Alaia Skyhawk: lol, I accidentally missed Dig out of the party in the last chapter, so the first 300 or so readers haven't seen the fix. The "fix" being that Dig was passed out under the table, having drunk too much eggnog (which was not alcoholic. Jack would never give booze to two under-age teens). Yep, Dig's such a lightweight that he can become sozzled on non-alc eggnog :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, the Guardians of Childhood, or any related characters etc. This story is written purely for entertainment purposes.

~(-)~

Chapter 48: A "White" Wedding

It had been heart-warming to see the bond between Craig and Laura, as they had progressed through the rest of high-scool and graduated. He'd smiled as he viewed those events through his Ice Mirrors, during the seasons he wasn't in Burgess, and contented himself with the letters the family and Laura would leave for him on the high shelf in the Bennett House's living room.

He'd watched with pride as both youths had spurned the choice of leaving Burgess to go to college elsewhere, and had instead taken up apprenticeships. Laura now worked for Marie Bennett, in her accounting business, and was studying from home a degree in mathematics and finance. Craig was apprenticing under his grandfather, at the Burgess Museum, to become the next curator. Something the family could get away with, after trading part of the land they'd owned in The Village.

They'd given it to the town, to build a new junior-school on, in exchange for half-ownership of the museum. No one had questioned it, not once Andrew and Craig began to plan an expansion of the popular public building, and new exhibits to show off the more recent history of the town. They were also planning to add a café in the extension, and a facility for school groups. With luck, both would draw in people from the surrounding towns, and perhaps even further afield. Because Burgess was unique, in ways that in these modern times were starting to draw more and more attention. People beyond the town were starting to take a greater interest in its mythical and yet apparently real patron; Jack Frost.

Burgess was once again changing, if only in a small ways, and a new school for kids thirteen or under, in the neighbourhood close to the park, was always going to be a plus for Jack. Until now they'd been in the slightly decrepit old buildings on the other side of the town. And more people, tourists or otherwise, being drawn in wouldn't hurt either. Knowledge of his existence beyond the bounds of his current Range of Belief, would be important once that restriction was lifted. Those stories of him would be kindling spark for the belief of the world's children, when the day came that he could at last step forward as a Guardian.

But of all the events and developments of recent years, there was one that Jack had been looking forward to the most... The day Craig finally asked Laura to marry him.

It had happened just a couple of days before the end of winter, just that short while before Jack was due to leave, nearly six years to the day after the birthday party that Laura had insisted on. It had been a running joke for Jack, to tease Craig about how long it was taking. Craig's argument had been that he'd wanted a secure job, to support her, before taking that plunge. And that was when he'd asked her, the day after he succeeded his grandfather as the curator of the Burgess Museum.

That had been a few months ago, what with it now being the middle of Northern Summer in the year 2000. A new millennium, that so many of the people of the world looked to as a chance of a fresh start. To strive forward and succeed, and that was just what Craig and Laura were setting out to do. They were already planning their wedding, and knew they wanted it to be during winter. And that was what now had Jack sighing, as he set aside the letter he'd just collecting using an Ice Mirror.

Laura wanted the wedding to take place on the day of the Festival of First Snow, and had asked if he could tell her what date it would be.

Jack ran a hand over his face, before getting up out of the chair in his bedroom within the Ice Palace. For a problem like this, sending a written reply wouldn't be enough. And so he conjured an Ice Mirror large enough to step through, and passed through it to enter the Bennett House. Middle of summer it might be in the town, Achieng wouldn't mind a passing visit if by slim chance she noticed he was there.

Laura was in the living room, pouring over wedding magazines to get ideas, as eager as a child instead of the twenty-three-year-old she now presently was. His appearance a short way from her made her jump in surprise, before she leapt to her feet when she realised who it was.

"Jack! You got my letter?"

The Spirit of Winter, winced and nodded.

"I did, and I suppose there's no easy way to say this." He took a deep breath. "I won't be able to give you a date for the first snows in Burgess, until about a month at most before they happen. With the whole 'global warming' thing going on, the weather patterns have been a bit unpredictable in places. Of course most of what's going on is just the start of a new climate-cycle, of the world becoming warmer then cooler, but humans are contributing to it at least a little. It means I can't plan in advance as much as I used to, in case a glitch in the weather crops up."

Laura's hopeful expression had faded with his words, but she was understanding as she sighed in disappointment.

"It's not your fault, and I guess it was a little selfish of me to ask when I should have known you couldn't answer. I just really wanted the wedding to take place during the festival. So it could be something extra-special to welcome you back home to Burgess for the winter."

The way she slumped back down into her seat, downcast, made Jack wince again. What she'd asked wasn't selfish at all, not when she'd wanted it to do something special for him. He'd attended dozens of Bennett Family weddings over the centuries, and to be truthful not one of them had taken place during the Festival of First Snow. Many in the family had tried to time it right, but so far none had managed it.

He mulled over it for a moment, making mental calculations, before clearing his throat to get her attention.

