Chapter fifty-two- Long Time Coming

"Jamie? Oh no what happened?" Jack asked as he came through the living room. The surge in winter magic actually managed to wake him up. He hadn't felt a particularly big storm so he had tried to sleep it off, but feeling it come toward the Pole had synched it. In the time it took him to wake up and shuffle through to where he was now, North had made back inside with the boy.

Jack was really, really slow to wake in the "morning".

"Jack! There was-" North stopped him.

"Hey, no. Breathe." He shushed. "Something happened, I don't know what yet, but he needs to relax first." North offered calmly. Jack nodded.

"Hey kiddo, whatever it is, it'll be okay. Breathe, alright. I know there was a storm, I felt it. I know it feels really bad right now, but I promise it's not as bad as it feels." Jack guessed.

"But it wasn't supposed to…to be one." Jamie insisted, not bothering to pull his face from North's coat. Jack couldn't blame him, he remembered his first blizzard around a town, that one hadn't been his fault either. He doubted Jamie had decided to randomly yell "screw you town" and start a blizzard.

"I know, kiddo. Sometimes it happens. You're new, you'll get better." He assured. "Now what happened?" He asked as he sat down beside them. Jamie squirmed out of the proverbial headlock that passed for a hug when North was involved. It wasn't like he meant to, he was just a big guy and frankly Jack wondered if he knew his own strength, but he was a hugger.

Many times Jack had chuckled at the idea of how many people had misread North in his long life. He looked like a big, scary, mean, biker of a man. Tattoo sleeves, huge, and obviously stronger than most people. Then come to find out he's a toymaker who absolutely will talk for hours about almost anything and will make the best hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies you have ever had. Oh, and he's basically a giant teddy bear.

Tangents aside he set to brushing the snow off Jamie's hair and tried to get him to focus.

"I- the people…"

"Okay, Jamie try to focus, okay kiddo? I know, it's awful but I need to know what happened? Why did the storm start? Let's start there, any idea?" He asked carefully. Jamie nodded. It broke Jack's heart to see his face so unnaturally white- yes, even for a winter spirit -and his eyes so wide, so shaken.

"This guy, Summer? I think so. He…well I was with Pippa and…and her dad he…there was a shot so I went to look and when I came back he…he was on the roof with her. We'd been up there, she didn't just-I mean she's made the, or fixed the patio that use to be up there and she…well anyway he threatened Pippa. I don't really remember much, but I got really, really mad." Jamie managed to spit out. Jack let him ramble. Yeah, he was pretty confused about a few points, but he had what he needed. A storm from rage.

"Alright, so Summer was there, and you got mad. That's okay, kiddo. Is Pippa alright?" He asked. Jamie nodded. "Okay, what did he want? Do you remember?" He asked.

"Something…something about a totem, and how…I don't think he likes that I'm a spirit like you." Jamie offered a little more succinctly and much more steadily.

"No, I didn't think he would." Jack admitted. "I can't believe he threatened a mortal though. That's low even for him." Jack looked North in the eye over Jamie's head and they shared a knowing look. North remembered the initial nightmares, the outbursts, the anger, the depression. When he had first joined their crazy mismatched family North had been there more than any of them. After all, he made his home at the pole, one of the coldest places imaginable. The unintentional and unwilling involvement in mortals in what he did had almost set Jack over the edge more than they were comfortable with.

Through it all North had done his fair share of intervening on Jack's behalf and never once had a mortal come into play. Jamie and Jessica were a special exception in themselves. That had been the beginning of something dangerous it seemed.

"We can only hope it is the end of the trend." North offered quickly, not wanting to distract from the problem any more than Jack.

"Yeah," He agreed before settling down in front of his kid brother, and uncharacteristic seriousness tainting his smile, "okay kiddo, listen. You're a winter spirit now, and winter has unintended consequences." Jack began, North looked skeptical, but let him go. "But that doesn't make you bad. Yeah, you made a little storm, yeah it caught a few people. Now I'm not sayin' that those injuries or, moon forbid deaths, aren't important. They are, but its nature. That's not your fault, or mine, or anyone's. If anyone's to blame its Summer for provoking a new winter spirit. Summer knew good and well what that would cause, okay?" Jamie was looking at Jack like he couldn't decide what to feel.

