A/n: Time skip! The story was moving too slowly, I have other stories I want to write but I have to finish this one first or it'll never be done. Also, I have stories connected to this one I want to write, so I really can't write those until this one is finished! D:

.:24:.

Sophie sighed heavily, hugging herself against the cold night air. She was wearing Jack's hoodie, but it didn't seem to warm her up any more than the spirit of winter himself could. Regardless, she nestled herself in against the fabric and enjoyed the scent of ozone that seemed to linger in his clothing. It was nearly three in the morning, and Jack's gentle breathing was the only sound in her room that night. He turned in his sleep, reached to the side, then his eyes slowly slid open when he realized Sophie wasn't in the bed.

Jack sat up slowly, rubbing a hand against his face and then trying to brush his sleep-ravaged hair from his eyes. Though the winter spirit didn't actually need to sleep, he had started to enjoy sleeping beside Sophie. It was a way to spend more time with her without being creepy. The moonlight from the window shone against his pale, bare chest, and he knew something was wrong when Sophie made no move to join him.

Jack slid from the bed, a little off balance as he was still waking up. Not wanting to disturb whatever train of thought she had going, Jack moved up behind her and carefully wrapped his arms around her stomach. She slid her hands down to rest on top of his, and Jack set his chin on her shoulder, giving the side of her jaw a light kiss before settling in and waiting for her to speak.

Sophie closed her eyes and leaned back against him, enjoying the embrace. It was nice to have him there with her at night. Sometimes her imagination would get out of control and she would wake up, terrified of what might be lurking in the dark and whether or not her unfounded fears would give them shape. She knew that was probably a bad sign, but she didn't want Jack to worry. The problem tonight, however, remained to be seen.

"He kept it." Sophie whispered into the moonlight filtering in through the window. For a moment Jack thought she was talking to the Man in the Moon, then decided it didn't matter either way. He glanced up at the moon, wondering briefly if it was coincidence that he was watching them tonight.

"Who kept what, Soph?" Jack asked softly. She almost seemed to flinch at his words, but relaxed against his chest and gripped his forearms.

"Jamie. He kept the picture of you and Tooth. It must look like my empty room to him, but he kept it." She wouldn't raise her voice above a whisper, and Jack suddenly found himself worried.

"It was a gift from his only sister, of course he kept it." Jack said. He wasn't worried about being overheard, Sophie was the only one in the house that could hear his voice.

"No, Jack. He keeps it close. He put it on his nightstand, sometimes I catch him staring at it. He knows something's there, he just can't see it. He remembers, but he doesn't…" She sounded distraught, and Jack's brows furrowed as he thought about her words.

"What do you mean? You think he still believes?" Jack asked. Sophie make a slightly frustrated noise and drooped a little in his arms.

"Kind of, maybe. I think… I think he wants to believe." She almost sounded like she was going to cry, and Jack kissed the side of her neck affectionately.

"If he does, then he does. It's not up to us anymore. Jamie needs to grow up now." Jack was whispering, and Sophie shivered a little bit.

It had been over two months since Jamie stopped seeing Jack, and he had finally seemed to come to terms with it. Sophie knew he wasn't keen on talking about it, but it didn't hurt him like it used to.

"There's a man outside." Sophie murmured so softly Jack almost didn't hear her.

His body stiffened so suddenly he startled Sophie. His grip around her tightened to the point of almost hurting her, and Sophie stayed still in his arms, suddenly afraid to move. She couldn't imagine Jack Frost could be afraid of anything, but she could feel the shock and fear and sudden fury rising up in him. His chest was pressed close against her back, and even through the heavy fabric of the hoodie she could feel his body temperature dropping. The cold radiating from him became enough that she had to take her hands off his forearms and curled in close to herself.

"Jack." She said sternly.

She knew he would never hurt her on purpose, but she also knew that as a teenager, oftentimes his emotions got the better of his winter side. He almost didn't hear her, but he opened his arms and let her move away from him. He stared out the window at the lean shadow, knowing exactly who it was.

"That's Pitch." He said with venom in his tone.

