In the dead of the night, all three of us got back in the car and continued our late night voyage back to the hospital. The passenger window began to freeze up from Jack's presence but I could tell that beneath his cold exterior, he was fuming. There were too many events happening at once and I could understand why he was angry at the whole wide world. He came to save his friend and instead he was faced with death, faced with the appearance of a mysterious child, faced with the one problem he came to resolve. And I happened to be that problem.

Taking a peek through my rearview mirror, Peter's long body was awkwardly curled up in the backseat as his chest rose and fell. His legs dangling off the seat, his face snuggled in the warmth of the soft material of the seat. A smile crept its way upon my face as my heart warmed at the sight of him. Even through all the trials we were part of today, Peter still had an innocence that was captured in everything he did- even if it was just sleeping.

Clasping his hands together, I jumped at the sudden sound that Jack had made. He grumbled as he struggled to make out the scenery just outside the frosted passenger window. "So, what now? Where do we go from here?"

A hint of irritation in his voice, he obviously avoided eye contact as I aimlessly drove to our next destination. "Back to the hospital. I have to check on Jenna."

"Jenna?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in the middle of his forehead. "Who's Jenna?"

Looking over my shoulder before I made a turn on the street, I realized the first time Jack and I met was in the kitchen freezer at the hospital. Before that, he didn't have any prior knowledge of the situation or any of the people involved besides Peter and I. Jack had no clue as to who Jenna was. "She's my best friend and Thomas was...she was talking to him. And I want to make sure she's okay after everything that went down. I had to abruptly leave to find Peter and I feel so bad about if I'm being honest. I should've been there for her in her time of need."

"Well you sure have been doing a good job at that, haven't you? You know, at saving the world?" A hurtful sarcasm laced the words he spat out of spite. He meant for them to nip at my conscience, to sting me where it hurt most. And they did.

"Look here. I don't know who the hell you think you are Frost, but I am trying my best. I'm doing what I can. And maybe you don't know how freaking hurtful it is to lose someone you care about, but there's been a lot on my mind and I'm trying to get through it just like everyone else is. So unless you know what it's like to have a friend die, your best friend crushed, and find out that you have a kid all in one night, I would advise you to shut the hell up."

His jaw tensed up in anger, his knuckles turning even paler as his fists tightly clenched. "Well that's exactly my point,' he stated, his volume getting a pinch louder. "How do you find out that Melanie could be yours and just leave her back there like that?!"

Stepping hard on the brake, his head went flying into the headrest which internally gave me a wicked sense of satisfaction. Yet my stomach contorted in anxiousness because if I could do it over and take her with me, I actually would've. But it was too late now and I needed to focus on the facts that there really was no way we could've taken her without there being consequences. You might be able to do that in Neverland, but here on Earth that was a federal offense called kidnapping. And believe me, I hated thinking about the fact that I didn't know who was taking care of her and I despised the fact that I didn't know if they were making sure that all of her needs were tended to. However, you can't just steal a child from their treehouse and I don't think Jack quite understood that.

"Because that would be considered abducting a child, you moron! We could go to jail for doing that."

"But you left her with strangers!"

"We're strangers to her, too! We don't even have evidence if she is related to us! And how would it have looked if the news reported that three teens were up in this child's treehouse and decided to take her? That would look really bad, wouldn't it?"

"Didn't you hear what she told Peter? I promise, you have selective hearing when it's convenient for you."

"That's it," I said as I abruptly put the car in park. Opening the driver's door, I pranced outward and walked a semi-circle around the vehicle. The chill in the air instantaneously hit me as the individual hairs on my arms seemed to be shocked by the change of temperature as well. My hand colliding with the lever of the passenger door, I hastily pulled it open to reveal a wide-eyed Jack. "Help yourself out."

Motioning for him to remove himself from my car, his mouth slightly gaped open as his light eyes blinked in confusion.

"Get out," I demanded. A certain kind of betrayal crossed his gaze as his brows lowered in irritation.

"You don't really mean i- "

"Oh, yes I do," I stated, nodding as hard as I could. "You've been nothing but a thorn in my side. I have things to tend to and people to care for and you've messed up all of that. So do us all a favor and go back to where you came from."

For one mere second, I saw hurt flash before his eyes. With a glossy glaze over his lenses, his serious expression broke into a pained pout. But he squeezed his eyes together, trying to compose himself. As if he hadn't just shown me a side of his vulnerability, his expression hardened back into the stone-cold boy that I'd known him to be. Staying put in his seat, his menacing eyes had a mischievous spark within them.

