A/N: Holy late chapter, Batman! I'm sorry for the lack of chapter last week, guys. They've been fighting me the past few times. I'm hoping the next ones will come a bit easier, even though I just started my semester. My last semester ever, then I have to be a grown up. Please excuse me while I melt into a puddle of anxiety.

Last chapter I passed 200 reviews and 100 faves! Thank you guys so much, that's awesome. Cat Lunanoff, Thanks a ton, I always love finding out who everyone's favorite Muse is, and I'm having a lot of fun with Erato and Thalia lately. As far as what's gonna happen to Rowan, you have no idea the evil grin that comes to my face every time someone says they can't figure out what I'm going to do with her in the end. ForeverACharmedOne, 200th reviewer! Wooo! I was wondering when someone was going to bring this up, though, I was like "Am I being too subtle? Are people not okay with it so they're just ignoring it?" But yeah, Thalia and Arachne have giant crushes on each other. Miss Pibbles, thank you! I plan on drawing both Rowan and Jack in their attire for the ball. I'd love to at least sketch out the Muses' outfits as well but we'll see what kind of time I have, lol. Kou, oh definitely. This thought hasn't really crossed Rowan's mind yet but it definitely will. Also, thanks to musichick who skyped with me and helped me sort out some stuff.

As a last note, part of this chapter will be slightly NSFW. It's gonna be the pretty much the same deal as before, though, sex is discussed but does not actually happen (yet).

"The most tragic stories start out so happily. Let them have their fun, Pitch, the closer they get the greater his fear of losing her will grow and the stronger you'll get. This can't last."

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Doubt Truth To Be A Liar

Pitch watched as she walked, with such grace and power, her heels clicking against the stones and hips swaying just slightly as she went. She always walked with such purpose. He always liked the way she walked, though he wasn't one to tell her that.

Her moonbeam followed her hesitantly. The one that had been assigned to him quickly rushed over to meet up with it. Greeting a familiar friend after being separated, being forced to be alone with the two least agreeable members of the alliance.

"Hello again, Mel," Pitch said as she grew closer. "You disappeared today."

Melpomene hadn't really left his side once the new moon had passed.

"Even I like to see the sun sometimes," Melpomene said, finally coming to a halt. "I was speaking with the others, they want me to ask you a few questions."

"How do they know I won't lie?" Pitch asked. "In fact, how do they know you won't lie?"

"Because it's part of the deal," Melpomene said, crossing her arms. "Because it'll keep all of us safe, you have no reason yet to lie."

"I don't know that, I haven't heard the questions," he said with a smirk.

"It's nothing about you, it's just a few things Jack ran by North that we need answers for," she said. "Have the Shadow People always been able to talk?"

"Hmm," Pitch said, considering this for a moment. "I've never heard them speak myself, but I think I might have heard something about that before. During each other phase of the moon, they're much like you, my dear, they bring insecurities and tragedies to the surface. The voices you hear in your head when they attack is simply your own voice, your own insecurities. But during the new moon… they can speak for themselves."

"To manipulate further," Melpomene said.

"Exactly," said Pitch.

"Do they have a leader?"

"Not to my knowledge, though I wouldn't be surprised with the way they've managed to organize themselves so efficiently, I don't know that they can do that on their own."

"So you have no idea who could be calling the shots?" Melpomene asked, clearly suspicious.

"What, you think it's me? Don't make me laugh, you're not the right Muse for that," Pitch said with a smile.

"I know it isn't you," said the Muse, rolling her eyes. "Are there any other abilities that they get during the new moon?"

"They may be more persuasive, they may even be able to mimic voices, I suppose it depends on whose spirits they've been feeding on recently," Pitch said with a shrug.

"So if someone was able to resist them before, on the New Moon, it would be harder," Melpomene said, visibly nervous at the idea. She had, of course, been able to put up a fight against them when the moon was a bit more full.

"Very likely," said Pitch.

"The Mortal Muse used a taser against them and they backed off, do you know anything about that?"

"They probably didn't know what it was and she frightened them," Pitch shrugged, growing quite bored with these questions. "I don't imagine it would work efficiently as a weapon against them in the future. Is there anything else?"

"No, I think that's it. You're starting to look sick again, Pitch, I noticed when Arachne took your measurements, you've gotten thinner," Melpomene said, reaching forward and setting a hand to the side of his face, gently, warmly.