Sophie moved back to the window and gazed down at the man standing outside. He was looking up at the house, and even from this distance she could see the sadness in his features illuminated in the moonlight. She wondered for a moment, then traced his gaze and realized the man was staring up at her brother's bedroom window.

"That's the Nightmare King? He looks so sad…" Sophie tilted her head a little, wondering how such a man could possibly be a threat to anyone.

Before she could react, Jack flung the window open and glided down to the snow-covered lawn below. The moonlight seemed to grow brighter, almost like it was curious to see what happened. Jack stalked across the yard. He had been frozen in time as a young man that was not finished filling out, but in that moment his lean, youthful muscles made him look incredibly threatening. His shoulders were set and ready for a fight, and Sophie thought of a predator defending its territory. She hadn't seen Jack's violent side, and realized she'd been silly to think of him as being a peaceful spirit. Anyone capable of personifying winter itself would have to be equally cold and harsh.

She couldn't hear what they were saying, they were talking in low, irritated growls. Pitch sneered at Jack, then jumped back as Jack swung his staff and a wave of ice grew from the ground. Sharp points rose up alarmingly fast, but Pitch was faster and stood casually just outside the range of the icy spikes. Jack swung his staff again, slicing through the tips of the icy spears like they were made of butter and sending the points hurtling toward Pitch. The man's eyes widened in surprise, and he had clearly not been expecting such a move. He lashed forward with a large, shadowy scythe, blocking the deadly chunks of ice.

"I have done you a favor!" Pitch yelled in fury.

"Stay away from my family!" Jack roared back.

"They're not your family, Jack! They are human children!" Pitch was absolutely furious, and Jack slammed the end of his staff into the ground. Thick ice shot out across the ground, and Pitch jumped back a few more steps to avoid it. Angry winter wind swirled around him, whipping against Pitch as he braced himself against the furious winter spirit.

Sneering again, Pitch took off into the night. Sophie sighed in relief, then realized the battle wasn't over when Jack immediately gave chase. Slightly panicked, Sophie dashed out her bedroom door, barely stopping to pull her boots on her bare feet. She was wearing sleepwear shorts, and muttered darkly under her breath as she slid out the front door and sprinted down the street after the two fighting immortals.

It wasn't hard to follow them, she could see bright flashes of blue as Jack more or less tormented the defeated Nightmare King. Rounding a corner a few streets down from her house, she paused breathlessly to see Jack dart forward, cleanly avoiding a sweep of Pitch's scythe and using his staff to trip the older spirit. Pitch was twice his size, but Jack was faster. Before Pitch could recover, Jack had him by the collar and punched him square in the mouth.

"Jack!" Sophie cried out in anger. Nightmare King or not, Jack seemed to be getting a little cruel.

Pitch rolled his head to one side, clearly dazed as he spat out a mouthful of blood. Two teeth clattered across the frozen pavement, but he ignored it as he took a moment to steady his gaze on the small girl more or less defending him.

"That's enough. Let him go." She ground out, not entirely thrilled with his sudden thirst for blood. Jack glared down at Pitch one more time, them shoved him roughly to the ground.

Jack gave Sophie a long, hard look, then growled in frustration and took off into the sky. As angry as he might be, she knew he would never leave her in danger, and she leveled her gaze on the man before her without fear.

"Did you make my brother forget about Jack Frost?" Sophie demanded to know, and Pitch narrowed his eyes at her.

Pitch spat out another mouthful of blood, then climbed shakily to his feet.

"I did nothing more than what he wanted." Pitch hissed angrily at her, but Sophie remained unimpressed. Watching her boyfriend beat him senseless left Pitch as somewhat less than threatening in her eyes.

Clearly frustrated, Pitch wiped blood from his mouth and turned to stalk off into the darkness. Sophie stayed there, pondering his words for a few moments. Had Jamie wanted to forget about Jack? She got the feeling Pitch had seemed to think so. Her gaze fell on the two teeth he had left behind, and thoughts tumbled through her head. Leaning down, she picked up the teeth, grimacing a little at the blood still covering them. She had a feeling she knew just the person to get the truth out of Pitch and get this whole issue settled once and for all. Turning on her heel, Sophie marched straight home to put Pitch's teeth under her pillow.