Alaia Skyhawk:
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.
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Chapter 51: Family Secret Revealed
"Uncle Jack, will you come to the park with us? Jack Frost is going to tell another story about Santa's Workshop!"
"Sorry, kiddo, but I promised your mother I'd help with the Christmas prep. Maybe next time."
Jack glanced at the six-year-old, who was on the verge of pouting in disappointment. Sat there watching his uncle bustle about the kitchen with Laura. That question, or variations of it, had been cropping up more and more of late. Jamie may have only been a young child, but he'd noticed how similar Jack Frost and his uncle's personalities were. He'd now gotten to the point where he was convinced his two favourite playmates should meet each other.
Which was, to say the least, very awkward for Jack.
Jamie continued watch as his uncle rummaged through the vegetable rack for potatoes and carrots, his little frown deepening as Jack then moved to the sink to start peeling them.
"But Uncle Jack! Jack Frost is great, and tells great stories just like you do! Can't you come just this once?"
Laura stepped between Jack and her son, crouching down to the child's level.
"Jamie, Jack made a promise to help me. Besides, adults can't see the Spirit of Winter, you know that. Now go get your coat on so your father can take you to the park, or you'll be late and miss the start of the story."
Jamie hesitated at that, looking around his mother pleadingly at Jack one last time, before Laura resorted to picking him up to take him to his father. Jack took that opportunity to dash down into the basement, quickly pull off his disguise, and step through an Ice Mirror that led to a point high up in the sky above Burgess.
He descended far enough that he could see the log in the park, and the children that were already starting to gather there. He then waited, watching as Jamie and Craig soon arrived, and then the town clock at last struck ten.
With a whoop he dived, streaking out of the sky to land with a flourish upon the log. The children, Jamie among them, cheered when they saw him, and Jack wasn't about to disappoint. Within moments of landing and greeting them all, he launched into the telling of his latest exploits against the wits of Phil the Yeti... Which had culminated in him attempting to enter the Workshop via the stables for the reindeer, being grabbed by Phil, and then sat on until after fifteen minutes he'd surrendered.
Of course, he didn't tell them that once he had surrendered, he and Phil had sat down and talked over a mug of hot chocolate so that the yeti could hear what the children had thought of the latest stories.
When the tale was over Jack started up a short snowball fight, and remained with the children for another ten minutes before declaring he had some winter weather to take care of. What they didn't see was that after swooping up into the sky and out of sight, Jack careened back through his Ice Mirror from earlier. Back into the basement of the Bennett House, where he then hastily put his disguise back on and returned to the kitchen to continue helping Laura prepare for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.
He glanced at her, and the exceedingly obvious bulge of her abdomen, and raised his eyebrows.
"I hope you don't want me to do this charade all over again for child number two."
Laura gave him a long look, as she began the task of stuffing the turkey crown she'd picked for the Christmas roast.
"You've waited six years, Jack, and the profile of our family isn't seen to be as strange now. The disguise has done its job and after tomorrow you won't have to wear it anymore. A promise is a promise, and we said that Jamie could be told the truth during the first winter after he turned six. Christmas day just seemed the best time to do it."
Jack started to smile, and let out a contented sigh before his expression became mischievous.
"I've one heck of a Christmas party planned, by the way. I can't wait to see Jamie's face when he finds out who I really am. Have you made sure he knows about and believes in my Lieutenants?"
He got a firm prod on the shoulder for asking the obvious.
"Of course we have. It wouldn't have been fair on them if he couldn't see them, and it would spoil the moment of the reveal if we had to talk him through beginning to believe in them after it."
Jack chuckled slyly.
"Well well... You're quite the little show-setter when you want to be."
The sound of the front door interrupted further conversation, as Jamie charged through the house and into the kitchen.
"Mom, Mom, the story was great! Phil sat on Jack when he tried to get into the workshop again!"
Jack grinned as Laura helped her son out of his coat.
"Did he now? I bet that was fun to hear about."
