~Little Tooth~

Chapter 23:

Part of the past

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PART THREE

The Finality

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Now having to skip years of time is never really any fun, but we all have to do it once or twice. It is now been 4 or 5 years since Baby Tooth's kidnapping. Yet again, it is December and the snow is almost everywhere. Everywhere but Savannah, it seemed. Anyway, here are a few more important things to know. Our dear Baby Tooth and her friends, Jamie and Sophie, are all out of High school. Jamie and Sophie's mother had finished her work down here in Georgia, however she went back home to Burgess alone...

-...-

"What is this nonsense?" Jamie's mother looked at him, obviously upset.

"Mom. Please. Listen." Jamie sighed. Sophie sat at the end of the table.

"All I want to hear from your mouth are good reasons to why you'd stay here." Their mother rubbed her head with her nails. "I mean, where would you both stay!?"

"Oliver offered to let us stay in the guest bedroom as long as we helped pay a bit of the bills." Sophie muttered.

"Oliver has already agreed to this!?"

"Mom." Jamie said loudly. "We need to help Baby Tooth and her friend with the trial. And besides, I already have a part time job at the bookstore here. I like it there and don't want to leave."

Jamie's mother looked hurt. "The trail hasn't even been announced. It's been held off for months now. Who knows if it'll even happen?!"

"It's normal for trails to be held off for long periods of time. Some are put off for 5 to 10 years." Jamie was losing his calm.

"Well when the trail starts you can come back to visit? That doesn't sound too hard!" Their mother was getting more upset. "I'd pay for your plane tickets."

"I have a job here!"

"Part time!"

"There are very many full time opportunities for both me and Sophie here!"

"You both need to go to college first, and I'm not paying unless you come back home with me!"

"Who said I needed you to pay for me!?" Sophie watched as their voices were rising. "And I'm not even sure you have the money for even one of us going!"

"You act like it takes no effort to pay for college."

"I know how hard it is. Some of my friends here are going through it right now. But I still have courage. And I know those friends will help me out, even if the most they can do is buy me a beer!"

There was a silence. Sophie wanted out of that room. Jamie glared at his mother, only to realize what he said. He began to feel guilty, but then his mother took a deep breath and spoke.

"You two really are growing up, huh?" She sighed. "Fine."

And with that, the woman walked out of the room, muttering that she was off to bed. Sophie and Jamie looked at each other.

"I didn't mean for this to get so ugly." Jamie sighed.

"D...don't worry about it." Sophie sighed. "It wasn't your fault...and besides, I'm sure a lot of parents go through this."

-....-

That was when Jamie was out of High school and Sophie was on her last year. Now The two live with Oliver and Baby Tooth, and everything Is going perfectly fine. They do help with the bills, as well as Baby Tooth, who works at a small dentist office. One thing the siblings couldn't tell their mother was that another reason was that they promised to help Baby Tooth reunite with the Guardians, or at least be there when she does.

As for the trail over Little Apple, Mrs. Overland and the others were arrested, however their trail has been pushed and pushed and pushed onto later dates. It's been years, but it'll happen soon. Jackson and the others hope it happens soon, but in the mean time they have been working with a detective and police to uncover more evidence against Mrs. Overland.

Over those years and during all those investigations, Jackson and the others have come up on a few...disturbing facts. They were able to find every child or teen that had lived within the walls of the Orphanage. Well, almost every. They found that not only had Alyss died, almost with Norm and Mrs. Hamilton's disappearance, but so have 4 others. Aster, the young 4 year old that adored Easter, chocolate, and bunnies, was gone without a trace.

Aster was the young boy that was always full of hope and joy, and the one boy that reminded Baby Tooth far too much of BunnyMund. Sebastian Vargas, the youngest of the Vargas sisters, was also gone. However, according to Romana and Felicia, she had fallen horribly sick one day and was taken to the hospital, never seen again. Upon hearing Jackson's story, the now 19 year old believes all too well that her younger sister was actually poisoned. The last two were a young couple, two close friends. Almost brother and sister, however not at all, were Bryan and Sara. They would be 20 and 17 right now if it wasn't for the fact that nobody remembers them ever leaving Little Apple. According to the survivors, they seemed to vanish into thin air. Where one went, the other followed, so it didn't seem to off that they would both be gone together.

-....-

"Don't forget to lock the doors when you're done!" Yelled a fellow co-worker as they walked out the door.

"I got it! Thanks!"

Baby Tooth listened at she heard a door open and close. She was now alone in the dentist office. She worked at the desk, dealing with the information from the many people that must come here a few times a year. Her hair was just about the same, however she had gotten it cut, so that her ponytail only really reached her shoulders. She was 20, maybe 21, and had entered adult hood faster then she'd wanted to.

She remembered the day the Man in the Moon talked to her. It was the first and last day. His words were starting to blur in her mind, but she tried her hardest to remember. He told her that she'd get home sooner or later, but that he didn't know and that he shouldn't mess with anything probably meant he was not going to tell her beloved mother and guardians where she was for awhile.

