I still genuinely have no idea where I'm taking this story, but ya know what? It's gonna be fun... or not. I don't know. There's probably gonna be twists even I don't see, and I'm sorry it's taking so long to get out there, I've had a lot of appointments with the doctors recently and hospital visits. I'm not well at the moment.

Anyways, please enjoy!


It had been a few nights since Tooth had visited Shaun, and though her words had touched him, he didn't know how to feel. It wasn't so much an anger that filled him now, but an apathy. The man felt, somewhere deep inside, that if he showed such negative emotion again it would only worry the fairy. Not to mention his little niece, who had been following him everywhere for days.

Sophie didn't seem to want to leave his side, was always reading him one of her stories from her books. Simplified versions of Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty. Shaun, secretly, would much rather have watched them on the television with her, because it took a lot longer and made more sense than her garbled stories. He did appreciate it though. He liked the fact that someone was paying him attention, even if it was just a five year old with choppy blonde hair. But he also felt like he was wasting her time, because she could have been out playing with her friends, or she could be spending some time with Jamie and his lot.

He felt that his depression was making her act too mature far before she was needed to be. She was caring for him in a way a child shouldn't have to, and guilt was flooding him. The brunette found it easier to rid himself of emotion, at least on the surface, and pulling on that old familiar mask with that old cracked smile helped ease Sophie's worries for him just a little.

"Uncle Shaun, can we watch Despicable Me?" she asked, holding the DVD case up to him, her eyes shining with good intent. And he would have said yes if he hadn't watched it four times with her yesterday afternoon. So he forced his lips upwards in a small fake smile, and shook his head gently.

"We've already watched it sweetheart, how about we go out instead?"

And so it was that the pair bundled up in warm clothing. Shaun in a long sleeved, dark blue shirt, a thick black sleeveless duffle coat over the top, and a pair of jeans over his long johns. He needed to keep his legs warm. Useless as they were, if he let them get frostbite then he could get an infection in his bloodstream and it wouldn't be the nicest thing in the world.

Sophie was wearing a bright turquoise turtleneck. It tucked up under her chin, and she pulled on a pair of jeans, and a thick pink coat to keep her warm. John passed over twenty dollars for Shaun to buy them some food and a hot drink when they were out, although really he didn't need it – he had money of his own. He took it anyway, he wasn't arguing with extra money.

"So where are we going?" she asked, giggling as Shaun slipped down the ramp from the house, which for some reason had gathered a layer of ice from the night before, even though it hadn't rained. It wouldn't have been so bad if it were just frost, but the ice was easily an inch thick and it would have taken John too long to clear it before going out, and helping him down the steps seemed like too much effort on anyone's part. He stuck the landing though, looking up at Sophie.

"I thought we'd just go into town, I still have some Christmas shopping to do," he explained with a shrug, scooping up the child and planting her on his lap whilst they set off.

Wheeling down the street was a job and a half today. Apparently everything had gathered a layer of ice, and it was really strange to the twenty-two year old, because he'd been awake all night with insomnia and hadn't heard any rain fall. They did get into the town centre eventually, taking an additional twenty minutes to what it should have because he had to be a little more careful.

It was when the pair were passing the old bronze statue in the heart of the town that they spotted Jamie and his friends, along with a gangly teen aged boy with shocking white hair, a blue hoody, a... crook... and no shoes. Even Shaun wouldn't have gone out without shoes in this weather.

"Jack!" Sophie cried, leaping up from Shaun's lap and pelting towards the boy, who caught her in his arms and hugged her tight, but cast a nervous glance to Shaun. The older man watched bemused as Pippa and Cupcake sidled in front of the two, as if trying to hide Jack. But he was taller than them by far, and Shaun simply rolled up whilst maintaining eye contact with the snowy haired lad.

"You're Jack?" he asked simply, narrowing his eyes. He still found it strange that a teenager would willingly hang around with eleven year old's, but stranger things had happened recently.

"I- you can see me?" the boy asked, his voice cracking with shock and surprise, staring with wide blue eyes and the man in the chair, before turning that same gaze to Jamie, who seemed a little stunned himself.

"Yeah, so you're Jack?" Shaun asked again after a moment of silence, Jamie seeming unable to connect a string of words together, and was just opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish.

