A/N:

Here's another mature warning. Not like The Longest Night, quite the opposite. I'm guessing you catch my drift. In any case, if you're not of the right age (which you should be, clicking on an M-rated story) shoo. If you're not, and you're still reading...welp. I gave y'all a heads up.

Long chapter ahead, and it took me an extra day to get it done 'cause I wanted it done right.

21. Cards on the Table

It was exactly the message Elsa needed, and one that took her completely by surprise.

The board meeting held every Wednesday tired her out so, so much. It was like a bunch of kids in a room, panicking that someone was going to take their toys away. If Elsa was honest, it made her incredibly angry. She knew they were freaking out because two of the members were shareholders, and those shares were now firmly in the grasp of Black. Those members hadn't turned up to the meeting today.

It came as no surprise that one of the missing people was the woman with the wispy hair.

She wasn't angry because they were freaking out. She was angry because they seemed content to bicker amongst themselves rather than work out what to do.

Leaving the meeting with one hell of a headache and frustration burning in her chest, she had dived into her handbag once the first few notes of Stockholm Syndrome resonated from the phone and eagerly checked the notifications.

She had a message, alright, but it was from an unknown number. She had hesitated for a moment. Dare she press the icon? It could be bad, it could be good.

Schrodinger's Message, anyone?

Giving in to her curiosity, she raised her eyebrows when she read the message, and blushed a deep, deep red at the end.

"Hello! You don't know me, but my name is Thiana St North. I'm Jack's godmother. I…stole his phone while he was in the shower, and I hope you don't mind that I copied your number. I wanted to ask if you, your sister, and her fiancée would like to join us for Christmas Day? I understand if you already have plans. – Thiana x-x-x

P.S. I must apologise for accidentally scrolling through your private messages, but where did you buy that lingerie? Seriously, if I had your body at forty eight, I'd be flaunting that set."

If humans were capable of spontaneous combustion, Elsa would probably be going nuclear; her cheeks were that hot. She typed out a reply, completely bowled over by the forthrightness of Jack's godmother.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance. I would love to join you then, and I'm sure Anna and Kristoff will too. I will check to see if they have not made any plans. Regarding the last point, I will remind Jack to set a password on his phone, but thank you for the compliment! – Elsa"

The reply came back shortly before she entered Kai's office, and the blushing then turned into a rush of flattering warmth.

"Lovely! Look forward to seeing you then. He did set a password, actually. 3572. I just know how he thinks. – Thiana x-x-x"

"Three five seven two…" she muttered to herself, pausing just outside Kai's door. She switched over to the keypad, and typed the numbers in.

DKRB? That makes no sense. FJQC? I guess it's cryptic enough. E…

Then it hit her.

E-L-S-A.

"You want to play baseball?" Jack regarded his godfather with an eyebrow raised, Spock-style.

He was in the middle of writing a letter. Technically, he had only just started it. In fact, he had only managed to get the first two words down. The last Friday before Christmas Day and he really wanted to get this letter finished.

"No, I want us to play catch." Nick smiled, tossing a baseball from one gloved hand to the other, gazing at his godson expectantly.

"Okay. You want to play catch." He gave Nick incredulity.

"Yes."

"In the snow."

"I'm fairly sure you aren't bothered by the cold, Jack."

"Nick, I want to write this letter…"

"It can wait for an hour. It's eleven in the morning, you've been up here for two hours, and you've only managed 'Dear Elsa'. A break will do you good."

Jack leaned back into the worn office chair, situated in Nicholas's study. He twirled the ball-point pen in his fingers like a drummer showing off with his sticks, wondering if he should indulge himself.

"Alright." he sighed.

Nick grinned widely, and turned to make his way out into the back yard. Jack watched after him for a moment, and then glanced thoughtfully at the practically empty piece of paper. Maybe he could use a change of scenery; it might get his brain to work.

Five minutes after leaving the study, Jack found himself outside in the snow with his godfather, tossing a baseball back and forth. It was one of Nick's favourite methods for when he needed to think, so he could focus his mind on one thing while it processed everything else on its own. A lot of the profitable ideas for his company were born from tossing a ball between himself and his wife.

"So," Nick broke the silence, catching the ball in his glove and fluidly throwing it right back, "what's the status with Fractal Fashion?"

Jack tensed his jaw, catching and returning the ball slightly more forcefully than previously.

"Like clockwork, so far. Black has eight percent of their shares. Next week, twelve."

"And their…flunkies?"

"Quiet. That's what worries me." Jack grimaced darkly.

"I know, but we won't know what happens until it happens. Do you have any ideas on how to solve the problem?" North asked, with deep interest. Jack shrugged a little and looked off to the side.

"A couple. Kai is the majority shareholder, I think around twenty six percent or so. He's the only thing standing in the way."

"And that makes him a target." Nick observed. Jack nodded grimly.

"Yep. Anything happens to him, those shares revert to Elsa. Which then makes her a target."

"Right, and your solution?"

"Kai sells his shares to me." he announced, letting the words drop. Nick paused mid-throw, narrowing his eyes.

