The long awaited chapter has arrived! Enjoy!
Moments before Jack and Irma started their memory travels, a yeti named Jaron was walking past the safe room when he noticed something colorful on the floor.
He walked closer to the object and saw that it was a feather. Tooth's tail feather, to be exact.
Jaron picked it up and ran as fast as his yeti legs would allow to find North.
Jaron found North in his office and banged on the door in urgency.
This time, North opened the door. His face showed a concerning look.
"What is it? What's going on," he asked?
Jaron showed him the tail feather.
"Yes. That is Tooth's," North said, quizzingly. "What about it?"
The yeti revealed where he found it.
"Near the safe?"
Jaron nodded.
"We must go there, now," North said urgently, pushing passed him! "If she went anywhere near book, we have situation."
North and Jaron got into the safe and straight toward the Guardian book.
North opened it to the bookmarked page.
"Oh no, she took the page."
"What page," Jaron asked in his language?
"The page that's important to Jack."
He turned to Jaron, "I need you and one other yeti to guard the room Jack and Irma are in."
When Irma's memories finished, her eyes were already wet with tears.
Jack was watching her; his eyes still swollen from his own tears.
He didn't wait. He had to ask that question.
"Why did you do it?"
She didn't look at him when she answered, "I was depressed."
"You were pregnant," his voice was hard, and it made Irma cringe.
Irma wiped her eyes and took a shaky breath. She didn't answer right away, as she instead said, "I thought you died. I thought I lost the only man I ever loved."
"Irma, please. Answer the question. Why did you—," he couldn't say the word. He took his own shaky breath, "Why did you end your life?"
"I lost the baby."
"What?"
"I, I had a miscarriage." She pushed herself off the chair and walked only four feet before stopping and crossing her arms.
Jack joined her from behind, wrapping his arms around her.
"I lost you both at the same time," Irma cried. "My life felt empty."
"You still had your parents and your brother and sister."
"I know, but I didn't have you." She tried to take a step forward, but Jack held her firmly in place.
"If I didn't force you to go ice skating with your sister—" She sniffled, finally breaking away from his grasp and falling to her knees.
Irma cried deeply, "I'm so sorry, Jack. Will you ever forgive me for doing that to you?"
He went down on his knees in front of her, placing his hands on her shoulders, "I already have. None of that was your fault. We didn't know something like that was going to happen."
"But I was able to experience the depression I felt over losing both of you." She hugged herself, "It was so overwhelming. You don't know what it was like to feel that way. To feel as though it was my fault."
"It wasn't, babe. It wasn't," he hugged her, nudging the side of her face with his nose. "Please, don't blame yourself."
He brought his forehead against hers and looked deep into her brown eyes, "I don't feel any resentment toward you." He smiled, "All I feel for you is love.
"It may have only been for a couple of seconds before I lost consciousness in the pond, but my last thought was, I love you, Irma." He smiled lightly, "I even said sorry for leaving you and our baby behind."
"So, so you don't hate me?"
"Of course not." Still, on the floor, Jack moved to where Irma was now sitting sideways on his lap, her shoulder just under his collarbone. His arms draped around her again.
"I am so sorry that you had to go through all that alone," he told her, his chin resting atop her head.
After she dried her eyes and calmed her breathing, she brought her hand to his shoulder and gripped at the fabric of his hoodie.
He brought his hand to her arm and rubbed it: A gesture meaning to help calm her.
"I can only imagine what you went through, losing both of us. But we can't change the past. We can only move forward and give this new life what we can." He smiled as he added, "We'll have that family.
"And, I promise, I won't go to the pond." His voice had humor to it.
That got Irma to chuckle a bit.
Then she said with all seriousness, "And I promise, that I won't do anything rash." She looked up at him, her hand now resting on his face.
Jack smiled down at her, his hand following and gliding up to her wrist to massage it with his thumb.
"How did I ever deserve a man like you, Jack Overland?" She smiled as she positioned her head back to kiss him on the jaw.
"Only Cupid would know that answer, but if you ask me, I would say…It's because you are the puzzle piece to my very being."
"I love you," Irma told him. Her eyes were still red from the tears.
"I love you too." Jack hugged her again.
After a few moments passed, Jack placed one hand on her leg while he kept the other around her back and asked, "Are you sure you're all right, beautiful?"
