Disclaimer: I don't own RotG or anything related to them.

Chapter 3: Pitch is Back!

By the end of the day, only Pippa had managed to figure out who Jamie really was. After school, she and Jamie went to the lake where 307 years before, Jack had sacrificed himself for his sister.

"Jamie, what are you doing?", Pippa asked through her giggles.

"Watch.", he insisted, walking towards the water.

It froze beneath him, and it did not stop there. The ice spread clear across the lake, freezing it over completely. Pippa was speechless, her mouth hug agape. Jamie smiled at her, and she began to laugh.

"How?", she asked.

"I told you, Jack adopted me and Sophie. He's my dad. I've been absorbing his magic for the past six years. He taught me this, along with starting/stopping snowfall, flying, controlling the winds, and how to not be seen. I will become a winter spirit, and Sophie will become a spring spirit. She spends so much time with Bunnymund she may as well be a bunny herself.", Jamie replied, smiling a smaller smile.

"Why do you always get to be the lucky one?", Pippa asked, sitting by the edge of the frozen lake.

"What do you mean by that?", Jamie asked her.

"You never have to grow up. You get to believe forever. No one can tell you they aren't real because they love you and raised you themselves. In seventh grade, Monty joined the Quiz Bowl team, and he stopped believing because his teammates said it was illogical. Claude and Caleb stopped believing when the rest of the football team found out and teased them for it. Claire, or rather, Cupcake, stopped believing when the popular girls said it was uncool to be a believer. The only reason I can still believe is because I knew Jack was keeping you safe. I knew you were with them. I knew as long as word of you being found hadn't come in, you were with the Guardians. You are the only reason I can believe in them, Jamie. I don't believe in them because I know they're waiting on me to get home. I believe in them because they've kept my best friend safe. You're safe.", Pippa seemed to have said the last part to herself, and the poor girl was nearing tears.

Jamie sat down beside her, wrapped his arm around her, and held her as she buried her face in his chest, letting her tears flow.

"You're right, Pippa. I am safe. There is no one out there who can harm me. Okay, aside from my adoptive mother, no one can harm me.", Jamie replied, thinking back on the time he accidentally knocked over the pyramid of toys Phil had been painting.

"Who's she?", Pippa asked, drying her eyes.

"Her name is Sarah Eros-Frost. Manny, or MiM, decided to make her a Guardian about five years ago. Dad fell for her, but as she's the Guardian of Love, it wasn't hard to see that one. But Mom's been missing since last week, and I'm actually starting to worry. If he-", but Jamie cut himself off.

"If who does what, Jamie?", Pippa asked, her brown eyes intense and filled with curiosity.

"Pitch escaped six years ago, the same day my real mom died. He's kept quiet since then, but I think he's who took my mom. He can't touch me or Sophie, because we aren't scared of him. He can't even touch the Guardians unless he destroys what they hold dearest to their hearts, aside from us that is. The divorce rate spiked the day my mom vanished.", Jamie replied, unsure how Pippa was able to make him talk.

"You think he caused Nightmares to trick people into believing the worst in their spouses and fall out of love. Jamie, if you want my help, you just need to ask me. I will always be there for you.", Pippa replied, squeezing Jamie's hand tightly.

"Would you like to see the North Pole?", Jamie asked, getting an idea.

"That sounds exciting. My parents won't be home until seven, so we can go now if that's okay with you.", Pippa replied, smiling up at Jamie, finally realizing he was taller than her now.

Jamie stood up and pulled Pippa to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and they were about to fly off when a voice came from behind them.

"Oh, young love, how sweet! It makes me want to gag!", it was Pitch Black, and he was not alone.

Jamie turned to face him, and his eyes glowed with a fury no one had ever seen. There was a young woman standing next to Pitch, and she looked weak and tired. She had long dark hair, large pink eyes with heart shaped pupils, and pale skin that seemed to radiate something lost. She wore a pink A-line dress with a lace floral overlay on the skirt. On her feet were pink high heels.

"Mom! Pitch, let her go!", Jamie screamed, recognizing the woman, realizing it was Sarah.

"Hmm, let me thing about that. NO! Princess here is my key to taking down the person responsible for my defeat!", Pitch yelled back.

