"Knock-knock, sis!" Jack called as he stepped into his sister's apartment above the bakery. Jack had dressed to the nines for his first Christmas Eve at the pole. He was wearing an evergreen velvet jacket and pants with a white button up shirt, red waistcoat and a red bow tie. "Are you almost ready? Charlie, said to expect him around six!"
"Six?" Holly huffed. Jack saw her head pop out of the bathroom. He stifled a laugh because his sister's expression and the way her head had suddenly appeared from nowhere reminded him of a surprised meerkat or gopher. "No, no!" She huffed, disappearing back into the bathroom again. "I swear he said seven! I don't even know what I'm wearing!"
"You thought we were leaving in an hour, and you still didn't know what you were wearing?" Jack laughed. "What are our choices?"
"Everything's laid out on my bed." She shouted to him as she wrapped a strand of dark hair around her hot curling iron.
Jack stepped into his sister's room and surveyed the options. The first choice was a boring brown pair of pants and a knit cream-colored sweater. It was very Christmas dinner at Nana's. It was nice, but not very flashy. The next outfit was a black glittery dress with the sides cut out. It was covered in gold glitter. It was flashy, but maybe more suited for a night out than a Christmas party.
"Is this the best you can do?" Jack asked.
"I didn't know what was appropriate for Christmas Eve at the North Pole." Holly answered from the other room. Then he heard the hissing sound of a hairspray can as she tried to set her curls for the evening. Jack rolled his eyes before opening Holly's closet and rifling through the clothes hung in there. He stopped when he came across a white dress with a snowflake lace skirt and bodice. Some of the snowflakes were outlined with silver rhinestones. It was just the right amount of flare and style Jack was hoping for.
"Hol? What's wrong with this?" He crossed the hall and held up the dress to the bathroom door.
"Hmm?" Holly had moved on to doing her make-up and looked away from the mirror to see what Jack was showing her. "Oh that. It's really cute! I got it on Amazon! I'd bought it a while ago to wear but I thought maybe the snowflakes were a little too Jack Frost? I don't want to take away from your thing with Charlie."
"You're wearing this." Jack told her. Before his sister could argue, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get that!" Jack hung the dress on the shower rod and shut the bathroom door. Jack bounced off to the front door of Holly's apartment, where Charlie was waiting in his pinstriped suit. "Well, if it isn't Old Man Winter."
"Last minute snowstorm in New York." Charlie explained. He brushed a few snowflakes off his shoulder and stepped inside. "You guys just about ready?"
"Holly needs about two more hours." Jack joked.
"Sisters. I get it." Charlie shrugged.
"Jack, is that Charlie?" Holly bellowed from the bathroom. "Ten more minutes and I'll be ready! I swear you said you'd be here at seven!"
"No rush Holly!" Charlie shouted back. "Nothing good happens before midnight on Christmas Eve anyway."
"C'mon it's Christmas Eve at the North Pole." Jack challenged him. "It has to be like the ultimate Christmas party."
"I guess you can judge for yourself when we get there." Charlie shrugged.
"Not if Holly doesn't…HURRY UP!" He shouted towards the back of the apartment.
"I'm coming!" Holly burst from the bathroom with a shoe in one hand and her purse in the other.
Charlie's jaw slacked and his eyes widened the second he spotted Holly. She looked stunning in her silver and white snowflake dress. Her usually wavy hair was curled into individual ringlets. Charlie couldn't help but smile. Long before Bernard his sister used to curl her hair to try and impress her boyfriends. Charlie was sure Holly was just trying to look nice for the Christmas party but he secretly hoped she'd done it for him.
"Uh, Hol, your shoe?" Jack pointed at the shoe in his sister's hand.
"Hm?" Holly looked at the silver strappy shoe in her hand. "Right, shoe." Wobbling slightly, Holly put her shoe on her foot. "Okay, I'm ready. You guys?"
When Charlie, Holly and Jack arrived at the North Pole the entire Calvin-Miller family had already arrived at the North Pole. The family was gathered around Santa's sleigh. Curtis was reading off his checklist quadruple checking that everything had gone according to plan. Bernard was inspecting the harnesses on the reindeer while his wife and Lucy chased Noel and Nicholas in the snow. Neil was wearing one of his characteristically loud sweaters which didn't seem to be keeping him very warm. Neil and Laura were each holding steaming mugs of coffee and shivering. Scott was already seated on the sleigh's bench, talking to Buddy and Carol who stood nearby.
"There you are, Sport!" Scott beamed as soon as he spotted his eldest son. "I was starting to get worried."
"Is that…?" Holly whispered.
"The big guy." Jack nodded confirming what she already knew.
"You know I wouldn't miss what could be our last delivery together." Charlie told his dad as he swung himself up and into the sleigh.
"And that's the last thing on my list, Charlie in the sleigh." Curtis announced. He began herding everyone away from the sleigh. "It's delivery time, everyone clear the takeoff area."
"Sure, you don't want to come with us, Buddy?" Charlie called out to his brother.
"I've never been surer of anything in my life." Buddy insisted. "I'm going to make sure all my stuff is packed so that as soon as they get back me, my mom, and my dad are out of here." He walked away from the rest of the family.
"Am I allowed to say I'm not going to miss Buddy when he moves away?" Bernard whispered to his wife. Lucy snorted, stifling a laugh when she overheard her brother-in-law.
"Bernard, it's Christmas." Jessica scolded him.
"You know, once Buddy leaves the North Pole he'll technically qualify for the Naughty and Nice list for the first time in his life. And a certain someone still has a LOT of leverage in that department." Lucy suggested to Bernard.
"As much as I'd love to see that, Lucy, you know the N & N elves would never break their code of ethics and misuse the list like that." Curtis piped up.
"He's just jealous they all still like me better." Barnard said. "Speaking of N & N, I'm going to go take the kids up there so Q and I can track Santa and Charlie's progress." With his son in one arm and his daughter in the other Bernard headed inside the main workshop to the Naughty and Nice department.
"We're going to head in too." Laura spoke for herself and Neil. "It's freezing out here."
"We should go to the kitchen." Her husband agreed. "You think Judy's finished that batch of cookies yet?"
"I'll be in my office." Curtis announced. "I have big plans for this year's post-Christmas speech."
"You must be Holly and Jack." Lucy introduced herself now that it was just her sister and the two Greens outside. "Charlie told me you own the bakery we always order all of our cakes and pies from. It's my absolute favorite!"
"Wow, thank you." Holly could tell from Lucy's tone that she was being honest, but it still took her by surprise. She wasn't expecting the compliment. "We put a lot of love into everything we do and I'd be nothing without my team."
"I think you'll fit right in here." Lucy smiled. "Oooh I know what will be fun! Why don't we head over to the kitchens and see what we can bake up for the party later? We can always use more gingerbread houses. I know this really great trick where you used coconut shavings to simulate…"
"Snow!" Jack jumped in excitedly.
"Are you going to come too, Jessica?" Holly asked.
"Actually, duty calls. I've got to clear every department and officially mark their Christmas tasks as complete before any of them can enjoy the Christmas party and or their vacations. I'll be around if you need anything, but you're in good hands with Lucy." She explained.
A/N: So apparently the last time I updated this story was back in February? I didn't realize it had been that long! I can only hope that this little bit was worth the wait. I always say this but I'm hoping to be back with some more updates soon!
As always a huge thank you to everyone who supports this story by favoriting, following, reading and enjoying. A special thank you to Jsmares22, starrat, AnimeFanfikushonSakka, Ghostwriter, Autumn Leaves, KitKat, 0netflixme0, Sphinx1417 for your reviews of Chapter 14!