A/N: HEY GUESS WHAT IM ALIVE ;A;

i think this is the longest its ever taken me to update and the reviews i get is what provides me with the motivation to type up chapters so thank you to everyone who has reviewed :)

Chapter Twenty

Jack flung open the door to the orphanage. It had taken him five minutes to dash down from the park to the orphanage, one minute to run upstairs, and now he was finding himself climbing up the ladder. He had already been gone for approximately four minutes meaning that Tooth and Baby Tooth had been waiting for approximately four minutes.

He tossed aside a few dusty boxes and didn't care about whatever was breaking inside. The only thing on his mind right now as that he needed to locate his ice skates. They should be in one of these boxes, but Jack could barely remember which one due to the fact that he hasn't skated for so long. How many years was it? One? Two?

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Jack had torn open another box to fine that his skates were still missing. How many boxes were in the attic anyway? In his frantic searching, he had found a set of antique figurines, turned them into a set of smashed set of antique figurines, he had dug up an old pocket watch, a framed black and white photo, but he didn't even fine anything close to what he was looking for.

His ice skates weren't completely his, he had just found them one day in the attic and he claimed them as his own. Nobody was using them anyways and he didn't see anyone's name written on them. It was on one of his past birthdays so they were a present to himself.

"Where are they?!"

Tooth and her sister were still waiting at the park from him; and Jack didn't want to keep them waiting any longer. It had already been ten minutes and he still hadn't found his ice skates.

"Finally!"

A victorious grin was on the hurried teen's face as he saw his pair of old ice skates in a cardboard box full of straw. He grasped the laces and lifted them up into the light. They seemed to be in a good enough shape for him to use, and the blades on the bottom were still sharp. He was about to turn away when he caught another glimpse of something else under the straw. Brushing it away, Jack found that another pair of old ice skates were laying at the bottom of the box. How long have these been here? In all of his years of ice skating, Jack had no idea that there were two pairs of ice skates in the attic. It was as if the second pair had just appeared out of nowhere like Mr. Moon.

Dozens of boxes as well as what they had been containing was scattered all over the floor. He would clean it up later.

Taking the extra pair of ice skates with him, Jack slung them over his shoulder and opened his window. It would be much faster to slide down the drain pipe rather than to run down the stairs. Jack looked out the window and saw a small pile of snow resting on the ground. He tossed the ice skates out the window before climbing out himself. His hands wrapped around the drainpipe while bringing his legs out. Sliding down the side of the building, Jack landed in the snow and picked up the two ice skates. His window was still open but it's not like anyone was going to break into the attic of Burgess Orphanage anytime soon. There was nothing to take that would spark anyone's interest up there anyway.

After taking a deep breath, Jack dashed back down the path with which he came from. He had his skates and was now halfway back to the park; so far so good.

/

Baby Tooth's eyes fluttered open as she yawned. She rubbed her eyes and saw that instead of resting against Jack, she was leaning on Tooth's lap. "Where did Jack go?" she curiously asked. She remembered being tired and when she closed her eyes, she opened them to see that Jack was gone and the sky was a different color. Wasn't it blue when they got here?

"Jack went to go get something but don't worry," Tooth responded. "he should be back any second."

"Okay!"

Baby Tooth perked up knowing that Jack would come back to them soon.

"Where is he?"

"He just went to the orphanage. You know; the place where we met him earlier this morning."

"Ooooh."

Tooth caressed her sister's nimble brown hair again as they waited for Jack to return. She looked up when she heard footsteps running towards them and was happy to see that it was Jack running to them with his ice skates.

"Hey girls," he huffed as he caught his breath. "I got my skates."

Leaning against the tree, Jack held up both pairs of skates that he had brought with him.

"Oh and Tooth, apparently I found another pair of skates and they're in decent shape so I brought them along just in case you wanted to skate too."

Jack's chest rose up and down as he was still resting against the tree. Tooth noticed how drained he was, and why wouldn't be? He had spent all day playing with an energetic three year old at the town park and then ran on foot to the orphanage and back just to get ice skates.

"Do you want to rest for a little bit, Jack?" she asked him. "You've been active a lot today, and-"

"Don't worry Tooth, I'm fine. So, do you think that you'd want to try the extra skates I brought?"

"Well… I never actually ice skated before except for once but that was a long time ago and I've been too busy to go skating with North and the others, but I guess I could give it a shot."

Jack smiled and Tooth saw his teeth shimmer under the sunlight. She almost wished that she had a pair of sunglasses so that she wouldn't be blinded by how polished his teeth were. They were like a mirror the way that they reflected any kind of light and they even sparkled like flawless pearls.

