Hello everyone! Happy Springtime! Or Happy Autumn for anyone in the southern hemisphere! I hope you all have been safe and healthy and happy. I want to say thank you to anyone who reviewed, followed, favorited, or even just read this story. It means so much!
I feel like I say this a lot, but this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected. I was like two-thirds of the way through it and I checked my outline and I was like "it's still not done?" but there honestly wasn't a good place to break it up into an " April, part one" and "April, part two" so, instead you get a nice long chapter!
I feel like there was something else I wanted to say up here, but I can't remember and I have to leave for work soon, so we'll just call it good. Have fun reading!
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Santa Clause series.
5. April '96
On April first, it isn't an alarm or puppets that wake Scott, it's the sound of someone's fist banging on the door as they shout "Rise and shine, boss! Breakfast is on its way!" He pushes himself up into a seated position, his mind groggy as it tries to cling to sleep. The room is a little chilly. The fire that is always lit for him has died out sometime during the night. The banging happens again and Scott can't help but groan.
"I'm awake, Bernard! Just come in already."
The Head Elf opens the door, switching on the dim overhead light as he enters. Scott has to blink away spots as the bulbs flicker to life. Bernard walks over to the balcony to shove the curtains open, letting in the fluorescent lights from the streets below. Curtis is at his heels, a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other. Bernard grins at him and Scott can't help but wonder how on earth the boy looks so awake at six in the morning. "Mornin' Santa."
Scott lets out a tired snort. "Morning."
"Better get used to this, sir, I'll be here to wake you up every morning."
"Yea, yea," Scott yawns. "So, what's on the agenda for today, boys."
Curtis hands Bernard the clipboard and pen. The Head Elf skims the list, reading off all the items listed. "Let's see... First, you'll want to go around and check in with the Heads of each department. You'll do this every morning. Then after lunch you and I have a meeting to go over some last minute stuff. After that you'll probably be needed on the workshop floor. It'll be a lot like what you were doing in November and December, except I won't be with you all day."
"You won't?"
"No, I have my own list of stuff I need to do every day, but Curtis will set you up with a radio so you can get hold of one of us if you need to."
Curtis unhooks something from his belt and then hands it over to Scott. He explains, "it's a lot like a normal walkie-talkie, sir, except it only runs on our magic frequencies. That's why we can use it no matter how far away from the pole we are."
"Cool," Scott mumbles as he looks over the device. It's a lot more colorful than he would have expected. The outside is bright yellow and the knobs are candy apple red. He presses a few of the pale blue buttons on the front, flinching when the device suddenly roars with static. He switches it off quickly and then tosses it to the side on his bed. "Anything else?"
"No, that's pretty much it. You'll have a lot more to do the further into the year we get. It's still early enough that the pole isn't too crazy busy."
"Alright. Guess I better get ready then."
"'Kay. I'll see you after lunch then, boss."
After eating the breakfast Abby brings him- oatmeal with honey and cinnamon, sliced apples and berries, and fluffy scrambled eggs, Scott gets ready for the day and then heads off to check in with the departments. He starts with the Candy Room, since it's the closest one. He'd briefly met the Head of this department the day Bernard introduced him to everyone. There'd been so many people to meet then though, he hadn't really had the chance to talk much with the elf in charge here. Meabh (whose name Bernard had had to sound out slowly – "Mae-ve"- in order for Scott to pronounce it correctly, which still makes him feel a little embarrassed) is a willowy girl with a short auburn bob and heavy bangs. The candy cane-striped apron she's wearing is stained with chocolate and sticky syrups and there's a smudge of powdered sugar across her cheek. Scott asks her how everything is going and if she needs any help. Meabh tells him about the different candies the elves in her department have been making, and how every evening Bernard comes to put a preservation spell on them so they'll be fresh for the children on Christmas morning. He's a little impressed that the magic can keep everything fresh and tasting brand new for so long, so he makes a mental note to ask his Head Elf if the spell is something he can learn.