"You mean your most recent defeat. I'm not scared of you, Pitch, and I never will be. Just let her go!", Jamie snapped in reply, taking a step towards Pitch.

"Why don't you just run home to Daddy and tell him where your mommy is?", Pitch growled.

"Why don't you go back to the darkest parts of hell?", Jamie growled back.

"Ooh, language, Jamie. You don't want to talk like that in front of your mommy or your precious Pippy.", Pitch said, not realizing how big of a nerve he had hit.

"Her name is Pippa. Now let my mother GO!", Jamie replied, the last word coming out in a yell loud enough to cause the mounting snow atop the trees over Pitch to fall on top of the aforementioned Boogeyman, unintentionally causing him to release the black sand handcuffs on Sarah's wrists.

"Jamie!", the immortal cried out as she hurried past the currently unconscious Pitch.

"Mom, we have to get out of here.", Jamie hissed, trying not to wake Pitch.

"Sweetheart, I can't fly. I'm too weak. After Pitch destroyed the love all over the world, I lost too much power. You know what you have to do.", Sarah said softly, placing her hand on her adoptive son's cheek.

"Can't we just use a snow globe?", Jamie asked.

"James Ross, don't you disobey me. We have to go through the front doors to get Pippa inside Santoff Clausen without Phil going berserk. We can only do that if we fly. If you tell her the truth, I will become strong enough to fly back home.", Sarah told him, knowing it was wrong but necessary to pull the "Pippa's Safety" card.

"I hope you're right about this, Mom.", Jamie muttered before walking back over to Pippa.

"Jamie, what's going on?", she asked.

"Pippa, I haven't been completely honest with you. We didn't come back to Burgess because I missed the town.", Jamie said, leaning up against the tree, causing frost to cover the trunk.

"Then why?", Pippa asked him.

"Sophie came back because I did. I came back for the same reason I would come back every winter. I missed my best friend. Two years ago, my mom told me what was going on. She knew I was in love, being the Guardian of love and all. After a while, not being able to tell the girl I love how I felt became too much. My dad told me we could go back, but if she didn't remember me, not to be too upset about it. At least he was wrong about something.", Jamie answered, ignoring the slight look of reprimand coming from his mother.

"What are you saying, Jamie?", Pippa asked, taking a step closer to him.

"I'm saying I love you, Pippa. I always have. I don't know how you feel, but at least you know how I-", but Jamie found himself being cut off by Pippa's lips crashing onto his.

As they broke away, Pippa whispered four words that shocked Jamie more than the kiss had, "I love you too."

Sarah smiled from the sidelines, silently thanking Nightlight for protecting the courage of children, especially Jamie's courage.

"I'm better now, Jamie. We can fly home. But first, both of you shield your eyes.", Sarah said softly, her voice like a hypnotizing melody to the two teenagers.

Pippa could faintly see a pink light fading behind her when the two next heard Sarah's voice call out mere moments later.

"It's okay to look now."

Pippa turned and her jaw dropped. In literally five seconds, Sarah had gone from a pink dress and high heels to ice blue skinny jeans, a pink camisole, an ice blue hoodie, pink high heeled boots, and large pale pink wings. Her dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She smiled as saw the look on Pippa's face.

"Unlike the other Guardians, I actually have a need to change forms rapidly. I don't like flying or fighting in a dress or with my hair flying everywhere. I change forms, from casual to battle or something like that, in the bright flash of light you saw. So, who's ready to go to the North Pole?", Sarah replied, letting out a small laugh.

Jamie offered his hand to Pippa, who accepted, and the three flew off together. When they landed an hour later, Pippa was wide eyed and smiling like a lunatic.

"That was awesome!", she said breathlessly.

"Somehow, going at speeds faster than a jetliner is always thrilling.", Jamie added, watching as his adoptive mother landed gracefully, transforming back into her casual form in a flash of pink.

"Come on, as fun as that was, we have to find the snow globe and get out of here. I'm freezing! Oh don't even think about laughing, James Ross!", Sarah snapped, shivering.

Jamie drew in a quick breath before offering his hoodie to his mother as Pippa was wearing long sleeves and he was used to the cold after living at the North Pole.

