Hey, I'm back, had a great weekend dressed as a maid and beating people with my frying pan, and yes that really was what I did all weekend, no joke. Anyway to make up for not posting yesterday you get two chapters today, YAY! Enjoy.

Arriving at the Pole, Jack heads immediately for her window. North had modified them to open from both inside and out so she could come and go without needing to go through the entire workshop. Now she was ever more grateful for the convenience since it meant she wouldn't have to explain her hope chest. And that is what the chest was, even if when she had been alive it hadn't had much more than her wedding dress.
setting down she places the chest at the foot of her bed and opens it once again. She takes out the portrait and considers it a moment before setting it on her vanity. She had been living here for half a year now and had still done little to give personal touches to the place, she just didn't have much to set around. Taking a moment once the portrait was set down, she looks it over fondly. Even if she hadn't loved him she knew he had loved her and he must have been heartbroken when she died. She wondered what had happened to him and remembered Mrs. Bennett's words that she would see what she could find out about Theodore for her.

Turning back to the chest Jack pulls out the dress and sits on the bed with it in her lap. She fingers the embroidered snowflakes and frost designs, smiling. She had always been fond of winter and had insisted on a winter wedding so her dress wouldn't seem odd. She remembered stitching each of the designs on the dress and spending hours making it perfect.

As she was gazing fondly at the dress she missed the heavy footfalls of North as he approached her room, but not the knock when he opened it.

"Jack, you are back. Is something wrong?" That was when he saw the dress and let his eyebrows furrow in confusion. "Jack?"

Startled slightly she looks up from the dress, her hands still delicately placed on the fabric draped over her lap.

"Oh, hey North. Didn't hear you coming." She stands and begins gently folding the dress to put it back in the chest when North stops her.

"What is this Jack?"

She looks down at the half folded dress in her hands and tries to shrug it off. "My wedding dress. Jamie's mother found it in their attic in my hope chest."

North seemed confused at first, then let a soft, gentle smile grace his features. He had never thought much about it before but for the time Jack had grown up in and before she had been Jack Frost she would have been of the age for marriage. Whether she had had someone in mind was debatable to him, but he could see why finding her hope chest had been something she must cherish.

"So, Bennetts are descended from your family?"

The question has Jack pausing in her careful placing of the dress back in the chest.

"Well no, not really. I mean they could have been, but after I died and became Jack Frost, my family must have given it to my fiance."

North's smile fell at this news. Jack had been engaged to someone before becoming a guardian.

"I am sorry to hear that. You loved him, yes?"

Closing the lid on the chest and securing the latch Jack shakes her head. "No not really. I mean I'm sure I would have eventually. I know he would have made me happy and he truly loved me, cared for me. But no, my parents and his parents both agreed it wa a good match and since I wasn't opposed to it, he was really very sweet and kind, they gave us their blessings."

Despite not liking the idea that Jack was not going to have been married for love, North understood the situation. It had been a common enough thing back in those times, even in his youth it had been common for people to marry for convenience more than love.

"Is alright Jack, I understand."

Jack manages a smile, small but true. "Thanks, when I told Bunny he couldn't wrap his head around it. I guess its cause he's a rabbit not a human."

North chuckles and nods. "Yes, his people were always about marriage for love, nothing else."

"Really, I'll have to ask him about it some time."

North smiles gently at Jack's thoughtful look. "Come, we go and find you something to fill that belly, you are too skinny still."

Jack laughs and they head out of the room.

Christmas came and went and Jack found she was more happy than she had been in a long time. North had thrown a belated Christmas party for all the Guardians and passed out gifts among them. Jack had been the proud recipient of a small but beautifully painted jewelry box. It was empty but North hinted that it would slowly gain its contents over the years to come. Jack had just laughed and gave North a tight hug before running it up to her room. Distracted as she was by her own happiness she had missed how Bunny seemed somewhat off from his usual gruff behavior. The other Guardians did notice it though.

With Christmas gone Jack went full force into her work of bringing winter and snow days to the kids. January passed without incident and moved into February. She did her best to scare the groundhog back into his hole so she could get an extra six weeks. It was a tradition between herself and the grumpy rodent. This year though he seemed more confused as he ran back into his hole, away from her cold and laughter. It was almost two weeks later when she was making it snow lightly over a park to add to the romantic atmosphere the couples were wanting for their day, that she realized something wasn't quite right with the other spirits.

Cupid had come to complain about how the snow was causing the couples he was trying to nudge into love to distance themselves from each other. He had stopped when he saw her though, looking utterly confused and perplexed.

"Why are you crossdressing Jack?"

Jack had tilted her head to the side, confused and unsure how to go about answering that question. She had been expecting to get chewed out for messing with his holiday, like so many times in the past.

"Uh, what?"

