Alaia Skyhawk: For those who were a bit confused about why Jack would wear a disguise, it's aimed purely at Jamie. Jamie won't learn who his 'Uncle Jack' really is, until after he turns six :)

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 50: Dumb Logic Gets Dumber

He'd agreed to the disguise, and he completely agreed with the reasoning behind it. For two years, every time he'd entered the Bennett Household he'd endured the wig, wearing the extra pair of trousers over his usual ones, and he'd even grudgingly accepted wearing the socks. But this? This was crossing the line...

"Jack, put on the shoes."

"No."

"Put them on!"

"No!"

"Jack, if you don't put them on, I won't let you take Jamie outside to build his first ever snow-fort."

Jack stared at Laura, mouth agape, before his expression turning pleading.

"Aw, now that's not fair! That's blackmail!"

Laura waved the offending pair of shoes in front of his nose.

"And Jamie is at the age where he's going to start copying what he sees other people doing. If you don't wear shoes outside when there's snow on the ground, or it's wet, then a day will come when he will start asking why he has to when you don't."

The two of them continued to stare at each other, the seconds ticking by with him under the intense scrutiny of Laura's stubborn frown, before Jack looked away and sighed in defeat. Avoiding the shoes was not worth being unable to build the snow-fort with Jamie.

"...fine."

Laura shoved the footwear into his grasp and headed for the stairs.

"Then put them on while I get Jamie into his coat and shoes."

Jack watched her go, resisting the urge to make a face at her retreating back, before he sighed again and eyed up what she'd given him. It was a pair of winter boots, the kind that had no laces or buckles and were instead just pulled on. The inside was lined with fluffy synthetic fleece, and he could already tell they'd be slightly too big. Laura had played it safe in making sure they wouldn't be too small, since it would be easy enough to wear a second pair of socks if they were too large.

Jack grimaced, muttering under his breath as he stalked down into the basement room where everything from his disguise was kept when he wasn't wearing it. There were several pairs of spare socks in the box up on the top shelf, and he sat on the stool in the corner to put on a second pair and then... the dreaded boots.

Once they were on, Jack got up and stood there wearing the same expression of utter disgust as someone would if they'd stepped on something foul and slimy while barefoot. Even before he'd become immortal, he'd almost never worn shoes, and even those he had worn had been mostly restricted to threadbare shoes or sandals. Never in his life had he worn footwear as study as this, or as restrictive, and he wasn't enjoying it one bit.

He trudged towards the stairs back up to the kitchen and, after listening to confirm Laura was still up in Jamie's room, rebelliously flew up them even though it did take a lot more effort than when he had his staff. He then went straight outside, crunching through the snow that coated the backyard, and tried not to cringe at how unnatural it felt for him to have a barrier between him and the crisp white snow.

He waited a couple more minutes, scuffing his booted feet through the snow, until he heard the back door open and he turned to face it.

Laura was smiling as she urged Jamie outside, the two-year-old wrapped up in coat, gloves, and hat. The little boy then grinned when he saw Jack, and began to charge towards him.

"Unc' Jack!"

Jamie chortled as he ran, his giggling cut off as he tripped and fell face-first into the snow. But it resumed the moment Jack went over and picked him up. Jack then crouched down to his level, his annoyance at the boots forgotten now that he was focused on the boy, and he grinned as he pointed to the snow.

"Let's build a snow-fort."

"Yeah! Snow snow snow!"

Jamie jumped up and down as he crowed his delight, he and Jack soon piling snow into a wall. Laura watched them from the kitchen window while cleaning the breakfast dishes. It was there that Craig found her, giving her a hug before he too began to watch through the window.

"So you actually got him to wear the boots? I'm impressed."

Laura chuckled.

"It's called 'blackmail'. No boots, no playing outside with Jamie. He gave in after less than a minute."

Craig started to laugh as well, before he sighed.

"Do you really think he'll be alright babysitting Jamie tonight?"

His wife nudged him.

"And here I've always been told it's supposed to be the mother who worries about things like that... Jamie will be in bed and asleep before we go the restaurant. Jamie always sleeps through the night now, and Jack will probably spend the entire evening watching the TV. This will be our first night out for a meal, with both of our parents, since before our son was born."

