Author's Note: Here's the chapter finally! It's a little shorter than other chapters, but that's because I hit a good stopping point. There aren't even any major cliffhangers really. In the next chapter or two time should catch up to the interludes and then we'll see some sprite action in the main story. :)

This chapter starts off from Lillian's point of view after Pitch had taken her and Jack to the Pole. When it switches to Pitch's point of view, time backs up a little and goes back to right after Pitch left with Jack and Lillian from the cave. Just in case you find it a little confusing.

Now.. reviews!

Capricon Aquarius FOZ said they wanted them (the sprites) to be free. I do too!

CrossoverJunkie liked the interlude with the sprites as it expands the world a little bit more. She also suggested that Jamie might even be into ghost hunting or looking for UFOs when he's older and I have to say I found that really amusing since I LOVE ghost stuff and things with the paranormal. Maybe not as much as Jamie though. Anyway, I just wanted to show what was going on with the sprites that were captured too, and I know there's still a lot of questions to be answered, especially about the missing Summer Sprite that August saw in an interlude.

Ayumi Hai really liked the interlude and wished she could help with plot. Thanks!

Skypeoplephoenix732 read the whole fic in a few days and really liked how cute it was. Thanks! I'm glad that you guys like this fic so much, since while I enjoy my writing, sometimes I'm not sure if other people do too. :) So I LOVE getting reviews like this.

And since that's it for reviews.. On with the story!

Chapter Fourty-Four: At the Pole

Lillian was first aware that something had changed when she could hear what sounded like angry voices. She couldn't make out anything that was being said. Everything was so pitch dark, but that was alright. This time she didn't mind it. She knew that she had been so desperate for something, but she couldn't remember what it was.

All that mattered right now was that it was nice and dark. Then she realized suddenly that she could feel herself shaking. Or was she shivering? She also felt weighed down by something and her limbs felt very heavy. All she wanted to do was lay wherever she was and go back to sleep.

But the shivering wouldn't stop and the voices were too loud. Who was shouting anyway? She tried to make out what they were saying, and the muddled quality of the voices came into focus a little more.

"..Told us.. ya..!" a voice with an Australian accent was shouting.

"..time..!" a voice replied, a very familiar voice.

What were the voices trying to say? Lillian couldn't hear them very well, even if she could make out more words.

"ENOUGH!" a loud, booming voice interrupted the two that seemed to be arguing. "..important.. Jack.. Lillian..!"

Jack!

Jack's name shot a jolt through her consciousness. Something had happened! With Jack! What was it..?

Then the memories came flooding back, a series of pictures lighting up the dark. It felt like years ago (could it have only been this morning?), that she and Jack had accidentally transported themselves off to Mother Nature's for the Seasonal Meeting. Mother Nature had been cordial during the meeting, but afterwards she had been so cold and angry.

Very angry.

Mother Nature had transported Lillian and Jack to that cave..

One of the angry voices intruded on her memories and she felt another jolt.

It was Pitch!

That was his voice!

Lillian struggled to open her eyes, but they felt so heavy and didn't want to open. Being so cold for so long definitely didn't do her any favors. She finally opened them and saw an extremely worried Phil hovering over her and piling more and more blankets on her. She also saw him slip a hot water bottle in bed with her.

"Phil!" Lillian tried to shout, but she was still so tired and her voice came out as more of a whisper. "Where.. am I..?" she asked blearily.

Phil began to tell her in yetish and Lillian looked confused.

Phil noticed this and gave her the 'one minute' gesture and then fled her room.


Pitch had whisked Jack and Lillian off to the Pole as quickly as he could. He was so flustered when he entered the shadow, he hadn't thought of where he was appearing really and so a shocked Phil saw Pitch appear suddenly in the workshop.

Pitch cursed when he saw where he was and thrust poor Jack in Phil's arms.

"Take care of him! Lillian needs the infirmary!" Pitch demanded and then rushed off with Lillian in his arms.

Phil gave Jack a concerned look and scooped Jack up in his arms and raced off for the infirmary too.

He burst through the doors to see a few yetis looking frantic and piling a lot of blankets on a lump on a bed, which he assumed was Lillian. He went to a bed next to hers and gently laid Jack down on it.

Jack was still flushed and looked weak from spending hours in a cave that wasn't cold enough for him. He sat up a bit and looked over at Lillian worriedly.

"Will she be alright?" he asked Phil, but kept his eyes on the mop of brown curls he could see sticking out from under all the blankets.

Phil nodded, but realized Jack couldn't see and gave a garbled affirmative in yetish.

