"My. My you definitely know your dancing." Rowena says.
"You are not bad yourself." Bernard says with a smile.
They both turn around. Bernard grasps his dance partner's hands.
"Or maybe I should say you are a natural." He looks at his dance partner. Instead of the woman looking back at him, it was Dean.
Oh my.
"Santa." Bernard let's go and takes several steps back.
"Santa. Looks like an old geezer wearing clothes that are close to ripping. " The witch tilts her head. "I suppose he does have the pot belly."
Dean looks at his stomach.
God I hate this.
"Santa I can uh..."
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Dean asks.
"I uh...got myself distracted. Rowena Macleod wanted to dance with me so I..." The Arch Elf pauses and slowly turns towards the witch realizing what he just done. "Oh sugar."
Rowena frowns.
"How do you know my name?"
"I just danced with the King of Hell's mother!" Bernard looks at his hands. "I need to wash my hands I just touched a witch."
"Hello." Rowena glares at him. "How do you know my name?"
"Rowena." Dean says.
Rowena looks at the hunter.
"Who the bloody hell are you?"
Dean looks at the guests that are fortunately distracted.
"We gotta talk. Somewhere private."
"Not until I know who you are?"
"Rowena Macleod you know Dean Winchester." Bernard says.
Rowena nods.
"Everyone knows the... WINCHESTERS." She says the last part in an over exaggerated voice.
"Yes. They do." Bernard says. "You see this man who you called an old geezer is Dean Winchester."
"What?"
Rowena looks at the bearded man trying to spot anything that looked familiar to her.
Dean sighs.
"Yeah. Merry Christmas Rowena."
Rowena's eyes widen.
"Bloody Hell. Dean!" She shakes her head. "You got so old."
"Yeah no need to remind me Rowena."
"No. He still has his young skin. It's the beard and hair that makes him look old." Bernard explains. Dean gives him the really look. Bernard frowns. "I thought you would want me to explain."
"What happened to you?" Rowena asks. She gestures to the Arch Elf "Who is your friend?"
"We're not friends." Dean says. "He is someone I'm stuck with."
Bernard points to his ears.
"I'm an elf. He is my boss Santa."
" Santa? "
"Yes."
"You are an elf?"
" Yes"
"I thought the ears were a fancy dress costume. "
"No. They are real." Rowena pulls at the ears. Bernard slaps her hands away. "Do you mind? Now I got to wash my hands and ears. "
"Dear Lord. What have you Winchesters got yourselves into this time ?"
"It's complicated. What are you doing here?" Dean asks.
"Having fun. They had fruit punch. Already on my third helping." She furrows her eyebrows. "What are you doing here? Where is Samuel?"
"Sam is on a case. Cas is with Crowley."
"The angel? He is with Fergus? You got my son involved in this...I don't even know what this is."
"We haven't even told you the next part." Dean says.
"What is the next part? You adopted Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer?"
" Rudolph don't exist. " Bernard says.
"Rowena. We gotta take this somewhere else. I can't talk about it here." Dean says.
Rowena looks at the other men. They all had a woman by their side. The platters of food are running low.
"Fine." She says. "It's not like I'm going to be doing the jive "
" I know the jive. "
"Bernard." Dean snaps.
The Arch Elf scolded to himself.
"Getting myself distracted again. Apologizes sir. "
The three of them are about to leave but suddenly one of the guests drop their glass of wine and screams. Everyone turns around to see what the commotion is about.
"What's going on?" Dean asks his eyes darting all over the place.
Bernard's eyes widen.
"Tree."
The Christmas tree glows bright green. Tree branches sprout out of the tree. The branches turn into wooden arms and hands. The wooden arms slam down into the ground and starts to push itself up.
"OH MY GOD." A woman screams.
Bernard shakes his head.
"I do hate my gut feeling sometimes."
"What the hell? Is this you're doing?" Rowena asks.
"No. It's Krampus's doing." Bernard answers.
The witch looks at the Arch Elf with a WTF expression.
"Did you say Krampus?"
"Yes. He is not friendly. He is an evil monster. "
"I know what he is but how is this his doing?"
"That is what the next part was." Dean says.
The Christmas tree pushes itself out of the pot. More branches sprout out this time turning into legs.
"I think we should get out of here. " Bernard says panic rising in his voice.
Dean shakes his head.
