"So, I figure that a fair way to do this is to take turns picking our dates." Jack was leaning on my counter as I made a snack. It was a week after my... Well, my re-up into the world of my peers. Jack had decided that every Saturday would be a date night, that way, we could still do our jobs but we'd have time together. And now he'd come up with this scheme to divide them up. "We'll count the first two as test runs." He plucked a cookie from my plate before I could snatch it back.

"Sounds good to me." I eyed him to make sure I wasn't gonna lose any more cookies and added another to my plate. "Who gets first pick?"

"You don't think I already have things planned?" He cocked an eyebrow at me and grabbed a cookie from the tray, saving my plate this time. "The only thing I have to figure out is which place I'm taking you to first."

"Well if it's anything like that birthday present you got me forever ago, then I'll be happy." With my plate in tow, I moved to the living where we had Jack's set of dominoes ready.

"What birthday present?" He floated into a chair and popped the box open.

"Taking me to see the Sea of Stars." I smiled absently. I still remembered seeing it for the first time. I'd only gone back a few times, but none of them beat the night that Jack brought me there years ago.

He grinned crookedly at me. "Yeah? Well good because you can expect more of that." He reached across the table for a cookie off of my tray.

Before he could grab one I pulled it out of his reach and glared at him. "Ahem? There's this thing called asking, you should try it sometime." I raised an eyebrow at him.

He smirked at me. "May I have a cookie?" When I didn't move he raised his eyebrows. "Please?"

I grudgingly handed one to him. "Just because you said please." I glared at him as I grabbed my domino hand, guarding my cookies as I did. "So." He glanced up at me, hand stopping part way to my plate again. "What do you have planned for next weekend?"

He grinned slyly at me. "I don't know if I should tell you." He set his hand up and sat back. "I might just want to surprise you."

I snorted. "What is it with you and surprises?"

"Me?" His indignant tone made me look at him. "You're the one that does things and forgets to tell anyone until right before it happens."

"That's because I know you and you would have thrown a hissy fit." I knew he was talking about when I moved out. He was still sore about it, even now. I couldn't really hold it against him, I hold grudges too. "I didn't want to leave on bad terms."

"If that's you leaving on good terms then I'd hate to see you after a break-up." His eyes got wide.

I think we both realized what he said at the same time. "You're one to talk."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I highly doubt you've ever had to deal with a break-up." I sat back, absently munching on a cookie, mumbling my next words under my breath. "No one in their right mind would break up with you." He looked at me, trying to say something without words. "I mean, who was your last girlfriend? Do you even have an ex?" I looked at Jack skeptically.

"Do you?" He shot back.

"Yes, I do. I have a number of them actually." I started to count them off on my fingers. "Thomas, Traviss, Dan," The disgust in my tone when saying Dan was indication enough that I had grown to detest him. "And Demitri." Yes, my list was short enough to remember each name on it, don't judge.

He shrugged, leaning forward and bracing his arms on his knees. "I have one. Well, she wasn't really my girlfriend. I think she could have been though."

"What do you mean?" I watched his expression. Something lurked under his flippant demeanor. I knew Jack well enough to notice that much. "She was a mortal wasn't she?"

"Yeah. It's not what you think, though." He grabbed for his staff without looking and started fiddling with it. I'd known him long enough to know he did that when he was nervous.

I watched his face, trying to figure out why. "Was she one of your believers?"

"No." He sat up a little as he shook his head. "I knew her when I was mortal. After I died I didn't remember her - of course - but I still followed her around in the town for weeks. Now that I remember everything I know that we flirted a little, but nothing was ever official." He frowned. "I still miss her."

I suddenly felt bad about bringing it up. I mean here was my best friend, talking about someone who he'd obviously cared a lot for, but had obviously ended badly. I mean, it never does end well when immortals fall for mortals. There were enough stories about it happening for me to have a whole shelf in my library dedicated to references of the sort. But, Jack and I tackled sadness in similar ways. We laugh it away. "What was she like?"

Without looking at me he started talking. "She was a lot like you actually." I raised my eyebrows approvingly. I like how this sounds already. "She was really funny and nice, and all she really wanted was enjoy life as much as possible. But she was different because she wanted to settle down. Everyone else my age was already in a relationship that probably lasted the rest of their lives." He pulled his legs in, curling in on himself. "The last time we spoke she told me that I'd have to grow up if I ever wanted to have a chance with her." He side-eyed me humorlessly. "That was the night before I went skating for the last time. I kept hoping that she'd believe in me - even without knowing who she was... but it never happened." We sat in silence for a moment, Jack lost in the ghost of a memory and me kicking myself in the butt.

