Important Note: Since I can't have Jamie refers to his wife as just "his wife" forever, I called her Ashley. Just saying this here so no one gets confused when they see an Ashley.

This is a sequel to Fragile Bonds and Playing The Game. Sorry I keep waiting forever to do sequels. One of those was 20 chapters ago.


Jamie could hear his sister laughing with Ashley in the living room when he returned home from his walk on Christmas day. He felt more nervous to see her than he ever had. He remembered how, long ago, Sophie had talked to him about Jack and the other Guardian and he had told her she was being childish. He remembered the pained look on her face. And now the roles might very well get reversed. He wondered how she would react. He wondered if it would hurt if she didn't believe.

"Daddy! Did you give them to him?" Jade asked, running to him and tugging on his arm.

"Of course I did. Just like I told you."

"Give what to who?" Sophie asked, standing up to join them. "Don't tell me you're already giving gifts to boys!"

Jade turned bright red and sputtered indignantly. Sophie laughed, ruffled her hair and pulled Jamie into a hug. As anxious as he was, it was good to see her again. He had been feeling nostalgic, lately. He almost wanted to ask his sister to cut some paper snowflakes with him. And maybe have a snowball fight. Just like in the good old days.

"Not to boys! I made cookies for Jack Frost. I mean... he's a boy, but it's not like that!"

"Oh? And since when is your father a friend of Jack Frost?"

Jamie winced. Sophie said it in a teasing tone, but to him it sounded like an accusation. And maybe it was. Even if Sophie no longer believed, she must still remember him telling her to grow up and stop believing in fairy tales. She might resent him that. But she had looked more hurt than angry at the time and he thought he could still see some of that old pain under her smile. He cleared his throat and looked at her.

"Jack Frost says 'hi'."

Sophie's smile froze, somewhere between surprised, disbelieving and uncertain. It was hard to tell if her expression was simply due to how unexpected his words were or if she was starting to feel old memories trying to claw their way back to the surface. There was a long moment of awkward silence before Ashley cleared her throat and clapped her hands once, a smile plastered on her face.

"So, anyone wants eggnog?"


Jamie lounged on the couch, feeling like he was going to need the whole week to digest the Christmas dinner. It was getting late and Ashley was trying to get Jade to sleep, so he remained here alone with Sophie. She stared at him in a way that made him a little uneasy.

"So. Jack Frost says 'hi'?" she asked at last.

Jamie sat straighter and fidgeted with the edge of his shirt. He wanted to just laugh it off, tell her it was a joke. But what if she was remembering? What if she was just starting to think that maybe all of their childhood games had been real and she just needed him to confirm it for her? He ran a hand through his hair. Should he? Jack said it would be better for him to not believe. He remembered that it had been hard to live with that in high school and even now he had to deal with the fact that he was hiding this from his wife. But how was he supposed to tell her? She hadn't experienced what he and Sophie had as children.

"Jamie? Are you all right?"

"Yeah. No. Maybe. Will you take a walk with me?"

"Sure. You look like you could use some fresh air."


"You two are going out? This late?" Ashley asked when she returned to see them pulling on their boots.

"We're just going to the lake. We won't be gone long."

"To the lake? Again? It's the second time today."

"I know, I just... we used to go together a lot when we were kids. It's been a long time."

"Right. We're just feeling a little nostalgic."

"Are you two all right?"

"We're fine," Jamie said a bit too fast.

"Jamie just ate too much. He need to digest all that food."

Sophie pulled him outside before things got even more awkward. He saw Ashley looking at them in concern before the door closed. He sighed. Sophie looked up at him.

"All right. We're all alone, now. Start talking."

Jamie bit his lip. He still wasn't sure what to tell her. He knew that his desire for her to remember was very selfish. He just wanted to go back to the way things used to be, even if they were no longer children and he still hadn't quite mended his friendship with Jack. He shouldn't drag Sophie into this mess. But he couldn't just lie to her either. He just couldn't. And, from the way she was looking at him right now, she wasn't going to let go until he explained. So he took a deep breath, still not sure what to say even as he opened his mouth.

"Jack Frost is real. So is Santa and the Ester Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and Sandman."

Sophie stared for a long moment. She opened her mouth, closed it again and swallowed. That had not been the best way to go about this.

"Care to elaborate?"

"They're the Guardians. And we used to know them. But then we stopped believing."

"And you're believing again?" she said cautiously.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

"No. I don't think you're crazy. Tell me what happened."

"All right. I saw Jack on Halloween. I thought he was just a kid in a really good costume, but he looked so familiar. He gave me a candy. He did that many years ago, too. It was all so familiar. Anyway, I saw him again a few days later. He looked as surprised as I did. And I started to remember. It was all real, Sophie. Not games we were playing as kids. Real."

They kept walking in silence for a while. Sophie looked in the direction of the lake, a faraway look in her eyes. They would be there soon. Jamie had never moved very far from the lake. He always thought it was just because it was near the place he grew up, but now he wondered if he had maybe tried to stay near his invisible friend.

"Can I see him too?"

Sophie's words surprised him and filled him with hope. She was staring at her feet and rubbing her arms nervously.

"He was sleeping when I left him, but that was many hours ago. He should be at the lake."

"The lake. We used to go there after the first snow. I wanted to give Jack Frost a hug."

"So you remember, now?"

"Let's run."

The lake was close enough to sprint there. Jamie felt like a child again, running off with Sophie late at night to see Jack Frost. He was grinning by the time he got there. Jack wasn't hard to find. He floated down from the tree he had been sitting in when he saw them running, his head cocked to the side in curiosity. Jamie stopped a few feet away from him, but Sophie kept running, threw her arms around Jack, lifted him off the ground and spun him in a circle, laughing. He stared at her with wide eyes for an instant when she put him back down. but he recovered from his surprise more quickly than Jamie would have thought.

"Sophie! So good to see you again! I mean, so good of you to see me again."

"Jack! This is so wonderful. To see you again, I mean. It's been so long. Not that I knew it was being long. That didn't make any sense, did it?"

Jamie stared at them both in confusion. He felt like he was missing something. Like he was watching two bad actors who couldn't remember their lines. It was a little eerie. But they looked genuinely overjoyed to talk again. Sophie finally decided to stop trying to speak and just hugged Jack again. Jamie watched them with a relieved smile. It felt like things were returning to the way they should be.

"Jamie! Are you going to just stand there? This calls for a group hug."

Before he could protest, Sophie grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into the hug. Yes, things were exactly as they should be.


I wanted to write this yesterday, but I was too sick to think so I ended up just drawing a bit, watching some movies and going back to sleep at noon. I actually slept through the entire day.

Sorry it took so long to go back to this storyline. Now that I've handled the Sophie situation, I'll try to do more with adult Jamie (and Sophie as well).