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Jaime's POV-The Day Before

"You need to eat."

Mother pushed a plate full of roasted chicken and peas in front of me. I picked at it with my fork, taking small bites in between to settle her. The A.C. hummed white noise in the background as the weatherman forecasted near 90 degree weather this whole week.

Across from me, my sister pigged out, stuffing bite after bite into her awaiting mouth.

"Slow down!" Mother warned. "You can upset your stomach like that."

"I'm a growing girl, mother. Food is all that I live for," she dramatically proclaimed.

I scoffed. "Teenagers."

"Hypocrite," she spat back.

"Ooh, big words for the baby."

"Mom! Jaime is calling me a baby!"

Mother sighed and glanced at me, pleading.

I turned back to my plate and ate at her mercy. Dinner went quiet after that, other than the scraping of forks against ceramic and the ticking of the kitchen clock.

The Next Morning

"Jamie, it's noon. Time to get up."

I glanced at my mother from the depths of my dark room. She worryingly looked on as she speculated the mess I made of myself these few months.

"Okay," I said dismissively.

I turned over to stare at the wall as I heard her sigh in defeat and close the door. I couldn't leave the vicinity of my bed till Tooth or Bunny comes to take me to see Jack.

Jack will survive.

Hopefully. For my sake, he will.

For all our sakes'.

I shuffled to my en suite bathroom and looked over my disheveled appearance. My eyes were puffy with shed tears, my skin blotchy, my mouth turned in a frown at the pathetic stranger in the mirror. That person looks dead.

That person is me. Eyes reflect in the mirror with a blank stare. I flicked on the faucet and splashed cold water on my face.

"Jaime! Your friend is here!"

Jacob.

"Okay! I'm decent!" I called back after patting myself dry.

I crawled back into bed and waited for him to come up. A minute later, his black clad body crossed the threshold and closed the door.

"Hey," he sheepishly waved.

"Hey," I repeated from underneath the blankets.

He nodded to himself before taking a seat at my desk across from me. Jacob looked around, waiting for me to say something. To admit why I've broken down these last months. He shared a weak smile in my direction before moving over to my bed.

"Still not going to budge?"

I shook my head into the pillow. He sighed and I felt his hand rub my head reassuringly. The next minutes were in silence as Jacob kept his hand on me and gave a few rubs of encouragement.

I flipped over to face him. He smiled sympathetically.

"Hey there, turtle."

I roll my eyes at the nickname he's taken to call me these few months. He took my hand in his and squeezed. I squeezed back and sat up straight.

"What brings you here, Jay?" I questioned as I hung my legs over the edge.

He shrugged. "Just making my rounds."

"Well, I expect some chocolate on your next one."

I met his mock shocked face with a smirk as he started babbling.

"Why I never! You should be lucky to be graced with my presence so often. Many a soul would be more grateful for my time," he joked with exaggerated movements as he tidied himself.

I giggled at his statement as we both shook the room with loud laughter and rolled around on my bed. In the fit of chuckles, my eye caught the decorated egg sitting on my desk. Bunny gave it to me in case of emergencies or, for these last months, to alert me if Jack was awake. There on my desk was a decorated egg, flashing a beautiful red light.

In the moment of happiness, my eyes watered and I cracked a genuine smile. I jumped up to get ready for whenever Bunny would thump his way to my room. I flung myself into my closet and threw my pajamas off before assembling a random outfit. I stepped back into my room and into the bathroom to fix up my hair.

"Um, Jaime?"

I froze at the sound of the tattooed giant. I forgot all too quickly that Jacob was here. Insert internal panic. I looked up in the mirror and met his eyes.

"Mind telling me why you are grinning like a mad man and rushing to get dressed?" He prodded.

I nervously flicked my eyes back and forth in thought. I pushed past him and paced in my room. I pause as I remembered one of my Guardian gifts. A very mischievous bag of sleep sand from Sandy. I fumble under the bed to reach for the hidden lock box. I pocketed the golden sack and stood to my feet.

Jacob held out his arms in frustration. "Maybe you'd like to clue me in now, Jaime."

I mentally shrugged. Might as well.

"Well, currently the Easter Bunny is traveling in magical rabbit holes to my room so he can take me to see Jack Frost, who's sort of my boyfriend, because he was stabbed by the Boogeyman 6 months ago and apparently he's awake now. I have to look nice for my boyfriend, right?"

Jacob blankly stared at me.

I stared back.

Then the floor vibrated ever so slightly.

"Jaime, tell me what's really going on."

"I did, it's up to you to believe me."

The floor started to shake noticeably and Jacob looked around as if to discover the cause.

"Jaime, come under the doorway! There's an earthquake happening," Jacob warned.

I shook my head. "There's no earthquake."

"Are you serious? Do you not feel the ground shake?!"

"Yeah."

Jacob huffed at my bluntness that he took for naivety.

"Well then, there's an earthquake! Come over before something falls on you."

Playing with his concern, I looked around blankly. "I think I'm good here."

"Incoming!"

The room stilled at the voice as the floor opened and Bunny shot out before landing on the solidified ground.

"I see you got the message," Bunny's Aussie accent drawled.

We both turned at the audible thump, seeing Jacob's body awkwardly laying in the bathroom.

"Who's the goth?"

I laughed at the question. "Jacob, my caretaker these last months. It seems he wasn't ready for a life sized bunny to pop out a magical rabbit hole. I warned him though."

"Oops," Bunny mumbled.

We carried him and placed him on my bed. We shared an uncertain look as I sprinkled sleep sand across Jacob's eyes to make sure he stays asleep.

"Come on then," Bunny beckoned as he called for a tunnel.

He collected me in his arms and we prepared for the journey to the workshop.

"Off we go!"

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