A week and a half of physical therapy in the aquatics center was slowly doing it's job, helping Jack to rebuild his strength back up. Hugh and Naomi had to help physically put him back in his bed after his first session, exhaustion from the session and being out of bed, combined with pain and discomfort from it all had been a little too much for him that first day. He'd dosed himself with his pain medication after he'd gotten settled back in his bed, smiling at them as they left and gone to sleep for the rest of the night.

They pushed him though, as far as they could and as far as he needed for his recovery. And each day he was able to do a little bit more. The watermill, as Jack affectionately called it, was a rather clever design Elsa had found.

The track for the patient to walk on was enclosed in a glass case that sealed up, then filled with as much water as was wanted. They fitted Jack into a special harness, being careful with his injured ribs, that lifted much of his weight off his legs and allowed them to measure how much weight was being put on his injured leg.

Then, once he was all fitted in and ready to go, they turned the track on to a very slow pace. Jack had trouble moving his leg at first, the metal appliances around his leg making it awkward but all of the metal inside of his leg, reshaping the bone that had broken or shattered, also made it strange to walk.

Several times they stopped the track altogether, letting him relax from the effort. While there was hardly any of his body weight on his leg, moving it through the shin deep water took more effort than he was used to.

He traded curses and insults with Hugh regularly, the trainer coaxing and edging him to continue on with the exercise. The water treadmill was expensive, and the facility only had two, so getting time for Jack to use it required some finesse and good timing, Hugh didn't plan on wasting a moment of it.

Day after day they worked on the treadmill, slowly, very slowly, having Jack walk again. Each night after the two hour session, Jack was happy to return to his bed. He'd scowled and protested upon hearing that he wouldn't be getting his daily sessions for the Thanksgiving weekend, the therapists having Thursday and Friday off to spend with their families.

"Jack," Elsa told him, giving him a patient smile. "They deserve Thanksgiving just as much as you do."

"It's not that," he said. "I just want to get out of here. I'm tired of just sitting around, doing a whole lot of nothing. Physical therapy is the only thing I get to do each day, and talk to you. I want to get back to my studio."

She smiled at him, squeezing his hand gently. Jack missing his studio didn't come as much of a surprise to her, knowing the long hours he spent there regularly. And, if he was this eager to get back, he likely had an idea brewing in his mind that he was itching to get onto canvas.

"You'll be out of here soon enough," she said. "Naomi was saying they are going to start training you for crutches this next week. And, once you're strong enough for that, then you'll get to go home and we will just have to come back for your therapy as an outpatient."

"Thank god," he said, beaming up at the ceiling. "Crutches can't be that hard to use."

"I wouldn't know," she said, giving a shrug. "You'll find out soon enough I suppose."

"You're going to need to bring in some sharpies for those, as soon as I get them," he said.

"Sharpies?"

"ART," he said. "I must art."

She snorted. "I can only imagine what you would do if they gave you a cast."

"You know, I'm actually bummed they didn't. I would have done some really cool shit. But no, I get the metal contraption from some sci-fi movie."

She laughed, shaking her head and glancing up with a smile when a knock came at the door.

"Yes?" she asked, leaning over to see who it was.

"Hi!" Anna's voice said, bustling into the room with two large bags held over each arm."

Kristoff trailed in behind her, looking slightly worried as he watched her move quickly into the room. She set the bags down in a chair, turning to hug her sister.

"Sorry we're a little late, traffic on 95 is a NIGHTMARE," she said, shrugging out of her jacket.

"Well, day before Thanksgiving, it is to be expected," Elsa said, watching as Anna moved over to Jack in his bed.

Anna leaned over the bed and hugged Jack, squeezing his shoulders before pulling back, smiling at him.

"You look better and better each time we come to see you!" she said, grinning at him. "You'll be out of here in no time."

"As soon as I can get around on my own," Jack replied, shrugging. "Gotta learn how to get around properly, gimp leg and all."

Kristoff stepped forward, offering his hand out to shake and grinned down at Jack.

"Where are the girls?" Jack said, holding his arms out after a moment. "I haven't seen them since I've been in here."

