Chapter Twenty-seven- Laughter and Tears

Warning; this one's not for the kids Folks! I'd give this one about a T or maybe T and a half for a bit near the end. Northing too crazy but just to be safe, this is more intense than the rest of the story so far.

North heard someone laugh and at first he couldn't place the voice at all. Granted he was about half asleep still, but the voice seemed slightly unfamiliar. He got up and found that Bunny was no longer sitting in the seat outside the infirmary. He had sworn the Pooka hadn't left, and he was sure he had heard more than one voice. He peeked in to see Bunny sitting with James and the two of them were snickering.

Evidently he had missed the battle of wills between the two and this looked like the giggly aftermath.

"What is so funny?" He asked in his best teacher-voice. The two looked over to him and put on innocent faces, not that they were guilty of anything, and shrugged.

"Nothin', not a thing, mate." Bunny chuckled.

"Sure…" North drew the word out skeptically, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. Then something occurred to him. "Where is Jack?"

"Well, the little nutter just had a shared dream with this nutter," He stuck his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to James, "So he's alive and well, but other than that I'm not sure. I think he went to see Jamie and his Mom last night, but he hasn't been back yet." Bunny informed as he settled back in his chair more comfortably.

"Ah, I'm sure he just fell asleep somewhere. He should be back soon. We are going to meet for breakfast in living room later, if you are interested." He enticed. The way their faces lit up was more than enough for him. He made way for the living room with a huge grin on his face.

In the meantime James was desperately trying to shake off the entire debacle so Bunny would let him get up.

"I see where the little ankle-biter gets it from now." Bunny muttered after scolding James back down for the third time.

"What?"

"Stubbornness." Bunny smirked.

Somewhere in India, Jack was stretching and trying not to roll off a roof. The wind was whipping around him in a panic and he took that as his wakeup call.

"Alright, alright, let's go. You can drive while I wake up…" He yawned lazily, knowing it was likely Summer picking up his trail or something of that nature. That was, until he noticed they weren't headed for the pole.

"Wind?" He asked. She shoved him upright on her currents and spun him around a few times, shrieking in his ears. It was a terrified sound and it woke him right up. "What happened?!" He was alert, finally, and she was rushing him toward…"Burgess?"

Back at the Pole the others had managed to shuffle in and settle down around a coffee table and fireplace for breakfast, but they were waiting on none other than their ball of mischief and fun. When the wind whipped through the pole with enough force to knock Tooth and Sandy into the air, they actually took it's cues and followed it.

"Wait, mates, North and I can't really follow the wind that fast. Go on ahead and keep us in the loop. Get us if you need us." Bunny offered.

"But, what if-" Tooth began to fret but was cut off by Sandy tugging her arm lightly and nodding.

"Be careful." North cautioned almost to himself as they left.

"I wonder what that was about." James muttered.

"Frostbite probably ran into the wrong spirit." Bunny tried to be optimistic and casual, but there was no denying it, something was very, very wrong.

"I felt it too." North offered, seeing James and Bunny's worried looks.

"He'll be okay." Bunny insisted.

Back with Jack the wind was starting to sound like she was crying, and Jack would be the first to admit that he was terrified. He couldn't move fast enough and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was too late. The wind was definitely more panicked than she had ever been for something he could help.

"Jack!" Tooth's voice rang out almost too clearly as he reached the town. It was still and too quiet.

"Tooth, Sandy. Good, I don't know if I can handle whatever Wind is worried about on my own, it seems big. I don't know where we're going, but stick close." Jack offered, not wanting to stop and chat for obvious reasons. They were still behind and he was shouting back to them. They quickly caught up quickly and were shoved toward…Jamie's?

"Jack? Isn't this…?" Tooth started but Jack wasn't listening. He was barreling through the town and in the window.

Then time stopped.

"Jack! Jack help, Mom's hurt!" Jamie was in hysterics and launched himself at the teen.

"Easy kiddo, we're here, where is she?" Jack asked quickly and as soothingly as he could through the tears in his own eyes. He couldn't believe what was happening, he wouldn't. Please let this be little and mundane and fixable. Please oh moon please.

"Jackie?" Her voice was so quiet he almost missed it. He barely registered anything that happened after that. He couldn't handle what he was seeing. There was a knife buried in her side, and the room was absolutely trashed. Broken glass was everywhere and overturned furniture made this look like a miniature tornado had ripped through the room. Jack fell down beside her and froze up, unsure of how to respond other than letting her have his hands.

He couldn't pull his eyes away from that wound for a moment but when he did he locked eyes with her and watched them dull. He was dimly aware of Tooth staunching the bleeding and Sandy picking them all up on a cloud. He couldn't handle what was happening. For all he had ever dealt with it had always been his own pain, his own injuries, he had never come this close to losing anyone he cared about because there had never been so many people close to him before. It was terrifying and he found himself squeezing Jamie half to death. Not that Jamie wasn't doing some squeezing of his own.

"Jack, Jack sweetie? Come on wait here, we'll fix her up." Tooth almost cooed to the boy. Jack snapped out of his shock and shook his head.

"No, I-"

"Jack? Please? It'll be okay." She tried. Jack deflated and looked around. He had been walking, following Tooth and North into the infirmary with Jamie hugging at his side. He sighed heavily and nodded.

"Okay. Come on kiddo, they'll fix her up." Jack borderline whispered as he led him to the same big red couch he had found Bunny on earlier.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Jamie asked through a sob.

"I…I believe in 'em, kiddo." He offered. Truth was, he didn't know at all, he wasn't sure what her injuries were, but he would give him hope. He deserved it, and more importantly it was powerful magic to hope so strongly. They sat there in stunned silence, both crying almost silently while they waited.

It was about an hour before North poked his head out and crouched down to Jamie's level.

"Alright, want to go see her, yes?" North asked. Jamie nodded enthusiastically. Instead of having the clearly exhausted boy walking, he quickly scooped him up in a hug and carried him in to see her. In a few seconds James, North, Tooth, Sandy and Bunny were all sitting outside waiting. They wanted to give them a moment.

Jack actually didn't say a word, but they all knew he wanted to know. None of them had ever seen him react so severely to anything, and it was painfully obvious why.

"Well, it's better than we thought." Bunny provided, slinging an arm around the borderline unresponsive spirit he called a brother. "She's stable for now, but we aren't sure how she'll react later." Jack nodded his understanding.

"What happened to her?" He asked at a whisper.

"We'll have to ask later, we just know that some of Boogey's magic was clinging to her when we found her." Tooth offered. Jack ran a hand through his hair, desperately trying to make his brain function.

It wasn't working very well. He ended up fast asleep on Bunny's shoulder.

I'm so so so so so so sorry I was away so long! I haven't forgotten this! Here's the next chapter and I'm on spring break and back at it so look for more soon! Thanks for stickin' to it! Also, I'd like to thank my reviewers/readers for keeping me inspired! Ya'll are awesome! :)