Happy New Year Everyone! Sorry it's been a while, but the holidays are…the holidays, so here's one! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

It makes me happy each and every time I see a follow or a favorite, and thank you AliceofDeath for leaving me a review! I greatly appreciate it : )

Let's continue, shall we?

Of Soft Breezes and Wintry Nights

Chapter Six: The Ever Elusive Snow Day

New Years came and went, and soon Claire returned to her apartment to begin her next semester of college. Classes were just as difficult, and she spent many hours studying at home or in the library at school. However, this semester she had a wintry friend to keep her company. Jack and Claire spent more and more time together as the semester continued. Jack would keep her company in the library as she studied (next to an open window, much to the chagrin of other students), and afterwards the two would take a long walk around the block. On weekends, Jack would encourage her to get out of her apartment and play in the snow, no matter the strange looks she received from the neighbors. The weeks went on, and the two grew closer and closer, never speaking of the strange tension and excitement the two felt when they were together.

One evening in January, Jack watched the snow fall from the sky as Claire studied for a Spanish test in the library. He turned back to her, smiling as she absentmindedly tucked her brown hair behind her ear.

He sighed, laying his head down on his arms on the desk. "Claire," he asked, and she looked up. "Do you ever get snow days?"

Claire snorted in laughter before looking back down at her notes. "I wish," she said, "but in college it's a lot harder to get a snow day."

"Why?" Jack asked, confused, "The snow falls the same way no matter what age you are," he said, looking out the window again, "And wouldn't they want to give you more snow days in college? You have to walk outside in the snow, and smaller children don't," he pointed out.

"Tell me about it," Claire said, looking up again. At this point she realized that some of the students were staring at her as she seemingly talked to herself, so she lowered her voice to a whisper. "The problem with college is," she whispered, "they feel like you miss so much work when they call off a day. Especially at this school; we haven't had a snow day in forty years. Rumor is when they gave the students a day off, someone complained and now they won't give us one," she made a face as if to say who-in-their-right-mind-would-do-that. "It'll take more than snow to give us a snow day," she muttered, turning back to her work so others would stop staring at her.

Jack absorbed her story in silence, thinking. Suddenly, he stood from the table. Claire looked up at him, eyebrow raised.

"I'll be back later," he said; with a wink and a flurry of papers, he was out the door before she could say any more.

Claire shook her head, smiling as she looked back down at her notes.

-((a few hours later))-

Claire shut her notebook with a satisfying snap. I feel like my eyes are going to fall out of their sockets, she complained to herself as she stacked her books. Besides, it's getting really late. At that moment, a professor opened the door to the studying room, looking at the few students who still gathered there.

"You guys better get out of here," she said, "it's starting to get dangerous out there," she said before leaving the room.

Dangerous? Claire thought, looking out the window for the first time in a few hours. It doesn't look like it's snowing that hard…but why is the ground…shiny? Confused but unable to see out into the darkness, she threw her books into her bookbag before leaving the study room. She stepped out of the building onto the top of the stairs leading outside and gasped.

It was true that it really wasn't snowing; however, in that few hours she had been in the study room everything, everything had become covered in ice. She looked closely at what she thought was snow, and realized that it was freezing rain that had effectively covered the snow, roads, and sidewalks with ice.

As she stood there gaping, Jack flew over to her, landing next to her on the top of the stairs. He grinned with pride. "What do you think? Do you think this will get you a snow day?"

She continued to stare out at the campus before her in awe. "If it doesn't, I don't know what would," she said, distracted. "Oh, Jack this is…" she paused, searching for an appropriate word.

"I know," he said, his blue eyes glinting with excitement and wonder. "I figured, if snow wouldn't give you a snow day, they'd have to give you one for ice!"

"But Jack, how will I get home?" she realized, suddenly concerned. "I don't think I'll be able to walk down these stairs, let alone drive—"

"Who said you had to drive?" Jack said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. She looked at him blankly. "Or walk?"

Her eyes widened, finally catching his meaning. "Oh Jack, you don't mean to—" he cut her off, scooping her up into his arms and soaring high into the air, above the buildings and into the clouds.

"I mean to," he whispered into her ear, grinning. Claire wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tightly as they whizzed through the air.

"Jack-" she started, afraid. Jack shushed her, tightening his arms around her.

"Shh, don't be afraid," he said soothingly. "Trust the wind. And me. You won't fall." He looked down, and noticed her eyes were closed. "Open your eyes," he said gently.

Claire slowly opened her eyes and smiled, gazing down at the clouds and the lights of the buildings. She laughed, enjoying feeling the wind on her face and in her hair.

"Not so bad, right?" Jack said, smiling. Claire's grin widened, and the two soared through the air towards her house. Jack flew higher and gripped her tightly, spinning and making loops in the air, causing her to shriek and laugh with delight.

"Having fun?" Jack said with a spark of mischief in his eye.

Claire nodded before looking at him warily. "I know that glint in your eye; what are you up to-!" she ended on a scream as Jack let go of her, and she fell through the sky, plummeting towards the ground.

Claire fell for a few seconds, panicking and screaming; Jack appeared beside her, falling next to her for a few seconds before pulling her into his arms again, stopping them before they broke through the clouds.

Claire smacked him on the chest as the two gained altitude again. "Jack! That was not funny; that was frightening!"

"Admit you would've had fun if you let yourself," Jack said, rising higher, "I told you I'd always catch you, didn't I?" he said seriously. Once they were at the height they were before, he looked deep into her emerald eyes. "Ready to try it again?"

