Even though it was the middle of the night, the children of Burgess had run out onto the streets in order to see the first snow of the season. They jumped and laughed and threw snowballs at each other, completely forgetting their nightmares from a few minutes ago. None of them saw Pitch as he slid by; he had no choice but to slip under a bed and return to his lair, and wait to try again some other night. But at least now he had something dear of Jack Frost's. Pitch knew that Jack would be completely devastated to find the girl he loved frozen to death in the snow; nothing would hurt him worse.

Jack flew past the celebrating children playing in the snow, back to the forest. He had to fly over the trees for quite some time before spotting Pitch's trap with Elisa laying inside, already buried in the snow. He spotted her blonde hair against the white.

"Elisa!" Jack called out as he slid down into the pit. For the first time in a long time, he was terrified. He couldn't bear to lose her a second time. It had taken him a long time to find her down in this pit – too long, he feared. He slid down into the pile of snow and dug Elisa out, gently brushing the snow off her face. He shook her gently. "Elisa, wake up. Please."

Elisa's eyes fluttered open, and Jack's heart flooded with relief. "Jack," she said, softly but happily. "You came back, like you promised." She lay in the snow looking up at him, her blonde hair splayed out around her.

"Well of course. I always keep my promises." Jack looked down at her smiling fondly, but saw she looked very weak. Her skin was far too pale, like the snow, and her lips were blue and shivering.

"I'm just glad I got to see you again," she said, her eyes closing as she smiled contentedly. "I always believed in you."

"Elisa, why does it sound like you're saying good-bye?" Jack asked in concern. "Elisa?" He lay a hand on her, but she didn't stir. "Elisa!" He shook her gently. Little snowflakes fell on her closed eyelids.

"No!" Jack shouted. He turned his head up to the night sky, glaring defiantly at the moon. "Don't take her!" he shouted up at the moon. "I need her!"

The moon didn't answer. Jack scooped up Elisa in his arms, her now tattered white dress hanging around her, her arms hanging limply. She still felt warm in his arms. He managed to grab his staff in one hand and summoned the winds quickly. The winds carried the two of them out of the pit, and Jack rode the winds over the treetops. He had to warm her up, fast, or he would lose her.

The first thing he could think of was his old home, the spot where his house used to be. The spot was now just a barren patch of land near the frozen ice skating pond, but three hundred years ago, his house had stood there. Jack had found only a few things left over. He landed on the snow and placed Elisa carefully down, sitting her up against a tree. "Hang on," he whispered. He rummaged in the hollow of a nearby tree, where he had stowed the few things he had found left over from his old home. He returned with a piece of flint and steel, and quickly gathered some firewood, which he piled next to Elisa. He struck up a fire with the flint and steel, something he hadn't done in three hundred years. The wood caught flame. Jack gasped in pain and leapt back from the heat. It wasn't a big flame at all, but it still hurt him.

He sat at a safe distance from the bonfire, watching Elisa still sleeping peacefully beside the flames. He hoped it would be enough to warm her up. It was all he could do. He knew that when someone was hypothermic, the other person was supposed to hold them to warm them up; but if Jack did that, he would only make her colder. All he could do was sit here and wait for her to wake up. "Please," he whispered up to the moon. "Please don't take her from me again. I need her." He sat in the snow with his arms wrapped around his knees, his head buried in his arms as a few tears escaped his eyes. The tears froze on his eyelids as he waited for the girl to wake up.

...

"Jack?" a faint voice called. Jack's head rose from his arms. A weird warm feeling rushed through this heart. The girl had woken up, her eyelids fluttering open. He hurried over to her, and, forgetting himself for a moment, he pulled her close to him, his face buried in her blonde hair. He still wasn't really used to hugging others, but he was so happy and relieved that he hugged the girl without even thinking of it. Little snowflakes swirled down. "Elisa," he breathed into her hair. "I was scared I'd lost you again…Never scare me like that again," he said seriously, a smile cracking on his face.

Elisa sat still in surprise a moment before wrapping her arms around the boy and smiling, her eyes squeezed shut in happiness. "I knew you'd come back," she said joyfully. "I waited all spring and summer and fall… They said you were just a dream… But I knew you were real." Jack felt her hands grip on to him tightly, her breath stirring his frosted white hair. Elisa felt so warm now, he didn't even make her shiver as he hugged her. Instead of making her colder, it was like she was warming him up instead. "I'll always believe in you," she whispered. "I promise. I'll never doubt again."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise listening to the girl's words; his heart felt lighter as he became more hopeful that she might... that she might really love him?

"And I know that you'll have to leave again when spring comes," Elisa went on, still hugging him. "But I'll wait for winter to come back. I'll always be waiting for you," she said resolutely.

"Elisa, maybe there's another way… If you want…" Jack said unsurely. He pulled back from her hug to look at her. "I, uh…" Well, he guessed it was now or never. He took a deep breath and smiled down at the snow before looking back to her eyes. "Elisa, I love you," he blurted quickly before he could lose his courage. "Will you marry me?!" he heard himself say. There, he had said it. He looked at her nervously for an answer. The girl seemed to be in total surprise. "I mean," he added quickly, "I don't have a house, or a horse, or a bag of gold, but-"

"Jack-" Elisa was about to answer, her face raising to a glowing smile that made Jack get his hopes up - when suddenly, typical to Jack's luck, they were interrupted. A sudden whistling wind and blast of cold air behind them made both break apart, Elisa's answer still hanging in the air.