"You're not serious, even you know it."

"Get the hell out of my car," I stated, feeling my eyebrows lower along with my tone of voice. My skin tightened around my clenched jaw. Enough was enough. If he was going to play childish games, I could play them even better.

Obviously irritated, he lifted his hands in surrender as he avoided my gaze. "Alright, alright. Fine."

Pushing his long body out of the passenger seat, he stood in front of me and glared down at my much smaller frame. "But you're making a mistake."

"Pretty sure I'm not."

His eyes widened in reassurance as he shook his head. "Oh yeah you are. Because I will be back, and I will warn Peter about everything."

A lump formed in my throat at the mention of Peter's name. What did he plan to tell him?

"What? Speechless now, are we? Didn't you figure it out by now? Peter doesn't belong here on Earth. Why do you think The Council sent me? To come and play fun and games in this fantasy world of yours?" He stated, his voice taking a higher octave. His demeanor completely changed to this condescending attitude that seemed to control his actions.

Glaring daggers at him, I began to shiver at the chill in the air. But the temperature wasn't the only thing making my body shake in this moment. Lack of sleep, adrenaline, and now fear all fought to take claim over my body. Slowly, I was giving into all of them.

His lips continued to utter truthful lies that continued to chip corners off of my stability. "Peter Pan is meant to help people, not meant to be held captive by a single one. And you're killing his purpose Laney, because the longer he's with you, the more kids are out there suffering."

Tears welled in my eyes as I took in what he was saying. How could someone who was supposedly Peter's 'friend' treat me so horribly? Yet as true as his word were, I didn't want to hear them. "That's not true! Peter deserves to have a say in what he does with his life and you have no right to take that away!"

"You're right because I wasn't the one who did. Get that through your thick skull, Laney. Did you ever ask him if he regretted kissing you? Did you ever ask him what he would do if he could do it all over? Because I'm sure he's thought about it before and don't you go fooling yourself that he hasn't."

"Get out of our lives. Now."

"See? And here you are just proving my point. Did Peter ever really have a say in any of this? Does he ever really get to choose anything for himself? Or does he just enjoy being your human-sized Ken doll?"

"He chose me."

"Or you manipulated him with curiosity."

"You have no evidence of what you're claiming! You're a serpent of a man, Jack Frost!"

His eyes twinkled beneath the moonlight as if they were smiling themselves. Taking about five steps away, he looked at me as I stood speechless in the dead of the night. "Frostbite is quite a venomous thing. So don't go thinking for one second that I won't fight for my friend because I will."

"He doesn't need your negativity. He already has enough going on in his life, but thanks. But make sure to send us a Christmas card when you're feeling lonely."

Jack stopped in his tracks again. "You're not understanding what I'm saying."

"I probably couldn't hear it beneath all the ugly spewing from your mouth."

Sassily crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head to the side. If he weren't such a rotten person, he might have even looked slightly attractive. "This is seriously his last chance. If I can't manage to get the point across, who knows what The Council will do to him! This will only keep going farther and farther in until the situation gets even worse for Peter. They're not going to let him get off easy, do you not understand that?"

At this point, my legs were so cold that they began to lose their sense of feeling. "Look, I-"

"And one day Peter's going to realize exactly what I told you and you're going to wake up with the other half of the bed empty because he realized what a horrible mistake he made."

My mouth opened to spew hurtful words at him, but my body stood frozen in shock as Jack began to walk away in the bitterness of the cold. As I got back into my car, I gripped the steering wheel and let all of the pent up tears fall as they pleased.

One. For the loss of a loved friend.

Two. For the innocent child.

Three. For the well-being of my only love.

Four. For the horrible mistake of a person that I was. Because everything that Jack had uttered held a truth that my heart decided to tune out for my own well-being. I was selfish, I was worthless, and Jack was right: I was the biggest mistake in Peter's life. Peter's heart was just too pure and innocent to ever admit it.

And as I wiped my tears with my forearm and put the key into the ignition, my car purred to life. As it sped off into the dark of the night, my bloodshot eyes watched Jack's silhouette disappear into the moonlight until he was nothing but a microscopic snowflake.

© Lightning_Stryker 2017

Annnnd I'm so happy to be back! I know it's been quite a while but I hope that this was worth the wait! 

Any thoughts on Jack now? That was kind of harsh of him. I also find him oddly attractive...oops XD