A/N :

TugLover98 & Arkell26 : Don't know yet if there'll be a follow-up chapter about Bunny finding out what really happened.

DragonRobotkid676 : Glad you enjoyed it all and yep, there will be more.

Miss Lib93 : I hate autumn as well, that's why I made the Spirit of Autumn the bad guy. It's usually months of grey and rainy weather here, ugh, relly depressing.

SerenaYoru : I'll think about it, but Jack, Bunny and North are my favourite characters so I'm far more inspired to write about them. I like Sandy and Tooth, too, of course but I don't get as many ideas for potential stories involving them. Oh? I thought Santoff Claussen was another name for the workshop, whatever, I'll keep it like that for continuity's sake.

MusicalMidnight : *lol* Nope, it's funny!

vampirerose49 : Thanks a lot! Too bad Dreamworks won't produce a sequel since the movie wasn't successful enough. Though I'd prefer a TV-show like "Dragons : Riders of Berk" anyway, more possibilities to have further insights in the everyday life of the guardians and more stories to tell. Ah, wishful thinking...I'll definitely write more, but updates will probably take several weeks since I became reaaaaally slow at it. ^^"

Melethril : Freut mich, dass der Film dir gefallen hat! Ich finde, Jack ist einer der interessantesten und vielschichtigsten Charaktere überhaupt, deswegen geb ich mir extrem Mühe, dass das in meinen Geschichten auch gut genug rüberkommt. Vielen lieben Dank für das Lob! :D

Also thanks to 13BlueBananas, Q-A the Authoress, AyameKitsune, I heart the Hitachiin twins and Guest for their reviews!


The Guardian of Wonder's blue eyes were focused on the half-finished ice sculpture in front of him as he reflexively reached out for the plate of cookies next to him. When his hand grasped at nothing he eventually glanced away from his newest prototype and stared down at the empty silver surface with a few pathetic crumbles as only remainder of his beloved snacks. With a disappointed sigh he called for the elves, who were responsible for the supplies of cookies, and waited impatiently for his little helpers to show up. But the closed door remained shut, even though his shouts had to be heard all the way down the hall, he was sure of that. For a moment he was torn between continuing his work, which was rather important since Christmas was approaching, and personally searching for the pointy-hatted buggers and finding out why they obviously failed at delivering more cookies. The addiction to the sugary pastries won quicker than he wanted to admit, so he stood up and made his way across the room where he opened the door and glanced at a yeti who was heading towards him.

"Do you know where elves are? They seem to have dissappeared." North asked annoyed and also a tiny bit worried.

The furry creature mumbled something only he could understand and walked past him, leaving him in a dumbfounded state.

Elves. Kitchen. Jack.

This combination made him see explosions and the whole workshop on fire. Better check up what they were doing as long as he could still prevent another disaster from happening. Not that he didn't trust the winter spirit but baking and cooking really weren't his strengths and spending time with the elves rarely didn't lead to some kind of mischief.

North pondered on what horrible sights would await him in the kitchen while he strode towards it when he was surprised by a wonderful smell, one that he knew all too well. Freshly baked cookies. It was about time, he was already starving…well, sort of. The closer he got to the kitchen the more his mouth was watering as invisible clouds of delightfully sweet aromas filled his nose.

When he had finally reached the door he could hear bustling activity and Jack bellowing orders at the elves who were hurrying criss-cross through the room, according to the rumbling noises. Curiously he entered the room to take a peek at the happenings inside and had to bite back a chuckle when he saw at least a dozen elves surrounding Jack, whose clothes and hair were covered with flour and tiny pieces of sugar pearls and cookie decorations. The pointy-hatted creatures were obviously in a better shape, probably because they had far more experience when it came to baking and hadn't thrown themselves into the ingredients like the frost teen seemed to have done. He was leaning over the table and holding something in his hand, North had no idea what he was doing since the boy's back was turned on him. Apparently he was too concentrated on his task because he still hadn't noticed the older guardian's presence.

"Hey, Jack, what are you doing there?"