"You know what, nevermind. Just keep your snow to yourself, no one wants it."

Jack just shrugs and floats past Cupid with a grin. "Sure they don't that's why they're all smiling and getting so snuggly with each other."

With a laugh Jack was off, disappearing into the night. Leaving a confused spirit of love to stare after her.

Jack may have shrugged off the encounter but it had left her wondering. He hadn't tried to hide herself anymore, she had come out to the Guardians about her true self and had thought they would spread the word. Thinking back on it though, she hadn't seen too many other spirits since becoming a Guardian. She had gone and met up with the other winter spirits in their annual meeting at the beginning of November, they had been surprised but understanding. Yuki Onna was probably the most excited to learn about Jack's true nature and decided the two would have to spend more time together. Jack agreed, explaining that she was staying with North at the Pole and that she was welcome to visit when she wasn't busy.

So it confused Jack that Cupid, a spirit with an astounding reputation for being a shameless flirt, had not yet heard about her being a girl. So she headed for the Pole to ask North if he knew the meaning behind this.

Arriving at her destination she goes around the outside of the building to see if she could spot North from the outside, no need to wander around inside and get in someone's way. SHe spotted him in his study and tapped the glass, spreading frost out from her fingers as the sound echoed inside the room. With a smile North is opening window and letting her in.

"Jack! What brings you here?"

"Hey North. I just had a question and I was hoping you could answer it for me."

North nods and settles into a chair, motioning for Jack to join him.

"What is question then?"

"You and the other Guardians told all the other spirits about me, right?"

"Yes, we told them you were Guardian now. Why is there problem?"

Jack seemed to get even more confused by North's answer and continued with her questioning.

"So why was Cupid thinking I was crossdressing when I ran into him earlier? It was like he thought I was a guy in drag."

North looked as if he wanted to say something then paused and gained a thoughtful look.

"Jack, is not that we wanted to hide this from others. That you are a girl. But we felt it would be better if you choose who you wanted to know." Jack looked ready to protest but North just held up a hand to stall her. "I know, you did not want to hide anymore, did not want to be afraid, but is not so easy. Pitch was not all wrong that there are some spirits that would try to take advantage of you or harm you if they knew you were a girl."

"But... Its not like that anymore. Women aren't treated like that anymore, they're equals."

"Yes, among humans. Women no long have same roles in families, they are equals. But spirits live much longer and very few have changed their beliefs and attitudes toward women. Even Tooth is careful about who she lets get close to her."

Jack seems to slump. She had been so happy to have the weight of fear removed from her that she hadn't thought that spirits would be so different from humans.

"Is alright Jack. Is your decision and we will not treat you differently because of it. YOu have more than shown yourself to be worthy Guardian. All of us just want you to be safe."

"I, I guess I understand. I just sorta figured that since the other winter spirits took it so well that it really wouldn't be a big deal."

North seems to blink a bit at Jack's statement.

"There are other winter spirits?"

Jack smiles and laughs. "Course there are, you didn't think I ran winter all by myself. I'm the youngest of them. Let's see there is Old Man Winter, Yuki Onna, Barbegazi, Jotunn, there are others, but I don't think you'll know them."

North takes a moment to take all of this in before responding. "So you are not only winter spirit? How does that work?"

"Well we break the world up into regions. We meet once a year to keep in touch and talk about who is bringing winter where. It makes sure we all get enough time off to not strain our powers. We're divided by north and south, generally, and once assigned to a hemisphere you stay there. I've had to help out in the south a few times since there's fewer spirits there. Now that I'm a Guardian though the others told me I can sort of come and go as I please from their regions, you know, to build up believers. They're all being helpful about the whole thing."

"And they are all men?"

Jack looks a bit sheepish. "Well no, Yuki's a girl, but she general has always stayed in Japan and rarely does winters elsewhere. She was really excited when I told them I was a girl."

North seems to frown, a protective urge coming over him as he thinks about these male spirits and their intentions towards Jack.

"Other than her though they're all pretty much old men, very serious and always busy with their work. Thinking about it that might be why I tend to float around the most, even before I was a Guardian. They told me once I made winters more fun, even for them."

Jack seems to notice North's now confused look.

"North, you ok?"

"Yes, but you said you spent time with Pitch before '68."

"Well yeah, but the other winter spirits were sort of the exception to everything, I guess. They're all kind of loners, I was too back then, and no one ever really liked us because of what we had to do. There are very few people that like winter. We never really went out of our ways to visit each other except to decide who was doing winter where."

At Jack's nonchalant attitude about the matter North decided to drop it, it wasn't that important anyway.

"So you will think about who you want to tell, and be careful, yes?"

"Sure, and thanks, for thinking about that stuff for me."

Jack gives North a happy smile before taking off and leaving out the window.