"I didn't want to bring them and have them jumping on your bed, or your leg," Anna said, turning to open the large bag she'd set on the chair. "Lisbet is in a jumping stage and Carien is climbing on everything, a hospital with you having a broken leg didn't seem like the best place."

"You are fine," Elsa said, standing to help her sister. "This all smells good. I hope this wasn't too much trouble for you."

Jack clapped his hands. "Thanksgiving dinner early, you ladies spoil me. I love it."

Kristoff snorted.

Anna turned slightly and smiled back at Jack, who was grinning madly from his bed.

"No, not at all," she said, pulling plastic containers out of the bag. "Have to keep Jack happy afterall. We can't have the Thanksgiving dinner fiasco happening again, now can we?"

"Damn straight."

Elsa chuckled, shaking her head. As Norwegians, Anna, Elsa and Kristoff (and Bulda as well), hadn't really fully grasped how important a holiday Thanksgiving was for some Americans. They had done their own small celebrations, more of a nice family meal, when their parents were still alive but hadn't really thought much of it. The fall after they had passed, when Jack and Elsa were living together, she hadn't put much thought into it until Jack had asked about it the night before. And had been appalled to learn that she had nothing more than a nice, regular meal planned for the next day.

Their first Thanksgiving together, and the night before, was spent with Jack, Elsa and Anna wading through several packed grocery stores with Jack listing off items that HAD to be included for dinner while Anna frantically looked up recipes through a cookbook Elsa had thought to bring along.

"We are going to your mother's house this weekend," Elsa had said to him. "Why do we need dinner on Thursday night as well?"

"BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO," he had told her, pulling a frozen turkey out of the freezer and carefully laying it into the cart.

"Is that going to have time to thaw?" Anna had asked, looking dubiously at the bird.

"It will work," Jack had said, pulling the cart forward. "Now then, PIE."

The entire next day had been a series of curses, burnt dishes and a frantic call to Bulda at one point, who arrived shortly after with her bemused son in tow.

They hadn't had Thanksgiving dinner that Thursday night.

"So, Jack," Kristoff said, holding a container that Anna held out for him. "Elsa says you both think you're having a girl? Anna will drown you in girl clothes if so, I think she saved everything of Lisbet and Carien's."

Jack shook his head, setting down the cup of water he had been taking a sip from. "No, definitely not a girl. Totally a boy."

Elsa paused, glancing over at him. "And what makes you so sure this time? I don't go see the doctor for my next ultrasound until next week."

"Because!" Jack said, leaning forward with an eager grin. "You see, with a boy, I only have to worry about where he is, and worry about his penis when he gets older. If he's home, I know he's good. With a girl, I have to worry about EVERY penis around her, every boy, always. It's totally a boy that we are having."

He sat back with a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he watched the three of them pause and look at each other. Anna opened her mouth to say something, paused as she thought of something and closed it, looking over at Kristoff.

"You know, he's got a point," Kristoff said, looking slightly penseive.

"Oh," Anna said, shoving a plastic plate at him. "Don't you even start."

Elsa turned to look at him, a look of amused annoyance on her face. "Where do you come up with these things?"

He shrugged, gesturing to his bed. "I can't do anything, I got a lot of time to think. It's a dangerous thing."

"What if we do have a girl?"

"Chastity belt, a la Robin Hood Men in Tights style," he said, moving his hands behind his head. "I told you, I got this shit figured OUT."

Elsa rolled her eyes and turned back to helping to prepare his food.

"What if she likes girls?" Anna asked, spooning a helping of potatoes onto a plate.

"Then I can cancel the order on the princess tower for the house," he replied. "Which, is good because I don't think the homeowners association allows moats with gators in them."

That made them all laugh.

"What? You all think I'm kidding. I was a teenage boy, I know the shit we think about. With a boy, I can sit him down and go "Hey, don't do this, it's not nice."," Jack explained. "With a girl, I just gotta tell her, hope she believes me and try not to murder some teenage asshole when she comes home crying."

Elsa looked over at him, surprised and smiled warmly at him.

"What?" he said, looking over at them as they stopped to look at him. "There is a method to all this madness."

He pointed at his head.

"Now, food. Please? I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Anna said. "You're 33 going on 13."

