"Jack, we need to talk."

Naturally, Jack was immediately on edge. He was familiar with the tone of voice Tooth was utilizing, as it was the same one Jamie's mother used on him when she wanted to discuss his grades or some other such thing.

It was the 'You're in trouble and I'm going to chew you out even if I'm not happy about it' voice.

He fidgeted nervously and turned to face the Tooth Fairy, already regretting his earlier choice to visit the Tooth Palace today. Where had his sense of judgement gone?

"If this is about the sugar rush thing, I told you that the kids made me eat that candy," he coughed, "so it wasn't my fault. I didn't even get any cavities; my teeth are fine."

Tooth crossed her arms and Jack noticed for the first time the memory box clenched tightly in her fist. Baby Tooth fluttered her head, matching her mother's stern posture.

"This isn't about the Sugar Rush incident, but it is about teeth," Tooth said, cracking the box open. "Take a look at this."

Jack leaned forward and peered into the box, observing the small, pearly teeth carefully. "I don't really see the issue here, Tooth."

A sigh. "Here." A slim finger directed his attention to a lower corner of the box, and that's when Jack noticed.

There were only twenty-four teeth lined neatly up in the box.

"You see?" Tooth asked, "There's one missing."

"Yeah, I see that. So?"

The fairy narrowed her eyes and stared at him seriously. "Jack. You still have a baby tooth."

There was a beat of silence.

"Uhh..."

"Hand it over."

"Whoa, whoa." Jack raised his hands defensively. "Are you sure you didn't just lose it?"

Tooth and Baby Tooth rolled their eyes simultaneously and Jack couldn't help but be surprised at how catty the two were being at the moment. Tooth collection was serious business, apparently.

"We don't just lose teeth," Tooth said, "so the only explanation is that it's still in your mouth."

Jack subconsciously backed away a few steps. "What if I swallowed it? What do you do when a kid swallows a tooth?"

Baby Tooth mimicked a diving motion and Tooth shuddered delicately. "We go in. You really don't want to know the details." She shook herself. "Stop trying to divert the topic! Give us the tooth, we need it!"

She and her baby began advancing forward, and Jack defensively tightened his grip on his staff.

"First off tell me how you plan on going about this!" he insisted.

Baby Tooth cracked her knuckles and Tooth wordlessly pulled a pair of pliers out of nowhere.

Jack stumbled back a few more feet. "No! Absolutely not! No way! Can't we just wait for it to come out on its own or something?!"

"If it's been in there for over three hundred years I don't think it'll come out on its own," Tooth replied edgily. "I need the tooth, Jack. You need to hand it over."

"I can't just hand it over!"

The pliers clicked in her hand. "Sure you can."

"Don't you dare." Jack positioned his staff defensively. "I'll freeze you solid."

"Maybe so." Tooth grinned wickedly. "But you can't freeze hundreds of fairies, and your morals wouldn't allow for such a thing anyway."

"W-Wha..."

Tooth put her fingers to her mouth and whistled loudly.

Within moments, they were surrounded by a swarm of every fairy in the Tooth Palace, all staring at Jack menacingly.

Their mother pointed dramatically and shouted, "GET HIM!"

xXx

Jack had been holed up in his frozen room at Santoff Claussen for the better part of two days, much to North and Phil's confusion. The large Russian wondered if any of the others knew what was wrong, and messages Tooth first as she was the one most likely to know the problem, being the closest to Jack out of all of them.

"...and he hasn't come out. Do you know what the issue might be?"

Tooth's image in the message-snowglobe blurred slightly.

"Oh no," she said innocently. "I have no idea; maybe you should ask Sandy. But honestly, I think he'll get over it soon."

North could tell she was hiding something, but figured it was smarter not to ask.

Request from magostar117.