"You have to believe me alright! Clover is in trouble!" Convincing the Guardians to do something was not as hard as Jack ever expected it to be, it was worse, and in fact he was very close to just screaming at them in complete anger to just trust him and go save his friend and Elief. Even now he was yelling, and looked ready to burst anyway. Bunny was already gone the moment he saw the frost spirit coming, so there was little point, nor time in trying to convince that grumpy Kangaroo to help him so he instead begged to a rather tough audience of North, Tooth and a rather despondent Sandy.

"Why won't you believe me? I have no reason to lie!" North looked away from him, Tooth had never stopped crying and Sandy… The golden was openly ignoring him to. He just had his golden head bowed and wasn't forming anything above his head. North spoke at last, pointing directly to the large globe that wasn't that far away from them.

"Her light is out, we have no choice but to accept, she is gone and I am sorry but-" Jack was not taking any buts today, he'd had enough telling off from Clover to come here, he wasn't going to let anyone else tell him what he could and couldn't do while she was in danger. He pushed his hand aside and pointed to the thing himself, his voice trying to carry as much weight and persuasion as he could.

"You haven't been looking right! I saw it myself, there was a different light up there, and that light is the kid I told you about! You want him to suffer just because you don't believe me?" Just as he was speaking, the only light left on Stalingrad light up brighter than it ever had before, bringing with it another light that they had thought long gone and buried, a green light. The Two Guardians looked on in amazement, the third one, Sandy, had a rather different face form the others, which Jack of course found very weird, but didn't question it as there were more pressing matters happening right now. North finally ordered the Yetis to make preparations for a rescue operation, and moved to leave the room, but not before saying one last thing to Jack.

"You are not needed here for now. Go and find other spirits that need help." Unfortunately Jack didn't actually hear the last of that as he was already gone before North even finished the last of the first sentence, having already had enough with these kid bribing goodies for one long, long lifetime.

Hopefully he wouldn't have to talk to them for that long ever again.

I felt kind of weightless, and yet still trapped where I was. I wanted to move, but everything hurt. There was something I was supposed to remember, something important… My mind tried its hardest to tell me what it was, but at the same time it was like I had no idea, so I just chose not to listen to it in the slightest.

Was it Bedlam?

No...That couldn't be it, as I remembered it was dead for good. After all, I did nearly kill myself to get rid of it, so I would remember something so incredibly important like that. And anyway, that probably wouldn't have happened at all if it weren't for E-

Elief! My mind moved a thousand thoughts in one seconds, each one reminding me of what happened last, where was, and how likely it was that I was actually dead now. But I knew that couldn't be true, after all I was still thinking, remembering and worrying over Elief. Therefore I had to alive…So that left one thing left.

If I was alive, then where was I, and where was Elief?

Wait…there were voices; I could hear them through the dark that seemed to be all around me while I was thinking these thoughts. These voices were familiar, but for the life of me, I couldn't place them. Not that anyone would blame me for not knowing of course, after all, remembering things is really more difficult than people seemed to think, or remember.

"Over there! I found them, oh my goodness she-" Kind, caring and gentle, and somehow or for some reason, reminded me of a humming bird, always flying over people's heads in a worrying fashion. I wanted to reach out to this voice for some reason, to say something that would get her to stop worrying so much, but that seemed unlikely as all I could do at that moment was think to myself and nothing else.

"Shostakovitch! Quick, get some stretchers-" Now this voice withheld a lot more familiarity and authority to it. I remembered feeling a little smaller than usual whenever this voice was speaking to me, but then again that might have just been my fear of talking in rooms full of people and such. There was another sound amongst the two voices, a sound I knew I would always remember even in this state of mind.

It was the sounds of moving sand.

I guessed it was obvious by this point that I was actually awake and that someone, or some people had come to get me, I just couldn't open my eyes for some reason. There was also the fact that despite the pressure I felt on my mind, the pressure of familiarity I got whenever they spoke, I couldn't place who these people were. Perhaps it was complete exhaustion? Yeah, sounded likely. I got the strange sensation of being lifted up and placed on a straight surface that I was now going to call a stretcher. I was carried away for only a short period of time before finally being placed somewhere else as the voices remained where I had been. I wanted to look up, to take a peek at what on earth was going on and whether or not they had Elief, but it still seemed that such an action was still rendered incapable to me. A short amount of time passed, then the voices grew nearer until finally they reached where I was and placed something else, hopefully another stretcher, next to me.