After the Candy Room, he checks in with Judy at the kitchens, which actually knocks two departments off his list since she is also in charge of his personal elves. Then, he stops by to see Herennia in Wrapping. She tells Scott that the department is getting ready to do a full inventory of all its wrapping paper, so they can compare it to last year's to see which paper was used the most and decide what excess needs to be sent to the storage closets in the main hall. She complains a little about how long this process takes, since they'll have to spend a lot of time separating the different rolls into piles of each color to make sure they don't miss any. Scott suggests that afterward she finds a new way to separate the paper, maybe by shade or alphabetically, so they can keep it more organized for next year. Herennia really perks up at this suggestion. She gives Scott a big grin as she thanks him.
His next stop was going to be the Stuffed Animal Department to see Theo, but an elf there informs him that the Head had somehow managed to smash his hand in a cabinet and was now at the Elfirmary across the town square. Scott leaves the workshop to go check on him, and then after spending enough time there for Dr. Hismus to start grumbling about crowding his patient, Scott goes to the Elf Post Office to see Letitia. There isn't much for him to do here since it's still too early in the year for most kids to start sending letters, so he heads back to the workshop. He pops in on the elves in the Tower, the Ball Room, and the Clothing Department; speaking to Titus, Reggie, and Edna respectively. The Head maintenance elf Patty he actually finds talking to Irv, the Head of Construction, so he spends some time chatting with them about how things are going in their departments. At the Naughty and Nice Center he finds Clara, and then afterwards it's down to the stables to see Larry. He can't help but spend some extra time checking in with all his reindeer, especially his good buddy Comet, who rambles happily in his animal-speak when Scott stops by his pen. Finally, he heads back inside to talk to Josiah who, even in his second year of being in charge of ELFS is oddly flustered at all the data he has to go through and the training regimens he has to prepare. Lastly, he goes to see Quintin. The boy has a lot of stuff to go over. New toys they're developing, improvements to the sleigh, Field Elf assignments, experiments they're doing; Scott's head is spinning by the time Quintin is done.
He's honestly feeling a little exhausted by the time lunchtime rolls around. He radios Abby and asks the girl if she wouldn't mind bringing his lunch up to the office for him. She tells him it's no problem at all and about fifteen minutes later there's a knock on his door. He calls for the knocker to come in, and is quite surprised when Bernard is the one who enters, instead of Abby. The Head Elf grins at him when he sets the overloaded tray down onto the desk. There's a plate piled with turkey sandwiches, a bowl of fresh veggies and another with homemade vegetable dip, and two individual-sized cheesecakes topped with sticky sweet raspberry sauce and whipped cream.
"Please tell me you're here to help me eat all this food," Scott jokes.
Bernard snorts. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving you here to finish all this yourself."
"Thank goodness," he laughs.
Bernard takes a seat on the other side of the desk and they each grab an empty plate from the tray and load it with food. There's a few minutes of idle chitchat. Scott tells the elf all about his morning so far. When there's a moment of quiet, where Bernard seems more focused on the food in front of him than his boss, Scott clears his throat to grab the elf's attention.
"Hey, you said this morning that we were going to have a meeting after lunch. Do you want to just go ahead and take care of it now?" he asks.
Bernard tilts his head to the side, confused. "I mean... I don't mind having it now if you want to, but you're on lunch Santa. You can wait until after."
"I know, but the toy company I worked for before becoming Santa always just sort of combined the two. We'd order lunch and eat it before we had our meetings, but it was always kind of expected that you'd hurry up with your meal so everyone could get back to business as quick as possible."
"That's crazy! You should spend your time on break doing something that'll relax you. Take a nap, or read a book, anything besides work."
Scott waves his hand like he might actually wave away the boy's concerns. "It's fine. I'm used to it."
"You always say that about stuff you shouldn't be used to."
"It's fine, Bernard." he insists. "So, go ahead. Fill me in on whatever it is you needed to."
Bernard frowns, looking very much like he's going to continue arguing, but instead he just sighs and reaches down to pull something out of his shoulder bag that's sitting by his feet. It's a manila folder, so stuffed with papers they're sliding out of the bottom. The elf catches them before they fall, and then lets the folder fall onto the desk with a rather loud thud. Scott stares, mouth dropping open as he pulls a paper out. It's a little crinkled on the bottom from where it was shoved inside the bag, but what he's more focused on is the tiny, cramped writing filling up the page. The handwriting is a lovely looping cursive and he's surprised with how much is written not a bit of the ink is smudged. The paper has a delicate, gold-trimmed border around it's edges and there's a fragrance wafting towards him as he holds it in his hands. It's like the heavy aroma of a greenhouse on a hot summer day- like wet soil and greenery and the sweet scent of newly bloomed flowers.