"Well... It's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all." I supplied hopefully.

He shot me a look, one eyebrow raised. "Shakespeare? You're quoting him now, too?"

"Well, I think in this case he's right." Now it was my turn to pull my knees up. "Here you are, talking about what's her name -"

"Anna."

"Anna, and it's obvious you cared about her - a lot. And here we are, me giving an effort for you." I looked over at him. "Jack, I've never been in love. I know I haven't because I know what love is supposed to feel like, and I've never felt it." I looked out the window, trying to organize my thoughts coherently. "You have something to hold on to, something that makes you smile, even if it does come with heartache." My gaze drifted up to the treeline, the clouds drifting around like globs of cotton candy. "If I die never having been in love, I will feel like a failure." The lyrics to Avicii's Wake Me Up floated through my mind. "Life is a game and love is the prize." I sighed. "Back before I met you, I had always told everyone that I wanted love more than anyone." Jack got up as I spoke, moving over to sit next to me on the couch. "I refused to have a boyfriend just for the sake of having one though. I would rather stay single my entire life than settle."

"Which is one of the things I love about you. You're independent. You know what you want and you don't let anyone or anything stand in your way." Jack reached out and took my hand, smiling at me. It took me a moment, but I smiled back. I couldn't help but notice that I'd had to consciously tell myself to smile. It wasn't automatic. "And that's really inspiring. I know you don't feel the same yet, but I'm gonna try my damnedest to make you fall for me by the time this year is up." He gave me a warm smile, and it felt nice.

After a bit, Jack yanked lightly on my hand. "Come on. I wanna show you something special." He smiled at me in a way that let me know I'd like the surprise. He pulled me up and lead me out the entryway. There the winds picked up the two of us like we were dandelion fluff and, with Jack leading the way, we headed towards wherever he was taking me. Over the wind, he yelled back to me. "I was going to save this for one of our other dates, but I think this is a good way to start." He grinned again and I felt my mood lightening.

I'd always loved spending time with Jack - I mean he was my best friend for a reason. He always knew just what to say to make me smile again - or to piss me off royally. We could talk about anything and everything under the sun, and it was never boring or stale with us. I was actually excited for this year now that I got over myself. I already knew that anything Jack wanted to do was going to be amazing because I knew Jack. So I didn't worry for a second about wherever we were going. I was, however, curious.

"Where are we going?" I had to yell, but not bad.

"I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I'll give you a hint." He turned around, flying backward as he smiled at me. "It's by the Tooth Palace." Without the wind tearing his words away he was easier to hear and it felt weirdly intimate. Now I say weirdly because I knew that it was a different intimate than I was used to, but it wasn't bad.

I raised an eyebrow at him, skeptical and trying to figure it out. You know, for as well as I knew him and how well I could read him, the boy could keep a secret. "So a mountain range?"

He smirked and turned around without saying anything else. It took us a few hours to get there but when we got close he turned around again, slowing down. "Okay, now it's your turn." After I shot him a confused look he chuckled. "Close your eyes." I rolled them before complying and when he did, he took my hand again - having let go a little while ago. After a few minutes I tried to sneak a peek but he caught me. "Hey! Keep 'em closed!" My eye snapped shut as I fought a grin off of my face.

Not too soon after we landed - and it was freezing. Okay, I'd lived at the South Pole for half a decade but geez! I immediately rubbed my arms, trying to keep my blood flowing. "Where the hell are we?" I started to open my eyes when I felt an ice cold hand clap across them.

"Not yet. Give it a minute or two, we got here quicker than I thought we would." I could feel him moving around but of course, I was blind. Against my will, I shivered so hard my teeth rattled. Jack noticed. "Shit, I should have made you bring a coat." He looked around frantically - I could tell because of the way he was flailing behind me. "Uh... Here." He let go and after hearing some rustling he pushed something into my hands. After half a second of fingering it I already knew it was his hoodie - hell I'd better know what it was, I made the damn thing.

Without opening my eyes I raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you cold?"

