When it came closer towards to the end of the night, the ice above the Workshop, a section of the ice formed into a circle. The circle slowly comes down with music playing the background. Familiar reindeer appears one by one in their assigned pens. On the circle is the sleigh that holds the new Santa and his kid.
Bernard and Vincentia watches, along with the elves, side by side, red and green with black. Smiles and kid like actions appeared when the circle finally touches the ground. Scott, the new Santa, were confused about the lack of adult appearances around them and started asking one of the elves for the boss. The male head elf looks at his partner, motioning her to follow him. She nods her head, following her.
"Hey!" the head elves spoke. Bernard has his hands on his hips as Vincentia have her hands behind her back. "Who's causing all the trouble here?"
"She is/He is," both Scott and the elf answered.
"Excuse me," Vincentia speaks to the elf. "Are we on a coffee break?"
"We don't drink coffee."
"Then I guess the break is over," Bernard spoke. "Back to work. Thanks."
With that she went back to work. "Hey take is easy on her," Scott said to the head elves. "Who are you two?"
"My name is Vincentia."
"And I'm Bernard, nice to meet you Santa."
They began walking away, minding their business.
"I am not Santa!" Scott got frustrated. While following the head elves, he mumbles something about dogs and kayaks. This rather annoyed them to the point that Vincentia did the mocking hand while moving her thin lips. Bernard slightly chuckles.
"Let us guess," green eyes rolled.
"The other Santa disappeared right?" brown eyes rolls as well.
"Hey, I know where this is going. It wasn't my fault, the guy fell it was an accident. I have homeowner's insurance and a good attorney, not as well as my wife's, but let's not open up that wound." While walking towards the main workshop, the new Santa grabs the shoulders of the elves causing them stop in their tracks and turn around to face him. "How did you know the other guy was gone?" he asked them, rather confused.
"Can I get you a drink?" Vincentia asked.
"No I don't want a drink."
"I'm thirsty and hungry too!" a voice comes down the hall. The three looks to see the little boy from the sleigh. Charlie, Scott's son, is walking up to them.
"Charlie," Scott spoke to his son. "I thought I told you to stay in the sleigh."
"Who's this?" Bernard asked.
"This is my son Charlie," Scott introduced. "Charlie this is Vi-Vin-"
"Vincentia."
"And Ba-Ber-"
"Bernard."
"Vincentia and Bernard," he finally got their names right.
"Hi Vincentia," Charlie smiled at us. "Hi Bernard."
"Hiya sport," the head elves smiles, shaking his hand.
Charlie was surprised at this, "Hey dad, they called me sport just like you."
"Wonderful," Scott didn't seem impressed with it.
Bernard looks at Vincentia with a smirk playing on his lips which she mirrored the action.
"Hey," Vincentia smiled to Charlie. "We have some things for you."
Scott just rolled his eyes and starts to pace around.
"Okay first now hold out your hand and be very careful. This is very old, almost as old as us." Bernard places the snow globe into Charlie's outstretched hand.
"Shake it up, Charlie," Bernard smiles.
Charlie did. He watches the snow fall onto the Christmas scene, "Whoa…."
Bernard is happy to see this, "Why don't you hold onto it for me for a while? It might come in handy."
"Thanks," he thanked him. "Thanks a lot. I promise I'll take real good care of it."
"Make sure you do."
"I will."
"Now Charlie," Vincentia smiles. "Take out your hand."
Charlie takes out his free hand as she wraps a Christmas ribbon on his wrist. "I had this ribbon when I was a little elf. I want you to have it for a while. Whenever you alone, I will always be there for you."
"Thank you Vincentia," he thanks her before turning to his father. "Hey dad, look!"
Bernard motions Vincentia to come and walks away. With that she follows her best friend and Scott came behind them.
"Hey Barabus-" here they go again.
"Wrong," Vincentia said, annoyed.
"It's Bernard," Bernard corrected him, annoyed as well.
"Bernard, can we take a direct flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in Denver first?"
"Oh Larry," Vincentia spoke, noticing the elf passing by. "Take Charlie here and get him some of the cookies that I just made in the main kitchen and some hot chocolate."
He nods his head with a smiling Charlie following him.
"No Larry don't do that, Charlie!" Scott called out to Larry and Charlie.
"He'll be fine," Vincentia spoke.
"Follow us if you want to get out of those clothes," Bernard speaks, heading towards to the workshop with Vincentia and Scott following him.
"Look Barnaby and Percialla, I just want to go home."
Once in the main workshop, Vincentia asks Scott, "Is our names really that difficult to say correctly? It's Bernard and Vincentia."
"Right, Bernard and Vincentia," Scott now gotten them correct. "Say why is your boyfriend like this?"
That has made Vincentia stop in her tracks with her hands in the air beside the sides of her raven locks. A blush colored the smooth snow skin before turning around to face him again, "He is not my boyfriend Santa." She walks faster towards her partner in crime.
"Look I am not Santa Claus," repeated Scott.
"Did you or did you not read the card?" asked Bernard.
"Yea," he answers when he took off his jacket, continuing to follow them.
"Then you are the new Santa," Vincentia steps in. "In putting on the hat and jack, you have accepted the contract."
One of her chefs has a tray of cookies to pass around to everyone. She takes a few of them. Bernard has one.
"What contract?" confused Scott.
"The card in the Santa suit, you said you read it," Bernard explains. "So when you put on the suit you fell subject to the Santa Clause, here," he offers him one of the cookies.
"Santa Claus? He fell off my roof."
"No, not Santa Claus the person, Santa Clause, the Clause."
"What?"
