Miles To Go Before I Sleep

The Wonder Of Christmas

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."