I knew he shrugged even without seeing him. "Spirit of winter, remember? I'll be fine." I heard the crunch of what I assumed was snow as he stepped towards me. "You, however, are probably freezing your ass off, so go ahead." He turned his hoodie around in my hands. "That's the front."

As I pulled it over my head my eyes slipped open on reflex and I froze - in a different way than a few minutes ago. "Whoa." I pulled it on the rest of the way and gazed in awe around me.

Behind me, I heard Jack sigh-growl. "I told you to wait."

"Sorry I just..." I was turning slowly, taking in the mountaintops piercing the clouds around us. "Where are -" Jack had come into my line of sight and he was so pale that he looked like the snow glittering around us. It made me hesitate for a second. "We?" I couldn't see the ground because a blanket of clouds was blocking the view making where we were standing look ethereal and otherworldly.

"I heard about the pit stop that you and the space twins made on your way to the Pole for Christmas. A sunset out of this world is one thing, but it's something else on top of it." He smiled at me and turned me around. "Perfect timing."

My eyes got bigger than I thought they could. He wasn't wrong. This put the one I'd shared with the twins to shame. After a minute or two I realized what he'd said. "Wait... we're on Everest?" I turned to look at him.

He shot me a half smile. "Yeah. Not long after I started leaving Burgess for the first time, I tried to test out how much cold I could handle and I figured out that the higher I went the colder it got. I overheard someone talking about some giant mountains and I came to see them." He gazed at the sunset, chest heaving as he took a deep breath. "It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life. Well," He glanced at me for a second. "What I knew of it anyway." He looked back across the clouds that had turned into a molten sea of gold. "There's not much that's topped this since." A reflex smile lit his face as he watched.

I'd never really seen Jack like this. He was being really honest and open. Both of us usually hid under some sort of game or joke, even when we were with our friends, but, even though I'd let that drop from time to time, Jack never really did. He was always laughing. He was still the Jack I knew, but he was showing me a side of him that I don't think he showed anyone.

"It's incredible." He didn't notice that I was looking at him as I said it, and by the time he glanced towards me, my eyes were already on the flaming sunset before us.

"Jack, likes you?" Gaia's eyes were almost pushed out of her head. "I didn't know he liked anyone." She sat back a little and Mors glanced between us.

"So what did you guys do after watching the sunset?" Mors' eyes landed on me. "I mean, it was a date right?"

"We stayed there talking for a while until I was shivering so hard my teeth were rattling. Then he flew me home and once I was warmed up he left." I shrugged and took a sip of my pop. "That was pretty much the whole thing. So what have you guys been up to?"

"Same as ever, Story." Shady dropped a refill for Gaia onto the table along with Porthos' food order. The boy liked potato chips way more than was probably healthy. "Immortals get drunk, Annie stops fights, we clean up the mess." She shrugged and rubbed her hands on her apron. "Of course, every once in a while, sumone goes and does sumthin' surprisin'." She cocked an eyebrow at me, grinning wickedly. "I 'erd what you were talkin' bout on my way over 'ere. Wha's this 'bout you gettin it with Frost?"

My jaw dropped. "First of all, there will be no 'gettin it'." I did air quotes as I mimicked her accent. "He's on a trial basis."

Her face screwed up into a grimace. "The bloody hell is a trial basis?"

I took a breath, fighting the urge to roll my eyes. "The feelings aren't mutual, and if they still aren't after a year, then the trial's over." Shady leaned over and smacked the back of my head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"The hell is wrong with you? 'E's yer best friend in't 'e? Lord, you talk about 'im enough." She rolled her eyes, scoffing as she stalked back to the bar.

Gaia watched her leave. "She's not wrong, Story." I met her eyes. "You do talk about him a lot, especially these past few decades. Are you sure you don't think of him as more than a friend?"

"That's what the trial basis is about." I paused for a minute when the table next to us became rowdy and louder than I wanted to contend with. "I'm trying to reciprocate things, but in all honesty, I don't have high hopes." I absently ran my finger around the rim of my glass. "I mean, I already love him. He's family. I've known him almost my whole life, we've seen each other at our lowest points and our highest. I don't think anyone knows me as well as he does. That's why we're best friends... I just - don't love him the way he loves me." I sat up a little. "I'm trying to, I'm really trying."