"I think you'll do well on the ice, Tooth. You already do an amazing job when you're dancing so your balance should be pretty good."

Tooth felt her face become warmer as she stood up with Baby Tooth.

"So Jack, do you want to go down to the lake now?"

"Sure, it should still be solid enough for us. It's in the forest just beyond the outskirts of the park."

"Well we haven't got all day, so we might as well go now."

Jack led the way to the frozen lake with the two pairs of ice skates slung over his shoulder. Tooth followed behind him with her little sister in her arms and she couldn't help but to feel eager knowing that she was about to watch Jack glide around on the ice. She made a note to herself that she would have to set her camera on its freeze frame setting to that she could get some shots of him in action.

"Are you excited to start skating again, Jack?"

"Yeah, it's been a while so I may be a little rusty on the ice."

"Oh I'm sure that you'll put on a major show for us."

He was probably the best ice skater in Burgess, so why wasn't Jack cocky with confidence? In every experience he had of skating on the frozen lake, Jack has never had an audience, and he couldn't help but feel somewhat nervous. Tooth had such high expectations for him and everything that she kept saying probably made Baby Tooth enthusiastic to see him in action as well. What if he let them down? He's never had his skills on the ice critiqued before and he's never even skated in front of females.

His heart was beating...

Isn't that what hearts do?

But it was beating faster.

And faster.

Why was is doing that?

Jack was only walking in the forest with Tooth and Baby Tooth and he's not that anxious about skating in front of them, and they were just his friends so it didn't matter if they thought he was good or bad at ice skating. Was it because of Tooth? He shouldn't be able to fall for her yet, they only knew each other for two days and he's already thought about his conflicted feelings for her that may or may not exist. Out of all of the thoughts racing around his head as to why he was so anxious Jack decided that it was because of Tooth. If he was performing on the ice in front of someone like Aster or North Jack would feel fine and Baby Tooth was still a toddler so anything could amuse her.

However, Tooth was looking radiant today with her hair pulled back and her personality was caring while still having a sense of humor.

"Something the matter, Jack?" Tooth asked him. She noticed how his paced had decreased and his eyes were blank as he stared at the snow on the ground.

"No, what would make you say that?"

"You've been awfully quiet, are you nervous about skating for the first time after a while?"

"No, there's nothing wrong with me."

"I think you're lying."

"No I'm not."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying!"

Jack and Tooth had started to tease each other now. It wasn't until Baby Tooth had chanted "Liar liar pants on fire!" did Tooth decide to get the scoop on her friend.

"C'mon Jack, you can tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"I know you're hiding something, Snow White."

"Don't you dare start calling me that!"

He knew that Tooth meant no actual harm by using his immature nickname, but he didn't want Baby Tooth to get and idea and start calling him that in front of the other guys.

"Well you're hair is as white as the snow and you look like you've never seen the sun."

"Tooth I swear I-"

"What is it, princess?"

"Oh come on!"

Tooth laughed while Baby Tooth giggled.

"Shall I continue Sn-"

"Nope!"

Jack covered his ears with his hands and darted ahead of Tooth, leaving her behind in the dust. The sound of two laughing teenagers and one toddler echoed off of the bare trees as they traveled through the bleached forest. Within a week or so the snow would melt and leaves would once again spring off the branches but it was still cold outside, meaning that the cold weather could still nip at your nose. As the trio ran through the forest they left behind a trail of footprints and they didn't stop until they finally reached the frozen lake in the middle of a wide clearing.

"When was the last time you were here?" Tooth asked while putting Baby Tooth down on the ground.

"It's been a few years I think. Maybe one or two?"

"Just be careful."

"I will."

Jack removed his shoes and slipped on his ice skates. He slowly stepped out onto the crystalline surface and kicked off from the shore. Tooth and her sister were still on the snow covered land and Tooth was fumbling with her camera so that she could take pictures of him in motion.

At first he had gotten off to a shaky start, but Jack soon found himself sliding on the lake and gaining speed. He smiled as the cold air whizzed around him. As his skates scratched the ice, Jack realized that he had forgotten how much fun it was to come out on the lake and skate around. Glancing over to Tooth, he saw that she had her camera pointed at him and was waiting for the right opportunity to take photos. At the moment he was just skating circles around the area, but now it was his time to show off was he was capable of.

Jack leaned to his right as he moved his legs to perform a figure eight. He was a little rusty, but that didn't stop Baby Tooth from applauding loudly at the bank of the lake. If they were amused by a dainty figure eight, then they were in for a real show today. He just hoped that Tooth's camera would be able to keep up with him, because she would not want to forget this.

