Alright, I erased the Author's Note which was chapter 4 and fixed a few things so my followers may have noticed some weird email posts this afternoon. Anyhow, Chapter 6 is new so please ready it before this one.

Child's Play 7

Costumes - Sandy

Pictures were becoming increasingly popular. If Bunny didn't have the camera Tooth did or Sandy and even Pitch had begrudgingly decided that pictures of little Jack was a necessity. After all they had no baby pictures of the boy since there were no cameras invented at the time Jack was a baby in his previous life and he had been a teen when he became a spirit. Had the Guardians paid more attention to him back in those days they would have gathered many images of the boy with the various devices invented by the residences of the original Santoff Claussen, not quite cameras but very similar. The closest any of them came was North when he caught an image of Jack in one of his globes the evening after Jack officially became a Guardian, but it was not the same.

The others wanted to catch every minute of Jack's toddler life as they had with the kits decades earlier. Bunny teased that he wanted the pictures for black mail purposes but everyone knew that the Pooka was quickly falling in love with his mate's child form - not in the adult way but in the big brother and protector way as he had when Jack first became a Guardian. Even the yetis were becoming increasingly fond of the ice child.

Oddly enough the child still held a fair amount of control over his element. He could still create snow or make it cold and had much fun doing so until North had to reprimand him and explain that such things were for outdoors. Jack got very upset about that until his adoptive father took him outside to play in the snow. That was a mistake that led to a frantic search for the boy when a sudden blizzard hit the pole with little Jack giving a happy yell of "Snow day!" before disappearing into the whiteness. Bunny cursed North out for it and received a snowball in the face for his language. Jack did not like swears what so ever and made it a point to slap or throw snowballs at offenders. North had to sit the child down and explain hitting was just as bad. But Jack loved the snow just as much as a toddler as he did as a teen. He could spend hours out in the tundra without slowing down or getting tired and the only reason he came indoors was when he was told it was dinner time or bedtime. Keeping him in became increasingly difficult. Then the yetis came up with a rather entertaining yet messing way to keep the child busy inside.

North sighed in frustration as he dipped his arms in the cool bath water. "They could have at least given you water colors to paint with," he muttered to himself as he brought up the wash cloth to scrub behind Jack's ears. "Most of them have had their own children and should know better. Children and acrylics don't mix. At least it was oils."

Jack of course was too busy playing with the bubbles to really care what his daddy was saying. He scooped up a handful and blew them around the room. His little fingers were covered in gold and pink paint and try as he might North could not get the paint out from under the boy's nails. It was worse than the time Tooth decided to paint her nails and then decided she didn't like the color and asked North for help getting it off. Nail polish remover was not something he kept in his workshop and paint remover was for too hazardous to use.

"Daddy, can we go for a ride tomorrow?" Jack asked suddenly. He held up a toy reindeer and sleigh and flew them over the bubbles.

"Where do you want to go, my little Snowflake," North asked as he peeled a thick layer of blue paint off Jack's shoulder. How in the world did the boy get paint there?

"See Jamie."

North paused, his heart nearly stopping. Jamie Bennett had grown up and passed away years ago. Sighing again he decided not to burden the child with such information. "Perhaps we'll visit the penguins?"

Jack's eyes lit up despite the change in subject. "Can we?"

Smiling, North nodded. "Of course we can, little one."

It took another twenty minutes to get the paint out of Jack's hair - at least most of it - and by then the water was as icy cold as Jack's core temperature. Not that it bothered Jack but North fingers were becoming numb and he was tempted to add more warm water. He pushed that thought aside as Jack gave a mighty yawn. Pulling out the plug in the tub the Russian let the water drain as he grabbed a large fluffy towel off the toilet. Jack rubbed at his eyes before holding out his arms to be picked up.

"I'm tired," the child said in a sleepy voice.

"Of course you are, мой маленький один," North said as he hefted Jack into his arms. "It's been a long and exciting day. You played dress up, and had a fun and frankly scary game of hide-and-seek, then painted and what a mess you made. But that'll teach the yetis not to give you acrylics, no?"

Jack giggled. "Phil was mad."

"That he was but it's his own fault."

