So, here's another chapter for you peeps! Sorry I took a little longer to get it out today. It's hard writing with a headache, but I managed to do it eventually, so yeah! I'm hoping to write at least one chapter a day until I get it done, but we'll see how that goes. I used to regularly write about twice this much in half the time I've been taking to write these chapters, so hopefully writing this story will help me get back into the swing of things. We shall see.

Anyway, rather than wasting your time with a huge author's note, here's the next chapter of Dabba Dabba Dove. Enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I'm gonna say it, and I'm not going to freak out this time. I do not own Rise of the Guardians. (*screams*) Well, I'm getting better, anyway. :P

"Dæbbe, dæbbe dua
Mor di var ei frua.
Far din var ein herremann
Bror din var ein spellemann
Spelle ikkje for lengge.
Strengan koste pænge,
Pængan nedi skrinet
Skrinet nedi kista.
Kista uti Amsterdam i Holland."

Tannie sighed contentedly in her sleep at the conclusion of the song. Jack petted his sister's head and smiled sadly at the sleepy little thing. She could hear him in her sleep now, but would she be able to hear him once she woke up? He had started getting through to her just a bit during the evening, before she fell asleep, but that could have been the adrenaline working in his favor. He didn't want to scare her every time he wanted attention. He loved his Tannie too much.

After a while, he decided he should probably stop being so clingy and just let the poor girl sleep, so he stopped petting her head and moved to stand up, but her hand shot out and grabbed his collar. "Jack..." said Tannie in her sleepy little voice. "Please do not leave me."

Jack's expression softened, and he knelt back by the bed. He had thought that he was just making her cold by touching her so much and hovering so close to her, but she seemed to be just as clingy as he was. Perhaps she was more clingy. She had just lost her brother, whereas he'd had three hundred years to accept the idea.

"I'm right here, Tannie," he said. "I can stay right here all night if you want."

"Mmhmm." She nodded in her sleep. The little thing made Jack want to melt at the sight of such cuteness. Was is safe for a winter sprite to allow someone to melt his heart? Well, he supposed he was going to find out, because he wasn't about to leave Tannie's side now that he finally had her back and she wanted him back just as much. If melting his heart could kill him though, he had probably already died a long time ago from some of Jamie's antics.

"Then I'll stay here all night," he said, and he risked a kiss on her forehead. She shivered a little, but that was all she did, so it seemed to be fine. That was a relief. He could still kiss his sister goodnight, so long as he was careful. "Goodnight, Angel."

"'Night."

Jack sighed happily. This night would be long and a bit dull, yet still perfect in its own way. He wished he could keep this moment forever.

"Overland Lake is named after a young Norwegian immigrant named Jackson Overland. Local legend has it that Overland and his sister were skating on the frozen lake when Overland fell through a patch of thin ice and perished. Some accounts state that Overland managed to rescue his sister from the same fate before succumbing to the ice."

That wasn't a very long entry at all, and Jamie had to admit he was a bit disappointed. Even if this was one of those dreaded books that kids tried to avoid at all costs, the least the book could do was give him more than a paragraph about Jack.

At least it did prove that Jack's story was true. Some of his peers had been starting to accuse him of being crazy. Now he could shove this information in his face to prove that, yes, Jack had indeed lived. There was documented proof of that. He had no idea how to prove that Jackson Overland had turned into Jack Frost, but at least one part of the story was proven right.

There was a picture of Jack and his family pasted beside the small article. It wasn't a very good picture. He suspected it might not even be a picture at all, since it looked more like a cartoon. But it couldn't be a cartoon, since Mom had said that cartoons were a pretty new thing. Maybe that was a painting. It seemed kind of stupid to make a painting when it was easy enough to just snap a picture and save the trouble. He never understood why historical people didn't just use cameras. He'd always wanted to know exactly what Columbus looked like, but the dummy had forgotten to pack his camera on the voyage to America.

Jamie scratched his head as he stared at the painting-picture. The only person in that picture with white hair was the dad, and his hair was only half white. The other half was a boring dark, like everything else in the black and white picture. Jack's icy white hair should have been easy to spot though. That should have come out white in a black and white picture, but they all had dark hair.

A switch flipped in Jamie's brain and his eyes grew wide. Could Jack have looked different before he became Jack Frost? Why would the Man in the Moon have changed how Jack looked, unless Jack was ugly before?

