When Joy Gets Serious P5
C5) Baby Teeth and Cavities Author's Note: I can't believe I never posted this but here it is. So, have at it. Tooth's turn. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tooth had gone on an emergency run and left Baby Tooth in charge until she got back. In truth, she had forgotten about Jack's promise to visit. So she flew off and tried to find the source of the emergency and was shocked to find three of her fairies caught inside small jars with holes in the lids.
Anger pulsed inside and she quickly freed her fairies, smiling in relief when they flew up around her and hugged her limbs like very tiny koalas.
Heading back to the Palace, she was shocked to find that all of her fairies had settled down in some way. There were still those that needed to work, but she found some of them lying on little cushions around the palace floors and she wondered who put them there.
Looking around, her eyes widened when she found Jack standing off to the side, a chart of sorts in either hand while Baby Tooth helped direct the traffic of sorts.
"Second Molar in Sector 7! Don't forget the coin! Oh! Incisors in Sectors 8 and 3!"
She had never seen Jack so concentrated and she didn't know he knew his teeth by names.
"Bicuspid in Sector 5! AH! Two?! Baby Tooth we may need to send several to this next one, it's a doozy!"
Giggling softly, Tooth neared and hovered near Jack's arm to look at the charts. "Where'd you find these?"
He didn't flinch or jump in surprise. Instead he looked at her with a grin. "Jamie let me borrow them and I enchanted the papers to show where the necessary information about what, who and when the teeth are hidden-!" he stopped and flipped the paper, eyes reading quickly before he pointed to the left. "Fairies! We've got a slumber party in Sector B! Eight teeth, all girls and mostly Central Incisors!"
There was a sharp set of chirps and the small fairies saluted Jack before flying off like small bullets. Tooth laughed and shook her head. "You sound like me! You could almost be their father the way you order them so kindly."
A laugh escaped Jack and he looked to Baby Tooth as she neared to settle on his shoulder. "I guess. I don't think I'd make a very good father though. Too much child in this body that looks barely older than 18. I died young."
Tooth turned sharply to look at him wide eyed. "What did you say?"
Jack blinked in confusion. "I turned young. Manny changed me when I was still young so the children would symphethize with me."
Nodding slowly, Tooth looked around as the fairies flew back and forth. "I see. It really is no wonder then. But Jack, you are more than a child now. You have things weighing down those small shoulders of yours. Children will depend on you now more than ever. Believing isn't the same as seeing for the four of us elder Guardians, but for you, seeing is tha same. You have a physical presence and it calms those that have fear."
"Calms those that have fear..." Jack repeated softly before he smiled and nodded. "Yeah. That's a good thought. A happy thought."
The Fairy Queen nodded and they both set to work keeping track of the teeth that came in.
++
Tooth sat on the edge of the bed in Santoff Clausen. She was hugging a blanket over her body, which was naked unlike the usually thickly feathered form. Her wings looked sad, bent and hurt.
"Don't know, Tooth," North admitted, frowning and gently lowering the hurting wing he was holding against her back. "Might need help for next few days until mites stop. You will need dress until then."
"But North, what about the children?"
There was a laugh and the pair looked to the door to find Jack standing there, one hand on hip and the other clutching his crook tightly. "I can handle it," he announced and looked to the fairies hovering around him like they usually did their mistress, "The teeth will be collected and taken care of. I promise."
Biting her lip, Tooth watched him before murmuring, "Jack it is not an easy job. Collecting teeth is one thing, but to also put them away is another! How do you plan to do something that took me centuries to figure out?"
A dark look came to Jack's face and North paled while Tooth blinked in surprise. The boy neared, wagging his finger at her. She cowered slightly at the angered, thunderous look a parent may have for their child. "You listen here, young lady! I will not have you throwing yourself to the wolves because of a little fear! You need believers and the only way for that to happen is for someone who can handle the fairies in somewhat the same way as you to take over. Those mites have eaten your only hope of travel besides the sleigh and I FORBID-" he shouted, looking at North a moment and watching the man nod sharply, before he looked back at Tooth, "-ANY flying. Until you have gotten better, I will look after things. Baby Tooth and I will make sure your job is completed. No matter what."
Tooth stared at Jack before she nodded and hugged the blanket tighter around her in slight confusion. Why was Jack so strong? That thunderous look was kinda like an angry father chastising his son for something or his daughter for sneaking out.
The dark look vanished and Jack smiled before reaching out and patting her shoulder. "Get some rest and hold out until then. Only when I hear the mites have gone from North or Sandy will I allow them to let you out. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir," Tooth murmured, eyes wide before Jack glared at North and the man bowed with a sharp, "Yessir!"
It was a week before Tooth began to get better. But it was three more before Jack got word and let her fly.
So, heading back to the Tooth Palace, she found everything in order and each of her fairies greeted her happily before heading back to do work.
Jack was found once again in the Tooth room, organizing the teeth as well as ordering the fairies around with ease that had taken her years to perfect.
And the funny thing was, out of all the time she was gone, Jack had not come across a single cavity.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Author's note: Â Â Â Â Â Â Tooth works so hard and she doesn't realize how amazing she is. Without her, memories would have no place in this world. Â Â Â Â Â Â Jack sees it and has learned a few tricks through the years to push this forward. Even Mama Tooth needs to be babied every once in a while. Â Â Â Â Â Â Aaaaaand I support the idea of Jack going completely off at the idea of her being hurt. He treated Tooth a bit more gently and put the men in charge because if you look at where Jack has been, the things he has seen, he knows that the truth is that Tooth could kill all of them then herself if anything happened to him. Â Â Â Â Â Â Kids gloves? Nah. A gentle swat? Yep. He would pull Bunny's ear if he could, he proved he was stronger than North and could probably beat him in an arm-wrestling competition, Sandy saw that Jack gives his all just to help all of them at the cost of his own sanity, and now he has shown that he has decency in belief toward women, especially the one he cares for(as a mother or lover? Who knows in this AU?). Â Kind words, a gentle heart and a kick in the butt are just what Tooth needs to realize her importance in Jack's book.
In the last installment, a battle of tea. Or rather, the end of a fight and why Jack does not spill tea!














