Jack smiled, yawning he stretched and walked downstairs. He smiled as he walked out into the first sun rays, it was still mostly night out as only the first rays of the light flittered as the sun slowly came up. Jack smiled and started to gather wood outside in the woods. As he was doing so he heard a twig snap, he stopped what he was doing, his eyes narrowed at something; it was blue and seemed to float about. Jamie curled up on the bed, whimpering softly as the dream became a nightmare; Gale's influence on the dream of course. Jack followed the wisps curiously ahead of him, they called to him.

"Come Jack... come play... yes, come play..." Jack shook his head, heading back to where he'd left the wood. He picked it up and flew back to the cabin as he sensed Jamie's distress. He growled, flying upstairs and hugging Jamie close, his light pushing Gale away. Gale grumbled, but retreated from the dream and Jamie settled down. With a yawn, Jamie started to stir; Jack hugged him, wanting to seem as if he'd been in bed all morning as he didn't want him to worry about why he'd gotten firewood. Jamie rubbed his eyes, yawning again as he slowly woke up. Jack let Jamie go, as he did he went towards the door, opening it and leaving Jamie to his own devices for a while as he made the fire in the oven at the moment. Jamie stretched, blinking away sleep as Jack left the room. Jack started to cook the meal of fish and waffles that he'd bought earlier. Jamie lay in the bed, his cheeks flushed a little as his mind caught up with him and he remembered the evening before. What in the world had given him the courage to do THAT of all things? Jack smiled as he cooked Jamie's food perfectly, but he shook as Jakoul whispered in his ear and he burned his own breakfast. He grunted a little as he managed to take a tray and plates upstairs, almost falling over twice with it as Jakoul spoke. He set the tray in Jamie's lap. Jamie blinked, surprised at the breakfast delivered to him but he smiled at Jack; he couldn't remember the last time he'd ever had breakfast in bed... let alone cooked for him since he'd pretty much taken over the chore of cooking since he'd been twelve. He slowly ate the meal, savoring each bite. Jack muffled a while that tried to escape him as his body hurt from Jakoul's onslaught, attacking him with his fears and doubts as he set up his toast and butter. Jamie enjoyed the meal, but something felt a little off to him; so he kept an eye on Jack as he ate, seeming thoughtful as well. Jack sat in the chair, shivering a little as the whispers got louder; his eyes seemed cloudy.

"Jack?" Jack coughed.

"Yes Jamie?" Jack looked at him, his eyes clearly clouding with the darkness from Jakoul.

"What's going on? You seem a little... distracted." That was the best word he could come up with.

"Nothing, just eat breakfast okay?" Jack smiled, wincing as his mask broke slightly; showing how truly he felt pure, raw fear. Jamie sighed, wincing as Gale whispered quietly with a smirk. What sort of relationship doesn't have trust? Jack whimpers as Jakoul spoke.

You can't even trust him, what kind of a lover are you to him? Jamie shoved Gale away and set his tray to one side. Trust wasn't something that came easy, after all, he hadn't exactly trusted Jack right off the bat when it came to Gale... He'd spent a fair amount of time trying to push his lover away, but Jack hadn't given up on him. Maybe it wasn't so much that Jack didn't trust him in just that maybe he was scared to... Jack had spent 300 some years with no one to really trust so he couldn't say that he, Jamie, understood what it was like. Trust wasn't just something that grew on trees or happened over night. He slid off the bed and went over to the chair, wrapping his arms around Jack, murmuring quietly.

"It's okay if you don't want to tell me. You don't have to tell me everything, but I'll always be here for you." Jack shivered as Jamie's light pushed away Jakoul, the other growled in his persistence but the light was stronger. Jack sniffed and hugged Jamie.

"I know Jamie. Just... I... Jakoul... I... it's just... I don't ever want to lose you to Gale... never." Jamie held Jack close, sighing quietly.

"You won't lose me to it. I promised to protect you didn't I?" Jack sniffed and nodded.

"Yeah." His voice sound slightly more trusting to Jamie than before.

"Have I ever broke a promise before?" Thinking back, Jamie remembered the few times he'd ever made a promise to Jack. He'd always kept his promise... even if his mother hadn't liked the last one he'd made. He'd promised to watch the sunrise once with Jack at the pond. His mother had grounded him for a week for it, but it had been worth it. Jack smiled.

"No, you never have." He kissed Jamie on the cheek. Jamie smiled back.

"I don't intend to start now." Jack smiled, Jakoul was completely gone for the moment.

"Come on. We should clean up breakfast." He pressed a kiss to Jack's cheek before grabbing the tray with his plate on it and heading to the kitchen. Jack helped clean up the mess, smiling.

Gale, what do you think? You think he's gonna trust Jamie? I think not. Jack winced.

"Shut up. Shut up." Jack repeated as he cleaned up quickly.

