Chapter Thirty-Eight- The Funny Family
It was entirely too long in North's opinion when he managed to make it back into his office. Jamie was looking around in awe of everything, but curled up in a ball that made him look terrified.
"Jamie? Bunny is fine, just a little cold. Bit of wind knocked him over, is all." North explained. Jamie visibly relaxed. Something about the smile he pasted on was wrong, and North didn't need to be told twice what it was. He sat down in the rolling chair he used when he needed to work quickly and pulled it up to his own chair. "What is wrong?" North asked quietly, wanting it to come from the boy himself.
"Nothing, I mean, Bunny's okay right? So, no harm. It…it was just a crappy coincidence right?" Jamie asked nervously.
"Who are you trying to convince?" North asked knowingly. Jamie sighed.
"I don't know." He admitted, examining the carpet. He could feel the newfound magic pouring out of him in his distress but… "Wait. Why…?"
"What?" North asked quietly, following the boy's eyes to the carpet which was, just a carpet. "What is wrong?"
"It's just…every time I get over-excited, good or bad, ice starts forming, and anyone near me gets really cold…"
"Yes?" North asked, wanting to know what about that was bothering him. He had figured that out the very first day he had been a spirit. What was the big deal now?
"It's just…look." He nodded to the carpet.
"Oh," North chuckled lightly, "That is part of what I meant. This room does not react like others. Your magic, it won't freeze things in here." He assured him. Jamie had calmed down a bit through puzzling this out, but the next thing he heard shocked him.
"How come? Why's it need to be different in here?" He asked. North ran a hand over his hair, not particularly wanting to explain, but knowing he should. It was confusing to say the least.
"Well, Jamie, I was born into…unusual circumstances. My mother was a spirit but my father was still mortal. It was complicated and I ended up being something between the two. I am spirit, but I am mortal. When Mani chose me to be a guardian he made me fully immortal, but he could not change me or my magic. I am still stuck between." North offered, letting the boy soak that in.
"So…you have a little magic over ice?" He asked.
"Yes, and my center. I can manipulate magic, raw and unchanged, to take characteristics of my center." He nodded.
"Do the others know?" Jamie asked in pure curiosity. North chuckled.
"They never asked." He grinned.
"You look like Jack when you do that!" He giggled.
"No, Jack looks like me. I got here first." North said, crossing his arms definitively. "You know, I had issues with the little bit of ice magic I was born with, is why my office is, uh, well…ice-proof." He snickered with Jamie about the silliness of that sentence.
"So, does it get easier to deal with?" He asked hopefully.
"It did for me, and Jack is getting even better than he was before. You have him as a teacher, so I see no reason why this would not be true." North grinned. Jamie looked nothing short of relieved. North got a sneaky little idea while he was at it. "Want to see something fun?" He asked. Jamie nodded eagerly.
North held out his hands and focused for a second until he had formed a little ice bird. He blew off the snow-dust that formed on it and it jumped from his hand and flew around them, chirping happily.
"Woah! How'd you do that?!" Jamie asked as the bird landed on his head.
"Is easy, I can show you?" He enticed. They spent the next hour or so chuckling and making birds until they had a whole flock flying around to attack the next poor sap that walked by. Cue Jack.
"Come in!" North called happily, his big booming voice barely containing his chuckle.
"Yeah, Bunny's thawed out and Tooth sai-gah!" Jack was bowled over by a flock of chirping ice birds that knocked him on his butt and "pooped" all over him by way of tiny snowballs. North and Jamie were dying. They were literally rolling, Jamie was on the floor.
"Did you teach him that?!" Jack half-yelled when he finally was able to stand back up.
"Maybe." North snickered. James and Sandy, who were just coming in, had caught this and were laughing so hard they could be heard from the globe-room balcony as North and Jamie settled down.
"Snuck up on by songbirds, that's a new one!" James' voice cut through the clutter and Jack's face turned a little blue.
"I'm starting to feel like one of the mature members…" Jack mumbled as he made way for the kitchen, barely concealing a grin. He was relieved for Jamie before anything else. When he made it through to the living room Bunny was nowhere to be found and his stomache dropped.