"He is right, is not your fault." North encouraged and Jamie was looking between them like they were crazy.

"But…but…" He couldn't wrap his mind around it. Luckily he didn't have the time to have the heart-attack he was trying to have because Tooth came shooting in, looking worried.

"Jack, Jamie! Where's Jessica? Something's wrong with the world's weather." She opened up with that? Jack almost face-palmed on the spot. Dangit, Tooth.

"Hey, easy!" Jack hopped up to meet the fary, halting her progress. "What's happened?" he asked quietly, trying his best to convey that she needed to be calm and quiet, they had a crisis on their hands.

"It's snowing, in India." She offered quietly, oblivious to why Jack wanted her to quiet down but thankfully trusting that instinct.

"Okay, and you don't know where Jessica is?" He asked, looking over his shoulder to North and knowing what was going on. They nodded to each other.

"No, but I haven't looked yet, I was hoping you knew." She explained.

"She's at the warren, no question. Let's go get her and I'll explain what's happened." Jack offered, making a move to leave. Tooth's attention finally fell on the distraught winter child in North's arms but Jack's insistence took only seconds to win out. North could handle this.

"Alright." She agreed hesitantly, following Jack and hoping that everything would make sense soon. As they made it out the front door they could hear North's assuring tone and that gut-wrenching sound that was Jamie hyperventilating.

"I know, I don't wanna leave him either." Jack offered, somehow picking her brain.

"Is he okay?" She asked, slowing a bit.

"No, but he will be." Jack said honestly. He hated the look on Tooth's face at that fact, and that he had to be the source of her worry, but he hadn't lied. He would be okay, he knew it. He had to be. Jack himself had done much, much worse himself and come through. Granted if it had been up to him he would never have made a single storm, not one flake would ever touch the ground and not one man, woman or child would ever have been touched by the cold.

"So…what's going on?" She asked quietly, almost…

"Hey, Tooth? He's okay. He is. It's just something that happened has him upset. He only ever thought of winter as beautiful and fun, I guess that's my fault but, that's not what winter is. It's dangerous, and uncontrollable and cruel. Nothing about winter is good beyond the eyes of a child, beyond the seasonal feelings and closeness is death and tragedy and danger. I should have taken more time to prepare him for that. I didn't, and now he has to sort through that the hard way. When he made his first storm, the one Bunny got caught in? I never got the time to talk to him properly…he thought it was a fluke." Jack shook his head, looking like he could throw something.

She hated the look in his eyes, that age that came with experience, they all had it, but Jack was the one who never really let it through. It was beating at his center, chipping pieces of it away slowly and she could see it. She had always feared it, but now it was plain as day. The façade was crumbling and she was watching his center, his personality, his childhood fight with his experience and age.

"Jack?"

"It's okay, let's just get Jessica and Bunny. Between them they can put the weather back the way it was and we can deal with the actual problem." Jack deflected calmly, not exactly putting Tooth's worries to rest. She bit down on her response and nodded.

I really hope he knows what he's doing…

The warren was calm and quiet, it was beautiful and there was nothing to indicate the turmoil going on outside.

"Hey, what's that look for?" She asked, chuckling at the way his nose was twitching as he smiled. He shrugged.

"Nothin', love." He tried and failed to convince her. She rolled her eyes.

"What? Is that just your face?" She teased.

"What if it is?" He asked stubbornly, trying to look offended.

"Now I know for a fact it isn't." She sat up straighter against the tree she was leaning on, crossing her arms and trying to look stern. That might have worked on Jamie or Jack, but to him it was just adorable.

"Aw, look at you tryin' to look all serious." Bunny teased, nuzzling her chin and tickling. She squirmed away.

"No, I'm being serious." She tried.

"Adorable." He continued. "You're tryin' to be scary." He cooed. She snorted.

"Trying?" She scoffed.

"You're cute." He teased.

"Shut it." She warned, though her cracking grin took the heat out of it.

"Make me." He challenged. She could feel her eyebrow levitating up into her hairline, never to return. He was going to be the death of her, one way or the other.

"Alright, I will."

"And just how are you gonna do that?" He asked so sweetly it gave her a moment of pause. She knew how she would…if he were human.