"But that makes you a target."

"That's the beauty of it. If Elsa is no longer the majority shareholder, it takes her out of their cross-hairs. I have the majority stock, and fix it so they don't know it's me. At least, until I can work out how to burn Black Advertising to the ground for good." Jack clarified, fierce determination in the final sentence.

"How will you keep it concealed?"

"Shell corporations, with a few overseas banks too. If I can pull it off, Black will be chasing my shares for months. One company has the shares, and the funds are in the bank under a fake name. Couple of weeks later, I trade them to another company, and another fake bank. If it goes the way I want it to, by the time Black makes a move to acquire the shares from the…You Suck Corporation, they've already moved to another shell company."

"Clever, Jack, but complicated…and very, very risky. If, somehow, Black finds out you have the shares…" Nick began but could not finish. Jack knew the risks all too well.

"I know. It means I'll be walking around with a bulls-eye on my back. There's another option, though...a merger." Jack offered, trying to cut the tension. Nick raised his eyebrows into his hair.

"Between us and Fractal Fashion? A toy company and a fashion company? Jack, that's like…"

"Putting peanut butter and jelly together, I know. We all know how that turned out. Nick, it'd be a conglomerate. Hell, Black Advertising is a conglomerate…or a virus…" he bitterly spat out the last part.

Nick relaxed his throwing arm, and with three fingers supporting the ball he stroked his impressive beard, regarding his godson in deep thought.

"You've thought long and hard about this, haven't you." he observed, adjusting his posture.

"Yep," Jack smiled proudly, "I even have names for the shell companies. One is called: 'You Snooze, You Lose' Bedroom Furniture, and another's gonna be called: 'Better Luck Next Time Asshole' Betting Company."

North laughed heartily, raising his head to the sky as he let the guffaws loose. Jack couldn't help but snicker along with him.

"There's the Jackson Overland bravado we have all missed." his godfather finished through lingering chuckles, before taking several steps forward and placing his hands on Jack's shoulders, completely covering them with his huge palms.

"She is important to you, isn't she?" Nick asked, gazing into his godson's cobalt blue eyes.

"She gave me back my life. Whatever she thinks she owes me, I owe her way more." Jack declared, meaning every single word. Nick squeezed his shoulders, wearing a broad smile, and then turned to resume the game.

"Then don't you think you've spent long enough in this house, Jack?" he rumbled, a smile curling his bearded mouth and a twinkle in his eyes. Jack looked up at him blankly, and then to the left, wondering how he should respond. He didn't know.

For the first time in a long time, he didn't have a plan.

"I…I'm not sure." he muttered, half-heartedly raising a gloved hand to catch the ball that had sailed past the other side of his head.

"I do. I've been watching you for three days, now, and Thiana a lot longer than that. You're surgically attached to your phone, and every now and then you glance to the front door. This is going to sound incredibly…how do you put it…cheesy, but your heart is healing faster than I had hoped, and it wants to spread its wings. Go. Go and be with her." North finished, holding his hands behind his back and a knowing expression on his jolly face.

Jack smiled widely, knowing that North was right. Every time he received a message from Elsa, he had to fight the urge to dive out of the door, jump in the Impala and break the speed limit to her house.

"There's something I have to do first." he said, understanding in his eyes as he hopped up the two steps leading into the house and strode toward the study.

Should be about midday now. I'm gonna write the letter, drop by Fractal Fashion on the way to the supermarket, and go say hi to Elsa.

North watched after him for a moment or two, and then pulled his cell phone out from the broad brown corduroys he was wearing. Tapping a single speed-dial button, he raised it to his ear and waited for a familiar voice to answer.

"Phil? Start the paperwork. I believe he's ready."

Kai Snowfield was in his office, as always, currently munching on a ham-salad-on-white sandwich, poring over that week's sales reports. The Olaf the Snowman clothing range was being snapped off the shelves faster than the manufacturers could create it, and had the looming threat of acquisition not been sitting in the back of his mind, he'd be breaking out the vintage cognac that was hidden in his desk drawer.

A drink for another day, he had decided, just as the internal telephone rang in his ears, startling his mind and nearly making him drop the sandwich.

"Mr Snowfield, sir, there's a representative from North Pole here to see you."

"Does he have an appoint…wait, what am I saying? Let him in." Kai shook his head exasperatedly at his initial automatic response.

Seconds later, Jack poked his head through the doors, greeting Kai with a business-like smile.

"Ah, Mr Overland! Come in, sorry. You caught me having lunch." He rose from his chair, quickly dusting off sandwich crumbs from his hand before offering it to the young heir. Jack grasped it firmly, a look of mild surprise on his face.

"Want me to come back?" he said, inclining his head toward the remnants of Kai's food. The CEO shook his head vigorously, gesturing to an empty seat.

"No, no. It can wait. What can I do for you?" he asked, returning to his own chair. Jack took a deep breath, wondering how he was going to put across his proposal. In Kai's position, he would definitely prefer candour over small-talk.