Jamie searched the picture, trying to find Jack, and he zeroed in on the older boy. If he pictured that boy with white hair instead of the stupid dark hair he portrayed, then yes, he could easily imagine that boy as Jack. He had the same stupid grin as Jack too. Yep, the Man in the Moon had done the right thing. Brown hair was stupid and ugly, and it didn't belong on anybody who was cool.

The caption beneath the picture read, "Left to right: Marcus Overland, Jackson Overland, Tanja Overland, Camilla Overland." These captions were always so confusing, since they acted like everyone was standing in a straight line and you were just somehow supposed to know what they meant even when the people weren't standing in a straight line.

But in this case, Jamie thought he could guess. Jack had mentioned a "Tannie" before. That was probably short for Tanja. How was that name pronounced anyway? Oh well, he could just pronounce it the way Jack did for now. Tannie worked well enough. This "Tannie" person was supposed to be Jack's sister, which meant that it couldn't be the lady sitting in the front. She looked way too old to be his sister, so Tannie must have been the girl standing beside the dark-haired Jack.

It was weird. She almost looked familiar somehow, but Jamie couldn't say why. He certainly couldn't have ever met her. She'd have been a very old lady by the time he was born. How long ago did Jack say he'd lived? Two hundred years? She'd have been a very, very old lady.

The familiarity was strange though. Maybe Dad would know where he'd seen that face. He shoved the book into his backpack and bundled up to go home. Dad wouldn't be home for a few hours yet anyway, but he wanted to have some time to try and find Jack or play with his friends. Either task would be fun.

As soon as he stepped out of school, Jamie knew something was different, and he scratched his head, trying to figure out what was bothering him. He couldn't think very well, so he took his coat off to cool down a little, since he could never think when it was hot, and he threw his coat over his arm and continued walking down the street.

A couple blocks later, he stepped into a pile of slush, which splattered up onto his pants and trickled down into his shoes. He hated when that happened. Every spring, he had to deal with the slush everywhere while the snow disappeared and the flowers started thinking it might be a good idea to pop up.

Something clicked then. This was the middle of December, not the middle of spring. Why was the snow melting all of a sudden? Jack loved playing around in Burgess this time of year. If it wasn't cold in Burgess in December, then for some reason, Jack wasn't in Burgess, but why? What had made him leave? And when would he get back?

Jamie picked up his pace and ran the rest of the way home. Slosh, slosh, slosh went his feet, which only fueled his worries. He hoped one of his friends might have spoken to Jack more recently than he had, or that Jack might have left a message of some sort at home for him, and Jamie wanted to get back so he could find out what was going on. This wasn't normal behavior for Jack, and he was scared.

"Where are you, Jack?" Jamie said to the wind, but as the wind wasn't Jack, it refused to answer, so Jamie just continued to run.

Tanja arose the next morning with freezing hands and dried tears on her face. It had felt like she had held someone's hand the whole night through, a very cold hand, but a hand. And her brother's voice had spoken to her. The voice had said things that were probably nonsensical, but it had indeed been her brother's voice. And Jack had the tendency to be nonsensical as it was. She felt like she could still believe that Jack was around even if she could not believe all the words he said to her. He enjoyed playing tricks. Even in death, he enjoyed his tomfoolery.

There was something hanging on the corner of Tanja's vision that she could not see whenever she turned to look at it directly. She had heard of certain kinds of spirits that could only be seen out of the corners of one's eyes, but she could not understand why there would be such a spirit in her bedroom. She believed angels surrounded her in her sleep, and that her brother was among them and possibly still keeping watch as she was awake, but angels were not the same thing. Folks claimed to see the spirits of nature out of the corners of their eyes, while angels usually appeared fully visible when one saw them, but in disguise.

Tanja journeyed to the dining area after she had dressed herself, and mamma set a bowl of steaming porridge at her place. "I had such an interesting dream last night, mamma."

"What did you dream, child?" Mamma sat down across from the table to listen to Tanja's story, but pappa stood up and left the room. He never much enjoyed listening to Tanja's dreams, but it did not matter. He had work to do outside of the house, and he could not be troubled with the affairs of womenfolk.

"I dreamt of Jack, mamma, and he told me a story."

Mamma seemed hesitant to speak, lest she say anything to encourage the child in foolish fantasies, but her desire to believe prevailed overall. "What story did he tell you?"

