Fire and Ice

Jamie glanced quickly over at Jessica, both to make sure she was paying attention and to make sure she hadn’t been covered by snow.

It was coming down hard, the thick sticky flakes falling heavily and covering the once green landscape with a blanket of white. Jamie was on one side of the trees, packing snowballs and throwing them across the way as he had been for 20 minutes, trying to land the trashcan Jess had placed there.
So far, he hadn’t made one.

“Dammit!” Jamie yanked his hat farther down his head as he missed once again. He was definitely beyond frustrated, but hadn’t heated up yet, thanks to Jess’ superb training.

“I swear, if I don’t make this next one, I’m done.” Jamie spoke out loud, but Jess thought it was probably just supposed to be for him. She also didn’t count on him quitting either.

Her plan had needed some altering once she got outside and realized there wasn’t any wind to throw off Jamie’s shot. She was running out of good ideas. Though she never doubted his ability, Jess was beginning to struggle herself to help Jamie separate his power from his emotions. They’d been working on it for a month with slow results. Jamie was getting more irritated, missing hockey and not happy with what he viewed as failure. Jess did her best to be reassuring that everyone needs a different amount of practice.

Jamie had almost no problem with positive emotion. Besides his trigger incident and the time when the twig caught on fire, his power had been a no-show during Jamie’s expressions of happiness, pleasure, excitement.

His biggest problem was negative emotion. Jess thought it might be because Jamie channeled his sadness into anger and frustration, overflowing those two and making them very hard to control. He always corrected Jess when she tried to tell him that though, reminding her that he was just a very passionate person.

So Jess had to start getting creative. She started frustrating him on purpose, triggering his so-called passion and forcing him to boil over without letting it control his heat. But she couldn’t just be a bitch.

That’s why she kept slowing down the time after Jamie would throw, so she could walk back through her snowy footprints to the trashcan and move it just out of the way of the incoming snowball.

Apparently, Jamie was either too focused to feel the air shifting, or the snow was helping disguise it, because he hadn’t yet noticed her antics. Jess thought her plan was working well anyway, because so far, his power was a no-show.

Jamie stared at the trashcan, willing himself to not miss. It was bad enough that he hadn’t even made one shot, but poor Jess had to sit and watch him look like a complete idiot. The last thing he needed was a hit to his ego, so he focused everything on the snowball in his hand, using his frustration to completely block out everything but himself, controlling his emotions instead of vice-versa. Taking one more deep breath, Jamie drew back his arm and threw the compacted snowball. He was sure it was going to make it, but at the last minute, it bounced on the edge of the can and broke into pieces.

Jamie’s brow furrowed, noticing that he had felt a flicker of something strange just before the snowball hit the trashcan. He glanced towards Jess, her arms resting up on her knees and the bottom of her face buried in them. She was watching him, but he turned away to look back at the trashcan.

The snow had been heavy since they’d come out to the forest, but the tracks in the snow from when Jess placed the trashcan and walked to sit down weren’t filled in. In fact, they looked fresh.

Jamie looked back at Jessica.

Jess knew she was caught, but didn’t say or do anything. She simply pulled her face up from her arms and rested her chin on top, letting out a steamy huff of air. She wanted desperately to laugh at the suspicious look on Jamie’s face, but held it in.

“Jessica.”

“Jamie.”

He casually bent over, collecting snow in his hands. “Have you been moving the trashcan this whole time.”

Jess couldn’t help it. A smile twitched at her lips for the briefest second before she pulled it back down, but it took only that to confirm Jamie’s suspicions. She yelped as he came running at her, jumping up to get away from the rather large clump of snow that he probably planned to shove down her coat. He laughed as she ran, stumbling through the snow and no match anyway for his much longer and stronger legs. Jamie caught her quickly, holding around her body with one arm while she tried to get away and pushing the snow down her neck and back with the other.

“Jamie!” Jess screamed, laughing and still trying to escape at the same time. “Stop! Oh my God!”

When the freezing snow hit a sensitive part of her back, she yanked forwards, pulling away from Jamie and managing to fall onto the snow at the same time. She rolled over, scooping up a chunk as fast as she could while he stood over her with his own. Seeing she was trapped, she decided to play dirty and wrapped her arms around his knees, successfully pulling him down into the snow with her.