Mors raised an eyebrow at me. "How pray tell, do you try to love someone?"

"Beats me. I have no idea what I'm doing." The song changed then, to Sam's arrival anthem. A few moments later he was striding up to the table. I caught his eye when he got close enough. "You know, one of these days, Shady's gonna convince Annie to take that song off the playlist."

"If that day comes, I'll concede defeat. Until then, it's war." Mors snorted and they shared a sneaky grin.

"Her second most hated song is Barbie Girl. But that's pretty unanimous." Mors huffed and stood up. "I'm grabbing a refill, you want anything?"

Sam shook his head. "Nah I'm just gonna hang out for a while first." He dropped into Porthos' unoccupied seat as the lead guitarist was currently schmoozing a flock of what I thought were sirens.

"So, have you heard the latest gossip?" Gaia sat back, sipping her lemonade.

"It's not gossip." I rolled my eyes. Why was everyone so obsessed with makeups, breakups, and get-togethers? Because it's interesting. Well, not to me.

"What's not gossip?" Sam glanced between Gaia and me, a bemused look on his face. He probably thought that we were talking about a new immortal or something else that was sort of common, but rare enough to warrant talk.

A second before Gaia opened her mouth, I had a moment where I wanted to dive across the table and slap my hand over her mouth. What the hell is wrong with me? "Story's dating someone." Sam froze for a millisecond, then his smile fell and his expression went blank. As he turned to look at me in confusion Gaia kept talking. "The big shock is - it's Jack." She giggled a little.

Meanwhile, alarm bells were going off in my mind. The second Sam's face changed I knew this was not a conversation to be had with him in public. I hadn't stepped on a no-talk subject with him in decades, but I knew that look. Shit. I saw Sam's eyes widen a fraction like he was trying to hide it but part of his reaction slipped out despite his efforts. After that, he blinked for a second. "What?" He looked at Gaia for an explanation.

As she told him what I'd said earlier - in her words - I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. I knew Sam well enough to know that tone of voice meant that things were about to go sour real quick. Abort! Do something! I needed to get Gaia to shut up, I needed to get Sam away and explain things calmly, and I needed to do it fast without making it seem like a bigger deal than it was. Problem was, I was frozen in place. I was watching it unfold like a character in a horror movie; too dumb to stop and too fixated to do anything helpful. I could almost see inner voice facepalm. God, you're hopeless.

When she was done talking they both turned to look at me. I felt like a deer in the headlights. Gaia just looked like she was having fun, but I understood her waning judgment, she'd been drinking since the band got out. Sam was almost impossible to read. Almost. "So, how long have you two been together?" Sam's voice sounded passably curious to anyone that didn't really know him. I did though. What he meant was 'how long have you two been together without telling me'. We were supposed to be his best friends.

I slumped down in my chair a little. "Well, Christmas Day I spend with the Guardians, you know that. After we did the gifts Bunny ran off, Sandy and North showed the twins around the workshop and Jack and I hung out by the fireplace like usual. After a few minutes, he popped open the window behind him and asked if I wanted to go outside for a minute. I said sure just because the elves were annoying both of us but I couldn't leave until the twins were ready." Gaia laughed silently. She'd never met the elves but they were notorious for their... oblivious and hilarious nature. "We sat on a balcony outside - don't know which one - and we were talking for a while about his present, then the conversation devolved into a half-hearted argument and then..." I took a breath, my nerves were on edge. "He blurted out that he was in love with me and I promptly ran off."

I saw Sam's eyes twitch. They almost narrowed, but at the same time, it looked like they were trying to open in surprise. "A few days later, he showed up at my place and I made a deal with him. I would give dating him a try, but only for a year. If I don't like him... well, more by new years, then it's over. He's just my friend again. He agreed and now, every Saturday, we have a date night."

"So are you two going to try to keep the ball rolling if things work out the way Jack wants them to?" Gaia sipped on her drink again - the lemonade was spiked by the way.

"I have no fucking clue." I grabbed my straw and stabbed at the ice in my drink. "I don't want this to be the only thing anyone talks about for a year of my life. Aside from this whole thing, nothing else has changed." I snatched up my cup, sighing in a very annoyed way even though I wasn't trying to. Under my breath, I let slip something that I actually thought Inner Voice said. "I never asked for this."

