The Wonder of Christmas
...
When you went from having nothing to suddenly having four separate families – five if you counted the dearly departed – a day like Christmas shifted rather drastically from a lonely and rather boring affair to being, well, the opposite of that. Such was the position Jack now found himself in and what had once been far too much time had become nowhere near enough.
The Guardians had their traditional Christmas party on Boxing Day (to give North the chance to get some sleep), and Mother Nature's celebration was usually Christmas lunch. That left him with a morning and an evening to work with, unless he decided to use some of Christmas Eve, as well. Which he did. And, so, the first stop was at the Bennett's place on Christmas Eve to hang out with Jamie and Sophie while they attempted to stay awake long enough to catch North in the act of breaking and entering (without the breaking. Hopefully).
Jamie was ready and waiting by the time Jack showed up at his bedroom window and he didn't even have to knock before the way was clear and he was being ushered into the room.
"You came!" Jamie beamed at him.
"Of course I came! I told you I would," Jack replied, mock insulted.
"It's just you're not very punctual and you can be kinda forgetful."
"Well excuse me if the only way I have to tell the time is the sun. And that becomes a bit unreliable when you change time zones."
By that point Sophie had heard them and slipped into the room, hurrying over to give Jack a hug.
"Hey, Soph," Jack grinned at her. "You ready to catch North?"
"Hide! Hide! Hide! Hide!" she chanted, jumping up and down.
"I know," Jamie told him, referring to their interrupted conversation, turning to grab something from under his bed. "That's why Sophie and I got you this."
Jack stared at the small box wrapped in festive paper. "You… You got me a gift?"
"Yeah? That's generally what you do for people you care about."
Jack tentatively took the proffered present, seating himself on the edge of Jamie's bed, Sophie climbing up beside him.
"Open!" she ordered when all he did was stare at it.
Jack glanced at her and then began carefully undoing the wrapping, being careful not to tear the paper. A huge grin broke out on his face when he saw what was inside. It was a watch, clearly designed for children, with a snowman on the face and snowflakes decorating the fabric band.
"Now you won't be late," Jamie told him, watching the winter spirit expectantly. "Do you like it?"
"Like it?" Jack asked, looking up at him. If his smile was any wider his face would tear. "I love it!" At Sophie's prodding he took it out and secured it around his left wrist. "Thank you. Both of you."
"Welcome!" Sophie beamed.
"As for you two," Jack said, "I wasn't sure what to get you, so I decided instead to let you pick anywhere in the world you want to go and I'll take you there."
"Really?" Jamie gaped.
"Really. Just tell me where and when."
"Awesome!"
...
...
"Hey, wake up," Jack elbowed Jamie, who had fallen asleep against him. There were several loud thuds on the roof – the tell-tale sign that North had finally arrived.
"Huh? Wha?" Jamie slurred sleepily. Another thud followed the first and instantly the kid was more alert, looking up at the ceiling as if he could see through it. "Sophie, wake up!" he whisper yelled, gently shaking his sister's shoulder. The blonde mumbled something unintelligible. "Soph, Santa's here!"
"Santa!" she parroted, blearily blinking her eyes open.
And the next thing they knew North was pulling himself out of the fire place, a large red sack hauled over his shoulder.
"Hey, North," Jack greeted.
"Ah, Jack, should have known you'd be here," North smiled at him. "You are still coming to party, yes?"
"Wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Good."
"Santa!" Sophie cheered, now fully awake. Jamie stood beside her, beaming at the intruder.
"Hello Jamie and Sophie," North smiled at them. "Have you both been good this year?"
"You're the one with the list," Jack pointed out. He was ignored.
"Yes!" she answered at the same time Jamie said, "I think so."
"Then let me see if I've got something for you," North whispered conspiratorially, reaching into the sack. "Aha!" he exclaimed, pulling out two expertly wrapped presents. "What do we have here?" He pretended to carefully inspect the presents before passing one to Jamie and the other to Sophie. "I believe these are for you."
"Thank you!" the kids chorused, ecstatic.
"You're welcome. Now, if you will excuse me, I have many more stops to make," North said, pausing on his way back to the fireplace only long enough to practically inhale the milk and cookies set out for him. "Merry Christmas!" he bellowed. And then he was gone.
"That man has a black hole for a stomach," Jack muttered.
...
...
Stop number two turned out to be Antarctica the following morning. With his new watch (which he had set to the time zone Mother Nature lived in – having to change it all the time would be a pain, but far more trustworthy than the sun) he would be able to keep track of how long he had until he was expected for Christmas lunch.
Jamie and Sophie hadn't wanted him to go but it was easy enough to distract them with presents and promises to come back after Christmas. They had family coming, anyway. Plus, he suspected Bunny would show up sooner or later to see Sophie and the Pooka would probably appreciate it if he wasn't there to tease him. What? He couldn't cut the rabbit a break every now and then?
It didn't take him long to find his adopted family, who were a tad confused at his early return but excited nonetheless. Jack wouldn't have been surprised if they had no idea that Christmas even existed.