"You told me you were a majority shareholder when I was last in this room, that's still the case?" Jack asked, leaning back into the chair, crossing his legs just like last time, and fixing Kai with a mildly intense gaze.

"As far as I know, yes. I take it you're aware that Black has stayed true to his routine?" Kai nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Yeah, but that's not why I'm here. I'm guessing you've probably read everything in the folder I left?"

"Of course. It was quite enlightening. I didn't know your father's company-"

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Jack cut him off before he could delve further.

"O…of course?" Kai was not used to interruptions, especially ones to ask questions of such a nature.

"Do you have anything that Southernisle and Weselton can use against you?"

The question hung in the air like a particularly heavy weight, and for a short time, Kai was unable to answer.

"Nothing I can think of right now. That's a good thing, no?" was the eventual reply.

"No." Jack declared, frowning with concern. Kai looked worriedly at him, so Jack inhaled rapidly through his nose before he spoke once more.

"If they can't find anything they can blackmail you with, they make something. I need you to be honest with me – has anything out of place happened to you since Black's toe-hold purchase?"

Kai didn't answer, but the horrid realisation that dawned on his face, his slumping of his back, and the hand that came up in self-reproachful exasperation told Jack all he needed to know.

"Tell me."

"It was two nights ago. I was driving home from work when I saw this woman crouched against a street light, crying. Initially I thought it was my niece, as she was wearing a similar braid, so I got out of the car to help. I was wrong in thinking it was Elsa, but she had so many bruises on her face. I couldn't help but pity her, so I offered to drive her back to the police station. When we arrived, she thanked me for my help and tried to kiss me, but I pulled away. I thought she was just an incredibly damaged and confused girl, so I paid the kiss no mind."

"And?"

"Last night, on my way home I stopped by the police station to enquire as to how the lady was, but when the desk officer heard my description, he told me she was a known 'lady of the night'."

So he unknowingly had a hooker in his car on Wednesday night.

"What does this mean?" Kai asked, raising his head from his hand and fixing Jack with an uncomfortable expression.

"It means they're coming for you. As the majority shareholder, and the only person that can stop them reaching the supermajority amendment, you're a threat. Southernisle are pretty good at removing threats."

"Which means the shares will revert to Elsa…" the realisation creeping into Kai's thoughts.

"…which makes her the next target." Jack grimly finished.

"Shit…" Kai blurted out. Jack flinched, taken aback by the curse. Kai always seemed so mild-mannered, it was like hearing Nick or Thiana drop the F-bomb.

"I don't know how you're gonna take this, but here goes. I'll buy your stake in the company." he announced, letting the proposal hang in the air for a minute. Kai's eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped a little.

"Mr Overland…do you even know how much those shares are worth?"

"I do." he responded curtly.

"Do you even possess the funds needed?" He wasn't going to let it go. Jack pinched his nose and sighed in exasperation, and tried to hide the frustration in his voice.

I know they're not worth painting a target on your niece's back, Kai.

"Mr Snowfield, I really don't want to explain myself so you're just going to have to trust me." he said, praying that Kai would not push it further. He couldn't blame the man's reluctance, but his questions were starting to feel a little too prying.

"I'm not sure that I do, Mr Overland. For all intents and purposes, you're doing exactly what Black intends to do." Kai spoke, an edge of distrust and suspicion in his voice. That was it; Jack did away with the nice-guy façade and brought out the big guns. He rose from his chair, placed both hands on Kai's desk and fixed him with a glare.

"Okay. I'm gonna forget that you just compared me to that asshole. You already know what happened to the majority shareholders in my folder, right? I'm proposing a way to keep the shares away from Black's hands long enough for us to find a way to bring him down, but in order to do that, you have to sell me your stake."

Kai was unmoved. Exhaling deeply, he pushed himself off from his executive chair and walked solemnly over to the windows, placing his right hand on his waist and his left forearm against the window frame, leaning against it as he collected his thoughts. Jack straightened up, and with his arms folded he sat against the desk facing the pensive, tormented CEO.

"It's not that simple, Mr Overland."

He glanced at Jack who wore an expression of 'Are you going to tell me or what?'. Sighing, he began to elaborate.

"Fractal Fashion was founded by my brother. It was his pride and joy, his baby, the jewel in his crown. I remember when it took off, he was so proud. Unfortunately, he was too proud. You see, when we were children, his toys were his and my toys were mine, and I was not allowed to play with his toys. He wouldn't let me, because they were his. That mentality carried on into later life, when he founded the company. He could not delegate responsibilities, he always took on more than he could handle, simply because it was his company."

Jack nodded slowly and knowingly. Déjà vu.

"My brother was a good man, Mr Overland. I know why he created the company, as a legacy for his daughters, and only for them. He would not suffer outsiders to interfere, which is why all of our shares are held by members of the company."

Kai turned his gaze towards Jack, who wore an understanding but impassive expression.

"The shares that I hold are not mine. They are Elsa's. They are her father's gift, her stake in the company. I do not feel comfortable selling part of Elsa's livelihood to you."

Jack pinched his nose. It was his own fault; he should have been more forthcoming from the start. Then he could have avoided the guilty feeling in his stomach.