Tooth and Baby Tooth stared in awe at Jack as he raced around the lake and he became a blur on the ice. It wasn't until he leapt into the air did Baby Tooth start cheering him on and Tooth's camera rapidly took pictures. Baby Tooth was blowing air out of her lips in a failed attempt to whistle and Tooth couldn't believe how skillful Jack was. He even skated backwards on one foot for a few seconds!

Taking another deep breath, Jack pumped himself on the ice and spun in the center. He felt slightly dizzy but decided to keep up with his act for his friends. Jumping into the air again, he twirled around one last time with his arms folded against his chest before planting himself back on the ice's hard surface.

His spectators were clearly aroused by his performance. Tooth's camera was on shutter and Baby Tooth was clapping as she bounced up and down. Now that he was done showing off, Jack toned down his tricks on the ice and skated backwards in a figure eight with his hands behind his back. Having years of practice, he knew every inch of the lake. His head was held high as he skidded to a halt near the shore causing sparks of ice to spray the ground.

The chilled air nipped at their noses as Jack returned to his friends. "So," he said to them. "What did you two think?"

"You were amazing out there!" Tooth told him as Baby Tooth agreed. They were obviously pleased with him and even the wind seemed to appreciate his work. Jack cold feel the wind blow through his hair and it cooled him off while he maintained his conversation.

"Did you take any good pictures?"

"More than enough! I'm going to have to make a compilation of all of your shots and I'll keep them in a book so that I can see them whenever I want."

If Tooth and her younger sister didn't admire Jack enough, they certainly did now. He was fun to be around, had an astounding smile, and his presence could brighten up any mood no matter what the occasion was. He was just the kind of person to always bring a smile to anyone's face.

Jack looked over Baby Tooth's head to see that the second pair of ice skates was still sitting in the snow.

"Hey Tooth,"

"Yea?"

"Still want to go out on the ice with me?"

Jack held out his hand to his friend and she looked down at it in consideration.

"Well you make it look so easy…"

It seemed that Baby Tooth was deciding for her and Tooth found herself being shoved in Jack's direction by her sister.

"Okay okay, Baby Tooth! Calm down."

"I guess you've made up your mind, then." Jack remarked with a smile. "You don't have to worry about falling Tooth, I wouldn't let that happen."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Tooth stared into Jack's dazzling blue eyes. The look on his face was more persuasive than political television commercials and she soon found herself taking off her boots. Jack hoped that the ice skates would fit Tooth and he was glad to see that they at least stayed on her feet. They looked approximately half a size too big for her, but they were withstanding her weight and that was good enough for him.

Baby Tooth stared at her older sister link arms with Jack. She wished more than anything that she could go on the ice too, but she just had on a regular pair of toddler shoes designed for outdoor play and not for skating on frozen lakes.

Nervously, Tooth allowed Jack to escort her onto the lake and she slowly took baby steps forward. She was slightly shaking but she had managed to go six feet out onto the ice and not fall on her face yet. Jack gently let go of Tooth and permitted her to attempt walking on the ice without his support. After moving even further, Tooth glanced back at the shore where her sister was obediently watching and realized how far away they were. Her sudden awareness caused her to lose her balance for a split second and Tooth let out a high pitched yelp as she felt herself trip.

Jack was automatically at her side and aided Tooth by wrapping his arms around her waist before she could fall backwards. If anyone else had seen them, it would seem like Jack was dipping Tooth down low.

"See, Tooth? I told you I wouldn't let you fall."

Tooth was looking up at Jack while laying in his arms and she blushed at seeing the sun in the sky shine around his head. The sun formed a crown of white light around his white hair and Tooth softly kept her gaze upon him, not even bothering trying to say the words that were caught in her throat.

Baby Tooth held Tooth's camera in her hands and clicked the button on top. She didn't mean to take a photo of what looked like Jackson Frost dipping Toothiana Fairie down low for a passionate kiss while standing on a frozen lake, but she hadn't even realized that she had taken a picture in the first place.

Jack kept his eyes on Tooth as he assisted her into getting back on her feet properly. "Do you want me to help you move around?" he asked with is voice as playful as ever. He didn't know why, but some part of him was really hoping that she would agree so that he could hold her hand while she tried to skate.

"I think I'd like that, Jack."

With Jack's hand locked in hers and their hands together, Tooth steadily put one foot in front of the other. Jack had already prevented her from falling once, and Tooth felt as if she had nothing to worry about while on the ice. It could crack beneath their feet and she knew that Jack would save her. Being so focused on not flopping on her face, Tooth didn't realize that Baby Tooth was still tinkering with her camera and its many functions. With each passing second Baby Tooth was unknowingly zapping photos of her sister holding hands with Jack.

