• And you thought I was done? Fooled ya •

"Mocha for Mitchell!"

As Summer called out the customer's name, she smiled when the man came up, paid for his drink and then left with said drink in hand. He walked out, opening the door to the chilly air that had infected Whitefish over the night. There was no ice, no snow, no nothing. Even thought it was the first of December.

"Hey..." Bev said and nudged Summer's arm when she noticed how her face had sunken down. "Are you holding up alright?"

Summer who had told Bev everything, gave her friend a brave smile, but truthfully she felt heartbroken inside. "I'm alright."

They continued to work throughout the day. Summer brewed warm coffee after warm coffee until all the orders blurred together. She hardly payed notice to Bev, let alone the customers. Last year she only had to mourn her parents' absence. This Christmas, the pang in her chest ached with another sensation. She had felt warm all year round, but then today, Christmas finally came. And then it had hit her.

As the doorbell rung for the hundredth time that day and blew in a cold wind, Summer expectantly looked up with a knot in her stomach, only to see a heavily overweight man in a leather coat step inside, shuddering off the cold. Sighing long and deep, she looked down again and turned away.

A part of her was hoping Jack would show up, admittedly a crazy part. It was self torture. To wait and wait for his return... the return that would never come. Jack was a spirit. He was only summoned when needed.

And like he had said, she no longer needed him to keep her warm.

Then why did it feel like she did? Summer silently thought, fighting the tears in her eyes.

"Excuse me? Can I leave my order?"

Summer sighed heavily, keeping her back turned to the polite customer who waited for her to take her order. After this one, she needed a break.

"What can I get you?"

"Can I get an ice caramel macchiato with a little extra ice, please?"

Her heart stopped. She couldn't breathe. The chill that went up her spine followed her as she turned around and came face to face with...

Her heart dropped again. "Of course. What name can I write down?"

Not him. Just someone with the same taste.

"Terry," He replied, just as Summer nodded and wrote it down. After that, she turned to Bev who came up with a tray of mugs.

"I need a break," She told her with a shaky voice. Bev didn't question her, just nodded and gave her shoulder a squeeze. Summer then took off her apron and walked out the back, stepping outside to catch some fresh air.

Shaking from top to toe, she leaned up against the wall and buried her face in her hands. She silently sobbed, finally letting the tears spill from her eyes and freeze on her cheeks. The pain and the miss was too hard. She wouldn't get through Christmas without him.

Suddenly, though, she felt something cold land on her cheek. Not a frozen tear... although it was frozen water.

Lifting her head from her hands, Summer slowly looked up at the overcast sky and watched as tiny, frozen flakes now started dancing down from the sky, doing their gentle, twirling pirouettes before they landed on the cold ground and melted.

"Jack..." Summer brokenly whispered and let more tears fall from her eyes. Winter was here, but where was he? The spirit of it all? The one who was going to keep her warm from this blistering cold. The only one who could warm up her heart... chase the icy frost from it.

Breaking down crying loudly now, she sobbed into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut. Streams of tears cascaded down her cheeks as she cried, her sobs endless and the cold, hollow sensation in her heart relentless. This was going to be a very cold Christmas.

Schhh...

What was that? Summer thought. It sounded like wind was talking to her, trying to soothe her like the crying baby she at the moment was.

But she didn't care. Let me cry, she thought as she continued to keep her face buried behind her hands, kept her eyes from prickling as the cold wind whipped her face.

And then she felt something. Another sort of prickling. A nibble at her cold, red ears. It then bit her cheeks and her chin, then her nose and finally, bit into her lips.

Gasping Summer removed her hands and looked around, her heart thudding wildly in her chest. No... it wasn't possible...

Just as she was about to pass out from the sheer belief that it was possible, a little twinkle before her begun sparkling. It was as subtle as a dying flame, but quickly intensified, manifesting from the thin air.

I'm hallucinating, she thought as her jaw dropped and a figure started shaping itself from the lights. The outlines of a man appeared. No, no, no, it couldn't be...

A vague shadow immersed from nothingness, slowly grasping at colors and becoming visible. Like a transparent ghost, the figure took a step towards Summer who in her shock was too frozen to move.

"Summer..." The shape spoke as faint as the wind, but that voice... she'd heard it in every pitch and baritone, and she would never ever forget it. "Summer."

"J-Jack..." Summer got out on a trembling breath and felt herself shake from the toes, all the way up. The shadow that was growing more lucid and thicker by the second. It stepped closer again, walked up to her. "J-Jack?"

