Jamie had conflicting feelings about venturing on the ice. On one hand, something told him that it would never break, that the lake would not let him fall into it's freezing waters. No, not the lake. Someone. He could not remember who, but someone would not let him fall. On the other hand, a terrible foreboding feeling hung in the air, so thick he could barely breath. Or maybe he truly wasn't breathing. He couldn't really tell.

The ice was smooth, but his feet did not slip as he took cautious steps on its frozen surface. He recognized that small lake. It was the one near his childhood home. He came here so often as a child, it appeared in his dreams a lot. And Jamie did know this was a dream. But that did not make him any less anxious. Something was wrong here and he felt like he had forgotten what. Something was missing. Or someone.

His heart jumped in his chest, if it was actually beating, when he spotted movement beneath the ice. Pale fingers pressed against it, emerging from the darkness around them. As he stared at them, an equally pale face became visible as well, blue eyes staring up at him, pleading for help. He fell on his knees on the ice separating him from the deathly pale boy in the water, unable to look away from those frosty blue eyes.

Jamie knew him, but did not remember him. He pressed his hands to the ice, wishing he could reach through. It looked so thin, yet so strong. A barely visible, unbreakable barrier that separated him from this child who looked like winter. They could only press their hands on each side of it, so close yet unable to touch. The boy's lips moved, but the water swallowed his voice.

"Who are you? Why can't I remember you?"

The darkness beneath the ice thickened. The boy's fingers left the ice as something dragged him down. He still reached up, hand outstretched, but Jamie could not grab it and pull him back up. He banged his fists against the frozen surface, harder and harder as the pale figure disappeared in the darkness.

"No... No!"

The sound of his desperate cry shattered the ice and he fell into the frozen water. Everything was dark around him. He could not see the boy, or the surface or anything else. Somewhere in the distance, he heard a baby crying. A woman's voice said his name. He tried calling out to the white haired boy lost somewhere in the darkness, but he did not even know his name.


"Jamie. Wake up. It's your turn to go."

Waking up in a panic, it took Jamie a moment to comprehend where he was and who was speaking to him. It took him even longer to realize that the baby crying in the next room was his daughter. That would take some time getting used to.

"Right. My turn. I'm going."

He stumbled out of bed, still trying to calm his furiously beating heart. The vivid dream kept playing over in his head. He recognized the boy from his dream, now. It's Jack Frost. I used to make up stories about him when I was a kid. Maybe it was having a child of his own that brought back old memories.

The baby in the cradle cried with all the strength of her little lungs, calling for someone to come comfort her. Jamie picked her up and held her against his chest a little awkwardly, still not sure how to get her to calm down. It looked so easy when someone else was the one doing it. Just rock her a little, whisper soothing nonsense...

"Hey, Jade, don't cry. Daddy's here."

She just cried harder. He looked around the room, desperately looking for inspiration. His eyes landed on the frosted window. The dream came back to him, the picture of that pale face staring at him through the ice still vivid in his mind and for an instant he could swear he saw that same face on the other side, blue eyes locking with his own. It was gone before he could blink. He looked back down at Jade and smiled at her.

"You don't have to be afraid. There are magical beings out there whose job is to protect children like you. They'll fight away the nightmares and every monster that hides in the dark. They'll protect you, little Jade, so you can sleep easy."

Maybe it was his words or maybe just the fact that he no longer sounded like he was scared himself, but she did calm down. He continued talking, telling her what he could remember of the stories from his childhood until she fell back asleep. He placed her back in her cradle, feeling a little proud. Maybe he could manage this "dad" thing after all.

The window caught his attention before he could leave and return to his bed. On impulse, he walked up to it and placed the tips of his fingers on the cold glass. He hesitated a little, wondering why exactly he was doing this, before resting his palm against the window. He expected to see the frost thaw as his warmth spread through the glass, but it grew even colder. As if Jack Frost himself pressed his hands on the other side.


This didn't really turned out the way I wanted, but I'll still post it instead of sitting just here getting upset. I've been doing too much of that today, I need to feel like I actually did something. If I can manage to figure out how to title this.

So, someone suggested something about Jamie having a dream where Jack is in trouble and doesn't remember who he is? That's the best I could do.