Tanja took a couple spoonfuls of her porridge before answering, as it was important to think before speaking. "He told me the story of a person called Jack Frost, mamma."

"Who is Jack Frost?"

"I think he is the guardian angel of winter," said Tanja. She had a flutter of a smile remembering the way Jack had talked in her dream, but she dared not show her feelings too strongly. She did not wish to have her hopes crushed if she seemed too eager. "I did not hear all of his story, as I fell too deeply asleep, but I think I have figured out why he told me this story."

"And why would that be, Tanja?"

Tanja beamed at her mamma. This was the part of the story she had liked the most, and she hoped her mamma would agree with her. "I believe that God saw how Jack gave his life to save mine from the ice, and so He made Jack the guardian angel of winter and changed his name to Jack Frost."

Mamma did not seem to know what to say to that, and she held her face in an expression of intense thought. Tanja did not know whether mamma was going to accept or reject her theory, but she clearly would have liked to believe her son had been rewarded with such an important task. She would have belittled Tanja for such a foolish idea otherwise.

Times like these were best spent in silence, and Tanja continued to eat her porridge without speech. Mamma needed to think on the matter, and she would be less likely to be swayed to Tanja's side if too much speech were indulged in.

The flickers from the corners of Tanja's eyes became more prominent, and she wanted to know why. What was following her? She hugged her shawl around herself, wishing for a protective hug. It would feel much safer outside at this point, as it felt like Jack was out there, or at least stronger out there. Perhaps she could go outside, and God would grant her one last meeting with Jack as an angel of winter.

"Mamma, may I go outside?"

Mamma did not speak for a couple minutes, but then turned to Tanja and said, "But why do you wish to go outside when you would be going out there alone in the cold?"

Tanja did not have to take the time to think up a response. "I do not feel like I am alone out there. It feels like Jack is watching over me out there."

Mamma sighed, then stood up and handed Tanja's scarf to her. "Please be safe, and do not go anywhere near the lake. My heart could not bear to lose another child."

"I will avoid the lake, mamma," said Tanja as she pulled on her scarf. "I will only walk for a bit." She then bundled up the rest of the way and headed out the door. If all went well, God would smile on her and let her meet Jack.

Jack couldn't believe his luck. Tannie had heard him. She may not have remembered everything he said during the night, but she heard him, and she was beginning to believe. He couldn't wait until she came outside where he was in his own element, which would give him a much better chance of getting through to her. His powers were just stronger outside.

As he stood rocking on his heels outside of the family home in wait, a figure strolled into view that made him stop his jovial rocking and tense all his muscles at once. That guy looked suspiciously familiar. There really weren't that many guys with platinum hair in Burgess at this point in time, and this guy was walking around like he was really confused. Great, the other Jack had to show up during the one point in time that it was most inconvenient. How was he supposed to dodge him and meet Tannie at the same time?

Jack ducked out of sight beside the house, and breathed a sigh of relief that the other guy never even thought to look his way. That was one problem solved. Now if he could just get Tannie to steer clear of him, all would be good. Things could get really screwy if she were to meet him at that point in his timeline. He wouldn't even remember who she was, which might shatter all her little beliefs he'd worked so hard to cultivate in her.

The front door slammed, and Jack peered around the corner of the house. Tannie stood on the porch, looking around for something. Suddenly, her gaze locked on the spot where the other Jack stood, and her expression turned to one of immense delight. Oh dear, this wasn't good. She saw him, but it was the wrong Jack.

There was no time to be subtle, so Jack launched himself into the air and flew past the porch, plucking Tannie into the air with him as he passed. The other Jack had noticed some kind of disturbance, but simply blinked and walked on, uncomprehending. That was one crisis averted.

When Jack set down on the ground, the first thing Tannie did was try to tear away from his grasp. "Let me go! My brother was back there. I need to talk to him!"

"Tannie!" The girl stopped struggling at the sound of the reprimand and looked at Jack, her gaze locking on him and her jaw fell open. Jack yelped for joy. "You see me, don't you? You really see me!"

A tear rolled down Tannie's cheek. "J-Jack?"

Jack swept her up into a firm hug and let her cry as many tears into him as she wanted. They stung slightly whenever they came into contact with him, but thankfully her tears weren't too hot, just a little uncomfortably warm. It felt so good to be back with his sister that he didn't mind dealing with a minor irritation like having a few human tears come into contact with his skin. He barely noticed them, he was so happy.

