Chapter 21

"What's happening?" She asked, worry seeping into her words as she made room for me on the bed.

"I don't have long, but I have to go. I need to step down and hand you the crown." She just stared, shocked, for a minute or two.

"I need a little more explanation than that, Elsa." I set Alyssa down amongst the covers of Anna's bed and launched into the tale of Jackson's death and Jack's revival, explaining, pleading with her to believe it so she would see him. I explained the danger he and I put our daughter in simply by creating her, and who Ayana was. She seemed to take it well, to believe what I told her, and understood what I had to do for Arendelle. I made sure I slipped in my plea to Nikolai to keep his father from sending a proposal to her.

"I couldn't accept anyway." She commented, hiding her face in the tangle of her hair. I leaned back for a moment, letting myself look at her properly.

"You're engaged?" I squealed, finally noticing the small band sitting on her ring finger. "Please tell me it's to Kristoff." She nodded, laughing at what was an overly relieved expression on my face.

"Last night." I laughed at her blush, the midday interruption making sense now.

"It's been a year at lease, I suppose I'll bless the union." Anna smiled and tucked her hand under the folds of her skirt. "Anyway, do you think you could believe in Jack enough to see him?" She nodded, uncertainty still lingering in her eyes despite her devotion to try. I left Alyssa to her aunt for the time being and set off to find Jack. I could find a soft trail of footprints covered in frosty specks leading off to the village. In a panic I ran along the trail, hoping to catch him before his mother saw him. If there's anyone who believes Jackson could still be alive it was his mother. I called for him, but there was no answer. I made it to the Overland house and burst into the room.

"Elsa?" Tara asked from her spot on the couch, knitting something for Alyssa or Mary I assume. I froze at the sight of Jack standing over her, watching her until he turned his head to look at me with pain and confusion swimming in his eyes. I had to sigh in relief that she couldn't see him, but unfortunately he could see her and, from the look he's giving me right now; I have to guess he remembers who she is.

"Hey, Tara." I kept my eyes trained on Jack, who was slowly moving towards me, indicating to leave the house to talk. I nodded subtly, not so much that Tara could tell that it actually was a nod.

"Are you okay? When did you even get home?" She put her needles down right as Jack took the last step and was standing right next to me. I swallowed and reset my smile.

"I'm fine, just a little out of sorts. I got back today, a couple of hours ago." She got up and came over to hug me. I stepped out in front of Jack, just in case she made contact and felt it, and fell into her embrace. I didn't realise how much I missed her until she hugged me, but now I can't believe I left her for as long as I did.

"Where's Nikolai." Jack scoffed behind me,

"Hopefully chewing on his pride." He muttered. I cleared my throat,

"He stayed back on the Isles with his family." She clenched her jaw for a second before returning to her smile, albeit a more bitter one.

"So he left his family, his wife and the little girl he thinks he dare call his daughter, to spend time with the people who sold him off to you for a power grab?" I swallowed, knowing I was caught out,

"Yes?" the response came out like a question, despite all my efforts for it not to.

"I've known you since you were in pigtails, Queen or not don't you dare lie to me Elsa." I could feel Jack standing behind me and closed my eyes for a moment, taking a breath.

"I didn't want to tell you right now. I was hoping to wait until I could sort out what was going on." Jack was surely glaring icy daggers at the back of my neck right now.

"Tell her, she deserves to know. She deserves to see me, Elsa." He whispered down my neck. I couldn't help but shiver at the cold not only in his tone, but also in his breath. I nodded, stepping away from Jack's cold presence, and led Tara to a seat on her couch.

"I need you to trust me, Tara, and I need you to believe me. Most of all, I need you to believe in your son." She let my hands go and sat back.

"My son is dead, Elsa. What is there left for me to believe in for him?" She swallowed back her feelings for the most part, but Jackson's death still pained her so much. I softly went into my explanation of what happened to Jack, how he's alive but not alive, dead but not dead. She was holding back her tears initially, but by the end she was openly and unabashedly weeping. I put a hand to her back in comfort and turned my head to look over to Jack, who was pacing behind us. He stopped pacing and his hand dropped from where he was nipping the side of his finger anxiously. He slowly came around to stand a few feet in front of us and knelt down. I nodded when he looked to me for reassurance and he held out a hand, placing it on his mother's knee. Tara looked up and took his hand from her knee. She fell in front of him and wrapped her arms around Jack's thin frame. He didn't seem to know what to do with the gesture, being only vaguely aware of their relation for less than an hour.

"Tara I think you've stunned him." She let him go, checking him uselessly for damage like she would when he would go missing for days at a time.

"I don't fully understand all of this, but it doesn't matter. You're alive and you're home, my Jackson." Jack grabbed hold of Tara's hands and pulled them away from his face, placing them softly in her lap.

"I'm not your Jackson, Tara." I bit my lip softly when he said it. He's just crushed his mother's hope completely. "I am Jack, Jackson died in a frozen lake a year ago and was taken over by the winter spirit. Elsa explained this to you, I am the winter spirit with Jackson's body, his voice, fragments of his memory and only a small, tiny portion of his personality. I am composed of all these pieces of him, but I am not him. I'm sorry." Tara looked down at her hands, letting her eyes close for a moment before looking back up at Jack, tears threatening to fall again.

"You don't need to be him, so long as you make him proud of what you do. That's all I need from you." A flicker of a smile appeared on Jack's lips, and he nodded.

"Then that's what I'll do." He rose to his feet again, grabbing his staff from where it leaned on a chair, and held out a hand to Tara, who took it and rose to her own feet. I breathed a sigh of relief that the both of them could come to terms with who they each were to each other. "That's actually what I should go and do now. I'll come back some day and tell you all about it." He smiled, and it was warm enough to make Tara smile in return. With a final goodbye to Tara, who seemed to still be processing some things, we left and Jack whisked us up to the castle.