"I still think it may have been better to hire a babysitter."

He got another nudge to the ribs.

"And babysitters cost. Jack will look after him for free."

"We're not exactly poor these days. We own half of the Burgess Museum, and my family owns and rents out four of the other houses in The Village."

Laura gave him a long look.

"That's still no excuse to waste money if we don't need to. Besides, it wouldn't be fair on Jack if we called in a paid babysitter now."

Craig remained silent for a moment, and then sighed in resignation.

"Well I can't exactly disagree with that. It wouldn't be the first time he's done it, although the last time was during 1952."

Laura placed a hand on his arm.

"Don't worry. Jack will be here, and there will be lights on in the house. No one will know we don't have a mundane babysitter, unless they spy on the house all day."

She set aside the last of the cleaned plates, and headed for the living room. Craig watched her go, still not exactly sure.

"I guess so."

The day progressed from there, with Jack bringing Jamie indoors after an hour to warm up. He then sat and read stories to the boy, before discretely vanishing for a couple of hours to let the child calm down before it was time for his bath and then bed.

Jack returned, emerging from the basement after re-donning his 'normal' clothes and brown wig, at eight o'clock as Laura was tucking Jamie in.

The Spirit of Winter smiled at Craig, who was sat downstairs, and then flopped down into the heaped cushions of one of the living room armchairs.

"Relax, there's nothing to worry about." Jack pointed at him. "You are going to go out, have fun, and tomorrow you're going to ask yourself why you got so stressed about letting me babysit."

The living room door opened, and Laura came in all ready in a blue dress and white shawl.

"Craig, I'm ready to go. Jamie is asleep."

When Craig glanced at him, Jack inclined his head in her direction.

"Go on."

Craig hesitated a moment more before he got up and followed Laura out. The sound of the car pulling out of the driveway soon followed, and Jack sighed to himself before picking up the TV remote and starting to flip through the channels looking for something interesting. Craig's incessant worrying over having him babysit, was enough to make him shake his head in bemusement. With the TV on, channels being changed, and light on, who the heck was going to think there was no one but a sleeping child in the house?

But then people do say that if you insist something won't go wrong, it will... Because about twenty minutes after Craig and Laura left, someone knocked on the front door.

Jack went rigid, turning his head slowly to look into the hallway at the front door, and then dropped the remote as he leapt to his feet. He then dashed to the door and looked through the peep-hole, overcome with the urge to curse when he saw who was out there.

Mrs Werrin, the neighbourhood snoop. If anything scandalous went on, she was the old lady who always seemed to know about it.

She knocked again and Jack started to panic, the immortal flustering on the spot for a moment before on impulse he blew a small dose of frostdust at her out through the letterbox. He then yanked the door open, and prayed as he pasted on a friendly, casual smile... Even as, in his mind, he was screaming that he must be completely crazy.

"Oh, hi there, you must be Mrs Werrin from across the street. Craig and Laura have told me a lot about you, and how you helped them with their yard sale last summer. I'm Jackson Overland, Craig's father's brother's wife's cousin twice removed or something like that. I don't bother trying to remember it, family is family."

He held out his hand in greeting, praying beyond anything that his frostdust, which he normally only used in this way to help fiancées and wives of the Bennett Family start to believe in him, would give him the sliver of an opening.

Out on the doorstep, Mrs Werrin blinked amid the blue sparkles over her eyes, and he could see her mind searching for the logical explanation for the door opening by itself. She'd at least faintly heard his words thanks to the frostdust, he knew from past experience and from using it to convinced sceptical scientists that they were being stalked by ghosts. But given the totally illogical prospect of the door opening on its own, Mrs Werrin's mind blessedly seemed to seize on the more logical explanation that Jack's words had presented her with.

Jack felt a shiver run up his spine when belief clicked into place, although this belief felt decidedly odd, and Mrs Werrin smiled at him. All brown-haired, blue-eyed, smartly dressed and normal-looking him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I saw Craig and Laura leave, and wondered who was looking after Jamie."

Jack leaned against the edge of the door, keeping his expression friendly as he shrugged.

"Ah yeah, I arrived at four-am this morning and have been sleeping most of the day. I offered to keep an eye on Jamie so they could go have some together-time with their parents, to relax."

