With Pitch on the loose, Jack without his powers, and North wearing a deep grove in the workshop floor, Bunny probably shouldn't have been all the surprised to see little Jamie Bennett take control of the situation.
Jack had gone and found a pretty special kid to latch on to and the boy was all set to save their sorry hides for the second time in less than a year. At the rate he was going, he'd be eligible for Bunny's job in the near future.
It wasn't in his nature to thing negatively, despite what some – Jack – might say. He was by his very nature a hopeful being. He was also supremely practical. He wasn't prone to North's flights of fancy or Tooth's scatty absentmindedness. He saw a problem, he went about fixing it. Sometimes that worked; sometimes it failed spectacularly.
This time, he figured he was in for a win.
Under Jamie's careful tutorage, the Yeti's had plied a bewildered Jack with chicken soup and mugs of sweet tea. The boy's eyes had widened at the taste and smell of the treats the elves attempted to ply him with, drawing a line under the question of Jack's undernourished frame that Bunny wasn't aware he had.
Fed, watered, and wrapped in every blanket, soft furnishing and eiderdown the Pole had to offer, Jack had dozed off in front of the fire while Jamie continued to direct his willing army of helpers.
"When I get sick," Jamie informed Phil, who had a pencil and pad of paper in his large hands, ready to take notes, "my mom gives me medicine that tastes of strawberries. Do you have that?"
Bunny highly doubted they did. A sudden image of Phil and his friends trying to navigate a human pharmacy brought a grin to his face, despite the seriousness of the situation.
Phil grunted a response. Despite not speaking a word of the same language, Jamie and the large Yeti seemed to have little trouble understanding each other. For that matter, Jack had always been able to talk to the Yetis as well. Bunny had chocked that up to one of Jack's many idiosyncrasies, but perhaps all children had the ability to communicate with the mythical race?
While Phil went on his quest to fetch Jack medicine, Jamie curled up by Jack.
Bunny blamed his highly acute sense of hearing for the fact that he could hear every word the little boy said. He wasn't eavesdropping.
"When you're feeling better we have to explore this place!" Jamie gushed, looking with wide eyes around the Pole. Even following so quickly on the heels of Christmas, there were enough wonders to keep two small boys entertained for a century or three. Bunny was rather impressed Jamie had withstood the temptation to explore, but then he supposed Jack would always be more important.
Phil returned just as Jack was waking and Tooth arrived from the Palace, Baby Tooth in tow. Tooth, upon seeing Jack awake, coherent, and more importantly, believing, had launched herself at Jack at high speed, knocking the boy off his feet and back down into the pile of cushions he had been attempting to free himself from.
Jack umphed but obligingly helped Tooth back up again as she babbled excitedly in his ear. He clearly had more manners as a human than he did a Guardian.
Within seconds of getting her arms around Jack, Tooth was sobbing in earnest.
"Please don't cry!" Jack looked torn between panic and wonderment as he patted the shimmering feathers on Tooth's arm.
She sniffed and rubbed her nose. "I'm sorry Jack, I was just so worried about you."
"You were?" Jack asked, stunned.
He sounded so completely bewildered by the fact that Tooth started to sniffle again.
"Bloody women." Bunny huffed, wrapping an affectionate arm around Tooth's shoulders to soften the blow of his words. Tooth was fearless and could be scary as Hell, but her heart was tender and took wound easily, especially where her family was concerned. "'Course we were worried, Frostbite. You scared the seven bells out of us!"
"Told you they liked you." Jaime said in a sing-song voice.
Jack stared at him, open-mouthed. Phil took the opportunity to force half a bottle of medicine down his throat.
Coughing and spluttering, he was completely unprepared for North's giant hand falling on his back in what was intended to be a helpful manner. "You feeling better?" North's booming voice was hopeful as he steadied Jack on his feet.
"Yeah." Jack choked. "I'm swell."
"Most excellent!" North beamed. "So now we plan. Where's Sandy?"
"Oh no we don't."
Jamie Bennett barely came up to North's hip, but he stared the big man down, arms crossed over his chest. "You can plan all you want." He said firmly. "Jack's going back to bed."
"I really do feel better." Jack protested.
"So, he better!" North pointed.
"And you have how much experience with sick kids?" Jamie said sternly. When North spluttered, he narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. "Speaking both as a kid, and a kid who has been sick, I'm saying he needs to go to bed." Some of the firmness dropped from his face and he looked sheepish. "My mom always sends me to bed when I'm sick."
"I wouldn't know." Jack shrugged. "I don't think I've ever been sick."
"All the more reason to do as you're told then." Jamie announced.
Tooth quickly joined in. "Maybe you should, Jack. It's not up to you to figure this out. Get some rest." She patted his cheek gently. Baby Tooth, who had so far stayed out of Jack's reach, chirruped sadly in agreement. Poor little mite, she probably didn't know what to make of a Jack who wasn't falling over himself to play with her.
"But-" Jack continued to protest, despite the fact that Jamie was tugging on his arm.
Bunny almost felt sorry for the kid.
Almost. "Go on, Frostbite. You can help when you're feeling better. For real." He added quickly.
Their Jack would have frozen something by now. Temper tantrums were his thing, especially when he felt left out of something. They could see some of his defiance in the kid's eyes, but eventually he shrugged and gave in, following Jamie morosely down the corridor.
Jamie looked up at Jack, startled still by the dark hair and eyes. He looked so ordinary.
He looked, Jamie thought with a small thrill of delight, like he could be Jamie's big brother for real.
And like all big brothers, they eventually got irritated. "I do feel better." Jack complained.
Jamie grinned up at him. "I know."
"So why did you make me leave?"
"Because I've been thinking." And he had, ever since Bunny had come and fetched him…ever since he saw Jack looking so scared and hurt. "We need to go on a mission."
Jack looked unconvinced. "A mission?"
"To find your staff?"
"I have a staff?"
"You have a staff. It's magic. Maybe if we find your staff, you'll get your memories back." A nasty thought suddenly occurred to him. "You do want that, right?"
Jack hesitated just a little too long before saying, "Of course. But can't they help with that?"
"Subtlety kinda isn't their thing." Jamie smiled, remembering Jack's chuckle as he had said those exact same words. "Besides, they'd only try stop us."
"Stop us from what?" Jack ground to a halt and Jamie almost tripped over him.
He looked back over his shoulder to make sure they weren't being watched by any prying eyes, large or small. Seeing no one, he reached into his pocket and pulled a round, glowing glass ball out for Jack to see.
"Pitch stole it from you. We're going to steal it back."