An idea lighted up in Vincentia's mind. "Let's try talking business," she whispers to her best friend's ear. They both nod once and turn back to our new Santa. "Look," she spoke first. "You're a business man right?"
"Yea," he answered, confused.
"Okay," Bernard spoke. "A clause, as in the last line of a contract."
There was a pause which Vincentia didn't like so she exclaimed, "You got the card?!"
"Oh here," he hands it to Bernard as the head elf held it under a magnifying glass for him to see.
"In putting on the suit and entering the sleigh the wearer waives any and all rights to any previous identity, real or implied, and fully accepts the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus in perpetuity until such time the wearer becomes unable to do so," Scott takes the card, "by either accident or design," Bernard and Vincentia finishes with the entire thing memorized.
"What does that mean?!"
"It means, you put on the suit, you're the big guy," Bernard sighs, walks away. "Come on Vincentia.
"This is ridiculous, I didn't put on the suit just to-" he started, but went too far.
"TRY TO UNDERSTAND THIS!" yelled Bernard. The elves around them go 'oo' at the conversation.
Vincentia places her tiny hand on Bernard's shoulder. "Please calm down for me," she whispers to him softly.
Bernard takes a deep breath and then start to pull Scott along by his sleeve, "Let me explain something here. Toys have to be delivered. Vincentia and I are not going to do that, it's not our job. We're just elves. It's Santa's job, but Santa fell off a roof, your roof. You read the card, you put on the suit. That clearly falls under the Santa Clause. Now you're Santa, okay?!"
"One question," Scott looks back and forth between the two.
"What?" Bernard and I snapped.
"When can I get out of here?"
Before the head elves can answer, they heard, "Dad, you got to see this place."
Charlie is coming towards them. Vincentia is happy to see him again because children and younger elves makes Bernard and Vincentia happy from stressful situations.
"You leave tomorrow morning," Vincentia answered. "You will have eleven months to get your affairs in order and you're due back here Thanksgiving."
"I'm not coming back here on Thanksgiving," Scott argued.
"We'll ship the list to your house," Bernard said, through his teeth.
"What list?"
"Come on, now. The list."
Bernard wasn't in the mood to sing the song and personally Vincentia wasn't either. They sing Christmas carols all the time during the season. Still, Scott is waiting for an explanation.
A sigh escapes Vincentia's lips as she places her hand on her forehead, looking down to her feet. "He's making a list," she sings.
"Checking it twice," Charlie sings along with a smile.
"Going to find out who's naughty or nice," all the other elves sing. Then the elves sing another song which Bernard and Vincentia are not in the mood for. "Bernard and Vincentia sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G.!"
"Ugh, okay, you put a 'P' next to the kids who are nice and a 'C' next to the naughty ones," Bernard sighed.
"'P' and 'C'?" confused Scott.
"Yeah! 'P' for present and 'C' for coal. Right?" Vincentia smiles when she notices the hopeful eyes of his. He really looks up to Bernard.
"Yeah, that's right," Bernard smiles at him. With that he turns and starts to walk away again.
"Wait a minute," asked Scott. "How do I know who's good and who's bad?"
"You'll know," they both said, annoyed.
"What if I don't want to do this?"
Bernard and Vincentia hears this and immediately got over to Scott.
"Don't even kid about a thing like that!" Bernard and Vincentia said angrily.
"Why not? What if I don't buy into this Santa Claus thing? What if I choose not to believe it?"
Silence raised up when everyone hears this. Bernard and Vincentia feel very disappointed.
"Then there will be millions of disappointed children around the world," Vincentia spoke first.
"You see, children hold the spirit of Christmas within their hearts," Bernard added.
"You wouldn't want to be responsible for killing the spirit of Christmas, now would you, Santa?" they both said at the same time.
Feeling more disappointed about what just happened, Bernard begins to leave them alone, "Judy will take you to your room. Get out of the suit, it needs to be cleaned. Then get some sleep. We've got a lot of work to do and only a year in which to do it."
Vincentia watches in sadness as her partner in crime walks away. She didn't like it when Bernard storms off like that. His temper sometimes came to be calm down when he's alone or with her giving him his favorite cookies or hot chocolate from young elfhood.
"Bernard…." she mumbles sadly.
While she was still in deep thought about her best friend, Scott asks her, "So what do you do?"
"Head Chef and the second Head Elf," Vincentia glares at him.
"Oh come on, you hate me too."
"Look Santa, I can't hate anyone now, but since you totally made my partner and not to mention my best friend mad, I am mad at you. Bernard loses his temper easily just like me. Now I got an answer to my question, 'Why did your wife left you and Charlie doesn't like spending time with you?' You would have things your own way without having other people's opinions," she sighs, walks away looking for Bernard.
"Wait a second!" Scott exclaims, grabbing her shoulder to her turn to him. "How would you know about my marriage and my son? Your boyfriend should calm himself down. If he is your partner, you should get his Christmas cheer-"
"Listen!" she snapped. "Christmas keeps on going with everyone with Christmas cheer. Bernard has better cheer than ever like me since we act like what you humans call clones or twins. Our Christmas cheer is part of everyone' cheer that you see in this workshop and everywhere you go here in the North Pole. Also with our cheer, every child, including your son, our favorite holiday will always be here in our hearts. Without Santa Claus, Christmas is history," Vincentia explains about the cheer. "Now listen, I need to find my dear friend. Judy don't take anything he says to heart," she says when she sees Judy coming from the toy train that Bernard and Vincentia sometimes get on.
"Yes Big Sister," she answers with her cheery smile. Even though they don't have the same blood, they act like sisters.