"I'll think of something." She covered her tracks. His ears had pulled back, he was a bit doubtful himself.

"Prove it." He challenged again with much less heat as he wrapped her in a hug. She snuggled up to him, all her thoughts melting away to how soft and warm it was right there. She squirmed a bit and managed to rest her nose against the bridge of his. It didn't do much for her other than give her a fantastic view of his stunningly emerald eyes but for him it was the most romantic gesture ever.

He was about to open his mouth to address what both of them would begrudgingly call an issue when Tooth and Jack scared the hell out of both of them.

"There they are! Bunny, Jessica!" She fell backwards and almost went head-first into the river (non-dye this time of year) and Bunny stumbled in catching her. The end result was him landing roughly, narrowly avoiding crushing her.

"What? What? Is something wrong?!" Jessica asked, although she was admittedly a bit muffled by her…what exactly were they? She made a mental note to ask later.

"Tooth, easy. Please?" Jack asked, that alone was enough to get Bunny worried.

"What's wrong, mate?" He asked, mirroring Jack's serous demeanor even while helping Jessica up. She was just stuck looking between them in confusion.

"Jamie started a storm, provoked by Summer, and he's having ruff time. Besides that I think it threw the world's weather-patterns off." Jack ventured while trying to give Tooth the 'breathe' look. He wasn't trying to keep her quiet, he was just concerned that she'd be a bit…difficult to understand.

"No worries, we'll try our hand at it and meet ya back at the pole?" Bunny provided for the both of them. Jessica would have been a tiny bit offended if he hadn't ended it in a question and looked back at her for her approval. She cursed herself for assuming what Bunny was saying and nodded.

"Yeah, how do we do that?" She asked.

"No worries, we'll figure it out." He grinned, she had to love that about him, always so sure they'd work any problem out. She would fall in love with the living personification of hope, wouldn't she?

"Kay then." She let him have it. Jack and Tooth took off, Jack straight to the Pole and Tooth to Sandy's to be sure they were in the loop. Jack actually hadn't thought about the proximity problem they had, but luckily Sandy's home was in another realm and Sandy was much smarter about the situation as he assumed Jack would forget. He was just a boy, and he always would be. He trusted him, but he took it upon himself to be that buffer.

"Are we ever gonna have a solid day to ourselves?" Jessica grumped as soon as they were gone, the thought occurring when she realized that, once again, their calm had been shattered by worry and action.

"Love? You know that's part of bein' a spirit. I know it's frustrating, but yeah, we will. You've just gotta be patient." He assured carefully. Her baby was hurting and she had to save the world, literally, so he figured this was just something to distract from all of it.

"Sure, but…but…" She was trying to come up with the right words to ask everything she wanted to ask, to make sure he understood what she meant, before they had to leave. It was like she was running out of time.

"Hey, relax. Whatever you're thinkin', whatever it is, you have time." She stared up at him blankly for a second.

"How'd you do that?" She asked.

"Do what?" He was getting concerned.

"Read my mind?" He chuckled.

"I've seen people do that before, we're comin' home tonight, we'll be here. We literally have eternity. Time is the one thing we've got plenty of, alright? Breathe. I know it's a bit much but let's take it a step at a time, how bout it?" He asked as he nuzzled the top of her head. She took an unsteady breath and nodded.

"You're right, you're right." She steadied herself. "Let's fix the world, then dinner."

"That's my love." He grinned as he opened a tunnel. "Think you can keep up?"

"You bet." She accepted the challenge with a smile. They could do this eternity thing one day at a time.

Tooth on the other hand was quickly approaching Sandy's home and despite the circumstances, was really hoping she'd get to see James. She was chastising herself about it, being more excited to see him than she was worried. That just wasn't right, she tried to convince herself. It wasn't working, but she tried.

As she approached where Sandy's island was normally she had to wonder if it would appear for her today. Sometimes it didn't. The only explanation they ever got was that sometimes it had a mind of its own and didn't want to be found. She was just about to curse her luck for a plethora of reasons when it proved her wrong and showed itself, glistening in the light.

It's always dusk here. Wherever 'here' is…I wonder if it's just his magic. Tooth suddenly found herself wondering. She turned that question over a few times but put it behind her, a memo for later attention, when she found his front door to knock.