The winter spirit almost jumped to the ceiling when he heard the Russian accented voice behind him and turned around while doing his best to hide what was behind him. The elves mimicked his reaction and blocked the view of whatever was closest to them.

"Oh, hey, North. Uhhh, nothing...I mean...it's a surprise, so no offense but, get out." he stuttered startled.

"A surprise you say? Now you make me curious." the Cossack admitted and tried to get a peek at the table.

It was pretty obvious that some serious baking was going on here but he still craved to know what exactly the youngest of the guardians was preparing. But before he had a chance to find out a group of elves had taken Jack's place so he could leave his spot and try to shove the owner of the workshop out of his own kitchen. With a big emphasis on 'try' because no matter how hard he pushed against him, the bulky Russian didn't move an inch. A sympathetic look was directed at him due to his pathetic attempt and North decided to just grant the youth's wish. He didn't intend to ruin the surprise, even if it meant he had to be patient for a little while.

"Alright, I'll just leave you be then. But don't forget guardian meeting tonight."

Jack watched his friend exiting the room and only when the door had closed behind him did he exhale in relief.

"That was close." he observed, talking to no one in particular and then glanced at the elves who were staring at him expectantly.

"Well, what are we waiting for, we still have a lot of work to do!"


Bunnymund shivered exaggeratedly from the chilly breeze coming from a partly opened window as soon as he arrived in the Globe Room. Tooth and Sandy were already sitting at the lavish mahagony table together with North and deep in conversation. For a moment he was miffed about the possibility of them starting the meeting without him but upon realizing that another guardian was still missing that worry dissolved into thin air.

"Hey mates, where's Frostbite? Late as usual, eh?"

Three pairs of eyes were directed at the Australian rabbit as he walked towards his friends and took a seat next to them.

"Jack will be here any second...I think...reminded him about meeting only hours ago." North explained and shot a wary look at the door.

"Typical, I bet he's out there spreadin' a blizzard again or somethin'." Bunny snorted and crossed his arms.

"Nice to see you're not prejudiced at all." Tooth remarked with a displeased expression written all over her face.

The fairy using cynism was so rare that the pooka raised an eyebrow at her. Only when he paid closer attention to his surroundings did he notice the lack of food on the table. Usually it was covered with several kinds of snacks, mainly baked goods, but now all that was being offered were their usual drinks.

"Nah, Jack's been busy in kitchen all day. No idea what he's doing, he said it was gonna be surprise." North recounted.

Sandy clapped his hands in excitement and smiled brightly, whatever their adolescent teammember was preparing he was convinced it would be worth waiting for. Tooth shared his positive reaction and squealed softly.

"Ohhh, I'm really curious what this surprise will be!"

"Jack in the kitchen? I hope ya have a good insurance, mate."

"Bunny! Have a little more faith in him!" the hummingbird fairy snapped.

"Pff, yeah yeah, calm down."

A golden stop sign formed over the Sandman's head as he simultaneously made a timeout gesture with his hands. Just as Bunny took breath to further defend himself they heard the door opening and diverted their gazes to who was entering the Globe Room. It was Jack and several of the elves trudging behind him, all carrying silver plates with colourful pastries.

"Hey Jack! Is kitchen still in one piece?" North grinned and winked at the white-haired boy.

The reprimanding glare of the only female in their group didn't go past him, but he only laughed out loud.

"Just joking."

"Don't worry, everything's still intact...but we still gotta clean up a bit, so...better don't go in there until tomorrow." Jack assured him and set his plate down in front of the Guardian of Wonder while the elves held their respective plates towards the other guardians since they couldn't reach all the way up to the table.

After everything was set and ready the four ancient spirits examined what they had just been offered. They were astonished at what the youngest of them had created, especially because he had a record of, well, failures at cooking and baking. Amongst half a dozen plates with various kinds of cookies each of them had received a plate of muffins with unique designs just for them, all garnished with the utmost passion for detail. Jack explained which flavours they had while his comrades were alternating between staring at the sweet pastries and him.

Carrot muffins with green frosting and marzipan carrots on top for Bunny.

Sugar-free fruit muffins with purple frosting and edible blossoms on top for Tooth.