And then his face manifested. His shape became solid, corporal. He landed from his floating ball of light and touched the ground, the pavement beneath him immediately turning into ice. Summer gasped as a cane with a blue knob rose from the ground like a stem, until it connected with his outheld hand. As her gaze traveled up to look at his face, her eyes connected with his icy blue stare that instantly sparkled, so full of life and spirit; Of cold, yet Christmassy warmth at the same time.

Jack Frost was there.

"Hello, Summer," He softly smiled and calmly took the last few steps that separated them. Summer stayed frozen, unable to even bat an eyelash. As he stopped up in front of her, his features glowed with heartily warmth, with comfort that Summer realized was what she correlated with home.

She didn't understand. Jack Frost was there, but why? He had told her she didn't need him anymore, that he had fixed her... that her heart was warm again.

That left one question in her head. One that resonated louder and louder until it erupted through her lips, much softer than the roars in her head. "W-why?"

Jack softly smiled again, and then to her surprise cupped her face in his cold hand that with his magical touch instantly warmed her whole being. It sparked through her, ignited her, and made her feel... warm again.

"He's nippin' at your nose," He then surprised her by saying in a singsong voice. "You can feel him in your toes... a shiver and a tear... let's you know that Jack Frost is here."

Summer couldn't believe it. She gasped for a moment, but then managed to choke, "But... but how? Why? You said... I don't u-understand..."

"Because..." Jack patiently spoke, leaning in towards her until there was nothing but a millimeter of strangled air between them. "Because you might not need me to keep you warm anymore... but I needed you."

As if he knew and had heard her question that she had sent into the universe, he replied and made her heart crack under from the emotions that flooded it. Breaking down into a sob, she grasped his blue hoodie, the same exact one he had worn last year. He hadn't changed at all, except for something within his eyes... something she couldn't explain.

She got her explanation the next second. He closed the final breadth of space between them and pressed his lips to hers, instant warmth coursing through her. Summer let out a strangled sob as she clung onto him while he kissed her, her lips responding to his like a magnet.

The air around them exploded with snowflakes, danced around them and created a ballet of whirls and whips, blowing their hairs in a tangle. Jack held her closely to his body, never letting the cold hit her, but instead let his inexplicable warmth envelope her. His silver gray hair danced and reflected as the snow grasped hold of it and dotted it with beautiful white flakes.

Summer couldn't help but break into a grin now. He was here. He was really here. For how long he was staying, she didn't know. She just knew that if he was here, then she wouldn't be cold. And he wouldn't be either.

Together, they'd keep warm.

"I'm sorry," He then whispered and pulled away from her lips. He kept his forehead pressed against hers and kept his eyes closed. "I know I said I wouldn't come back, but... I had to. I misunderstood the moon's mission for me last year."

"W-what?" Summer whispered and slowly opened her eyes. Jack opened his too and looked back at her, his deep blue orbs glowing.

"It wasn't your hatred that melted the snow," He whispered. "It was your warmth that melted me. I was cold before I met you, Summer, unable to stay warm. Whenever you touch me, you always burn me. I've never felt that way with anyone before, I just assumed it was because of the mission... but now..."

He brushed his thumb over Summer's cheek and she felt the exact warmth he was talking about radiate trough her whole body. She closed her eyes and indulged.

"All along, it was never about me warming you," He told. "It was about you warming me. I had forgotten about warmth like you had, and you reminded me. I fixed you, but you fixed me, too. That was what the moon intended."

Summer exhaled audibly. She saw it all so clearly now and it moved something in her chest. "I can't believe it."

"I can't either, but that's why I had to come back. I won't survive winter without you to keep me warm, Summer," He whispered and brushed her cheek again.

"And I won't survive without you, either," Summer cried back. She truly couldn't believe it. He was here. He was back. The question was, was he here to stay? "How long will you stay for this time then?"

"Seasons come and go, as will I," Jack replied. "I'll stay until winter has to go and till summer has to come—and I have a feeling it won't be long until that happens."

Summer blinked confused and looked up at him, frowning. "Huh?"

"Well, you're summer, aren't you?" Jack replied, now lifting a small smirk to his lips.

Summer only frowned deeper. "Yeah?"

"Good. Then you will be coming soon."

And then before Summer could let that one sink in, Jack attacked her lips and pushed her up against the back wall of her coffee shop, flicking his hand so the snow encased them in his visibility blanket.

Oh dear, Summer thought as Jack Frost nibbled at her nose. It looked like it was going to be a merry Christmas after all.

• • •

And now it's over.
Come on, I'm a sucker for love. I couldn't leave you all hanging now, could I?
Btw, I'm never doing this sort of challenge again. Ever.

The Merry End