"Kai, I'm not keeping the shares." he clarified, a little more exasperatedly than he should have done.

"I'm sorry?" Kai frowned, not quite getting it. Jack suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"This is my plan. I set up six, maybe eight shell companies. The first one buys your shares, then after a week, the second one does. Soon as the eighth company buys them, they go back to the first. Catch my drift?"

Kai nodded.

"If it works, then I have Black constantly chasing the magic majority shares for a while, until we can find a way to get him to back the hell off. When we do, the shares revert to Elsa for the price I bought them for, even if they are worth double. If they are worth less, I sell them for less. See where I'm going with this? I'm not permanently buying a stake in your company. I'm making sure that what's going to happen to you won't happen to her."

"What will happen to me?" Kai asked nervously.

"If they do the same thing they always did, they'll force you to resign and leak the evidence."

In the silent, uncomfortable minutes that followed, Jack starkly remembered something that his English teacher said in high school:

'Words are powerful; they are more than a simple method of communication. Words can create, or they can destroy. They can heal, or they can harm. You can lift someone's spirits with a well-chosen sentence, or you can break them.'

He knew his teacher had spoken the truth; in one sentence Kai had gone from mild-mannered, strong and protective to a crestfallen, downcast and terrified. He had an idea of what was going through the CEO's mind; he would be forced to leave the company he had so lovingly tended to over the years, and lies manufactured by Southernisle would be leaked to the press. His name and his reputation would be dragged through the mud. Rumours would spread, and there was the possibility that Fractal Fashion would catch some of the fallout.

This was the effect of a Black Advertising acquisition.

"I'll leave you to think. I'm also going to give Elsa the respect she deserves by running the idea past her. You have my godfather's number." he solemnly spoke, before quietly turning to leave the room. Before he could slip through the door, however, Kai's voice from behind gave him pause.

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to help?" the suddenly ten-years-older CEO asked, in pained confusion. Jack turned to fix him with a fierce gaze.

"I have my reasons, Kai. One of them is your niece."

Sat at home sipping her mocha, with her feet resting on the coffee table, Elsa's mind ticked as she stared at the movie on her television screen. She didn't really know what the movie was about, vampires and sparkling and smouldering looks or some such. She wasn't really paying attention.

Her phone had been decidedly silent that Friday. She could figure Anna's quietness, Kristoff had taken her for some retail therapy and dinner at his place, and he intimated that she might stay over…after promising that 'nothing would happen' of course. Kai rarely sent messages out unless they were important, or related to the company.

That left Jack, who hadn't said much since the usual 'Good Morning' message she received at about nine o'clock that morning. It left her feeling a little alone, and the sensation was not helped by the silence in her house.

Silence, however, that was disturbed by a knock at her door. Thinking it was Anna, Elsa merely called out, content to remain with her thoughts.

"It's open!"

Returning to her mental processing, she sipped her mocha once more and then nearly spat it out as her phone vibrated on the wooden table. The first sign of activity since that morning. Hastily picking up the whirring device, she took it off standby and hit the notification. It was a picture of her front door, and a message underneath.

"No it isn't. – Jack x"

Elsa frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened with a gasp as she realised exactly what that meant. Nearly spilling her mocha as she quickly placed it on the coffee table, and practically tossing her phone across the room, she darted to the front door and opened it as wide as it would allow.

Jack stood on the other side, clutching two plastic bags of shopping and wearing one hell of a smirk on his face.

"Um, surprise?" he said bashfully.

Elsa didn't speak, nor did she even make a sound. Instead, she surged forward, wrapped her arms around his head to entwine her fingers in his snow white hair, and pulled his lips towards hers for what was, quite possibly, one of the deepest kisses in history. Electrifying tingles shot through the contact, driving them both to deepen the kiss as Elsa, with one hand holding his head in place moved her other hand down to the front of his jacket, gripped the material and pulled him inside her house. Jack had no choice but to comply, his hands weren't responding to any mental orders other than 'hold the bags' and his legs completely at Elsa's mercy.

That kiss was way more powerful than the one outside the hospital, but just like before, it took his breath away.

Kicking the door closed with a partly-obedient foot, Jack let the handles of the plastic bags slip through his fingers and land with a crinkly thud on her laminate floor, so he could wrap his arms around Elsa's chest and hold her against him once more. He was pretty sure he could feel Elsa's heartbeat thunder in unison with his own.

One of them had to pull away for breath, though, and it was her.

"What's in the bags?" she asked breathlessly, her head slightly inclining towards the floor.

"I was going…to cook dinner…" he answered, barely even registering the question.

"Not right now, you're not." she told him, with the weight of an order.

"Why not?" he asked, still fighting for breath. Given the welcome he just received, the answer should have been clear.

"I haven't received my victory spoils." she smiled, a husky tone to her voice and an undefinable look in her icy eyes. Jack smirked, before pressing his lips to hers once more, content to just breathe through his nose so as not to break the passionate embrace. He let Elsa nearly rip apart his jacket, possessing just enough mental clarity to thank God for popper buttons. Letting it slide off his arms and hearing her toss it to the floor, he slid his fingers under her grey fluffy sweater, the contact of his cold hands shooting up her spine and causing her to gasp in his mouth.