Sitting on the edge of Jack's far too large bed now that the boy was a toddler, North began to towel dry his son as he searched for stray globs of paint that he may have missed while washing him. He hummed softly as he dried ever inch of the boy, noting in wonderment how steam wafted off Jack even though he had been bathed in cool water. The room was far warmer than it should have been, even if there was no fire in the hearth. Jack needed to cool down a little more but North was reluctant to open the windows further they already were. Losing Jack once in the blizzard was enough for him. Nonetheless he need to find a way to help Jack preserve his body temperature.

"Jack," he asked softly. "Would you like to wear one of your costumes to bed? One of the footy ones?"

"Can I?" Jack asked, his eyes sparkling.

Since making the first few costumes North had decided to had to the collection. Those that Jack didn't play in often had been moved to his room where he could play dress up without have to drag around his chest. Jack jumped off North's lap and rushed to his closet. He had trouble opening it so North got up to help him, amused that the boy cared nothing for his state of undress. Inside the closet was another chest and he quickly opened it to pull out a golden jumper. North smirked as he helped Jack get dressed.

"This one? Ah yes, Uncle Sandy is sure to get a kick out of you dressing like him," he said as he carefully did up the zipper on the front. He lifted the child into his arms once more and carried Jack to the mirror over the large dresser. "Perhaps I should had some stuffing around your middle."

Jack gave a giggle and then a whoop of glee as the real Sandy floated into the room. "Sandy! Look! I'm you!"

The dreamweaver raised a questioning brow but hide whatever dislike he may have had for the get up when Jack scrambled out of North's arms and ran at him. The child was no taller than Sandy but he was still very strong, he tackled Sandy to the ground and gave his favorite uncle a tight hug. Sandy's arms immediately went around the boy's waist and hugged him back.

"Can I help give dreams?" Jack was asking in his childish way. "See, I'm Sandman, too!"

Sandy only smiled at the child and patted his head. Symbols appeared above his head; a snowflake, a bed and an arrow.

Jack gave a whine. "No...no bed, I want to give dreams."

Sandy held up a finger and then more symbols appeared. Jack readily nodded before jumping to his feet and bouncing onto his bed. North watched in bewilderment as the boy jumped once, twice and then landed on his bum. Sandy floated to the bed as he created more images. This time a snowflake and tooth brush.

Jack nodded as Baby Tooth flew out of the bathroom. She had been hiding there while North got Jack dressed, trying to advert her eyes while the boy was nude. "Yep, daddy and Baby made sure I brush teeth. See!" He opened his mouth wide to show off his pearly white teeth. "Can I make dreams now?"

Sandy nodded and handed Jack a small handful of dreamsand. Then he demonstrated how Jack should throw it up over his head. The boy copied him and threw the sand above his head. He giggled as the sand exploded above him like fireworks then changed into dream animals and danced around him before returning to sand and falling all over him. A moment later Jack gave another yawn, rubbed his eyes and promptly fell asleep with Baby Tooth curled next to his head on the pillow.

"Sandy, I didn't even get a chance to read him a story," North grumbled as he fixed the pillows around Jack like a fort as Pitch had showed him the first night.

The Sandman just shrugged and tugged at Jack's pajamas as if to ask what the hell they were supposed to be.

"Jack like to play dress up and wanted to be you tonight. I think he looks adorable," North explained, shooting the ancient being a grin. "Did Bunny show you the images of him dressed as Pitch?"

The small man's eyes grew wide and he shook his head.

"Very cute. He even managed to be a good boogeyman and give Pitch a fright." He chuckled as he wrapped a thick comforter around Jack's sleeping form, hoping to help the boy keep the cold inside himself. "Can you imagine Pitch Black taken by surprise by a three year old grabbing him from behind. The man needs more physical contact with people. His anxiety level is worse than Bunny's."

Sandy gave a nod but he had a secretive grin on his lips that made North raise one brow.

"Sandy? What is going on between you and boogeyman?" North asked as he tucked the edges of the blanket under Jack. He then reached for the lever to open the skylight a little wider. "You two have become awfully chummy the last few years. If I didn't now better..."

The dreamweaver only shrugged then gave Jack a goodnight kiss on the forehead before darting out the skylight.

North stroked his beard as he watched his friend fly away. Sandy was almost as fidgety as Bunny was when he and Jack first got together all those years ago. He shook his head. No, Sandy and Pitch were not in a relationship. Surely one of their fellow Guardians would have noticed by now.