"We have to go now!"

"Ve don't know if their injuries can take the velocity of the sleigh, there's a chance that if will make them even vorse!"

Shifting sand was heard again, and for some reason I felt a greater sense of familiarity with this noise than I ever did the other voices. I felt my lungs and throat itching painfully at that moment and couldn't help but start coughing roughly and loudly. I still couldn't see, so I still didn't know whose hands were clutching at me, steadying me as I coughed and gagged for air and comfort. The people started to talk louder so they could hear each other over the noise of my coughing, this time naming themselves so at last, I knew who they were.

"North we have to go now, any longer I this polluted air and they could die!" They…they she said they. Elief was here, he was next to me, and he was safe. Relief at this eased the pain, it dulled it because I was too happy to feel it for those few seconds, but it soon returned with that much more potency.

"Very well, Tooth I need you to grab her arms, Sandy-" Everything the two others could have said drifted away from me, far away in my mind, in fact the only thing that was tying me to reality was the familiar feeling of small, yet adult hands gently touching one of mine. I wanted to both cry, to jump and hug him, and run away and hide from him. But more than anything, whether it was for good or bad reasons, I just wanted to look at his face, to see if the time had passed for him like it had for me. If he was older looking, if he was sad, happy, or even angry to see me, I didn't care, I just wanted to look on his face and see him for the first time in so long.

He didn't squeeze my hand, didn't hold it in the way that he had so long ago, like an old friend would for another. No, he just held it like he didn't even know who I was, like I was nothing but a lost face to him, which I wouldn't have blamed him for feeling. I wanted to squeeze his hand, to instigate some kind of action that would reveal that I was awake, that I knew he was there…And I was sorry. I couldn't exactly move anyway, so I guess I wouldn't have had the chance to even figure out how to make a bodily action seem like one of an apology.

Then, finally it seemed appropriate to finally leave, and I seriously could not have been any happier to leave the wretched place that was Stalingrad, even if I couldn't actually see us leaving. Deciding that I actually did want to see my surroundings, I cracked an eye open with every bit of energy that I had left, using it to look all about me with as much range as it provided. I couldn't decide if my next action was to be one of pure happiness, or awkward shame.

The pure happiness obviously came from the fact that just to the left of me was Tooth, North and…Sandy. He didn't look any older, any more aged from the time, but he did look more... sad than I had ever thought he could. I wanted to reach out to him a little more, to have him hold me like he use to whenever I had a nightmare all those centuries ago, but that wasn't likely to happen. Why? Well, this was where the shame stepped in. I had left him behind, with no note, no nothing on how long I would be gone or why. I didn't deserve any of that kind of treatment from him or any of the Guardians, in fact I was surprised they would save me at all, since the only reason I wanted them to help was for Elief's sake.

Speaking of, looking as much far to the right as I could, I could see Elief on the stretcher next to me. He was asleep and looked peaceful, but that didn't stop the panic in my mind in that one moment that something might have happened to him. I tried to force every bit of power that wasn't being used for my eye to turn my head to face him completely, but that didn't seem possible at that moment. Instead all I could do was look at him from where I could, until the gentle driving of the sleigh lulled me back into an unwanted and unsuspecting rest.

North made it back to the North Pole very easily, though he had to be extra careful with the cargo he had with him. As soon as they had landed on the landing strip of Santoff Claussen, orders were given to every single Yeti that was in the proximity of the room to help ready the medical wing for the two injured guests, and to not let one elf see what was going on here, their innocence wanting to be with held, so the Yetis were told to keep them away from the two guests, their injuries being that horrible.