Geee... I donno Jakoul... Gale replied mockingly only to wince at the blast of light he gets from Jamie who helped clean the dishes. Jack walked downstairs, stumbling before falling the rest of the way; the dishes he'd been carrying broke as he slammed into them, wincing as the broken glass cut into him.

"Jack!" Jamie floated over to him, concern flowing along the bond as he moved over to him.

"You okay?" He asked gently, not concerned about the dishes. Jack was crying at the moment, the pain overwhelming.

"No." Blood seeped to the floor, staining it. Jamie left for a only a moment, but when he came back he had bandages and with infinite care he cleaned each of the cuts he found and bandaged them up.

"There now. Why don't you sit in the living room for a while?" He gave Jack a gentle smile, retrieving a broom and dustpan and sweeping up the broken dishes; making sure to get every last bit and tossing them away. Jack sniffled, sitting on the couch. He brought his pained knees to himself, still crying as the cuts still really hurt.

Aww, is little Jackie gonna cry? Jakoul taunted and snickered. A shot of light shot at Jakoul from Jamie for the remark even as he finished cleaning up before settling next to Jack and wrapping his arms around him gently. He knew how fiercely even the smallest paper cut could sting, so he felt only sympathy for Jack. Jakoul, on the other hand... was only earning his ire. Jack sniffed and hugged Jamie, trembling as he felt pain from the cuts. Jamie just hugged Jack close, he wished he had a more permanent solution to getting rid of Jakoul and Gale. Jack kissed him on the cheek, trying to say that he was fine when he really wasn't. Jamie smiled a little, but said nothing to that. After a moment he pulled back as a thought came to him.

"Besides snow and frost... what else do I need to know?" Jack chuckled.

"I don't know, what else besides I love you." Jamie chuckled a little at that.

"Love you too."

"I hurt a lot. I don't know what happened back there... I just... fainted and... well you know the rest." He picked at one of his bandaids, thinking of something... an old memory. Jamie nodded thoughtfully, stilling the hand that was picking at the bandaid with one of his own.

"You've got a lot to work out. You've been alone for so long... I can't see any of this as being easy for you. Yeah me and the others are here for you, but it's only natural to have doubts and fears about it."

The memory Jack was experiencing was when he had scraped his knee, his mother and Emma had come and took him home; he remembered the way his mother had tried to get him to focus on something as she'd pulled gravel and grass from his wounds; it made him smile. Jack hugged Jamie close to him as the memory played. Jamie curled next to him, off in thought. There was something he hadn't ever talked about with Jack... or anyone for that matter.

"You know... I know what it's like... not trusting I mean." He began quietly, more lost in the memory than anything.

"Dad left before I was more than a couple of years old... I don't really remember him but... One day he decided to just show up..." That was the day one fall where Jamie hadn't even answered Jack's knock at the window... the one and only time he hadn't opened the window when Jack had knocked. He'd been so angry and sad that day... Jack hugged him close, trying to comfort him. Jack sighed.

"Jamie, why did you look for me when everyone though of me as a monster?" He asked quietly, truth be told he wanted to know why.

"Because... I thought that maybe you'd understand... How it felt to be the one who was different from everyone else... All my friends had mothers and father... Their parents didn't work all of the time and had time to play with them during the day... They didn't have to learn how to cook or do any of the chores except when asked to." Jamie murmured quietly.

"If anything... I just... I wanted a friend who could maybe understand me for once. Who'd listen and wouldn't tell me I was wrong for believing in things that seemed impossible... Who'd care to look out for me for once rather than having to just look out for myself." Jack hugged Jamie.

"I never knew... and I'm sorry how I was then." Jamie hugged Jack back, a little tighter than normal. It hurt... thinking about those times until he'd finally been able to see Jack.

"I don't think anyone really knew Jack... it just... was. Back then... well, things were just different. There's something I did wonder though... back when we first met... I know you weren't very happy with me at the time. Why did I survive?" Jack pondered on that and smiled.

"Because I couldn't. I felt connected with you... or Jakoul did." Jamie pondered on that. Connected? Well, they were related by blood... if distantly. Was that it?

"Connected how?" Jamie was curious now. Jack thought for a long moment.

"I think my heart felt that you were a good person and someday might help me get out of the hell hole I'd created." Jamie flushed a little at that. He really hadn't managed any of that... but he had helped in some small way hadn't he? After all... Jack was a Guardian now. He'd vowed to watch over the children of the world instead of terrorizing them. That brought another question to mind.

"Um... one other thing I always wondered... why was it always kids under six who were the most vulnerable? I mean... I know Jakoul had a lot of hate and anger issues... but young kids?" Jack froze for a moment, the reason behind that was that they reminded him so much of someone he'd known before he'd fallen in the ice... That he sort of went crazy from that and killed small children because he didn't want to remember. Jamie was quiet for a long moment, he'd felt the shift.

"You don't have to tell me if it's that bad." He murmured. He didn't want to drag up painful memories, yeah memories of that day his dad coming by were painful for him but he'd dragged that one up of his own will. He didn't want to pressure Jack into anything.