Author's Note: Hello, everyone and welcome back to another chapter of "That Time of Year!" It's December ninth (I'm serious, I feel like I posted this story just yesterday XD), so I hope you enjoy the ninth chapter of this story! =D


Chapter Nine: Too Many Cookies

December Ninth

Tooth fluttered into the library of Santoff Claussen, a smile on her face. She had just finished collecting teeth for the night and wanted to borrow a book from the library. It had been a while since she had last touched a book, so Tooth was looking forward to getting her hands on whatever she felt like reading. North's library was extremely vast and had almost every book one could think of, but Tooth knew that Mother Goose's library was much, much bigger. Still, Tooth liked to come to North's library for some downtime after collecting teeth. The ex-Cossack didn't mind if she stopped by in the middle of the night.

Tooth fluttered inside and Baby Tooth twittered at her side. Tooth nodded.

"I know that mix up in Cuba made us fall behind, but we still managed to collect all the teeth," said Tooth. Baby Tooth chirped again. "Don't worry, something like that won't happen again, I promise."

Toothiana had been incredibly busy since the beginning of December. Children were losing teeth at a faster rate than usual due to the amount of Christmas treats they were eating. Christmas cookies, fruit cake, and peppermint sticks were all things that could make a child's tooth fall out in one bite and give them cavities. Tooth frowned. She hated cavities. And she didn't like it when the children ate too many sweets. It not only ruined their teeth, but it also gave them stomachaches.

"Sometimes I wonder if there's a healthy Christmas meal out there," said Tooth. "Like a Christmas salad or a Christmas fruit."

Baby Tooth shrugged. The little fairy didn't know if there was such a thing as a Christmas salad, but it did sound somewhat interesting. And delicious too. Tooth fluttered through the many aisles of books, running her hand over the spines. The library always made her feel calm. Tooth couldn't call herself a bookworm, but she did enjoy a good book from time to time, especially the ones about teeth.

Tooth pulled a large book that had swirly patterns on the front cover. She noticed that it was a book that she hadn't read before, so Tooth decided to give it a read. The Tooth Fairy fluttered out of the library and was about to leave Santoff Claussen when she heard a crash come from the kitchen. Tooth looked toward the kitchen; her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Baby Tooth chirped from her shoulder.

"I think we should check it out too," said Tooth. The Queen of the Tooth Fairy Armies fluttered to the kitchen and stood in front of the door. She didn't know what to expect to come out of the kitchen or what was inside of it. Tooth clutched her book in her other arm and pushed the kitchen doors open and flew inside. The Tooth Fairy looked around the dark room. The kitchen looked the same as usual, but something was different. Tooth flicked the lights on, and she found herself staring at none other than Jack Frost. He was holding a cookie jar and was in the process of shoving a cookie in his mouth when Tooth arrived.

"Jack?" Tooth exclaimed. The winter spirit blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here? In the middle of the night?"

Jack swallowed his cookie and then said, "Uh…I was getting a midnight snack…"

Tooth placed her hand on her hip. "An entire jar of cookies? Jack, you know that you shouldn't eat so many cookies. They're bad for your teeth and—"

"I know Tooth," said Jack as he closed the jar. "I was only going to take a couple."

Baby Tooth and Tooth raised a single eyebrow.

"Fine, I was going to take the whole jar before the elves go to them," admitted Jack. "They're just really good!"

Tooth sighed and laid a hand on Jack's shoulder. "I know, but you can't eat so many."

"I won't, I won't," said Jack. He placed the jar back on the counter and began to leave the kitchen. "I guess I'll go head out on a flight with the Wind and then I'll come back and rest."

Tooth nodded and let Jack pass. "Goodnight, Jack!"

Jack smiled. "Goodnight, Tooth. I hope you enjoy your book!" And with that, the winter spirit called on the Wind and she carried him away.

Tooth smiled as Jack flew out the open window in the Globe Room. She turned to Baby Tooth and said, "I guess we should get back to Punjam Hy Loo." Baby Tooth nodded and the two fairies exited Santoff Claussen.

The next day was a Guardian meeting. Tooth and her little troupe of mini fairies fluttered through the open window and flew into the Globe Room. North, Bunny, and Sandy were already there, but Jack, as usual, was late.

"I wonder what's keepin' him this time," grumbled Bunny from the corner.

"He's probably just busy," said Tooth. "It is winter after all."

North nodded. "Jack has been working very hard to make sure winter is blast for children."

