Bernard sighed as he entered his office where I was waiting for him. "Was showing my family around the workshop that bad?" I asked, looking at his defeated state.
Bernard ran his fingers through his hair. "They were running around the workshop touching everything! It's like they became toddlers!"
"The Pole does that to people." I chuckled. "Besides, I'm sure they'll calm down once the adrenaline wears off," I spoke, approaching Bernard. I wrapped my arms around his torso from behind and rested my head against the back of his shoulder. "I know this is super stressful for you, love, but you're doing amazing."
Bernard turned around so he was facing me, and he embraced me. "Thank you, Snow Angel." He gently spoke, kissing the top of my head.
We stood there in comfortable silence, not leaving one another's arms. In the silence, however, I could hear Jack's words echoing in my mind: "I bet you can't even start a family anymore." Finally, the worry I had been keeping for everyone, even my husband, spilled out of me. "Hey, B?"
"Hmm?"
"Are you...are you u-upset that we'll never be able to have a family of our own?" I looked up at him with worried eyes.
Bernard stared at me with confusion at my abrupt question, but his face slowly morphed into a frown. "What?"
"I-I know that neither of us wants kids right now, but what about in the future? What if centuries from now we'll decide that we want to have kids, but we won't be able to because we're elves?"
Bernard looked at me with sad eyes, as though he was hurting for me. "Snow Angel...how long has this been on your mind?"
We both knew what the answer was: too long.
"I just...I don't ever want us to be unhappy." I sighed. "I'm sorry, this is dumb...forget I ever said anything." I slowly pulled away from Bernard's loving embrace, and Bernard took hold of my hand.
"(Yn)...you don't have to apologize for your feelings." He gently spoke. "I should be the one who is sorry, you've been dealing with this all alone."
My (ec) eyes met his brown ones. "I just feel guilty bringing it up. I knew going into our marriage that children were off the table, but I'm still nervous about it. What if we want to have children someday and we can't? We're going to be alive for all eternity...aren't you worried about the unknown?"
"No..." He gave me a small grin. "And you know why? Because I'll be with you. No matter what happens, we'll always be there for one another."
I smiled up at him. "And we'll face whatever the future brings together." I felt my spirits lift a little bit; I felt a little voice inside of my head telling me that everything was going to be alright. I knew that Barnard and I could take on any challenge that the future brought.
"Exactly." The head elf winked at me. "I am a little confused though...why are you suddenly bringing the topic of having kids up? I thought you told me back when we were still dating that you never wanted to have children."
I sighed. "I was talking to Jack..."
Bernard scowled. "That little-"
Suddenly, the door to the office flew open, and one of the elves from the naughty and nice center poked their head in.
"Sir, we have a problem." They urgently spoke, fear and worry in their eyes.
"Can it wait, Jaiden?" Bernard sighed, annoyance growing in his voice. "I'm kinda in the middle of something here."
They shook their head. "I'm sorry sir, but we need you on the floor immediately."
Bernard groaned and grabbed his satchel from off of his desk. "Son of a nutcracker..." he muttered under his breath.
As Jaiden led Bernard out of his office, I followed close behind, knowing that there was probably going to be something I could help with. Since it was Christmas Eve, things were going to be more hectic than ever, and I wanted to be there for Bernard.
Bernard's jaw dropped when he entered the workshop to see total chaos. I slowly walked to his side and stared at his horror-filled face. Teddy bears were flying off conveyer belts that were going 3 times the speed they were supposed to go, The naughty and nice lists were shooting out of printers, fires were breaking out on random pieces of machinery, and to top it all off, all of the elves were running around the workshop screaming at the top of their lungs, crashing into one another and getting hurt. Even Curtis had given up all hope of restoring order, as he was dashing around like a madman, screaming along with the other elves.
The head elf only stared at the scene for a total of thirty seconds before he assessed the situation and went straight to work. He glanced at Jaiden. "Go get Santa." Jaiden nodded and bolted towards the kitchen. Then, Bernard zoomed up the stairs onto the upper level of the workshop, me following close behind. Bernard stood on one of the many landings overlooking the workshop and sucked in a deep breath. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly, loud enough for every single elf in the room to hear him.
All of the elves stopped what they were doing, and looked at the head elf expectantly. I admired the way Bernard was able to command the attention of a room so easily.
"Would someone please tell me...WHAT IN THE NAME OF SAINT NICHOLAS IS GOING ON IN HERE!?!" Bernard shouted.
The elves exchanged worried glances with one another.
Bernard stared at them for a long moment, his face growing more and more frustrated with each passing second. I stepped in right as his eyes began twitching, took his hand in my own, and gave it a comforting squeeze. He glanced down at me, and his angry expression softened a bit as I intertwined our fingers. He took a deep breath and turned back to the elves. "You! Call the fire elves!" He quickly ordered one of the elves.