Mrs Werrin nodded, now clearly looking for the chance to walk away. Her expectations of finding child-neglect had been totally flattened.

"I see, well that's very kind of you and I know they'll appreciate it. They are such a lovely couple."

Jack gave her a small wave.

"Then I guess I'll see you around. Have a nice night."

He closed the door and collapsed against the wall beside it, feeling like he was about to explode from relief until something occurred to him... Mrs Werrin had SEEN HIM. Him, Jack Frost!

He quickly pulled off his wig, the jumper, the trousers and the socks, and jumped out one of the side-windows of the house. Mrs Werrin was still walking to her house as he landed near her, and he started jumping up and down shouting at her.

She didn't respond to the white-haired Spirit of Winter, she didn't even twitch, and when he stepped in front of her she walked right through him. After shuddering at the aftermath of that, he then started to laugh and stood behind her pulling faces in near-hysterical relief. He then went back to the house, put his disguise back on, and spent the rest of the evening telling the winds to blow trickles of frostdust into every house within half-a-mile of the Bennett's home. Because Mrs Werrin, as well as being nosy, was a notorious gossip. By tomorrow afternoon, half the people in Burgess would know that Craig's distant relative, Jack Overland, had been babysitting for the family...

And Jack was planning a prank.

The following morning he slipped out and frostdusted the rest of Burgess, before he went around everywhere whispering in every adult ear he can reach. Murmuring that Jackson Overland was staying at the Bennett house. He then returned to the house, put his disguise back on yet again, and went outside to sit on the porch.

Laura came out around about mid-morning, frowning when she saw him lounging in a chair in full view of the neighbourhood kids.

She kept her words hushed, pointedly not looking at him.

"Jack, what are you doing out here? What if the children point you out, but their parents can't see you?"

Jack shrugged, idly watching a certain old lady sweeping snow off her porch. He then called out, loud enough for his voice to carry across the street.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Werrin."

The old lady looked over, and waves to both Jack and Laura.

"Good afternoon, Mr Overland, Mrs Bennett. Laura, dear, you're so lucky to have a caring young man like him in the family. If only my boys would be so generous with their time."

Laura nearly choked in shock, and forced a smile as she replied.

"Jack has always been a kind soul."

She kept the smile in place, tapping him on the shoulder, and Jack took the hint to head inside. Laura followed, shut the door, and then screamed at him in a voice barely above a whisper.

"She could see you!"

Jack started to laugh, propping himself against the wall of the passage trying not to double over with mirth.

"She can see 'Jackson Overland'. That is, she can only see me when I'm wearing the wig and everything else. If I take this off and fly out there, she won't see me. Apparently, believing in a distant relative who visits and offers to look after Jamie for the evening, it a lot easier to do than believing enough in a white-haired Spirit of Winter in order to see him." He shuddered a little, his laughter dimming to chuckles. "But the 'belief' I sense from it feels a bit creepy. Sort of itchy. It's belief, but not true belief, if you can understand the difference. I don't get any power from it."

Laura went utterly still again, her face blanching white.

"Wait, are you saying she came to the house last night?"

Jack nodded nonchalantly.

"Yeah, about twenty minutes after you left. I panicked and hit her with frostdust through the letterbox, and then I opened the door and introduced myself as Jackson Overland. Craig's father's brother's wife's cousin twice removed. Frostdust opened the door of possibility, and Dumb Adult Logic did the rest." He grinned. "On the flipside, I frostdusted the entire population of Burgess this morning, and whispered the name of Jackson Overland to everyone I could. It'll be interesting to see how many people can see me now, when I'm disguised that is." He plucked at his clothing. "It's kinda weird, but the moment I put this getup back on, I sensed the surge in ambient-belief... I currently feel like my clothes are infested with fleas, isn't that fun."

There was sarcasm in that last statement, but Laura wasn't in the mood to give him much sympathy. She was still trying to get over the fright of discovering someone had called at the house thinking Jamie had been left unsupervised.

"Well if your little experiment is what caused it, then it's your own fault."