At that moment, Jack flew in, bringing a trail of snowflakes in his wake. The winter spirit landed nimbly on his feet and swung his staff onto his shoulder, placing his hand into his pocket as he walked toward the Guardians.

"Hey, guys!" greeted Jack cheerfully. "Sorry for being late. I'm really trying to be on time though. The kids and I got a little caught up in our snowman making contest."

"That sounds fun!" commented Tooth.

Jack nodded, a smile on his face. "Yeah! It was. We're having a rematch tomorrow."

North smiled and then clapped his hands together, signaling that the Guardian meeting had begun. The Guardians spent the first bit talking about how their jobs were going, if any kids had stopped believing due to nightmares, or if there was any sign of Pitch Black. After that, the Guardians began to talk about the upcoming party on Christmas Eve. It was still a few ways away but hosting parties that big required a lot of work. The Guardians had already finished decorating the party room, and North had already come up with a menu. Other spirits and immortals had cheerfully written back that they would be happy to go to the festive celebration like they did every year.

Jack had been slightly quieter when it came to the party talk. Normally, Jack would pipe in with ideas and excitedly join in the chatter, but the winter spirit didn't do much of that. Tooth watched as Jack silently fiddled with his hoodie strings. Jack often played around with his hoodie strings when he was nervous or had something on his mind. The Tooth Fairy knew something was up, and she knew that the other Guardians knew that the winter spirit wasn't telling them something, but Tooth decided not to push him into telling them what if he wasn't ready to talk about it yet.

The Guardian meeting soon came to a close, but the Guardians decided to stick around Santoff Claussen for a bit and help North keep things under control in the Workshop. Jack created extra blocks of ice and helped carry around toy parts. Bunny helped build a few things while Tooth helped keep the elves under control along with Sandy. The toy building session went smoothly and there were no arguments between the elves and the yetis the entire time. The Guardians found themselves slightly weary afterward and decided to take a break in the library with a plate of cookies and cups of milk.

Tooth didn't always eat sweets. The Tooth Fairy did every once in a while, though, so Tooth nibbled on her oatmeal raisin cookie as she watched North and Bunny argue over which holiday is the busiest. Easter or Christmas.

"North, I have ta paint billions and billions of eggs over a course of months! I deal with perishables while all of yer toys can easily be replaced and repaired!" Bunny said.

"But Bunny, no matter how much you paint egg, it iz still egg," said North. He picked up a cookie from the plate and added, "Besides, toys last long time, but children eat chocolate egg after finding it."

"North, Easter is a lot more stressful than ya think," said Bunny. "Makin' the paint and chocolate is a long process—"

"So iz making toys," North said. "Christmas has decorations, songs—"

"Easter has decorations too!" Bunny pointed out.

"But no Easter songs," North said with a shrug. He popped the cookie into his mouth and after swallowing, he said, "Christmas iz better."

"No, Easter," said Bunny.

"Christmas."

"Easter."

"Christmas."

"Easter!"

Tooth giggled. North and Bunny's arguments were always amusing to watch. Tooth looked over to where Jack was sitting, and she frowned disapprovingly when Jack reached for his sixth cookie.

"Jack, I think you've eaten enough cookies," said Tooth.

Jack turned to Tooth. "But—"

"No buts," said Tooth. "You'll damage your teeth! Speaking of which, you need to brush them after eating so many cookies."

Jack sighed but got up and headed for the bathrooms. North and Bunny were asking Sandy to pick a side and the Sandman simply put up a question mark. Tooth finished her cookie and continued to watch the argument take place, making a mental note to check on Jack's teeth once he was done brushing.

Jack peeked his head into North's study. The ex-Cossack was going through the Naughty List once again. Jack walked up to North's desk and said, "Hey, North!"

North looked up and smiled. "Jack! Iz good to see you. Vhat can I do for you?"

"I just came to ask if I could snag a jar of cookies from you," said Jack.

North nodded. "Of course! Take vhatever you vant."

Jack smiled. "Thanks!" The winter spirit flew out of the room and burst into the kitchen, grabbing the entire jar of fresh Christmas cookies and shoved one into his mouth. Jack had found that he was beginning to grow addicted to the warm treat, and the winter spirit loved cookies even more with a glass of milk. Jack knew that he couldn't let Tooth catch him eating so many though, but that was hard to do when your eyes are closed in bliss while chewing a cookie.