As the elf nodded and dashed away, Bernard pointed to a section of elves. "I want all of you to begin collecting the toys that have been thrown everywhere, and sort them into two piles; one for toys that can be kept, and one for toys that have been too damaged to repair."
The elves began searching the room, picking up the scattered toys, right as the firefighter elves barged in and began putting out the raging fires on the machines.
Bernard pointed to Curtis. "Curtis, go flip the workshop's master switch to shut the machines down before they destroy any more toys." He waited for Curtis to do as he was told, before continuing. "The rest of you-"
Suddenly, Dad entered the room, and his eyes widened at the state of the workshop. He grabbed a fire extinguisher, ran over to one of the fires, and began blowing it out. Once the fire had been put out, he let out a long sigh. Everyone turned their heads to dad, expectantly staring at him.
After shutting the machines down, Curtis ran up to Santa. "Sir, sir!"
Dad cut him off. "Curtis, stop. If you're gonna tell me our entire facility is in ruin, Christmas is tomorrow, and for the first time in history, kids of the world won't get what they asked for because I failed, stop it. I can't stand one more piece of bad news." He spoke with defeat. As I stared at my dad, I couldn't recall a time when I had seen him this worried about Christmas. Even when he discovered the Mrs. Clause, he still managed to keep his cool; now he looked like he was going to cry.
"Then good news, sir." Curtis quickly said.
"What?"
"Your pants are on fire."
Dad looked behind himself and gasped in horror. "Fire in the hole!"
"Captain!" I quickly shouted to the firefighter captain, gesturing to my dad as I leap off the balcony and soared down to the ground floor.
"I'm on it, (yn)." He nodded, turning his hose to face Santa and put out the fire on his pants.
Dad sighed in relief as the fire was extinguished.
Suddenly Jack Frost emerged from the crowd of elves and ran up to Santa. "Oh, my. Is there anything I can do?" He asked with fake sincerity that I could see right through.
"Put a chill on my bottom for me?" Dad suggested.
Jack winced at the thought and I snickered.
"Go to the naughty and nice area,
help the elves clean up." Dad finally ordered.
"Go! Move, move!" Jack shouted at the elves, ushering them back to work. "Quickly, move it! Stop lollygagging!"
Bernard walked up beside me and scoffed.
"You and me both," I muttered.
"I need a status report," Dad asked one of the elves.
"Springs on the pogo sticks melted." One elf spoke, handing Santa the springs.
"Let me see, let me see. I like that toy." Dad sighed. "Glenda. Give me a status report."
"Legs on the ironing board burned up," Glenda reported.
"Let me see..." Dad took the ironing board toy.
"Only the wheels are left on the wooden trucks, sir." Another elf added.
"That was my favorite..." Santa said sadly.
"The rockets are in pieces, but the launch motors are intact, sir." An elf announced, handing Santa a couple of pieces of machinery.
"Launch motors intact?" A twinkle appeared in Dad's eye. "Get over here. I think I got an idea." Dad took the miscellaneous pieces of toys to a table and began quickly putting something together. Bernard and I approached him and watched as he worked, and the other elves crowded around us. "Jet-powered scooter board!" Dad announced, holding out a finished scooter.
All of the elves brush into cheer and applauded.
"Great job, Santa!" Bernard complimented.
"That's how the men in red
get things done." Dad grinned.
"We got a schedule to keep, get back to work. Let's go, let's go, let's go!"
As the elves scattered back to work, Jack Frost strolled up to Dad, his arms full of naughty and nice scrolls, a huge, but fake, smile on his lips. "Whoa. You're just amazing. Can't keep a good Santa down, huh? So, doesn't anything bother you?"
"You don't sweat the small stuff, Jack." Dad chuckled. "Problem at work, that's a challenge. Problem at home, a problem."
Lucy suddenly ran up to us, a huge smile on her rosy cheeks. "Uncle Scott, that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen!"
"Wait a minute. You weren't worried, were you?" I asked with a playful tone.
Lucy shook her head. "Not for a second."
"Neither was I." Dad smiled.
"Uncle Scott, you know what I've been dying to see?" My stepsister asked.
Dad thought for a moment. "No."
"Your snow globe collection." Lucy grinned.
Dad turned to Bernard and me. "Do you two think you can handle things down here for a little bit?"
Bernard wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him. "You can count on us, Santa."
"We've got everything under control." I chuckled.
"You guys are lifesavers." Dad gratefully spoke, before turning to Lucy. "You can see it if you can catch me!!"
Dad began running off, and Lucy swiftly followed after him, giggling all the way.