Eggnog muffins with eggnog frosting adorned with swirls of tiny golden sugar pearls for Sandy.

Chocolate-gingerbread muffins with red frosting and little sugarcanes on top for North.

"How did you do that?" North eventually blurted out.

"Uh, put ingredients together and baked them." Jack answered matter-of-factly.

"Yes, but...no offense, but last time you were in kitchen it ended with smoky oven."

The frost teen chuckled and rubbed his neck sheepishly about the reminder of the embarassing incident.

"Yeah, well, that was a whole different story...I made some investigations since then."

"Investigations?" Tooth repeated and darted an inquiring look at him, just like everyone else, urging him to explain further.

"Jamie kept swooning about his mother's home-made muffins so I watched her baking them a few times. Then I asked the elves if they would assist me since they are experts at this and to, you know...make sure I wouldn't accidentally set anything on fire."

"Awww, no one here was expecting you to set something on fire. Right, guys?" the hummingbird hybrid spoke.

Bunnymund almost choked on the snort that got stuck in his throat when the fairy glared daggers at him and the other two guardians to prevent them from objecting. Sandy wouldn't have thought about questioning the winter teen anyway, he was impressed and touched how much time and effort he had put into this surprise. And just for them.

"It's amazing what you created! These muffins look delicious and almost too beautiful to eat!" Tooth swooned and examined the colourful dried blossoms on the purple surface.

"Would be shame to let them go to waste by not eating them!" North stated and was the first to take a big bite of his christmas muffin.

Everyone watched him and impatiently waited for a reaction, Jack most of all. He only hoped they were at least somewhat edible, after all the Russian Santa was used to the best of the best and he wasn't sure if he could compete with that. Mrs. Bennett's recipes and the elves' help combined with his own creativity however seemed to have been crowned with success, judging from the joyful expression on North's face.

"Is good! Very good!"

Jack heaved a sigh of relief and observed the rest of the group tasting what he had done for them as well. The delighted "Mmmhhh!" coming from Tooth assured him that she also approved of his freshly learned baking skills. Sandy beamed at him and formed a golden thumbs up made of dreamsand while he continued to munch on his eggnog muffin. Even Bunny was positively surprised.

"I gotta admit, this is one of the best carrot cakes I ever had, mate."

"Are you serious?" Jack couldn't believe his ears.

"Course I am." the anthropomorphic rabbit replied and grabbed a second muffin.

"You're hired." North claimed before he reached for more as well.

"As your personal muffin baker?" the winter spirit chuckled.

"Yes!"

After everyone had devoured a few of the delicious pastries they continued with the additional variety of cookies laid out in front of them. They didn't know how much exactly the elves had helped Jack or how much he had followed the recipe he had learned by watching Jamie's mother but it didn't matter. Past events had shown that everything that took place in the kitchen wasn't exactly his strongest suit and the fact he had put so much effort in getting decent results and surprise them with it was the most important part of it. With each praise the smile on his face grew bigger. Amused laughs rang through the Globe Room when Bunnymund ruffled the boy's hair and a faint cloud of white powder escaped from of it.

"Spreading flour now, Frostbite? Snow got too boring for ya, eh?" the Australian smirked.

"Shut up or you won't get any more muffins, kangaroo." Jack shot back while returning the smirk.

For a moment the furry guardian seemed to be torn between the lovely sweet snacks and his banter with the frost teen before he took another carrot muffin.

"Ya win...this time."

Jack grinned at the realization that he had found a new ultimate leverage against his furry comrade. They were so absorbed into tasting as many of the cookies and muffins as they could and talking about it that they completely forgot that the guardian meeting was meant for discussing the progress of their jobs. One hour later, when none of them could eat a single crumb anymore, they started the planned topics but Jack was somewhere else with his thoughts, already wondering what he could come up with at the next meeting.


A/N : After Jack's repeated fails in the kitchen I had to save his dignity, hehe.

Thought about putting marzipan teeth on Tooth's muffins but that seemed a little gross...

I'm aware of the irony of the worry that a winter spirit might set something on fire . :P

Writing this chapter made me crave for muffins.

Please don't forget to review! :3