Angel in the Snow
Chapter Seven
No…?
Bunnymund thought over Jack's question, not knowing how to respond. After some thinking he decided to tell the truth. "I have no idea," the spirit said flatly. The boy didn't respond however, he was already curled up to the guardian and fast asleep. Bunny chuckled and held Jack with his open arm and shut his eyes.
The next morning Bunny woke up to find Jack wasn't in bed. He didn't see the boy's clothes on the ground and his staff wasn't in the room either; though he could hear laughter coming from the main area of the Warren. Obviously Jack was still joyful he had his staff back. The older guardian got his clothes on and left his room to look for Jack. When he was outside he found several snow piles scattered about the Warren, some of the trees had snow, and there was a big patch of ice down the hill. The winter spirit was happily skating across it; giggling and smiling as if his staff had been gone for years. He was truly happy. "Come and skate with me Kangaroo!" he cheered.
Bunny smirked and pondered the notion. He couldn't really skate, rather he didn't know if he could. Though he wanted to keep Jack happy and went along with it. Bunny meandered down the hill at stopped at the base of the ice patch. Jack skated up to him and grabbed his hand pulling his love onto the ice. The older guardian was a bit nervous at first but once he got the feel for the ice he started to enjoy himself. The pair slid across the ice with pure ease and they danced around each other; almost making it look like a ballet. They moved around like that for several minutes before settling back down in the grass and laughing at the entire thing.
"That was fun," Jack sighed with a smile and staring at the high ceiling.
Bunnymund nodded. "Yeah…it was." His smile soon became a frown, "Hey Frostbite…" Jack turned his head in response. "What if…you know…you do get pregnant…?" Jack's expression soon became one of confusion. "I mean, it would be our kid…what would we name it? Heck how do we take care of it!?" Jack burst out laughing and placed a kiss on the spirit's forehead.
"Calm down you. I mean I am a guy, what is the likelihood I could actually get pregnant?" the two laughed about the wild claim and decided to travel to America to visit Jaime and his friends.
Four weeks later
Jack hadn't been feeling well for the past couple days and he didn't know why. He thought it was just his body getting used to the warmth from the Warren but wondered why it didn't happen sooner. He mentioned it to Bunnymund and he figured the same thing; though he kept a close eye on Jack. Guardians rarely, if ever, got sick and for Jack Frost to be sick was cause for suspicion. The pair made sure to take frequent visits to the North Pole in case it was Jack not being able to stand the warmth in the Warren. They also stayed at the South Pole for longer than planned when they released Pitch so Jack could relax more. It seemed to work but even in the extreme cold the small guardian still didn't feel well.
Then he threw up after another week of being sick. When he woke up his stomach took a turn for the worse and the contents of Jack's stomach were made visible. He didn't need to tell Bunny as he was there when it happened and they rushed over to North's to have Jack checked out. The boy was once again placed into the infirmary and North ran every last possible test on Jack. The oldest guardian waited for all the test results to come back before reading them all; he had the yetis record anything that may vanish before the rest. It would have been at least a week before all the results and testing was done, and Jack was not having a fun time.
Bunny tried keeping Jack calm by talking with him and staying with him like he did a couple months ago. This time though, Jack was able to at least wander around the workshop and explore. The boy found things to keep himself occupied and keep his mind off of what was going on. Last thing he needed was to be stressed out. It seemed like Bunny was more worried though, he wouldn't leave Jack's side for five minutes; the man didn't want anything bad to happen. The winter spirit didn't mind at first, he thought it was cute, though when it got to the third day it started to irritate him a little.
Jack managed to get away from his lover for a few minutes and went to talk with North about what was going on. He asked when the test results would be back and wanted to know if he would be alright. North didn't know how to answer the questions and told the boy to just not think about them. Jack then decided to ask the one question that's been burning in him for the past month. "Am I pregnant?"
The oldest guardian was at a loss. North stared at Jack with a puzzled expression for several seconds before speaking. "I do not know, Jack. When the results come back…"
"I don't care about when they come back!" Jack exclaimed. "I don't wanna wait for all them! Let me know what you—," Jack felt his stomach turn again and ran out of North's crafting room. He located a restroom and headed straight into it and emptied his stomach in the toilet. The boy panted and stayed where he was for a few minutes until his stomach finally settled down. North had followed Jack to the bathroom and waited for the boy to come out. The large man tried calling Jack's name but only got disturbing noises for a response. Bunnymund heard, and saw, what was going on and rushed over, worry on his face. North explained what happened and Bunny gave his suspicion of what was causing Jack to be sick.
North called to the boy and said he was going back to his work room with Bunny and at least got an "alright" from inside. The two men went to the small room filled with ice sculptures of toys and cluttered with papers. North rummaged through the papers and found the one he was looking for. He put on some reading glasses and read over the sheet carefully. The older man looked it over three times before looking at his long-time friend. "I really do not know what to say Bunny…" he sighed. "It appears you two were right…" North placed the paper back down and thought.
Bunnymund put a hand to his head and couldn't think of what to say. He was excited and scared at the same time. The Easter spirit asked North how it was possible and the only explanation the older man could think of was that when someone becomes a guardian their body goes through drastic changes. Even the oldest guardian didn't know how to explain the situation to his friend. All he could do was hug and comfort his friend as Bunny broke down in the room. The man finally decided to be scared.