"I'm okay." Her hand laid upon his abdomen.
"Are you sure?"
"I will be."
He gave her a look.
"I promise, Jack. When we do get pregnant again, and we find out the baby is healthy, I'll move on."
"Irma," he pleaded. "Don't wait that long, please? Don't hurt yourself believing you're going to go through that same heartache you did of losing our first child." He rubbed her leg, "This baby will make it."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Because I know," His face was desperate for her to believe him. "Miscarriages don't happen that often, not even in the same person. This second chance will give us a baby."
She took another exhale, "I hope your right."
"Babe, I'll be right there with you through the whole process. And you have to help accept that everything is different, now, and that there is no reason to fear."
"I'll try," she smiled. "I won't let it consume my thoughts."
"That's close enough. I'm going to hold you to that, though." He gave her a small smile and a kiss on the forehead before saying, "Let's go home."
He put an arm under her legs and adjusted the one behind her back and proceeded to get to his feet as he held her bridal style.
But as soon as he got to his feet, he put her down onto her own.
Irma giggled at that, "That's one easy way to get to one's feet."
He laughed as well, "Yep!"
He placed his hand on her lower back, now, and Jack opened the door, letting Irma walk out first.
"We're done," Jack told the two yetis. "Thanks for guarding the door."
"How did it go," Shane asked in yeti linguistics?
"There were great and beautiful parts," Jack looked over at Irma and took her hand, "and there were parts that we're still trying to get over, but we'll manage."
The yeti nodded and smiled sympathetically.
"You can take us to North. We need to head home."
Shane nodded, and the four strolled back to North's whereabouts.
They found North on the second level, and the tooth fairies were nearby.
"Tooth fairies," Jack called out!
The four flew to them and Irma and Jack handed the boxes back, at the same time telling them, thank you.
North walked over to them when he heard Jack's voice.
Jack gave a short smile, "Hey, North. We're ready to take the next portal home."
North handed him a snow globe. "Is everything all right? You both seem out of sorts."
"Just the end of the memories was hard for us. It…" Jack gazed at his love, wondering if she wanted him to finish, or if she wanted to continue it, or all together keep quiet.
He got his answer when she took a breath and spoke softly, but audibly, "Starting a family didn't go as we planned."
"I am terribly sorry," North expressed with a sad look on his face.
A tear escaped her eye, and Jack wiped it away.
"Losing Jack was, also, a very depressing moment for me."
North suddenly embraced the couple and got surprised gasps from both of them.
After he hugged and sat them back on their feet, he beamed, "Everything shall go as second chances were created for."
Jack elbowed Irma lightly on the side and gave a look that read, told you so.
She looked at him with regain and acquiesced. Then she kissed Jack on the cheek.
"You believe me now," he smiled?
"I believe you."
He hugged and returned the kiss on her cheek. "This life is worth living," he whispered.
Jack looked back at North with a smile, "Thank you again, for everything. Don't forget to stop by and visit sometime."
North put out his hand for Jack to shake, and he took it.
A yeti named Keagan handed Jack the sack full of his presents.
The sack was a tad heavy, for Jack almost lost his grip on it.
"Oh, yes!" North piped up recalling something. He took another medium box out of one of his many secret pockets.
"Irma, this one is for you."
"A gift for me?" She smiled as she took it.
Irma opened it to reveal a dress she wore over 300 years ago. It was brownish-red with white designs on the bottom of the skirt made to resemble flowers. It had six buttons on the back.
She smiled, "This was my favorite dress." She looked at North, "How did you know?"
"Ye Oldie Outfitters of Urban Yore, are very mysterious," North answered.
"Thank you." Irma hugged him.
Hugging back, he said, "You are welcome."
Jack and Irma turned around then, and before Jack was to say the location to the snow globe, Irma asked if she could take a crack at it.
He handed it to her, "My living room." She threw it.
North watched the two disappear.
The two yetis, Jaron and Shane, were still present.
Jaron asked, confusedly, why he didn't tell Jack about Tooth taking a page from the book.
"I did not wish to put Jack in uneasiness," North answered. "I want him to be happy and concentrate on his new life."
North turned and began to walk, the yetis followed him.
"I need you two to go and warn Bunny and Sandy. We will need their help to keep an eye out on Tooth."