Jack snapped his eyes open when he heard the familiar fluttering of Tooth's wings coming toward the kitchen. The winter spirit quickly closed the jar and swallowed his cookie as Tooth flew into the room. The Tooth Fairy spotted the jar of cookies in Jack's hands and Tooth placed her hands on her hips in a way that reminded Jack of his own mother.

"Jack…I told you not to eat so many cookies!" said Tooth firmly. She held her hand out. "Hand them over."

"But North said I could have them!" Jack cried as he held the jar protectively.

"But you're eating too many. Hand over the cookie jar!" Tooth said. Her hand was waiting for the container of cookies and Jack had only two options. Run or hand the precious cookies over.

The winter spirit chose the most obvious one of the two: run.

Jack called on the Wind and dashed out of the kitchen at full speed, the jar of cookies tucked under his arm. He could hear Tooth chasing him not too far behind, and Jack told the Wind to push him faster. Jack had beaten Tooth in races before, and the winter spirit knew that Tooth didn't have a high chance of catching him since he was so swift.

"Hand over the cookies, Jack!" shouted Tooth from behind him. Jack winced at her tone of voice. She sounded serious. Dead serious. And Jack knew that he would be in serious trouble if Tooth caught up to him. The winter spirit increased his speed and flew into the Globe Room, hiding behind a pillar. Jack heard Tooth land and he held his breath, clutching both his staff and the jar of cookies to his chest.

"Jack, I know you're in here!" Tooth said. "Cookies will ruin your beautiful teeth!"

Jack stealthily flew up to the rafters and watched Tooth from below. The winter spirit laughed to himself. Tooth would never find him up there! Jack opened the jar of cookies and popped one into his mouth. Jack was surprised they were still warm. Jack shifted on his perch and continued to watch Tooth below. The Tooth Fairy was scouring the Globe Room for him.

"Jack? Where are you? I saw you fly here!" Tooth called. Jack snickered from above and reached for another cookie. Unfortunately, the winter spirit ended up knocking the jar to the ground. Jack froze when the jar broke when it made impact with the ground, several cookies scattered across the floor. Tooth turned her head in the direction of the crash and looked up to see Jack getting ready to bolt.

"Not so fast!" shouted Tooth and Jack flew off of the rafters only to feel somewhat heavy and sluggish. Jack managed to fly through the halls out of Tooth's grasp and found that he began to feel sick as he continued to fly.

Oh no…thought Jack. The winter spirit veered into the library and Tooth followed. Jack flopped onto the couch and Tooth hovered over him.

"Jack, I told you before, you shouldn't be eating so many Christmas cookies! You could get cavities, or you could get sick or—"

Jack tuned out Tooth's babbling and closed his eyes. He felt sick. Really sick. Now Jack regretted eating all of those Christmas cookies.

The winter spirit groaned, and Tooth stopped talking. She examined the winter spirit and she softened. "Oh, Jack. See? You're sick."

Jack nodded weakly. "Yeah…I guess I should've listened to you…" Jack bit his lip to keep himself from throwing up. Tooth sighed.

"Yes, you should've," said Tooth. The Tooth Fairy took Jack's staff out of his hands and placed it to the side. "You're going to want to take it easy for a while. No more cookies for now."

"No more cookies?" said Jack.

"No more cookies. At least for right now," Tooth said. The Fairy Queen picked up a blanket and draped it over Jack. The winter spirit poked his head out from underneath. "I'm going to go and get you some water. That should help the nausea. Don't move. I will know."

"How?" asked Jack. "There aren't two of you."

After a wingbeat, a mini fairy appeared and sat next to Jack. She saluted Toothiana and chirped to Jack.

"Hey there," said Jack with a small smile.

"She'll be watching you if you try to do anything while I'm gone," said Tooth. She weaved her hand through Jack's hair and said, "I'll be right back!" Then she fluttered out of the library.

Jack shifted his position on the couch. The winter spirit let out a slow breath, making a mental note not to eat so many Christmas cookies. He knew Tooth was going to lecture him about eating habits when she got back. The winter spirit looked up at the litter fairy that was hovering in front of him.

"You think Tooth is going to make me brush my teeth again?" asked Jack, although he already knew the answer. The fairy nodded almost instantly.

"Thought so," mumbled Jack. He shifted his position, got comfortable, and waited for Tooth to return.


Author's Note: Christmas cookies are so addicting. Especially when they come out fresh from the oven. Mmmm...now I want some...XD I hope you enjoyed chapter nine! =D

Until the next chapter!

-BeyondTheMoon1203