"Um... what-"
"That's the report on the changing of seasons Mother Nature sent you. She sends one to every Legendary Figure. Make sure you read it before the next Council meeting. She gets pretty upset if the other members don't at least browse her reports."
"Right... so this is for Spring, I'm guessing?"
"Spring and Autumn. Hemispheres, remember? The equinox was on the twentieth of last month so she's been pretty busy the past week and a half. It's a pretty interesting read."
"You already read this?"
"No, no, Mother Nature always sends an abridged version to the Heads of the magical creatures. My copy was only four pages."
"Can I read yours instead?"
"Nope." Bernard says simply, popping the p on the word with his lips.
Scott grumbles as he pushes the folder to the side. "Is that all you needed to talk to me about?"
"No. Easter Bunny sent this message this morning." The Head Elf reaches down towards his bag again, pulling out a pastel blue envelope. He hands it to Scott. "He says a bunch of his kids are sick and his wife has got her hands full taking care of them and he doesn't want to bother her with a meeting at his den. He wants to know if he can have the Easter meeting up at the North Pole this year."
"When was the meeting supposed to be again?"
Bernard sighs. "I told you a week ago, Santa."
"I might have... not been listening." Actually, if he remembers correctly, he'd started out listening to Bernard that day. The Elf had brought him dinner up to his room. He vaguely remembers the boy mentioning Easter, but then the magical puppets had started screaming about a spider in their booth and by the time Scott realized they were just pretending, Bernard had finished speaking.
The look the elf gives him makes him slink back in his chair. "The meeting is on Thursday. So, can he have it here or not?"
"Yea, yea, it's fine with me. Should we have it in the kitchens like the last one we had here?"
"That's what I'd recommend. Unless you want to have it here in the office? The Easter meeting can sometimes take a long time though. Easter Bunny isn't just in charge of Easter, he's also the Legendary Figure responsible for the other ways people celebrate the equinox, so he's going to have to report how all that went as well."
"Let's do it in the kitchens. I'm sure Judy will want to make lunch for everyone so I'd rather she and the other elves didn't have to bring it all the way up here."
Lunch is over much quicker than Scott would have liked. He leaves his office feeling happily full, but a little anxious about all the reading he'll have to do before Thursday. He spends the rest of the day on the workshop floor, wandering around the different conveyor belts and tables, checking in with nearly every elf he sees. By the time it hits 7p.m and the first bells start to chime over the intercom system letting the elves know there's only thirty minutes left in the work day, Scott is exhausted. The boots he's wearing are pinching his toes and his lower back is starting to ache. He helps the elves on the Main Floor clean up their work areas and then once it's finally time to shut down for the day he calls goodnight to all his elves and then heads back upstairs. Scott makes a quick run to the kitchen to grab some cocoa and let Abby know where he'd like to eat his dinner, and then he pops by his office to grab the report from Mother Nature. He finally makes it back to his room and changes out of his boots into a pair of comfy slippers. Abby brings dinner up not too long after- a crisp garden salad, two large slices of perfectly toasted garlic bread, and a large saucy cheesy portion of lasagna with fresh brewed cocoa and a tall glass of ice cold milk to drink- and in between bites Scott gets started reading the report. Nearly seven pages in and he's barely made a dent in all the paperwork shoved into the folder. His eyes are beginning to droop though. At one point he'd nearly dropped his cocoa into his lap. Scott marks his place in the report and then sets it to the side on his bedside table. He quickly changes into his pajamas and crawls into bed.
He's out like a light and all too soon Bernard is banging on his bedroom door again, calling out a cheerful "Good morning, boss!" Scott grumbles as he gets up, watching with bleary eyes as the Head elf pokes his head in the door, asking if he's ready to hear his agenda for the day. This day goes much the same as yesterday had, and the next one after that as well. He meets with the Heads of the departments in the morning, has lunch in his office, and spends his afternoons helping the elves on the floor. He does have to radio for Curtis once because he couldn't find the storage closet with the spare paint one of the elves needed. Scott doesn't think he likes how he barely sees his Number one and Unofficial Number Two elves during the work day and he makes a mental note to talk about that with Bernard. Maybe it worked for other Santa's, but Scott thinks he'd like the three of them working a little closer together.
