A/N: Little bit of a shorter chapter this week! This one is also a bit lighthearted, so you should only want to hug Jack and tell him everything will be all right a little, compared to the others. Let me know what you think, and next week you guys get the Halloween chapter (which I am very excited for)!

Another kindness, was there no end to it?

Chapter Twenty-Six: Suspicion

For someone who had once declared that hard work and deadlines were not for him, Jack sure had come to appreciate having a task to complete. To-do lists, errands, projects, anything that meant he had something to do, something to focus on, and something to help make these devastatingly long days pass a little faster.

So, when Tooth had come by his cabin with a message that there was something weird going on with North's globe over the Rocky Mountains, asking if he would go with her to check it out, Jack agreed immediately.

Halloween was approaching, which meant that stores already had their Christmas decorations out, the holiday season looming. North was much too busy now to go on this mission himself.

So, he had called Tooth, and Tooth went to get Jack.

"I guess we're the dream team after the Shadow People last year," Tooth said as they flew over mountains, dark and calm. Golden dream sand stretched across the air, down and over the peaks.

So much had happened with the Shadow People that Jack had almost forgotten that the first anyone in the alliance had encountered them, it had just been him and Tooth, figuring things out on the spot.

"Well, hopefully this goes better than that did," Jack said, though part of him considered that he might not mind a battle of some kind.

Did a battle count as a task?

"We held our own! But yes, hopefully," Tooth agreed before directing some fairies that had come to check in with her. They would arrive every few minutes, squeaking as they came and went.

Baby Tooth was the only one that stayed with them, having been given permission to tag along for the mission. She was squeaking excitedly into Jack's ear, as though telling him everything he'd missed in the time she hadn't seen him. He supposed he had been making himself scarce to his favorite of Tooth's miniature fairies.

He had offered her an encouraging smile, though he still had little idea what the small fairies were saying. He seemed to understand a bit better when he watched any gestures she was making as well.

"You pick up on it the more they talk to you," Tooth said, having noticed Jack nodding along politely with Baby Tooth. "Or so I've been told. I've always understood them."

"I feel bad I haven't been talking to her as much," Jack said, Baby Tooth now tucking herself into his hood to rest and keep warm.

"She knows you've had a rough year," Tooth said.

"Not quite a year yet," Jack said, all too aware of the number of days left.

"Right," said Tooth. "But I hope you know that my fairies are always happy to see you, even if you haven't said 'hi' in a while."

"They are my biggest fans," Jack said with a slight laugh. Tooth seemed pleased that he had managed even that.

"The way they go on about you, I'd almost think you were in the Beatles," Tooth said.

"Damn, all that admiration and I can't even play an instrument," Jack said.

"Maybe you should pick one up, I bet Euterpe would let you borrow something."

"Hm, maybe," Jack said, having not considered learning a skill as a way to distract himself yet. Euterpe had a vast collection of instruments that Jack had helped her move. He remembered being baffled that there were so many different versions of just guitars. "I don't know what I'd pick."

"Euterpe could help with that," Tooth said. "You two have been hanging out a lot, haven't you?"

"Now and again," Jack said with a shrug, still scanning the ground for anything out of the ordinary. "She keeps bribing me with coffee."

"Oh is that the secret?" Tooth said as though she had just figured out a difficult puzzle. "Just have to bring you something bad for your teeth?"

"You've caught me," Jack said. "I also have a saltwater taffy dealer."

"No!" Tooth said, and Jack was certain she was at least sort of pretending to be appalled.

"And a, uh, candy apple stash," he added.

"Okay, you're taking the joke too far, Jack," Tooth said, a hand to her heart. They both laughed for a short moment before she added, "But it is nice to hear you joke again."

"Yeah, well," Jack shrugged as he landed on the roof of a ski lodge, Tooth hovering nearby. "It's nice that, so far, no one is bleeding or being blackmailed today."

Tooth nodded, setting a sympathetic hand to his shoulder. "I know you weren't ready to tell us. But I'm glad you did."

"What are we supposed to be looking for, anyway?" Jack asked, knowing well that he wasn't being the least bit subtle in his attempts to change the subject.

He didn't want Tooth to keep looking at him so sympathetically, to speak in that soft, comforting tone of hers. He was still reeling from his last talk with Bunny.

He knew he should talk to someone, but now that they were here, now that the opportunity presented itself, after he brought it up, he found himself chickening out.

