If one asked the Guardians, they would absolutely deny playing favorites with any of the children under their protection. That would be a dead lie.
Sophie Bennett was the favorite. By far.
So much so that they made it a habit, every time there was a major holiday, to let her spend time at that particular domain. The evening before Easter the toddler could be seen running around Bunny's Warren. On Christmas Eve she frolicked around the North Pole, chasing the elves and getting tripped over by the yetis. On the summer and winter solstices, Sandman took her out flying, and Tooth got Sophie on her birthday.
They achieved this by having Jack kidnap her, for lack of a better term. They didn't even let Jamie know about it (Jack made it up to the boy by always being in Burgess the next day, no matter how hot it was or how far he had to travel to do so), so the entire operation of stealing the little girl away in the night was completely secret. They had been doing this for the last two years.
Sophie was five years old now, and had become completely accustomed to Jack slipping through her window certain times of the year. Eventually, she even memorized the schedule and made sure to stay awake to greet him, and bundled herself in a blanket so she wouldn't freeze on the flight over to wherever they were headed. One thing was for sure, she was a very smart child.
This particular night was Christmas Eve, and the Guardians—sans North, who was out delivering toys, of course— were all gathered in the large man's personal workshop, watching Sophie gorge herself on cookies and play with the bells adorning the elves' pointed hats. Tooth sat by the fire, occasionally getting up to join the little girl. Sandy and Bunny were each sprawled in their own massive armchair, and Jack sat next to the window, as close to the cold and as far away from the hearth as possible. He occasionally jumped up and flew out through the large gap in the ceiling, catching some air when the fire on the hearth became too uncomfortable.
It was around three in the morning when Sophie's energy began to dwindle. She calmed down, stopped chasing the elves and trying to climb up the yetis, and yawned every now and then. She took to wandering from each of the Guardians in turn. She was just finishing up being entertained by Sandy when she rubbed her eyes and made her way to Jack. Sophie had kept her distance from him for the most part, aside from calling his name for attention every so often, mainly due to the fact that, well, it really was cold where he was sitting.
She was focused on his staff. Jack was leaning back, eyes semi-shut, when he felt a sharp tug on the aged wood. Surprised, he swiftly pulled it out of arms' reach.
"Nope," he said, "Sorry, kiddo. Little girls break things. Staffs can get broken. Jack is not happy when his staff gets broken."
Sophie pouted, but recovered from her momentary disappointment and settled by grabbing onto his pants and clambering up his leg. Jack had to lean back when she began grabbing onto his hoodie, nearly falling over. Bunnymund and Tooth snorted, sobering when Jack sent them a sharp look. Sophie wrapped her arms around his neck and hung there, forcing Jack to set his staff aside to support her properly.
"You getting sleepy, Soph?" he asked softly, patting her tangled blonde hair. Sophie nodded and yawned hugely. "Think you're ready to head back?"
"Uh-huh." She yawned again. "You're co-o-old."
"Yeah, sorry about that," Jack smiled. "Let's grab your blanket and we'll head out, okay?"
"Okie..."
One arm securely around the little girl's waist, Jack scooped up the blanket and his staff, waving goodbye to the others with a, "Be back soon," before taking off through the window.
There was a moment of silence in the room, and then Bunny said, "I'll never believe that."
"What?" Tooth asked curiously. "Oh, with Sophie?"
"Not just her," the rabbit replied, "kids in general. He's a lot better than I ever gave him credit for."
Tooth laughed lightly. "A lot better than the rest of us, that's for sure."
"Yeah. It was surprising at first. Still is."
"There are a lot of things about Jack we don't know, huh?" the Tooth Fairy pondered, looking thoughtful.
Baby Tooth flitted around her boss' head with a knowing, secretive smile.