Ten minutes had passed since Tooth walked out onto the ice, and Jack decided that it was time for her to advance to the next step of ice skating. "Okay, Tooth," he said. "I'm going to let go on the count of three."

"Wait, I-"

"You've already had a good beginning; you should be able to pick up everything else naturally. On the count of three, I'm going to give you a little push to start you off."

"Okay…"

"Ready?"

"I think so."

"One,"

Tooth held her breath.

"two,"

She was having such a pleasant time having Jack latch onto her, did he have to let go so soon?'

"three!"

Jack forced Tooth forward and she kicked off. She mimicked Jack's movements and used her skates to propel herself as she glided on the lake with her white haired companion instructing her.

"Don't stare at the ice, just keep looking straight ahead and let your body do the thinking." he said quoting Tooth from when she was telling him how to dance. Gears turned in Tooth's head as she followed his advice and soon she was skating at the same pace that Jack was. Baby Tooth was clapping as she saw her big sister ice skate and they were all happy until realization struck Tooth.

"Jack,"

"You're doing great, Tooth. Just-"

"How do I stop?!"

No one had informed her how to brake on the ice, and she was far from figuring it out on her own. Jack knew that Tooth's mind was becoming cloudy with panic which meant that she would lose her focus and slip. He was about to tell her how to stop when Tooth decided to try to maneuver it on her own. Being so experienced with ice skating, Jack knew from Tooth's stature that she was about to plummet onto the cold, unforgiving ice. He did teach himself how to ice skate on his own after all. The last thing that Jack wanted was for Tooth to fall and get bruised, he didn't even want her to break a nail.

"Hold on, Tooth!"

He acted fast while Tooth didn't even get a chance to respond as her arms started to aimlessly flail while her balance on the slippery glassy surface vanished. Jack was the closeted object for her to grab within her reach and that is exactly what she did as her hand grasped his blue hoodie. She ended up bringing both of them down as they tumbled onto the ice together.

Jack was the first to hit the crystal-like ice, and Tooth followed after. She grunted as she landed on top of him and her nose slammed against his throat. Baby Tooth captured the moment and the image of Tooth resting on Jack was saved into the camera's memory.

Within a second Tooth had become fully aware of her position with Jack and stammered out an apology while getting up.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry Jack!" she stuttered while her hand clutched her sore nose. Jack coughed once and changed into a sitting position while Tooth was on her knees.

"Whoa slow down there Tooth, you okay?"

"I-oh…yeah I'm fine."

She had just pulled him to the rock hard ice and her nose had smacked into his throat and Jack was wondering about her well-being? He was the one to hit the ice not her!

Jack aided Tooth to get her back on her feet.

"I think that's enough skating for today."

"Yeah."

Their hands were interlocked once again as they retreated back to the shore and both of them felt warm inside from their recent contact with each other. "You're a really good teacher, Jack." Tooth softly complimented to her friend. "I never would have gotten that far if one of the other guys who knew how to ice skate were teaching me."

North was the second best at ice skating compared to Jack while Sandy was third and Aster was dead last. The first time North had dragged him out on the ice he was slipping and sliding all around and he fell at least twenty times before giving up. Aster didn't even like to step foot on the ice if it meant he had to do more than just stand still on it.

Baby Tooth greeted them when they stepped off of the lake and the two teens removed their skates. Jack put his shoes back on and looked over to Tooth with a crooked smile on his face. The knots in his shoes had come undone again. Tooth took one glimpse at Jack's shoes and pursed her lips at him until they were nothing but a thin line. Baby Tooth snickered into her hands as she watched Tooth bend down to tie Jack's shoes. Once his laces were tied, Tooth picked up her sister and her camera. Jack picked up both pairs of skates and slung them back over his shoulder.

"Are you ready to go, Jack?" Tooth directed to Jack. The boy nodded and they soon found themselves trekking back through the forest.

/

It took them fifteen minutes to walk through the forest, get out of the park, and back onto the sidewalk parallel to the surrounding streets. Buildings surrounded them as they journeyed on foot through the small town in the middle of the day. They were side by side as they walked and Tooth heard Jack's stomach growl like a starved wolf closing in on a rabbit with a limp.

"Jack,"

"Yeah?"

"Did you even eat anything for breakfast?"

"Do you want to know the whole story?"

"We have the time."

"Okay so, I was going to have some cereal but then one of the kids at the orphanage sneezed into the box and his brother just put the box back meaning that they could have sneezed in the other cereal boxes and I wasn't going to take any chances."

