Yeah, I am sorry about what I put you through yesterday, and I'm also sorry for the long wait I made you... wait. So here's a bit of family bonding time, and a finally fulfilled request from mint ink, who asked me nearly three months ago for a follow up to North's room. Yeah, sorry about taking so long, but I couldn't think what to write, and then all of a sudden it hit me! So here, please take this chapter of family fluff as my sincerest apologies for the mess that has been the last two chapters.

"Hey, North!" North looked up as the winter spirit flew in through the window now left permanently open for him. Jack took once glance around at the workshop before a large grin split over his face. North suppressed a sigh- of course Jack would revel in this sheer and utter chaos.

His conscience chided him- perhaps Jack was just happy to be back at what North hoped was becoming his home. Perhaps Jack was beaming in excitement for his first Christmas as a guardian, despite North having told him that he stopped giving out gifts to the other guardians on Christmas 200 years ago, when they'd complained that they no longer had enough room for all the stuff. Perhaps he was just happy to see the toys being made for the children. Then he took another glance at Jack's expression, and even his conscious gave in- Jack was many things, and a mischievous trickster would always be one of them.

"Hello, Jack!" he replied, giving the child a quick hug before barking orders to a nearby yeti. "No time for talking, now, none at all-" he tripped on an elf and almost hit the ground, but managed to catch himself at the last moment "-GET OUT OF WAY! Try not to be keeping underfoot, da?" Jack gave him a cheery little salute, and was turning to go when North suddenly remembered. "Oh, Jack!" He thrust a lump covered in blue wrapping paper into the boy's hands.

"What's this?" said boy asked bemusedly. "I thought you only gave Christmas presents to strangers." North laughed, and clapped him on the shoulder.

"It is not for Christmas, it is for your birthday!" He paused when Jack went rigid, a cold look he rarely saw on the youngest guardian glinting in his eyes. "It is your birthday, yes?"

"It is," Jack replied, voice low. "How did you know?" Oh. Yes. Well, that might be a little difficult to explain... "North?" Jack's voice was as rigid as steel. "How. Did. You. Know?"

"Manny told me," the Cossack replied weakly. A dark eyebrow quirked up.

"Today?"

"No."

"Yesterday?"

"No."

"When?"

"When you were born," he admitted.

"Why?"

"He tells me when all new spirits are born."

"Why?"

"So that I can help them learn what to do and answer any questions they have." For a moment shock and hurt flashed across Jack's face, before the cold mask slid back into place.

"I see," he muttered, fists clenching the staff so tightly his knuckles turned white (well, whiter). "Goodnight, North."

"Jack, wait-" The Russian called, but the immortal child was already gone. North swore loudly in Russian, before turning to survey the workshop with something akin to panic in his eyes- every instinct was telling him to go after Jack, but he couldn't. It was three days until Christmas and he had work to do.

"Where's Jack?" asked Tooth. It was about the evening of December 25th, and Tooth, Bunny and Sandy had swung by to congratulate him on a Christmas well done. They now had more believers than they did before the whole Pitch incident, so they definitely felt that a celebration was in order.

The Cossack froze at the question, before walking to the nearest wall and beginning to hit his head against it repeatedly. The other three looked at each other in trepidation, before Bunny hopped forward.

"Uh, North? Mate? Where's Jack?" North wheeled around.

"I am idiot!" he cried. "I should never have told him! No! Forget lies, I should have made time for him! In the beginning, when Manny first asked me to!"

"What happened?" Tooth was anxious now, flitting towards the great Russian. He collapsed dramatically into a chair, and waved for two of the elves to bring him a plate of cookies. With a heavy sigh, he told them about Jack's birth, and how he had overlooked it because of Christmas.

"And now," he continued miserably, "I have just done the exact same thing all over again." He rested his face in a large, meaty hand. Tooth bit her lip and glanced over at Bunny for help. The Pooka shrugged, and both of them turned to Sandy, who rolled his eyes and floated down in front of North. An image of a present (Sandy's symbol for North) sprouted legs and walked towards a snowflake (Jack). The present drooped down sadly, and then they both hugged. "You want me to go and apologise?"

Bunny felt like face palming- it was completely and utterly obvious, and Sandy was the only one who thought of it. He saw Tooth flush, and was pleased to know he wasn't the only one to feel like an idiot. North's eyes widened, and a large grin split across his face.

