It was Christmas day. Which meant hustle bustle and fuss for every parent, every child and every shopkeeper in the world. North St. Nickolas A.K.A Santa Claus was none of these things, but he was no exception to that fact. Simply because Christmas was his job.

The Workshop that night was surprisingly idle. The yetis were slowly walking from place to place instead of running around grunting words and tripping on elves, who still ran around, eating cookies, doing odd jobs and just getting in the way in general.

Some of the bored yetis were already making toys for the next Christmas, but that was about it.

Despite the relaxed manner, there was an air of tensed excitement. They were waiting for North to get home, they strained their ears for any signs of belly-laughing and sleigh bells. They looked out of the windows to see if they could catch a glimpse of red or reindeers. They kept checking the clock to see when North would come back.

This was most obvious in Jack Frost.

He paced across the (Unlit) hearth, twirling his staff. He would sit on the floor, then get up and pace again. Flying to one end and walking the other, there even was a small trail of frost where his feet touch the ground.

Bunnymund, who was leaning on a pillar, sighed in exasperation, "Crikey, Jack, if you keep that up, you're gonna ruin the floor,"

He was one to talk; Bunnymund's foot was tapping so fast it was a grey blur. The excitement was affecting him too.

Tooth had been hovering not a few feet from Bunnymund, telling her ever-present fairies where to go. She looked at him now, "Give him a break Bunny, Jack's just excited, that's all, we all are,"

Sandy nodded his agreement before sending out a few more Christmassy dreams to Mexico.

"Don't see why I have to wait for North when there's more urgent stuff I could be doing," Bunnymund grumbled, crossing his arms and looking away.

Jack stopped pacing, "Like what Cottontail? Eat carrots?"

Before Aster could rebuke, there was a loud thump and a bark of laughter. Jack immediately flew out of the room, causing Bunnymund's fur to blow with him. The other guardians followed suit soon after.

North was happy, he had delivered several million presents in one night, no kids had seen him doing so and he had made it back in record time. With a triumphant shout he jumped off the sleigh, his bright red sack slung over his shoulder, now empty to be re-filled the next year.

He had just given the velvet sack to a yeti when he spotted Jack flying towards him. North gave him a hug.

"Jack! How are you?"

Jack couldn't answer, but if he could he would have probably said, "I'll tell you when I can breathe" What actually came out was "Mmphmrrthg," (loosely translated)

Tooth, seeing that Jack was about to pass out, flew to North's side and asked, "How did it go?"

"It went fantastic!" North let go of Jack, who took the chance to fill his lungs with oxygen. When Bunnymund chuckled at the display, Jack glared at him.

Meanwhile North was telling Tooth and Sandy (Who had joined in the conversation) about his night out, "I went vooosh! You would not believe how fast sleigh went!-"

A yeti grunted at him and tapped his shoulder.

North whirled around, an annoyed look in his eyes, "Not now! I was telling story!"

The yeti grunted again, more urgently than before, this time North's eyes widened. "What…?"

Tooth fluttered nervously, Jack stopped glaring at Bunnymund, Sandy looked away from his work.

"Something wrong?" Jack asked. North didn't answer. Another yeti came up, the one North had handed the sack to. The yeti took out something white from the sack and held it out. It was long, but not quite long enough to touch the floor.

Bunnymund hopped closer, "What is that? Some sort of skipping rope? "

"I think it's a..." Jack looked closer, "a rubber snake, y'know, the kind you see on Halloween, their decorations, maybe one of them fell into the bag,"

No one questioned if North had missed a child, not that it would be a very bad insult (it was), but that he was too experienced to do such a thing.

"Why would anyone hang a bloody Halloween decoration for Christmas?"

Bunnymund voice was a few notes higher than normal. The reason was that among other things (Jack Frost, greyhounds, Jack Frost, snow, cold feet, Jack frost, blizzards and Jack Frost,) Bunnymund loathed snakes. Snakes ate a lot rabbits. He had seen it, he knew it, and he really didn't like it.

North, completely unaware of his fellow guardian's skittishness (Unlike Jack, who took note of it for a later date) frowned and stroked his beard, "Maybe is defective item," He turned to the crowd of yetis and elves, "WHO PUT SNAKE TOY IN SACK?" he yelled.

The answer was a lot of negative grumbles and gestures. Nobody owned up to the deed. North looked at the sea of blank stares and sighed, he reached out for the snake "No matter, will just put dud back to-"

The supposedly fake snake's eyes opened with a snap, zipped out of the yeti's grasp like popcorn kernels in a microwave, and entwined itself around North's arm.

Me: I bet a lot of you didnt expect that ^.^

North: This is embarrassing...

Jack: Where are we?

Bunnymund: Must be some sort of fan fiction

Tooth: Sure looks interesting, hope North's gonna be okay though.

Sandy: (Nods)

Me: You'll have to find out later...