He had to set his sister down eventually, and she was still crying when he did, but there was a bigger smile on her face than he had seen on her since he had returned to this time. She was just so happy to finally see him, and he her. They were both too emotional for words for a while, but Jack was fine with that.

Once Tannie was finally able to speak again, the first thing she said was, "Why is your hair white, Jack?"

That was such a weird question to ask as the first question to your seemingly dead brother upon reuniting, but he supposed she just didn't much know what to say, so picked an obvious detail that confused her.

He chuckled and shook his head. "I'd imagine it's just because it's the color of snow. See?" He stretched his arms out to the side so she could see him in his full glory. "All color coordinated and frozen now."

Tannie laughed and touched the front of Jack's blue hoodie, then jerked her hand back. When he wasn't trying to control himself, he could get awfully cold to the touch, and he'd forgotten that Tannie might still want to touch him, even after the hug was done. He'd have to focus more while they talked to each other so he wouldn't accidentally hurt her.

"Why do you wear such strange clothes, Jack? I thought angels wore heavenly robes."

Jack snorted. This angel thing was hilarious. He'd like to see what the other guardians would think right now of him being thought of as an angel. They might not even believe him when he told them that that was what his sister believed he was.

"Well, I don't wear heavenly robes, Tannie. Each, guardian, er, angel, wears whatever makes it easiest to do their job."

"So these clothes make it easier to be the angel of winter?" Jack nodded, and Tannie turned to look back toward where they had flown from just a few minutes before. "Then who was that other person? He looked just like you, but he wore modern clothes."

Modern. Ha! That was a laugh. If only Tannie knew what he thought modern was in his timeline, though she would probably never understand, even if she did know.

Jack sat down on the snow bank and patted the space next to him for her to come and sit by him. "This might be a little hard to explain, but I guess I have to try since you did see that guy."

"Yes, I did," said Tannie, "So you had better tell me, Jack!"

He laughed and mussed up her hair. This girl was just too precious. At least she still treated him like Jack, even if he had funny colored hair now and strange powers. He was still apparently just Jack to her. "Well, long story short, that guy was me too."

Tannie eyed him with such a confused glare that Jack fell down on his back and lost control laughing. He had missed having a little sister so much. Little sisters were great for teasing. They reacted to everything you did and provided a constant source of entertainment.

He sat back up after regaining some control. "That was me just after I became, uh, this." He swept his hand over his body. "That me is still very confused about life and, well, it's just better not to talk to him until he figures himself out."

"How are there two of you?" Tannie pressed her fingers to her temples as though she were about to have a migraine. "And why is one of you more intelligent than the other?"

"Ha, no, it's not like that, Tannie." The laughter was so hard to control at this point, but he had to do what he could. It wasn't Tannie's fault that she had never been exposed to time travel. It wasn't even really discussed in this time as an idea much worth indulging in.

He took a deep breath, then said, "Well, it's sort of like this: that other me is kind of like a-baby angel if you will." He grimaced at the comparison, but Tannie seemed to still be comprehending, so he continued his explanation. "He doesn't know who he is, or what his job is, or how to do it. But I guess you guys needed to hear from me, so-I suppose you could say that God brought an older me back here to talk to you?"

"The Lord answered my prayer."

"Ahem, yes," said Jack. This topic was awkward, especially since he hadn't been particularly religious ever since becoming Jack Frost. He wasn't against it, but becoming a guardian had sort of shattered his sense of reality, and nothing really made sense anymore. If religion still helped his sister, he wouldn't dissuade her, but it would be nice if she stopped referring to him as an angel, at least.

After a period of blissful silence with the two of them just enjoying each other's company, Tannie said, "Jack, how long is God going to allow you to stay here?"

Strange question, but Jack supposed it was inevitable. "I think I can stay here as long as you need me to. I don't get old anymore, so it wouldn't be hard to follow you the rest of your life."

Tannie smiled at hearing that. "But does God not need you in the time He called you from?"

"He probably does," said Jack, "But I'm not the, uh, the angel of time." He winced at the terminology, since it really was not accurate, and he felt like he was tricking his sister every time he used the terms she understood, but he knew no other way to explain things to his sister. "Time will just keep on ticking for me, whether I like it or not. I won't get old or anything, but if I stick around and follow you and your kids and your kids' kids long enough, I'll be back in my own time before too long."

Tannie's eyebrows shot up into a question. "You spoke of several generations! Just how far were you called from, Jack?"

