**I know, I know, I am very terrible! I am so so so soooooo (times infinity) sorry that this chapter has come so much later! I have been so crazy busy this past year, a lot has happened in my family and I also have been going through an internship so my free time was zero! Thank you so much to people who followed and favorited during this hiatus, and a HUGE thank you for those who stuck around and have been waiting patiently for this chapter! I feel bad because it is not even terrific or as good as I would like, but I wanted to get this up before I went to bed and it is now 3 in the morning here lol! I love you all so much, and I am coming to the end of this, but I am going to have the next chapter up within the next few days! I will not leave this unfinished, I promise! I hope you enjoy and it was somewhat worth the wait! I love you again!

Chapter 29

It was relieving, just a bit, to be running around playing with the most important people in Jack's life, but he did feel a little lost on the idea. True it was making everyone laugh, and even Aster was really getting into the fun, but it was...off. At least to Jack. Maybe now with his memories back he felt that this wasn't truly Super Duper without Summer. The family framework was tilted since she had passed. It had probably always been like this since the accident, but Jack just hadn't noticed before.

Jack did not really blame himself anymore, but he knew that the guilt he held onto would rear its ugly head again someday, that it would eat at him at times. It was inevitable that he would still question himself, his part in her death, but hopefully somehow he would remember his own words.

As Jack looked at Pippa's bright face he was thankful that they had agreed to not bring Pippa along to get ice cream. Luckily Jack's parents were also not fond of their young daughter being out late at night with the prospect of ice cream. If Pippa had sugar too late at night it would be near impossible to get her to quiet down to sleep, and if she did sleep she would wake up at least three times with a nightmare.

"Eagle Man, release the Princess now!" Pippa yelled, chucking a stuffed Dalmatian at her father, who put his hand behind his back when it hit his arm.

"Never!"

The bombardment of stuffed animals continued, as Jack and Pippa advanced closer to where their parents and Aster were behind the couch. Jack looked at Aster in his princess cap and couldn't help but smile. However, as Jack looked at Aster he was looking back at the same time. Both smiled and Jack gave a wink.

"You better rescue me." Aster demanded, smirking a bit. He was clearly a bit uncomfortable with all of this, and while Jack could tell Aster was having fun he could also tell he was out of his comfort zone one hundred percent.

Soon Jack's mom went for a full-on attack, and their dad quickly followed behind. Each had the last of their 'ammo', an armful of stuffed animals. This was the part where Jack and Pippa won, no matter what.

One small dinosaur hit Jack's arm, he dramatically fell to the ground, clutching his arm, and Pippa gasped, and turned around to hold Jack's head like they were in a war movie.

"Go, on without me…" Jack wheezed, as he heard Aster trying to stifle his chuckling from behind the couch, and couldn't help but smile a bit.

"No! No man gets left behind!" Pippa said over dramatizing as well. Asters chuckles could be easily heard now.

Pippa helped Jack back onto his knees, and threw his arm around her shoulder, while Jack walked, he leaned slightly onto Pippa as if he really were injured. He still had three stuffed animals in his one hand, and Pippa picked up three that she had in her arms before she needed to 'help' Jack. Pippa flung one at her mother, at it hit her square in the chest, and she fell dramatically.

"Curse you! I am defeated!" Mrs. Overland said as she gripped her chest and fell dramatically to the ground.

"NOOO!" Wailed their father. "She is the source of my existence! I am done for! NOooo..." His voice trailed off as he also fell to the floor.

Pippa was the first to run over to Aster.

"Malady," she offered him a hand to help him stand. Aster chuckled, took her hand and then used his crutch to also help him up. Once he wobbled back into place, Pippa handed him the other crutch.

"Thanks, superheroes!" Aster smiled, the princess hat still on his head.

"Where's my kiss?" Pippa asked bluntly, hands on her hips, an impatient look on her face, but a smirk in her eyes.

Jack felt both humor and a little pang of annoyance at his sister's request. Aster looked at Jack, obviously unsure what to do, and looking at him to see how he felt about it. Jack simply shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

"Alright, ya ankle-biter, how bout just one on the cheek?" Aster suggested.

Pippa giggled, her mood quickly changing into a giddy little girl. Aster leaned down and planted a soft kiss on Pippa's cheek, smiled at her and said "My Hero!"

Pippa turned slightly pink, and a smile was wide across her face. She giggled, and then walked over to Jack. "Your turn!"