The pair laughed so hard it was difficult to breathe, not helped by the fact that Jamie was squished on top of Jess, but they managed to settle into a fit of giggles.

“Babe, you’re crushing me,” Jess managed to tease. Jamie moved off of her and sat up, pulling her arms to join him.

“Sorry I moved the trashcan… I thought it was gonna be windy today.”

“Sorry I shoved snow down your neck.” That earned another round of laughing before Jamie and Jess stood up, Jamie wrapping his arms around her cold body. Warming her up was quickly becoming his favorite past time.

“Mmm,” Jess sighed as the coldness left her body. “That feels so nice… but now I have a soaking wet back.”

Jamie leaned down to give her a quick peck on the lips before untangling himself and taking her hand in his.

“Let’s go.”

xxxxxxx

Jess leaned her head back, closing her eyes and sinking farther into the water. She wasn’t intentionally falling asleep, but after being out in the cold and snow all day, the warm bath was doing the job.

“Jess.”

“Hm.” He’d been so quiet she’d almost forgotten she was using him as her pillow.

“Are you asleep?”

Jess forced her eyes back open. “No.” She saw his next move coming. It was so Jamie. He dipped his hand into the water, splashing a handful up towards Jess, but before it hit her, it stopped. A shocked noise fell from Jamie’s mouth.

“Wha-?!” He sat up so fast water splashed dangerously close to the edge of the tub. Jess slid forward until she sat up, letting the water drop into the tub.

“Careful!”

“Jess! What!”

She laughed. “What what?”

“Uh, gee, I don’t know, that water was just hovering in the air!”

“Well yeah Jamie, I thought you would have understood after the last month and a half that I can kind of do this thing where I manipulate time-“

Jamie scoffed. “Yeah! Time, not water!” Jamie sat back against the tub, pulling Jess back to his chest.

“I can’t manipulate water; I was slowing down time, just on a specific object. Have I not done that in front of you before?”

“No, that little detail must have slipped your mind.” Jamie smiled, pushing his face into the top of Jess’ head. Her hair smelled like mangos.

“You do the same thing, Jamie. The difference between your whole body getting hot and expelling heat everywhere, and you focusing the heat through your hand, or your feet, or into a certain object.”

“Huh.”

Jamie and Jess fell back into silence, Jess drifting back into near-sleep and Jamie busy thinking about how there was still so much he didn’t know, questioning if he would –or could- ever learn it all, wondering how Jess learned everything that she did and from who.

“Jess.”

“Hm.”

“The water’s getting cold.”

Jess laughed. “Yeah, we’ve been in here for 40 minutes…”

Jamie dropped his arms from the side of the tub and slid them under the water, resting on Jessica’s. He’d never tried heating up liquid water before. Snow; yes. Ice; check.

“You might not be able to yet.”

“What?”

“Heat water. It’s really different from heating ice because it’s liquid. I don’t know for sure though, I’m just guessing because it took me a while to figure out how to manipulate the time on water myself.”

Jamie was still for a moment, and Jess let herself relax again. Somehow though, she knew he was still trying.

“Jess.”

“Jamie.”

“Does the water feel hotter to you?”

“No,” Jessica laughed, not bothering to hide it. Jamie pinched her sides, causing her to flinch and splash water over the side. “I’m getting out now! You’re cleaning that mess.”

Jamie held her waist as she stood up, climbing out of the tub himself after yanking the drain.
“Will you teach me? Not right now though.”

Jess turned and smiled. “Of course I will Jamie.” She was very happy, but very conflicted. He wanted to learn how to do more things, how to take complete control over his power and all of the things it offered. But Jess wasn’t fooling herself. Jamie was going to go back to hockey as soon as he could. His interest in his power was nothing but his natural drive and curiosity. While the couple dressed in dry clothing, Jessica couldn’t help but wonder where she was going to land in all of this mess.

xxxxxxx

Jess’ heart sunk when she spotted Jamie coming out of the airport and towards her car. The fact that he looked in no mood to talk to anyone ever again, coupled with the fact that she hadn’t heard from him since just before his meeting could only mean one thing.