As the unconscious forms of Elief and Clover were carried through the halls of Santoff Claussen and towards the Medical Wing, none of them seemed to notice the sudden awareness that the horrifically injured spirit now had, and was looking about her with only her eye to visually aid her. Of course many Yetis would stop in their work for a moment to see them, but none of them looked long enough to notice her, and in fact this fact wasn't specifically noticed until she was set up in a bed, and it only was only because she instigated the reality of it, and only because she wanted to know why Elief wasn't in the same room as her.

"Where is Elief?" It was obvious that she had scared Tooth right out of her skin, but she didn't care, all she wanted was her answer. The Guardian didn't seem to notice this however, and instead began fussing over Clover and crying a little too much for the younger spirit to take. The older of the two clasped her injured hand and started spewing words of comfort. Of how glad she was to see her alive, how she thought she was dead and how everything was going to be alright. But it just seemed like Clover wasn't getting through to her that, nothing was going to ever be okay until she was absolutely sure that Elief was okay.

"Where is Elief?" Tooth stopped in her nattering and just patted her hand, another attempt to calm her, but it wasn't going to work until she got the answer she wanted. The fairy seemed to finally notice this, and caved, telling her what she wanted to know and had been asking for since she woke up, which was almost an hour ago.

"Elief? Oh, the Boy? He's fine, he's in the room next to this one since we needed so much stuff to try and heal you both that we needed two rooms." She gestured around the room and Clover saw for the first time the amount of medical equipment that was settled in one place. Surely she was injured that badly…right? She took a quick pear at herself and almost gasped at how many sores, cuts, bruises, scratches she must have had all this time. It was horrible, but at the same time, she couldn't feel one damn thing that even registered as pain. She felt...Oddly at peace, like a soldier would the first few months they are told that the war was over. This, according to Tooth, was also true.

Now that was certainly hard for her to believe, despite the fact that she knew it had to end at some point in time, but Clover accepted it for now and took Tooth's advice to sleep while she went to tell the others that she was awake. Time passed as Clover napped, and then there was rapping at the door near her bed that caused her to open both her eyes, an achievement she was most proud of. Looking over, she saw the large, intimidating figure of the man she knew and remembered as North. He walked in when he saw that she had noticed his existence, and took a seat by her bed. He looked at her in silence for so long that she started to grow afraid of what would happen next. Finally though, he broke it by speaking, his rough, Russian accent still exactly the same as she remembered it being, when she was young.

"This boy we found with you, where are his parents?" She stared him for the longest time with a look clearly telling him that he already knew the answer as she had long before hand. But it seemed from how he was staring back at her, that he wanted her to say it out loud, to tell him aloud what he already knew as the truth, no matter how sad it really was. She answered him, her voice carrying a lot more baggage than she ever remembered it having before, even North seemed to notice this by the expression in his eyes.

"They're dead, obviously." He said nothing else for the longest time, except now he was looking away from her and to the window outside, watching the winter wonderland outside while Clover tried to feel something other than the completely numb feeling that had spread through her mouth and all over her arms and legs. He questioned her one last thing before he left the room, his large and intimidating voice growing softer than before, more…hurt than before.

"Where were you all these years? S-we thought you were dead." Clover exhaled as he spoke, not missing the almost inclusion of the golden man in his speech before he wisely cut that out, probably just spare her some more pain that she couldn't feel. She said nothing for a little while longer, giving the man a taste of his own medicine before answering back in what she must have guessed was how the old Clover that disappeared all those years ago would say, but it seemed to only make North look that much more upset, so she did at least have the dignity to look a little apologetic about it. But still, it would be a colder and more death griping day in Stalingrad before she blabbed about what happened to her really. She wasn't sure why, but she just didn't want to tell them.

"I ran away with pixies." He got up from the chair and walked to the door, and suddenly Clover felt his overwhelming urge to cry. Perhaps the full extent of the situation had finally got to her, or perhaps she was so exhausted that she supposed crying would make him leave faster so she could go to sleep, which was a flimsy plan, but a plan at least. In fact she was about to start the waterworks when he spoke, beating her to it before she could even think of starting to tear up. His voice was still low, but it held a sense of weight to it that actually held part of terror in her heart, but that would mostly because of what he said.

