This is my first published fanfic. Constructive criticism is encouraged and appreciated. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything recognizeable from Rise of the Guardians. I only own my character Sarah, the unnamed children, and the plot.

Chill

It was always exciting when one of the Guardians gained a new believer. They would celebrate the new twinkling light on the globe at the Pole and sometimes even visit Earth to see the child. However, this new light was different. It held a strange significance that only Jack Frost knew about. The others didn't understand why he spent so much time at this house lately. It seemed sporadic and unplanned, but somehow he knew exactly when he was needed. When Tooth questioned him, he merely evaded and changed the subject. Bunny however, couldn't help but bring attention to his flushed cheeks when Jack was pressed for an explanation. Jack would then get angry and brush him off with the typical "kangaroo" insult and stalk off to who knows where.

Tonight was exactly like the others. He suddenly had somewhere to be, something to do. Someone to see. He left with a mumbled excuse to North and instantly flew off into the snow. Tooth sighed and shrugged at her confused fairies and Bunny rolled his eyes before looking toward the globe, searching for the light that had caught Jack's interest so quickly and passionately.

Jack peered into the window at the children sitting at the dinner table. There were three of them; two girls and a boy between the ages of three and seven. The little three year old girl was his new believer. She stabs her potatoes with her fork, pouting when they fall off just as they reach her mouth. The seven year old boy sighs and reaches over to help her while the four year old girl just focuses on her own meal. His new believer is so young that she is fully engrossed in everything her older siblings love. And that includes Jack Frost. She had read all of the books and heard all of the stories. She dreams of the day that she is playing in the snow that coming Winter and sees him for herself. But today, it was the middle of Summer and a whopping 89 degrees even at six o' clock at night. And while the little girl is adorable and indeed reminds him of his own sister, she is not the main reason for his visit. Jack's ice blue eyes search the kitchen, past the empty chair by the children and across the appliances and countertops. His brow furrows in confusion and he glances down at the street where the small burgundy car sits. The white minivan is missing, the parents having long finished their own dinner and arrived at the movies for a night out. He was certain that… his ears perk up and his eyes swerve back toward the kitchen as a female voice echoes from the hallway. His hand instinctively clutches the windowsill in anticipation and finally a slim figure appears in the doorway. His lips twitch upwards into a smile as he watches her move around the room, talking into the phone at her ear.

"Yes, everything is great, Mrs. McGregor… yes, they are here eating." She smiles down at the children.

"Hi, mommy!" They all squeal in delight, momentarily distracted from their potatoes and grilled chicken bites. Sarah grins down at them and ruffles the youngest one's hair, making her giggle.

"Mhmm. Yep, sounds good… okay…" Jack watches her continue to walk around the room. She moves the phone from one ear to the other and holds it there with her shoulder while she begins washing one of the dishes in the sink. "No problem, we'll see you in the morning. Goodnight." She pauses to end the call and sets the phone on the countertop. She hums to herself and occasionally glances over her shoulder to check on the kids. They behave as they always do, of course. They love her and would never do anything to upset her.

When they are done eating they obediently bring their plates to her and she allows the boy to dry them with a towel after they're cleaned. "Okay, bath time everyone. Come on!" She ushers them out and up the stairs to the bathroom and Jack can't help himself. He flies around the house to the bedroom window and waits patiently while the children are bathed and changed into their pajamas. An hour passes and then the two girls run into the room and climb into the beds, giggling. Jack chuckles to himself, their contagious smiles impossible to ignore. He hears Sarah telling the boy goodnight as he is too old now for bedtime stories and cuddling. She closes his door softly after turning out his light and comes into the girls' bedroom.

"Sarah, can you tell us a story?" One of them asks, and she laughs as if she didn't know that question was coming. She sits in the chair between the two beds covered in pink pillows and stuffed animals.

"Sure, which one?" Sarah asks and the three year old crawls into her lap, abandoning her bed for the comfort of their favorite nineteen-year-old babysitter.

"Jack Frost!" His heart jumps into his throat at the mention of him and he self-consciously pulls his hood over his head and backs away from the window. Then he realizes that the little girl meant her story choice and had not in fact caught him peeping in on them. He shakes his head at his jumpiness and continues to watch them in the dim coral tinged lamp light.

"Okay. Let's see…" Sarah wraps her arm around the little girl and turns toward the other as not to ignore her. She then begins to tell the myth of Jack Frost and how he brings all of the ice and snow during Winter.

Jack watches her as attentively as the girls, drawn in by her warm voice and sweet smile. He was taken back to when he first saw her, the night that he gained his new believer. In actuality he had Sarah to thank for that. She had been the one to give the little girl the book of myths for her birthday, after all.

Jack had flown down to their little home in Michigan looking for the little girl, and he had stumbled upon, or rather through, Sarah. She had been closing the window to their bedroom for the night when he flew up to it. Her nose brushed his, emanating just the slightest of blue light as she leaned forward to grasp the sill, making him gasp and fly backwards. Her sable eyes looked right through him, but he still felt his pulse speed up from their closeness.

From that moment on he had kept track of when the McGregor's left their children in Sarah's care. However, it was usually only for an evening. Far too short in Jack's opinion. He just couldn't bring himself to watch Sarah on her own. It felt as though his new believer gave him an excuse, and he could tell the semi truth to the others when he returned. Sarah speaks of him in an awed tone that he knows is for the girls' benefit. Not for the first time, he wishes that she also believed in him. She believed in the myth, but not Jack Frost himself. It was most unfortunate and left a heavy feeling in Jack's chest. However, perhaps it was for the best. It wouldn't be very good for her to see him lurking around the house every night she was there.