It was as Pitch was frantically demanding the yetis to fix Lillian now that the Guardians arrived back at the Pole. Since Pitch wasn't exactly being quiet, it took them all of three seconds to figure out where he was.

Bunny was the first to arrive as he simply opened a tunnel and hopped in before the other Guardians had a chance to do anything. Bunny came barreling out of the tunnel and straight to a distraught Pitch.

"What do ya think yer were doin'?!" Bunny yelled at Pitch.

Pitch looked a little startled to see an irate Bunny, but quickly waved it aside.

"Lillian and Jack need medical attention, now if you'll excuse - " Pitch started to say, but Bunny wasn't having it.

"You shoulda told us where ya were!" Bunny scolded Pitch. "We coulda helped!"

Pitch turned towards Bunny and glared daggers as the yetis shooed them out and slammed the door shut. They didn't need a screaming match with two patients that needed looking after.

"There wasn't time!" Pitch shouted out in the hall, sounding exasperated.

"ENOUGH!" North shouted as he and the rest of the Guardians rushed over, to see Bunny and Pitch at it again. "Is not important right now! What is important is Jack and Lillian!"

Bunny looked a little abashed and Pitch glared at them all before wrenching the door back open to the infirmary and marching inside.

He didn't have time for any of this, he had children to look after!

As he marched inside purposefully he heard Lillian's faint question, asking where she was.

She was awake!


Bunny grumbled out in the hall about certain inconsiderate spirits while Pitch was inside the infirmary with Jack and Lillian. He couldn't believe Pitch had the nerve to just run off while they had no clue where he was, causing them to waste hours looking for him, Jack and Lillian, only to arrive back at the Pole and have them all there with Jack and Lillian needing medical attention.. And did Pitch have the common courtesy to at least say he was sorry? Nooo. Not Pitch.

Bunny continued to glare at the infirmary doors as if they insulted him, while North and Tooth spoke quietly, wondering if they should go in or not or at least give Pitch some privacy with Jack and Lillian.

Sandy laid a hand down on Bunny's arm, as he heard Pitch's desperate wishes from inside the infirmary.

Please let her be alright! Let them BOTH be.

Please..


Inside the infirmary, Lillian's field of vision suddenly contained an overly worried Pitch. She blinked up at him sleepily.

"How did you find us..?" she asked him quietly. "Where.. where are we?"

"Shh, don't strain yourself," Pitch responded as he felt her forehead. She still felt a little cool to the touch, but not as cold as she had been. "We're in the infirmary at the North Pole."

Well, that explained why Phil was there and all the yetis. She probably could have figured that out for herself, but she just felt like snuggling under the many blankets and sleeping for a few years. She had a horrible day.

Just as her eyes started to close, Pitch's voice startled her and she opened her eyes to see Pitch yelling at a few of the yetis about why weren't they making sure Jack was cold, and another thing..!

Lillian smiled faintly at all the scolding. Pitch sure could yell, alright. She turned her head to look over at Jack, who looked flushed and out of sorts.

"Jack..?" Lillian managed, but didn't have a chance to say anything else to him as Pitch scooped Jack up into his arms and stormed out into the hall.

Lillian's face fell as they left, but she perked up a little as the big, furry paw of Phil brushed some of her curls away from her face.

"..You'll.. keep an eye on Jack, right..?" Lillian asked him softly.

Phil nodded and gave a garbled affirmation.

"..Good," Lillian said as she closed her eyes.


Pitch rushed back out into the hall and nearly slammed right into Bunny, who hadn't moved.

"Do you mind?!" Pitch huffed in exasperation as he rushed off to the room Jack had occupied previously.

The Guardians all looked at one another and then rushed off after Pitch, except for Bunny. Bunny looked after the others and then at the door to the infirmary.

He opened up the door and peeked in to see the chaos of the many yetis rushing around had stopped. He saw one yeti trying to get Lillian's vitals while Phil stayed by Lillian's side, gently stroking her curls and murmuring to her in yetish.

Bunny stepped inside the infirmary and walked over to Lillian's bed. Phil saw Bunny approaching and moved aside to give Bunny room by Lillian's bedside.

Lillian stirred as one furry paw was replaced with another one feeling her forehead. Her eyes fluttered open sleepily and she saw Bunny looking down at her, his green eyes filled with concern.

"How ya feelin', sheila?" Bunny asked her gently.

"Tired," Lillian replied in a soft voice. "My arms and legs feel tingly.."

Bunny nodded.

