"Jackie?" I thought I heard Jamie ask, but I wasn't focusing on him. I was instead pacing around the lounge of our flat, facts and figures from HOG's Easter event, general working, the upcoming meeting with the Guardians and the wedding prep that was still going on.

Sheets of paper relating to this was piled high on the coffee table, but all this was starting to drive me mad! I couldn't think straight and my brain felt like it had been put through a mangle, but I couldn't stop!

"Jackie, breathe, sit down..."

I looked up at him and Jamie froze from the expression on my face. He took a step back and looked at Taboo.

"Your turn."

"Errrr." I could feel Taboo peering at my current mental state. "Jackie, I think you need to sit down, maybe sleep for a bit?"

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

"Well, then you won't get married then, will you?" Taboo snarked. "At least take a break before you collapse."

I wasn't quite in control of the irritable growling noise that exited my throat.

Taboo looked over at Jamie and shook her head. He then swallowed.

"I'll go get back up." he muttered, clearly thinking that I couldn't hear him.

With that he disappeared, and I continued to pace. Occasionally I would glance at the papers on the coffee table and instantly regret it and they would begin to swim in my mind's eye. Taboo had a point, sleeping would be great, but my brain was so full of stuff with a deadline I think I would only sleep when I collapsed of exhaustion.

I glimpsed a trail of gold float into the room. That would work too.

Sally came in and sent a small wisp of sand towards me, and I instantly felt relaxed, and felt a little sleepy.

I finally sat down on the sofa and Sally sat beside me as I yawned.

"Thanks." I said, before glaring at the piles of paper. "I really want to kick that coffee table over."

"Is Tina pressuring you about the dress?"

"She's trying, but I've got other things going on, besides, isn't a bit far away from the actual day to get the dress?"

"You are unlikely to have any large changes in weight and shape, and it might be a good idea to get it out of the way." Sally fixed her gaze on me, blue eyes appearing to see into my soul, which did make me uncomfortable. "I will talk to Tina to get her calm down, and maybe sort out the dress after Easter?"

Simple advice, that I should have been able to come up with. I must have been more sleep deprived than normal.

"Alright, thanks." One step at a time Jackie. I told myself. One step at a time.

Around May time I was walking back from the bookshop. It was a cool day, so I wasn't cranky, thankfully. So when I saw the guy sitting outside the door to the apartment building, I wasn't going to bite head off.

He was about Jamie's age and a bit taller than him with a stockier frame. He had close cropped blonde hair and an, unfortunate nose. I did wonder if Gonzo was his dad, but quickly crushed the thought, that was hardly fair.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I walked over, feeling like I should recognise him.

"I'm waiting for Jamie." he responded, and a light bulb went off in my brain.

"Ah! You must be one of Jamie's college friends." I fished around for his name. "Er, Tim, wasn't it? Thought I'd seen you before. Come in and I'll give him a call."

"Thanks," Tim got up as I unlocked the door, "almost didn't recognise you."

"Being sober would do that." I said dryly, recognising him from the college parties that Jamie had dragged me too. He got drunk very easily.

"Oh, right."

I started up the stairs when I noticed that Tim wasn't behind me.

"Aren't we going to take the elevator?"

"Don't trust it. Don't worry, it's only nine flights."

Tim laughed nervously, but still followed me up the stairs. I looked behind me when we got to the top to see that Tim was dragging himself up the stairs via the banister, red faced and sweating.

Seriously? I thought. There aren't that many stairs...

I shook my head and got the door open and went to get a glass of water for Jamie's friend before he collapsed.

He fell onto the couch as I passed him a glass of water, then I gave Jamie a call.

"Jamie, have you lost something?" I asked.

"If you mean someone, yeah. I think Tim's around and I asked him to be my normal best man, but I can't find him anywhere!"

"Where are you?"

"Centre, why?"

"He's at the apartment."

Jamie cursed, and I could almost see him running a hand through his hair, which was probably already pretty messy by now. "How long's he been there?"

"Hard to say, just get back here and you two can finally talk. If he's able."

"You took him up the stairs didn't you?"

"Yeah. Why, what's the issue with that?"

"Not everyone can handle that."

"Nonsense, I gave him some exercise, that's all."

Jamie sighed, and I got the unerring feeling that I'd said something off. "What?"

"Never mind." it sounded like Jamie was struggling not to laugh. "Just keep him there and try not to give him any more, exercise."

"What…?" Jamie had hung up before he answered. I just shook my head and decided to relax, getting a book off the shelf and reading it. It was so rare that I got to relax these days, and I was determined to make the most of it.

Jamie came running up the stairs, fringe plastered to his forehead as he barrelled through the door.

"There you are!" he cried, sounding relieved and a little frustrated.

"I thought I'd wait for you." Tim shrugged, sitting on the couch.

"I've been all around Burgess looking for you!" Jamie panted, and Tim looked a bit confused.