Jack blushed a little, "oh, ah, no no it's ok! You did all the work, you get the kiss!" He looked over at Aster to see he was obviously nervous too about the topic. An innocent kiss on the cheek is one thing, but a kiss on the cheek to someone you care for is a whole different story.

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" Came a soft chant from the 'dead' bodies of Jack's parents. Jack couldn't believe that they were egging him on like that, especially his dad. Pippa soon joined in, and the whole family was softly chanting "Kiss!"

Aster looked over at Jack, the obvious panic was on his face, and Jack was sure it was the same face he was making.

"Ugh...well...um...no, well, I would like to...no, uh...no thank you, I mean...bugger...not that I don't want to, I do...wait no, I'm sorry." Aster muttered, but he turned towards Jack's "dead" parents, as he apologized and that made them let out muffled giggles. "No, just, no, uh….JACK!" he said too loudly and his voice cracking slightly. "Uh, Easter! We NEED to work on Easter chores, now; I think we are running out of time! So, uh, yes, ok?" Jack giggled a bit himself, at the flustered Aster, but he appreciated him alleviating the...situation.

"Yes, we must, and I have to help, since you are broken, and we have to leave immediately if we want to get anything done!" Jack stated, making a point to shuffle towards the door.

"Need help?" up popped Mrs. Overland, an eager and hopeful smile on her face.

"Uh, thank you, but it's rather complicated," Aster said, and Jack could tell he was trying anything to get out of this situation. "Jack is all I need."

This made Jack smile a bit, but he glared at his parents when they exchanged a quick similar smile.

Jack gave Aster a quick nudge to the door, to get the point across that they need to leave now, or they never could. "Well, we are off!" Jack said too eagerly, as he gave each of his family members a quick hug. When he gave his final hug to Pippa he held onto her tightly, and it lasted a little longer.

"Take care," he whispered in her ear.

Jack could feel her smile into his shoulder, "Always. You take care too."

Jack smiled then let go of his little sister, when he did he saw his mom giving Aster a careful hug, and his father shook his hand.

"Please come visit us again!" Mrs. Overland said.

"Yeah, we would love to have you for dinner sometime," Mr. Overland chimed in, agreeing with his wife, as he took his turn to shake Aster's hand firmly.

Mrs. Overland perked up at the idea. "Oh yes! Please come over for dinner sometime, I'll make whatever you want, what do you like?"

"Anything is fine ma'am, thank ya fer the kind invitation," Aster replied giving an acknowledging nod to the idea.

"Mom, sorry, but we really do need to go!" Jack chimed in.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes! Well, we will let you and Jack know what the plan is, or we set up plans and what not!"

"Sounds good, see you" Jack said, and Aster gave a little wave as they walked through the hall and out the door. When Jack had closed the front door behind them, he turned to Aster who let out a sigh.

"Hey, sorry about the commotion and that you got caught up in all of that," Jack said, not quite looking at Aster as he said it. It was true, he knew Aster had just gotten out of the hospital, not even been home yet, and he had been rushed around this emotional roller coaster with Jack. Jack felt guilty when he realized not once did he truly ask if Aster was ok with this, that he had just whisked him along because Jack needed it.

"Hey, Frostbite," Aster's voice came through very soft, and Jack couldn't help but look over at him. "This was a lot of fun. Your family is great, and I got to see what ya've been through. Honestly, 'm honored to have gone through all that rubbish with ya."

Jack smiled lightly, and nodded, and then they walked back down to the car. Aster climbed into the car, and then Jack took the crutches from Aster, and put them in the back seat. When he turned around to see Aster again he couldn't help but smile as Aster simply look forward. For some reason Aster was smiling, and Jack wished in that moment he was a mind reader. Before he closed Aster's door he leaned down and gave Aster a quick peck on the cheek.

Aster's face stretched into an even wider grin, "My hero."

Aster couldn't help but smile. He was here, with Jack, having survived meeting his parents, and probably more important his little sister. Also, Jack was being very sweet and taking care of him.

While he usually hated relying on other people, honestly he just felt terrible being a burden and it made him feel like he was being a child; however, for some reason, when Jack took care of him, when he relied on him, Aster couldn't feel happier. It was a guilty pleasure, in a sense, to have Jack do some simple things like putting his crutches in the back of the car for him, because it showed Aster that Jack cared. Jack wasn't too much for talking about feelings, well he could do that too, but Jack liked to back up his words of affection with subtle actions. That was also a thing that Aster had come to adore about Jack, he didn't put on a show, or flaunt his good actions he simply did them because he believed it was what he should do.