"Thanks, Jamie, and I'm sorry for snapping. Your father must have been extremely angry if there's already snow this cold in late August/early September.", the Guardian of Love said, looking around at the scenery surrounding them.

"He thought something bad had happened, Mom. His wife went missing. Dad was right and was within his rights to worry. I was worried too. I already lost one mother, and I don't plan on loosing another one.", Jamie said softly, though he pulled the now shivering Pippa closer to him as he spoke.

"Um, where are we?", Pippa asked, not recognizing her surroundings.

"Quebec, right, Mom?", Jamie replied.

"Yes, and the globe should be right about-Ah ha!", the dark haired Guardian exclaimed, picking up a small glass orb.

The orb filled with a red light and morphed into a vortex, swirling with candy-canes and Christmas tree decorations. Jamie took Pippa by the hand, sensing her skepticism, and they walked through together, Sarah right behind them.

The trio emerged in front of a large oak door. The snow was not as cold as it had been back in Canada. Sarah removed the hoodie and handed it back to her son, stepping up to the oak door. She placed her hand on a gel pad, let the impression of her hand be scanned by a purple beam, and then placed her eye up to a retinal scanner. The blue beam shot out of it, scanned her eye, and the door opened.

The group walked through that door, only to come face to face with a second door. A microphone was on the wall next to the door.

Jamie moved toward it and spoke clearly into the microphone.

"James Ross Frost, Sarah Eros-Frost, and Pippa Minette; we seek entrance to Santoff Clausen."

The door opened with a loud, booming CLICK! The Guardian and two teenagers walked into the workshop swiftly, the door slamming behind them.

"Jamie, is that you?", a voice came, Jack himself soon following as the winter spirit hurried down the stairs.

"He's also been unable to use his powers in complete control since you were taken.", Jamie whispered to his mother.

"Dad, I'm home. What's wrong?", Jamie asked his father.

"The lights in Burgess started flickering. We thought it was Pitch.", Jack said, not noticing his wife who was less than a foot from him.

"It was. Jamie stalled him, told Pippa the truth, restored my powers, and then we all flew back here. Jack, I'm home.", Sarah said, her hypnotic voice drawing the white haired, youthful Guardian.

Jack pulled her into his arms in one swift motion and cradled her close. After a week of uncertainty, Jack knew where every member of his family was, he knew they were safe.

"What happened?", Jack asked quietly.

"I'll tell you when the others get here. I don't like having to repeat myself, Jack, and you know that.", Sarah answered, raising her eyes to meet his, pink meeting blue.

"I do, and I'm sorry, but I just want to know why Pitch took you in the first place, how he managed it, and who he'll go after next. If I know that, I can find him and let all my anger out on him. Better than destroying Siberia.", Jack replied, making his son laugh.

"I thought we agreed to let raging snow storms out on Antarctica.", Jamie called out.

"That's just you.", Jack called back, laughing as well.

Once Jack and Sarah had gone to find Sophie, Pippa cocked her head to the side and voiced the one truth that no one, not even Jamie, had taken into account after six years.

"You know, for being the Guardian of Fun, he's definitely more mature than he was six years ago. I guess it's from becoming a father and husband in two years time. That could make anybody grow up and mature."

Jamie gaped at the brunet, realizing that she was right. Jack had matured as he had become a father to Jamie and Sophie, and that increased as Sarah had come into their lives.

"You're right. I mean, he actually grounded me after I snuck out to plant an ice bomb in the Warren. Not a good idea in retrospect, especially not when there are alerts set up when an unwanted person enters. Uncle Bunnymund got so angry with me for some reason. He called Dad, and the moment I got home, I was grounded for a month.", Jamie said, a small smile gracing his lips at the memory.

Pippa shook her head, her laughter filling the air of the workshop. The joyous sound was cut short when Tooth, Bunnymund, and Sandy all suddenly arrived, moving towards the Globe Room. Jamie could sense the stress and fear from each of them, and quickly deciding to get out of the workshop until the meeting was over.

"Would you like to take a walk with me?", he asked, his eyes flittering towards the globe room briefly.

"Um, Jamie, it's freezing out there. I'm not like you.", Pippa reminded him.

"Give me a minute.", Jamie said instantly, running up the stairs.

When he returned, he held a bubblegum pink parka.

