Because, as much as it may suck... this had to be done.

I apologize in advance for how terrible this chapter will be. It will be rushed and it might be sloppy. But I wanted to make sure I at least got the message across. Happy/Merry Christmas everyone! From an Atheist Jew to all you Christmas celebrates out there! I hope you like your... um... what is it you even eat? Ham? Lots of ham? Gingerbread? Ham? Stuff covered in mistletoe... ham... more ham...

As you can tell, my knowledge of the holiday is meager if not nonexistent. But have a happy one!

Anyway, to finish up my point, this chapter is way overdue! But I would ALSO like to announce something for this new chapter coming out before next Thursday as well as the second one that will be coming out between THAT Thursday and the one after!

Firstly, let me just say that I did NOT expect this!

I honestly did not think I'd get over 50 reviews. it was my clever little trap here. Get under 50 and only have to do ONE chapter. Well... within one day of the Poll being opened and announced I got almost double what I had expected. And by the time the week was out, right about now, actually, I was left with a grand total of 170 voters who had all done their part. THAT is why I love this community. Not because of the attention that it brings but because of the dedication and the involvement that makes stories possible!

YOU GUYS ROCK!

So, because we went WAY over the average I decided to give you this little weakling of a story while I write the mega chapters.

The winners, fyi were Jack loses his staff and Jack get's burned. So burned will come first, Staff will come second! As the Lion King taught me, BE PREPARED!

AND just to add my own little vote. Does anyone actually still want to see Three Seasons part 2? Is that still a thing? Because I know I added it to the poll late? But it didn't get much attention, so I guessed that it was past it's time, which totally makes sense. I don't know! You tell me!

Anyway, here it is! My annual Christmas oneshot! Don't expect much here guys! A few of you DEMANDED that I do a North and Jack bonding moment. So here it is . The meaning of Christmas as told through a fanfiction one shot. You tell me if I got the whole meaning of Christmas thing right. Because as someone who knows NOTHING about the holiday besides the fact that it's paean and has a tree and fruit that dances over people's faces. And that's it.

Read and review!

~Gal

o0o

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

~Norman Vincent Peale

o0o

North wasn't really sure what he would find when he returned home from delivering gifts. He certainly did not expect to see Jack Frost sitting cross legged on the couch, his form hunched, blue sweatshirt balled at his stomach from the crease. His staff lay beside him, always a constant. The mere sight of it more than a finger's length out of reach was a comfort- they'd begun to recognize that there was a significant measurement to the panic of their youngest and the relative nearness of his magic conduit.

"Jack! Deed not expect you!" The white haired sprite swiveled in his seat, hand reaching for the staff which was severely out of the way. Apparently he had forgotten his own trustworthiness in the moment. He let his arm fall flat then, but his fingers still twitched and yearned to feel the pulse of familiar safety.

"North," pale digits spun the frayed string hanging off the cushions. He offered a small smile toward the large man. "Hey. How'd… how'd Christmas go?" A meager conversation starter if ever there was any. North latched onto it and drew it out.

"Ees good! Great, even! All presents to house in almost record time." Tapping his chin the man hummed. "Record time was 1984 I believe. Good year. Clear skies. Not like this year. Too much fog. Bah. And Rudolf not real. Though," and he chortled. "wish I had something as fantastical as reindeer with red glowing nose like coal. How sumasshedshiy! Am I correct in saying!"

"Yeah. Yeah, you're pretty right in saying that old man." Jack smiled again. His teeth glowed against the fire and North was sure, had Tooth been present and not on her rounds for the night, she would have swooned. When North replied with his own Jack ducked his head. His nails began to play cat's cradle with the threads he'd worked off with gentle worry.

"Jack. Ees something wrong."

"No."

Maybe it was the tone or the speed of which he had said it, but something in his belly kicked into motion and set off red lights blaring through his head. He took a deep breath and willed himself to nod through it. "Of course not. Not'ing wrong, no? Now, back to subject. J'you are here. Vhy? Not that I do not love your presence, but ees Christmas. Needing de snow, no?"

"I finished." He shrugged. His sweatshirt sunk in at the shoulders and the bones there pierced the fabric. The boy was too skinny. "Early, like you. Not much to do at all. And then after I got bored and thought that Phil needed some good pestering."

"Ah yes. I am sure he is appreciating." Jack smirked. North frowned. "Ees… ees Bunny around?" Because lately, it would seem, wherever the large rabbit was the sprite of fun was somewhere close behind.

