Disclaimer: Do not own.
It's a hard and painful lesson that belief isn't always enough. Because none of them stop, not for a moment, not since they stood side by side with the Guardians to drive Pitch back into the shadows. But as they grow older, they lose the simplicity of purpose and pureness of heart that only a child can manage. They begin to worry about college and work and bills, and begin to lose sight of wonder and fun.
Jamie doesn't notice at first that he can't see or hear the others anymore, because he can still see Jack, who he had always been closest to. He had been Jack's first believer, and Jack had restored his belief that Easter that he had doubted and almost lost faith. So Jack stops by every winter for snow days and snowball fights and fun.
Then comes the winter where Jamie's window frosts over and snowballs splatter against the pane, but when he sticks his head out to say hello, no one is there.
"Why can't I hear you?" Jamie asks, distressed. "Why can't I see you anymore?" He worries that he has somehow not believed enough. Jack draws question marks in the frost. He doesn't know either.
A frantic discussion with Pippa (his girlfriend these days, and studying to become dental hygienist) leads to her tearful admission that she hasn't seen the Tooth Fairy or even any of the flittering baby teeth in the last year. It has been longer since she has seen any of the other Guardians. A quick call to his other friends reveals that Monty, Caleb and Claude haven't seen North since they graduated high school.
In fact Cupcake (who now writes children's books and is really named Alice – who knew?) is the only one of the older children who still sees her favorite Guardian. And even she never sees Sandy outside of her dreams anymore. They figure it's some sort of loophole, since they can still see the effects of the Guardians' powers, and Sandy's powers are dreams.
Sophie, of course, is several years younger. She doesn't see Tooth anymore (which Jamie chalks up to the trauma of bloody teeth with bits of gum still attached) but sometimes still sees the baby teeth, and so far can still see the other Guardians without trouble. But by the time she graduates college, she can only see Bunny and Jack. Then her ability to see Jack fades sometime between one winter and the next.
It's the Easter just after her twenty-eighth birthday that she calls Jamie, sobbing because she hadn't been able to see Bunny hiding the eggs that year.
Jamie does his best to comfort her over the phone. He reminds her that it's not her fault. It had happened to all of them. (Except for Cupcake, who still sometimes dreamed a tea party where she could chat with Sandy about her latest books.) It wasn't a reflection on the strength of her belief. It was just an unfortunate part of growing up.
Jamie reminded her that just because she couldn't see them anymore, didn't mean that they weren't still around. Sophie agreed, cradling the beautifully painted egg that hadn't been on her counter when she'd first called her brother.
Cupcake still dreamed. Sophie still received a beautiful egg, painted just for her, each Easter. Jamie sill held conversations with pictures drawn on frosted windows. Pippa helped children keep their teeth shiny white, and smiled when they told her about visits from her favorite fairy. Monty and Caleb and Claude still left cookies out for North, and grinned when they were gone the next morning.
Jamie and Pippa have been married for almost five years, and Jamie is bundled up and sitting outside talking to Jack and puzzling out the pictures he gets back in reply. "Who's that?" asks a little voice behind him.
Jack perks up as Jamie motions the little girl forward. "This is Jack Frost," he tells her. "He's been my friend for a very long time."
"Jack Fwost?"
Jamie nods. "Jack, this is my daughter, Maddie."
"Pleased to meet you," Jack says, extending a hand to the little girl.
"I'm pweased to meet you too," she says, shaking his hand solemnly.
"Do you want to have some fun?" Maddie nods her head so enthusiastically that she lost her hat and one of her braids was threatening to come undone.
Jamie laughed and fixed the braid and set the hat back on her head. "Can I go pway with Jack?" Maddie asked. He nodded and nudged her toward the front yard with a warning to stay out of the street.
Pippa came out onto the porch with hot chocolate for herself and Jamie. The two of them watched their daughter build a massive snowman with the help of an invisible pair of hands, and smiled at each other.
Growing up wasn't all bad.