Claire hesitated before nodding. Jack let go, and Claire fell through the sky, falling towards the clouds below them. Her initial sense of panic surged, but she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. He'll catch me, she thought, and spread her arms wide, feeling the wind racing against her face. She smiled, pretending that she was soaring through the air herself. All too soon, she felt Jack's familiar arms come underneath her. She opened her eyes and settled her arms around his neck, smiling.

"You should've warned me like that the first time," she murmured against his neck.

Jack grinned, looking down at the side of her face. "I will warn you next time I drop you from the sky," he said with a smirk. She mockingly glared up at him.

A while later Jack flew them to the front of Claire's seemingly abandoned apartment complex, setting her on her feet in front of her door.

"It's so quiet," Claire commented, looking around at the icy surroundings.

"Everyone's inside staying away from the bitter cold brought on by yours truly," Jack said, not looking the least bit repentant.

Claire moved to reply but was interrupted by the chime of her cell phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at her text messages. "It's from the automatic messaging system of my college," she said in disbelief, "We have a snow day tomorrow!" she exclaimed, stuffing her phone in her pocket and throwing her arms around Jack. "Thank you Jack! Thank you!"

Claire pulled away before Jack could react, too excited to stay in place. She bounced lightly up and down, barely able to hold herself still. Jack smiled warmly, watching the excitement dance in her eyes as she rejoiced.

"Oh this is so exciting; I can't thank you enough Jack! I mean, this is really-" she was cut off as Jack impulsively covered her lips with his.

Claire started as she found Jack's lips on her own. For a split second she thought to protest but quickly decided she didn't want to; she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She ignored the chill she felt as Jack wrapped his arms tightly around her. He paused and pulled away briefly, unsure of her reaction. She released a breath of cold air and smiled up at him. He grinned before he moved to kiss her again, this time pulling her flush against him. Claire fisted a hand into his soft white locks as his mouth moved against her, running his tongue against her lower lip. Claire made a noise of contentment as she moved her other hand against his back; inadvertently brushing frost off of his jacket. Jack, overwhelmed, lowered his hands to her hips briefly before pulling away, panting.

"Well." Claire said, smiling. "That's one way to celebrate."

Jack smiled, laughing. However, his expression quickly became serious. "Is this okay?"

Claire smiled at his thoughtfulness. "It'd be difficult going out with a mythical legend," she said, and his face fell. Her eyes were glinting with mirth as she took his hands in her own. "But it'll be worth it to go out with you." He smiled, learning in to kiss her again. "Do you want to come inside?" she said hesitantly. "I know it's a bit on the warm side, but I'll open the window and—" he cut her off, kissing her again.

"I don't mind," he said with a smile.

The two went inside the apartment, shutting the door behind them. They went up the stairs, and Claire led him to her living room and the couch. She took off her coat before she knelt on the cushion and leaned over it to open the curtains and windows, letting a burst of cold air inside.

"Is that better?" she said, turning to Jack who was seated next to her, smiling softly.

"You won't get cold?" he asked as she knelt on the couch cushion next to him.

"If I do, I'll put on a sweater," she said, scooting closer to him, clearly nervous. "I haven't done this in a very long time, and that was only once," she said shyly, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Jack grinned, trying to ease her nervousness. "Well I've never done this before, how do you think I feel?" he asked, tentatively turning towards her and opening his arms. She came closer, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She shivered, only partly from the cold.

"Much like me I imagine," she whispered, moving closer to his face.

"I suppose we'll just figure it out together," he said, bringing a hand to her face. "I'm not too cold?" he asked, breathing a chill air on her lips.

"I'll deal with it," she said, before sealing her lips over his. This time, she tried to be a little more forceful with her kiss, and she immediately tucked his fingers in his hair, laying a hand on his chest. Jack made a noise of surprise against her lips and tried to keep up, moving his mouth with hers. She pushed him backwards, encouraging him to lay back as she lay atop him on the couch. He let his hands rest on her waist, focusing on her lips. She pulled away briefly to catch her breath.

"I can't believe I've never done this before," he said, smiling.

She gave him a look. "I'll take that as a compliment instead of you wishing for other women," she said with a wink. Before he could backtrack his words, her lips returned to his, slowly moving together. Claire slowly moved her hand on his chest, and he groaned softly against her lips. She removed her hand from his hair and took one of his hands from her waist, bringing it lower.

"You can move your hands, you know," she whispered against his lips, smiling.

"…Where?" he asked innocently. Claire chuckled.

"Be creative," she said, before returning her lips to his again. This time, Jack decided to explore, despite the distraction of her hands drawing patterns over his jacket. He slowly ran one hand up and down her back, while the other rested on her hip. She made a noise of appreciation, so he decided to continue, bringing his hand lower to her bottom. She squealed in surprise, and her hips bucked forward in reflex; Jack groaned in surprise as he felt hers hips move against his. They broke apart, panting.

"That was…" Jack struggled for words, having never had these feelings for another person before.

"Yeah," Claire said, pulling back to sit next to him. "Why don't we take a break? Let me go put on a sweater, and we can watch a movie or something?"

"Sounds good," he said with a grin.

-((outside))-

Outside in the shadows of the trees, a mysterious figure watched the two in the living room, curled up in front of the television. He chuckled darkly, stroking the mane of a horse made of entirely black sand.

"This is all too easy," the figure chuckled before disappearing into the darkness.

-((To be continued!))-

Oh no! The plot appears! I do hope you liked this chapter, we finally got some action and plot action, lol.

Let me know what you think!

~freaky-hanyou