Good evening everyone, to all my readers who are dealing with the -40º weather in Southern Ontario please be safe and don't go out if you don't have to. Everyone else I hope your winter is more manageable, anyway on with the story!
The guardians, Wendy and all the other inhabitants of Stantaff Claussen worked endlessly to get everything ready for Christmas Eve. Now the time had finally come to send the gifts to their respected owners and the North Pole was buzzing with excitement. North came out adorned in his traditional 'Santa Cause' outfit as opposed to his more casual Russian attire with a proud smile on his face as he gazed upon the present filled sleigh.
"Everyone you have all worked hard to accomplish this and the children will be excited, I thank you all!" he said as he stood in front of the sled.
"Bunny I see you are still looking festive," Nicholas commented to the pooka with amused smirk.
The poor Easter bunny still had the words 'X-MAS RULES' painted in bright red on his forehead. He had scrubbed for hours and the graffiti but alas all it did was make the colour fade a bit.
"Ho ho ho old man," Aster replied with crossed arms and a disgruntled look on his face.
The Russiam man just chuckled as he looked at the rest of the family and hollered, "who wants to come for a sleigh ride!"
Immediately Wendy and Jack were in the sleigh and ready to rumble followed by Natasha, Sandy and Toothiana who was quickly pulled back by Aster.
"Darlin' yer not goin' in that death trap," Bunny said looking terrified.
"Well why don't you come with us and make sure I don't fall out," she said before fluttering back to the sleigh.
"Please let me live to regret this," Bunny said looking at the moon with a pleading look before climbing in and wrapping his arms around Tooth.
"Okie dokie let's go," North said before taking hold of the reigns and off they went to deliver the presents to the children of the world.
…
It was a long night but the presents were delivered and the group was on their way back to the North Pole. Toothiana was asleep on Bunny's chest, he had one arm wrapped around her and the other wrapped around Jack who was lying on his back asleep using Bunny's lap as a pillow. Wendy was tucked against the boy's chest as he hugged her like a treasure and Sandy was leaning against them asleep. The sleeping pile didn't even notice when a flash went off and Mrs. Clause tucked the camera back into her coat.
"What are you thinking about?" Natasha asked her husband as she looked over to see him with a solemn face.
" Nothing important," North mumbled daring a glance at the woman beside him who had look that said 'you know I'm your wife right?'
" Fine, I was thinking about Christmas," he replied.
"Shocking, but continue" she replied.
"Well I cannot help but wonder how many times something I've created has done more harm then good," he admitted out loud.
Natasha grabbed her husband's hand and said, "Nicholas we've done this for a long time now and yes bad things have happened on Christmas. Yet I have also seen some miraculous things happen on this day as well. I have seen wars halted and random acts of kindness given and many other small miracles."
"My husband you bring peace and happiness if only but for one day, I am proud of you," she said.
North smiled at her words before wrapping one enormous arm around his wife and pulling her into a loving kiss. The couple sat quietly enjoying each other's company and thinking fondly of Christmas Eves past since their first as guardians.
"You know I just had a thought," Natasha said suddenly.
"Oh ya what's that?" her husband asked curious.
"If Jack was reborn on Christmas Day then our son will be 316 tomorrow," the woman explained.
"Christmas Day is Jack Frost's birthday, huh," North said more to himself then he suddenly started chuckling that quickly turned into a hearty laugh.
"Oh no what's going through that head," Natasha asked amused.
"Jack's birthday is on my holiday, Bunny is going to be furious," North explained laughing harder only to be joined by his wife.
When they arrived back at the North Pole Natasha and Nicholas had the yetis carry their friend's back to their rooms so they could prepare the North Pole for a Christmas party to remember.
North had tons of decorations set up for Christmas as well as blue and silver balloons set up all over the place. He also had the yeti's set up the gifts he had made underneath a beautifully decorated tree. Natasha pulled out photo albums and set up a table of all the pictures she had of the winter sprite in the short two years he had been with them and smack in the middle of the pictures sat out Hubert adorned in his Christmas themed birthday hat. She then proceeded to the kitchen to begin her festive feast as well as endless amounts of desserts.
…
Jack was sitting impatiently at his window staring at the snow blowing outside, he hated being grounded like this but he knew Wendy had a promise to keep. She had left not long after they were carried to bed to go see Mother Nature but accidentally woke up Jack as she was opening the window. She told him to go back to sleep and that she would be back in the morning.
'Its morning Wendy where are you?' he thought to himself as he anxiously awaited the girl's return.
The tap at his window alerted him to his friend's arrival and he opened it quickly only to have been met with a burst of air that soon formed into the familiar face of Wendy with her arms wrapped around him.
"Merry Christmas," she said gently.
"Likewise," Jack replied hugging her back.
"So how's Mother Nature?" Jack asked as he let the girl go.
"She's says now that you have your memories back she's calling first dibs on wishing you a Happy Birthday as the mother of elements. She also expects you back for your training after the New Year now that you have gotten over your condition," she said handing the boy a box wrapped in a dark green paper with a chocolate brown bow.
"I'll open it with the rest of the presents, c'mon let's go," Jack said excited as he grabbed the girl's hand and the ran laughing down the hall to the living room where the massive tree stood surrounded by presents and beautiful decorations.
"Woh," was all the teen said as they stood in the doorway taking in the scene.
Jack walked into the room with eyes full of wonder as he looked around; his eyes fell on the table covered in pictures. Every single one was a picture with the guardians and in the center sat Hubert wearing his birthday hat and holding a card that said 'Happy Birthday Jack'.
A set of massive hands sat on his shoulders as North asked him, "Are you surprised?"
"This is incredible, I can't believe you did this for me," the boy replied moved.
