This takes place after Spring Snow


The commotion when he entered the workshop was expected, but still overwhelming.

"Phil, put me down. I'm fine."

The yeti protested even as he set him back down. He gestured at the bloodstains on his cloak and clothes. Jack sighed. He really should have known better than to come here like that. On the other hand, it seemed rude to delay telling the Guardians he was alive so he could do some laundry.

"I swear I'm not hurt. Can you tell me where North is?"

Phil grumbled some more and directed him to his own room. He also told him that Bunny was with him, but that the others were busy with their jobs. Jack nodded, thanked the worried yeti and left the main room under the attentive stares of most of the workshop's inhabitant. He had to pull one of the elves off his leg when the pointy-hatted creature decided to hug his ankle.

He heard North's booming voice long before he made it to his room, but it wasn't until he got nearer that he was able to make out what he was saying. Frequent silence told him that this was only half of a conversation.

"Don't say that. Is not your fault."

Jack pushed the door open in time to hear Bunny's whispered reply.

"I should have known better than to let him hang around with Pitch. I knew it wouldn't end well. I should have–"

Bunny's voice broke and he didn't finish his thought. From where he was standing in the doorway, Jack only saw the two Guardians' backs. North sat on the bed and Bunny next to it, both turned toward the window that no one had closed even with Jack not there. His set of Russian dolls had been laid out on the windowsill, from the largest one, with its mocking grin, to the smallest, child-like wooden doll.

Bunny lowered his head, his shoulder hunched, his ears flat against his head. It was a testament to how upset he was that he hadn't heard him open the door. Jack didn't wait for him to keep beating himself up over things he wasn't in any way responsible for. He flew up to the Guardian of Hope and threw his arms around the his shoulders.

"Don't be silly, Cottontail. No one thinks this is your fault."

Bunny tensed. One hand blindly reached back, groped at his hair, his ear and finally grabbed the collar of his cloak and pulled. Jack tumbled over the Pooka's shoulder with a startled yelp.

"Jack!" North shouted.

The bed's springs creaked as a heavy weight was taken off of it. Jack struggled to sit up from the graceless heap he fell in. Bunny pulled him up on his knees and examined him, grasping his chin and turning his head this way and that. Jack wasn't sure if he was trying to determine if he was hurt or if it was really him. Seeing what happened with Jamie, it was safe to be suspicious.

"Nice to see you too, Bunny. Can I stand, now?"

Bunny sniffed him instead of answering. North took matters into his own hands, literally, by grabbing Jack and lifting him up. He made him stand on the bed, where he was roughly eye-level with the other Guardian, and looked him up and down. His eyes soon found the large bloodstain on his thigh, where Jamie's blood had soaked through, making the fabric stick to his skin. Jack pushed North's hand away before he could try to get a look at the non-existent wound. He'd rather keep his pants on.

"It's not mine."

"Jack, you are back! Alive! Ah!"

The crushing hug that followed threatened to change that, but North released him before he could suffocate. He stepped back to wipe a tear.

"Yeah. I'm back. Sorry about that. Dying, I mean. I didn't mean to upset anyone."

"Upset? Jack—we talk later. The others need to know. I will call them. You don't go anywhere. Bunny? Watch him."

North dashed to the door, his heavy footsteps making the whole room tremble. He turned back once before exiting the room, as if hesitating to let Jack out of his sight even a moment. Jack floated down into a sitting position on the edge of the bed and waved at North.

"Not going anywhere."

The Guardian of Wonder thundered down the hall, leaving him alone with the still silent Bunnymund. The Pooka still sat in the same spot, but he had turned to him, staring. Jack shifted in place, not sure what he was supposed to say, if anything.

"I hope that's Pitch's."

Jack looked down at the bloodstains. He remembered the scene on the lake, his first sight upon returning to life. He still hadn't quite sorted his feelings over everything that happened tonight.

"No." When Bunny kept staring, waiting for a real answer, Jack lowered his head. "It's Jamies."

"What? How—what? What happened?"