Thursday rolls around much quicker than expected. He walks into the kitchens with Bernard and Curtis at his heels. The delicious smell of fresh baked cookies mixes with the heavy aroma of something spicy roasting in one of the over-sized ovens. He's a little distracted by all the noise here. Cabinets are banging shut, pots are clanging, and every few moments someone shouts something across the room. Bernard steers him over to the long wooden table the kitchen elves are preparing for the meeting. Abby, Judy, and Quintin are standing around here, the former laying out cookies onto a red and green serving tray and the latter two chit-chatting. Or he thinks they're talking at first, but when he gets closer Scott hears Judy scolding the boy for inhaling his lunch so fast, he nearly choked.
"Whatcha got there?" Curtis asks Abby when they reach the others. Scott snorts when Quintin ducks behind Bernard to put some space between him and Judy.
"Thumbprint cookies."
"Oh, those are my favorite!" Curtis reaches over and snags one of the jam-topped cookies. He doesn't get far with it though. Abby immediately smacks his hand with the spatula she'd been using to take the sweets off their baking tray, making him drop the cookie. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"Did I say you could have one? These are for the meeting!"
Curtis glares at her, rubbing the back of his hand where a red mark has appeared. "Bernard! Abby smacked me!"
"Wha- oh, you're such a tattletale sometimes! What are you, three hundred years old?" Abby mocks.
"You're the one acting like a little one! What's it matter if I take one cookie?"
"They're not for you! And I know you, you say you're gonna take one and then next thing I know I've got ten cookies missing and we don't have enough for the meeting!"
"I don't do that!"
"Yes, you do!"
Curtis sticks his tongue out at the girl and then tries to quickly snatch one of the cookies. Abby wacks him in the hand with the spatula again. "Ouch! Bernard, she-"
"Bernard, he-"
"Both of you knock it off!" Bernard roars, rounding on the two at the table. They both duck their heads, muttering apologies. He looks like he might yell again, but a girl in a messy kitchen uniform grabs him by the sleeve and pulls him to the side, saving the other two from their Head Elf's temper.
Scott tries to hide his laughter behind a cough. Quintin is snickering beside him. He nudges the boy in the shoulder. "Want to tell me how you guys aren't kids again?"
"Har har, Santa," Quintin says, sticking his tongue out at his boss.
"Of course we aren't," Judy laughs. "It's just sometimes our more... playful sides come through. Happens with all the fae."
"Especially with elves who were little ones together. Like Curtis ad Abby."
"You know, I've heard you guys say 'little ones' before. What's that mean exactly?"
"Those are the really young elves," Judy explains. "It's what we call any elf under four hundred years old. Though Bernard slips up sometimes and calls the older ones that too. But that's because we've all been little ones with him, so you can't really blame him."
"I hate when he does that." Quintin complains. "It's embarrassing."
"Oh, you know he doesn't do it on purpose." Judy reaches over and flicks Quintin's nose.
"Hey!"
"Don't you two start," Scott laughs. "Does anything still need to be set up, Judy? I think the Council will be here soon."
Scott helps the elves put the last few touches on the meeting space. He's just set out the last nameplate when the doors to the kitchens open wide and the other Legendary Figures start filing in. Scott vaguely notices that the man called Jack Frost does not enter, and then he remembers what Bernard had said about him not showing up for meetings. He briefly considers handing the man's nameplate back to one of the elves helping him set up, but then decides to leave it, in case he shows up late. Once they're all seated and the other elves leave them be, they get started. Easter Bunny is looking a little put out. His fur is sticking up at odd angles around his head and his bow is on crooked, but he manages to give Scott a big grateful smile.