"I don't know, the lights were flickering on the globe," Tooth said, and Jack was relieved that she seemed willing to go along with his clumsy topic change. "There's a town down that way, let's see what's happening there."

Jack nodded and off they went again, quieter this time. They landed on the roof of a house at the edge of town.

"Something is off," Tooth said after a beat. They gazed out across the town, only some of the windows still illuminated. The street lights were sparse. It was late, everything was very still.

"There's no dream sand here," Jack said, suddenly realizing.

"Hmm," Tooth said, flying forward again, gesturing for Jack to come along. It wasn't like Sandy to just skip a town.

They flew quietly, eyes fixed to the ground, unsure what it was exactly that they were looking for. They passed a small, empty park. They passed a water tower. A small dog barked at them as they passed another neighborhood.

They peeked cautiously into windows as they passed, confirming that no children had the twirling dream sand above their heads.

They had reached the main street when they heard the sound of horse shoes on pavement and lingered on a streetlight.

"There," Jack said, pointing to an alleyway half a block down.

A black nightmare emerged, whinnying, before ducking down another street, paying them no mind. Another soon appeared, chasing after the first.

"Should we follow them?" Tooth whispered.

"That feels like a trap," Jack said, with a certain amount of authority by now considering the number of times he had been lured somewhere by dark creatures, Pitch or otherwise. "There must be more of them, all the dream sand in town is gone."

"Why would Pitch do this now? Why here?" said Tooth. "And the whole town?"

"It's weird that he's not here, too," Jack said, carefully scanning the area. "He likes to gloat."

Baby Tooth had climbed onto Jack's shoulder now and was squeaking again, pointing down another street. More Nightmares, this time a group of at least five, running down the street.

"Should we have left someone at the palace?" Jack asked. Baby Tooth shook her head.

"No, we've been having drills since last time," said Tooth. "My fairies have their own little panic rooms now, in case something like Pitch happens again. But if we're not going to pursue those nightmares, I'd better head back and have my fairies stir up good memories for everyone here tonight."

Jack nodded. "Okay, you do that, I'll fill in North."

Baby Tooth's wings began to flutter and she nuzzled herself against Jack's cheek for a moment to say goodbye before flying back over to Tooth.

"All right. I'll send fairies for Sandy and Bunny. Fly safe, Jack," Tooth said.

"You too."

Jack had to do some hunting around to find North when he got to the Pole. He checked one of the wrapping stations that was in a state of chaos after an elf had accidentally been wrapped along with some dolls. He checked one of the painting stations where one of the yetis, meticulously painting a remote-controlled car a deep scarlet, gave him a dirty look as though expecting bad feedback.

He checked the lower levels where raw material was lugged in and prepped for other parts of the process, finding a number of yetis pushing in carts filled with rolls of wrapping paper, shooing him out of the way.

It was the stables where Jack finally found North, finishing an examination of a reindeer's teeth, and began filling him in as they made their way back to the main part of the pole.

"One small town feels out of character, I wonder what his strategy is this time," North pondered aloud as he approached the platform closest to the globe and eyed it critically. The lights that had been flickering before were properly illuminated once more. It seemed that Tooth had already made good on her plan to boost good memories in the area.

"Maybe he's just trying to fly under the radar," Jack said.

"But then why target the whole town? It showed on the globe. If he wanted to fly under radar, would he not target just some homes across different towns?" North countered. "Perhaps he is trying to distract us from something else."

"Well, he can get in line behind Apollo and Artemis," Jack frowned.

"Hm, we may need to start patrolling at night, see if we can find more clues," North said. "Or find way to trail the Nightmares without getting caught up in a trap."

"Ideally, we'd trail Pitch, but he can sense fear," Jack said. "You'd have to be completely calm to avoid detection."

North nodded. "And unfortunately, he is easy to lose track of once he is found. Perhaps for now we just be grateful it was only the one town."

"Oh, good, Jack's here. I've been hoping to talk with you," came Erato's low voice from behind them. She was dressed more conservatively than Jack had ever seen her; perhaps her usual bustier was too tight and uncomfortable to wear while healing. That being said, her dress was still glamorous, and the coat she wore seemed warm and luxurious.

She still had a visible bandage on her chest.

"Erato! You should be in bed, you are still recovering," North said.

"You seem better," Jack commented. Erato was speaking in coherent sentences, at the very least, and seemed to be walking around fine. Still, North looked concerned.