"You are right! I will go and apologise! I will-" he trailed off sharply, shoulders drooping again. "How? How do I apologise for this?"

Jack felt sick. His stomach was churning, and his hands were shaking, and he just felt so hurt. Every spirit. North's job was to greet every spirit, but it was five years until he even saw the legend, and he'd never had a proper conversation with him before Pitch returned.

"Hey, Jack!" The winter spirit practically fell out of the tree he was brooding in. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts he didn't even notice the child approaching. "I noticed it was snowing, so I came to find you!" Jack suppressed a sigh- the weather had a bad habit of reflecting his mood. "Is something wrong, Jack?"

The immortal child hesitated for a moment, considering telling Jamie that everything was fine, he just needed a quick nap and they could play later. But no. He wasn't going to lie to his first believer, and besides, the guardians had been trying to teach him to talk through his problems, rather than bottling them up.

"Yeah," he said, floating down to sit beside the ten year old. "Yeah, there is. Um..." He wasn't really sure how talking things out was supposed to go. "Has someone ever done something bad to you before you were friends... but you only found out once you were friends... and you're mad at them even though you weren't friends at the time?" Jamie frowned as he thought about it.

"Sorta... Cupcake punched me once, in second grade. She apologised for it a few months ago, and I said I don't mind. I mean, it hurt, but it was two years ago! There's no point keeping grudges that long, right?" Jack smirked as he thought of the Easter Kangaroo and his notorious grudge keeping.

"Right," he agreed. "So you forgave her? Just like that?"

"Well, it turned out she had a lot of other stuff going on." Jamie's voice dropped to a whisper. "Her parents are divorced."

Jack paused to think about that: he had seen how madly chaotic the workshop was, what with Christmas nearly there, and he had heard joking stories from the others about how stressed he could get (Tooth had told him about one time, he had gotten so frustrated with the elves that he exiled them for a month. Apparently they caused the great fire of London). And he was trying to make up for it- hell, he had gotten him a present!No one had ever given him a present before, at least not in this life.

"Thanks, Jamie," he said, getting to his feet. "I'll remember that. Now, go find the others and meet me in the park. We are going to have a snow war of epic proportions!" Jamie grinned and dashed off, and Jack smiled at the hurried you're welcome he heard called over the child's shoulder. He had a few days to kill before he could go talk to North (the whole stressing about Christmas problem), so he might as well spend it with his favourite believers (it wasn't allowed, but he could admit he had favourites; in his defence, Bunny did too). First things first, though, he had a present to unwrap...

"How about this?" North tried again. "Jack- I know what I did was wrong, but you must forgive me. It was Christmas, and the year had been very bad, and I was just so tired. I did mean to go see you, but... but..." With a groan of frustration, he slumped back into the chair he had risen from. Tooth, Bunny and Sandy were draped over the other chairs in the drawing room, anxious fretting long having since faded to slightly concerned boredom as they watched North fail again and again at coming up with a good apology.

"Just face it, mate," Bunny called finally, "yeh messed up. Just tell him that. Say 'Jack, ah messed up and ah'm sorry.'" Tooth raised an eyebrow.

"Have you apologised for what happened at Easter yet?" The Pooka's glare would have quelled lesser spirits, but Tooth was a lot sturdier then she seemed. "Well, Bunnymund?"

"Hey North!" The cheerful greeting had them all shooting out of their chairs in shock. The youngest guardian floated through the window, in the blue flannel pyjamas that had been North's birthday gift to him (he supposed the Cossack had found out about him just crashing in his normal clothes). "Well done with Christmas! I hear that-" Whatever he had been about to say next was cut off as the Russian crushed him in a large bear hug.

"Jack!" he cried. "I just... I tried... I..."

"Easy there, North," Jack grinned, wriggling free before any of his ribs snapped. "Don't worry, I'm not mad at you; it was just a bit of a shock, that's all."

"But I-"

"Not another word. I don't want to hear it. No asking for forgiveness, there's nothing to forgive. Next time I die, I'll try and do it after Christmas. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and put my present from Jamie in my room." His grin widened, and he held up a gift bag with three posters and a dozen CDs in them, all from bands with names like 'Queen' and 'The Rolling Stones.' He turned and left, missing how the guardians had frozen at his words.

"Next... time... he... dies?" Tooth finally choked out. They stared at each other with wide eyes before Bunny stuck his hand up.

"Shotgun not asking!"