He hung his head, slightly embarrassed, but he had dug his own grave in this matter. Now he had to tell her which time he was from or she would get really confused. "About two hundred years into the future?"

"Two hundred years!" She shook her head, then placed her hand on her forehead as though needing it for leverage. Jack hoped he wasn't breaking her brain. He really didn't want to have to clean up exploded Tannie brain just because he told her too much all at once. "That does explain some things."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Explains some things?"

"Yes." She nodded. "For instance, you have developed some poor habits in your speech. Was that merely your own slothfulness, or did the entire world's speech fall into disarray?"

"Oh, you wound me, Tannie." Jack feigned being horribly offended by the insinuation that he might not be speaking as well as he once was, though he knew it was true. His speech had changed with the years to match the speech of the current generation. So had his clothes, though he doubted she would perceive that quite as well as she had perceived the speech issue.

"Yes," he said, "the entire world has fallen into verbal disarray by the point I'm from." He snickered at the horrified expression on Tannie's face. She was just precious. "Tannie, don't worry so much. The world isn't actually ending or anything. Human speech has just evolved. It does that after a couple hundred years. That's perfectly normal. The way you talk now isn't the way people spoke a couple hundred years ago either."

"I suppose it is not. We do not refer to each other as 'thee' and 'thou'."

"And boy, am I glad of that."

"I beg your pardon," said a slightly offended Tannie, "I am not a boy."

Jack swept his arm in front of Tannie as he stared off into the distance. "Hush." Tannie took Jack's suggestion and hushed, much to Jack's relief. What was going on over there? It looked like a small storm was brewing.

It seemed Tannie noticed it too. "A storm is forming in town, Jack. What is happening?"

He petted her head and smiled at her. "Don't you worry, Tannie. I'll fix it. I think the baby angel is just acting out in a way I don't remember too well." Jack scratched his head and tried to think. "A lot of my early memories are kind of garbled."

"Is it difficult to become an angel?"

Jack responded with an emphatic, "Yes!" which startled the poor girl, so he calmed down a bit and said, "Changing form changes everything about you, Tannie. It takes a long time to adjust."

"But you have adjusted now."

"Mostly, yes."

Tannie pointed to the brewing storm in the distance. "But not him."

"Nope, not him." Jack stood up and reached out his hand to take Tannie's. "Let's get you home. I can navigate you safely through the storm if I take you personally." She nodded and took his hand, and so he launched off the ground and within moments had landed on the front porch of the family home again.

Before letting her go into the house, he held her by both shoulders so she would be forced to look into his eyes and see how serious he was. "Tannie, promise me something. Promise me you won't try to talk to young me. He can't handle talking to people right now."

"I promise."

Jack sighed and looked at the ground, then back at Tannie. He hated to ask her the other thing on his mind, but it couldn't be avoided. Too many bad things could happen if it wasn't addressed. "And also, promise me you won't discuss any of this in front of pappa. He'll have a fit if he hears what you experienced with me today."

Tannie looked sad at hearing Jack say these words, but after a moment or two of hesitation, she nodded. "Very well, Jack. I will not share these things with pappa."

He squeezed her shoulders reassuringly. "Good girl. Now go and get yourself warm while I deal with the crazy brat. Heaven knows I can't keep you warm anymore." Tannie chuckled at that, and Jack pretended he was amused too, even though the thought made him quite sad. He missed being able to enjoy warmth like a human being could. He enjoyed the feeling of cold now, but that wasn't a sensation he could share with many other beings. Most creatures thrived on warmth, not cold.

Jack and Tannie hugged each other one last time and said their goodbyes, and he watched her until she made it into the house safely. Then he turned to face the storm. "Alright, buddy. I've got a bone to pick with you." And he launched himself straight into the middle of it.

He had never tried to talk with another version of himself before. He just hoped he wouldn't make the universe collapse because of it.

Okay, hopefully you liked the chapter. The people who have reviewed and sent me PMs, I will get back to you soon. I've just been preoccupied today, but I'm trying to actually respond to everyone for this story, since you guys are helping me a lot. :) Anything any of you have to say, feel free to say it, even if you're just spewing off a bunch of the questions or thoughts in your head. It helps me know what needs to be addressed to make the writing perfectly clear, which helps IMMENSELY.

Anyway, hope to see you back here next time. Take care, and have a nice day!