Jamie trudged towards the car, rolling his small suitcase behind him and readjusting the hockey bag slung over his shoulder. It shouldn’t be this way. It should have been how he imagined on the plane ride to Victoria. A successful meeting with his coach, his spot back on the team, an ecstatic Jess waiting for him at the airport, saying that yes, of course she would leave to go with him back to Victoria while he went on playing hockey and living the dream.

Instead, Jessica quickly went from excited to solemn, still trying to put a smile on her face but unable to ignore Jamie’s pissed off mood. Instead of getting his spot back on the team, he’d been embarrassed. Coach Trail was surprised to find Jamie back at the rink, apparently having forgotten what he’d promised two months earlier. There was no longer a spot for Jamie. He couldn’t just show up at the office and think he was welcomed to jump into the team again.

Jamie didn’t get mad yet. He wasn’t giving up. Coach was probably testing him, wanting Jamie to prove that he was ready to play again. But his next sentence gave Jamie the realization that he’d never thought of.

“Besides Jamie; you’re a good kid, but we don’t need whatever you’ve got on this team.”
Jamie stormed out of the office, out of the rink, and straight back to his apartment, the one he’d never imagined having to be away from unless he was moving on to the big leagues. He’d contemplated lighting that office on fire, but refused to give his old coach the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to him.

Didn’t need him. A kid. Jamie was pissed. The wait for his flight and the ride home did nothing to calm him down. Instead of being angry with his coach, he was angry with everyone else. The world. Whatever gave him this stupid, worthless trick. Jamie didn’t want it. And if he didn’t have it, he’d have never had to stop playing. He wouldn’t have lost a spot on the team, and he wouldn’t be miles away from doing what he loved.

When Jamie saw Jess’ face, watched her pop the trunk before getting out of her car to pull it open and greet him, he knew she was the least person he should be angry with. She didn’t give him his power. She’d helped him learn to forget about it, keep it at bay. But anger is never rational.

Jess didn’t beat around the bush. She didn’t fake a smile or a positive attitude. She did help Jamie put his things in the trunk before turning and resting her hands on his arms, forcing his eyes to look down into hers, searching for any sign that things were okay.

“Oh Jamie,” She sighed, seeing none, feeling like crying that he was so visibly upset. “What happened?”

Jamie huffed out a breath, pulling away from her and getting into the car. Jess followed, pulling away from the crowd around the front of the airport and giving Jamie a moment of quiet. She knew he would talk, knew he would tell her.

The silence in the car wasn’t their most comfortable, but once Jess pulled off of the highway, Jamie’s voice came out in a quiet, angry statement.

“Coach replace me on the team, wouldn’t let me try to get back in. He said I’d be welcomed back, just 'see him in his office’. But he said they didn’t need me on the team. He said they didn’t need ‘whatever I’ve got.’”

“Jamie,”

“No, Jess. I fucking hate this. I hate everything about this!” Jamie’s voice rose, unable to control his frustration. “Why did it have to be me? All I ever fucking wanted was to play hockey! I didn’t want some fucking magic trick, some power!”

“Jamie, calm down. This was one setback. If your old coach doesn’t want you back, he’s fucking crazy! They’ll take you anywhere Jamie, you don’t need to play for some prick!” Jess felt the tears stinging her eyes, hating Jamie’s coach more than she’d ever hated anyone before. For saying what he’d said. For hurting Jamie.

“Stop the car.”

“Jamie-“

“Jess, pull over.”

Jess did as he asked, hurrying out of the car to follow Jamie, who’d barely waited for the car to stop all the way to get out and walk towards the woods.

“Jamie!” She called after him, willing him to just stop and listen to her. Instead he hurried, stomping through the snowy brush.

Jessica knew where they were, and apparently Jamie did too. It was impossible to lose him, the branches broken in his path all the way until the trees started thinning. Large melted footprints led the way right into their wide open glade. It looked like a wonderland, icicles and snow hanging from branches, white covers on the fallen logs and branches. The lake on the side was frozen, unnoticeable under its covering of snow.