"Oh crud, Tooth is gonna kill me." He began thinking of ways to explain that Bunny wouldn't listen to him if that's all he could hear, but in the end he knew Tooth would be on him like white on rice when she found out he had left while Jack was gone. He was desperately trying to think of some way to cover his tracks when he got a brilliantly awful idea.
He made a perma-frozen ice duplicate and waited for the Pooka to come back.
Back in the warren Jessica was still blissfully asleep and having wonderful dreams that would make her extremely uncomfortable when she woke up. Her, Jamie, Sophie, and Jack together by the tree in their old home with baby Nick, Anna and Sandy all curled up around them. The uncomfortable part? Her late husband was nowhere to be seen and that was okay with her. In his place was human Aster, looking about her age! So needless to say it really messed her up when dream her yawned and dream Aster blended into the voice of real-life Bunny teasing her about being a "sleepy buggar".
"Wha?" She slurred ever so eloquently when she cracked her eyes open. Bunny chuckled fondly, trying to ignore that pang in his chest that threatened to make him nuzzle her awake with a nose-bump. It was a cross-the-board affection thing, but he hadn't known her long enough for that. He was still grinning though.
"Wake up, sleepy." He teased. "It's dinner time at the Pole. Family time, come on, Sheila." He urged. She stretched and realized that when she did her wings expanded. They were all crinkled and creased from sleep and he had to laugh a little.
"What?" She asked through a yawn, trying to follow his eyes and failing. She spun so far she almost fell off the nest and Bunny had to catch her and set her up. He guided her over to the mirror in her room and showed her the state of her feathers and wings. She stared at it for a second and started to crack up.
"I've got bead-head everywhere!" She was snorting and for some reason Bunny found that adorable.
"You sure do! Try to ruffle your feathers, that should put 'em back." He suggested through a stupid, chuckling grin.
"How?" She asked.
"Well." He stopped dead. "That's a great question mate." He admitted. They stood there for a second before she asked something that literally made him stumble with laughter.
"Do you have a comb?"
"I'm a giant rabbit, of course I have a comb, I have a thousand." He managed when he could breathe. She was standing there trying to look stern.
"Oh come on now, as far as I know you could just be magically perfectly groomed all the time." She huffed in false indignation. Bunny sat down which put her closer to eye-level (she really was short).
"Believe me, what you've got going on right now is nothing compared to my post-hibernation fur." He assured her.
"Oh really? This I have to see." She said in disbelief.
"Well…" An idea that had been floating around in his head since she had come to the warren floated to the forefront but he quickly clamped down on it. For some stupid reason he was worried about her reaction, rejection of the idea. As soon as he realized what was going on in his head he mentally face-palmed. Crikey, I'm in trouble.
"What?" She asked sweetly as he handed her a brush which she had begun smoothing her ruffled feathers with.
"Well, I was just wonderin' if, since you are a nature spirit now and the Pole might get chilly for ya if you might wanna, well, stay here? If not permanently then at least you know you have a room here any time ya need it, and…" He trailed off, letting the rest fade to nothing.
"And?" She asked. Darn, she's too smart for me.
"Nothin', mate. Nothin'." He grinned. She chuckled.
"Well that sounds like a wonderful idea anyway, and you have no idea how much I appreciate it." She quickly continued. She wasn't dumb, she saw the way he was floundering. The poor guy was gonna die of embarrassment. He breathed a gently, almost imperceptible, sigh of relief.
"Well that's workin' pretty well." He switched again, nodding to the brush in her hand.
"Yeah, but hopefully Tooth has a better way." She chuckled a bit but stopped and groaned dramatically when she saw her creased, crinkled wings. Bunny had to laugh.
"Try flyin', maybe it'll work out the…uh…kinks." He snickered. She rolled her eyes at him but did what he suggested. She didn't get anywhere, either in space or with the state of her wings. "Here, let's get 'em straightened out." He offered.