"Yes, yes, hello!" he laughed as they swarmed him. "I was gonna get you some fish or something but I don't have any money or purchasing power – not to mention there are what? At least fifty of you? Maybe even a hundred?" That would be a lot of fish.
The penguins, apparently, either didn't care or hadn't understood a word. Jack shook his head in amusement and consented to being climbed on by the younger ones.
"Well, you've got the family part down," he said, gently grabbing one of the babies that was about to fall from his shoulder. "And the excitement. Even if you're not excited for the same reasons as other kids in the world." He paused for a minute, his face brightening as a fantastic idea came to him. "You know what, I think I can do something better than fish!"
It took a moment to extract himself from the pile of feathered bodies, who continued to follow him as he hurried over to a reasonably penguin-less spot. It took a while, but within the hour he had created an ice playground fit for a penguin, complete with insane slides and easy to scale stairs (they only had little legs, after all).
"What do you think?" he asked expectantly, watching them all gawk at the sudden creation. With a combined squawk of… something, they all practically charged the structure. "I'll take that as a positive reaction," Jack laughed.
He spent most of the morning chasing them around their new playground until a look at his watch told him he had to keep moving.
...
...
"'Bout time you showed up," Ceres said by way of welcome as Jack entered the dining room designated for Christmas lunch.
"Sorry, I had to fly here from Antarctica," Jack apologised, taking a seat next to May.
"Don't listen to her," Lleu told him. "She's just grumpy 'cause she's hungry. You're actually on time for once."
"Merry Christmas, Jack," May smiled, the only one to actually make anything close to a greeting.
"Merry Christmas, May," Jack returned.
"Good, now that we're all here," Mother Nature smiled at them all, "we can start. Shall we make a toast?"
"To another successful year of the world not being destroyed," Rain announced, raising her glass.
"And may we go easy on the Global Warming next year," Storm added, copying the action.
Jack stared at them.
"…How about we drink to the fact that we're all here, in good spirits," (they all promptly ignored the sour look on Ceres' face) "and healthy?" May suggested.
"Wonderful," Mother approved. "To us!"
"To us!" they chorused.
...
...
"Time for presents!" Lleu suddenly shouted about half an hour after they'd finished lunch (which was more like a feast – Jack was pretty sure he wasn't going to have to eat anything for at least a month now) and promptly pulled a stack of wrapped gifts from hammer space, dumping them on the table. "Let's see… May, think fast!" she called, practically hurling a small box at the spring spirit who only just managed to catch it before it could hit her in the face. "And one for Ceres… and Jack… and Rain… Storm… Mother… bunch of sprites who are very quiet and we tend to forget about…" and so it went until everyone around the table had nearly been knocked out by a flying present.
"Oh, it's beautiful," May breathed, holding up an intricate silver wind chime. "How did you ever get it?"
"Well, I got a werewolf to help me get the silver–"
"I take it back. I don't want to know," she hastily interrupted. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Ceres was trying to be subtle as she admired the hairpiece she'd received, but the gentle look on her face when she thanked her gave her away pretty easily. Mother Nature had no such qualms as she gushed over her own gift, as did the others.
Jack stared at the pile of candy in front of him. He'd come to love chocolate since Jamie had introduced it to him and was now struggling to keep the smile from taking over his face.
"I wasn't sure what to get you," Lleu said, catching his attention. "I know you don't really have one set place to live in like the rest of us do, so I figured whatever I got for you would have to be something unobtrusive that you could carry around – or eat. Just don't tell Tooth."she finished as she smiled at him.
"Definitely not," Jack hastily agreed. She would have a fit if she knew. "Thanks, Lleu."
"No problem, lil brother."
The others seemed to keep in mind his nomadic state as well, all the gifts he received being small and unobtrusive. May, however, had gone a step further, giving him her pick of the best flowers in her garden, a knowing look on her face. Jack knew exactly what he was going to do with them.
Jack found choosing presents a lot harder than the others. He didn't have as many contacts as them (like werewolves…) and it wasn't like he could buy anything, so that only left him with his ice powers. He'd ended up making intricate, personal snowflakes about the size of the palm of his hand that wouldn't melt. He'd been wary about Ceres' but the woman seemed to like it.
When the celebration finally ended it was evening. Jack wouldn't have to be at the Pole until the following day (and he was sure to reset his clock to the workshop's time zone), so that gave him all night and part of the morning to spend with his truest family.
The flowers May had given him stood out beautifully against the snow and he was sure if they could have seen them, his sister and parents would have loved them. Seating himself in front of their graves he frosted the petals so the plants wouldn't shrivel and die too quickly.
"Merry Christmas, guys. I hope you're having a great time wherever you are."
...
...
"Jack, you're here!" Tooth fluttered over, barely giving him the chance to land in the Globe Room before she and her fairies were in his face.
"Hi Tooth," he smiled, stepping backwards a little.
"Can't believe you're on time for once," Bunny muttered from where she was warming himself up by the fireplace.
"That would be because of this," he replied, showing off the watch clamped to his arm.