As her story ended and the girls' eyelids began to droop closed, Sarah smiled and laid the younger one back into her bed, not bothering to cover her with her sheets as she usually did due to the heat. Sarah fanned her neck with her hand, softly cursing the broken air conditioner. Jack had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. That was one of the things he loved about her. She was so sweet and motherly to the children, but when they were asleep she forgot to, or rather didn't bother to, censor her language. One of the things he was certain the McGregor's didn't know about.

"If only you were real, Jack. You would be mighty welcomed tonight." She mutters, and Jack nearly falls off of the windowsill. She shuts off the lamp and plugs in the tiny night light before closing their door, sighing. Jack sits there for another moment or two, torn. He knows that he should leave. He came to see her and he did. He should go back to the Pole now, satisfied. He pulls himself away from the window and begins his flight home, trying to ignore the nagging need to go back. I shouldn't go back. I should just keep going. Obviously his body didn't agree with his brain because not ten minutes after he had begun, he turns around abruptly and starts to fly back to the house.

He glides around to the guest room and squints through the window, attempting to see through the darkness. When he fails to locate Sarah he reaches out a hand and sighs.

"This is a bad idea." He mumbled, pushing the ajar window further open. His bare feet hit the plush carpet and his eyes adjust to the dark quickly. He sees a figure on the bed and moves closer carefully. Sarah was sprawled out over the sheets, obviously uncomfortable from the heat. Jack feels his own cheeks flush as his eyes land on her figure barely covered by a tank top and a small pair of underwear. He is so close now that he can see the small bow nestled in the lace underneath her belly button. He tries to swallow, his mouth suddenly dry, and in his nervousness he lets go a burst of cold into the air from his staff. The change in atmosphere in the room is instantly palpable and he gasps as Sarah groans and shifts on the bed, seemingly seeking out the welcome chill. Jack's jaw drops as she moves onto her back, her arms stretching over her head, pulling her tank top taut. He tries desperately to avert his eyes, but the sudden chill in the room has made her nipples strain against the thin fabric, bringing his attention to the last place it should be. "Oh, man." His breath makes a cold mist in the air at his expletive and he stumbles backward a step, his feet turning in an attempt to flee. However, when she shifts even more, her feet curling underneath her and her back arching, he finds himself staring at her thighs now covered in goose bumps.

His feet move closer to the bed and his hand reaches out toward her seemingly without his consent, and his fingers brush against her just under her jaw, feeling the soft skin of her throat. Her brow furrows in confusion at the temperature of his hand and a small sound leaves her throat. Jack's eyes trail over her flushed face, focusing on her long dark lashes and pink pouty lips, over her neck now turned away from him to accept more relief from the heat. His icy blue eyes continue down over her covered breasts and now taut nipples, down over her exposed navel, and finally settling on her thighs perfectly displayed by her small panties. Jack swallows again, the tiny ribbon bow taunting him. His hand glides down her side, trailing a light blue glow, the constant reminder that she doesn't believe. But he doesn't care. His hand stops at the flare of her hip and he realizes that his chest is heaving with his irregular breaths. His fingertips barely graze the side of her underwear, admiring the lacy pattern against her skin when a sudden noise makes him jump. He gasps and jumps away from Sarah only to see the smirking face of Bunny across the room, leaning against the wall smugly.

"Well…" He drawls, and Jack feels dread well up inside of him. "This sure explains a lot, doesn't it?" Jack is certain that his face is bright red by now, and his hand still tingles from being so close to Sarah's warm body. The only thing he can do is gawk as Bunny moves closer to them, his eyes filled with amusement and accusations as they dart over Sarah and refocus on Jack. For that he is thankful. Still, Jack quickly summons a wind to pull the discarded cotton sheet over Sarah's figure, trying to ignore her moan of discomfort. When he is certain that she is decent he glares at Bunny, willing his blush to disappear.

"What are you doing here?" He growls out, holding his staff threateningly.

"I knew there was a reason you kept coming back here. But I have to say, it was quite a surprise to find you here rather than down the hall with the little ankle biters." Bunny's still smirking and he crosses his arms over his chest. "The newest Guardian, Jack Frost, feeling up his believer's babysitter. Crikey! What would North say?" He laughs at the pure rage on Jack's face. Rage because he had been caught, and because he couldn't deny it.

"Don't you dare tell him!" He lets loose a blast of ice in Bunny's direction but the oversized rabbit evades and only continues to laugh. "I swear, Kangaroo, don't-"

"Or what, mate?" Is all that Bunny says before thumping the floor twice with his foot, opening up a tunnel straight to the Pole. With a last mocking glance, he jumps in and disappears. Jack jumps at the tunnel but it closes before he can get in, and he lets out a scream of frustration, gripping his silver hair with shaking hands. He runs toward the window, and then stops and turns back toward Sarah. Jack strides over and blows the sheet off of her for her, giving into the impulse and kissing her jaw softly. Sarah sighs and he runs back to the window before launching himself into the sky.

Sarah groans and rolls over, trying to escape the overheated sheets tangled around her feet. When she fails she lets out a frustrated sound and sits up tiredly, pulling her hair off of her damp neck. She yawns and rises up from the bed, stretching. She decides to check on the kids since sleep is no longer a possibility but on her way to the door something catches her eye. She turns and narrows her eyes.

"Is that…" She walks toward the window and reaches out a fingertip to the glass. A gasp leaves her as her finger moves through the thin layer of ice slowly melting in the Summer heat. She stares at the icy patterns in disbelief. "…Jack Frost?"

Back at the Pole, as Jack pummels Bunny with ice to keep him silent and North watches in confusion, a small twinkle of light appears on the globe, seeming to glow brighter than the rest.