"Sorry, it's Mom's. I know you prefer purple, but ninety percent of her stuff is pink.", Jamie said with a bashful smile.

"Oh, don't worry about the color, Jamie! Now, I believe we were going for a walk?", Pippa replied with a laugh.

And with that, the two teenagers exited the workshop, walking across the breezeway to the observatory. That room itself stole Pippa's breath. From there, you could see all of Santoff Clausen.

"It's beautiful!", she let out in a breathy voice.

"It'll be even better in a few months when Phil and the other yetis put up the Christmas lights. Uncle Bunnymund started working on growing this year's tree back in May. He said Manny told him something so he had to start earlier than normal. Aunt Tooth has the best Sugar-Free Christmas Cookie recipe ever. They actually taste great without causing cavities left and right.", Jamie told her, his smile as white as newly fallen snow.

"That sounds amazing!", Pippa said dreamily.

"The only downsides to it are that our presents stay locked up in Grandpa North's office; we wake up at dawn on Christmas morning, right when Grandpa gets home; and, of course, we have to hide the eggnog and Aunt Tooth's Sugar-Free cookies from the elves.", Jamie added with a laugh.

"Again, I repeat: Lucky!", the brunet girl exclaimed with a laugh.

Just then, a loud and giggle-filled scream filled the air. Jamie smiled a crooked smile and let out a sigh. Pippa looked at him curiously.

"Dad just told Sophie that Mom's home.", he told her with shake of his head.

Should we head back to the workshop?", Pippa asked.

"After you answer my question: Pippa, will you be my girlfriend, officially?", Jamie asked, taking her hand in his own.

"Of course, Jamie!", she responded, throwing her arms around his neck.

The two walked back to the workshop hand-in-hand, but stopped at the sullen looks of the adults who surrounded the globe.

"What's happened?", Jamie asked, calling for his staff, which appeared in a block of ice at his side moments later.

"Something happened in Burgess. Bunny freaked out and tore out of here faster than your average rabbit. We were debating on whether or not to go after him when Sophie created a rabbit hole and followed him.", Tooth said, her voice cracking a little.

"Well, what are we waiting for?", Pippa asked, the hand that was not intertwined with Jamie's now resting on her hip.

"Everyone, to the sleigh!", North bellowed, leading all of the remaining Guardians and the two teenage mortals to the newly engineered, rocket powered, reindeer pulled sleigh.

Meanwhile, in Burgess…

Bunnymund hopped from house to house, looking for a certain dark haired, green eyed little girl named April. This girl was special to him, more so than even Sophie could be. She was his daughter, but for her own safety, he had used a charm, given to him by MiM to mask her true Pooka form. She had been trapped as a human child since the genocide of the Pooka race. April's mother had been lost, but the charm ensured April's protection. Every eighteen years, Bunnymund would renew the charm, sending the child back to her infant stage, and leaving her on the doorstep of a hospital or church.

The last time, he had picked Burgess, loving the town's annual Easter egg hunt. After the incident with Pitch, he knew he had made a good choice, because he would not have to tell the others about her this time. He could pass it off as going to check on the kids they knew in town.

But when her light started to flicker, he rushed from the pole. Traveling through his tunnels, he popped up in her bedroom, worry washing over his face. She lay on her bed, dark hair fanned around her head, trashing about with a terrified look on her face.

As he picked her up, Bunnymund fought back tears.

"April, wake up. It's okay, nothing is going to get you.", he spoke softly, but woke her up all the same.

Her green eyes found his, and upon that moment, April remembered who he was.

"Daddy, the Boogeyman was here! Nightmares!", she cried out, clinging to the soft fur of her father.

"Uncle Bunnymund, why didn't you tell me!", Sophie exclaimed, making her presence known.

"April has been deaged many times and was never meant to remember me as her father. Desperate times called for Pitch to be even more desperate. We have to get out of here!", Bunny replied, scooping up Sophie as well.

"The tunnels won't work. I tried to leave right after I got here. We're locked in, and Pitch has us at his mercy.", the nine year old blonde said with a wisdom beyond her years.

As Bunnymund heard those words, he uttered one word, "Crikey!"

A/N: How was it? Let me know what you think. I own nothing except for my OCs and plot.