The meeting lasts a long time. Easter Bunny goes over not only how things look for Easter- how many eggs he has painted and all the different places he plans on hiding them so the children of the world can go hunting for them- but also how everything went for those who celebrated the Spring Equinox. It seems like most people really enjoyed their celebrations, which means good things for the Legendary Figure's magic. Which, Scott learns from the notes Easter Bunny passed out at the start of the meeting, is called Spring Magic. (Tooth very helpfully explains that this is not what Mother Nature uses to bring Spring to the world, that is done with Seedtime magic.) By the time they're through, it's nearing three o'clock. Scott radios Bernard to ask how things are going on the Main Floor, heading that way himself once he's sure the kitchen elves don't need his help cleaning up. He spends the rest of the day helping out elves as much as possible, and then once the workday is over he heads straight back up to his room just like the two days before, feeling absolutely exhausted.
A week goes by of this same routine: wake up, meet the department Heads, lunch, and then roaming the Main Floor. Scott thinks he's getting the hang of it, but sometimes a problem will come out of nowhere that'll throw him for a loop. One of the elves on the Main Floor,— Joey, a tall brunet boy who Scott sees working several different stations with ease— pulls him to the side one day and tells him that the machine to make the tinsel is jammed. When he goes to help the boy out, he opens the hatch on the machine and finds a knot bigger than his head. He and Joey spend a good hour untangling the silver strands. And while he was glad to help out, afterwards he does feel like he's behind and that he should have found a way to fix the problem much quicker.
Charlie calls the North Pole at the end of the week to ask if he can spend a few days with his dad during spring break. Scott can't help the pleased smile that stretches across his face when he hears this. He knows Charlie has always loved him, but he'd be lying if he said his son enjoyed spending time with him before. Scott remembers how Charlie used to always ask Laura to pick him up from his dad's as early as possible, and how sometimes he'd even ask if he had to stay. Scott knows it's his own fault Charlie felt this way before. He never went out of his way to make things fun for Charlie, or do things he liked. And honestly, he always spent a lot of their time together complaining about Laura or Neil to the boy, which is something he realizes now should have never happened. It wasn't right to put Charlie in the middle like that. Scott really wants to make up for it now, to show his son that they can have fun together. He does wonder how he's going to do that with the Workshop running at full capacity again though.
About two days before Charlie's break starts, Scott asks Bernard if they can have a meeting during lunch up in his office. The Head Elf spends a good ten minutes lecturing him about actually taking his breaks, but he agrees to come eventually. Scott asks Abby to bring them up some lunch— sandwiches, fruit, and Judy's homemade potato chips— and he and Bernard dig in, chitchatting about anything the other might have missed that's been happening in the workshop.
"Hey, that reminds me. Can I... make a suggestion?"
"Sure, boss. What's up?"
"I don't know if it'll really work, maybe other Santas have tried it or maybe you prefer it the other way, but I was thinking about maybe you, me, and Curtis working a little closer together?"
Bernard sets the mug of cocoa he'd been about to drink from back onto the desk, his head tilting to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Well it doesn't have to be all the time, but maybe instead of just one of us on the Main Floor at a time, all three of us— or at least two of us— can be there? I think if there's ever a problem it'll be a lot easier to solve it if we can talk to each other face to face instead of having to try and radio each other. I mean, the radios are great, but sometimes it takes a while to get an answer. I know you've got your own stuff you have to do each day but maybe the three of us can trade off on working together on the Main Floor?"
"Hmm..." Bernard hums, finally taking a long sip of his drink.
"What? Have you already tried it before? Is it a terrible idea or something?"
Bernard laughs, waving his hand as if to wave away Scott's concerns. "No, no, I don't think it's a bad idea, and no, no Santa has ever tried it before. I was just going over in my head how it might work. I think it's a pretty good idea. You know we have that little 'complaint box' thing the elves use to let me know if something was missed the day before, but it might be better if there was more than just one person on the Main Floor. That way so much stuff doesn't end up getting missed. And it'll give Curtis more responsibility too. He can be helping you out while I take care of the stuff on my list in the afternoon instead of him just being attached to my hip."
Scott snorts at the elf's huffy tone when he mentions the younger boy, but covers it quickly with a cough. He smiles. "Well good, I'm glad you agree."
"Is that all you wanted to talk about?
"No, there was something else." Scott watches the elf pick up and start wolfing down his third sandwich. Bernard is pretty thin, so Scott can't help but wonder where the boy puts it all. "Charlie called and said he wants to spend some of his spring break up here. I know we've just started running full time again, but it's alright if he comes, right?"