Jamie knew he was heating up. It came off of his body like a breath in the cold, steam rolling into the freezing air, his feet melting the snow down to the grass below him. It only served to make him angrier.

“Jamie, please talk to me!” He heard Jess calling him and slowed just slightly, out of instinct. He hated himself. He hated everyone. And when Jamie felt the air moved around him in a strange way, he hated Jess too.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” He turned and stormed the few steps towards Jess, who stepped back in shock. “Don’t you dare use that on me!”

“Please stop! This isn’t the end of the world!” Jess reached out to him, begging him to calm down. Jamie yanked away from her and walked away, not having a clue what he thought he was going to do. Jess was all he had then.

“Jamie, please be careful!” Jess’ heart sped up knowing they had to be standing near the lake.

“Jamie, you need to come back over here, please! Please do it for me. I love you!”

She contemplated trying to slow him again, but he turned abruptly towards her, stopping in place, the heat rolling off of him like a fire.

“I just want this all to stop. I wish I could rewind my life back to three months ago and never let this happen!” Jamie took a deep breath. “If you loved me Jess, you would do that for me.”

Jess barely had time process his words before the ice broke under him and Jamie fell, plunging in the cold water. It happened so fast, Jess was frozen to the spot, mouth open in shock, panic about to set in. She ran towards the hole, not bothering to be careful around the thinned ice, and fell to her knees.

Jamie wasn’t coming up. Not there, at least. Jess’ mind scrambled for a moment before she came to her senses, pushed her hands to the ice, and slowed down time.

Jamie didn’t know what happened, at first. Ridiculously, his first thought when he submerged under the freezing ice water, was that he couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid. His body panicked immediately, flailing and shaking in the cold, trying to get to the top of the water. When he did, Jamie hit ice. His mind was racing, water filling his lungs in surprise.

Think, think!

Jamie pushed against the ice, willing his body to heat back up, but it wouldn’t budge. He feared he’d gotten exactly what he asked for, that his power was gone. Maybe he’d broken it by cooling off too fast. But suddenly, Jess’ voice was in his head. Ice is different than water.

Jamie couldn’t heat up the freezing water, but immediately pushed his hands flat on the ice and forced all of the power up through his palms, heaving out his last strength to melting it.

And all at once, the world slowed down. So much so that Jamie almost didn’t realize time was nearly frozen. Not until so much time had passed that he noticed it was, indeed, passing.

Jess stood quickly once she’d done it, unsure of how to proceed. She hadn’t stopped time. Jamie wouldn’t last forever under there.

“Okay,” Jess spun around looking for anything that could help her. “Don’t panic,”

She ran to the edge of the trees, grabbing a large branch from the ground, the snow stilling in the air once she brushed it off. Without any other plan, Jess hurried back to the lake and began ramming the branch into the ice around where Jamie fell, widening the hole and hoping he’d suddenly come into her view. The ice broke off quickly before instantly slowing, sinking into the water fast only if she pushed it down.

It felt like an eternity that she looked. In reality, it was probably 10 minutes that Jess spent searching for Jamie, desperately trying to believe that he could not have gone that far from the hole. But it was wide now, and there was still no sight of him.

Just as her body began shaking with tears, she noticed something several feet to her right. The snow above the ice had sunken in, an oval of warmth that wasn’t a footprint. She gasped as she hurried up, scrambling to brush the snow away from the spot. Sure enough, the ice there was thin, but putting her hand on it, the warmth that was there before had obviously cooled.

Jess’ heart stopped.

Jamie felt it coming slowly, like the heat in his hands was leaving all around him, his vision growing darker so slowly. He was dying the slowest death anyone had ever suffered. The water he’d swallowed felt like ice in his lungs, freezing his entire body until he couldn’t hold on anymore. The ice above his hands no longer gave. His eyes closed slowly, his body not moving in the time frozen water.

Jess swung the branch down, breaking the ice, and kept swinging until the hole in the ice was large and cracked. Throwing it aside, she let the time flow back to pace. Ice fell through the hole, sinking to the water and opening it up. Jess didn’t hesitate to reach her arms into the cold water and grabbed Jamie’s arms, yanking him up and pulling him out with strength she wouldn’t have believed herself capable of.

