A/N: And the end! That was quick! Thanks to Mikell and Melody again! You ladies rock! Hopefully I'll get the next story up that spins off of this one. We'll see.

Chapter Three

The End

He was running out of time. He could feel the shift in the atmosphere as the sun started to rise, sneaking over the horizon to pay her respects to the Man in the Moon before she took over entirely, chasing away the lingering darkness of night.

Setting the last of his eggs for Horner's Park carefully within the branches of a young sapling that was still in its first years, Aster moved back and sighed, scanning the area briefly. Five stops left before he could call it another successful Easter and he would have only a few minutes to stop by Sophie's before she woke up. He'd wanted more time than that but a handful of unforeseen difficulties had pretty much nixed that entire plan. And it irritated him.

A quick thump of his foot, a race through several tunnels and five minutes later, he was at the next stop – the backyard of a children's hospital in Wisconsin. He hunched his shoulders against the cold and listened for any noise that would tell him he wasn't alone. Instead, a touch of cold down his shoulder blades was what alerted him to the fact that he had company.

"Whadaya want, Frostbite?" he muttered, moving forward to complete his job and ignoring the presence of the Winter Guardian behind him.

Jack dropped from the branches of a nearby tree, falling into step behind him with a swagger that annoyed Aster to no end. "Aw, come on. I haven't seen you in a while. Maybe I just stopped to say hi?"

"Hi…right mate," he returned, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"Hey, I have a question for you." He took to the sky, floating over Asters head to further irk the Bunny. "What's with you and Sophie?"

He paused for only a moment, his irritation giving way to alarm which confused him. What did he have to hide? They all knew Sophie. So what did it matter if he was paying more attention to her than what may have been considered normal. It was innocent…wasn't it?

"Not sure what you're on about, mate. Now if you'll bugger off, I'm busy here."

Jack chuckled, his feet coming to rest on the ground again a few yards ahead of him. "You're delusional. Does that come with age or is it just an inherent trait?"

In one swift move, Aster had the cocky Winter Guardian up against a tree. "Now listen here, ya bodgy-."

"Maybe you should listen," Jack cut him off mildly, looking far more amused to be in his predicament then scared. He tapped Aster's arm with his staff, sending a painful chill up the Bunny's arm. Jerking away, Aster pulled his arm to his chest and rubbed it.

"We all know about this little gift exchange you've been doing with Sophie. North and Tooth think it's sweet. Me…I see what's going on a bit better than they do."

"And you think I'm the one that's delusional," Aster muttered, trying to ignore the sudden pressure in his chest. He'd been trying to ignore the depth of what was happening as the years went on but watching Sophie grow up, seeing the woman she'd become-.

Her kind soul, her green eyes framed by the layers of spun gold hair – they haunted his dreams, they plagued him throughout the day. He couldn't paint an egg without picturing her sitting at her kitchen table and doing the same thing, dressed in a pair of pink, green and black plaid shorts under a plain white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and only a few buttons holding it closed around her.

"I do. But I get it. She's a human. Bet the idea of her being something more than just a kid who believes in you scares the fur off of ya, doesn't it?"

Aster turned from Jack, intent on doing his work. Anything to get his mind off of something he knew he couldn't pursue.

"Bunny…you know she feels the same way, don't you?"

"Listen, mate…we're goin' nowhere here and I've got a job to get done," Aster snapped, now more agitated with the fact that Jack's words were starting to hit where it count than with the Guardian's presence.

A hand on his arm stilled him. He glared down at it, then up to the owner, startled to see the kindness on the young man's face. That usual gleam in his eyes that would alert anyone to what pranks he had in store was gone.

"How about I get it done for you? Go make something amazing happen and quit ignoring it. If you don't do it soon…you're going to miss your chance."

"Jack-."

"Go." Jack released him, snagging the basket he'd been holding and dangling it on a finger. "I'll call in the reinforcements. We'll get it taken care of. Unless, of course, you want to keep ignoring all of those fuzzy feeling and just keep hoping that they'll go away. Although…being the Guardian of hope…you'd think that would have happened by now if it was supposed to."

Aster sighed softly, shaking his head. He hated to admit that the little pest was right…but he was. Sucking up what pride he had left, he smiled. "Thanks, Snowball."

"Anytime, Kangaroo."

Aster thumped a paw against the frosted ground and down the rabbit hole he went, taking the familiar tunnels to Sophie's place as quickly as he could. He resurfaced where it was considerably darker, the earth not having yet turned enough to allow dawn to disrupt the still of the chilly evening. Her kitchen light was on, the weak glow stretching over the small patio and fading over the frost tipped grass.

He went to the door, knowing that it would be open, and slid in, shivering slightly as the warmth welcomed him. She'd been baking today. He could smell the lingering scent of carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, mingling with the flavored decaf she preferred in the evenings.

He stopped short of the kitchen table, frowning. No painted egg laid waiting for him. Had she given up? No, he could still feel her unwavering faith in him, pulsating through his being.

"Bunny-."

He turned, sucking in a startled breath. She stood there in gray flannel pants and a light green cardigan, her eyes wide and uncertain, her hair pulled back. Several strands hung free, delicately framing her flushed face.

He had nothing to say to her. They'd been talking through paintings for so long now, painting each others worlds with subtle sentiment, that there was really nothing left to say.

He went to her instead, framing her face in his paws, drowning in the sound of her sigh of relief. Her small hands came up, brushing his cheeks, winding around his neck. Her full surrender came when she closed her eyes, leaning into him and his came as he nuzzled her nose, wrapped an arm around her waist and finally kissed her, his mouth moving over hers possessively, taking what he'd longed for and denied himself for far too long.

"We'll make this work," he vowed softly.

She smiled up at him, trusting him, believing in him in a way no child ever had. "Good. Because I love you, Aster. So it has to."

He chuckled, wrapping his arms tightly around her. "Love you too, Soph."