Now out of his coat, Jamie came over to tug on Jack's sleeve.
"You should have come. We had a snowball fight after! You don't need to see Jack Frost to have a snowball fight!"
Jack reached out and ruffled the boy's hair.
"And you're forgetting that I can be just as fun as he is, even without going outside and messing around in the snow. I'm holding a Christmas party tomorrow at my place, and you'll get to meet some of my best friends while you're there."
Jamie's smile faded, and he looked at his mother.
"We're going somewhere tomorrow? But... But I wanted to go to the park and play with Jack."
Before Laura could reprimand him for being ungrateful to his uncle, Jack crouched down and looked Jamie in the eye.
"Hey, Christmas is a time for family, and I'm sure he has family too. Do you think he shouldn't spend his Christmas with them, just so he can come spend it with you? Would that be fair to them?"
Jamie bowed his head, scuffing his socks over the tiled floor.
"No."
Jack patted him on the shoulder.
"I promise you that you're going just as much fun tomorrow, if not more, than you would have had if you'd gone to the park. And you're going to have all your presents to open too. Just think! I wonder what Santa will bring you this year."
That rekindled the child's enthusiasm, and he began to bounce with excitement. Before he then dashed off to race around the house. It took the rest of the day to calm him down, and it was Jack who finally managed it, but only through dozing off on the couch with the boy nestled beside him.
When eight o'clock came around, Laura gently eased Jamie out from under Jack's arm to take him upstairs. In the meantime, Craig got a blanket and draped it over the Spirit of Winter's legs. Jack didn't need it, he didn't need to stay warm, but no one in the family ever let him doze off on the couch without at least some small sign to show they'd noticed and they cared.
Three more hours passed before Laura and Craig went to bed, the house now in darkness to await the coming morning. It was just after midnight when a faint 'poof' heralded a certain Russian appearing in the living room, as Nicholas St. North arrived to personally deliver the gift for James Bennett. A little boy of only six years age, but who had done so many little good deeds this year that he'd more than earned his place on the Nice List.
North smiled to himself, humming a melody by Tchaikovsky, and was in the process of placing a fairly large box under the tree when he noticed the figure on the couch.
He almost jumped in fright, despite knowing he was invisible to adults, and was all set to leave before he noticed something was a little odd. For the young man looked rather familiar, in fact he looked very familiar, and there was a faint but definite aura of cold radiating from him.
North edged closer, puzzled, and oh so cautiously reached out to see if he could touch him... Which he could... By that point he was close enough that he spotted a single tress of white hair that poked out from under the brown, and realise that the young man on the couch was wearing a wig. That along with how cold the youth was, made it rather obvious who he was and that he was not exactly young either.
North chuckled to himself and shook his head.
"Ah, Jack, I had no idea you were so close to this family. I guess it no surprise now, that little Jamie's belief is already so strong." He brought a hand to his chin, musing to himself for a moment, and nodded. "While you may not be on Nice List right now, you were on it for three months this year. I think, just this once, that is close enough."
He snapped his fingers, summoning a small colourful box, and placed it under the tree alongside Jamie's present. North then vanished in another puff of magic, leaving no trace of his presence other than the gifts under the tree.
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Craig was the first one awake the next morning, and quite deliberately. If was a foregone conclusion that if someone sleeps while wearing a wig, it's going to slip. Sure enough a fair bit of white hair was showing around the edges of Jack's wig, and after nudging the immortal to wake him up, Craig left him to straighten up his disguise before the expected stampede happened.
Exactly fifteen minutes later, at half past seven, it did... and Jamie came charging down the stairs so fast he practically slid down them with his mother following at a sedate pace behind him.
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas!"
Jack and Craig both laughed, the latter speaking.
"That's right, and that means you can open your presents. And I think that big one right there, wasn't there last night."
He pointed at the present left by North, which Jamie whooped upon seeing and quickly darted over to grab. But when he did, he saw the smaller box that had concealed it from Craig's view.
Jamie picked it up, turned over the tag on it, then held it out to Jack.