The sudden sensation kicked her legs into action, and with her arms over his shoulders she leapt up and wrapped her legs around his hips, the arms once sending the nerves in her back into a hysteria quickly dropping down to her rear to support the sudden movement.

"A little warning, next time?" he whispered into her lips, prompting a cheeky giggle.

He staggered forward into the house towards what he thought was the breakfast bar he glimpsed when the front door was opened, and lifting her onto the nearby stool, he broke the kiss to pull off her sweater as she responded in kind, unbuttoning and swiftly pulling off the smart shirt he had worn for the meeting with Kai with ferocious abandon. Both panting like animals in heat, his gaze locked with hers, sending the same invisible thought between their eyes, the same three words unspoken in Jack's bedroom six days ago.

She pressed her pelvis close to his, and the feeling of his erection sent her already raging hunger into overdrive, and it wasn't helped by Jack deciding to go straight for one of the most acutely sensitive parts of her body: her neck. She gasped and moaned in pleasure as he planted kiss after kiss all the way down from her jaw to her collarbone, interspersing it with the occasional nibble.

"Fucking hell…" she whispered breathlessly, closing her eyes and letting the sensations overwhelm her, entwining his hair between her fingers and gripping it tightly to keep him there.

This wasn't slow or gentle. It was purely animalistic, passionate, I-want-you lust. In fact, Elsa was pretty sure something had been knocked over in the heat of the moment. Not that she cared; it would only be a case of wanton destruction in the pursuit of sexual release. The product of six days of naughty pictures, of euphemisms and disappearances to the bedroom. The limit of what they could take, reached and broken in one fell swoop.

"Seriously…Jack…if you keep doing that, I'm going to come right here, right now…" she moaned in half-protest, not totally against the idea.

"That's a bad thing…why?" he teased against her shoulder, eliciting another moan.

"Bedroom. Now. That way," she pointed half-heartedly to her left, "first door on the right. Our first time will not be on a fucking stool."

Jack received the message loud and clear, so he pulled her legs around him once more and lifted her from the stool, stumbling slightly in the following of her rather emphatic directions. Reaching the desired destination, he kicked that door closed behind him as Elsa unwrapped her legs from his waist, her hands releasing his hair to fumble for the button to his black trousers, eager to release what lay inside. She had to pause briefly as, with lightning speed, Jack had pulled off her sleeveless blue top and unbuttoned her black denim jeans, exposing her nearly naked body for only him to see.

"You're wearing that lingerie…" he murmured with a wild grin.

"Yup. No cold showers for you." she winked, wiggling her eyebrows tauntingly, as she was finally able to pull down his trousers and rub her hand against the bulge in his boxer shorts. Slowly, at first, but building in speed and length as the desire for touch grew more powerful.

"I'm pretty sure," he managed, the sensation beginning to weaken his legs even more and drive his mind wild, "I'm well beyond that point."

Elsa's only response was to lace a finger into the elastic hem of his shorts, and drag him towards her bed with a playful expression and a biting of her lip. He didn't know what came over him at that point, he could only assume that up until then he had been partly restraining himself, letting her take the lead. Right now, that restraint had been broken.

With a grunt of effort he crouched slightly as he wrapped his hands around her buttocks, bodily lifting her against him, Elsa squealing slightly with the surprise show of domination. He felt the smooth skin of her cheeks against his fingers, and being able to put his hands there for the first time was so damn sweet. As was pressing her already soaking thong against his boxers, eliciting yet more moans from their mouths as they gave up trying to kiss each other over the sounds of pleasure escaping their throats.

Striding forward, he lifted one knee onto her bed and used it to climb up onto the mattress, laying her down and diverting his mouth to the sweet spot on the other side of her neck, while his hands slid under her back. The combination of the second shock of cold fingertips, along with the little circles he made with his tongue, the tiny bites and the wet kisses caused her to moan louder than ever before, and for a few seconds she wanted him to calm down.

He would give her no respite, though. Finding the clasp of her bra, he deftly unhooked it, removed it from her body and tossed it to god-knows where. Moving one hand to massage her right breast, the fingers teasing the nipple, he cupped her left breast with the other hand as he traced a line of kisses down from her neck, interspersing it with the occasional light lick, until finally his mouth enclosed upon the erect nipple.

Elsa gasped and screwed her eyes shut, her hands unsure of what to do until she had to mentally shout at them to do something. Her left hand entwining itself with his hair, her right hand stretched down to stroke his length, still hidden by the boxers. Her prize, unclaimed from the Sunday morning. Feeling him release her breasts, his tongue traced a line down the centre of her naked torso, circling her navel once before reaching the hem of her thong. She wasn't sure how much more she could take of the relentlessly pleasurable shocks coursing through her body.