“Oh my God,” Jess sobbed as Jamie’s body slid out of the water the rest of the way. She didn’t know CPR, but she cradled his lifeless body to her anyway, pushing his chest down and his head back, willing him to give even just one breath. He was cold and soaked. Jess put a shaking hand to his throat, feeling desperately for a pulse.

She was afraid to touch him, so fragile and helpless. She held her hand there, feeling nothing, seeing no breath coming from his nose or mouth, knowing the truth but not willing to accept it. Jess slid her hand into his hair, shaking, feeling sick and crying loudly, begging Jamie to answer her. She leaned down and hugged him to her, resting one hand on his heart and cradling his head in the other.

“Jamie, please wake up,” She rocked with tears, thinking back through everyone she’d met, trying to remember if she’d met anyone who could bring people back to life and knowing she hadn’t.

“Jamie,” Jess wouldn’t believe he was gone. She couldn’t. She held him, time passing on by, willing him to wake up and be okay.

What she did next felt like instinct, but she’d hardly realized she was doing it. Jess pulled Jamie’s jacket open, pushing her hand into the opening and pushing her hand flat on his chest, over his heart, and focused harder than she’d ever been able to before. She knew when it happened, even though his heart was already lifeless before.

Jess stopped its time, her head shooting up as soon as she felt it. Her breathing quickened as she looked down at Jamie. She thought about the short time they’d spent together, how much they had changed each other’s life. Jess knew it was for the better.

She pushed harder down on his chest, her tears falling down from her face, feeling her power move from every tiniest spot in her body to her hands and into Jamie’s chest.

His heart beat once. It felt wrong, backwards, hopeless. But then it beat again, and again the same way. Jess’ own heart was pounding so hard she thought she might pass out, but sure enough, Jamie’s heart was moving back in time, beating blood back through his body. Jess’ face was frozen in shock, unbelieving of what she was doing; turning back time.

Jamie was suddenly aware of himself, felt his body, the cold around him, the lack of oxygen in his head and the water sloshing in his lungs. He felt a palm on his chest, heard his heart beating in his hears and yanked his eyes open, sucking in air and choking, rolling to his side and coughing up water. It spilled from his nose and ears, and he felt so sick he didn’t even care about the cold of the snow on his hands or his freezing body.

Jess gasped as he rolled out of her arms, coughing up water and trying to breathe next to her.

“Jamie!” Her smile was so great, she thought it might break her face into pieces as she screamed his name. She grabbed him, helping him sit up as he looked around in shock and confusion, his eyes falling on the happiest face he’d ever seen, crying and hugging him to her warm body.

Jamie was confused. Jess was here. He had been angry. But now he felt relief and hope. And for some reason, he felt deep inside some terrifying fear of losing Jess forever.

“Jess,” He wrapped his arms around her, pushing a hand into her hair and cradling her to him, trying to keep from shaking and holding her as she cried. Coming too slowly, he let heat flow through him, warming him and Jess.

“I love you.”

xxxxxx

Jess sat quietly in the back of the stands, watching Jamie watch the game on the bench. He leaned forward, eager for his next shift. When the Kelowna Rockets wanted Jamie, Jess had agreed to move with him without a second thought.

They never talked about the lake, and they’d never gone back to their forest. They didn’t need to. Jamie was completely in control, and completely in love with Jess.

She watched him jump off of the bench, joining linemates on the ice and vying for the puck. The other team turned it over, and Jamie rushed to the other end, was passed the puck, and shot it past the goalie. Jess cheered, catching his eye for only a moment while he celebrated with his teammates.

When the ref skated to the center for the next faceoff, Jess couldn’t help herself. With everyone and everything else frozen, she got up from her seat and walked to the other side of the rink, taking steps two at a time to get to the group of guys in suits about halfway up from the glass.

Jess slowed as she reached them, peeking over their shoulders at team names on their scout clipboards. She didn’t recognize all of them. But one stood out, because it was the NHL team that Jamie’s brother played on.

Dallas Stars.

She skimmed the notes. All positive. Very, very positive.

Jess smiled and had a little celebration by herself before hurrying back to her seat and resuming time.

She could get used to Texas weather.