Mors showed back up and plopped into the seat we left open. "Are you guys telling Sam about Story's date on Everest?"

I rolled my eyes and slurped down what little pop I had left. As I did, I saw Mors and Gaia look up and as I swallowed my mouthful, I followed their eyes to see Sam ducking into the crowd. "Sam?" I slammed my glass down and followed him. "Sam, wait up!" After dodging through the crowd after him for what felt like ten minutes but was probably one, I almost lost sight of him. I caught Shady's arm as she was heading back to the bar and asked her if she'd seen him. She pointed towards the back door. As I looked I saw him slip through it. "Thanks!"

When the door closed behind me I looked around. I must have just missed him because I saw a few Autumn leaves fluttering to the ground... and no Sam. "Damnit." I started rubbing my brow, sighing as I did. I should have never let her tell him. "I should have told him." I sighed again as I turned to head back inside.

When I finally got back to the table, Porthos had already come back with a floozy that took my seat. Now I don't usually say 'floozy' but trust me, she fit the term. "Where did Owen go?" Porthos gestured between Gaia and Mors. "The guys just told me he stopped over while I was talking up this pretty lady here." He smoldered at her and she giggled in a way that was such an obvious flirt that it almost made me gag. As she leaned closer to him he finished up his point. "I was hoping to chat for a short while."

I picked up my bag, huffing. "He left."

"But he just got here." Gaia swayed a little as she spoke.

Mors caught her. "He said he was going to stay for a bit. Why'd he leave?"

"I think he's mad at me and Jack for not telling him ourselves." I yanked my jacket off of the back of the seat. The siren was leaning against it so I had to shove her out of the way. To my annoyance, it was now damp. I side-eyed her. "I'm going after him to apologize. I'll see you guys later."

I waved as I walked into the mass of bodies. When I was halfway to the door, someone grabbed my shoulders and steered me towards the wall. I glanced over my shoulder to see Aphrodite. "What -" She ducked us under a minotaur's three-foot horn and as close to the wall as we were gonna get.

"So Jack Frost finally confessed?" She grinned widely at me.

"How did you -"

"I could smell it on you." At my somewhat confused and offended look, she elaborated. "I can smell love on people. Everyone's love smells different, that's how I find people that are in love. I can smell when someone is in love, and I can find that same smell on the person that they love. You smelled very strongly of pine trees and winter air the first time I met you." She cocked her head to the side, looking away for a moment. "It really didn't seem like a 'you' smell, so I figured someone was in love." She looked back at me. "That's part of why I really started up that conversation with you a few decades back." She cocked a grin. "I ran into Jack a while back as I was doing a Christmas hookup for some mortals in a town he was working a snowfall over about forty years ago and boy did he reek of it."

My mouth gaped a little not unlike a fish. "Okay?" Someone shoved me from behind, shouting sorry over their shoulder as I slid farther away from them. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

She shook her head. "I don't meddle with Immortal's love lives. They can find me if things go sour and I don't like dealing with the disgruntled aftermath of lost love. It's one of my rules." She moved me slightly as someone yet again wasn't watching where they were going. "However, that doesn't mean that I don't care. So, how did he break the news?"

"Well... he kinda blurted it out. We were talking about something else and I was pushing against why he was holding back from one or two of my questions and... well." I gestured helplessly.

"Hm, that's... sort of anticlimactic." She looked disappointed. "Well, I hope things turn out well. And if they don't that alright too. People think love is a once in a lifetime thing - but that's total bullshit, even for mortals." She smiled crookedly at me. "So what does that mean for us?" With that, she promptly left while I stood there very confounded.

Okay... that happened. I took a breath to collect myself and nodded once to no one in particular. I squirmed my way towards the door and finally got outside. Air is really nice when everywhere else is clustered with sweaty and drunk bodies - not all of which are human with human-like smells. It was almost pitch black in the alley behind the club. The skyscrapers blocked out nearly all light when there wasn't a jumbotron around to act as a nightlight. Also, it was only about ten o'clock which was way earlier than when I usually left.

I flew up to the nearest skyscraper and just looked over the city for a minute. "Hey, winds?" After a moment they swooshed in, ruffling my wings as they did. "Where's the Halloween Spirit at?" I'd assumed that he went home, but I also assumed that he knew I'd think of that. If he didn't want to talk to me, then he'd have gone somewhere else for sure.