"No. He's at the warren."

"He keek you out?"

"Naw. He wanted me to stay. He says that I should find a place of relative stability." He added a terrible accent for the last two words, dropping off at the end with a chuckle.

"He ees right, you know."

"Yeah. I know."

"And your new room? Eees good?"

"The best." This time the smile was genuine. The way you could tell if something was genuine, really genuine, with someone like Jack Frost was when he looked lost. That was generally his moment of perfect truth. The one second where his eyes glazed over and a spot miles away was suddenly all he could see. No one quite knew what he was thinking, what those starcatcher eyes were seeing, but they were sure it was something wonderfully sad. You couldn't be someone as irrisistably joyful as Jack Frost without knowing that somewhere buried beneath the folds of elfen skin lay a wonderful sadness that surpassed that of any artists world. "He made me a bed and they painted the walls blue. And when I stay there sometimes he makes breakfast and sometimes I do and I always have someone close by." Another shrug. "I dunno. I guess I kinda thought that it was this big, huge thing and that I'd really get excited about all the big things like the room and the bed and having a dresser and all that. But it's different." He looked away towards the fire and his face scrunched, as if contemplating whether or not he should have been near it at all. "My favorite thing is breakfast. And hearing Bunny snore at night." Another glance at North, the boy tilting his head back to look at the Cosack. The strands of albino hair stood at attention, hanging on for life at the scalp. "Did you know that he snores."

"Like an ox."

"Yeah." Another low laugh. "Anyway, sorry for taking up your time and all." Jack stood and brushed off his pants. Casually, one hand finding its home in his sweatshirt pocket, he grabbed his staff. "Merry Christmas and all that jazz! I'll tell Bunny you said hi if I see him and-"

"Vhat ees dat?"

"Huh?"

"Dat." He pointed a large finger to the paper on the couch. Jack turned, saw it and his eyes grew tenfold. He dove for it. But North, surprisingly agile for his size and age, reached for it first and succeeded in plucking the parchment from its temporary home. "Dis!"

"North! Stop!" The staff clattered to the floor, it's owner in front of Santa, trying to snatch it back. "I'm sorry! I really didn… ugh… mean… er… to!" Every jump and grab proved unsuccessful and in a moment he was pushed back by the arm bearing Naughty, nice surveying the contents of the prize. "North! Please! I'm sorry! I just got curious! And… and you know how I can be and all that! Just… I am sorry! And I didn't mean-"

"Ees letter." North read it over once, twice, a third time. "Ees letter to Santa. From leetle girl." Jack stopped trying to apologize and backed away, head down. A thin smattering of frost began to coat his cheeks- a blush. "Jack? There ees something you are wanting to tell me."

It took a moment, but finally Jack worked up the courage to simply mumble, "no."

"You cannot expect me to be believing that? I may be silly. But not stupid like dunderhead. Dees ees letter to Santa from leetle girl! And you are reading letter! So, what is significance, huh?" No reply. "I weel not be mad." A shift of the feet. "I promise. No mad from me." A subtle twitch of the eyes. His fists tightened round the chipped wood of his shepherds hook. North blew out a billow. "Fine. I weel not know. But I am telling you now that if you try dees again I weel have to-"

"She was my sister." The words came without compassion where there should have been waves of it. North suspected the offset tone came from embarrassment rather than a lack of care and beckoned the boy to continue. "I was… I dunno. I finished early and I thought you'd be done. I just thought I'd come over or whatever."

"Or vhatever indeed. Continue."

"Phil told me to wait. And you know how well I do that."

"Don't we all. Go."

"And so I decided to just look around and I found your letter room. The yeti's were throwing away letters from a really long time ago. Something about space management or something. Anyway, this letter was in a pile. And I knew the name. So I took it and I looked it over."

"Ah." North read the letter once more, looking over the messy scrawl of a child first learning to write with ink and quill. Ink then had been expensive and the quality was cheap, time fading the letters until they were illegible. "Well, there we go! Now I know and I am happy!"

The boys head snapped up. "You aren't mad?"

"No! Vhy would I be mad? I say I won't be, I won't be! My house ees your house! Feel free to explore!" He handed him back the letter and Jack took it with loving care, holding the sepia item to his chest. "You keep, yes?"

"Yes," came the breath of a reply. "Thanks."

"Consider it Christmas present. J'you know, on top of other present I give you later in day. When light is in sky and all Guardians are here."