"Sandy will come and see you later, but for now you'll need to get some sleep." He closed the door behind him, a soft thud accompanied by the sounds of his large footsteps. And it was certain for everything that she knew, that Clover was not going to sleep one wink during this time. She looked only at the Christmas decorations that littered the ceiling above her head, and could only think of what she was going to do know, her thoughts being so crowded anyway that there really wasn't any hope for sleep.

She tried to focus on one thought, one thing, but was finding it very hard. The thoughts skipped from one thing to another, one of them that she tried so hard to think over a lot more, was the sudden disappearance of her green dress. Apparently either Tooth or someone must have changed her out of what was left of her dress and into a hospital gown of the purest white. While it was a kind gesture form them, the red haired patient couldn't help but feel sad at the likeliness that her dress that she had worn through the hell she had been in, was gone for good and forever. She sometimes did consider it a little strange that she had such emotional ties to a piece of clothing, but then again it was the clothing she was reborn in, it was kind of like the clothes you went home from the hospital in.

Clover wanted to go see Elief right now, to see how he was, what he was doing. Did he know he was in the North Pole and that he was saved by Santa? Did he know that his believing is what saved them? She wanted to tell him all that, but seemingly couldn't as she couldn't even start by getting out of the bed. She tried focusing on her toes first, willing them into wriggling, but not once did they wriggle. Clover considered that an act of betrayal after all she had done for the little digits on her feet, but eventually shook it off as she remembered exactly why she had been trying to wriggle them in the first place. Sighing, she shifted herself the best she could, thankful at least that she had her arms in her will power, and got busy moving herself. She shifted about for a few seconds before suddenly falling to the floor.

There was a groan of annoyance from the wooden floor of the room and Clover considered herself now stuck, at least in the bed she had both a lovely view and comfy pillow, now she had neither on the floor. Wriggling her toes in aggravation, she wondered what she could possibly do next when-wait what? Clover looked down to her little toes and sure enough, they were wriggling. Holding her arms up in the air like an athlete would after winning the gold, she shifted herself the best she could until finally she was up on her feet. A moment's pause to collect herself was needed, and then finally she made for the door. Her steps were rigid and boarding her closer and closer to completely toppling over on the floor again.

She reached the door handle, but then realized something was missing. Where was her pot? She looked about the room wildly, hoping to everything that she didn't leave it in Stalingrad by accident, she would never see it again if that were the case. It didn't seem to be here and she was more than ready to have her own heart attack over it when the door handle started moving under her hand. Freaking out even more she moved against the wall beside the door just as it opened. The figure that was apparently visiting her at this time was not seen by Clover as she bolted out the open door and into the hallway beyond. She looked about her wildly; the working force of Santoff Claussen being on the other side of the large place, so here was dead quiet. She saw a door next to her and after remembering what Tooth had told her, she took a dive for it.

As she practically fell into the room and on the floor again, the small boy that occupied the only bed in the room sat up as much as he could to see her. She looked up from her face plant and smiled at him, managing after a few more moments of moving about to get on her feet and close the still open door behind her. Teetering on her feet she moved quickly to the chair next to him and sat down, her knees nearly feeling like they were snapping from such an action.

"Hey Elief," She mumbled as loudly as she could manage, and was tackled with a hug in reply. She hugged him back, and could feel those ribs of hers whining in protest at such an action, but ignored it and patted the small boys back instead of withering in pain. He coughed loudly a few times, so Clover patted him that much harder on the back to make sure that he was alright. They both stayed like this for some time, and thought no one else might have heard it even if they were in the same room as them, she was whispering to him as quietly as she could, her voice having lowered a little thanks to the effort needed for greeting the boy she was holding so tightly.

"You saved us Elief, you did it. I'm so proud of you; I'm so happy, thank you, thank you for bringing us to safety, thank you. Everything is going to be okay now, everything is gonna look better from here." She wasn't sure when she started crying, but he most certainly didn't leave her out to cry on her own for long and joined her in her tears of happiness. Anyone that might of accidentally entered in the room that Elief was in at this moment would have mostly backed back out again, just to politely keep the atmosphere the same as it seemed rude to interrupt what seemed to be a hug between mother and son. Even though Clover would have completely disagreed with that description, anyone would have seen the happy look that sited deep in her green eyes that would appear whenever that would have been said.

