Chapter fifty-one- It's cold outside…

"So, maybe I should start spreading winter again…" Jack mused out loud when they returned to North's office with cookies and Jack's staff whacked him in the back of the head, glowing blue fiercely and pulling their attention outside. The floor-to-celling glass door in his office that almost took up a wall revealed a fierce storm outside the pole.

"Good idea." North nodded. Jack opened the lock on the door and held his staff in front of him, keeping the storm at bay.

"I'll just be out here for a sec." Jack offered.

"Don't you need to leave for this?" North asked, confused. Jack shook his head.

"Actually Sandy taught me this." Jack offered. His voice seemed chipper but North figured his smile was either gone or very sad. Jack closed the door to keep out the coming storm. He watched the boy sit, his ruffled white hair actually making a frost pattern on the glass of the door when he leaned against it. As he did, a blue glow began to radiate from him. He set his staff behind him, between the door and his back to get it out of the way. As he sat cross-legged his breathing visibly slowed and the blue glow flashed brighter and brighter in waves.

When he thought he was going to have to look away for the brightness coils of the light separated and swirled around him for a second before heading off, all at once. North sat stunned. Sandy could do that?

When Jack walked back in he looked like he'd been in a fistfight and hadn't slept in a week.

"That must take a lot of power." North ventured.

"It does." Jack nodded. He yawned deeply when he sat back down and propped his now glow-less staff against the wall. It fell over and Jack didn't spare it a glance. North sighed.

"Come on, naptime." He urged as he gently took Jack's arm. Surprisingly he stood and followed the larger spirit to a bedlike couch beside North's desk. Jack didn't try to argue, he just let North cover him in temperature-regulating blankets and pile pillows around him. It took him about ten seconds to find the cuddliest pillow and hug it. North ruffled the boy's hair affectionately before sitting down to carve.

With Jack there he opted to use his own magic rather than an icepick, something he very rarely did anymore. He was surprised the skill had come to him so readily when he was talking to Jamie, but that just showed him how natural it really was.

He let his mind wander as he carved and found himself wondering how Sandy was doing. He hoped all the rest and medicine had done well enough that he would be free of the effects of his illness. He couldn't know until he found a way to fix their connection problems though. There was a chance, however slim, that the distance alone would weaken the connection to breaking. He wasn't going to sit and wait to find out though.

Tomorrow morning, when I've caught up on some of this work, I'll get to looking through the spell-book I found the description in. With any luck I'll figure out a better solution. Maybe a combination…

His carving had him more relaxed than he had been in days and the result was a very productive train of thought. He riffled through his memories of spells and potions for a solution. He'd check later to be sure, and he was jotting the better ideas down on a notepad as he worked. By tomorrow he'd have a hefty stack of them to sort. Jack didn't look like he was going to be moving any time soon anyway. He was going to have to do his job from there for a while, so North made mental plans to surprise him with dinner in a few hours.

Between those plans, his carving and idly drifting through his memories he was easily as glassy-eyed as he'd ever been. He had to look half-dead, but the yeti were used to that by now. A sudden thought occurred when a knock resounded and he looked down to Jack's staff. It was in the door. If they hadn't remembered to knock the poor kid would've gotten a nasty wake-up call. He scooped it up and went to the door.

"Yes?" He asked quietly, keeping half his attention on the sleeping Jack.

Mark the yeti garbled out what amounted to it was dinner did he want some, they had already made enough for a small army. North chuckled.

"Is like you can read my mind, friend." He nodded. Mark nodded and went to gather it up.

As the sun was setting on Tooth palace and the perpetually moving fary's stomach pulled her from her duties for dinner she couldn't shake her thoughts, her plans. She was trying desperately to focus but all roads led back to him.

I can't fathom…why is it so… She shook her head. "Dinner. Maybe I'm just hungry." She realized how both weak and…sort of wrong that sounded the moment the words left her mouth. She thought about his face when she had told him about how bad off he had been, how close to death he had come.