"It's for you, from Santa!"
"Eh?" Jack stared, accepted the box, and looked at the tag for himself. He recognised the intricate script that North liked to use for his gift-tags, and also noted a small winking smiley face had been scribed below his name 'Jack' along with the comment 'nice outfit'. Jack then brought a hand to his face and sighed. "Great, he did a personal delivery here last night... Which means he saw me asleep on the couch."
Craig coughed to hide his amusement at that, although Laura couldn't resist a quiet giggle, and Jamie just looked on seeming rather confused.
"Aren't you going to open it?"
Jack eyed the present, then Jamie, and smiled.
"Sure thing, but only after you've opened yours first."
"Ok!"
Jamie turned and began to tackle the wrapping paper on his gift from North, soon uncovering a large toy robot that lit up when a button was pressed. Jack then opened his gift, finding inside it a mundane snow-globe containing a sculpture of the Workshop in its mountain.
Jack raised his eyebrows when he saw it.
"Hmm, this wasn't one of his 'special' gift-boxes, so that must mean he left it for me because he felt like it. Not because I was on the Nice List."
He got a cushion thrown at him, before Laura scolded him mildly.
"Does it matter why he left it? A gift is a gift."
"True."
Jamie knelt down and reached under the tree again, moments later emerging with another present which this time he shoved into Jack's grasp.
"Open it, open it!"
Jack blinked.
"Another one?"
Laura and Craig laughed again before she spoke.
"Jamie picked it, when I was trying to find a new sweater for you. He seems to think your current selection of clothing is 'boring'."
Jack almost groaned.
"More clothes?" He chuckled. "Ah well, I guess if Jamie picked it, it's going to be interesting."
He ripped open the paper to reveal a folded bundle of pale-blue fabric. A bundle that when opened was revealed to be a hoodie, which was one of the latest fashion crazes among 'trendy' youths.
Jamie peered up at him as he examined it, anxious.
"You like it?"
Jack grinned at him.
"I love it, and I promise I'll wear it this afternoon at the party."
"Yay!"
Jamie's cheer was full of enthusiasm, as he then returned to the tree and began dragging out yet more gifts for himself, and one each for both of his parents. By the time another fifteen minutes had passed, the living room carpet was a sea of discarded wrapping paper, and Jamie was sat happily in the midst of it playing with some of his new toys.
Jack and Laura retreated to the kitchen to cook the Christmas dinner, but once it was well along the way he went down to the basement to slip through an Ice Mirror unnoticed by Jamie.
The boy did question where his uncle was during the meal at midday, and was told that Jack had gone to get the party ready. The six-year-old didn't think to ask how Jack had gone to do that, given that the only car outside belonged to his father, but it was into the car that Craig and Laura bundled him at two o'clock.
Jamie peered out the window at the passing scenery, as the car was driven to a remote and presently unoccupied camp-site near the valley edge. It was only then he started to look confused, when Craig parked in a thicket of snow-laden bushes instead of the car park. And his confusion only deepened when his parents carried him along one of the forest trails to a distinct clearing a short way into the woods.
"Where are we going?"
Laura looked at the little boy in her arms, wearing an expression of anticipation.
"We're going to your uncle's home, but we have to get there a special way." She pointed up ahead, to a large Ice Mirror suspended just above the layer of snow upon the ground of the clearing. "We have to go through that."
Jamie seemed uncertain as they approached the mirror, and even more so after they'd stepped through it into the entrance passage of the Winter Sanctuary. A tunnel of ice wasn't what the six-year-old was expecting, and he began to cling to his mother as they approached the cavern...
But then they reached it, Jamie's eyes widening in awe at the sight of icy pillars draped with golden sand for decorations, a giant Christmas tree made of ice and decorated in the same way, and the light dusting of snow that drifted through the air.
Laura set him on the ground, nudging him gently forward in encouragement, and then she pointed to where Jack stood at the front of his gathered Lieutenants, Winter Sprites, and Sandy. The Spirit of Winter was now barefoot with staff in hand, wearing the blue hoodie, and his brown wig still in place.