"And loving every damn minute of it! You brought pie, right?"

Elsa shook her head, grinning as she and Anna helped to prepare his dinner. Some things would never change.

"And the gløgg? Please tell me you brought that too?"

"I brought a juice version, no alcohol," Anna said, pulling a thermos canister out of the bag and walking it over to Jack.

"What?" he exclaimed. "Non-alcoholic? What are you, nurse Ratchet?"

Elsa brought his plate over, smiling and shaking her head at him.

"You didn't even want to have it the first time we tried having Thanksgiving, now you refuse to not have Thanksgiving without it," she said, holding out plastic utensils for him.

"Because it's delicious," he said. "I would not have said that if I had known how delicious it was. Plus, you didn't say there was alcohol in it. WHICH THERE IS NOT NOW."

"I think the last thing you need right now is alcohol," Elsa said, crossing her arms. "Besides, if I can't have any, you can suffer with me."

He paused for a moment, looking at her and then glanced down at her stomach. He looked back at his plate, sighing.

"Touche, wife, touche."

They all settled back into the chairs, Jack happily tucking into his dinner with glee while Elsa picked through the leftovers, grinning over at her sister.

"So what are we going to do tomorrow then?" she asked, eating a bit of turkey.

"I dunno," Anna said, shrugging. "We could go start working on painting the nursery at your house if you want."

Jack gasped, looking up at her with an affronted look on his face. "What? You can't paint without me!"

Elsa chuckled, her shoulders moving up and down in merriment as she took another bite. "We can at least get a base coat on the walls before you come home and start to work your magic."

"Besides," Anna continued. "We need to start getting the furniture assembled and getting everything in place. She's going to be here before you know it."

"He," Jack said, resuming eating. "And you can't paint without me. You don't know what shades I want."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "You don't know what shades you want. You've been debating for months. We can at least prime the walls. Besides, Anna is right, we need to start getting things into the room, it's taking up too much space in Kristoff's workroom."

Jack studied his plate, pushing around his vegetables while he chewed. "Bring in my color wheel, since you're so determined to start. I'll just go with my gender neutral option that I was thinking of."

"You had multiple ideas going?"

He glanced up at her, an affronted look on his face. "Of course I do, was trying to wait until we knew the sex. But as the squid is being difficult, totally a trait of yours, I shall have to go with the neutral option."

"Stop calling her that," Elsa and Anna said at the same time, causing Jack to grin up at them.

"And the battle of the sex continues," Kristoff muttered, smiling at both of them.

The rest of the long holiday weekend went by quietly, Jack choosing the color that he wanted with the demand that Elsa get a sample of the paint to bring to him first, wanting to make sure the coloring was right. Amused, and knowing the fit he would have otherwise, she'd done as he'd asked, watching as he carefully tested out the paint out with a small brush she'd brought on a piece of cardstock.

He frowned at it, waving the paper to dry the paint and added another coat, turning it to the sunlight and painted more off to the side, not saying anything.

"It's a pretty shade of green," she said, still watching him test the color.

"Yeah, it's not quite right though," he replied, his tone distant. "Needs a little more red. Got a pencil, you can take this back to them."

She smiled, digging in her purse and producing a pen, holding it out for him. "You do know that it's just a local college kid mixing the paints, right?"

"Yeah," he said, scribbling a note on the paper. "Which is why I'll be very clear in my instructions. Too bad that one small shop closed down kinda close to our house, the guy there let me mix my own paint."

"After you made him remix the paint for you six times," she countered.

"If he'd just did what I had told him it would have come out right," he said, looking up at her. "I know what I'm doing."

"Yes dear," she said, taking back the paper from him. "So you've said, several times before."

He grinned up at her. "Love you too. Just make sure you get plenty of paint when you order it, you know it never comes out the same when you reorder paint."

Monday came, and with it the reappearance of Hugh, Naomi and physical therapy. Jack grinned as they came into the room, pushing the now familiar wheelchair for him, and clapped his hands together.

"Alright! About time you two showed up, I'm ready to get out of this bed. Crutches today, right?"

Hugh smirked at him. "Maybe, if you're good."

