A/N :

NoraFrost : Wow, so many comments, thanks for those!

Uh, I don't remember ever calling it a "stick", just "staff" or "shepherd's crook" because that's what it is. So calm down?

Interesting that sahara actually means desert in Egyptian, bust just so you know, not everyone who speaks / writes English is American, I'm from Germany. ;)

Well, I didn't get snow because I live in the wrong part of the country, the South is more likely to get snow but here in the North it's mainly rainy weather. *grumbles*

"Pregnant silence" is the silence before something important, meaningful or unpleasant is going to be said and when everyone knows that's gonna happen.

I promise to keep writing, no worries! ^^

1captain obvious : Glad you liked the Selfish-arc! More angst coming soon ( not yet, but soooon ).

Saiyan Princess : Thanks and you're welcome!

mandamichelle : Nice to hear! And don't worry, I'll leave the bad events to the next arc. *rubs hands together*


Sophie had the time of her life.

Ever since her brother had told her about his freak sledding accident and how awesome it was despite the painful ending she had longed to try riding a sleigh herself. She wasn't eager to lose a tooth in the process but if it was really worth it she could deal with that sacrifice. After she had been introduced to Jack Frost and Jamie kept swooning about how much fun it was to play with him the little girl's desire grew to almost unbearable heights.

All the more happy she was now that her dream finally came true and she sled down the icy tracks with her brother, who was sitting behind her, as well as the Spirit of Winter making sure she was safe. Whoops of joy echoed through the otherwise peaceful night as the sleigh dashed through loops and curves and seemed to get faster with every round. Jamie steered it expertly for the majort part, after all he had quite some experience with it. And yet he got dangerously close to losing control a few times but Jack quickly stepped in and took control of the sleigh, guiding it back on track and slowing down the speed. Never did he leave the children's side.

An hour had passed but to them it felt only like 10 minutes. Sophie was still as excited as she had been the moment they had arrived in the winter wonderland. According to her they could have continued with the sleigh rides all night long.

"Does she ever get tired?" Jack asked his young friend as they were climbing back up the hill, while the little girl ran way ahead of them and giggled as if she was on a sugar rush.

"Rarely."

"For someone so small she's really got an incredible amount of energy." the white haired teen stated, admiration faintly shining through his voice.

"Yeah, I have no idea where she takes it from." Jamie shrugged.

It wasn't lost on Jack that the boy fell behind a bit, apparently not possessing endless amounts of energy like his sister, and seemed to have increasing difficulties pulling the sleigh. Not that it was too heavy, but after a busy day like this, no matter how much fun it had been, he was exhausted. Without thinking about it twice the guardian flew to his friend and lifted him up in the air while dragging the sleigh behind them as he floated mere feet over the ground.

"Thanks, Jack." the brunette boy said and failed to suppress a yawn.

"No problem, kiddo. Getting a little tired maybe?"

"Nah, not at all."

Jamie was a terrible liar. In truth, the idea of his warm comfy bed seemed very alluring right now, but then again he didn't want the fun to end. And above all, he didn't want to say goodbye to Jack just yet. On their flight to the hills the immortal spirit had told him that he wouldn't be able to visit for a week or two because he had to spread winter in other parts of the world. No way Jamie would break this off just because he felt a little…okay, very dozy.

During the following sleigh rounds Jack had to take control of the wooden vehicle far more often as his first believer's drowsiness didn't cope well with his motor and reaction skills. After the two siblings had almost derailed from the ice track and he could prevent another freak sledding accident in the last moment the Guardian of Fun decided that they should better call it a night.

This however didn't meet the approval of Sophie Bennett.

"Sleigh sleigh sleigh! Again!"

"We've been sledding for over one and a half hours straight, aren't you tired at all?!" Jamie groaned.

The blonde girl stared at him for a moment, wondering if that dumb question was worth a reply and then shook her head vividly exclaiming "Sleigh! Again." once more.

"It's late, you two should have been in bed long ago already. Don't forget this was an exception I made just for you, alright?" Jack explained in firm but gentle voice.

If it had been up to him he could have played with the kids until morning but unlike him the two needed to sleep and especially Jamie was battling the urge to simply doze off on his sleigh. Convincing Sophie of this was a whole different story, though. The stubborn child showed no sign of fatigue and was eager to continue for hours on end. Being strict with children wasn't exactly his strenght so Jack pondered on how to deal with the situation.

"Okay, listen." he eventually said and curious green eyes where focused on him.

"One more ride and then I'll bring you back home. And if you are nice and don't make a fuss then I promise we'll do this again. Not saying when that will be, but this now won't be the last time. Deal?"

He knelt down and patiently waited as the 3-year-old thought about the offer for a few seconds and then held out her tiny finger towards him.

"Pinky swear?"

Jack smiled and locked his cold finger around hers.

"Pinky swear."

When he turned around to Jamie the boy had fallen asleep on his sleigh. The position looked far from being comfortable but he didn't seem to mind. There was no way the frost teen would have the heart to wake him up and take his makeshift 'bed' away from him. He rubbed the back of his neck deep in thought and suddenly had an enlightenment.

Sophie watched in awe as the winter spirit swirled his staff and created a big block of ice, which soon was molded into the shape of a simple sleigh. He could have made it more detailed but he didn't want to waste anymore time.

With the ice sleigh in tow he flew the little girl up the hill one last time. Realizing that he couldn't let her steer it on her own since she was much too young and inexperienced for it he decided to take Jamie's place. Young Sophie was already sitting on the sleigh and giggling in gleeful anticipation. The Guardian of Fun sat down behind her and lay his staff aside because he would need both hands to direct the sleigh manually.