Rather than anyone coming to the door it just swung open for her. Under other circumstances that would have been terrifying, but it was impossible to be too scared here. It was so full of light a beauty that the thought was laughable.

"Sandy? James?" She asked, realizing there was a good chance James was gone by now but clinging to hope anyway.

"In here!" James called cheerfully and suddenly her wings had very little to do with the lightness she was feeling.

"Oh good, you're both here. Jessica's putting the weather back to normal, or we hope, and Jack is headed back to the pole. I know we hadn't really thought about it, distance and all, but-" She stopped when both boys looked beyond confused. "Um, right…you don't know. The weather is off because Summer was provoking Jamie and there was a storm and he's at the pole. We went to tell Jessica and Bunny so they could fix the weather and Jack's going back to the pole, so I came to let you know what was happening and-"

"Tooth?" James stopped her. She hadn't realized that all her bright plumage was ruffled and perked up, or that she was talking about as fast as her wings were beating, or that she was shaking. True her heartbeat was inhumanly quick already, but right now it was pumping. She froze and locked eyes with the man who had been prancing about in her brain for weeks.

"Hmm?" She asked.

"You're talking too fast, come sit?" He asked, scooting closer to Sandy to offer her the last cushion on the golden couch they were on. She didn't move for a second so Sandy urged some of his sand to curl around the flustered fary like an arm around her shoulder and gently encourage her to sit.

What is this, high school? Shush brain. Tooth scolded internally.

"Now, slowly, sum up what you just chirped." James teased, trying to get a little chuckle, a smile, anything. She took a deep, centering breath and when she opened her eyes everything had stopped vibrating, colors were back to normal and the sharp contrast made it obvious that she'd been in one of her…episodes. That was enough of a kick in the pants for her to stay much more carefully…calm. Yes, we'll call it calm. More of a forced stillness than anything else, but she called it 'calm' because that's what, in reality, it needed to be but never was.

"Summer provoked Jamie and he made a storm in Burgess." She heaved a sigh and glued her eyes on the area right above Sandy's head. "He panicked and now the world's weather is off." Another deep breath, but no one was interrupting. "He's at the pole, and Bunny and Jessica are putting the globe back in order." She summed up carefully, trying her best to be as still as possible.

Sandy's language lit up in her already prepared vision. 'Is he okay?' She understood flawlessly, she always had but it was hard to focus on him when she was working. When she was still, like she was now, it was as if he were speaking out loud. Sandy smiled a worried smile she didn't see.

"Yes, he's fine, if not a bit shaken." She dug deep and paraphrased Jack. She wasn't sure about the boy, but she'd trust their youngest.

"Okay, breathe, are you alright?" James asked. She forced her eyes back to him as she nodded. "You sure?" He asked. Sandy tapped his arm which drew his eyes away.

Sandy's symbols were confusing him and Tooth piped up.

"It's something that happens sometimes when my magic builds up. Don't worry, I've handled it before, now's no different." She offered, sounding tired and that wasn't what she'd been shooting for. In fact she hated when she sounded like this. Sandy suggested a nap and she fought it for a moment before realizing that he was right. He led her down the hall to a guest room and practically fell over when he saw her dreams a moment before turning to leave.

It was James.

I knew it! I knew it I knew it! She's got it bad, poor thing. Sandy half-cheered. As he sobered from the excitement in the next few seconds he realized that she was fighting it hard. He couldn't figure out why, but it wasn't really his place to assume. He was, however, going to do nothing to help her fight it. In fact his imaginary wingman side came out full force. He was going to make sure she realized there was nothing to fear from this.

Back at the pole Jessie and Bunny were arriving to find Jack and North functioning as the outside of a Jamie sandwich. He was out cold, but in a good way, and the both of them were whispering worriedly over his head. He was mostly leaning on North though, so that wasn't hard. When they saw the pair they seemed to melt in relief.

"What happened?" Her momma's instinct kicked in. They spent the rest of the time waiting for Tooth while they re-told Jamie's story, assuring her that he'd be okay.

Sorry I've taken so long, but I'm working three projects at once so my time has been limited. Thanks for your patience and all my new follow/faves! Hope you like it! :)