He grinned at Jamie.
"Hey there, kiddo, and welcome to my 'house'." He reached up and pulled off the wig, revealing his white hair. "You wanted to spend the afternoon playing with Jack Frost, so I guess you've got your wish."
Jamie gaped in astonishment, stunned speechless for several moments, before he broke out into a massive grin.
"You're Jack Frost!"
"Yep, I was the last time I checked."
"My Uncle is Jack Frost!"
Jack laughed, setting his staff onto his back so he could swoop forward and pick Jamie up.
"That's right!"
Jamie yelped before shouting in glee as Jack dashed up into the air, and then he carried him back down to where Laura and Craig stood wearing wide smiles. Jamie then glanced at them, then Jack, then back at his mother.
"You said adults can't see him!"
The Spirit of Winter shrugged.
"Well, most of them can't. Only your family can, our family, and you are my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-gr eat-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-neph ew. My little sister Emily is your ancestor, which means you and me really are related."
Jamie's eyes widened.
"Does that mean I'll be able to fly and freeze things too?"
Jack burst out laughing.
"Sorry, kiddo, it doesn't work like that. Emily was my sister from before I became Jack Frost. But it does mean that you'll get extra, secret visits from me. You can't tell anyone, ok? If people found out that I'm related to you, I wouldn't be able to come visit you anymore. It's our secret, ok? Me, you, your mom and dad, and your Grandpa Andrew and Grandma Marie."
Jamie was nodding eagerly, still practically wriggling with excitement.
"I can keep it secret! I can! Our special secret!"
A female voice called out, holding a hint of laughter.
"As wonderful as this moment is, are you going to leave us standing here and not introduce us?"
Jack turned to face Marzanna and the others, who were all wearing wide smiles at the scene before them. And then Dig bounded over, running circles around Jack and Jamie until the boy was set down on the ground.
"Wanna play tag?! Wanna play? The sprites can play too!"
Dig dashed away, and Jamie took off after him closely followed by a horde of giggling Winter Sprites.
"Sure!"
Craig and Laura came over to join Jack and the rest of them, all of them watching as Jamie chased Dig and was then chased in turn once he'd tagged him.
She sighed, smiling.
"I think that, right now, he is probably the happiest boy in the world."
Craig nodded, his arm around her shoulders.
"Well how many children can say that their Christmas present from their uncle, was to find out that he's none other than Jack Frost?"
Jack, leaning casually against Zuě Hu's side, chuckled.
"He would be the first." He laughed again, a little louder. "And I think it's going to take a few days for the excitement of it to get out of his system. Do you want me to babysit him? I could take him to Santoff Clausen, and let him run around with kids who won't bat an eyelid at knowing he's related to me. I think Ombric and Katherine would love to have him visit."
As Jamie charged past them, giggling and cheering at the top of his lungs, Craig glanced at Jack.
"That might just be a good idea. We can say quite truthfully that our son is spending time with his uncle, and that will let us get some last-minute rest in before his little sister is born."
Jack faced them, eyebrows raised.
"And have you picked a name yet?"
Laura flicked him playfully on the nose.
"Wait and see. It's no fun if we tell you in advance."
Jack inclined his head to accept the point, before leaping away to join in the game of tag. And if Jamie was completely worn out by the end of the day, he wasn't the only one. Because once again Jack and Jamie dozed off side-by-side, tucked against the warmth of Zuě Hu's fur.
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Alaia Skyhawk: I won't be detailing Jamie's visit to Santoff Clausen in this fic, although I'll probably do a oneshot of it at some point. Next chapter will be, quite obviously, SOPHIE! And the chapter after that... It'll be the one I know you've all been waiting for. The film section!
Also, I realised after the fact that I've mixed my dates up a bit wrong, and if the film plot takes place during Easter 2012, Jamie would be 7 instead of 8 as I'd planed. So I'll be shunting it to Easter 2013 to compensate :)