She was about to find out. Lacing his fingers around her underwear, he slowly pulled it down her legs and tossed that somewhere they didn't care, and with the flicker of realisation as to what he was about to do, she raised her hands to the pillows on either side of her head and gripped tightly, just before his tongue reached her bud.

"Holy shit…" she managed to gasp, the acute sensations of pleasure shooting from the point of contact to the rest of her body, involuntarily arching her back and grinding her hips against his mouth, her left hand automatically reaching down to his head to keep the fucker doing what he was doing. Jack wrapped his arms around her thighs and held them tightly, making sure that the intense contact was not broken by her involuntary movements. She expected some form of foreplay, but not like this.

Jack smiled to himself as he felt her grind against his mouth, feeling a surge of pride along with everything else that, after three years, he's still got it. Elsa's moans became louder and more frequent, and her breaths came faster and shallower until shouting his name, she climaxed, shuddering against his face and gripping his hair so tightly, he thought he was going to end up with a bald patch afterwards.

He looked up with a smirk at her wide eyes, hearing her pant as she went through the aftershocks, and was partly able to discern the breathless whisper of "My turn", just before he felt her hands cup either side of his face and pull his lips up to hers, feeling her tongue slide in and out of his mouth sending tingles along his lips. She pushed him over onto his back and lowered her body against his, aching to feel as much of his skin as possible against her own. Even the scars. This was what they had been craving for six days, the physical attention, the overarching need for each other's touch. Pulling away from his kiss and sitting upright, she grasped the hem of his boxer shorts and jerked then downwards.

Watching Elsa sat astride him, one singular thought crashed through the light-headedness that occupied his mind.

She was absolutely perfect to him. From the platinum blonde braid-free hair, the smooth paleness of her skin, those cerulean eyes that were staring at him with passionate desire, those small but perky breasts of hers, and how every single curve of her currently naked body was, in his mind, completely and utterly entrancing. Of all the men in the world, she was making love to him.

And that made him feel like the luckiest guy in the history of mankind.

"What?" she asked shyly, feeling the intensity, "you're staring at me…"

"Sorry, it's just…you are so beautiful…" he murmured breathlessly. Both of them flushed a deep tomato colour at his words…and both of their jaws dropped when Elsa managed to successfully guide him inside her.

Her eyes widened to their limit as she took a deep intake of breath, and felt nearly all of the muscles in her body contract with the pleasure that was heating her up from the inside, starting from the point of entry all the way to her extremities.

"Fucking hell!" she gasped, slowly lowering herself down, knowing that if she were to go any faster with his entry, they would probably both climax right then. She felt him slowly begin to fill her core, and it drove all other thoughts from her mind – if she had any at that point – except the one commanding her hips to move. And they did. Slowly. Achingly. Jack tried to focus on something else in his mind to keep him from losing himself right then. Trigonometry. Business studies. Snowflake designs. Anything to distract him from being overcome by the warm, velvety feeling that threatened to push him over the edge.

And when her hips moved, so did his. In perfect unison.

She lowered her body, so her chest pressed against his, her sensitive buds feeling the scars that ran across his torso. He cupped her face with his hands as she did the same with his, and their lips met in a hungry, passionate embrace, tongues clashing and lips bruising, gasps uttered and moans escaping. He felt the hot warmth of her head in his hands, along with the soft, silky strands of hair between his fingers, and the touch of her forehead against his as they once more gave up on the kissing, the moans and sounds coming too frequently.

Her hips began to pick up speed now, with Elsa feeling the intensity of the pleasurable lightning cascading through her body with increasing strength and frequency. Jack matched her rhythm perfectly, and occasionally elicited a shout when he would thrust up, going deeper inside her than she ever thought he could. She occasionally circled her hips around him, eager to feel more of him inside her, aching to feel him touch places that hands could not satisfy.

He grew tired of being on his back, so with a surge forward – and a squeal from Elsa – he lifted them both upright and wrapped his arms around her chest, holding her tightly against him, not wanting to ever let go. She responded by smashing her soft, full lips to his shoulders, and running her hands from his neck down to his spine, kissing, nibbling and sometimes even biting to cope with the rising heat inside her. Feeling her rhythm start to approach the crescendo, and knowing he wasn't far off himself, he pressed his own lips to her neck once more, paying special attention to the sweet-spots on her neck with his tongue and his teeth.

"Fuck, Jack…whatever you're doing, don't you dare stop…" she tried to whisper, louder and more emphatic moans providing the punctuation. She was partly amazed she could get the words out; such was the buzzing in her mind. Jack merely chuckled into her skin, not breaking the momentum.

"Seriously…it's so good…if you stop, I will kill you. Slowly." she reiterated, digging her nails into his back as the pleasure became uncontrollable. She hoped she wasn't hurting him, but if Jack would ever be asked, he kinda liked the painful sensation.

And then, inexorably, the point was near. Feeling her hips now move independent of thought, she started to feel the second build-up in her core, the seeds that would explode. Their movements became faster and more frenzied, their moans becoming louder and stronger as he also began to feel himself reach the edge.