"Hm? What're you-oh." She nodded when he picked one up with his paws and started to smooth it down gently until it was straight. It took a second but he got it back to its original state. When he looked up she had pretty much melted to the point that he was worried she was gonna fall asleep again. He patted her shoulder.
"Hey, come on sit, before you fall asleep on your feet." He teased, guiding her to the edge of her nest where he sat her down and straightened the other wing. He could not stop smiling. She couldn't get that dream out of her head, and she knew it wasn't something to worry about, but it was still messing with her. However there are no words to describe how good it felt as he was straightening out her creased wings. It was better than a back-rub. She fell asleep on his shoulder.
He just sat there for a second, unwilling to wake her up and not really knowing how to act. He was pretty sure she could hear his heartbeat going absolutely nuts, and he wasn't exactly breathing normally. Snap out of it! She's a friend, wake her up! He urged himself.
"Wake up, sleepy." He teased gently.
"Whoops, sorry." She smiled shyly. Wow, okay that's cute. He admitted to himself.
"Come on, dinner time." He stood her up and opened a tunnel. "Brace yourself, it'll be cold."
When they arrived Jessica took off flying out of the tunnel, loving the change but knowing she wouldn't be able to handle it for long.
"Come on Bunny!" She cheered, fully awake now. Who knew the arctic would do that to a person.
"Slow down, I can't feel my feet!" He griped, only half playfully.
"Can't this thing open a little closer to the pole?" She asked mid-way back to him.
"Takes too much magic. Let's go!" He called, pulling her along now." She giggled, straight up giggled. Oh this is bad for my heart. He groaned internally when that dang pang in his chest returned.
"Okay, okay!" She sped up until they were inside. He made a beeline for the fireplace and she just shook her head. It wasn't until Jack saw her and fell out of his little nervous circle of flight that she remembered her current semi-predicament. "Oh, hi Jackie." She grinned innocently.
"Okay, this one's new." He chuckled. "When did this happen?" He asked playfully, snapping out of the shock.
"I'm not sure, woke up like this a day or so ago." She shrugged.
"This is gonnna freak Jamie out so hardcore, oh my moon I'm gonna get a camera! Where's Sandy?" He shot excitedly back up into the air until Bunny's grump came out to play.
"Oi! Frostbite! What the bloody hell is this?" He asked rather loudly when he tried to sit on the sofa they had pulled up for him earlier. Jack didn't land, but he did freeze.
"Um…I well, um…" He looked back and forth to the globe-room and back for a second before deciding to get the heck out of there. "Gotta go." He shot out, making the ice-sculpture Bunny explode in a cloud of snow.
"Frostbite!" Bunny called after him but didn't do much in the way of following through on his threatening call. Instead he deflated as he saw Jessica giggling like a child, doubled over in the air. "Come on and sit before you hurt yourself." He called her to the couch. She accepted and stretched a little more once the giggles wore off.
"You know, this might be fun." She grinned.
"You won't believe it, and we're gonna need your photography skills! It's awesome-no trust me!-That was one time, Sandy. Once.-Hey!" They could hear Jack approaching, obviously talking to Sandy and James was containing his laughter behind them.
Granted he wasn't doing very well.
Sandy made it in and his jaw dropped. He split a huge grin and started clapping, symbols flashing so fast Jessica and Bunny couldn't really follow them.
"Sandy! Sandy, woah, we can't follow. Use your words." Jessica teased. Sandy stopped, chuckled and started signing.
'Sorry! This does look amazing on you though! You're a fary!' Sandy signed happily. James was nodding in agreement.
"Oh definitely, it suits you." James complimented when he caught his breath.
"Oh, thanks!" She grinned. "I think Jack wants to semi-prank Jamie with this though." She half-questioned the boy. Sandy nodded with a mischievous smirk.
"Oh this is gonna be goo-oh, here they come!" Jack whispered when the sounds of North's boots thumping down the hall to the lift reached them. Of course he was also laughing with Jamie about "the look on his face" and "best idea they'd ever had".
"What's he talkin' about, nut?" Bunny asked.
"Nothing." Jack suddenly sobered.
"I can't believe they pooped on him! I didn't know they could do that!" Jamie was clearly talking about a prank there.