"This is fine."

"I did not ask eef you were fine. I did not ask any'ting, now dat I t'ink about it." And the mischievous glint in his eye stifled any protests Jack had.

"Thanks, North."

"As you young people say, no problem-oo." Jack shook his head, smile short and tight.

"Sure."

"Hmph." Dropping his bags, now emptied from the nights excursions, and kicking them across the marble the man rounded the couch to sit beside the newest Guardian, now once more secured against the curve of the cushions. "Vhat does letter say?"

"Hm?"

"The letter? Eet say something important, no?"

"Yeah." Jack traced the lines of the dimmed writing. "It does."

"So. Vhat she ask for?"

There was a long silence after that. The fire crackled and sparked, an ember flying off a few inches before settling against the stone of the floor, glowing stubbornly for a moment before crackling out of view. Yeti's headed to their beds, their rumbles dissipating like an avalanche passed and now miles off. In the distance there were bells twinkling softly against the snow. The two Guardian's sat in the silence. The room began to grow cold and North wondered momentarily if Jack had anything to do with it. He decided just seconds later that he must have.

"Jack."

"It was four years after I…" Because sometimes the simplest words were harder to say than any polysyllabic phrase thrown out at a spelling tournament for the gifted. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, thought long, is in theory far more simplistic than the feeling of love. Or the admission of death.

North came to the rescue. "Left?" He offered the word without much of a thought. Jack nodded, grateful.

"Yeah… left." He cleared his throat, the sound of ice scraping from car windshields. "Anyway, she… she didn't want skates. Not that she would. Or anything wintery. But it was a really bad winter. Not that that was my fault, but still." He wiped his hand down his face and North couldn't help but think he looked far older than he ever had in that moment.

"There are other winter spirits."

"Yeah. And I mean winter… it comes without me. If it's going to snow, then it's going to snow. But that year was bad and our- her mom… she got sick." Jack moved the paper up and down and it floated against the pads of his fingers. "She wanted you to make her better."

"Ah."

Another long silence. The fire was much hotter now and the reds and blues shone outwards in an angry sort of determination.

"What did you get her that year?" Jack's question was not a loaded one, but it was one filled with the curiosity only hope can provide.

"I do not remember."

"Yes yo do."

North sighed. The boy was smart and quick, that was for sure. "I believe I got her new teddy bear. Flopsy thing. Button eyes."

Jack smirked. "She gave him a stupid name. I can't remember what it was." He looked towards the elder. Said person nodded.

"Ellington."

"Yeah. That was it. And one of his eyes fell off. One of the black button was. All she could find was this really big purple one and she sewed that one on." He gave out a trembly laugh and wiped at his nose. "So stupid." Because that word for Jack could mean 100 things depending on what he wanted other people to hear.

"She renamed eet Jack, j'you know? After first child. Kiddie got bear named Jack."

"That's stupid," Jack mumbled.

"Hmm… vell. J'you know how eet ees. Though I am not one to quote philosopher, eet was Plato who said that eef you name something eet geeves eet life."

"The bear didn't come to life."

"And neither deed you. But your seester needed the hope." He shifted in his seat and the springs complained wildly from beneath him. "Anyway, I geeve her Ellington Bear. Dat ees all."

"Oh."

"Vhat ees oh."

"Nothing. I mean… she just asked for, you know-"

"I cannot perform miracles, Jack."

"I know."

"And your mother?"

"A few weeks after." He tried to hide his sniffle. "I just remember leaving for a few days. Canada needed snow. When I got back she wasn't there anymore. That's all."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. That's just how death works. It's a big series of beings and then nots and disappearing when your back is turned. The world can't stop because you had to."

"Very true." North teepeed his fingers. "Still. I am sorry I could not help."

"You did." Jack let a breath out through his nose. "In a way… you did."

"Good."

Jack hugged the letter again, breathing deeply. North couldn't tell if it was because the boy was holding back tears or it he was trying to absorb every lingering smell the parchment held. Trying to grab the final tenants of his family that held onto the fibers of the thin reminder he'd even had one at all. "Hey North?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks for letting me keep the paper."

"J'you are welcome."

"And for letting me stay here. It means a lot."

"I know."

"No you don't."

"You're right."

"I know."

The two watched the snow from outside. Wisps of milky way were just visible through the light polution his palace provided.

"I still have Ellington, you know."