They hugged for what felt like hours, for days, but neither of them wanted to part, and they didn't for the longest time. At some point they did though, and Clover helped the small boy back into his bed and tucked him in as carefully as she could. She ruffled his hair, and he smiled even brighter at her. She sat back down and there was a moment of silence, then, Clover grinned like crazy as she remembered one last thing she hadn't told him yet.

"Hey, Elief, do you know where we are right now?" He looked a little confused at how happy she was and shook his head. Her grin, if it were possible, only grew even wider as she spoke. And as she did so, his cautious smile grew to a grin as well, his eyes practically sparkling with both wonder and excitement.

"The North Pole!" She shouted as loud as her voice could go, feeling it practically scratch itself apart, but she didn't care as it seemed worth it for the look of joy on his face. He, himself looked like he wanted nothing more than to just jump up and down on the bed, his joy going much higher on a level than hers, but then again she had felt the same way when she was younger. They both squealed as quietly as they both could, not wanting to hurt their voices as they laughed and clapped their hands in excitement. Right at that moment she was practically a child like him all over again, and the image of mother and son had know changed to two siblings excited over a present together.

Suddenly Elief started coughing again, but more wildly and more frightening. Clover continued patting his back to help him, and hushing quietly to breathe slowly and calm down. She blamed herself and hated herself for those few seconds that he was coughing, figuring that she had gotten him too excited. Eventually he stopped and she held him again to comfort him, his coughing apparently bad enough that it scared him. She mumbled comfort to him, and he accepted it as they were again in silence for a while, nothing else happening besides her rocking him back and forth in her arms.

"If you feel better later, maybe I could convince Santa to come and see you and give you a tour of the workshop. But remember, that was a maybe, I have to ask first okay?" He nodded into her shoulder, and she knew he was excited, but was keeping his excitement down a few notches so that he wouldn't have another coughing fit. He lay back down on the bed, and she advised him to not get to rowdy again for a while, after apologizing for getting him so rowdy before. He accepted her apology and promised not to be too silly in the future, accepting this, she went to leave, but was stopped by Elief again with his next question.

"Are we gonna live at the North Pole?" She had been wondering to herself if that were the case, certainly she wanted Elief to stay here as it seemed that before everywhere else in the world wasn't safe and because of how much time they had spent together, she couldn't help not wanting to part with him in the slightest of ways. There was a grater possibility that neither or any of the Guardians would want her around, especially in their homes, but maybe she could at least consult with North and beg him to keep Elief here. She had already told him that his parents were dead so it was highly unlikely that he'd suggest the boy should go back to his country, where she knew better than anyone that anything could happen to him, so perhaps he would let the small boy stay. Turning back to Elief she smiled again in reassurance, though the boy didn't need glasses to see that it was faked.

"We'll see. Now get some sleep, bigger and better days are coming up." She opened the door and shut it softly behind her, not wanting to slam it too hard as it might knock off Elief's attempts to rest. As she walked back into her room and lay on the bed, she noticed that whoever had tried to visit her earlier was apparently no longer here. Clover didn't mind that much as it did mean that she wouldn't be bothered again for a while and she could get some sleep for now. Lying her head on the significantly comfy pillow, she was about to close her eyes when she saw a familiar object on the bedside table beside her and jumped up to grab it immediately in joy.

Her pot, the one she had been freaking out about it being gone only a while ago. She held it close to her, but then moved a little away and began to focus, waiting for it o shift into the thing she was thinking about. She blinked and smiled as the sword she had used during her stay in Stalingrad appeared in the place of her pot. The golden blade and black hilt were as familiar as she always knew it to be, and was thankful to see it. She blinked again, the sword turning back into the pot she had used ever since she was first brought to this world. She placed it back on the bedside table and finally allowed herself to fall asleep.