"I am much better, thank you. But I was getting restless, and Cupid finally let his guard down," Erato said with a shrug. "Can I talk to you, Jack?"

"Sure," Jack said, brow furrowed at the idea. What could Erato possibly need from him?

"Talk to Jack but then back to bed," North said sternly.

"Mm, I do like seeing you assertive, Nicky," Erato said, chuckling to herself as North turned red at her words.

"Yes, I think she is feeling better," North mumbled.

"Over here," Erato said, gesturing for Jack to follow her to a less hectic corner of the pole. It was only now that Jack noticed that her pace was a bit slower than expected.

She sat at one of the grand windows by the fireplace, which Jack was no stranger to brooding near. He took a seat as well.

"I wanted to properly thank you, now that I'm not coughing up blood, for helping me come back to reality," Erato said.

"It's n—You're welcome," Jack said, remembering Euterpe's protest at him stating that it was nothing. "Glad I could help."

"I'm very sorry that you had to see me like that," Erato said. "And once more, I'm sorry for the bloodstains."

"Arachne got them out," Jack shrugged. "She says they're still there, but I mean…"

He spread out his arms to show his blood-free clothes and Erato smiled softly.

"Good," she said. She set a hand to his shoulder as he lowered his arms. "I'm also sorry, Jack, that you were able to help me."

"What do you mean?" Jack said, brow furrowed.

"What you did takes empathy," she said. "And… I'm sorry that you've been hurt in a way that you can empathize in situations like that."

"Oh," Jack said, unsure what to say to this. It was another kindness in a series that didn't seem to be letting up.

"You could have let your pain make you cruel," Erato said. "But it's kept you kind, and I admire that. I'm glad to know that you're around; I'm glad to know that Rowan had you there to help her after the incident with the Shadow People. I see why Nicky is always speaking so highly of you."

She leaned over and gently pecked the side of his forehead. It wasn't sensual or flirtatious as Erato often was, but strangely maternal, comforting. The gesture was odd and seemed to hit him as heavily as other simple, kind statements had recently.

"Thank you," she said again before pulling herself to her feet. "I should head back to my room before Cupid—"

"There you are," the winged boy in question said, dodging around a yeti and approaching the two. "I leave to get you tea and you sneak off!"

"I'm fine," Erato insisted.

"Oh, Jack," Cupid said, noticing the boy now. "Since you're here, I wanted to say thanks, for what you did the other day. It means a lot."

"You know," Jack said suddenly, standing upright and running a hand through his hair. Erato and Cupid each raised a brow in his direction, clearly baffled at his tone. "Everyone has been saying very nice things to me lately. Thanking me, validating me, and if you're all not careful I'm going to start thinking I'm important or special."

Erato and Cupid glanced each other's way, as though to verify that the other was also confused.

"And if that happens," Jack continued, "I'm going to dive headfirst into an identity crisis. Someone needs to make fun of me, now."

"Oh, uh, okay," Cupid said. "Give me a second."

"Cupid," Erato said. "You're not—"

"Oh! Who did your hair, a low-pressure system?" Cupid said at once.

Jack sighed heavily. "Hm. It's a start. I don't feel like you mean it."

"Well, you put me on the spot, I'm still all sentimental about my mother, let me think," Cupid said. Erato rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry to have thrown you off, but you are, in fact, special and important," Erato said, embracing Jack warmly.

"No, this is wrong," Jack groaned. Her embrace was soft, comforting, validating. He didn't know what to do with that. Erato let out a small laugh and kissed his forehead once more.

"I'm going back to my room," she said, kissing Cupid's cheek quickly before she began walking off. "Cupid, don't make fun of him too badly."

"Oh, okay," Cupid said, ignoring his mother's statement as he thought of something else, "How about: are you sure they picked you to be a Guardian because you're qualified, or was the Man in the Moon just trying to appeal to the 500-And-Younger demographic?"

Still reeling from Erato's affection, Jack was desperate to latch on to the distraction. "Ah, back to flipping the script and making fun of my age, that's better."

"Were you an actual Dickensian Orphan or do you just dress the part?" Cupid said, seeming to have built up some momentum.

Jack, however, was only reminded that Arachne had kindly given him new clothes to wear. Another kindness, was there no end to it?

"Are you two arguing again?" North said, approaching the pair after signing a clipboard a Yeti had handed him.