"No we're not."
" I'm going. " Rowena says. "This is not my problem."
The doors slam shut. The guests try to open the doors but it stays locked.
"WE'RE TRAPPED." A man screams.
The Christmas tree looks round the room. One person had gold dust spinning around him. The Christmas tree locks on to this person.
"It's looking right at us. " Rowena says.
"Because it wants me. " Dean says.
The Christmas yanks off two of its baubles and throws them.
"LOOK OUT!"
The guests go down to the ground. Dean goes behind the table. Rowena goes eye wide. Her body freezes in stock. Bernard lunges and brings the witch down with him. The baubles hit the wall and smash into pieces.
Rowena looks at the Arch Elf who was laying on top of her.
"Get off me."
" Sorry. "
Bernard rolls off her. Rowena goes on to her knees. She frowns at him.
"You saved me?"
Bernard shrugs.
"I couldn't let you get hit. "
Rowena stands up and brushes her dress down.
"Guess you are going to have a shower. You touched all of me now."
Bernard grins.
"I'll let you off. Only because I like your fragrance you are wearing. Reminds me of the summer. I rarely get to experience summer."
Rowena smiles liking the compliment.
" BERNARD. " Dean yells.
God how many times do I have to get this guy's attention?
Bernard scrambles to his feet.
"Coming sir. "
Another bauble gets thrown. Rowena covers her head.
"Jesus Christ." She mutters under her breath.
"Rowena." Dean grabs her dress and pulls her down behind the table.
The witch turns and glares at him.
"You have no right to pull me like that you fat slob."
Dean rolls his eyes at the lame insult.
"What are we going to do?" Bernard asks. "How we do stop a tree?"
" You don't have any ideas? " Rowena says looking surprised.
"No. Not really because I'm pretty much freaking out right now."
" Rowena. Any spell to stop it? " Dean asks.
The witch rolls her eyes.
"I got to sort out your mess. "
"It would be great if you did." Bernard says with a nervous smile.
"In front of all these people."
" I can get them to forget. "
Bernard gets out a little Christmas present.
"Once the tree has been defeated. I'll throw this. It will go bang. Everyone apart from us will forget what just happened. "
Rowena eyes up the Arch Elf. She nods.
"Not bad."
"Alright. Can you do that like right now." Dean orders.
The Christmas tree tosses one of the guests into the giant chocolate fountain. Rowena comes out of his hiding spot. She raises her hand.
"Ignis."
Fire bursts out of the ground and spreads up the tree. The Christmas tree goes down on to the ground squealing in pain. The fire alarm goes off and the water sprays come on. The water puts the fire out. The Christmas tree stands up burnt but still strong.
Bollocks. She thought.
"Glacies." She chants.
The water turns into ice. The ice spreads and covers the tree. The witch chuckles.
Take that you bastard.
The ice breaks and falls on to the ground.
"Oh come on." Dean says.
Rowena gulps.
Think. Think.
She goes to do another spell. The Christmas tree swipes its long arm and sends the witch into the wall.
"Rowena." Bernard shoots up from the table. He glares at the tree. "That's not how you treat a lady." The Christmas tree growls. Bernard laughs nervously. "Never mind." He goes back into hiding again.
Dean gets out his gun.
"That's it."
He steps out and starts shooting at the tree. Each bullet bounces off. The hunter kept trying until he was out of bullets.
Shit.
Dean drops his gun and looks in his pocket for a knife. He gets out a toy hammer.
"What the?" Dean frowns at the toy.
"Yeah should have told you about that." Bernard shouts out.
Dean looks in his other pocket. He gets out a toy helicopter and its remote control.
"Seriously."
The Christmas tree swipes. Dean ducks and hits the tree with the toy hammer. A few baubles fall off and smash on to the ground. This infuriated the tree.
Dean laughs nervously and backs away.
"Uh sorry um tree."
He looks up at the tree topper. The star shone bright with a green glow.
That's what is keeping the tree alive.
The tree stomps sending everyone off its feet. Dean scrambles away and goes up against the wall. He sees the remote control is still in his hands.
I can't believe I'm gonna do this.
Dean presses the button. The helicopter comes to life and flies upwards. The Christmas tree swipes at the toy. Dean moves it to the left missing the tree my inches.
This gave Dean an idea.