He honestly hadn't known. He… She took a deep breath and shifted focus back to her growling stomach. She needed dinner and she needed to keep working.

Across the globe Jamie was stretched out on Pippa's roof having conquered his fear and obvious brain-cell loss. Her brown hair was whipping onto his face when the wind blew and he knew snuggling up to him was only making her colder, but neither one minded.

"So, shouldn't you be heading out soon?" She asked hesitantly while hugging a little tighter. She obviously wasn't prepared for a yes, and he wasn't prepared to give one. He pulled her close and sighed.

"Nah, I think Mom and Bunny're having a night to themselves. I told 'em if I got back early enough I'd drop in, but I think I'll just stay and crash at the pole in the morning. I'll stop by tomorrow on my way to spread some snowstorms." He offered calmly. His mom knew he'd be okay.

"Alright, if you're sure." Pippa shrugged and cuddled closer. Then her stomach growled.

"Dinner already?" Jamie chuckled. She swatted at him halfheartedly.

"Hush." She sent an arm searching aimlessly behind her for the dinner she had packed. "Here, I'm prepar-" A loud resonant bang issued from just below. There was then garbled cursing and Pippa's face went white.

"Stay here." Jamie offered, "he can't see me, I'll make sure he's okay." He offered.

"Jamie, no. What if-"

"He won't see me, honest." He assured before slipping down into the house, using the wind to soften his fall. Landing lightly for the first time he actually couldn't help taking a second to fist pump the air. He had figured it out. Okay, now where was I?

He opened Pippa's door and found her dad leaning against the wall blathering on about fire and ghosts. Uh oh… Immediately, this looked worse than it had. At least he was alive. He looked around and saw a gun, smoking, on the floor and a bullet hole in the wall. He rolled his eyes.

A spirit must've spooked him or something.

He bounced back up to the roof to find a red-haired spirit glaring down at Pippa angrily.

…"But no, we don't. You'd think since my season doesn't kill people I'd get a little help, but instead he makes this idiot boy-oh speak 'o' the devil." He sidetracked when he saw Jamie. "Look what the cat dragged in. Blimey you'd think Mani would choose someone with a bit 'o sense, but look at you." He tisked.

"Who're you?" Jamie asked, honestly confused.

"Name's Summer, who're you? Oh that's right, I don't care. All I care about is that you're another winter spirit, and I'm not too fond of the idea." He took one step and closed the gap between himself and Pippa, closing a hand around her throat.

"Get away from her." Suddenly Jamie didn't feel much like himself. His voice was…darker, more serious, and much, much angrier than he'd ever heard it. Pippa even looked shocked at the change but her attention was understandably elsewhere.

"Oh I will, if you give me your totem."

"My what?" He asked, confused.

"Your. Totem." Summer growled, thinking Jamie was joking, or trying to play dumb.

"I have no idea what the hell you mean." Jamie spat angrily. He knew it wasn't the time or place to lose his temper, but he was really sick of people assuming he knew things.

"Don't play dumb with me." Summer warned.

"I'VE BEEN A SPIRIT FOR A FEW WEEKS, MAX!" Jamie screamed at the spirit. At this point what had looked like dust or light rain was quickly turning into a blizzard.

"Stop it!" Summer screamed, snow was burning him, he had let go of Pippa and stumbled into the overhang portion of the roof. "STOP!"

"No." He walked right up to the spirit, but just out of arms-reach. "Get away from here, get away from her, and get away from me." Jamie said through gritted teeth. Summer was looking around like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He tried to heat up the air but that just made it worse for him.

"Fine! Fine I'll go!" He scrambled off the ledge and shakily flew off. Jamie was still fuming. Summer had come after him for existing. Pippa had almost been fried alive and her father was shooting at nothing. People could have died because-

"Jamie!" Pippa had been yelling for a moment or two over the storm, but he had been lost in thought. He jumped and spun toward her. "Jamie, you have to stop the storm!" She reminded him, he hadn't even realized it had started. He panicked for a second before he was able to ground himself.