"Gross."

"So since I wasn't going to eat anything, I just had some milk but it was only in there for maybe two seconds before Mr. Moon startled me and I ended up doing a spit take."

"Who's Mr. Moon?"

"The new caretaker. He's this creepy and mysterious guy who knows way too much information than he should."

"How does he know so much?"

"He said something about reading my file."

"Oh."

"But the point is, no, I didn't eat anything."

"Well, would you like to get something to eat then? There's this small café around the corner where we could grab a bite. After all, we can go back to Aster's house at any time."

"But I have nothing to pay with and-"

"No need to worry, I can pay."

"Are you sure? Because I can maybe scrape up some money to pay you back with later."

"You don't have to, my parents get a lot of money so I'll just take care of everything."

"Really? Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Tooth led the way and Jack followed her. The two pairs of ice skates clinked as he walked down while he couldn't help but being uneasy about Tooth paying. She was the girl and Jack was the guy, meaning that he was supposed to pay. If Baby Tooth wasn't with them, the circumstances they were under would make it seem like they were on a date. But this wasn't a date; it was Jack spending some quality time with his very close friend who happened to be of the opposite gender along with her three year old sister.

The wind around them evolved into a gust and it pried the remaining leaves off of the surrounding trees. They danced through the air as they rode the air currents past Jack and the other girls. It was as if the wind followed Jack wherever he went acting like his escort. Baby Tooth was becoming restless in her sister's arms and Tooth placed her back on the ground where they held hands together. Even though Baby Tooth had a larger attention span than Sophie, Tooth still didn't want her sister wandering off into the streets. There was traffic on the roads and any car that came driving down the road could easily flatten them.

Leaves were still being blasted past Jack as he was still deep in thought. He was focused on one topic and he still didn't know what to do about it. Was his body trying to tell him something? Did he have a crush on Tooth? She was as lovely as a fairy, an amazing person in general, and she was the first person to reach out to him besides Sandy. She was even in his dreams so maybe it was a sign that they were destined to be together.

He was so lost in thought that his walking pace was decreasing and he fell behind Tooth and Baby Tooth. His gaze was kept on the cracks in the sidewalk while everything taking place in the background was tuned out from his senses.

A discarded newspaper hitched a ride on the wind and was blown in Jack's direction. It flew above Baby Tooth's head and hugged Jack's face. The wind was blowing against him and Jack put down the ice skates while he wrestled with the large piece of black and white paper to get it off. Baby Tooth turned around to witness it and Tooth soon stopped walking and spun around to see that Jack was struggling to remove the newsprint. The wind was still strong as they both laughed to themselves seeing how much difficultly Jack was facing.

Jack's vision was obscured by the newspaper and he eventually stumbled off of the sidewalk and onto the road. He was oblivious that he was placed in the path of incoming traffic and the newspaper crinkled by his ears, blocking out his hearing. Everything was happening so fast, and he was unaware of the truck speeding towards him.

Jack managed the tear the newspaper off of his face just in time to hear Baby Tooth shriek as he saw the truck come closer and closer to him. The driver was blasting their horn while the truck wasn't even close to slowing down or stopping. He didn't have any time to think before Tooth gripped his hood and heaved him out of the road, away from the path of the truck which was only a foot away from crushing him.

Still trying to piece everything together, Jack gave Tooth a look of gratitude as she wrapped her arms around him. "That must have been the most terrifying thing I've ever seen!" she cried into his ear. "You could have been killed!"

Jack was in shock. He had removed the newspaper to see a truck approaching him and Tooth had pulled him back before he could even comprehend what to do.

She saved him.

Tooth just saved his life.

"I…."

He honestly did not know what to say. If Tooth was a second late, he could have lost his life.

Baby Tooth was soon at his side and she was clutching his leg as if he could disappear at any given moment. She was weeping into his pants knowing that he could have left her forever while Tooth was still hugging him.

What was he supposed to say? Jack squirmed out of Tooth's grip and noticed how the sunlight shined down on her as if it were a spotlight. If he were in a movie, a chorus of angels would be singing as he gaped at Tooth under the sun.

"I…thank you."

"Just promise me that you'll be more careful, okay? That whole thing that just happened was horrifying. I don't know what I'd do if you just died right in front of me."

Baby Tooth was still sobbing into his leg as Jack felt his heart slam in his chest. The way his emotions reacted to Tooth was no longer rocket science to him. From making him feel like a swarm of butterflies was flying around in his stomach to causing him to blush, everything was so clear to Jack now.

He did have a crush on Tooth, and it took almost being run over by a truck to figure that out.