Sandy had tried to see Clover earlier that day, though was slightly disappointed to see that's she was not in her bed, and heard the sounds of her running out into the hallway and into the room next to the one he was in. Figuring that she was either avoiding him, going to see the boy in the next room, or both, he didn't go after her, not wanting to bother the small boy she was going to see. He left the Medical Wing, after placing her pot that he had found when they all found her and the boy in the street, completely unconscious. He had kept it with him for what he guessed was a little too long, remembering how she had always been very close to it.

Remembering… Sandy winced a little to himself, the memories he had with her being so far away, yet still so real that it was hard at times to believe that any time had passed at all. He wanted to see her now because, well he wasn't sure, perhaps he was expecting her to have the most convincing and complete explanation on why she was gone for so long, and didn't say goodbye. He knew that was unlikely but still, he had to hope. He remembered back to the last few days that they had together before she disappeared, practically of the face of the earth. She, as he recollected, for a short while was afraid of something, was put off by something that was happening to her, he had wanted to ask her after it but he never got around to it as by the time he even could, she was gone. The last two days she seemed completely fine, as if she had gotten over whatever was making her feel weird, and yet apparently as it was seen, she hadn't.

He wondered for a while why he had never thought back on this before, but put it down to the fact that he had been hurt by her disappearance, in fact he was still hurt by it. When they were all on the sleigh, looking for her and the boy that she was still with, he considered whether or not he should even talk to her, if he could even get himself to do that, but apparently as he saw when they did find her, he wouldn't have to.

Finding her like she was, that was the hardest thing, it rose way above her leaving him and hurting him he had. She looked as though she had been mauled by an animal and only just escaped with her life (see, he wasn't aware how close to the truth he was,) her dress, apparently the same one she had been wearing when she disappeared, was ripped and torn in more places than socially necessary. Her cuts and scars were horrible and marked her once completely clear skin. She wasn't moving when they found her… he was afraid for the longest time that she was dead, but was proven thankfully wrong by the slightest moving of her chest that registered in his mind as breathing. The Boy, thankfully, was not as injured on the outside as her, but still it appeared that he had inhaled some kind of dangerous gas, Clover had too, but it wasn't as much as the boy.

Seeing her this way, this horrifically bruised and beaten, but still hanging on, still alive, he wondered why he still didn't want her to come back with him, why he didn't her to be safe with him. Perhaps that was another reason why he had visited her, so that he could convince himself that he should do that, that she was still Clover and that her explanation would clear everything up and also help to convince him to let her go back with him. He knew that was unfair on her since she had only just woken up and needed time to rest and recover from whatever had happened to her and the boy. But still he went, and it was because of this that he was a little relieved inside to see that he wouldn't have to confront her just yet, that she could still have some time to rest until he got to impatient and curious of the questions in his head again.

Since there was no point in him staying in there any longer, he left and floated down the hallway. A few minutes passed when he suddenly heard the sounds of a closing door and shuffled feet going into the room he had been in. He considered going back in, questioning her in the way that he knew he shouldn't a recently recovered war victim, a consideration that he didn't keep for long as he continued to float down the hallway, back the way he had come.

There was no point in convincing himself that he wouldn't come back again to question her. It was a question however, of when it would happen. Whether it was going to be tomorrow, the next day or in a year, he wasn't sure and he didn't want to know. All he knew was that it wasn't going to be today and thank god for that. He didn't want it to seem like he was being selfish, (even though he kind of was,) or that he didn't care for her feelings (which he definitely did,) by questioning her on where she had been for these past centuries.

What he would do next was a mystery to him, so he decided for now to do just do the job he was given in this world and left Santoff Claussen to do so. Before leaving of course, he took one last check on her, just because he wasn't sure if he wanted her back in his home, didn't mean he didn't care. When he saw her, she was sleeping peacefully; the expression on her sleeping face was one of complete peace, as if she was totally unaware of the pain her injuries should have been giving her. He saw the pot he had placed on the bedside table was still there and that nothing hard really moved in the room beside her.