"Don't inspire my misery," Pitch said bitterly, taking her hand in his and removing it from his face. "It was all working out so nicely, the Mortal Muse was so terrified of her feelings for Jack, but now…"

"She's not afraid anymore now that they've made things official?" Melpomene asked, raising a brow. She didn't bother to respond to his comment about inspiring his misery. He was unsurprised by this.

"She's still afraid, but not enough, he keeps replacing her fear with fun," Pitch said, annoyance clear in his face as he turned to watch Rowan's corner of the globe. He had been doing just fine sitting and waiting for her fear to steadily trickle in but once again, Jack Frost had to interfere. "If anything, she's probably making him stronger now."

"Interesting change of pace, but it can't last," Melpomene said. "Right?"

"She has to die at some point if that's what you mean. I can't go give her a nightmare, not with the Sandman's barrier… unless you take me past it," Pitch said, glancing Melpomene's way. She could, after all, just disappear and re-appear beyond the barrier.

"That's risky, and if the Sandman or Jack find out, they'll break the alliance just to make us pay," said the woman. She tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. "And Calliope likely won't show me any sympathy."

"As if she ever does. Whose side are you on?" Pitch asked, eying her critically. So many times she had spoken about her frustrations with the eldest Muse and the Guardians as a whole. She'd spoken of her delight at the irritation her relationship with him caused them.

"It's not a matter of sides, Pitch, it's a matter of strategy. It's too risky right now. They're happy, they're probably going to be up all night, all over each other, there's no opportunity to get in there and do what we did before," Melpomene said.

"You don't seem very bothered by the idea of another Muse growing close to him," Pitch said.

"Why would I be?" she said, settling herself down on his throne, feigning boredom.

"You spent an awful long time with the boy."

"For how long our lives are, the years I spent with him are hardly 'an awful long time.' Besides, I thought that was something you didn't like to think about. The fact that you and Jack have both been with the same woman."

"It's something you think about. But he isn't the only one. You think of all the men you've abused and you wonder if you'll ever be able to truly love anything again, because every time you start-"

"Stop it," she snapped. Pitch couldn't help but smile. "I never loved Jack."

"You started to," said Pitch. "But he'll never believe that."

"I never loved him," Melpomene said, pulling herself back to her feet, careful to keep eye contact with the frail man. "You think you know so much, but you know fear, and when I was with him, I wasn't afraid. I thrived. But it wasn't love, it was never love. So why should I care that someone else may be falling for him?"

"Because it makes you angry when others move on from their tragedies," Pitch said. "Because you never will."

"Funny thing about tragedy," Melpomene said. "The world is full of it. I don't need Jack Frost to be miserable when there's plenty of other tragic souls out there. Now, I agreed to help manipulate him for you, it's true, and it was easy because of our past, but that was in order to get you a deal with the Guardians. And now you have it."

"You know this is a tragedy in the making, she's going to die at some point, I don't understand why you don't want in on it now," Pitch said.

"The most tragic stories start out so happily," she said. "Let them have their fun, Pitch, the closer they get the greater his fear of losing her will grow and the stronger you'll get. This can't last."

"And in the meantime, what then?"

"Well. She'll be at the ball. Everyone's guard will be down, I'd just be careful, whatever you do."

"So, how'd everything go with Arachne?" Rowan said, closing and locking her bedroom door after Jack wandered in behind her. The sun had been down for several hours now, but they hadn't actually had a chance to speak or really interact since he'd arrived thanks to her parents lurking around. It only increased Rowan's desire for her parents to be able to see and communicate with Jack. Basically ignoring him while they were around made her uneasy.

"It was, uh, interesting. Having your measurements, and I mean all your measurements, taken is sort of uncomfortable," Jack said.

"What was Arachne like? Was she like, a giant spider, or?" Rowan asked, clearly very interested. She'd read Arachne's story before and learning that she was yet another mythological being that actually existed was incredibly exciting.

"She was like a regular person except for the whole, you know, four extra arms and six extra eyes thing," said Jack. "It, well, took some getting used to. Also, she doesn't give compliments or insults, she makes observations."

Rowan's mind raced, trying to imagine such a thing. How did Arachne's extra arms attach to her body? Where were her extra eyes? Was she really more human than spider or was it the other way around?

"Did you get to see any of her work?"

"Yeah, it was nice. I mean, as far as I know. I could tell Cupid's suit was a suit, so," Jack shrugged.