"What happened is that I wasn't strong enough to come back until he got hurt. Did you think Pitch would leave him alone? Where were you?"

Jack snapped his mouth shut, surprised with himself at the sudden anger. Bunny gaped at him, eyes wide.

"I was–We were–I–"

"Nevermind," Jack cut him off. They'd been trying to bring him back. He didn't want to hear it. "Forget I said anything."

Bunny sighed and hopped over to him. He hesitated a few seconds, then pulled him up into a hug.

"I'm glad you're safe, Snowflake. I'd tell you to never do that again, but..."

He didn't need to finish. The alternative would have been to let Jamie take the blow and no Guardian would do that. Bunny rubbed his back in a comforting move more for his own sake than Jack's.

The floor shook under their feet again when North ran back into the room, a plate of cookies in one hand and a cup in the other. He skidded to a halt next to them, placed the cup on the plate and grabbed a cookie.

"The others will be here soon. I brought snacks. Hungry?"

"No, th–argh!"

North shoved the cookie into his mouth without waiting for an answer. Jack tried to reach for it, but Bunny pinned his arms to his sides in his attempt to pull him away from the well-meaning man. Jack couldn't protest without spitting the cookie on the ground. He didn't have time to take that decision that a green blur slammed into him and would have knocked him to ground if Bunny wasn't still holding him.

"Jack! I came as fast as I could. I can't believe you're back! What happened?"

When she took the cookie out of his mouth, he assumed it was to let him speak. But Tooth, of course, had more pressing matters than listening to his explanation. She shoved two fingers into his mouth and started to inspect his teeth, just in case something had happened to them.

"Aargh!"

"Will you two leave the poor kid alone?"

Bunny pulled him away from Tooth. North tried to hand a cup of eggnog to him. Jack was getting tired of being shoved around and fussed over. He just returned from days of almost complete oblivion and this was a bit too much to take and it was getting much too warm. He debated freeing himself with a blast of ice and flying out the window until everyone calmed down.

As it turned out, he didn't need to. One moment, they were crowding and and picking cookie crumbs off his teeth, and the next, they all fell to the ground, golden sand dancing over their head. Jack breathed out in relief, stepped away from the sleeping Guardians and let himself fall back on the edge of his bed, in front of the open window.

"Thanks, Sandy."

The little man patted his knee and sat next to him. A few quick shapes in the sand told him that the Guardians hadn't been getting a lot of sleep, lately. Jack looked down, distractedly scratching at the dry blood on his clothes. He would need to get that cleaned.

"I'm sorry I made you guys worry."

He looked back at the peacefully sleeping Guardians, glad that they were finally getting some rest. He could only hope everyone else was. Even before he returned, he hadn't been completely unaware of what was going on. He heard Jamie pleading with him to return long before he was strong enough to do so. And he heard Sophie's goodbye. He sighed and looked back to Sandy.

"I hope they'll be a little less excited when they wake up. But, while they're sleeping, I'm gonna need to go check up on Jamie and Sophie."

Sandy nodded and gave him a thumb up, then jumped off the bed to start moving the sleeping Guardians in a more comfortable position. Jack got up and opened a mostly empty drawer holding one of his two spare sets of clothes. His old pants and hoodie were still in Antarctica, but he did have that holiday sweater North gave him and that one pair of jeans he found somewhere after Bunny made him fall in a lake of dye. It all felt like so long ago, the beginning of his new life, with his new family.

He tucked the clothes under his arm and headed for the door. He needed to leave his bloodstained outfit in the laundry room before going anywhere. He turned back before leaving and smiled.

"Thank you. All of you. For caring."


This wasn't supposed to take this long, but this chapter wasn't cooperating. Also, I got busy with something else. Some of you may know that I've been participating in Jackrabbit Week on tumblr, and that kept me pretty busy all week. Should you care to see the pictures, you can check artoftheguardians on tumblr (link on my profile). I also wrote a short story, which is posted here as well, if you didn't know. You don't even need to ship it to read it; it's not romance.