"Elsa, I'm-"

"Not yet. Stay with me. Together." she ordered, and Jack tried desperately to summon the entire Disney Infinity manual into his mind to keep him from losing the battle. He didn't need to for long.

"Oh, shi-"

"Oh….fuck!"

"Shiiiiiiitt, Jack, I'm coming! Now!" she screamed, holding him tightly against her, clamping her legs around his back so he could not move, feeling her body begin to rapidly convulse with the explosion of orgasmic pleasure resonating through her entire body, sending her mind somewhere into the stratosphere. The hot, acute sensation was heightened when Jack finally let go, releasing a loud moan as he let himself loose inside her, his hips involuntarily bucking up with the jerking.

Wrapped in each other's arms and legs, foreheads pressed against each other, they let the sensations of overwhelming pleasure fill their beings from core to tip, enduring the occasional convulsion and resultant gasp as their bodies went through the motions. Wave upon wave of warm lightning coursing through their bodies, gradually lessening in intensity as their minds began to reactivate once more. Jack collapsed backwards onto the bed, Elsa falling on top of him, feeling her hot breath against his face and her hands stroke his cheeks and warm lips press against his mouth.

"That...was worth waiting for…worth taking those contrawhatsit pills for…" she gasped into his mouth, sometimes sucking in a breath when the aftershocks shot through her body with a deep intensity. Feeling just how weak her legs were, she flopped to the side, yelping a little with the sudden removal of his length from inside her. A light layer of sweat adorned their bodies as they lay there, fighting for every breath as they stared into each other's eyes, Elsa occasionally hitching a breath when another aftershock shot through her body.

"Yeah…that was…wow…" Jack tried to speak, but gave up the impossible endeavour.

"I think…I'm gonna need to walk it off…" she murmured, wondering if her mind was ever going to come back down from space, "would you…like a coffee?"

"Please. I'm gonna…stay here for a while…if that's okay…" he replied, knowing that if he tried to walk he'd probably fall over and not get back up. Elsa giggled, pride joining the emotions coursing through her heart knowing that she just blew Jack's mind. She leaned over, placed a hand on his jaw and gently turned his still-stunned face towards her, and with the softness of a rose petal she pressed her lips to his with a soft 'mmm'. Jack watched her break the embrace, slide from the bed and attempt to stand straight with a murmured 'woah' as her legs wobbled, and with an expression of pure wonder he watched her ethereal, naked form stagger slightly towards the white dressing gown that was hanging on the back of her door, and turning back with a coy smile and a knowing wink, she left the room.

Elsa's head was still swimming a little, so the presence of the walls nearby and the stools by the breakfast bar proved to be quite adept at helping her walk. Making her way to the coffee cupboard, she picked out a pod for Mocha and one for Americano, smiling to herself as she placed the pod in the dispenser and a mug under the nozzle.

She finally had Jack all to herself. No messages, no calls, nothing to interrupt them. And it felt amazing.

She turned to assess the carnage, a line of clothes extending from the front door all the way to the bedroom. She blushed shyly, recalling what came over her as soon as she saw that smirk, that smile that lit up his face and made her fall for him all the more.

But then something caught her eye, a rectangular envelope that had fallen out of Jack's military jacket when she tore it from him. Curious, she stepped over and picked up the envelope, noticing that the name on the front was hers.

Should she open it? Should she leave it? It was for her after all. Maybe a quick peek. Sliding her finger under the envelope's seal, she quietly pulled it apart and slipped out the letter that was inside, and that bore her name too.

Dear Elsa,

I pretty much had three choices in doing this. One, I could tell you face to face, but let's face it: my track record with that is pretty crap. Another was to use email like I said outside the hospital, but that seemed so…impersonal. So that left writing this letter.

I think you deserve to know why I am the way I am, and I really, really hope that it doesn't change things between us.

So, here it is. Everything You Wanted To Know About Jack, But Were Afraid To Ask. See what I did there? Woody Allen…never mind. Bad joke.

I had a mother called Sarah, and a sister called Sophie. She was my world, my absolute world. I loved her more than anything, and she loved me. She wasn't even supposed to be here, the docs once told my mom that after me, she wouldn't be able to have any more children. My mom was stubborn, though, she kept trying. And when I was ten, she basically gave the docs the best middle finger she could, by getting pregnant with Sophie. She was our miracle child, the girl that wasn't to be.

I called her my snowflake, and she called me her Jack Frost. Probably because of my hair! Anyway, like I said, I loved her. I pretty much became her dad and her bro, because our father spent more time as CEO than he did with us. Everything I know I taught to myself, and everything Sophie knew, I taught her. Except, you know, girl stuff. Mom did that.

Sophie absolutely loved Christmas, and she loved the snow. I can't tell you how many snowball fights I lost to her. You get her going, she's damn near vicious. We'd have fights over who gets our dessert, and she would ALWAYS win.

Anyway, I say 'had', because on the night of the eighth of December, I lost them both. They were crossing the road; Sophie wanted to show me something that they had bought for Christmas. Three seconds later, they were hit by a car. Mom went under the wheels and died instantly, but Sophie…she held on.