"Of course. You're the one in charge here. You don't have to ask my permission. Why don't you let Judy know so she and the other kitchen elves can whip up something special for you guys." Bernard says before taking another huge bite.
"They don't have to do all that. I can make something for Charlie and me."
Bernard gives him a look like he doesn't know whether to laugh or scoff and then says around his mouthful of food, "Did'n you almos' burn down your kitch'n two Chri'mases ago?"
"No. It was the oven! And don't talk with your mouth full, it's rude."
Bernard holds up his hands in mock surrender, but Scott can still see the amusement dancing in his bright brown eyes. He washes down his food with a big gulp of cocoa and asks "need me to go pick Charlie up from the Miller's?"
"If you don't mind? I'd really appreciate it."
"Not a problem. I'd be happy to."
Bernard pops down to grab Charlie a couple days later. Scott tries to plan things they can do together. He takes him on a tour of Elfsburg, they have lunch at the little cafe right off the town square, they go ice skating and ride the carousel, and they even go down to the stables so Charlie can practice riding Comet all on his own. It's a pretty fun week, except...
Scott is stretched thin going back and forth between entertaining Charlie and running the workshop. Bernard offers to take over for the week so he can spend more time with his son, but Scott tells him no. He just got off vacation and the workshop just got back to running at full capacity. He feels guilty even thinking about slacking off on his job already. But, he also feels guilty every time he has to leave Charlie on his own to go meet with a department Head or see to something on the Main floor. Charlie tells him he's fine, that he's had fun getting to hang out with the elves. But every time he sees his son's smile dip down a little, he can't help feeling like he's falling back into the same habits he had before he put on the coat. He doesn't want to be the person who would lie about being stuck in traffic to go to a business meeting or a company party, or someone who would skip his child's soccer game to meet with potential clients. Even before he became Santa, that's not who he wanted to be. But before he knew it he was staying late whenever his boss asked him, forgetting to pick up charlie from Laura's because a meeting ran long, and sometimes missing important days with his son because he'd been asked to come in on a day off and no matter how much he tried to convince himself to, he just couldn't say no.
The guilty feeling stays with him all week, and even into the next when he takes Charlie home with the smaller sleigh, using Prancer and Vixen to pull them since he felt bad about almost always going with Comet. When they get to the Miller's, they all eat an early lunch- grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup- and then Scott rides with them into the city so they can go to their family counseling appointment. Today Dr. Sanchez has them doing something called the "Colored Candy Go Around." She pulls out a big bag of M&M's and gives a handful to everyone. Then- after Laura snaps at Scott not to eat them when he immediately goes to shove some of the candy into his mouth- Dr. Sanchez explains what exactly they'll be doing.
She tells them to separate the M&M's by color. Each color candy has a different meaning; red for things that are worrying them, blue for fun things they can do as a family, green for ways they describe their family, orange for improvements they can make as a person, yellow for their favorite moments together, and dark brown for goals they have for the family. She says that they'll go around the room and each person will eat one candy at a time, but depending on the candy you choose you must describe a moment or feeling you have that corresponds with that color candy. Scott looks at his. He has two blues, a yellow, two browns, and three oranges. He frowns at the last three and wonders vaguely if he can make up a lie about not liking those to get out of that part of the game.
Neil, in that annoyingly perceptive way of his, leans over to look at Scott's pile of candy on the table. He grins at him. "Hey look at that! Aren't orange your favorite? You're lucky to get so many of those."
"I sure am," Scott says through gritted teeth. He wonders if it's against the rules of family counseling to smack Neil in the back of the head.
"Who'd like to start us off? Charlie? How about you?" Dr. Sanchez says. She glances at Scott. He wonders if she could sense his growing irritation at the other man and had gotten things started to avoid a confrontation.
"Um, okay." the young boy mumbles. He stares hard at his candy for a solid minute before finally choosing a yellow one.
"Great choice," the counselor smiles kindly. "Now, that ones means you have to tell us about one of your favorite moments with your family."
"Uh... I guess one of my favorite would be when we went to the aquarium together."
"And why is that a favorite memory?"