As Jack pulled in front of Aster's, he unbuckled, walked around the car, grabbed the crutches and opened the door for Aster. Granted Aster could have opened his own door, but he couldn't help that it made his heart flutter a bit when Jack opened the door with a shy smile on his face. It was like a prince, and Aster wanted to kick himself for even thinking that, opening a door for him. For the second time that day Aster felt like a princess, but also for the second time today Aster didn't care.

As Aster hobbled up to the door, behind Jack, he couldn't help but let out a relieved sigh as he saw his own place, and he was so happy to be home after being in that prison they call a hospital. Luckily Jack had been kind enough to bring him various painting eggs and activities to make sure that he was not very bored, and felt productive.

"Home sweet home," Jack announced as he opened the door, then bowed like a butler and motioned Aster inside. Aster ruffled his hair as he passed, and when he did he couldn't help but feel his own heart speed up.

"Aight, Frostbite, what do we still need to do?"

"I left the list on the fridge and crossed off as I went! Wait here, I will go get it!"

Jack rushed off, and as Aster heard his footsteps, he looked around at his small store, and smiled till his eyes lay upon the painting that hung in the middle of the wall.

Aster hobbled over to the painting of Guardian Lake, and he couldn't help but feel a whole different emotion as he looked upon the painting. Part of him felt like he was going to have a panic attack of picturing Jack almost falling through the ice, the other part of him felt his heart warming as he thought about his discussion with Summer.

"Got the list," Jack's voice made Aster jump, and brought him out of his thoughts. "Wooaah there, sorry, didn't mean to scare you, Kangaroo."

"Sorry, just lost in thought," Aster replied. Jack gave a quick glance at the painting, an unreadable expression crossed over his eyes, but when he looked back at Aster they were back to their youthful glow, and he just gave a slight nod.

"Well, here is the list," Jack went to Aster's side, and held the list in front of him. Aster was relieved to see so many items crossed off, and he couldn't help but fret a bit as he thought about how much time Jack had spent away from schoolwork, and was working on this project.

"Aster," Aster looked up at Jack. "I have only set aside up to five hours a day, or get home by 8:00, ok? School isn't suffering, now calm the hell down."

Aster couldn't speak. Jack continued to shock Aster, because without even a word, Jack seemed to know what Aster was thinking or needed in any given moment.

Aster let his crutches drop to the ground, as he shifted his weight to his good foot, and he cupped Jack's face in his hands and kissed him. It was a bit messy since Jack was obviously not prepared and the awkward position in which they were faced. But the kiss was soft yet forceful, because Aster tried to convey so much adoration for this young man he'd only known for a very short while. Despite how it should have been the worst kiss maybe ever in existence, for some reason it seemed so incredibly perfect.

When they broke apart Jack's eyes slowly opened in shocked awe, and he leaned towards Aster a bit more trying to continue the kiss, and let out a small moan of disappointment at the loss of contact.

"Well, uh, ok…" Jack stuttered as his mind catching up with him, and a small red tint now flushing his cheeks.

Aster chuckled, as Jack let out an awkward cough and bent down to pick up his crutches and hand them over.

"Thanks"

"No problem," Aster ruffled Jack's hair again. "Well, according to yer list we have to pitch a few more smaller tents, set up the Easter egg hunt fence, double check on all orders, and set up the last of tables and chairs. You sure work hard, this is great! Considering it is Thursday, but we could definitely get this done!"

"Alright, well you start making calls and I will start with the small tents."

"Wait, why am I doing the calls?"

"Because you are cripple and cannot do much else, so sit down, and just don't do anything to make yourself worse," Jack replied, and he then went through the door, and Aster could hear him walk out the back door.

Aster sighed, he couldn't believe this, he felt so useless, but he limped over to his small desk, sat down, and picked up the phone.

In the middle of dialing the next number he heard his door open, he placed the phone down, and put on a customer-friendly smile.

"Hello-" he started, but when he saw the nearly-black eyes staring back into his own, he instantly turned that smile into a frown.

"What are ya doing 'ere, Pitch?"

"Where is Overland?"

