Yes, another. I am absolutely smitten with this AU.
I'll Be Back
They say goodbye the night before he leaves.
It's easier for both of them, since neither is good at goodbyes. It's too painful if they're both conscious. Because he doesn't want to leave, any more than she wants to be left.
So they've agreed that it's best if he's gone by the time she wakes up.
They go to bed early, once he's packed his backpack, and laid out his clothes for the next day. They sit on the chair in the corner of their bedroom, with his leather jacket, boots, and fingerless gloves. The sight of them is a remind that they choose to ignore for a while. Sometimes their goodbye is souls joining in the touch of skin on skin. Other times he just holds her, and they talk until they fall asleep. Usually it's both.
Dawn always comes too soon for Jack, in every since. He's not a morning person, by any stretch of the imagination. But she's his golden, morning girl, and the only way to be gone before she wakes up is to leave before the sunlight spills over the horizon.
Gabbing his clothes, he goes into the bathroom, taking a shower to wake him up. It works well enough.
He comes out of the bathroom in a fitted black shirt, black cargo pants, and his boots.
His jacket and gloves still sit on the chair. Neither offers much protection, but he's come to think of them as his armor. Not so much for his body, but for his heart. They represent the mental and emotional shields he put up. Rapunzel's the only place he feels safe to let them down. The moment he leaves her, every piece of his heart has to be locked away. Some days, he just doesn't want to put them on.
Downstairs, the coffeepot should be turning itself on as the timer told it to start brewing a cup of coffee. (He doesn't like coffee, but it's the only way he's going to stay awake.)
But he's not ready to leave the bedroom – their sanctuary – just yet.
He can tell from her breathing she's still fast asleep. And as he approaches the bed, the thought of forgetting the world and curling up with her is always tempting. His own sense of responsibility won't let him, though.
Instead, he leans over to stroke her hair, smiling as she turns her head into the touch.
Outside the window, the first ray of light is just coming over the horizon. He doesn't have much time.
He kisses her temple, lingering for one last smell of her sunshine and floral scent. Over the next few weeks, his longing for her smell, her touch, her voice, her smile… it will be an ache that nothing can ease. Work will keep his mind busy. But a second's pause is all it will take to remember.
Until they're reunited.
"I'll be back," he whispered, kissing her temple again before he climbs back off the bed.
On the way out, he goes over to the chair, where he shrugs into his jacket, puts on his gloves, and grabs his backpack. They fit the same way they always do, but they irritate him.
By the time he finishes breakfast, he'll have to let all of Jack Frost's shield's fall back into place. When he leaves the house, he'll leave Jackson Overland at the door. At that point, the jacket and gloves will feel like a second skin.
He casts one last look at Rapunzel's sleeping form before he leaves the bedroom, closing the door softly.