"Because it was a lot of fun. We got to look at all the different fish and we saw a huge shark. His mouth was bigger than my dad's head! And then when we were leaving Dad tried throwing a snowball at Mom but he missed and hit this other lady in the head. She got mad and kicked Dad's shin!"
Charlie busted out laughing when he said this. Laura hid her face in Neil's shoulder, but it was obvious from her shaking that she was laughing too.. Scott, on the other hand, knew he was pouting. That kick really hurt.
Dr. Sanchez cleared her throat, but it seemed to him that her lips were twitching. "Well, that certainly sounds like it was an... exciting day. Thank you for sharing Charlie. Dr. Miller, why don't you go next?"
They all take turns going through their candies. Scott goes last every round, always skipping over his orange pieces. That plan does end up backfiring though when his last three turns he has to name an improvement he can make. Dr. Sanchez tells him to really look inside himself when he thinks of these, and because he is still trying to keep his promise about actually trying the counseling, he does as he is told. He says he can work on not being so dismissive about things Laura and Neil tell him about, and he can work on not starting arguments with them so often, but he really can't think of a third thing. Not that he doesn't think he has other flaws, but he doesn't really know if there are any that affect their family.
"You really can't think of anything, Scott?" Dr. Sanchez asks him.
"No..."
She considers him, tapping her pen against her chin. "Alright... let's think back to what we discussed last month. You said you were on vacation while you settled up in Canada, right? That you got a couple months off since you were their new CEO and you were moving from so far away?"
"Yea, but I'm not anymore."
"Right. How has that affected how you're managing things. I'm sure it's a big difference being so far away from your son. Is it harder to make time for things for him? Like phone calls to see how he's doing?"
Scott pauses. Now that he thinks about it, the only time he spoke to Charlie before he came up to see him was when the boy called up to ask him about Spring break. But that shouldn't be an issue. He spent the last week with Charlie. "I guess so. I mean, I'm really busy at work now that I'm back, so I never really get the chance to call."
"Not once?"
"No. But Charlie just spent all of last week with me. So, we've had time together."
"How much of that did you spend working?"
"Well... most of it. I mean, I work from 6a.m until after seven every day, except Sundays. But we still did stuff together in the evenings."
"You couldn't get any of that time off? Even one extra day?"
"No... well, maybe. My Hea- uh, e-executive vice president at my toy company offered to cover for me. But I just got back from vacation. It wouldn't be fair for me to take more time off again."
She considers him again, her pen tap, tap, tapping against her face as she mulls over her words. Finally, Dr. Sanchez takes a moment to scribble something in her notebook, before setting her pen and book to the side on the table next to her chair. "I want to make a suggestion for the last improvement you can make, Scott. I think you have a problem balancing life and work. I feel that both are equally important to you, but you don't know how to give equal attention to both parts. Either you focus completely on what's going on in your life and your work suffers, or you give everything to your job and not enough to your family. You put all your eggs in one basket, you could say. I think what you really need to focus on is how you can make time for both of these things. Life's about balances, and taking time for all the things you find important. In the time between our next appointment, I want you to think of ways you can do this. How can you be happy and productive at work and be there for your family?"
The appointment is over soon after that. Scott is still in a bit of a sour mood as they leave. Does he still have that big of an issue with making time for Charlie? He thinks he's a lot better than he was before. He and Charlie still did stuff together last week. And he didn't lie to his son whenever he had to go back to the workshop. What else could he do to make things better?
"Don't look so angry, Scott. Dr. Sanchez was just trying to be helpful." Laura says as they reach the car.
Scott steps to the side so Charlie can slide into the back seat first. "Do you think I have a problem making time for Charlie?"
"Honestly? Yea, sometimes you do. You always have. But she's right when she says it's always one or the other with you. Remember the last couple months before our wedding? You took off so much time because you were insisting on helping with the final plans that you almost got fired. You've just got to learn how to make time for both."
"Laura's right, Scott," Neil says, holding the driver's side door open for his wife. "You just have to figure out how to balance things more."
"I am trying, you know."
"We do know. And Neil and I think you are doing a wonderful job. Just keep at it, and I have faith you'll figure things out."