I don't really remember much from that day. I vaguely remember calling 911 while I was holding Sophie to my chest. I remember feeling that if I just cuddled her, that if I just kept her warm that she would be fine. That the impact hadn't shattered nearly every bone in her little body.

Next thing I knew, we were in the ambulance on the way to Burgess Hospital. I was holding her hand, and she was trying to keep her eyes open to look at me. She was trying to say something, so I pulled away the oxygen mask so I could make out what she was saying.

"I'm scared."

That was the last thing she said, because a few seconds later I felt her little hand go limp as she flat-lined. I went numb. I couldn't believe it. In one night, the only two people I ever loved had been killed by some hit-and-run asshole. My therapist told me it was some sort of defence mechanism, that my body and mind wasn't able to cope with the grief so I kind of shut down.

So, for three years, I kept everyone away from me. I was terrified that if I let someone in, if I allowed myself to connect with someone, that they would be ripped away from me just like my family was. I didn't want to go through that again. Hell, it was kind of a routine. 364 days of the year, I'd be alone. Every 8th of December, I'd make a pilgrimage to Burgess, go see their graves, get a new pair of snowflakes on my neck, and try to kill myself.

Yep. I said that. First anniversary, I drank enough whisky to put DunBroch out of business, and ended up spending it in hospital getting my stomach pumped. Second anniversary, I tried to crash my car into some semi truck, but for some reason I turned my wheel at the last second. Ended up hitting this massive tree stump instead, and I went flying through the wind shield. That's what those scars are from.

This year, I nearly drove off the edge of a disused quarry outside Burgess. I didn't really remember much, all knew was I somehow found myself on the street where they died, and the next thing I knew, I was near the edge of the quarry, about to hit the gas when I got your text message. Just asking how I was.

You pretty much saved my life.

That brings me to the last part of this letter. I was content to just be isolated, you know, be on my own until the day I die…but then I met you. I don't know what it is about you, but ever since we met I found it harder and harder (giggity) to keep you away. I just didn't want to be the cold, aloof guy anymore. I didn't want to hide anything, and that's pretty much down to you. Hell, you saw my at my worst on Saturday night, but you stayed with me.

You brought me out of my shell, and helped me to start to grieve. For that, I'll be eternally grateful.

You're also the only one I have ever told about my family. Ever. No-one else knows, apart from Nick and Thiana obviously, but they don't know everything. Pretty sure Anna will want to know. I mean, she's like the eighteen year old version of Sophie, so if she asks, you can tell her.

So this is me laying my cards on the table. Letting you in, I guess. Even if you don't want to be with me anymore after this letter, you have my thanks. For helping me to be me again.

Jack.

Elsa re-read the letter a few more times, letting the words sink in. She knew there was a story behind Jackson Overland, but she didn't know what it was. She wasn't sure when, or even if he would tell her, but now he did.

Everything.

He had bared his soul to her in this letter, and it was a tortured one. But it was healing. Raising a finger to wipe a tear that had snuck out at around about the second reading of the last paragraph, she realised just how much she meant to him. This was beyond stolen glances, beyond dates and sex, this was a connection. The invisible force between two people that fate decided should be together.

She ached inside for him, acutely knowing the same pain that sat in his heart for three years until he met her, the isolating loneliness of keeping people away. Now knowing exactly why he was the way he was, and that she was the only person he opened up to. Not Anna, not his godparents, but her.

Along with the heartache that came at the knowledge of his loss, a warm explosion radiated from her heart.

Clutching the letter, she strode purposefully back to the bedroom, practically pushing the door off its hinges. Jack had just managed to pull himself out of bed and started to make his way to his trousers when she burst through the door, and he regarded her with a puzzled expression…which shifted to dread when he saw what was in her hand.

"Elsa, I-"

There were no words. Elsa dropped the letter, reached Jack in three steps and pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips against his in a bruising, needing kiss. Jack didn't know what to do with his hands, so he just left them at his sides…but he could swear he felt the lightest convulsions of a sob in her mouth. Finally pulling away, she stared at him with an undefinable look in her eyes, trying to chase away the worry in his.

"Jack, I am so, so sorry for your loss. I know what it's like to lose family." she whispered, every single word reinforced with comfort and understanding. Jack looked away, feeling his eyes begin to heat up as the onset of tears made their way there. Elsa delicately placed a hand under his chin and guided his eyes back to her.

"But you're an idiot if you think that will end things between us." she smiled warmly, her words reinforced with the strongest conviction as a solitary tear dripped down from an eye. Relief washed over Jack's entire being, chasing away the fear and worry, the resignation and the sadness. His arms darted up and wrapped themselves around her, with Elsa's arms responding in kind as they buried themselves in each other.

Standing in Elsa's bedroom, fresh from closing the physical distance and opening the soul, they shared one of the tightest, closest, most powerful embraces possible.

After two weeks of testing the waters, of weathering storms, and six days of being apart, finally they were together.

And about time, too.

A/N: *pulls collar away from neck, whistles innocently*

Yeah, I'm...gonna go...yeah...there's the door. Enjoy...I hope.