He waved to her slightly, knowing full well that she wouldn't wave back, and finally left. He remembered the discussion he and the other guardians that were there had had only a few minutes ago, it had started normally, with him having told North that he was going to see her, and the larger man just nodded in understanding, not needing him to explain himself. Tooth hadn't said anything either, as she had been there as they were talking. Somehow the discussion that at the time was about Sandy visiting Clover, suddenly turned to the red head's relationship with the boy they had found her with.

"They seem so close, when Clover woke up all she'd ask after was where he was, and if he was alright, she didn't even care about her own injuries." The only female Guardian muttered, sort of playing with the fairy doll that was on the Jolly man's desk. Bunny was still not here and because of that, hadn't yet heard of the red head's return, Sandy wasn't sure if that was or wasn't a good thing. North scratched lightly at his large beard, a look of pondering on his face.

"She told me that his parents vere dead." Tooth sighed sadly, but for some reason North looked as though he was trying to figure something else out. Sandy turned to him, wondering not for the first time what was on the jolly man's mind. Tooth seemed to notice his expression as well and eventually asked after it.

"What's on your mind North?" The bearded man seemed to be knocked out of his thought pattern when she spoke and smiled to her before speaking. His question seemed a little suspicious to the golden man and he wondered exactly what he was suggesting with it. Tooth caught on to that as well and was a little more than confused as to what North was trying to say to them.

"You say they are very close, no? All she asked for was if he was alright? ...How much do they look alike?" Sandy raised a golden eyebrow at the last question, and couldn't help but feel that they were talking about something that really had nothing to do with them, and were treading on personal ground of the red haired spirit. North didn't seem to care though and looked to Tooth for an answer, as she was the only one of the Guardians who had seen both of the patients for more than a few seconds. The female Guardian thought to herself for a little while, and then shrugged.

"Not really, I mean there are some similarities, but then again everyone looks kind of similar in a way. Why do you ask?" Tooth cocked her head at North but he seemed at that moment to shake it off and gestured for the female Guardian to forget what he had been talking about. Just then, as if by planned luck, one of her smaller fairy troops flew in and informed the Guardian that was their leader of the many loose teeth their now were in the world and how much they needed her help. She shrugged to her fellow Guardians as an apology that they easily accepted as she left the main office of Santoff Claussen to follow through with her usual job.

Sandy was more than aware of how Tooth was trying to weasel what North was thinking out of him, but he knew just from the suggestive voice the other Guardian had used while speaking, of what he was suggesting. And really now, looking at the sleeping form of Clover he couldn't help but sort of agree that the way she acted did kind of cement that theory a little more than he expected. After all, she had been gone for quite a few centuries, and it wasn't as if she wasn't capable of meeting new people…

There was also the fact that only a little while ago she had practically crawled, no, dragged herself up to her severely injured legs and wobbled into his room to see him. That sounded like something, like a thing that any parent, any mother would do for their child. They ignored the pain of their own just to see if their children (hopefully,) weren't suffering the same kind of pain as them. And it only further confirmed that when she came back to her room, was the final look of peace that was on her face, the look of a parent that was certain their child was safe and was going to be okay.

Was it possible that she was the parent of this boy? Had she met someone during her disappearance? Did she start a family with this person? Was it another spirit, since he assumed it would have to be considering that adults couldn't see them? Was it a spirit he knew or had known?

Why did he care?

That last question was more of an interesting one to him than the others that swirled through his mind at top speed. Why would he care if she had started a life with someone he knew? He should have been happy that she had started a new life in general. He should be happy that she might have had a son of her own, but all he could think about was who this supposed father of the boy could be, why they weren't there when they found Clover and the boy. And the biggest thought other than the question why he should care was: could he take her back in even though she possibly had a child now, (He still wasn't sure if North's suggestions were correct after all) and had dropped off the face of the earth centuries ago without as much as a goodbye or a note and made him think she was dead?

Probably not, was the only answer he received from his mind, and it made him feel horrible.

Okay, for the irst time in actually quite a while, I managed to write some chaps before hand, so I'll be able to upload alot faster than usual, but only if I see those reviews people.

So please review! (constructive criticism always welcome as it has been in the past.)