That got the boy's attention. "What!"

"Ellington the bear. I have. He was lost after family began to dwindle. Children lose toys. And leetle bear with two wrong eyes- no one wants! So I take. I steel have in attic."

"You never told me!" His offense was not without it's grounding, but North batted it away.

"I do not who eet belong to then. I mean, I know. But not to who the brother ees. This ees new revelation! So I weel give you Ellington tomorrow. And j'you decide vhat to do wit. Sound good."

"Yeah! I mean… thank you, North!" The boy gave a single bounce on the couch, glowing.

"Ees no problem! I was meaning to-" but the boys arms around his shoulders stopped him. For a second or two North had no idea of what to do. And then, slowly, he wound his arms around the child. To get a hug from Jack Frost was one thing. To get a hug from Jack Frost was something different. And it was to be treasured as much as gold. And they stayed like that. Guardian and Guardian, embracing each other by the fire. Empty Christmas bags still laying on the floor, a vacant staff on the couch. "We can geeve back to seester eef you wish." The idea was punctuated by a squeeze of mighty arms. One gentle enough to not break the boy. "Put back in her grave. J'you choose. No one weel make you."

When Jack pulled away to answer his face was streaked. He tried to wipe away the lines but they'd frozen. "I don't know where her grave is," he added miserably through sniffles. He wiped at the skids again, but the frost just smeared more. "I'm sorry."

"No reason to be. Bunny knows."

"Bunny?"

"He grows flowers on graves. Knows all of them."

"Oh." He held the letter close. "I think I'll keep it. That's not selfish. Right? To keep it?"

"No. Not in least."

"But… but what if she wants it back! Or what if she wants-" It was Jack's turn to be interrupted by a hug, and his arms were trapped by his sides as he was bound by a tight grip. "Your seester," North said to Jack and himself and no one all at once, "wants nothing more than for you to be happy. Do not ask how I know. I know. And j'you can do nothing selfish by being happy." He let go, watching Jack's head drop and wondered just why they hadn't asked these questions earlier. "Jack?"

"Can we bring flowers, at least."

"As many as you vant."

"And the letter."

"Ees yours, not mine."

"And a new teddy bear."

"I vill work on one at first light."

"And can we do it today." There was a pause. The beat made Jack's head snap up. "I know it's Christmas and all! But she really did love Christmas. And I thought that maybe because she technically never got her Christmas wish and… not that that's your fault. But maybe we should-"

"Jack." The hand on his shoulder was enough, and the nod meant even more. Jack let out a breathy laugh. The lines on his cheeks glimmered. "J'you should not be so close to fire. Not good for you, no? J'you vill melt."

"I like it. It's warm."

"Hmm."

"Can I stay here tonight."

"You can stay forever or just a minute."

"Just a night works."

"J'you can take the guest room."

"Can I stay here." He wiggled porcelain fingers. "It's warm."

"Sure. Of course."

Jack hugged the note once again, an answer in of itself. His staff, still abandoned, slipped slightly and was caught by a few random blankets hanging off the side of the arm. The yeti's finally settled and the world was still. "Hey North?"

"Yes, Jack."

"Merry Christmas."

And the two sat together until the strings of dawn began to pull the sun upward and North excused himself to find a sewing kit and Jack nodded him off, still clutching the note. And he'd be there until Bunny and Tooth and Sandy appeared and he'd decide whether or not they should know and come or stay and be left oblivious to the point that he'd been so ignorant of until mere hours before. He'd ask them to come, though. He wanted to introduce them. She deserved to meet the people that had taken him in. Know that she hadn't been replaced. Merely added.

Somewhere in the crackling fire and the dispersing stars he swore he felt his sister smile at the idea, and he agreed. He was going to share her. Because what was Christmas about but sharing something you could barely feel. And yet, somehow, splitting it into millions of tiny pearls somehow made it far more tangible.

Yes, Jack decided happily, listening to the flutter of wings from behind him, a tunnel opening, sand hissing. He'd have to share her.

"Hey guys," he spun round on the couch, face void of a wicked smile, knees pushed far into the plush fabric. His fingers absentmindedly traveled every raw crinkle in the paper. "Merry Christmas. Before we do anything though I have the best person to show you. She needs to meet you before we can even think about eggnog." He inhaled deeply, eyes on him. The words on the paper began to whisper words of encouragement. "How would you like to meet my sister?

THANKS FOR READING! MERRY CHRISTMAS!