N/A: Alright fourth chapter! I alright I made this one super long because tomorrow's my cousins's birthday, one's turning two the other is seven! I might not be able to update. I will be writing but the odds of being getting anything typed and updated are low. Thanks to all my reviewers! I love you guys! I honestly didn't think my fist story would be such a hit! Au revoir!
Chapter 4
It was after the movie ended that the lights slowly came back on. Tooth let out a loud yawn before looking around. North was stretching out his arms and cracking his back. Sandy had left half way through the movie to go spread sweet dreams to all of the children. Tooth had decided to stay; the fairies could handle themselves for a couple nights. Bunny's snoring caused Tooth to look over before cooing. Sometime during the movie, Jack had moved onto Bunny's lap. The toddler was snuggled into the Pooka's arms, little hands firmly gripping the Bunny's fur as a peaceful smile graced Jack's face. Bunnymund's arms had come up to wrap around the child, one around his waist and another on the back of the boy's head. Tooth reached over and lightly shook Bunny's shoulder. Emerald hazy eyes looked around in confusion his mouth opening before registering Jack in his arms. He lightly shook the toddler awake but the boy only grumbled irritated shifting to bury his head into the Pooka's shoulder. Tooth let out a light giggle before getting up. The now three elder Guardians walked back to the guest rooms before entering the room designated for Jack. Tooth took the tired toddler out of Bunny's arms and laid him down on the bed. North opened one of the dresser drawers before handing her the blue and grey polka-dots footsies and a fresh pull up. Tooth quickly changed the toddler and picked him up. She cradled him in arms and sat down in the rocking chair. A familiar lullaby ran through her mind before she started singing,
"Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night
Guardian angels God will protect thee,
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night
Angels watching, e'er around thee,
All through the night
Midnight slumber close surround thee,
All through the night
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping
I my loved ones' watch am keeping,
All through the night"
As Tooth finished the song, Jack let out a final yawn before closing his eyes and falling asleep. She kissed his forehead and then laid him down in the bed, pulling up the blanket and putting the stuffed rabbit under his arm. Little fingers came up to wrap tightly around the stuffed animal, white bangs fell in front of his eyes. Bunny and North each wished a good night and let out a sigh of relief as golden sand appeared over the boy's head creating images of snowballs and dancing girls in pretty yellow dresses. Bunny chuckled as that image danced over the toddlers head. Slowly the Guardians left the room to enter the living room once more. Sandy was waiting for them there. A question mark and books appearing over his head.
"I think we wait for morning to research and all get good night sleep," North replied another yawn filling his features. Sandy nodded and the Guardians headed off to bed.
It was eight o'clock the next morning, when the four original Guardians gathered in the living room, awaiting the waking of the white-haired youth. Tooth had left for half an hour to check on the fairies and when satisfied with their progress she came back, Baby Tooth flying next to her. North was reading one of the books from his library, attempting to find something useful. He had asked Manny the night before but the Man in the Moon had not responded.
A soft thumping sound echoed down the hall and the Guardians raised their heads as Jack toddled down the hallway. A grin lighting his face as he caught sight of the other Guardians. He ran over to North before clambering onto his lap. North merely chuckled and hugged the boy. But what Jack did next surprised them all…
"Daddy, I'm hungwy!" he said. North's eyes bugged out a little bit at the response before he broke into a wide grin. It had always been his hope after Jack had been inducted into the Guardians that North could become a father figure to the boy.
"Well, then we should go eat breakfast, da?" North said chuckling. Scooping the boy up, he walked down the hall and into the kitchen, placing Jack down onto the counter. The elves would not wake up for another half-hour so North decided to make breakfast for everybody. "What should we have? Cereal?"
"Ugh, com on mate, how about some pancakes and bacon?" Bunny said. Wide blue eyes looked up excitedly and Jack nodded frantically.
"Pancakes and Bacon! Pancakes and Bacon!" he exclaimed. Tooth grimaced about to list the multiple reasons bacon was not a healthy breakfast but everyone had already gotten the material out. She decided to go and set the table. One breakfast could be forgiven.
A mixing bowl, flour, and measuring cups were placed on the counter. The hot plate was turned on and the bacon strips were being laid down by North. Sandy was preparing smoothies. And Bunny…well Bunny was attempting to make the batter—with Jack's help.
"Alright, Snowflake, we need two cups of water and four cups of the Pancake powder stuff. If I give you the cup can you get four cups of powder for me?" Bunny asked. Jack nodded excitedly and took the cup from Bunny's hands. Bunny took a second cup before walking over to the sink, and he carefully measured out two cups of water. Turning around he walked back over to the counter setting the cup down. He looked over at Jack. Oh, he really should have been expecting this.
Jack had taken whole package of Pancake powder/ mixture/ stuff and dumped half of its contents in the bowl, another quarter of it was either on the floor or on Jack. "Oh sweet Man in the Moon, kid, what did you do?"
Jack looked up, "I was twying to measuwe it out, why?" Bunny only shook his head gathering the child up before turning to Sandy.
