"I'm sorry, I just want you to stay happy... be happy. I don't want anything ever to happen to you." He looked at Jamie like he was kicked puppy. Jamie wanted to punch a wall in frustration but managed not to.

"You can't do that Jack. It's not only impossible it's a fool's errand. You can't simply try to protect someone that far and expect them to be happy about it." Jack winced again and sat back a minute.

"Jamie... I... I'm sorry." He looked down, the cavern was so clean that looking at himself he realized coddling him like this wasn't the way; he was a winter spirit, the person he loved. Jamie was going to be fine and he had made him unhappy. Jamie ran a hand through his hair. Really hoping this meant the end of this nonsense. Jack hugged Jamie close.

"Please forgive me, I shouldn't have done that; I know you're not a kid anymore I just... sometimes wished your life was easier."

"Easier? Jack, my life would be boring if it were easier. It's the times we've been through that make me appreciate the peace even more than I would if life was easy. It's not meant to be easy." He says after a moment of silence as his frustration begins to leave him and he hugged Jack close. Jack winced again, his brain couldn't handle this pain; this kind of pain... it was a inner fight. Should he continue to make his life easy or should he let him live his life the way he wants it? Jamie could sense the inner battle and knew Jack would burn out sooner or later. Jamie sighs.

"Jack, I love ya to death, but stop trying to make things so easy. I'm not going to shatter on you. I'm not made of glass." Sandy had also mentioned; if nothing at all worked, rebooting his head by Tooth could help make him forget the reason he was upset. Jamie hadn't wanted to take that route really. He knew the frustration of not remembering things, he had told Sandy before he'd left, that he'd use that as a last ditch effort option. Jack hugged Jamie gentler than a feather, afraid he would hurt him. A distraction... they both needed one and Jamie's mind was too happy to remind him that it had been a while... He lightly nipped at Jack's neck, he shivered.

"J-Jamie w-what are you doing?" He started to back off a little bit, arms retracting.

"What do you think I am?" He replied; a slight smile tugging at his lips as he met Jack's gaze with his own before shifting to kiss him gently, pulling Jack closer to him. Jack whined, he was absolutely shy now; afraid that Jamie could tell... he loved him with all his heart but since then he was afraid he would break by the tiniest touch and knew he would submit this time. Jack wasn't responding to the touches yet; he gently, so gently, kissed Jamie. It was as if nothing was kissing Jamie at all. Jamie decided that he would attempt to draw Jack out, if only a little by being patient. He took his time with each touch, each one gentle and teasing.

0000000

Jack awoke the next morning in Jamie's arms, sniffing his head.

"Pineapple?" He thought for a minute.

"No strawberry starburst." Jamie shifted a little as he began to stir from his sleep; Jack still kept sniffing.

"No chocolate berry." He sniffed Jamie's neck.

"What is this array of smells?" He sniffed his shirt, it smelled like vanilla.

"What the fuck are you, a mr. sketch marker?" Jamie yawned, shifting and rolling off Jack as he slowly awoke and began to stretch. Jack groaned.

"Now I'll never know the secret to the multiple fruity smells on you."

"Huh?" Jamie asked, confused. His eyes a little unfocused from sleep as he looks at Jack. What the heck was Jack talking about? Jack snickered.

"Nothing." He sniffed Jamie's shirt.

"Nope that's not it."

"Huh?!" Jamie gives Jack a confused look now as he held the shirt.

"It's nothing nothing." He sniffed the air some more then stopped and slid a clean shirt over Jamie, coddling him yet again.

"Jack, knock it off. Really." Jamie sat up, moving over to find a clean kilt, only to find pants, and pull them on. He nearly groaned; he thought he'd gotten this fixed the other day! Jack winced.

"What?" He sniffed his shoulder again... that same smell.

"You smell like a whole box of mr. sketch?" Jamie blinked at that.

"Really?"

"Yeah smell for yourself."

"Um, yeah... I don't think that will work... I mean... You smell like peppermint to me... but have you ever noticed that?" His point being, a person couldn't exactly smell themselves because their nose was too used to it. Jack looked at him, confused.

"I do?" Jamie smiles a little, nodding; Jack yawned.

"So now what?"

"Well, I think we should see if we can start any snowball wars." Jack smiled.

"Alright." He dressed and slowly flew out, his wings sparkled like the snow that fell around them. With a smile, Jamie followed. After a moment, he found he was wondering about those wings.

"Hey Jack... why do you have wings?" Jack froze for a minute, bad memories came with these wings and he'd rather not say why.

"I was reborn with them." He said finally and kept going, not wanting to talk more on the matter. Reborn? Jamie was confused at that but he sensed Jack didn't want to talk about it either so he kept his questions to himself. Jack sighed tiredly but threw the first snowball at the first kids they saw, leaving the rest to Jamie; if Jamie noticed he was tired he didn't say anything on it; particularly since he knew why. Still, it felt good to see children laughing as they ran about throwing snowballs at one another. The world, in time, had healed it seemed. Children weren't afraid of snow and even some adults would stop to smile at the snow they brought.