Jack spun around in surprise to see a tall, familiar figure of an old man. He had a long white beard and white bushy eyebrows, similar to North, but this man's look was very cold and stern, completely unlike North. He looked thin and hard, as if he had gone through harsh winters, and he was rather gnarled like an old tree branch. He was dressed in majestic white and blue robes that shimmered in snowflake designs.

"Old Man Winter," he heard Elisa gasp behind him.

Jack nearly choked for a moment before addressing the old man. "Father Winter," he called out, forcing himself to at least try and sound polite. "What… uh… what brings you here?"

Father Winter marched directly up to Jack, his robes fluttering behind him in an icy cold breeze. He glared down his long crooked nose and down at the boy, who was offering up a half-hearted smile in return. "Jack Frost," the old man boomed in a deep voice. "You know exactly what brings me here. You stirring up trouble again. The Man in the Moon sent me." Jack's eyes widened, but the old man kept going. "I will never understand why you can't ever be just content with the way things are." The old man's gaze shifted to Elisa, who was staring at him in mixed awe and nervousness. "You've nothing to fear, my dear," he assured her. "It's Jack here who's the troublemaker." Jack yelped in pain as Father Winter grabbed him by the ear and jerked him forward. "Always getting me in trouble with Mother Nature," Father Winter complained, holding Jack by the ear. "Causing blizzards on Easter, and early snowstorms in October! Unbelievable! You were never content; you always wanted more. So you had me turn you mortal to be with this girl-" He pointed at Elisa, still holding Jack's ear tightly. "And after that, you had to take up the Guardians' war against the Boogie Man, and take their Oath, and become a Guardian. And I suppose now you'll be wanting me to turn you mortal again."

"Mr. Winter, please let him go!" Elisa intervened, pulling Jack away from the old man's grip. "And I assure you we don't know what you mean."

"Oh, so Jack hasn't told you the whole story yet," Father Winter said in amusement. "Well I'll tell you. One day he comes flying in, lovesick over some mortal girl who can't even see him. It was I who granted his wish to be human again, to be with her. Well, go on, Jack," Father Winter said, rolling up his long sleeves. "Say the word, and I'll make you mortal again."

"Wait, what?" Jack looked up in surprise. This wasn't the punishment he had been expecting.

"You heard me," Father Winter said. "Man in the Moon and I had a little chat. As a winter spirit, you've always had to report to me. But as a Guardian, Man in the Moon is really in charge of you. But we both agreed that you've done an excellent job, and you deserve to have what you wish for."

Jack shook his head, not sure he had heard right. "Excellent job? Me? What about the snow days and blizzards on Easter? The freak off-season snowstorms?"

"Yes, yes, trivial things," Father Winter said, waving his hand. "I mean, they do cause hitches in Mother Nature's schedule, but in the end it's really the children that matter most. And you have done an excellent job fighting the Boogie Man and protecting the children of the world. You are a true Guardian, and that is something that I never had the heart for." Jack listened thoughtfully to Father Winter's words, knowing that the old man was known to have a harsh, cruel side, not above letting people freeze to death in the snow. Jack would never want that to happen.

"Though I am no Guardian, I know how difficult it is for them," Father Winter went on. "And don't think that Man in the Moon doesn't know either. Protecting the children of the world means that you must stay behind, even as they depart. To be forever parted from your family with no distant hope of reunion. A Guardian's Oath is forever more - or at least, until you are no longer believed in, and fade from memory. Or perhaps someday when the world no longer needs you. But I have been around from the beginning," Father Winter said sternly, "and I have yet to see that day." Jack looked away sadly as Father Winter spoke, thinking of his mother and sister and how long he had waited to see them again. But as a Guardian, he would have to wait still longer.

"But you have been a worthy Guardian and nobly defended the children from fear," Father Winter continued. "And so, as a reward, Man in the Moon and I have agreed that I shall return you to your mortal living state. To stay with this girl. If that is what you so choose."

Jack looked up in total surprise at this offer. He glanced over to Elisa who looked shocked as well.

"I could…be alive again?" Jack asked Father Winter.

"Yes, for the brief amount of time that a mortal man has," the old man answered sternly.

Jack turned to Elisa and gently took her hands in his. "Elisa," he said, "I want to be with you, more than anything. But…" He took a breath. "I'm a Guardian now. The kids need me now. And I know that one day they'll all be gone too, even Jamie, but Jamie's children will need me, and their children after them. When I took the Oath… I said forever. And I meant it."

"Of course," Elisa said, smiling at him and gripping his hands. She shivered a bit from holding his hands for so long, but she steadfastly heard him out and smiled reassuringly. "I wouldn't have accepted any other answer."

Jack smiled sadly at her before turning back to Father Winter. "Thank you for the offer, but I have to say no."

Father Winter nodded. "Man in the Moon said you'd say that. In that case, we agreed to do the other thing. Which is to make the girl your companion through the ages."

Elisa and Jack looked up in surprise again. "What?" they said together.

"If you refuse mortality, then the girl will be granted immortality," Father Winter said, nodding to a stunned-looking Elisa. "To aid you with your Guardian duties forever more. If that is what she chooses. She's more than proven herself: protecting children, even making them believe, and standing up to Pitch Black. The choice is hers."

Jack didn't even have a chance to say a word before Elisa had collided into him and thrown her arms around his neck. "I do!" she shouted through a wide open smile. "I choose Jack!"

"You mean... you'll marry me?!" Jack gasped.

"Yes!" she cried. "I will!"