"Where'd you get a watch?"
"Jamie and Sophie."
"It suits you," Tooth said, grabbing his wrist to get a closer look.
"I'm still trying to get over the fact that none of you seem to think I have a good sense of time."
"That's cause you don't," Bunny rolled her eyes.
At that moment, Sandy flew in on the back of a sand manta that dissipated as soon as his feet touched the floor. He waved in response to their greeting, moving over to them.
"Ah, good, we are all here," North called, entering the room. "Come, lunch is ready!"
Jack resisted the urge to groan. He doubted he could eat anything more than a few bites after the feast Mother had prepared. And there was no doubt North would go over the top. But that was probably because he had all the yetis and the elves celebrating as well (although the yetis liked to have their own party… wherever it was they went when they weren't working).
As he had expected, there was so much food on the long table you could barely see any of the wood. Taking a seat beside Sandy, he served himself a small amount – nothing hot, of course – while the others heaped up their plates (well, North at least) like they'd been starving themselves for the occasion.
"Jack, you have hardly eaten," North noted with a small frown as he was serving himself second helpings nearly half an hour later.
"Hm?" Jack looked up from where he'd been picking at a salad. "Oh, I had a big lunch at Mother's place yesterday."
"But that was yesterday."
"…Yeah?"
"What he means is you should be hungry again by now," Tooth said between mouthfuls.
Jack raised a brow. "Not really; I probably won't need to eat again for at least a few weeks."
They all stopped eating, openly staring at him.
"What?"
"…Before yesterday when was the last time you ate something?" Bunny asked, sounding very much like she didn't want to know.
"I dunno… I think it was probably when Jamie found out I'd never had ice cream before and bought me some. It's great, by the way."
Sandy created a picture of a calendar flipping backwards with a question mark next to it.
"When? Umm…. A week or two ago? I don't really remember when specifically."
"Balakirev," North muttered, sounding somewhat horrified.
"What's the big deal?" Jack queried, confused by their reactions.
"What's the big deal?!" Bunny echoed. "Mate, you need to eat more than that! It's no bloody wonder you're so skinny!"
"Hey! I'm svelte," Jack retorted. "Besides that, even if I did have the appetite to eat more – which I don't – where exactly do you expect me to get these meals from? It's not like much grows in the middle of winter, and I can't just waltz into a store and buy something."
They didn't like this excuse if the looks on their faces was anything to go by.
"Jack, I want you to come here for meals," North said.
"Thanks for the offer but I don't need to. I'm fine."
"Wasn't offer."
"Can we not talk about this right now?" Jack grumbled. He wasn't some petulant child they could order about, anyway. "It's supposed to be Christmas, right? So let's be festive," to make his point he shoved a large forkful of potato salad into his mouth.
...
...
The Guardians didn't bring up the topic of his eating habits again, but he didn't delude himself into thinking they'd dropped it. The shoe incident had been more than enough proof of that.
But, when he'd brought out his presents for each of them, he was in a far better mood. Like what he'd done with the other nature spirits, they were personalised snowflakes, except a bit bigger. He even had one for Baby Tooth (considerably smaller than the others' so it was in proportion to her size), who was absolutely ecstatic that he'd thought to get something for her, too. Bunny, much to Tooth's chagrin, had given him some Easter chocolate, which she'd claimed would be better than anything Jamie could possibly offer him. Sandy had happily passed him a small velvet pouch filled with dream sand. He'd expected Tooth to give him a toothbrush or some such thing, but instead she'd brought out a golden cylindrical tube with a very familiar face on the end.
"Are… are you sure I can have this?" he asked, scared she'd say no.
"They're your teeth, Jack; your memories. I want you to have them. Besides, I don't think we'll be needing them at the Tooth Palace," Tooth insisted.
"Thank you. Really."
"Bah! You have not seen my present yet!" North, never one to be outdone on his own holiday, interrupted, holding out a small red-wrapped box.
"Aren't I on the Naughty List?"
"That is for all children; this is for family. Is different."
Bemused, Jack took it from him and opened it, revealing a miniature Globe of Belief on a silver chain, complete with little golden lights.
"Is made of ice," North continued, "so will melt after little while, but I'm sure you can do something about that."
Jack grinned, holding the Globe up to his face and breathing on it. "That should do it," he said, pulling his chain over his head. "Thanks, North."
"You are Guardian – all Guardians must have Globe of Belief! I made small so you could take with you; now you won't have to come all the way here or to other Globe when you need to check, yes? Not that you are not welcome, of course."
Wait… all Guardians have a Globe of Belief… but hadn't he seen one in Pitch's lair? Jack pushed the matter aside. For the meantime. He would have to think on it more later.
Baby Tooth brought him back to himself, holding something shiny in front of his face. Jack beamed at her when he realised what it was. A coin.
"It's perfect," he laughed, accepting the gift. "Thanks, Baby Tooth."
She seemed rather pleased with herself, taking up her regular spot on his shoulder.
It had been a hectic couple of days, but by far and without competition the best Christmas he'd had for a long, long time.