Tut tut tut, Marie, you little cutie pie you may or may not be right. ;) I won't say anything just yet. LilAngel927, well it's about darn time I see your face! :D Welcome home!

This is gonna get good. Someone make some popcorn and turn up the volume, because a certain rascal is going to go swimming in hot water.

...No, it's not what you think. Sadie and Alice don't own a hot tub at their house. Sheesh...I know that sounds nice but they're a little financially deprived to have that. Plus Pitch hates scalding water. There's a reason behind it. Since the previous chapter was a little shorter than usual, here's one that's just the same length...ish. Enjoy.

Warning: Fluff. So much fluff it'll put a duckling and a kitten to shame. Be ready to coo like a pigeon.

...What is up with these animal comparisons? Never mind me. Just read.

Chapter 8

I don't remember moving from that couch, but we were outside in the cold air that night, watching the sky darken and the stars come out. So far that dream I had seemed possible, and I wasn't sure if I was welcoming that idea. As long as we both meant it...that she meant it...I'd gladly have that dream be a reality.

But it was much different. She and I were lying under the stars, hands behind our heads and happily enjoying the silence. Though immune to temperatures, she was bundled up snugly with her jacket, gloves and beanie. She was still shivering from the biting wind. Twice, I suggested we go inside, but she refused. She wanted to see a shooting star so badly, she said she would rather freeze to death than miss it. A comet shower would happen soon, and there was no reason to make her change her mind.

I like how stubborn she is. It's refreshing. Almost amusing as well.

"See any yet?" she asked, wisps of her breath curling into the air.

"No, but that satellite is throwing me off." I pointed to the sky, right where a tiny pinprick in the sky was lazily drifting further to our right.

She laughed, and moved her body closer to mine for warmth. I smiled and teasingly raised a brow, "I thought you said you could handle the cold?"

"Oh come on, it's colder than you would think." she bumped my side with her elbow.

"Short people have a tendency to be more prone to being cold. Nothing to be ashamed of." I teased, looking back at the sky.

"Ugh, God you're annoying." she groaned. I knew she hated being shorter than me. I couldn't blame her. I was a massive six foot three feet tall. She was a shrimp compared to me. Okay, maybe not a shrimp, but a head shorter than me.

I chuckled, knowing she was smiling along with my dry humor.

But then across the sky shot a bright, wicked star. A white-hot tail left its mark quickly in a matter of milliseconds before dying out again.

"Saw one." I grinned, making a silent wish.

"Darn! I missed it." she snapped her fingers, but then turned her head to mine and asked, "What did you wish for?"

"...I honestly don't know what to wish for." I blinked slowly. My mouth seemed to say the words without my brain registering what I was speaking. I was still thinking about the beauty of that shooting star.

"Really?" she looked up, looking quite surprised, "Not anything?"

"Nope."

"Not power, fame, connections...anything?" she was starting to give me a suspicious look.

"...Well, there is one wish. But I know it will never happen." Yep. My mouth was no longer connected to my head. It was foolishly flapping all on it's own while my brain is shouting at me to shut up and not let this woman see inside myself.

Damn her and her kindness. Damn it all for making me so vulnerable.

"What would it be, even if it would never happen?" she asked, rolling onto her back again, inches away from me. Darn. I liked having my arm draped around her shoulders.

I thought about it for a while, maybe a good two minutes before finally-and quite truthfully-telling her. Before I gained control of my own being, the fearlings would often whisper and hiss in my mind that the Boogeyman must be the strongest of all spirits, showing not only no mercy, but no feeling and no honesty. And for a while...I believed that. I soon found it disgusting and disturbing to see others confessing feelings or sharing personal thoughts that would have no beneficial improvement on their current predicament. It still slightly irks me. Where I'm from, men refused even the slightest 'are you alright' questions. It was because even at birth, we're born to be warriors. We were born to be strong, fearless pilots of the spaceships and fight off the darkness that consumed every constellation in the universe. That is, until I...uh, switched sides.

But this world was different from the one I was from. In some ways, even brave soldiers confide in each other and those they trust. Humanity here had a strong connection to their thoughts and feelings...which in a way is beneficial to us spirits as well. Fear, dreams, hopes, wonder, memories...they all came from the whispers of trust.

Maybe Alice was one of those people I could confide in.

"A family."

It was quiet. She stared at the sky, her mouth unmoving, closed in thought. I looked over at her. Maybe I shouldn't have truthfully told her what I wished for...it definitely wasn't 'Boogeyman' material.

She finally looked at me, and I felt my heart stop. It even ached seeing her tears. She gave a small smile before wiping her tears away.

"Me too."

There was another warm silence between us, nothing too bothersome. Well, maybe it was slightly bothersome to her. Because right as I was about to open my mouth and change the subject, she blurted out, "Not that Sadie isn't family. I just...I just want Mom and Dad back."

"I know." I said, looking at her seriously.

"Do you remember your parents?" she asked, almost whispering it out so I couldn't detect her voice wavering.

"I'm willing to change the subject if this bothers you, Alice. Really." I stated, and it made her smile, at least.