"Jack requested someone make fun of him because everyone's been too nice lately, apparently," Cupid explained.

"Oh?" said North.

"Erato just hugged me and said I was kind," Jack said, clearly distressed. "And Euterpe hugged me the other day."

"Hmm… and you have been helping them with the base, yes?" North asked, his tone thoughtful.

"Yes," said Jack, cocking a brow, wondering what that had to do with it.

"And spending time with them?" North continued.

"I guess," Jack said.

"Ah, yes, it is as I feared," North said with a short nod.

Cupid glanced between the two Guardians and said, "Um, what?"

"I am afraid," said North, feigning seriousness, "That the Muses like you now, Jack. All the signs are there."

North was, of course, making fun of him, which had been Jack's request. Cupid was now snickering. But Jack still didn't know how to feel about this statement. The Muses? Liking him?

"I think," Jack said, "they tolerate me now, but—"

"No, North's right," Cupid said, ducking to avoid a drone that nearly hit his wing. "They like you. They've been saying really nice things about you behind your back, even."

"It was same with me," North said. An elf with the remote for the earlier drone was weaving between them now to chase after it. "At first I am not good enough for Yelena, then over time, I grow on them."

Jack sighed, defeated.

"You know it's bad that you're this uncomfortable with people being nice, right?" Cupid said.

"I was actually under the impression that I was the poster child for mental health, now that you mention it," Jack said dryly.

"Was Rowan not kind to you?" North asked, brow furrowed.

Jack frowned, having considered this before, thinking back to speaking to her headstone. "She was."

"Were you suspicious of her?" North said.

"No. It was… different with her," Jack said. "But I don't know why."

"You loved her," Cupid shrugged. "You trusted her. Plus, you guys were in a situation where you kind of had to trust each other immediately or someone was gonna—"

Cupid stopped short, eyes wide as he realized what he was saying.

"Die. Yeah," Jack said, finishing for him.

"Sorry, I—" Cupid started.

"It's not like I don't know she's dead," Jack said as he ducked low to avoid the same drone from earlier, now doubling back. "But I guess you're right, everything was kind of… rushed and intense from the start. We always said it felt like we knew each other longer than we really did."

"Perhaps you did. Some souls are familiar, and drawn to each other," North said with a short nod. "Some people just fit immediately. But Rowan was not the only person you will ever feel comfortable around. Others may just take more time."

"It just feels like I've fooled everyone into thinking I'm a good person and they're gonna realize at some point," Jack confessed.

"You really think you're clever enough to pull a scam on all the Muses and all the Guardians?" Cupid asked.

"See, this is what I wanted, thank you," Jack said, gesturing to Cupid. "Just a spoonful of snark to help the kindness go down."

"Any time," said Cupid. He gestured in the direction that Erato had gone. "I'd better go make sure Ma actually went to bed, though."

North and Jack nodded, bidding Cupid farewell. Jack glanced back at North, remembering now the comments Arachne had made about Erato.

"So. Erato decided to come back here to recover," Jack commented.

"Ah, many of her things are still here," North said vaguely.

Jack nodded. "Sure."

"Is true," North said, furrowing his brow.

"You care very much for Erato," Jack said, taking on North's accent and stroking an imaginary beard.

North rolled his eyes, knowing very well that Jack was making a callback to a previous conversation about Rowan.

"I care for all of the Muses," North said.

"It is more than that though, is it not?" Jack said, still deep in his North impression.

"I do not sound like that," North said, setting his hands to his hips and cocking a brow.

Jack mirrored the gesture. "I do not—"

"I get your point," North said, waving the rest of the comment away, managing a slight chuckle at least. It had been a long while since Jack had joked like this with him. "Erato… she is a dear friend, and has been for a long time."

Jack nodded. "A dear friend who lives in your house. And flirts with you. And calls you 'Nicky.'"

"Is just how Erato is," North said.

"Really? Because she hasn't given me or any of the other Guardians a pet name," Jack observed.

"She likes that it embarrasses me," North said, shaking his head.

"Mmhm," Jack said skeptically.

"Is not like that," North said again.

"All I'm saying," said Jack, "Is that when I spent every day with a girl, gave her nicknames, teased her, and insisted we were just friends and I didn't like her that way, I somehow wound up with a girlfriend."

North sighed, rubbing his temples.

Jack shrugged. "But, hey. Maybe you and Erato are different."