"That's 'cuz you were pretty cold fer a long time."

Lillian nodded a little, but her green eyes looked so sad.

"..Why does Mother Nature hate us..? She put Jack and me in the cave.. We couldn't get out..! I don't even have my bracelet anymore.."

Bunny sighed at the question.

"Mother Nature doesn't hate ya.. She just.. she's got some issues with Pitch, alrigh'? And maybe it wasn't fair, but she took 'em out on ya.. and Jack too."

Lillian's eyes looked a little teary and she sniffled.

"..I was so scared.. I didn't.. I thought Pitch wouldn't find us.."

Bunny reached over and brushed the tears away from Lillian's face that had started to fall.

"I know Pitch takes care of ya, but we were lookin' fer ya too. We all were very worried about ya," Bunny admitted.

Lillian's lip trembled.

"'M sorry, Bunny.." she said in a wobbly voice, filled with regret. She hadn't given the Guardians a second thought in the cave. All she could think about at the time was how Pitch had to save them.

"Don't worry about it," Bunny said gently. "Just next time, don't forget about us. We're there fer ya too."

Lillian nodded as a few more tears fell.

"Will you stay with me?" she asked in a small voice.

Bunny's eyes lit up and he smiled at her.

"I wouldn't leave fer the world."


Pitch rushed into the room that had been Jack's previously and gently set him down on the bed. He then ran to the window and quickly unlocked it and threw it wide open, so Jack would have a nice cold room.

He turned to yell at the yetis to bring in some snow, when he saw the remaining Guardians instead.

"Jack's going to need a lot of snow or ice," Pitch said, deciding he should not yell at the Guardians, especially since they were in North's home.

He avoided their gaze as he could tell that he would be in for a scolding soon, if Bunny's accusations out in the hall were anything to go by.

"Of course!" North boomed out and went to fetch some yetis to grab some snow for them.

Tooth and Sandy made their way over to Jack's bed and looked down at Jack.

"Will he be alright?" Tooth asked, as she smoothed out Jack's hair, feeling how he wasn't as cold as he normally was.

"..I think so.." Pitch said a little uncertainly. "If we can get his temperature down. It looks like his fever came back.."

Sandy gave Jack a thumbs up and a hopeful smile.

Jack returned Sandy's smile wearily.

"Thanks, Sandy.." Jack said faintly as North rushed back in with some yetis and a bunch of snow.

They unceremoniously dumped the the snow on Jack and Jack was temporarily covered in a big mound of snow with only his feet sticking out underneath.

Pitch rolled his eyes at this.

"I said he needed snow, not to be suffocated by it!" Pitch scolded as he scooped down into the middle of the snow. The yetis looked guilty and helped Pitch out and soon they had the snow arranged so it was all around Jack, but not completely covering him like before.

Pitch jumped a little as North's big hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"Now that we know Jack and Lillian are safe," North said to Pitch pleasantly, "Is time for us to talk."

Pitch fought to keep the guilty look off his face as North lead him outside of Jack's room, while Sandy offered to stay behind with Jack.

Tooth trailed after North and Pitch out into the hall.

"Now," North said looking at Pitch seriously. "You tell us your side of story."

Pitch sighed and took a deep breath.

This was such a long day.


Author's Note: Ok, so before you guys get mad at Pitch for tossing Jack aside like a sack of potatoes at Phil and rushing off with Lillian, he was just extra worried about Lillian because she was unconscious and a little blue, whereas Jack was mostly conscious.. So he figured Lillian needed more medical attention at the moment. But he made up for it later.

Did you like the sweet moment with Bunny and Lillian? That was really a conversation Pitch was going to have, but Bunny was there and Lillian couldn't help herself. Plus I think it's important that Jack and Lillian have some bonding moments with the Guardians too.

As for where the story ended, I figured we all knew Pitch's side of the story so it wasn't really a cliffhanger I left off on.. right? Anyway, let me know if you have any plot ideas.. I'm thinking if this fic goes on long enough for Jamie to grow up, he'd totally have his own paranormal investigation team and be all Ghost Hunters in Burgess with his friends, if he could drag them along. I guess I could see Jamie being one of those rare adults who never give up on believing in Santa, etc, if he'll still believe in ghosts and things when he's older. But then that makes me wonder if ALL people who believe in the unusual and paranormal would be able to see the Guardians.

And now I want to do a side story with grown up Jamie hunting down ghosts! Erg.. I think I'll save that for later though, since it takes me long enough to update THIS story. Anyway, enough rambling! Thanks for all the follows, reviews, and faves!