Finding Home Again - A Trollhunters story

Chapter Eleven - Meeting Jack

I love the number 11.
Happy Valentine's day to everyone.
Also, sry if I was being too descriptive. That may or may not change in the future. LOL

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An hour after Jim and Claire get to Jim's house

   Jim drifted to consciousness, his eyes slowly opening.

   His room was filled with bright sunlight that seemed to beckon playfully at him. Get up, the sun was telling him. No, he thought, leaning his head on his wall.

   Someone knocked on the door. "Yeah?"

   Toby came through and beamed at him. "You're awake!"

   "Yep," Jim replied.

   Claire's face appeared beside Toby's.   "How are you doing?" Claire asked, coming in. Jim shifted to make room for them, being careful not to disrupt his injured leg. They sat on either side of him, and the three of them leaned their backs against the wall.

   "I'm... okay, I guess. What about you?"

   She shrugged. "Fine,"

   Toby bit his lip, and Claire leaned closer to him. "What is it, TP?"

   He avoided her eyes, and Jim frowned. "You okay?"

   "Yes," Toby said. They were all quiet for a few moments, waiting for him to say something, until he finally did, "I just felt so useless when you were missing."

   "There was nothing anyone could have done." Claire softly said.

   Jim put an arm around him. "Tobes, you've helped a lot more than you think you did, and you still are."

   Eventually, Toby left to go call his Nana, and Jim and Claire dozed off.

   Jim's chest rose and fell under her head, and his breathing was the only thing she could hear as she slowly woke up.

   Half awake, she snuggled closer to him. His arms came up to stroke her shoulders gently, and Jim pressed a kiss to her forehead.

   Claire couldn't resist a smile, and she raised her head and kissed his neck.

   "You should sleep, Jim."

   "Mmmh."

   "I got to sleep before that whole shitty disaster happened, but you didn't."

   Jim opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. "Where'd you dump Trevor and Marcus?"

   She propped herself up on her elbow, leaning over him. "Shadow Realm. And I know what you're doing,"

   He chuckled. "Worth a shot."

   "Your mom wants you to get lots of sleep."

   Jim frowned. Claire rested her head on him again, and kept speaking. "She said you need to stay in your bed for a while and let that leg heal a little before you use it."

   "Oh."

   "Can I make you tea?"

"Please,"

She gave him a smile and kissed him on the forehead, then carefully got out of the bed and went downstairs to make the tea.

As she plugged in the kettle, Krel popped his head in the kitchen and said, "Someone knocked on the door," and she followed him out into the living room as Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!!!, Strickler, and NotEnrique wandered away from the door warily.

Douxie answered it, and Claire went up behind him the see who it was.

Casperan let him inside and Jack looked around at the regular-seeming home. Immediately, he saw the Trolls. A large one with horns sticking out of his thick green fur and large teeth poking out of his wide mouth stood there beside three more peculiar-looking persons with stony skin.

A tall, humanesque with yellow eyes, green skin, long grey hair, wearing a brown suit, with very pointy horns raised his eyebrows, and a tiny Troll with paler green skin and a diaper on him strutted out from behind him.

The fourth Troll was tall, though much shorter than the first Troll, and he had long dark blue hair and blue skin. The most surprising parts of him were his six eyes and four arms, though. This one also had horns and large, pointy teeth.

Jack felt like he was in a dream.

"H-hi?" Jack said.

The tiny, diapered Troll pulled out a sock and used it to gesture at Jack as he spoke. "Oi, who the hell is this, Douxie?"

Jack smiled. "I'm Jack, it's nice to meet you."

Casperan placed his hands on his hips. "Jack Sturges." He gave Jack a look.

"Oh. Right." Jack cleared his throat. "You know who Jim's ex-father is, right?"

Subtle frowns all around. "Yeah, we do." Toby said.

"What about him?" Claire asked.

"Well, I'm his brother."

Many eyes widened, and Claire and Toby locked eyes. "That's crazy!" Toby exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know." Jack frowned. "I don't know where my brother lives anymore, but that's probably for the best. If I talked to him, he would flip."

"Okay?" Toby said.

Casperan put a hand on Toby's shoulder, who gave him a sheepish smile.

Jack sighed. "I'm just... I'm just here to help in any way I can."

"What do you mean by help?" The blue Troll with blue skin said, four of his eyes blinking. "I am Blinkous, by the way," he added.

That... made a lot of sense.

"I want to support the Lakes, and... it has come to my notice that they are being watched by unwanted eyes."

"How do you know about that?" Casperan said this time, scrunching his eyebrows together.

Jack sighed.

"I was in the area for my own purposes - which aren't important right now - and I noticed this man lurking around. Being my own curious self, I followed him as quietly as I could and saw that this house was being spied on."

Krel's eyes narrowed a titch. "Why would we trust you, a stranger?"

Jack raised his hands. "If you don't want me here, that's okay. But this isn't your house. Can I speak to Barbara or not?"

A woman spoke at the top of the staircase: "You can,"

Barbara walked down the steps, putting on a pair of glasses. She wore baggy pyjama bottoms and a black tank top. Her hair was disheveled, and she looked like she had just woken up.

She led Jack to the kitchen. The human-like Troll with green skin and yellow eyes looked at him mistrustingly as she did.

"Okay, just tell me what you're here for. If you're looking for your brother, he isn't here."

"I know he's not here."

"Go ahead, then."

Jack took a deep breath, and shoved his hands into his pockets, reminding himself suddenly of his encounter with James in Vermont recently, and told Barbara his brother's real story...