"Cupid's going to be there," Rowan sighed, sitting down on her bed at last. Cupid. The Cupid, the God of Love! Along with all the other Muses, probably Arachne, definitely the other Guardians. "Sometimes it hits me all over that this is all real."

"That's good though," Jack said, sitting beside her. "It's not any fun if you lose the wonder. Just don't get too star struck by Cupid."

"Why, what's wrong with him?" Rowan asked.

"Well, I'm much more attractive, for one thing," he said, posture improving as his expression became more smug than usual. She rolled her eyes. "Plus the first time I 'met' the guy, he basically knocked me out of the sky."

"Was it on purpose?"

"Don't know, don't care, I already got my revenge, so," Jack shrugged.

"What did you do?"

"Made him slip on the ice, almost broke his neck."

"Jack."

"I said 'almost'!"

"And you wonder why the other immortals don't like you."

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't know I had anything to do with that."

"You're ridiculous," she said, shaking her head.

"No, you," he said with a yawn, leaning back against the comforter, staring at the ceiling. "Anyway, speaking of other immortals, what did Erato tell you before we left earlier?"

Rowan could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks. Honestly, the amount she found herself blushing and embarrassed around Jack was a little obscene. However, this time it wasn't as much his fault as it was the fact that Erato seemed to be able to tell a lot about a person's love life without being told.

Erato had whispered quite a few things to Rowan before she had left earlier. And now Jack wanted her to repeat them. If she should be able to speak with anyone about what had been said, it should certainly be him. It was all about him.

That didn't make her blush any less, however.

"Well…" Rowan finally started, hesitating.

"Oh it must have been good, look at how red you are," Jack teased. She groaned, covering her face with her hands before lying down beside him.

"I'm not red," she protested from behind her hands. "You have no proof."

Jack simply cocked a brow, turning to his side and reaching to pull one of her hands away from her still blushing face.

"Come on, now you have to tell me."

"She said…" Rowan said, pausing to sigh deeply, "She said that you'd uh, you'd like it if I bit your ear."

It was something that had happened in her dream. She, of course, somehow managed to remember numerous details of this particular dream long after she woke up. This accomplished little besides leaving her blushing at random moments when she was reminded of an occurrence in said dream.

Not to mention, even more thoughts of Jack that were quite simply not appropriate to utter aloud.

Jack's eyes widened and he took his own turn blushing at this statement. "Oh," was all he said for a moment. "I don't know how I feel about her knowing that."

"So you do like that, hm?" Rowan said, taking her turn to tease the boy.

"Well- Yeah, okay, I won't tell you to stop if you decide to do it," he said with a slight smirk. "Is that all?"

"Oh, I wish that was all," she groaned. "She said to be sure we were going to use protection because magical pregnancies are even more overwhelming and complicated than your run-of-the-mill mortal ones."

"Wow, the Muses just assume that we jumped each others bones at the first opportunity, don't they?" Jack said. The two couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"I guess. We've only been together for like, ten minutes. Plus with my parents around it's not like there's been much opportunity," Rowan said, rolling her eyes slightly. "Though to be fair, Erato implied that we would be jumping each others bones in the future, not that we currently were."

"I guess there's that. Thalia basically asked if I was fertile the other day," Jack said, shaking his head at the memory.

Rowan hesitated a moment before asking, "Well, are you?"

"I have no idea," he said. Rowan supposed it wasn't something that often came up when you spent a few centuries on your own. "She made a point, I am basically a human icicle."

"Yeah but maybe your sperm adapted to the colder conditions," Rowan shrugged. It made about as much sense as anything else she had learned since she found him in her apartment. Jack laughed at the idea. "I don't even know if I am, to be honest, maybe I inherited my mom's temperamental uterus. Didn't North and Yelena have a few kids?"

"Five, mortals," Jack winced at the number. Rowan understood. The idea of being responsible for one child sort of terrified her at the moment. "But I mean, North and I aren't the same brand of immortal."

"We should probably just operate under the assumption that you very well could get me pregnant, just to be safe," Rowan said, pulling three small sections of her hair into a braid and not quite looking him in the eye.

Jack was silent for a moment, watching her curiously before saying, "Well. We would have to actually, you know, have sex for that to happen."

"Yes, I hear that's how that works," Rowan said, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. They fell into silence, Rowan still fiddling with her hair.

"Do you want to?" Jack finally asked.

"What, like now?" Rowan asked, eying the boy in surprise.

"No, like, in general," he said quickly, averting his eyes.