She was trembling a little, be it in anger at his prank or worry at how close a call it had been. Jack settled her in the living-room, so she could watch Jamie playing with his wooden building blocks, and in the meantime he went into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

By mid-afternoon Laura had recovered, although she'd scolded Jack quite thoroughly and to the point he'd been left looking rather sheepish. But he brightened up again when Craig arrived back from work at four-thirty, and held in his urge to chuckle as Laura explained to her husband what had happened and what Jack had discovered.

In the silence that followed, Craig looked for a moment as though he would have a nervous breakdown on the spot. But then he let out a sigh, ran a hand over his face, and resigned himself to the situation.

"At this rate, I'm going to be grey before I'm thirty." He frowned for a moment, regarding both his wife and Jack, before pointing at the latter. "Come on, put your boots on and come with me. Let's see if you're actually right."

Jack grimaced.

"Do I have to wear the boots?"

"Yes."

Jack sighed theatrically and went to get them, accepting one of Craig's spare coats as well before following his nephew out of the house.

They walked to the local diner, pausing outside to let Jack send frostdust inside. But like with Mrs Werrin, he kept it mild. He wanted the minds of those inside to be opened to a child's way of perception, but he didn't want them all collapsing into fits of giggles or staring a food-fight. Only now did he and Craig enter. The two of them choosing a table in the corner and waiting until one of the waitresses came over.

She smiled, glancing only at Craig, and tapped her pencil on her notebook.

"What can I get you?"

Craig mulled over his choice for a moment, hesitating before speaking to Jack. It the Spirit of Winter was wrong, his nephew was about to look like he was talking to himself.

"I'd like a coffee please, and... What do you want, Jack?"

The waitress looked at where Jack was sitting, blinked as if she'd not noticed him until now, and shook herself from her thoughts.

"One coffee, and you would like?"

Jack smiled at her, hiding his glee.

"Chocolate milkshake." She jotted it down and went to the service hatch. In the meantime Jack was fighting not to burst out laughing as he whispered to Craig. "This is great. It's like the world's best prank! When the people expect to see a regular guy dressed in regular clothes, it looks like so long as my frostdust keeps them open to the possibility and they get some prompt about me being here, they see me! It's almost like how children under two, can see me if someone else speaks to me first. And it's proof that immortals really aren't actually invisible, although I suppose appearing in photos or on film was already proof enough of that."

As Jack shrugged in emphasis of his latter statement, Craig hushed him in concern.

"Don't get too excited. This isn't a free pass for you to go strolling around town whenever you want. The effects of your frostdust only last about a day and half. You still run the risk of talking to someone who can see you, at the same moment that someone who can't see you comes along. At best the second person won't think much of it, or that the person you're talking to is a bit 'out there'. But at worst someone might start to question why my relative, Jackson Overland, seems to be the subject in a lot of cases of people talking to themselves."

Jack frowned, let out and exaggerated sigh, and propped his chin on one hand.

"Ok ok! I know, you're right. But that doesn't mean I can't use the trick when Jamie gets a bit older. He can go the front door, then call his 'Uncle Jack' to come answer it. I'll then poof whoever is outside with a bit of frostdust, and open it just like I did with Mrs Werrin." He smiled wryly. "It also happens that I can make sure now that all of your neighbours see me at least once. You won't have to worry about them being suspicious, when Jamie starts babbling about his Uncle Jack. And I'll be able to babysit him more often too." The waitress came back with the drinks at that moment, and Jack glanced at her. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Jack immediately started drinking his chocolate milk noisily through his straw, and Craig took a deep breath before drinking a gulp of his coffee. Waiting until the waitress had walked away before he spoke.

"I still can't help but think you may have violated some rule for immortals."

Jack grinned.

"Belief is belief, be it from adults or children, and be it gained through honesty or trickery. There are no rules about it." He chuckled. "But I do know one thing."

Craig frowned a little.

"And what would that be?"

Jack's voice remained as a conspiring whisper.

"When the day comes that I'm openly a Guardian, and start spreading my frostdust worldwide... I get the feeling that things are going to become a bit interesting for all the Immortals."

~(-)~

Alaia Skyhawk: Yep, that hint is what it looks like. I'm planning an eventual "New Golden Age" arc, for a point somewhere post-film. Jack is going to be turning life on its head for the Immortals, as if he hadn't done enough of that for some of them already. Hee hee :)