"Hey, Sandy, you mind getting' the batter ready? I gotta clean this ankle-biter up," Bunny called. The Sandman took one look at Jack before nodding. Bunny walked out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom. The good thing was that it hadn't been actual batter just powder. The Pooka swept off the powder from the boy's clothes and used a wet wash cloth to scrub his face clean. Once Jack was deemed clean, Bunnymund set the boy on the ground before going back to the kitchen. The smell of bacon and pancakes filled the air and the Guardian of Hope's mouth watered in anticipaction. He walked in to the room. North was flipping the last of the bacon strips onto the plate while Sandy and Tooth carried plates full of pancakes over to the table. Bunny scooped Jack up placing him in the high chair as Sandy put a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of him. A sippy cup full of orange juice, no pulp, was also set down in front of the boy. The Guardians dug into the food. Jack disregarded the silverware and proceeded to use his hands to eat the greasy food. Bunny looked over at the kid.
"Try not to make a mess again, ya ankle-biter," he said. Tooth and North let out a laugh.
The group decided to spend sometime in the library. North and Tooth starting to sort through spell books. Bunny had left to go back to the Warren. He said simply that "If I'm spendin' time 'ere I need to get some things." So off he went. Sandy had set a pile of building blocks in front of Jack who sat on the floor next to North and Tooth. Sandy flew off to the top shelves of the vast library hoping to find something that might be overlooked. The morning had started off great but soon a thick tension filled the air.
Earlier in the morning, Tooth and North had gotten into an argument. It had been a clear fact that Jack would most likely not be getting transformed back anytime soon, nor would his memories return. Tooth had said that Jack would need a more balanced diet and parental figures for the time being. This was then argued over as the two each thought they should take the role. Family often did crazy things to the mind and the two had not thought of both becoming parents. This fight had gone on for half an hour that morning. It did not help that Jack had proceeded to call North 'daddy' and thus equaled tension. Jack, however, remained oblivious.
"It should be me," Tooth whispered. North raised an eye brow at her, shooting cautious glance at Jack before turning back to the fairy.
"No, the clear answer here is me. Jack has already called me his father," North whispered back. The whispering soon turned to talking and then to shouting. Insults were being thrown back and forth.
"You are not fit to take care of children. You're always goofing off! He could get hurt!"
"You know nothing of children. You don't know how they think!"
"Well, I am more responsible then you!"
"You wouldn't have time for him!"
"You wouldn't either in the next coming months!"
"Christmas is not 'ill December it only September. Besides, he doesn't love you like he loves me!"
"HOW DARE YOU!"
It was at this point that Jack had run from the room. All throughout the fight he had tugged at North's pants and whispered Tooth's name, hoping that the two Guardians would stop their arguing. They were being so loud. It was quickly becoming too scary for Jack. He ran out of the room. Sprinting down the halls as fast as his little legs could carry him. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going and crashed into a pair of furry legs.
Emerald eyes looked down as Jack attached himself to the Pooka's leg. Soft sobs escaped the boy as he clung for dear life. Bunnymund looked down in confusion before picking the boy up and walking toward the living room. Jack buried his face into the Pooka's neck and sobbed louder. Bunny's hand came up to rub at the little boy's back and whisper sweet nothings into his ear, soon calming the boy to light sniffles and the occasional hiccup. Bunnymund sat down in one of the chairs, sitting the boy unto his lap. Frozen tears were gliding down pale cheeks and terrified baby blues were looking up at the Pooka and his lower lip was wobbling dangerously, threatening to let out more heart-breaking sobs. Bunny's heart broke at the site.
"Jack," he sighed, "Snowflake, what happened? What's makin' you so upset?"
Jack let out another hiccup before stuttering through his response, "I-I was i-in the lib-brary and D-daddy and M-mommy were f-fighting. It was scawy."
Bunnymund's eyes closed in agitation. He let a long sigh before pulling the boy close and hugging him. "I'm sure Daddy and Mommy didn't mean to start fightin'. They probably are just tired is all. They were up really late and got up super early. How about we go and find 'em, yeah? Then we can all sort everythin'" The Pooka wiped away the frozen tears still clinging to the boy's pale cheeks. Standing up, he walked down the hall with the child in his arms before opening the door to the library. And, there was Tooth and North shouting at what could have been the top of their lungs, random insults and no real words even being said. He loudly cleared his throat which seemed to do the trick, briefly wondering where Sandy was, the Pooka looked angrily at the two Guardians who were now looking at him, while casting glances between the two. Bunny made a gesture to the now shaking boy in his arms. Jack had buried his face back into the Pooka's neck, a soft whimpering sound escaping his throat and his fingers digging into the Easter bunny's fur. Tooth and North exchanged worried glances. Bunny said, "Maybe next time you two want to get into one of your fights you could be quitter or, I don't know, leave the room! Geez, ya gumbys, you want to scare him out o' his mind?!"
Tooth immeditedly gathered the child from Bunny, whispering and rubbing his back and he sobbed quietly into her shoulder, "Oh sweetie, we're sorry. We forgot you were still in the room. You were being so quiet and good. I'm sorry, baby. We didn't mean to scare you."
Jack sniffled before looking up at her. She rubbed her fingers under his eyes, wiping away the tears. He quietly asked, "Does this mean Mommy and Daddy won't find no mowe?"
Tooth looked over at North is surprise. The man's own eyebrows were raised before he let a smile break across his face. He laughed, "Da, Daddy and Mommy fight no more."