Scott heads back up to the North Pole the next morning and spends the next few days buried in work. It seems like everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. One day, a conveyor belt breaks down, an elf on the Main Floor accidentally spills red paint all over a cart full of unwrapped toys, and one of the baby reindeer- a sweet, rambunctious girl named Olive- gets away while her pen is being cleaned. And what drives Scott crazy is that all of this happens right at the start of the day. It isn't even ten o'clock yet. Once he's done helping the stable elves track down the reindeer, he hides himself in his office to take a much-needed breath.
There's a knock on the door. Scott grunts, suddenly not having the energy to even call for the person to come in. Bernard peeks his head in the door. He's staring at Scott in concern, worrying his bottom lip, but he doesn't say anything. Scott sits up a little straighter to give the boy his full attention. Bernard takes this as permission to fully enter the room.
"Something up, Bernard?"
The boy shakes his head. "Not right now, no. I just... wanted to check on you. You seem to be having a pretty rough morning."
"No kidding," Scott snorts. He rubs his tired eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm fine, buddy. It's just been a hectic day so far, is all."
"The day's just started, boss," Bernard jokes weakly.
Scott sighs, not having the energy to really respond. There's an awkward pause. Bernard shifts back and forth on his feet like he isn't quite sure what to say either. Scott asks, "How come- never mind."
"What?"
"How come... it didn't feel like this back in November."
"Feel like what?"
"Exhausting. I've never felt so worn out in my life. It was still hard work back when I first got here, but not like this. I feel like I can't keep up with what needs to be done."
Bernard scuffs his foot against the tile floor,head tilted down to avoid Scott's eyes. "Because I was handling anything that went wrong. Or I sent Curtis to deal with it."
"Why?"
"I just didn't want to overwhelm you. You didn't really have an easy time transitioning into the big guy, so I thought it'd be better if I took care of that stuff. Ease you in, you know? I've let Santa's take care of all the nonsense from day one before and..."
Scott stares at the boy's face, which suddenly looks much more like a troubled teenager than the millenniums old creature that he is. "Are those the ones that quit on you?"
"I don't know, I don't remember. But if they were, I didn't want that to happen with you. You seemed like a really good guy for the job."
"Thanks," Scott mumbles with a smile. He pats the side of the desk in front of an empty chair. Bernard walks over and sits. "I appreciate you doing that, Bernard, but I do wish you'd told me. I was starting to think last Christmas was just a fluke and that I actually suck at this job."
"What? Of course you don't! You're doing great! And I kind of tried to tell you before. I told you to relax while you had the chance."
"Yea, but I thought it was because you didn't want me walking around here bothering you." Scott jokes. "Guess I should have taken you seriously, though. I'm overwhelmed."
Bernard fiddles with the string of ornaments around his neck. "Sorry. I guess I should have prepared you more. But if it helps any, you're doing a lot better than a lot of the Santa's we've had. I found one packing his bag up in his room his second month running the workshop full time. Took a lot of convincing to get him to calm down and come back to work."
"You're kidding. Was he one of the ones who used the Escape Clause?"
"No, 'cause I can remember him. He lasted about two and a half decades before he got tired of it and Nature chose someone else."
"Really? So it isn't always Santa falling off a roof?"
"I mean, yea sometimes. The magic comes from a human putting on the coat when the wearer can't use it any more. There's been a few times where that's happened because of an accident, though I've been told by Mother Nature that the coat will leave that Santa with enough magic to make sure they're okay. But normally Nature just senses that's it's time to move on and find someone new. Then, Santa drops the coat off where the new guy can find it and he leaves. Either to go be fully human again or go whereever it is Legendary Figures go after they retire. I'm not sure where that is."
"Fully human again?"
"Yea, like not connected to the supernatural in any way, and without magic."
"Oh, right, Tooth Fairy mentioned that to me before." Scott pauses and considers the boy sitting in front of him. "So, you really think I'm doing an okay job?"
Bernard nods, a small smile lighting up his face. "Definitely. And I know it seems pretty crazy now, but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it soon."
Scott thinks about what Dr. Sanchez and Laura and Neil said to him about not being able to balance things in his life. He wonders if it'll be easier for him to do so once he figures things out here. He hopes so. He really likes being Santa, but he also wants to be there for Charlie. He supposes he'll have to just give it a try and see what happens.
"I hope so, buddy. I really do."