Silence again. Did Rowan want to take her relationship with Jack to that level?

Yes, absolutely. There wasn't any question about it, honestly.

Ever since she'd seen him without his jacket on, the thought had crossed her mind. The dream hadn't helped. The way his mouth felt and tasted whenever they'd kiss didn't help.

The fact that she was a living, breathing person who was twenty years old and had an overactive imagination did not help. She had thought about him excessively when he wasn't around to see just the effect he had on her. When he wasn't around to see just how she dealt with these thoughts.

This was all besides the fact that she liked him an obscene amount. That even talking to him made her heart swell. She missed him when he was gone and loved when he was there.

But was she supposed to just tell him that? Her cheeks just continued to burn red. It seemed she had been silent for too long, as Jack said, "We don't have to, you know, if you don't want to."

"No, no, I want to," she said hastily. He seemed slightly relieved as this statement passed her lips. "Sorry, it's just, you know, kind of put me on the spot there, I didn't want to seem… I don't know, desperate."

"You're not desperate," he laughed. "I'm the one that's been in a two-hundred and fifty year dry spell." He paused a moment, seeming to suddenly realize the implications of what he'd just said. "Not that that's why I want to sleep with you or anything. I'm not desperate, I just mean, if either of us would be-"

"Jack," Rowan said, laughing slightly. "Let's just say we're both not desperate."

"Sounds good," he said, smiling nervously.

"So, I mean, maybe I'll, uh," she started, hesitating again. She sighed, forcing herself onward. If she wanted to do this with him, she should be able to talk about it with him, right? Why did everything have to be so awkward? "Maybe I'll, you know. Get some condoms. And we'll see what happens."

"Couldn't hurt," he said.

"Just as long as my mother doesn't find them and demand to know why I need them when I'm not dating anyone."

"I'm sure you could find some way to continue to use your terrible Pilates cover story," he laughed.

"They're Pilates condoms, Mother, you don't understand," Rowan said with a roll of the eye. "I really need a better cover."

"You cold tell her about 'Jack Overland,'" he shrugged. "I mean, if that's the part she'd be upset over, does she know that you're not a virgin?"

"Yeah, she knows. Dad knows too, but he thinks it was Danny because he probably would have killed Luke if we let him know what actually happened," Rowan sighed. "Not that he didn't threaten Danny, he did. Anyway, they'd want to meet you or at least see a picture, know what you're doing with your life…"

"I'm taking a year off before I go to school to, uh, study sculpting," Jack said, flicking his wrist slightly to create a snowflake. "With an emphasis on ice."

She smiled, laughing slightly as the snowflake hit her face, her anxiety immediately eased, if slightly. "How do I explain that you're an eighteen-year-old existing in this day and age without any social networking or a phone that can send me a picture to show them?"

"I'm, uh, Amish," Jack said with a laugh. "I don't know, I'm broke as hell; I have no future. Your parents would be convinced you're dating me to piss them off."

"You're a broke artist, taking a year between high school and college to, uh, save money for college and apply for scholarships," Rowan said.

"That's believable, right?"

"Sort of."

"More so than Pilates."

"Oh, shut up," she smiled, combing her fingers through the braid she'd just made, unraveling it.

"We'll figure this out," he said, moving to lean over her, propping himself up on his elbows.

Would they figure it out? This was part of why she was so apprehensive to start anything with him in the first place. The lying wasn't going to stop when it came to her parents and Jack's existence. There wasn't any other way. She couldn't merge these two aspects of her life together.

There wasn't any way.

So how long could they go before it became a huge problem instead of simply an inconvenience?

He kissed her, reminding her just why she was doing this anyway. She was falling for him hard and there was no way around it. She kissed him back until his lips wandered down her neck, leaving frost in their wake.

Rowan ran her fingers through his messy hair with a small smile before leaning over suddenly to bite at his ear.

"Ouch! Shit, Rowan, I still need to use that later!"

She couldn't help laughing. Here she was, trying to take some advice from the Muse of Love poetry, attempting to be even a little bit sensual, but managed to mess it up by biting just a bit too hard. "Oh God, I'm so sorry."

"I always end up getting hurt around you," he said, leaning up to look her in the eye, hand to his ear, though he was clearly trying not to laugh as well.

"No you don't- Well, shit, yeah, I guess you do, don't you?"

"Tased, multiple bumps to the head, fell off a car-"

"I'm bad for your physical well-being, I guess," she said, still laughing.