"What?" Bunny and Jessica asked in unison.
"They made a bunch of ice-birds that ambushed Jack and pooped snowballs all over him!" James busted out laughing anew as North and Jamie walked in. Bunny and Jessica were rolling and Sandy was snapping pictures.
"What's going on in there? Dinner's been ready for-" Tooth immediately stopped when she poked her head in the room with them. Sandy's time to shine. There was a big, bright flash of Jessica being unprepared for this moment, Jamie, Tooth and North's stunned faces, and James practically peeing himself on one of the chairs. Jack was perched beside the other dream spirit, laughing with him, and Bunny's ears were back, eyes wide and his paws were over his mouth, trying not to laugh.
"Jessica! You look wonderful! How does it feel?" Tooth asked, snapping out of the shock first and fluttering over to her, sitting beside her like a high-school bestie ready for girl-talk and gossip.
"Weird, to say the least." Jessica offered with a smile.
"Don't worry, you'll get use to it quickly. How'd you get your feathers smooth again?" She asked, remembering her first days as what equated to a human humming-bird.
"Brush, is there a better way?" She asked.
"Sooner or later you'll be able to think about it for a second and they'll settle back into place." Tooth explained, ruffling all her feathers in example. The plumage on her head suddenly became interesting to the newer fairy. They were moving in time to her emotions and speech, like Bunny's ears. She let her hand go up to her own head.
"Does mine do that?" She wondered out loud.
"Do what, sweetie?" Tooth asked, her head tilting to the side.
"Does it move?" She asked. What she was talking about clicked in Tooth's mind and she made the 'ah' face.
"It does." She giggled. It was about then that everyone stopped staring in awe at the pair and broke into their own conversations. Someone had suggested heading to the kitchen for dinner, but no one knew exactly who it was. They moved in little cliques and sat in different ones. Like with any family, they were an ever-changing set of groups.
"Mom…this is awesome!" Jamie offered when they sat down, of course he was beside her. With Bunny on her left and Jamie on her right with North on his other side, that was half the table. Tooth was across from Bunny, Sandy beside her, James by him and Jack at the end.
The room was quickly too loud to hear in.
"Thanks sweetie. To be honest I thought you'd be more…concerned." She admitted.
"Of course not, it's really cool!" He assured her.
"See, sheila. No worries." Bunny reminded her that he was right in the sweetest way possible.
"No 'I told you so'?" She asked.
"Nah, that just wouldn't be nice."
"Okay then." She nodded contentedly.
"But I did tell you so." He smirked. She deadpanned him and rolled her eyes. He nudged her shoulder. Tooth was watching this over her salad in interest, ejecting herself from conversation completely. In fact she hardly knew what they were talking about to her left.
"You have to admit it was fantastic." James goaded.
"I got pooped on." Jack insisted.
"Sandy's right, your face was priceless." James chuckled, nudging the boy who was trying so very hard to maintain his friendly glare at North, who was smirking at him over his steak.
Poor Jamie was trying to ignore the vibe he was getting from the pair on his right, by laughing at Jack some more. It worked fairly well. Tooth caught Jamie glancing back at the two uncomfortably, and met his eye with a companionable pity-smile. It would have been really effective if she wasn't chuckling.
Between the laughing and picking it took them two full hours to eat. When they split Jessica went with Tooth to try to work out how she was going to use her magic and her wings together. Bunny waved goodbye before he hopped down his tunnel to the warren. She had agreed to meet him back there when she was done.
North had to admit that when Jack and Jamie were in bed and James was out doing his thing the Pole was too quiet for his taste. How on earth had he ever lived like this, alone in the Pole. How had any of them done it? He pondered on that as he sat carving that night and before crashing for the night he came up with the answer.
"We never did, because that wasn't living."
This one's a bit long, but it was a hunk I wanted to keep together. I want to thank my new followers/Favorites and I want to take a second to say don't worry, with what I'm planning there will be a James-heavy plot-line coming soon. At least I think soon, it's hard to tell sometimes. Anywho let me know whatcha think! Y'all are awesome!