Chapter 3

They'd stayed most of the day after Mr. North had come back from whatever paperwork Ms. Madison had for him, and talked with Jack in his room, played with him. The three of them were on his bed, which Jack thought was pretty great because his bed was a twin and there was hardly any room; being squished with them made it feel like they were already a real family. They told him that he was welcome to call them by their first names, Nicolas and Lillian (Nick and Lily). He agreed, even as desperate as he was he was not ready for the mom and dad thing.

Jack and Lily had ended up lying on their sides, faces turned toward one another, like gossiping teenagers at a sleepover. Nick was sitting upright behind Jack; one leg hanging over the side of the bed, the other knee bent and touching Jacks back. Every so often Nick would lean forwards and ruffle Jacks hair affectionately when a joke passed through them. Jack loved it, he'd been missing physical attention quite badly and he craved it. He had to resist the urge to close his eyes and hum in appreciation.

Jack would have been happy to sit there just like they were, enjoying each other's company; he didn't think that he would get tired of looking into Lily's big brown eyes, them both laughing afterward. Jack wanted to talk too. He wanted everything he had been missing at once. It made him giddy, thinking that he was actually having this.

"Soooooo," Lily drawled playfully, "Tell us about you," she had a fist pressed to her cheek to emphasize her focus, which Jack found comical. He had seen enough television to participate in her joke, "I like long walks on the beach, and expensive dinners!" Nick and Lily laughed loudly and Jack was very proud of himself. That had been the first time Nick touched his hair and Jack was glad to know that the fact that it could not be tamed didn't seem to bother them.

"You have good sense of humor," Nick told him, still chuckling.

"But we really wanna know what you do with your time," Lily finished.

"I want to know about you guys, though," Jack told them, "I'm sure it is much more interesting." Jack left it at that, he didn't have the guts to tell them about what a failure everyone seemed to think he was. The fact that, at some point, he'd started to agree. There was nothing very special about him, he'd found out the hard way.

Lily considered him a moment, then shrugged as if to indicate that she could play along, go with the flow.

"We're wizards," she said low in a serious tone. Jack smiled; he could play with them all night like this.

"Yes, and we use our powers for the fighting of crime at night, when all the children of the world are asleep," Jack was surprised to find out that Nick could in fact, whisper quietly. Jack laughed because he could see Nick fighting crime for real.

"Can you guys teach me magic then?" Jack asked and he was almost serious, because like every other child ever, he wanted magical powers. He had always thought it might be nice to control the snow.

"I can teach you to see all the magic that is already there," Nick told him, placing his fingers in Jack's hair in that way that was already becoming so familiar. It would be years before Jack thought he finally understood what Nick had meant.

It was another few minutes of them joking about their jobs (Dragon slayers, vampire hunters, freak show performers; Lily had said she was the bearded lady and jack laughed until his eyes got teary) before Jack found out that Nick was a painter and Lily was a pharmacist. Jack didn't know much about medicine, but he did most certainly like art and he told them as much. Nick laughed, "I know these things Jack!" and ruffled his hair again.

"We saw on internet that you draw, your teachers say you are best artist in whole class!" Jack blushed crimson, "I guess," was his only reply. It was difficult to be complimented when he spent a great deal of his time alone, thinking that maybe he might be worthless. He was glad of the compliment all the same. Nick and Lily both Laughed. "I can't paint though" he told Nick, and he sounded just a bit crestfallen because he didn't want to disappoint Nick who had already told him how much he loved to paint, Jack had never really tried to paint much, because he found it so much easier to draw in pencil and then color it in.

"Already in my hands; I will show you, of course!" Nick told him, back to being totally loud. Jack Smiled, he loved art and he had no aversion to learning anything about it.

"My mom couldn't draw at all" Jack told them, and he smiled to remember all of her stick figures. His mother's death was a sore spot, but he liked to talk about her. He never really got much of an opportunity.

"Yeah?" Lily asked, she was prompting him to go on, but not pushing, and Jack was grateful.

"Yeah, she was pretty terrible," Jack laughed in his throat, a single sound, "Stick figures, mostly." He decided to leave it at that, baby steps; if he went into a full length story, after having been emotionally overwhelmed several times in one day, he was going to break.

They waited for him to say something more and when he didn't, Lily told him that she couldn't draw either, and that the most she could mange was a fortune teller out of notebook paper. It was her art, she told him, and she was quite proud.

"Thank God that we found you, now Nicolas will have someone else to harass about art techniques, the different types of canvass, brushes …bases of paint!" she sniffed, displeased, and Nick laughed

"It's going to be thing just for us, then Jack, because Lillian is right, she is no artist and even her fortune tellers are not very good!" they all laughed and Lily hit Nick with a pillow, which made them laugh that much harder. Just a thing for us, huh?

Jack was thinking about how much he could get used to this, when he realized that he already was.

-Page Break -

Tears were spilling when they told him good night and kissed his tear stained cheeks (Lily kissed the left, Nick, the right; at the same time). "Don't be sad, silly! We'll be here bright and early tomorrow. Well early for us is nine o'clock" Lily told him, laughing softly.

"Yes, it will be first family adventure for us! We will take you some place we know you like." Nick told him loudly, eyes sparkling.

Jack didn't cry long after they were gone, because after a while he decided he was more excited than sad and the anticipation was killing him. They hadn't said where they were taking him, and he had definitely tried to ask.

"No," Nick told him, "I like surprises! You're not getting anything out of me!" he said it with such a conviction that Jack knew he would be impossible to crack.

"Or me," Lily chimed in softly, winking. Jack thought she sounded less certain, and if he could have separated them and asked her alone, he might have been able to find out where they were going.

Jack secretly hoped there would be ice-cream involved. It was winter, true, but the cold had never bothered him anyway.

Ok the next chapter will have their first family adventure, but not the last and I'm pretty pleased, because dialogue has never ever been my strong suit and I think I did ok … what do you guys think? =]

Ps THANK YOU to all who have read and the few who took the time to follow and fave and review guys all rock my socks !