"I'm…I'm trying…" He couldn't get it to calm down.

"Jamie? Jamie it's okay, you can do this." Pippa encouraged, slowly getting closer to him.

"Stay back, Pippa. I don't-"

"No." She cut him off as she hugged him. The storm died almost instantly. When his breathing slowed down he found her watching him from chest-level, still hugging him tight.

"I…"

"It's okay, Jamie. It's okay." She soothed. He shook his head.

"No it's not. That was dangerous." Jamie insisted. Pippa just sighed.

"I know it was dangerous, but it's over now." She continued to try to soothe him but it wasn't working. He shook his head and started to pace.

"I've gotta make sure none of the storm is straggling, please go inside, be safe." He instructed quietly as he made his mental plans. After a quick hug he made to leave but Pippa stopped him.

"Jamie? Hey, come here." She pulled him down to her level and planted a kiss on him. "Don't die?" She teased. A ghost of a smile graced his features.

"I'll do my best." He agreed as he shot off into the sky.

He checked the surrounding areas and what he saw made him flash back to the blizzard at the Pole that Bunny got caught in. Only this time, Bunny wasn't involved and all of Burgess was. So many people, and none of them could see him. He couldn't. Do. Anything.

He was on the verge of tears by the time he abandoned his efforts and decided the best thing to do would be to leave, because the more upset he got the harder is snowed. He left Burgess and made for the one place he knew he wouldn't hurt people.

"North…" North's place was more like a home to him now, and he knew he couldn't do much damage there. He tried to stay over oceans and tried to keep it contained, the result of which was that the North Pole had one hell of a blizzard when he got there. One that put the little incident he had pulled to absolute shame. He needed to get to North. He didn't know why, but he knew North would help.

Oddly enough North's office happened to be on the side of the building he was approaching. He looked up when a mass of clouds caught his eye. He had managed to coax Jack back to sleep in his room after dinner and told him to come on back when he was up and felt better, or even if he just felt safer here. He knew Jack still had nightmares and he couldn't blame him.

"What?" He hopped up and went out onto his balcony to get a better look. A storm was rolling into the pole with a fine leading edge. Jamie.

He popped open the doors and waited for the boy to come in, but the storm settled a little way away from the pole and there was no sign of the spirit. He sprinted back in, locking his balcony doors of course before snagging his coat on the way through and out the front door.

"Jamie!? Jamie!" He was running through the storm to find the calm center where the boy would be. For a heart-stopping moment he thought he saw him, unmoving in the snow. As he made his way over he reminded himself that the storm couldn't exist without him.

"North?" Jamie asked quietly as the larger spirit approached. The sound was something awful and sad enough to tear at North's heart.

"Yes, is me. What is wrong? What happened?" He asked calmly, kneeling down and pulling the smaller spirit into a hug. He felt Jamie's breathing pick up steam and he choked briefly. He saw tears trying to freeze to the boy's cheeks and his belly knotted up horribly.

"They…t-th…I c-cou-couldn't…s-s-top i-it…" He wasn't getting very far.

"Shh, breathe." North quieted him, he was going to make himself sick. "Relax, let's go inside and you can tell me what problem is." He didn't wait for a response before picking the boy up in one smooth motion.

Jamie didn't even bother commenting, in fact North wasn't entirely certain he knew what was happening. He was too busy panicking and sobbing into North's shoulder. As North settled him down in his office and quietly accepted Tim the yeti's offer to bring them cookies and cocoa, Tooth was discovering something worrying.

The area outside her palace was much colder than usual.

So there you have it, another update! Sorry this has been taking me so long, it's getting kinda involved and I wanna try to nip as many problems in the bud as possible. As always, thanks for reading and let me know whatcha think! :)