"He is in the north end of Epping Forest in England."

I grimaced in confusion. "He's where?" Why the hell was Sam in England? As far as I knew, he didn't have any ties there. Well, that'd be a good place to run off to if your friends were looking for you and you didn't want to see them. I squinted a little, not wanting to admit that it was technically right. "Um, can you show me where?"

The winds, instead of answering, picked me up and airlifted me to the forest. It took a little over two hours to get there - they'd had to swerve around a huge storm over the Atlantic on the way. They dropped me about a hundred or so feet away and pointed me - figuratively - towards him. It was about four in the morning here but he was just sitting on the ground staring at an old-timey mansion that was just visible over the hill.

He must have heard my footsteps because when I was like thirty feet away he looked over his shoulder at me. "Please don't leave, again." I paused for a second, praying that he didn't disappear off to somewhere else that was even harder to find. After a few minutes he turned back around, but he didn't leave - which I figured was a sign that I could come over. I sat down next to him, grimacing slightly. "I'm sorry Jack and I didn't tell you first. To be fair, I told him not to tell anyone that didn't need to know, so he's probably trying to not tell anybody."

"And yet, you told Gaia and Mors." He just kept looking at the house on the hill while he spoke. That hurt more than an angry look.

"The winds told Gaia. She asked about it and I didn't want to lie." I pulled my legs in. "Of course, gossip spreads like wildfire with us doesn't it?"

"Who did you two deem worthy of telling?" Still no eye-contact.

I winced at the resentment in his voice. See? I knew he was mad we didn't tell him first. "Tooth was the only person I specified by name. I also said anyone directly involved, by which I implied the other Guardians, Jack's roommates, and you." I looked towards the house. "The only one I've gotten around to was Tooth, though." I glanced up at him sideways. "She heard Jack confess and she's had a crush on him longer than I've been alive, so I had to make sure she was okay before anything else phased my mind."

"Christmas was three weeks ago." His voice was almost lifeless except for the accusation in it.

I winced again. "Yeah... I slept for a few days after because I hurt my ankle pretty bad."

"You did what?" He whipped his head towards me.

"I whacked it dropping down the glacier crack out in front of the workshop." My mouth twitched to the side. I hated admitting that I'd messed up something I could do in my sleep.

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. "A lot more now that you're looking at me again." I met his eyes and saw him wince.

He sighed. "You caught me. Yeah, I'm mad you guys didn't tell me. But if this is what the two of you want, then I'm not going to throw a fit about it." He shifted a little.

What I knew about body language - mostly from talking to Sandy all these years - told me that he wasn't being completely truthful, but I didn't push it. "Well, it's what Jack wants. I just don't want him to hate me." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him raise an eyebrow. "He loves me, Sam. More than I ever realized. And I mean, I love him too - he's the only family I have left - but that's just it, he's family. I don't love him the way he does." I glanced up at Sam. "I'm trying but I don't want him to think that I led him on, or didn't give him a chance or something. I can't lose him - even a little."

Sam turned towards me a little. "Story, he cares about you. And if he loves you as much as he thinks he does, he wouldn't leave you if you gave it a shot."

"I know he won't. That's not what I'm worried about. If he resents me it's gonna change things between us and that'll be the same as losing him because he won't be the same Jack." I hugged my knees, gripping my other hand so hard I'm surprised I didn't hear a cracking sound. "He's the only person alive that knew me before I was Story..." I noticed Sam shoot me a look. "I haven't changed a lot, but I'm still different. I didn't have a lot of friends back then, I wasn't so open or run on instinct as much as I do now. I hesitated a lot and held back because the world I was a part of didn't take me as I was... but he was the first real friend I ever had. Jack cared about the person I was back then and it meant so much at the time..." I took a breath and looked up. "I've leaned on the fact that he'd be there for me for so long that I don't know what would happen to me if he wasn't. I had to give him a chance because he did with me."

I sniffed a little as I tried to keep my eyes from misting over. Sam reached out and pulled me into a side-hug. "I've known Jack a long time. If you're his friend, he won't abandon you - no matter how pissed he gets. I don't know if he's just stubborn or if he holds onto people like life-boats. Regardless, even if you wanted him to, he'd never leave." He rubbed my shoulder. "Besides, there's only so many places he can hide, right?" Sam shot me a smile and I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out.