"Yeah," he said, nodding, resting his weight upon his crook. "Who are you?"

"Shaun Bennett," Shaun replied, forcing that smile again and extending a hand to the boy, offering a handshake. Jack clasped hands with Shaun, and the older man felt his fingers go numb because of how cold the other one was. "Why are you hanging out with little kids?"

"They're generally the only ones who can see me," Jack explained, looking a little taken aback at having an actual, real conversation with a grown person, but he was trying not to let it phase him. He was trying to concentrate on not whooping with joy, he was being seen by more people, and that was just the best thing in the world for him. "Bennett?"

"Jamie's uncle," Shaun explained, nodding and letting go of Jack's hand, balling his own hand into a fist and releasing it over and over as he tried to coax the blood to flow through them again. "They're the only ones that can see you?"

"Cept you, now," Jack shrugged, but a happy smile came over his face.

"How do you even see him?" Pippa asked, shocked but smiling too.

"Same way I saw Tooth I'm imagining; I believe," Shaun stated, and all of a sudden a group of happy children were jumping about him exclaiming how cool he was, whilst Jack watched on in mild amusement as he tried to calm them down. "I take it you're... like Tooth?"

"Kinda, but I have I different job. I come around here to say hi to these guys, talk to them sometimes when I'm here at night and one or the other isn't sleeping."

"Fair enough..." Shaun trailed off, glancing around at the awestruck children before looking back at Jack and grinning sheepishly. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it, me and Sophie are going Christmas shopping."

They bid their goodbyes, Jack smiling happily before turning back to Jamie and Shaun could hear them as he wheeled down the street with Sophie sat in his lap as they discussed how cool it was that Shaun could see the boy too. It made Shaun wonder, with the way Jack had asked him if he could really see him, if he was glanced over too much. How many children perhaps couldn't see him, and he assumed adults were out of the question.

For hours he and Sophie went around the town, going into various little shops, buying bits and bats to fill stockings and larger presents for Lindsey and John – bath towels he knew they needed since the other day he died them pink when he helped Sophie do the laundry and one of her pink shirts snuck its way in there with them.

They rested up at an internet cafe, and while Sophie drank hot chocolate and ate a huge cupcake to herself, chattering to the waitress about how much fun she was having, Shaun paid his way onto one of the spare computers and logged himself into Amazon, purchasing a Rapunzel dress for Sophie – because she was the child's favourite Disney princess – and a pair of ice skates for Jamie since his old ones were getting a bit ratty and the blade was so dull it was hard to move around in them.

Doing it on this computer meant neither child could check the history to see what he'd been searching, and he was already out. It was like killing two birds with one stone. He settled back into his chair when he was finished and logged off the computer and accepted his coffee happily from the waitress before drinking it down and feeling his bones warm that little bit more. The twenty two year old was left wondering when Tooth would visit again. He didn't know if she'd be happy with him or not, he realised that adopting this apathy towards – well – everything was not the healthiest thing to do. But it kept him going, he didn't feel as weak, stupid or useless. It was hard to explain, but in some small way it was easier to control his emotions if he kept them under wraps.

He was aware that sooner or later he'd burst. You could only bottle something up so long before everything spilled over, and he wasn't looking forward to the day he'd break down again. He kind of hoped he wouldn't be alone when he did – having someone there would make it easier to pull himself together... but he didn't want someone there at the same time because he knew he'd feel like he was just being a burden and wasting their time.

"Uncle Shaun?" Sophie piped up after a small while, taking a bite out of her cupcake.

"Yeah?" he asked, snapping his head up to look at her, his brown eyes focused on her bright green ones.

"Are you okay? Like, are you better now? Because you've not been sad for a while and that's good, right?"

He couldn't bare to tell her no... to tell the little girl with the inquisitive and caring green eyes that he was repressing his emotions and at some point he'd simply crumble and that would be the end of it. He couldn't ignore that small smile tugging at the corner of her lips and the hope in her voice when she spoke to him, and make her feel worried about him. So he forced a smile again, one he used all too much, and nodded.

"I guess I'm a little better," Shaun said, watching her eyes light up and feeling his stomach churn in guilt, and as he turned his gaze into the lukewarm dregs of his coffee swilling around in the bottom of his mug, he felt an invisible weight press down on his shoulders and chest, and he knew he wasn't going to do well.