The hunter moves the helicopter left, right, up and down. The tree misses every time. Dean starts moving the helicopter towards the fountain. The tree followed wanting to break the little nuisance.
One more move.
The Christmas tree swipes. The helicopter goes backwards. The tree growls and charges at it. The tree suddenly loses its footing and falls into the chocolate fountain.
The star flies off and lands by Bernard's feet.
"BERNARD DESTROY IT." Dean screams over the panic.
"Oh." The Arch Elf stands up. "Destroy it did you say?"
"YES!"
"Got it sir."
Then crash.
Bernard stomps on to the star and keeps doing it until cracks started to form. The star breaks in half.
The Christmas Tree screams as it glowed green. Then it slumped back and the light dims down. Dean checks the tree over. He nods.
"Just a normal tree now."
Bernard goes over to the witch.
"Rowena."
The witch's eyes flutter open. She looks at the Arch Elf.
"Is it over?" She asks.
Bernard nods.
"Yes Santa took care of it. I got to say he was amazing out there."
Rowena groans as she sits up.
"You come to help me up?" She says with a slight tease in her voice.
"Yes."
Bernard takes her hand and carefully helps her up. Rowena quickly let's go.
"You know I was joking."
He smiles. "Its manners to help a lady up."
The witch raises her eyebrow.
"Where has this change of behavior come from?"
"Um."
Bernard blushes bright pink. Rowena chuckles.
"Even your ears have gone pink."
Bernard touches his ears. He goes from pink to red.
"Uh Santa."
The Arch Elf runs off. The witch laughs.
He is cute when he is embarrassed.
"Are you okay?" Bernard asks his boss.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Dean answers with a nod.
"I got to say boss that was awesome. Never seen Santa so...action packed."
Dean smiles. He had to admit he was awesome out there. The guests start muttering and pointing at the tree.
Bernard glances over and laughs.
"Oh yeah almost forgot." He gets out the tiny present. "MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE"
He throws the present. It explodes as soon as it hits the ground. Gold dust sprays everywhere. The guests become puzzled and start frowning at the state of the room.
"What happened?" One asked.
"I don't know." Another one answered.
The fire engines pull up outside.
"They will think its just a fire." Bernard says to his boss.
Dean nods.
"Good. Now we gotta get out of here."
The Arch Elf sighs with relief.
"That is an order that for once I agree with."
"Bring Rowena." Dean orders.
Bernard frowns.
"Why?"
"She is now involved and she is a witch we might need her. "
"Sir?"
"Problem?"
Bernard quickly shakes his head.
"N...N...No sir. No problem at all."
Rowena walks up to the pair.
"I guess I'm not safe anymore " she says.
"No you're not." Dean answers.
The witch sighs.
"Can't seem to get away from you Winchesters."
"Motel?" Bernard suggests. Dean nods. "Okay." The Arch Elf touches them both.
Seconds later they are in the motel room.
Rowena backs away in shock.
"Where are we?" She asks.
"In a motel." Dean answers his tone sarcastic.
"A crappy motel." She corrects him.
The door opens. Sam walks in.
"Couldn't find anything Dean." He says. The younger hunter takes off his jacket. "I thought I did find something but turns out the toys coming to life in a toy store was someone doing a prank." Sam sighs. "Heard from Cas or Crowley?"
"Uh Sam." Dean says.
"What Dean."
"Hello Samuel."
Sam looks to his left. He frowns.
"Rowena. What you doing here?"
"Ask your brother or should I say Santa Claus."
Sam sighs.
"Dean."
"You actually missed out a lot. Your brother took down a Christmas tree." Bernard says.
"Christmas tree? What? Dean I told you to stay here. What you been doing?"
"Sam what happened was that..." The phone rings. Dean raises his finger to his brother to say hang on. He gets out his phone and answers it. "Hey Cas."
"Dean."
"Hello polar bear."
Dean can imagine Castiel giving Crowley a glare for interrupting. The hunter puts the call on loud-speaker.
"Everything alright Cas?"
"Dean. We found something that is linked to Santa's death. It's not demons."
"I told you." Crowley says in the background.
"It is something else. Something known as The Spirit of Winter."
"Did he just say the Spirit of Winter?" Bernard says.
"Yeah he did." Dean says.
"You know what it is?" Sam asks.
The Arch Elf nods.
"Yes. The Spirit of Winter. That's Jack Frost."