Jack left the restroom, feeling better and walked back to North's crafting room to talk some more. Before he opened the door he heard noises coming from inside, noises of sobbing. The crying belonged to Bunnymund. Jack listened at the door for a while before he figured out what was going on. When he heard North talk about one of Jack's test results the boy felt a wave a relief wash over him for a few seconds before a wave of fear fell on him. He sank down to the floor and hugged his knees, he tried to calm himself but to no such luck. Jack was distraught, his body was shaking and tears rolled down his face like a downpour. He didn't want to believe what North said but he was always right, and he ran every single test possible.
The door to North's office opened and Jack was startled from the sudden noise. He tried to wipe his face so the other two wouldn't notice but it was useless, his noise was red from the sniffling and crying. Bunnymund was quick to notice when Jack stood up and held him tightly. He tried to act like North hadn't said anything about some of the test results. "What's wrong mate?" the Easter spirit asked. Jack didn't want to say anything and stayed silent for a bit. When he realized Bunny wouldn't let go he said what he heard them talking about and sobbed into Bunny's shirt.
The older man realized he had to be strong for them both. He ran his hand up and down the boy's back and tried to calm him down by talking softly. Bunny said what was happening was a miracle and couldn't be happier for both of them. He admitted he was a little scared but was extremely excited that their lives were going to change in a few months' time. North interjected his excitement about what was going to happen and Jack started to calm down a bit. Bunny walked the boy back to his room in the infirmary and sat down with him as North spoke.
"So it is safe to say that Jack is pregnant," the couple nodded in response. "Now Bunny knows this is the fourth time we had to deal with this so we are prepared…"
"Fourth time?" Jack questioned with slight concern. Bunny mentioned how Tooth had a few kids over the past few centuries. Jack questioned Bunny further about that and his love said it was a human that did it to her not him.
North went on and explained how a guardian's pregnancy was a little different than a human pregnancy. The first difference was that it took less time than usual, approximately five months; five or take a few days. At two months the gender of the child could be determined and not much else was different. Jack would still have the morning sickness, get strange cravings, have random mood swings, and have back pain was his stomach started getting larger. He wouldn't be able to use his powers as much while pregnant otherwise risk the baby's life. The boy would still be able to fly, make snow, and everything else just not as extreme as usual. Luckily the baby would be born sometime in autumn so it wasn't much of an issue.
The elder guardian left the couple alone and returned to what he was doing, feeling relieved Jack knew. Bunnymund held the boy close to him as they sat on the bed. "What are we going to name it?" Bunny asked softly.
Jack wasn't sure of a name, heck he didn't even know the gender of their child yet names flooded his brain like mad. "I don't know…I mean…can we wait to find out the gender first…?" Bunny chuckled with a nod then lay down with Jack on the bed, they were about to drift off to sleep when they heard a familiar buzzing sound. Tooth had come to the Pole and Sandy too from a faint glow outside the door. The pair smiled when their fellow guardians entered the room. Tooth was beaming and was talking too fast for anyone to understand and Sandy, well Jack still didn't understand the little symbols he used to communicate. Though the couple soon found themselves in a tight hug with the other guardians, they both chuckled lightly and hugged back.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! I am so excited for you too!" Tooth declared. "A baby! How exciting! I remember the four kids I bared over the past couple centuries," she smiled. "I would have loved for them to become a guardian or something but I thought they were better off with parents that had time for them," she hovered in the air and was lost in thought about her previous children.
"Wait…" Jack intervened. "How were they able to live with humans when you aren't one?" the boy was entirely confused on what Tooth was talking about.
The Tooth Fairy went on to explain how she got pregnant by a male human that still believed in her. Each time she carried a child they had a chance of becoming one of the little fairies but they all turned out human; they were also boys and there weren't any male tooth fairies. Toothiana also explained that since Jack and Bunnymund were guardians their child had potential to be one; as long as the child was chosen by the man in the moon at least. The baby would still have abilities and grow as a normal child but eventually stop aging at some point; at what point they weren't sure but it was inevitable.
Sandy also "said" some words, which Bunny was gracious enough to translate for Jack. The guardian of dreams shared his excitement for the new addition and how he hoped it would become a guardian. He immediately wanted to be the uncle and Tooth declared to be the aunt, like there was any other choice. Jack had already decided North would be the child's grandfather, he was perfect for it. The four guardians talked a while and were eventually joined by the bringer of Christmas gifts. North had declared he was able to determine the exact date when the child would be born and everyone listened carefully as he spoke.
"October thirty-first!" he exclaimed with joy. Tooth was excited by the thought of having a baby born on Halloween and Sandy was just as ecstatic.
The couple on the bed were just as happy, especially Jack. Halloween was such a fun holiday to him and having his child be born on that day made him even more excited and anxious for it to come. All five guardians discussed what kind of guardian it would be if the man in the moon chose it to be a sixth guardian. Jack thought of mischief, a very fun and interesting trait in children. Bunnymund speculated loyalty and Tooth suggested kindness. Sandy made a laughter symbol for his idea. North was the last to put in his theory, he didn't want to decide the child's destiny and let the ideas he had simmer. The others tried to egg the oldest guardian on but it seemed like he wouldn't budge.
"Come on North," Bunny teased. "You gotta have at least one idea."
The large man sighed with a smile and was about to speak when a voice echoed in the small room. "Lies…"