"Um... Book the wedding for the 25th of November. I can't promise anything, but that date is your best bet."

Moments later he was enveloped in a hug, and Laura had joyful tears in her eyes.

"Thank you! I promise, the wedding will be something wonderful for you to remember!"

"I'm sure it will be."

Jack eased himself out of her hold, giving her one last smile before he returned back through his mirror and dismissed it. And once he was back in his room within the Winter Sanctuary, he then began to berate himself for thinking he could pull this off.

Mother Nature had been a lot more strict of late, due to the 'global warming thing'. It was true, humanity's burning of fossil fuels, and the act of deforesting massive areas, over the past couple of centuries had affected the weather patterns. Of course it wasn't that it was all happening now, she and the Spirits of the Seasons had been balancing minor blips during all of that time, it was just it was becoming far more noticeable now.

Especially around the edges of the Arctic Circle, where glacial ice had been retreating rather rapidly, and sea-ice wasn't reaching as far and melting sooner. It wasn't so noticeable in the Arctic Circle, but even so there were still signs around the edges there too. The world was warming up, just a tiny amount, but it still made a large difference to the regions that were normally the Bastions of Winter, where that season held sway almost all year-round.

Jack cursed to himself, leaving his room to go to one of the rooms adjacent to the Hall of Mirrors. He'd turned it into a study of sorts a couple of decades back, and had begun keeping records of some of the more unusual weather patterns so he could better plan for the coming years. He also had a chart, showing all the dates for Northern and Southern Winter Thresholds for the past hundred-and-fifty years. A few recent ones had been rather later than usual, but only by a few days outside the norm, and the past three had been reasonably typical. November 24th was right in the middle of the average range for the past ten years, meaning snow on that day would be a November 25th festival.

Jack left the palace and went to the Winter Garden, where he then sat in one of the trees and looked down at the small pond. He'd been there for about an hour, when Cernunnos came out from among the trees and glanced up at him.

"You're looking rather thoughtful. Something on your mind?"

Jack didn't answer immediately, but relented when the stag continued to regarding him knowingly.

"Laura wants the wedding to be during the Festival of First Snow. But with Mother Nature being so picky lately, I can't guarantee when Northern Winter Threshold will be."

Cernunnos tilted his head, his massive antlers knocking snow off the branches above him.

"Then I would guess you gave her a date?"

Jack nodded, still glum, and the stag then laughed. It was enough to startle Jack into staring at him.

"How is that funny?"

Cernunnos chuckled for a moment more, and then explained.

"For someone who once accused Ariko of being stuck into habits of how to do things, you've failed to notice you've done that yourself... Whoever said Burgess has to have its first snow of the new winter season, on the day of Winter Threshold?"

Jack went utterly still, gaping at his Lieutenant, before thumping back against the truck of his tree in wondering at how he could have been so stupid. He then brought a hand to his face.

"It was just a holdover from before we changed the way the seasonal transitions were done, since if I went back there before Winter Threshold, Oisin would have hassled me over it. After we changed that, I didn't think about the fact I could choose Burgess' first snow for any date I wanted." He started to smile, and laughed. "So long as it's within a week either side of the Threshold, Burgess' latitude and climate means I won't be unbalancing anything. I can just ease it in anywhere in that period, so long as I'm careful!"

Cernunnos nodded, smiling as much as a stag could smile.

"So, are you going to tell her?"

Jack leapt into the air, grinning wickedly.

"Nope! I'm going to keep it as a surprise, and plan the best 'first snow' for Burgess I've done in a century!"

~(-)~

"And now for the local weather. Tomorrow's forecast for the region of Kirktown and Burgess, is dry with patchy sunshine, and a temperature of thirty-six Fahrenheit. Winds are expected to change to easterly at the end of the week, bringing wet weather and a chance of sn-"

The TV turned off, Laura casting aside the remote before heading for her room with her shoulders slumped. Her wedding dress was hung on the wardrobe in the corner, almost seeming to taunt her. It looked like the wedding wasn't going to be on the festival day, and worse, it was going to happen before Jack was even back. What if he was too busy shepherding winter further up north, to slip into town and watch the ceremony?

She sat on the edge of her bed, head in hands, doing her best not to cry. She'd been looking forward to the wedding so much. She'd pinned so much hope on Jack being there, that knowing there was a chance he might not be, was crushing.

Craig entered the room and came to sit beside her, placing his arm around her shoulder.

"He'll come. You don't need to worry. Jack's never missed a Bennett Family Wedding, ever, not even when they've happened before the first snow. It'll still be a special day, you'll see. He wouldn't miss it for the world."

Laura sniffed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"But it won't be the same." She bit back a sob. "It's silly, but I wanted to be able to go out into the backyard the day after the wedding and have a snowball fight with him there. Before we go catch the plane to go on our honeymoon. I wanted to be able to really include him, as a part of the family."

"I know."

Craig hugged her, neither of them noticing the pale face of the figure floating outside the window.