"Awww, come on, don't be like that," Jack said, his hands falling into his lap. "I'm ready to get out of here, I'm going stir crazy. I have a nursery to paint now."

Hugh raised an eyebrow. "Can't you just hire someone to paint the walls for you?"

Naomi chuckled as they moved to help Jack move from his bed to the wheelchair.

"Haven't you been paying attention, Skippy? Jacky boy is an artist."

Jack grinned at Hugh. "Yeah, so, less snark, more crutches," he said, paused and smiled wider. "Skippy."

Hugh scowled, glaring at Naomi. "I told you not to call me that."

"Skippy. I like that," Jack said, beaming up at Hugh. "It's rather fitting. Skippy-roo."

"Now see what you've done?" Hugh asked her, gesturing down at him.

"What?" Naomi said, holding her hands up innocently. "It's not my fault the kids on the peds unit thought you were a 'roo, not the Easter Bunny when you got dressed up last Spring."

He glared harder as Jack burst into laughter in the chair, a grinning Naomi pushing him past Hugh.

"She's done it now," Elsa commented, walking behind with Hugh and trying not to laugh herself. "You know he's not going to forget a nickname like that."

Hugh glowered ahead of them. "Don't I know it."

That evening, after much complaining and several ice packs for his sore muscles, Jack sat with a pile of colored Sharpies in his lap, happily adding designs to his newly acquired crutches.

"Aren't you worried the ink will come off though? You're going to be using them a lot," she asked, watching as he carefully stared at the silver poles and steadily added small bits of color.

"No," he said, placing a marker in his mouth for a moment while he fiddled with the cap. "Cause I want you to take them to Kristoff and have him clear coat them."

"Really?" she asked, giving him a bemused look.

"Yes really, these are going to be awesome, I can't have them fading on me."

She chuckled, shaking her head.

"Alright, alright," she said. "I can go over tomorrow after my doctor's appointment."

"It's going to be a boy, I can feel it."

She let out a laugh. "I can feel the baby just fine and I haven't a clue."

"Oh yeah? I thought you were convinced it was a girl."

"I was, then the baby does something to my bladder when I'm in the middle of something, or gives me some crazy strange craving and I'm convinced it's a miniature you."

"Like craving what?"

"Hot sauce."

"Hey, hot sauce it awesome, don't you start knocking hot sauce."

"With pickles."

"That actually sounds pretty good."

"SEE?"

He glanced up, smiling at her. "Guess we will find out soon enough."

"Yeah. Have you looked through the baby book anymore?"

He grimaced. "No."

"Jack," she said, a weary tone in her voice.

"What?" he said. "I helped with my sister when she was younger, it can't be that hard."

"I meant the one with names."

"Oh, no."

"Jack!"

"We should do Emma if it's a girl, that is some awesome Marvel stuff right there."

"Jack," Elsa said warningly.

"Then again, she has a pretty skimpy outfit, so maybe not. Plus, Jamie's girl is named Emma. That would get a little weird."

Elsa leaned her head down into her hand and shook her head. "You aren't taking this very serious."

"Sure I am," he said. "I got 4 more months to come up with more awesome names. Frost is an awesome last name. We could always do Robert for a boy, and hope he is just a really good writer."

She chuckled at that one. "Rather high expectation there, don't you think?"

"Mom named me Jack, you don't see me hopping around being winter, and nipping at noses do you? How does one nip at a nose, exactly? I've always wondered that."

"I think it's just an expression. What about Hayden?"

He frowned. "Is that a girl name or a boy name?"

"Either."

He shrugged, looking back down at the crutch. "It's okay."

She groaned, pulling her book back out and started flipping back through, looking for more names. "You aren't making this easy."

"I think that's my unofficial nickname. Mom told me that a lot when I was a kid. Why don't we just wait until we know what it is? That kinda eliminates half the names. There, that's one done, now onto the other."

She sighed, flipping through the book and occasionally saying a name aloud to him as he worked on his second crutch. The simple familiarity of him working on another of his art projects while she researched something important for the both of them an ease for the both of them, a calm point in the chaos that had been the weeks prior.


Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review and let me know what you thought! Love! Aria