A New Beginning

Chapter 8 Unexpected Visitors

Claire's POV:
(Written by @Kodbro)

I knew something was wrong with Jim the moment Barbara had shouted out at him like that which also turned out to be quiet a shocker for us. But at the same time, Barbara was right. What was going on between Jim and Toby?

In the end, there was only one way for me to find out. "Jim, is everything okay?" I asked him that evening outside on the porch.

As delighted I was that he could go in the sun again, something was bothering him immensely. He seemed... heart broken? "Yes. No. I don't know," he eventually said. Sighing in defeat as he did, with his hands clasped around the railing for support and his head down.

"Well, do you want to tell me about it?" I asked him. "It might help."

He didn't answer me. "It's a beautiful night," I said, thinking of Toby's rules of Lovehunting ever since he had told me them after the battle with Morgana. Rule number 1: talk about what's around you. "The stars are up. Arcadia is shining as brightly as ever. Jim, I..." I started when I began to hear the faint humming sound of a choir singing out to us from a distance. Their singsong voices drifting all over Arcadia through the frosty breeze circulating around us. "I think it's Christmas Eve."

That was one way to get him to look at me. "Tobes and I," he said. "We had a fight. And now I don't think we will ever be the same again. He said he's tired of being the third wheel and now to think of it, Claire, he's right. He's done a lot for us and we haven't given him enough credit for it. He deserves someone... a better friend than I could have ever been to him."

It was emotional the way he explained it to me. So with just us two out there in the night, I turned him to me by placing my hand on his cheek just as when he had first turned into a troll.

I was his beauty and he was my beast. I was his Juliet and he was my Romeo. I must say, it has a nice ring to it.

"Jim. I am going to tell you something that I told to Toby once. You two are the dynamic duo. That definition in itself means that no matter what happens, you two are inseparable. Best friends forever. No questions asked. Just as we will always be together," I said.

"I know we will," he said, smiling down at me.

Then we kissed under the Moonlight.

Toby's POV:

I wasn't upset with Jim. I just wanted him to realise how he has been treating me lately.    

As I sat in the living room watching Jim and Claire talk outside through the window, I still couldn't understand why Jim had chosen that life. To become a troll. It's like, I didn't even know him anymore.

As if reading my emotional state, because yes, that's what everyone can do, Dr L came over to when she realised that Jim was occupied with Claire. "Is...?" She started. "Is everything okay with you and my son?"

How was I supposed to answer her? Yes, Dr L. That small outburst was nothing to worry about. Just something that Jim and I need to discuss. Or did we...? Now that I thought about it.

"I mean no disrespect, Dr L, but Jim can explain it better than I can," I said. I hoped I didn't sound too cheeky because in truth, Barbara was like a second mom to me.

"Okay. You know though, it may not seem like it, but whether you think it or not, Jim does need a friend like you, Toby. Especially now that he's a... troll. You don't know how much you mean to him. You're the only one that keeps him grounded to the human world. What's left of the Jim that we all once knew. I know it's difficult and I can't tell you what to do, but... if it means anything at all, I know you two will sort it out. You always do," she said.

I will admit. I was impressed when she got up to go back to Strickler. It's like she had rehearsed all of that which now to think of that, maybe she had. Her words also made think and reconsider what had happened between me and Jim back at my house.

"Aww, tons of fun. Why is that frown hanging upside down?" NotEnrique suddenly asked me. I had completely forgotten that he was there.

Alas, I never got to answer him because just then after Jim and Claire had come back inside, a few minutes later the doorbell rang.

"I will get that," Barbara said.

The rest of us waited in the living room as we heard her opening the door and then two voices simultaneously sing out, "Happy Christmas Eve!"

Uh oh, I thought.