Jack smiled to himself, snow already dusting down to coat Burgess in a veil of white, and carefully set his hand to the window. He then conjured frost on the inside, in the shape of a small bird, and summoned it to life to flutter round the room before puffing into a small cloud of snowflakes.

Craig and Laura both flinched in surprise when the little frost-sparrow appeared. But by the time it had turned to snow, and they'd looked to the window, Jack was already gone. But there was a message written in frost upon the glass.

'Here's your white wedding.'

Below the message was a smiley face, and the sight of it made them both laugh as they looked beyond it and saw the falling snow.

Craig hugged her again, smiling.

"I guess he's just made the weathermen wrong... again."

Both of them began to laugh even more at that, loud enough that Jack could hear it from his perch on the roof. He too was smiling, a bright smile which he was still wearing when Craig was shooed out of the house at eight o'clock when his and Laura's mothers arrived.

Craig went back to the house near the pond, which his parents had now moved out of so he and Laura could have it as was family tradition. Jack was already inside when he arrived, and was 'chilling' the pack of beer which had been left on the kitchen counter.

Jack grinned when he saw him.

"So, you both like my wedding present?"

Craig returned the smile as he glanced at the clock.

"It's wonderful, and you know it. Now, Dad, Granddad, and a couple of my friends will be round in about fifteen minutes. Do you think you can behave yourself while they're here?"

Jack pasted on an innocent expression.

"Of course I can!"

To give him credit, Jack did manage to 'behave' himself over the course of the following two hours. Even if Craig, David, and Andrew had to fight not to laugh every time the unseen Jack pulled faces or made joking comments at practically everything the other guests said.

When they did leave at eleven o'clock, and Craig went upstairs to bed, Jack remained in the unlit house for a few more minutes before sighing contentedly and heading outside. It was time for one last wedding present.

When the people of the town woke the following morning, there was a perfect, pristine covering of three inches of snow everywhere. Tiny icicles hung from most of the trees, and the most glorious patterns of frost covered every surface dark enough to show them off to best effect. The morning sun added to the dazzling effect, an extra sparkle of wonder for the people as the festival was set up in the park.

Jack watched them from his perch atop the church spire, waiting for the wedding to begin. Guests were already starting to arrive, and he only descended when Craig, David, Andrew, and Claire showed up. He'd put on his cloak for the occasion, over his blue sweater, reasoning that he'd look a bit less 'walked in off the street' casual for the ceremony. Of course he still wasn't wearing any shoes, but that was besides the point. He never wore shoes.

As the ceremony began, and it was time for Craig to head to the altar, Jack walked in with him alongside David who was the 'best man'. But in truth there were two best men, meaning Jack chose to wait at the side of the altar during the ceremony, just as he'd done for so many others. And when Laura arrived, he was also as awestruck as the rest of them.

Her dress was very simple, yet the edges of her veil, dress, and her train were decorated with dozens of snowflakes in various sizes. Even her earrings were little snowflakes with a pearl set into them. She looked like a snow princess.

Jack watched the ceremony with joy and pride, and when it finished at eleven o'clock, Craig invited his guests to follow the wedding group to the park after the photos at the church were taken.

A very gentle snowfall started just as Craig and Laura came out of the church, like frozen confetti, and it continued until all the photos were done. The whole thing seemed so surreal to the guests, and it continued at the park where the festival was in full swing. Where Jack waited until Craig and Laura were placing their berries, before dropping out of the sky and frosting over the statue. Much to the disappointment of this year's group of supernatural-seekers, who had moved aside to allow the wedding photographer to get a good view. Not a single one of them got any footage of the frosting taking place.

The perfect day continued, although Jack missed the reception in order to do his customary festival snowball fight with the town's children. But he was there the following morning, in the backyard of the Bennett House, stood between two snow-forts that were well-stocked with piles of snowballs.

He chuckled when Laura opened the back-door and looked out.

"I heard you wanted a snowball fight before you catch your plane. Everything's ready, if you're up for it and think you can win."

She didn't need telling twice, and dashed back inside to get her coat and boots on. Two minutes later snow was flying everywhere and she was shrieking with laughter, loud enough to bring Craig to the back-door to see who was winning.

The moment he peered out, both combatants changed their target, resulting in Craig getting pelted with snowballs before he charged outside in bare feet and pyjamas to throw himself into the fray. And if he and Laura were both a bit wet when they caught their taxi to the airport an hour later, both were smiling too much to care.

Because the snow and fun times were going to continue during the honeymoon. They were going to go skiing in the Alps, and Jack had promised to show them sledding 'Jack Frost Style'.

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: Hehehehe, I enjoyed doing this one, even if it had very little dialogue compared to my usual. It's nice to do a fluff chapter like this one once in a while.

Also, someone had asked me if I would mention global warming, and of course here it is in this chapter. I personally am somewhat 'in the middle' with regards to global warming. I agree that burning fossil fuels for so long is having an effect, but I'm also inclined to think there are probably natural factors at work as well. So I went for that 'in the middle' viewpoint when I covered Jack's thoughts on the matter :)