Two days after moving in, Skyla was finally beginning to get settled. She was waiting on a reply for a job at a local clothing store and planning to take a class somewhere nearby if anything good was available. Everyone always said having a trade to fall back on was a good idea. Jack bothered her about aiming for a singing career, and she considered it, but it could be incredibly time consuming.

The spirit had also helped her find a pair of ice skates. Tieing them up was the easy part. Jack, his hand under her elbow, guided her along the ice slowly in a small circle around the lake. He'd been a lot more open with her, but still hadn't brought up what had happened the night he left her. The day after he'd sent the e-mails to Lauren and Brandon, he'd gotten replies. She was locked out of the bedroom again as he answered them. It made Skyla add a mental note to turn the spare room into an office.

Gavin had visited already, making sure there were no problems. He asked about the wardrobe, saying how he wanted to take it back with him when he could. It had been his friend's, but there wasn't room for it before. It was going to be made into a china cabinet. He commented on the bed sheets, saying he didn't know Skyla was so colorful. When she explained it was a joke to annoy her boyfriend, Gavin reacted like he totally understood. Apparently his girlfriend, Jane, had bought a pink rug just for him.

Skyla stumbled, losing her balance on the ice. She hit her shoulder and rubbed at it absently, "I thought you were holding me up, Frost."

"I was, Nolastname. You're the one that got distracted." he grinned at her, helping her stand. Skyla would have refused if anyone was around but for whatever reason they had gotten lucky and were mostly alone. With no one watching, she had no concerns about her invisible boyfriend landing her on the news. "What were you thinking about?"

For a moment, she just stayed still. It was still a difficult balance, and though they hadn't been at it for an hour yet, her feet were starting to hurt. Jack had explained that she had to break the skates in so as long as she could still move she was soldiering on. "Oh, you know, the usual. You."

"Good to know" he kissed her cheek, "You've been out here long enough, I think. Let's get back to your purse and head home, alright? Maybe stop and get something hot to drink."

"We have stuff at home..." she looked sideways at him. "Oh. You want to see the Brandon look-alike. You want a Brandon of your own!" She gasped dramatically, fanning herself with her free hand, "I know you love him, but I thought you were moving on to be with me?"

He tried to glare but quickly ended up laughing, "You're never going to give that up, are you? Brandon and I are not having a secret e-mail relationship behind your back. We do not have feelings for each other. We do not talk about how we both love you and having you as a common interest makes us understand each other better. We are not in love!"

"Oh, come on. Everyone loves you. It only makes sense that, in an odd way, Brandon does too. It may be very angsty and revolve around me greatly but-"

"Woah! Ego alert!" he started leading her towards the bank of the lake, "Should we do a head count? You have way more admirers than I do."

"You have a whole world of believers who admire you. There are many more Laurens out there."

Jack stilled a moment then laughed, "Yeah! But how about people we both know? Let's see, you have-"

"Nuh uh. We're starting with you! Brandon, Lauren, Toothiana, Bunnymund-"

"Hey! I'll accept Brandon but don't rope the kangaroo into this!" They finally reached the bank and Jack helped her to sit on the log next to her purse. "And what do you mean Lauren? Remember? Didn't work out between us?"

She ignored how tense he was while talking about her and started undoing the ice skates. He helped her as she told him, "She still loves you. I heard it from Brandon."

He stilled again, his fingers getting in the way of undoing the laces. He looked up at her from where he knelt in front of the log. "I had no idea" he said blandly. "Why would Brandon know? Why would he tell you?"

"Umm, well I guess he hung around the house a lot after I was brought to the North Pole. They must have talked about a few things and I don't know if she told him or he just picked up on it. It's not a big deal. I just... I guess I feel bad about it? She loves you and I took you away from her. Or what if she tries something one day when we visit her-"

His hands cupped her face and he leaned in to kiss her nose. "I love you, Sky. I already made my point to Lauren, and I know I won't have to make it again. She's not going to try anything, and you're not a bad person. You chose me, and I chose you. We're happy, most of the time, and we're in love. That's what matters. Whatever Lauren feels about me... It's not- It's not your fault I couldn't return those feelings. Am I making sense yet?"