"You know what this means now, though?"

"No, what?"

"I'm going to have to get you back," he mumbled in her ear before gently biting at her neck. She closed her eyes, sighing deeply, contently.

This meant more bite marks to hide, more lies to tell. And yet all she could do was crane her neck slightly to give him more room to do his work.

Melpomene lingered close to the entrance of Pitch's lair, leaving footprints in the snow as she paced, breath fogging before her. Being immortal, she could linger in the cold as long as she wanted without worrying about such things as frost bite or hypothermia. She still felt the cold but it was little more than just slightly uncomfortable.

"Why'd he have to bring you up?" she mumbled, snowflakes gently hitting her face as she glanced up. Her moonbeam watched her from a distance, as though confused. "I didn't love you. You didn't love me, you might have thought you did but it was all based on lies. I was using you, using you from the very beginning, I-"

She stopped short, holding her hands before her to catch the snowflakes, watching as they melted against her palms. "That isn't true. That's not true at all. I didn't want to hurt you. I never sought you out to hurt you. I knew you were a broken soul but I thought we could be broken together, that we could be friends… that someone might understand."

Melpomene sighed. "Pitch is right, I did care about you. You weren't like the others; you still had hope. Things could still be okay for you. It made me think that maybe things could still be okay for me. But then I got a taste of your misery and I couldn't stop. It was like an addiction. I didn't care about hurting you anymore. I didn't care about you anymore.

"And even now, when I'm around you, I get the strongest urge to inspire the insecurities deep inside you. It doesn't matter that I cared for you once, all I want is your suffering because it made me feel so alive," she said, eyes still on the falling snow. "I know that makes me exactly who you think I am, exactly who everyone thinks I am. I hate that person but I can't stop being that person, it's what I was brought back from the dead to be. I wanted to be close to you but I never even told you who I really was… because I didn't want you to decide who I was based on my title."

She bit her lip. She'd never be able to say any of this to Jack directly. Pitch was right, he'd never believe she ever felt any kindness toward him, he'd never believe that she was even capable of it.

Melpomene wasn't so sure of it herself. All her attempts seemed to end this way.

"But in hiding that, I just managed to live up to my title, didn't I? I could try to inspire something else, of course I could, but I'll always be the Muse of Tragedy, and at the end of the day, that's what I'm best at. So I stick around the Boogie Man, La Llorona, the Horseman, every personification of death, the Edgar Allan Poes, the Shakespeares… because they expect nothing but that from me.

"But you didn't know. So you didn't judge. You thought that we could be happy and so for a moment, so did I. But that's what makes it tragic, isn't it?" Melpomene said, the wind shifting her hair into her face. She pushed it away.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry that I hurt you. I'm sorry that I tricked you and manipulated you. I'm sorry that I made your misery worse. Most of all, I'm sorry you'll never know how sorry I am."

Melpomene jumped suddenly as a pair of hands suddenly rested at her shoulders. She turned to find Pitch standing behind her and wondered just how long he'd been lurking in the shadows before revealing himself. He seemed just a bit less frail than he had been before.

"You should come back inside," said Pitch, his voice soft and smooth. "It's cold and dark out here."

Jack reached forward, tucking a strand of hair behind Rowan's ear as she slept. She swatted at his hand, still sleeping, and he smiled. Carefully, Jack pulled away from her form, gently pulling his arm from beneath her and standing upright. He adjusted his jacket and took his staff, stepping toward her window, looking out at the dream sand barrier that still encircled the house.

He glanced back at Rowan for only a moment before sliding the window open and stepping outside. He closed the window gently behind him before taking a seat out on the roof.

He glanced up at the moon, still a ways away from being full, and frowned. "I know you never really talk back but you've been a decent listener over the years… what am I supposed to do about this?"

Jack ran a hand over his hair, unable to help remembering the way she combed her fingers through it. "We were talking about taking things further and I absolutely want to, it's just that I don't want things to fall apart immediately after. I know how much it bothers her to lie to her family but there isn't anything I can do about it because I'm the reason she's lying. All I can do is remind her of the fun we're having regardless. I mean, if I could meet her parents, if I could sit through the awkward interrogations, I would… but I'm invisible."

He glanced at the flashing lights strung about the roof for a moment before refocusing on the moon. "I told her that we would be able to figure this out, but what if we can't? I just- it's been so long since I've had to deal with anything romantic and I like her so much, I wish I could do something to ease her mind about this, but I keep drawing a blank."

