Okay another chapter. I actually finished this last night but we got busy...yknow, seeing the new star trek.

Pretty good, but damn the violence... literal skull crushing is at a maximum.

Anyway, enjoy

Chapter 10

Recovery Mode

"Uncle Bunny, what's happening to Mommy? Where did Mommy and Daddy go?" Skye asked worriedly as the guardians rallied them inside North's office. Bunny just shook his head and Tooth stepped in.

"They just had to talk about something. Don't worry; there's nothing wrong." She said with a forced smile. The twins exchanged a look before frowning slightly.

"Yeah uh, it's nothin', Mates. They jus' had to go do somethin', that's all." Bunny said quickly when he noticed the twins weren't convinced. Sandy lifted Skye up and sat him down on the desk; he made to pick up Alex too but she crossed her arms and dodged the sandman attempting to grab her.

She climbed up to a lower table and the guardians watched her confusedly. After a moment she felt she was well enough on the table and rested her fists on her hips.

"There's somethin' you're all not telling us," She said, pointing her finger accusingly at them. "What's really going on? Why does Mommy look so sad all the time?" She said, crossing her arms. The guardians all exchanged weary looks for a moment.

"We hide nothing from you two! And your mother is just… She is tired. Nothing more." North smiled, clasping his hands together. Alex raised a brow.

"Who's Pitch?"

She saw North blink and her glare hardened.

"Yeah, who is he? We heard Mommy tell Daddy that name when they talked about my dream… Was he there?" They turned to Skye as he spoke as well and their stances went rigid.

"P-Pitch? Um, what's a pitch? I-I'm sure your parents were just talking about something else, Sweet Teeth." Tooth said, her eyes darting about nervously.

Alex growled in frustration and stomped her foot on the desk.

"Stop it already!" She screamed, the guardians and even her brother all flinching at her voice. But she didn't stop there, oh no; she was going to find out what was happening to their parents. "Stop hiding stuff! Ever since Skye had that dream, Mommy's been sad all the time and Daddy always has to leave to help her again! Everybody's hiding stuff from us and we hate it!" She paused when her voice cracked, her fists shaking at her sides and tears welling up in her eyes.

Skye jumped off the desk and hurried over to his sister, taking her hand in his as she attempted to rid herself of her tears by wiping her arm across her eyes.

"We j-just wanna know why M-Mommy's so sad…" She sobbed, her brother squeezing her hand reassuringly and lowering his eyes, his dark bangs hiding them view.

The guardians watched the twins sadly, looking at each other North turned and came toward them, kneeling down in front of the two after taking them down from the table.

"We are sorry. If you want to know, then…," He paused, the twins looked at each other hopefully and Alex sniffed as they both turned to North who had pursed his lips. "Then we will tell you."

"Taylor! Tay just wait up a second, please!"

I wasn't sure how long we'd been flying, but I did know it'd been a while. The wind pushed me forward again as I saw we were coming up on some town and Taylor began to descend, unclipping her barrette as her hair now lifted with the wind in yellow waves. I couldn't see her tear-streaked face anymore because of it.

Her feet touched the ground and her body immediately began to sway. My eyes widened and I was by her side in an instant, ceasing my own flying in the process.

"Tay? Tay, look at me, please." I pleaded, taking her trembling hands in my own. She shook her head, only bitten back sobs could be heard. I lowered my eyes for a moment.

"Taylor, come on… I know it hurts; but there's nothing we can do. Besides, your mom saved us, saved our children too. If he comes back again we'll give him the biggest beating he's ever taken." I said, balling my hand into a fist and just imagining the sweet, sweet pleasure of knocking all of that bastard's teeth out.

She sniffed and pulled her hand away to cover her mouth. "B-But Jack, why did she h-have to ki… To ki-" She whimpered and I frowned before wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her body close to mine. She flinched at my actions for a moment and finally relaxed a little.

I raised my other hand to stroke her hair lightly and rested my chin on her head.

"I don't know, Tay. Maybe she didn't want her fear bringing him back again, so she…" I trailed off and I felt her nod slowly.

I pulled away enough to look at her and I brushed my hand against her cheek lightly. "Come on, Tay… She wouldn't want you to feel so sad. She'd want you to move on, to protect your own children like she did too. I mean, no one would exactly recommend doing it the same way, but she gave us the chance to keep them happy," Taylor lowered her eyes in thought and I lifted her chin to look at me. "You know, we may not see her here right now, but she'll always be with us. She's always gonna be right here." I pointed to her chest and she blinked confusingly at me and sniffed.

I bit my lip for a moment. "Think of it this way, Tay; if you keep someone you love in your memory- you never ever forget about them- they're never really gone. Just don't say goodbye." I said, after a moment she sniffed and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve and let out a shaky laugh.

"Since when did you get so philosophical?" She smiled at me through her tear-stained features and I couldn't help but grin.

"Ah, yknow, just reading a little Confucius in my spare time." I said with a small smirk and she giggled slightly.

"Glad to have you back, Tay." I whispered and kissed her lightly. She kissed me back without hesitation and took my hand in hers.