"Yeah. You love me. I am not a bad person. We're usually happy when we're together." she smiled, putting her hands over his. "But I'm still worried about it. She has always been better at socializing than me. Which basically means boys like her more."

"Not me. You're the only one I want, Sky. The only one I need. I only have eyes for you and if I could I would give you the Moon and the stars- Well, maybe not." he laughed, "The Moon has to stay in the sky, and you like the stars better when they light up the night. But I'll give you anything else-"

"Just get these skates off my aching feet" she told him, rubbing her nose against his.

"Right." Smiling, he helped her get the skates off. As she put her shoes back on, Jack thought for a moment. "Okay now your list." Skyla almost seemd to get paler. "Brandon, Daniel-"

"Hey, that's not-"

"Gavin-"

"That's not funny-"

"Bunnymund-"

"Now that is too far. You're seriously messing with me right now."

"Not with the Bunnymund thing. He told me. He loves you-"

"He does not!" Sky laughed and picked up her purse and the skates Jack had tied together. Standing, she said, "Why would he- And didn't he say there was no way-"

"I know!" Jack laughed and stood along with her, "But it's true! He's jealous of me, Sky. He wants to hold you in his fluffy arms and rub noses and kiss-"

"Woah! Okay, I believe you!" she relaxed into him as his arm went around her shoulder and started leading her away form the lake, "I just don't get it though."

"I do. I can easily see why anyone could fall for you. That's why I have to stick around. I don't want anyone taking you away from me-"

"No one is good enough. Well-"

"Don't say it. He's second to me, that's been settled. I've taken you from him, and there is no way he's taking you back."

"We've settled that, too. I love you, Jack."

"Love you, Skyla." he replied, kissing her cheek. "Let's both agree not to lead Brandon on anymore, alright? It's bad enough that he wants to steal me away-" Skyla elbowed him and he laughed, "You started it!"

"And now we're ending it. Instead of talking about how Brandon loves us both, how about we talk about how Bunnymund loves us-"

"No. No, no, no!"

Later, back at their apartment, the two were in the kitchen, leaning against opposite counters and smiling at each other. It was very early-morning-coffee-commercial but neither made a move to change it. It was comfortable and while they weren't talking they weren't arguing either. Skyla sipped her raspberry tea and Jack watched her like it made sense she would want raspberry tea. To her, it only made the apartment seem more like home. She wasn't obsessed with raspberries, but they brought back that feeling of Summers with her family.

When she was almost finished, she offered him the last of it. He accepted and blew cool air over it before taking a drink of the now presumably chilled drink. He seemed to like it and quickly tipped the cup up to finish the rest of it, "Raspberries, huh? I could get used to them."

"You better." she joked softly. Watching him for a moment her smile faded slowly. "Hey. Come here, would you?"

Curious about what she wanted, he put the cup down in the sink behind him and pushed away from his counter, immediately invading her space. "What can I do for you?" he smirked, putting his hands on the counter at either side of her. Her hands travelled up his arms and tangled in his hair before she pulled him closer against her and their lips met for a few blissful moments. "Oh" was all he said.

Skyla bit her lip softly, "Yeah." Once again, her lips met his, and this time Jack put his arms around his waist to hold her closer. Her body melted into his as the kiss became more passionate and that electric feeling she loved ran through both of them, encouraging their actions.

From beside her on the counter, Skyla's phone rang. She groaned and the two pulled away. Jack glared at the thing, "Why are we always being interrupted?"

Skyla smiled at him and shrugged before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

Several minutes later, she found Jack on the porch. He was turned away from her and she walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his middle, "Guess what!" she told him excitedly. After a moment of silence she said, "No, really, guess."

"Oh! Umm... You..." his hands held her arms around him, "Won a cruise?"

"No!" she laughed, "I got a job!"

"...Is that all?"