Jack sighed. "I don't know, I guess I worry that she'll just decide I'm not worth the trouble and the lies."

"I've put up with it so far."

Jack jumped in surprise, glancing back to the window, which was now being pushed open so that Rowan could climb atop the sill, gently taking a seat. "You didn't close the window all the way, I could hear you," she said.

Jack winced. "Did I wake you?"

"Yes and no? I think I got confused because it was warmer all of a sudden and woke up," she said with a shrug. "If you and the moon are having a conversation, though-"

"He never talks back," Jack said with a slight roll of the eye.

Rowan nodded, combing her fingers through her hair as she watched him, neither of them speaking for a moment, Jack's eyes fixed on the dream sand.

"It isn't your fault I have to lie," she said at last.

"How is not my fault?" Jack said, raising a brow in confusion, turning away from the dream sand to face her properly again.

"The fact that people can only see if they believe in you isn't your fault. The fact that Shadow People are trying to kill me isn't your fault. The fact that I'm the Mortal Muse isn't your fault," Rowan said. "The fact that me telling anyone the truth, that Jack Frost exists and I'm dating him, would probably result in my friends and family giving me some kind of intervention isn't your fault. It's just a result of the stupid situation."

Jack frowned at the idea of Rowan being encouraged to seek psychological help because she believed him to be real. It was true, though, none of that was technically his fault. This didn't ease his mind much, however.

"I'm not doing much to help the situation," Jack said. If anything his continued presence during daylight hours, insisting on taking her flying, and the marks he'd left on her neck were doing nothing but complicating things further.

And his conscious had finally caught up with him about it. He was almost certain that whatever voice of reason he might have had before had been replaced by E. Aster Bunnymund, reminding him how awful of an idea this was. This was all why Rowan had initially rejected him, after all.

He couldn't help the worry that he'd end up alone again. This was all still so new to him, having people in his life that actually cared and wanted him around. No matter how many times he told himself that it was irrational to think the Guardians would abandon him, there were still moments when he would be hit with the worry. Adding Rowan to the mix just added to the nerves.

Most of the time he could ignore it and move right along with whatever else needed his attention.

"Well neither am I," Rowan shrugged. "We already established that this is a terrible idea, remember?"

"I remember." The worst idea, actually. But he liked her too much to go the logical route, the safe route.

They hadn't even been together a week yet, he was such a hopeless sap. He smiled slightly at this thought.

"I'm going back to school in two weeks," she said. "Once I'm there, it'll be easier to keep this from my parents."

"What about Shirley and everyone else?"

"They'll be harder, I just have to keep insisting that your phone is a piece of shit that can't send me a picture and you live in another city. And if she thinks I'm making you up, well… I guess I'll deal with it."

"Thought you hated keeping secrets from them."

"I do, but I want to be with you more than I want to stop lying to them, and I'm not sure what that says about me at all… but it's true," Rowan said, pulling a small section of her hair into a braid nervously.

"Really?" Jack asked.

"Really," she said. "I'm falling for you pretty hard, that part is your fault."

"I'll gladly take credit for that one," he smiled.

"Of course you will," she said, rolling her eyes. "Come back inside?"

Jack pulled himself to his feet and Rowan left the windowsill. When he climbed back inside, he found that she'd settled herself back in bed, seated upright and watching as he closed the window again.

"Are you doing all right otherwise, Jack?" she asked as he propped his staff against the wall near her bed before settling down next to her. In the dim light he could tell she was concerned.

"Remember how I told you that I'd rather spend a week enjoying what we have than the rest of my life wondering what would have happened?"

She nodded. "We haven't even made it a week yet, it's ridiculous. If I were someone else, I'd tell us to knock it off, it hasn't even been a week. You can't possibly like them so much already."

He smiled. The thought had crossed his mind as well, several times. "Well, I've been thinking, and I want more than a week," he said.

"I'm okay with that," she said, lying back against the pillows finally. Jack did the same. She rested her head against his shoulder and lightly traced the frost on his jacket with her fingertip.

"However long you'll keep me around," he said, sliding his arms around her.

"I've got a lifetime," she mumbled, eyes closed. He was glad she couldn't see his face fall as he remembered this fact yet again.

She was mortal. They only had her lifetime unless Apollo said otherwise.

His grip on the girl tightened.

Courting a mortal is a terrible idea.