With a powerful thrust of his leg, a little too powerful it would soon turn out, he pushed the icy vehicle into motion and sent them down the hill at breakneck speed. Damnit, keeping control of this thing was harder than he had imagined! Maybe it was the wrong time to realize he had never ever ridden a sleigh himself before. Maybe it had also been a bad idea to leave his staff behind. And maybe he should better focus on the ice track instead of cursing his own recklessness. Fortunately his reflexes were quick as usual and he managed to get a hang of sledding pretty quickly.

Until they approached the sharpest bend of the icy track and Sophie suddenly threw her arms up in joy, accidentally hitting him square in the face. In a heartbeat he lost control of the sleigh right when they were heading into the bend. It left the track which resulted in both occupants flying through the air as well. Jack only had milliseconds to react. The impending impact on the ground would cause the ice sleigh to shatter into pieces. A single panicked thought ran through his mind, namely that he couldn't allow Sophie to get hurt.

He grabbed the little girl and pressed her against his chest, protected her head with his hands and turned around in mid-air so he would land on his back. The snow thankfully cushioned the fall but he was sent rolling across the ground nevertheless. The moment he looked up the sleigh crashed mere feet away from them and the frost teen instantly hugged the child closer, shielding her tiny frame with his body as clumps of broken ice hailed down around them.

All of this had happened in mere moments, but to Jack it had felt like slow-motion and he guessed that this was what being close to a heart-attack must be like. The Bennett kids meant the world to him, as a guardian he was supposed to protect children and not endanger them. If they were hurt during his custody he would have never forgiven himself. And he really didn't want to further think about it.

"Sophie, you alright?" he whispered to the blonde toddler who still had her face buried in his chest.

His worry blazed up for a second before green eyes beamed at him and amused giggling took a load off his mind.

"Again!"

Jack snorted and shook his head in disbelief as he sat up on his knees. With gentle hands he brushed the snow out of the girl's hair and off her clothes.

"Sorry, kid, we had a deal. Time to bring you home."

Sophie wasn't happy about it but realized there was no use in arguing with the Spirit of Winter anymore. A small yawn escaped her mouth as she nodded her head in approval and rubbed her tired eyes. Jack smiled at the little child and got up, taking her by the hand to where Jamie was still sleeping on his sleigh.

"You wait here, I just gotta go pick up my staff, okay?" he said and quickly ran up the hill where the ancient conduit of his power was still waiting for him.

When he came back the youngest Bennett was continuously poking her brother's ribs with her index finger. If it was to wake him up or out of sheer boredom he had no idea. Jamie must have had a very sound sleep because he didn't seem to notice they annoyance at all.

Jack bent down to the sleeping boy and put a cold hand on his shoulder, shaking it softly but still strong enough so he would take notice of it.

"Jamie? I'll take you home now, but you gotta cooperate." he smiled as drowsy brown eyes looked at him through half-closed lids.

All he got as reply was a loud yawn and right after his first believer had climbed on his back and put his arms around his neck had he already fallen asleep again. The white haired teen lifted Sophie up into his arms and glanced at the wooden sleigh. He would bring it back later.

Jamie didn't witness anything that happened afterwards since he was peacefully slumbering on the Guardian of Fun's back. Jack had made Sophie promise him that the last event of the night would stay a secret between the two of them. But he already dreaded the moment one of the fairies would find the tooth with that memory. Tooth's upcoming speech about responsibility wasn't something he was eager to experience.

But no matter how bad it could have ended, he had to chuckle as he remembered the 3-year-old's reaction right after their crash. She seemed to be insanely happy that she had experienced her own freak sledding accident.

When they arrived at the Bennett's house Jack flew to Sophie's window first, telling her to get ready for bed and that he would say goodnight after he had taken her brother to his room.

Soon after he flew through another open window with a cool gust of wind and gently dropped the sleeping boy off of his back and onto his bed. Golden swirls of dreamsand appeared next to him and floated over the child's head where they turned into small versions of the three of them laughing and playing in the snow. The smile on Jack's face widened at the sight.

Carefully as not to interrupt Jamie's pleasant dreams he pulled off his boots, jacket, scarf and gloves and tucked the sleeping child up in the soft warm covers of his bed. Before he left he looked at his first believer and the dreamsand images above him once more.

"Goodnight Jamie. Please never grow up…" he whispered barely audible.

One moment later he peeked through Sophie's window. Silence. He didn't trust it. But he was prooved wrong when he entered the room and saw the little toddler lying in bed wearing only her pyjamas while the rest of her previously worn clothes were stuffed back into the drawer. Her head sunk into the fluffy pink pillow and she seemed to be more asleep than awake by now. Jack approached her and knelt down next to the bed.

"Sleep well, Sophie. And don't worry, we'll have a lot more sleigh rides in the future." he said quietly and just as he wanted to leave a tiny hand grabbed his cold fingers.

"You're a cool brother…" the girl muttered before golden swirls reached her as well and she was sleeping in no time.

For a while Jack just stared at the sand images forming over her head. She was having the same dream as her older brother. Even though it seemed impossible for a winter spirit he felt a warm sensation engulfing his heart. After 300 years of being invisble it was still foreign to him that there were children who could actually see him now. And even better, children who were seriously fond of him. That Jamie and Sophie saw him as their older brother made him happier than he would have ever dared to hope. As weird as it might have sounded but he considered the Bennett kids, just like the guardians, as his family. Not related by blood of course, but he couldn't care less.

Jack gently stroked the sleeping child's hair for a moment, faintly wondering if he had ever patted his own sister's head like this. He sighed and eventually stood up. When he reached the window he exhaled deeply and let the wind carry him away. Soon he would come back and he already had plans for more fun and laughter. After all, he would do anything for his younger siblings.

Though he really hoped there wouldn't be any unexpected accidents again.