The phone In the bag hanging from her chair went off. She stopped her work and fished it out of the bag.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Yes, hello. This is Port Wentworth Elementary School, is this Toothiana Time?" Said a female voice on the other side.

A smile appeared on Baby Tooth's lips.

"Yes, that's me."

"Great! We received your paperwork and after critical time of thought, we have determined to accept you as one of our trustworthy substitute teachers."

"Really? That's great!" Baby Tooth leaned back in her seat.

"We hope you can start your part time job as a sub next week, the last week before the winter holidays. A few teachers will be out so we would like you to sub for one of our 3rd grade classes."

"I'd be happy too! Just a question, however, will It be all school hours? From 9 to 3?"

"Yes ma'am"

"Alrighty then!"

"Great. If there are any more questions, feel free to call the school. Until then!"

Baby Tooth quickly finished up her work and closed the old dentist office up, leaving after she locked the two front doors. It was 4 in the afternoon, and she felt relatively happy.

-....-

After an early dinner with Oliver, Jamie, and Sophie, Baby Tooth received a call. It was Jackson, and he sounded happy. He, now 25, told her that the detective had found something, and he wanted to show that something to her. After eating, Baby Tooth headed off to Jackson's apartment. She walked in to see him eating microwavable noodles.

"That's your dinner?" She asked.

"There is nothing wrong with it!" Jackson cracked a smile. "I didn't feel like making anything tonight."

"Alright." Baby Tooth rolled her eyes. "So what is it that you wanted to show me?"

"Oh right!" Jackson set his cup of noodles down on the coffee table and ran into the other room. "hold on!"

Baby Tooth sat down on the couch, waiting as she heard him looking around his room. It didn't take him long to come back out holding a small box. He sat down next to her on the couch and opened it to show a card. The card had a picture of a little boy and a little girl, along with two adults. Behind them was the Cinderella castle, giving off the fact that the picture was taken in DisneyWorld. Baby Tooth picked up the card to inspect it, turning it around to show writing in pen.

"What is this?" She asked.

"The detective found it while he was going through all of Little Apple Orphanage resident history. He did a bit of research on this photo he found and guess what?" Jackson began to explain, a huge smile on his face.

"What?" Baby Tooth laughed at his child-like enthusiasm.

Jackson pointed at the people on the photo. "He says that little boy, the one that looks like he's 2. That's me."

Baby Tooth looked surprised, looking at the photo. It's color was almost washed out, and it was really old, but there was a little boy with brown hair and big eyes and a smile. She then realized. It was a picture of Jackson and his family. His blood family.

"He told me the two adults are my parents and that little newborn girl, the baby, that's supposed to be my sister!" He said. "I had a sister! Who would have known?!"

"You seem very excited about this." Baby Tooth set down the photo.

Jackson paused. "I'm just happy that something from my real family survived all these years."

He looked at Baby Tooth's concerned face.

"I mean, I know something must have happened for me to have been placed in Little Apple, but...i don't care. I love the family I have now, and yet just the thought that there was a family for me before all this Little Apple shit accrued makes me feel a bit better." He sighed.

"Alright." Baby Tooth gave a small smile.

Jackson chuckled. "You don't believe me, huh?"

"No, I do!" Baby Tooth huffed.

"Then you are the one who needs to lighten up!"

Jackson attacked her again, tickling her side. When she had a big smile on her face and could hardly breath, He stopped.

"Stop doing that!" She laughed.

"Stop being so down!"

"I'm not being down!"

"Good!"

"Great!"

Jackson laughed. "You wanna know who my family is now?"

Baby Tooth looked at Jackson's face. "If you are going to do that again then no."

"Aw." Jackson sighed. "I was gonna say Felix."

Baby Tooth cracked a smile. "You suck at lying."

"How do you know? Maybe I hang out with him more then you? Maybe I think of him as a brother! Maybe I buy him more presents on Christmas!"

"Well If you love him so much why don't you marry him."

"There are, like, a few problems with that."

Baby Tooth crossed her arms and smiled. "Like what?"

"I'm not a female italian who goes by the name of Marzia."

Baby Tooth giggled, trying to hold it back. She then sighed, She looked back at her watch.

"I need to leave soon." She sighed.

"Aw why?"

She stared at him dead in the eyes. "I've got to go spend all my money on Marzia."

Jackson paused, starring back, then realized she was making fun of him.

"Okay we can quite now." He said.

"But no really, I do have to leave."

"You just got here!"

"Me, Jamie, and Sophie promised Oliver we'd help him clean out the garage because of all the junk in it." Baby Tooth sighed. "And it's getting dark."

"Oh." Jackson sighed, then standing up. "I don't have work tomorrow, you think I could help a bit?"

"I'm sure Oliver would like that."

-...-