"Sorry, I was just here. You gave me two addresses, remember?"

"I might have been drunk." Jamie admitted, and I snorted with laughter. "Just because you don't like it!" he said to me.

"I like being in full mental capacity and not waking up with a headache and not quite remembering the night before." I responded in a deadpan manner without looking up from my book. "But by all means, if you want to do that to yourself, don't let me stop you."

Deciding to give them some space I got up from the sofa and went to read elsewhere.

"I'll leave you two to discuss."

"So, how's my darling brother and sister to be?" Sophie said somewhat sarcastically and far too loudly as she bounced into the flat.

I groaned on the couch and rolled over so I didn't have face her energy. It was July, and the air conditioning wasn't helping me much. I had managed to move out of the bedroom to the lounge in an attempt to get some work done, then Sophie came over.

"I'm fine Soph." I heard Jamie say, a smile in her voice. "Jackie's, errr..."

"Not coping with the heat?" Sophie responded. I'd never told her about my powers or relation, but she at least knew that I was colder than everyone else. I usually explained it now by saying I had a 'condition', which wasn't that far from the truth.

"So, who's on the guest list?" Sophie was being nosy and I heard riffling through some paper.

"Soph!" Jamie seemed to be trying to stop her, I just blocked out the sibling banter and arguing. The heat alone already had my head aching.

"Aha!" Sophie seemed to have found something. "So, Bunny's coming?"

"I-I, didn't think you still believed." Jamie stammered, and I had to agree.

"Well, with Jackie, how could I not?"

I froze, and then rolled over to look at her. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you're related to Jack Frost aren't you?"

"Where did you hear something like that?" I asked, trying to pass it off humorously, but I probably just sounded tired.

"I think Jamie told me, ages ago."

I stopped paying attention as she said Jamie, and turned my gaze to my fiancé, who was looking everywhere except me.

"Jamie, can I have a word, in private?" I asked in a monotone to hide how annoyed I was. "Now."

Jamie left the room, and I followed him to the bedroom, where I shut the door. It was much colder in here, with blocks of ice placed at random spots on the floor and ceiling. Taboo was lying on the bed where a fan was blowing cold air on her.

"When was this, and why didn't you tell me?" I asked through gritted teeth, and Jamie gulped.

"Um, must have been when we were kids, I didn't think she'd remember!"

"And you didn't think to tell me?"

"Erm..."

"Jamie Bennett..." I growled.

"I didn't think she'd remember, I swear! She must have been five or so."

I let out a long, irritated sigh. "So, around the same time as the whole thing Lupine?" That had been the year that Jamie turned 14 and Sophie turned 6, but if I remembered correctly it happened not long before Jamie's birthday.

"I guess, I really wasn't thinking straight then." Jamie ran a hand through his hair. "Jackie, I'm sorry. I completely forgot about it." he suddenly snapped his fingers. "Hold on, she was at the lake after the whole thing with Melbourne, you showed off your powers then. Why didn't you say anything then!?"

"I must have been too tired to question it." I massaged the bridge of my nose with my finger and thumb. "Whatever, let's see how much she knows." I was dreading going back out into the hot flat, so I grabbed a frost covered blanket and wrapped it around myself before we headed back out.

"So, Sophie, how much did Jamie tell you?"

The twenty year old pulled a face to think. "Well, I was little, but he said something about you being Jack's niece and you saved with the same powers, or something like that. I remember asking Bunny, and I think he confirmed it."

"You asked Bunnymund?" I asked.

"Yeah, he used to see me when I was little, he doesn't do it so often anymore though. Which makes me glad that he's coming to the wedding!"

"So, that's all you know about it?" I asked.

"Yeah, well, obviously you're not actually his niece, Jack's old and I've met your parents, but you're obviously related."

I let out a sigh, so it could have been worse. It was no more than the rest of the Burgess gang knew.

"Also, I did see your demonstration a few years ago, and it fell in line with what Jamie told me. I guess the other guy who showed up was like you?" she asked.

"Yeah, kind of. Can't say any more than that."

"Alright." Sophie let out a good natured shrug. "Can't wait to see Bunny again though. He was so sweet."

Thoughts of when I'd seen him and the word 'sweet' floated through my head. The two didn't match up.

"Now that's cleared up." Jamie said a little hurriedly. "Why don't you go back to bed Jackie, you really don't look great."

I did not have the energy to argue anymore, so just went back to bed like he said.

Well, that's quite a conversation to have with your soon to be sister in law.

It admittedly only recently occurred to me that Sophie is in an odd position, given how young she was during the events of Rise of the Guardians she would have been, not forgotten about, but not really considered needing to forget about that whole thing. Plus Bunnymund seemed to have a soft spot for her and no one was going to provoke him! Therefore, no one expected her to remember, but she does and Jackie's too stressed to bring it up at HOG (well, that's the excuse if anyone from HOG finds out anyway)

HOG/Mimpossible Wedding Mini Series Part 3