"That's sweet of you, but I'm okay. Trust me...Well?"

Honestly, the only memory I have of my parents back in the Golden Age was when they attended the ceremony of my becoming of a general and their hopeful faces as I left the piers to fight the fearlings...I couldn't even recall their first names besides Mother and Father. I can't even remember if I had any siblings. Sad, isn't it?

So when I told her that, she looked surprised. Then after more explanation of what era and universe I lived in before here, she seemed to understand. I could tell not by her nodding, but by that twinkle in her eye.

"So you're as old as the mountains and rivers, basically. I can't blame you for the memories fading away."

I raised a brow at her, smirking, "Hey, I'm not as old as Pangea, missy."

"I wasn't implying that." she laughed, nudging me with her elbow as she sat up.

"It sure sounded like you were. Well, in a poetic way," I sneered at her, "which doesn't ease the insult any better."

"So how old were you before you became yourself?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Again, I had to think about it. Let's see...became an officer at nineteen...married at twenty two...general at twenty four...father at twenty five…

"Thirty, at least." I finally said.

She laughed and touched the hair on my head, "Oh, so those aren't highlights?"

I blinked, eyes widened. "What are you talking about?" I couldn't help but feel shivers run up and down my spine as her fingers played with my hair. It oddly felt good.

She gave a quite attractive, mischievous grin before saying cheekily, "You've been under a lot of stress for all these years, huh? It's showing handsomely in your hair."

Immediately my hands flew up to my hair and covered it, causing her to roll back and laugh, covering her mouth to quiet herself before Sadie could hear us outside when she was supposed to be sleeping. I glared at her, trying to hold back a smirk. Cheeky wench.

"At least you said handsomely. Besides, you have no idea what stress is like when you're immortal." I huffed, sitting up myself.

She finally calmed herself and nodded, "Yeah, I give you full credit for that. You're pretty strong."

I smiled and looked away, pulling out green blades of grass and throwing them somewhere else, away from me. She watched me for a while before giggling out, "Not good with compliments, huh?"

"Nope. Never have been, never will." I winked at her, and she gave one last beaming, white smile before getting up.

"Come on, I need sleep myself. You wanna spend the night again?" she asked, helping me up gracefully.

"I think I've earned that right after you pointed out my greying hair." I pouted, and it caused Alice to smile again.

"Call it peppering. I think it's very pretty with your hair, since it's already dark. It gives it shape."

"Oh, so now you're a hair stylist?" I laughed, causing her to roll her eyes at my playful jab.

Meanwhile, Sadie peered out the window as we walked towards the patio once more, the moonlight making the backyard bright enough to show that her beloved sister was in fact smiling and having fun. She smiled to herself and turned to Sanderson, who was happily sitting Indian style on her bed with children's playing cards spread out on her quilted bed.

"I'm glad Pitch is making Alice happy." she sighed, jumping back onto the bed and picking up her cards.

Sandy nodded as well, his smile showing just that. He put down an ace with fishes, and Sadie snapped her fingers disappointedly.

"Is this his first time talking with real people?" Sadie asked, drawing two cards from the thick deck.

Sandy touched his chin in thought, his mind reeling backwards in time to recall such events. Finally, he shook his head and held up two fingers.

"Second? What was the first time?" Sadie raised a brow, accidentally bending a card between the pads of her fingers.

Sandy conjured up an image of Jamie Bennett, and Sadie immediately recognized him. She beamed brightly, "The storyteller? He really met Pitch? That's so cool!"

Sandy silently laughed, his sparkling eyes crinkling with amusement. Through his chuckles he pointed at her cards to pick, and she quickly put down a five of jellyfish before slapping the deck, making Sandy crinkle his nose teasingly. Sadie giggled before moving her left card over to her right hand.

"Someday, can I meet North and the others?" Sadie asked, hushing herself when she heard the sliding door of the patio open, following the murmurs of her sister and Boogeyman friend.

Sandy raised a golden eyebrow, intrigued at the question. North hasn't ever had children over at his place, not even Jamie Bennett. The big man himself also knew how much Sadie meant to Sandy, for she was his Devout Bond. Maybe he would allow her to visit the place, just for a while.

Sandman smiled and gestured to her, his way of saying, Like right now?

Sadie gasped as her smile grew wide, "Yeah! Right now!"

Sandman nodded excitedly and jumped up, Alright! First we'll stop by the Island of Sleepy Sands, and then we'll take a ride in the Dream Ship to Santoff Claussen, okay?

Sadie quietly cheered as Sandy opened the window and morphed golden stairs to help them leave the room. After a quick shake of his finger, Sadie retrieved her white winter coat and light blue mittens. She was so filled with excitement, she ran up the stairs and onto the stingray that flapped slowly in the air, waiting for it's passengers to board. This wasn't the first time Sadie had a ride on one of these magical beasts, it might have been her fifth or sixth. She always loved late-night rides like this with the Sandman.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed her light blue scarf and hat she forgot before following her to the stingray. Behind him, the window shut closed firmly, and the sand stairs fell to nothing once more, but a pile of glowing sand, barely visible to the naked eye.