"Glad to be back. Let's head back over to the Pole, too," She said, pulling me along before frowning slightly. "I bet I gave the kids quite the scare before."

I frowned a little and felt the wind push us up into the air. "Well yeah, you did. But as soon as we get there they'll only be happy to have their mommy back." I said and smiled when I saw her do the same behind me.

We landed lightly on the tiled floor of the globe room back at the Pole and looked around the room. Aside from the occasional yeti or elf rushing by with a small wave to us, there was no one else around.

"Do you think the others are still here?" Taylor asked, resting her hand on the table and I frowned.

"They've gotta be, we weren't gone that long." I said, I turned my head at the sound of a door opening with a series of footsteps following after.

"Jack, Taylor- you're back!" We saw Tooth flutter in and she stopped in her advance when a few feet away from Taylor. "Are you alright?" She asked warily.

After a moment of thought she bit her lip and nodded. "I will be." She muttered. Tooth frowned concernedly and glanced at me in question. I just sighed lightly and shrugged.

"Oh, by the way, Jack. The kids, uh… We sort of had to…" She trailed off, twiddling her thumbs nervously. Taylor and I shared a look and frowned at her.

"Tooth? What did you do?" I asked slowly. Her feathers ruffled slightly and she bit her lip.

"They did end up hearing some of what we saw and, well… We had to tell them everything," Our eyes widened and she thrust her arms out as if keeping us away from doing anything. "We didn't give the details! They're only four after all!"

"Okay, okay, wait a second. You told them everything? What did they do? What details did you leave out?" Taylor couldn't seem to stop the questions from coming, by now it was all just gibberish. She didn't even hear the door swing open again with rushed voices.

"Wait a sec; Alex, Skye, get back here!" Bunnymund's voice rang down the hall along with much younger voices getting closer each second.

Alex came into view first, her blonde hair flailing about as she ran. It whipped her brother in the face when she stopped with him behind her. Their eyes widened at seeing us and tears welled up in their eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy!" They cried, running at full speed and jumping at us both at the same time. Taylor let out a yelp of surprise when Skye's tiny body collided with hers as Alex's did the same to me and we all went down on the floor in a second. Luckily we managed to catch them before they fell painfully instead.

"Why didn't you ever tell us?" Skye asked, a small frown on his face as he and Alex pushed themselves up enough for us to be able to sit up.

I bit my lip and Taylor sighed lightly.

"We're sorry, Sweeties. We just didn't want you to-"

"Yeah! 'Cause it sounded awesome!" Alex cheered, her hands balled into fists and she fist-bumped her brother with a smile. My eyes widened slightly.

"Uh… Wait, what?" I was at a loss for words. Just what did the others tell them?

The twins grinned at each before jumping off of us and standing a few feet away.

"Yeah! Uncle North said that you guys were like superheroes! How Pitch was some creepy bad guy doing evil stuff, and- and-" Alex continued to stutter excitedly, unable to say any more so Skye chimed in.

"And you and Mommy fought him all the time! Like how you had your big stick and-" He pretended to hold something similar to my staff in his hands. Alex giggled and pretended to hold something too. After a moment some elves ran by and substituted the empty space with wooden swords.

"And Mommy had her big star thingy, fighting Pitch like- BAM!" They swung the swords at each other and jumped back. "And how Pitch totally got beat up by Gramma too!"

Taylor blinked and a small smile graced her features. "Gramma?"

Skye nodded happily. "Yeah, Mommy's mommy! Right?" He turned to Alex in question and she nodded before frowning slightly.

"Aunt Tooth told us she's somewhere else now and that we can't meet her either," She sighed before blinking and walking up to Taylor with a smile. "What was she like?"

I looked at her and squeezed her hand tightly and she smiled at me before turning back to the kids again.

"Gramma was…," She paused for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Gramma was strong. She saved you two- saved all of us- from Pitch. She would've loved you two." She said, the twins grinned widely.

"Was she fun? Was she crazy?" Skye asked and I raised a brow at his second question before laughing and Taylor nodded.

"As crazy as they come." She laughed and he cheered. Alex stepped up too.

"Could she fight? Like karate and swords and stuff?" She asked, trying to do a jump kick and slipping back as her balance failed her. I grinned and caught her before she hit the floor and she giggled.

"Maybe not anything like that," The kids groaned and she smiled lightly. "But she was a fighter; that's for sure." I smiled to myself at that and Skye raised a brow.

"But if she didn't do any of that stuff, then how was she a fighter?" He asked, his hands on Taylor's legs as he pushed himself forward a little.

"Well, um… It's like uh… Okay, wait…" She trailed off, unable to explain it at all. I shook my head and chimed in instead.

"It's being strong in your heart, not your body." I said, the twins glanced at each other and lowered their eyes for a moment.

"I think I get it… Yeah!" Skye said and Alex's head shot up.

"O-Oh yeah! I get it too!" She said with a smile.

I chuckled and shared a look with Taylor and she smiled, lacing our hands together.

A little drama never hurt anyone with kids like this around.

So, yes? No?

This is the last of this little time zone or whatever, next time the twins are gonna be 10 years old!

See you next time