"What are ya talking about, and what is it any of yer business?" Aster growled back.

"He is stil-" Mr. Black stopped, looked at Aster's crutches, then a smile graced his previous scowl.

"I had heard you were in the hospital, I unfortunately wasn't home at the time of the accident, so I didn't get to see it, but I heard through the grape vine. Rather unfortunate I had hoped you would have been stuck in that hospital a bit longer."

Aster's glare intensified, "What the bloody hell is yer problem you arse! The Easter celebration is not botherin ya! So ya have one day where it a bit loud, so what? Every year ya do this, try to make my whole thing into rubbish! Well yer rubbish! Don't ruin the ankle biters' good time, just cause ya don't like Easter! WHAT IS YER PROBLEM WITH EASTER?!"

He hadn't meant to yell all of that, but he already felt stupid for not being able to do anything, but honestly, what was this guy's problem?

Pitch's smile once again turned into a scowl, he lifted one pale bony finger, and pointed it in the direction of the back door, "Tell that little 'bugger' that he needs to stop coming here or he will flunk my class."

Aster's heart sunk, as he saw Black turn and walk out the door.

Pitch turned around once more, pointing his finger at Aster this time and said, "Go suck an egg." Then he left the store fuming.

"Shit," Aster whispered to himself. He sat back down, and put his head in between his hands. "What did ya do, Aster, ya drongo." Aster was shaking his head, trying not to panic.

"Aster?"

Aster was so relieved to hear that motherly voice.

He stood back up, "Ugh, Tooth! Thank goodness!"

Tooth smiled her motherly smile, and her posture was light and fun, "Aster! It is nice to see you back in the shop! Where is Ja-"

"I messed up! Like REALLY messed up!"

Tooth's eyes narrowed, she approached Aster with a whole new attitude, her shoulder squared and like she was ready to brawl, "What. Did. You. Do. To. Jack?"

"Wha- no, nothing, well I don't mean nothing,"

"Aster, tell me now, because crippled or not I will knock your molars out."

"Look, Pitch came by, and he was being an ass, asking for Jack to not come back, so…well, I freaked. I let him have it, told him that he should stop trying to ruin my Easter egg hunt every year. And I asked him what his problem with Easter was! Cause I mean seriously what is-"

"Oh Aster…" Tooth said, once again her attitude and posture changed in a moment. This time she had slouched shoulders, and her look was sympathetic and sad.

"What…? Look I will tell Jack to leave so-"

"No…Aster." Tooth interrupted again.

"Then what?"

"Aster…Pitch's daughter died on Easter."

"Where am I?" I think to myself, before I can even open my eyes, but I can feel a blinding light on the other side of my eyelids. I move my arms, as if I am making a snow angel, and I can feel grass around me.

"Wasn't I on my way to get ice cream with Jack? Why am I in the grass?"

Slowly, I open my eyes, and before they are even completely open I can feel myself overwhelmed with the urge to cry. Tears slowly stream down my face, and I am confused as I see a blurry white sky above me.

Sitting up, still looking up at the sky, I try to wipe away my tears. The whole sky is white; I look down at the grass in between my fingers only to find that it was white as well.

"So…I am dead." I think again.

Looking around I can see shapes of 'trees', 'grass', and something that resembles a bench, but everything was white.

As I look closer at my colorless surroundings I realize where I am. I realize what this place means to me, why this would be the place where I would need to 'see' in my afterlife. I can feel the tears again, but for the first time I am smiling.

I stand up and I notice for the first time that I am wearing a layered green dress, each layer a different shade of green. I give myself a quick twirl, and notice that I feel weightless, that the wind in this 'world' twirls around me.

When I stop spinning I look down and notice that I am the only color in this world, and that the small area around my feet is also blossoming green grass, compared to the white 'grass' only inches away.

In curiosity I took a cautious step forward, and to my delight, the small patch also illuminates with a green glow. When I removed my foot from the other spot the green starts fading a little, until it turns into pure white again.

I giggle, making the first verbal noise in this new place.

I then look up, and smile, looking at my second home, and I take illuminating steps towards it. The 'grass' and 'earth' brightening and dimming in my walk.

As I come to the edge of my second home.

"Guardian Lake," I whisper my first words into this world, and they echo with a sort of wind chime effect. It was magical.

I took a light step forward, and ice appeared beneath my feet.

I smiled, taking another step forward.