"Well we did kind of miss the first 300 birthdays so we kind of owe you big celebration," North said with a chuckle.
"I dunno I kinda like that everybody gets presents on my birthday," Jack said looking at all the photos.
"Wow when was this?" the teen asked looking at the picture in his hand.
North looked over and saw it was a picture of him and Natasha on their wedding day surrounded by Nicholas' old crew holding the children on their shoulders. He remembered that day well as he looked fondly at the woman now carrying in trays of eggnog.
"That was when we were still human, we run orphanage together," North explained as he watched Jack stare at all the faces.
"Very cool, you guys look so different," Jack commented.
"Not Natasha, she never changed. Just as beautiful as she is a force to be reckoned with, North said fondly.
The moment was serene as the other guardians woke up or in Sandy's case came back after a night of creating dreams and wishing the young man a happy birthday. Wendy and Tooth helped Natasha get everything ready for breakfast while the guys set the table in the dining room.
"Wha' the…..oh ya gotta be kiddin' me!" a voice from the living room groaned.
Tooth flew into the living room knowing very well who was causing a fuss and there stood E. Aster Bunnymund looking at the picture table.
"I'm guessing you didn't really think about it either did you?" Tooth asked amused.
"No I didn't," he replied irritated.
"He won't be upset," the girl replied giggling at the pooka.
"What's the matter cotton tail, jealous that Christmas just got a whole lot cooler," Jack teased as he walked into the room.
"Kid, words cannot express how lame that was," Bunny said to the teen who looked at him confused for a few minutes before it dawned on him.
"HA! I get it cause I make snow bahahaha," the boy stopped when he realized nobody was laughing with him.
"Screw you guys I'm funny," he said with a straight face before walking back into the kitchen.
"See it's fine he thinks he's funny," the tooth fairy said before using her index finger to motion him over to her.
"What?" he asked when he was inches from her face and using the same finger she pointed up. The pooka looked up to see mistletoe hanging from the doorway and a smirk found its way to his face.
"Well who am I to break tradition," the pooka said lifting the tooth fairy's chin and kissed her tenderly.
Yet another beautiful moment was ruined between the lovers by a certain winter sprite and a sandman. They snuck up on the couple and blew a raspberry on either side of Bunny's face before running off. North couldn't control his laughter as he watched the enraged bunny chase after the mischievous pair. It was a while before the others saw any of the three guardians again and it was Sandy and Jack that were the first to arrive hiding behind Natasha.
"Be vewy quiet…we're being hunted by a wabbit," Jack said to his mother as he imitated an old cartoon he used to watch every Saturday morning at a child's house.
"Hunting can wait its time for presents," the woman replied sitting beside her husband.
Everyone is Santaff Claussen gathered to open their gifts, the majority of the boxes under the tree actually belonged to the yetis and the elves for all their hard work. They all received brand new tools and paints as well as some smoked meats for the yetis and new outfits for the elves. North and Natasha had made all the guardians and Wendy a set of pjs and a thick blanket to use when they were staying at the North Pole.
Nicholas and his wife never bought expensive gifts of any kind for eacho other after all they were never rich people. They simply gave each other the same gift they gave every year since their first Christmas all those centuries ago. They wrote each other love letters, writing about things they had suffered through and celebrated together. They also gave each other a clementine as an inside joke from the first time they met.
Bunny of course had given out his best chocolate, which he was determined to keep in the shape of Easter eggs. For Tooth however he gave her flowers from the Warren, the best he could find; thanks to a little help with North's potions they would stay fresh for a year.
"How lovely," Tooth exclaimed at the bouquet of bluebells, columbines, and asters.
"I have your gift back at the Warren tonight," the fairy whispered to the Pooka who was ready to scoop up the girl and go home.
Jack loved the Christmas/birthday presents from everyone. In the package from Mother Nature was a shirt that was a light blue long sleeve shirt that although wore like a second skin, Jack felt like he wasn't wearing anything.
"It's an ice shirt, its made of magic so you can wear it in warm places and your body temperature will remain the same," Wendy explained.
"It feels like its 3 inches thick," Bunny said knocking on the boy's chest.
"It's also designed to keep Jack safe," the element added.
With that he also received a special sand globe that would allow Jack to relive some of his dreams, a box of ancient coins Tooth had collected over the years that she thought the boy would enjoy and books from his surrogate parents.
After they saw him poking around the library a few times they had taken the time to teach him how to read and write. His eyes lit up when he ripped open the gift to reveal a copy of Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers and The Hobbit.
Jack had asked some of the yetis help with his gift to the guardians and was excited to watch them all open their gifts. Each of them received a hat, scarf and a pair of mittens, all of them different colours depending on the guardian.
"These are wonderful Jack, did you make them?" Tooth asked giving the boy a hug.
"Actually the yetis did like 98% of the work I just wrapped them, but their good teachers I learned how to make a scarf," Jack said making the yetis gush at the compliment.
"Did you have a plan for them?" Natasha asked with a smirk.
"Guys, we're having a snow day," Jack declared making everyone excited.
"After breakfast," the woman quickly said.
After the meal had been consumed they all went to get ready for the ultimate snowball fight when the globe suddenly began to react. The guardians quickly ran to it to see that a section of the map had turned red warning of a danger to a child; they looked to see where it was and realized it was Burgeese.
"Do you think its him?" Jack asked out loud.
'Sorry to say but yes I think it does' Sandy replied regretfully.
"Jack, you said you had a plan yes?" North said looking in the boy's direction and he nodded in reply.
"Then let us make haste I fear now that he knows your alive he will become even more violent, even to a child."
That's all for now readers don't forget to review :)