Skyla's smile turned to a frown, "What do you mean? Isn't that great?"

"Of course it is, Sky. I'm just not surprised. I knew you would get it."

"Oh." She leaned her head against his back and told him, "I wish I had your confidence. If I could be so sure about things then maybe I wouldn't be so... I don't know, me?"

"There's nothing wrong with being you. I love you. You're the greatest. The best. Perfect to me. You can borrow my confidence whenever you need it though."

"Thanks. Maybe on my first day? I start on Monday. I'll probably really need it then." She let go of him and he turned around to face her, leaning against the railing. He grinned at her and she smiled back, "So the excitement is over for now. What do you want to do for the rest of the day?"

"There are several things I want to do. Snowball fight? Building snowmen? Ooh! I know, let's go for a walk!"

"Jack" she whined, "Can we not? You go on ahead, go play with the local children. It's too cold out here and-"

"Sky" the spirit whined in response, "I want to spend time with you, stop being so lazy!"

"I'm not being lazy. Go out and do something, alright? I'll be here when you get back and then we have the rest of the weekend to do whatever! Then- Well, I'll have work and you'll.. You'll have to go be the responsible Winter Spirit everyone is waiting for you to be. Ice caps and stuff, Jack. Gotta take care of em."

"We'll be apart, you mean." Jack frowned. "We won't have as much time to spend together. I'm sorry, Sky-"

"I knew it would happen. It's alright. You have stuff to do, and I have stuff to do. Yeah, we'll be apart. But then we'll find each other again. Like we always do"

"I promise to always come back. This is my home; it's our home. We-We'll still have each other. And just think of how much more special it will be when wer'e reunited-"

"It's special now. And it's cold out here so can we go inside?" she asked, smiling at him. He rolled his eyes, grinned, and led her in, shutting the door securely behind them.

"There's something I should tell you" he stopped her and pulled her with him onto the couch. She sat comfortably on his lap and rested her forehead against his cheek. Jack held her there loosely and turned slightly serious again, "I won't be around often. As much as I would like to tell you that I'll stop in whenever I can; it's just not that simple. There's travel times, for one. And believe it or not there are emergencies I always have to be on the look out for. I have an entire world to watch over, Sky. There is no one who does what I do, and I'm needed out there. I know I'll be needed here, but, and I'm incredibly sorry to say this; there are more important things than our relationship."

"I-I know. Of course I know that. But... That's you. To me, there is nothing more important. I love you, Jack. I need you." Her hand came up to turn his face so she could look him in the eyes properly, "You're the most important thing to me. I don't care how strongly you or anyone else denies it. Just take care of the planet, then come back and take care of me, alright? I know how to call you if anything happens, but unless it's really important I won't bother you."

"Well... You can bother me whenever you want. Send me your love. Let me know you miss me. Tell me you want me home. That I still have a home to come back to-"

"I'm not going anywhere." She promised, "You're always going to have me to come home to."

"Sometimes I wonder if you're lying about words hating you. If it's just a joke you play."

"I... Get lucky sometimes, I guess" Skyla laughed softly and quickly planted a kiss on his lips.

Jack pulled her more closely against him and pressed his mouth against hers. Soon she was laying back on the couch and his fingers were under her sweater, rubbing her side slowly, "Very lucky" he murmured while Skyla caught her breath. "But not as lucky as me."


NOTES:
No, they did not do it.
I just want to mention now that I have the next few chapters already written
So events are pretty well locked in
Sorry but the chapters are shorter than they usually always were.
Yeah, we'll probably make it to ch 50
Thank you for reading this fic
It's actually incredible that I have any readers at all
And, I mean, this is a long fic
(And not the greatest)
Wait, I lost my point. Umm, well
Yeah, this fic will eventually have to come to a close
If you keep up with my Twitter ( BekkaFaer) then you sort of know what I'm up to
I also give spoilers sometimes
But it's not like I only tweet about fic stuff
There are also TV shows and stuff
WAIT I LOST MY POINT AGAIN
WHERE HAS IT GONE