the one who reads and fangirls over cartoons and kids' movies, and there's also my sports-oriented yet somehow slothlike older sister who doesn't do anything that involves effort if she can help it. Family members are usually very different, not Xeroxes of each other.
EpicDetour9 and FilledWithLunacy: Yes, that was How to Train Your Dragon reference! It's my favorite movie, so…yeah. I had to use at least one. Quoting Fishlegs is always a good thing. I'll have to throw in some Hiccup here and there, won't I?
LiviahEternal: I think I will fit something like that in somewhere down the line. You're right, it would be funny, watching the older kids watch Jack.
Q-A the Authoress: Your middle name is Grey? That's cool.
Thanks to ShopperGirl13, Sympathy for the Lost Love, Allycat18, Alaia Skyhawk, karasu99, OtakuAme, CelticGirl7, NightFury812, AmaraRae, Sunny Lighter, Novato, galacticEntity, Universal808, azwolfe, OctoberThirtyFirst, RedHal, StarStreakedSky, SilverEyeShinobi, TeddyBear98, bedstories, khoathkeeper13, DoomCabbit, LunaTheLoneWolf, Dragowolf, Ironic-Sarcasm, LightMyBulb, Camelot Emrys, iamonice,