Hi there! I hope everyone who celebrated holidays this month had a wonderful time! I'm glad to hear from some of you that you're safe and well, and if I haven't heard from you, then I hope you're safe and happy right now! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed or even just read this story. I really appreciate you guys! This chapter isn't quite as long as the last one, but I hope you enjoy it. I'll go ahead and give a little warning here; there are some mentions of bullying and I think Scott says like one curse word in this chapter? He's not cussing anyone out, but I know not everyone likes it when people swear so I thought I'd give you guys a heads up. If you want to, let me know what you think! If not, just sit back, relax, and enjoy the next chapter of our story! :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Santa Clause series.

6. May '96

"So, like I told Loretta, you just can't please some people. Though why anyone thought they were going to find a Greek Revival style home in Lakeside in that price range is beyond me." Louie's voice sounded a little tinny over the phone in Scott's office, and there was an annoying sound of crackling on the line, but Scott could still hear the absolute exasperation in the older man's voice.

He gave a sympathetic chuckle. "Some people. I swear, they think all you have to do is wave a magic wand and the perfect house just appears."

"If it was only that easy!" Louie laughed. There was another crackle, a little louder this time. Scott held the phone farther away from his ear, wincing. "But speaking of making someone's wishes come true, I might have a buyer interested in your townhouse."

"Really? That's great!"

"Well, don't get too excited yet, we don't want to count our chickens before our eggs hatch. They're an out-of-town couple- from Saint Louis, I think it was- and they're looking for a sort of starter home. I believe the husband said he used to spend summers in Lakeside with his grandmother when he was a kid, and he always wanted to move back here one day. Your townhouse is right in their price range, but they obviously want to see the place in person first before they make an offer."

"Well, that makes sense."

"Yep, but they won't be able to come look until around the first of next month. Which I know isn't ideal, Scott, but we haven't really had many other takers so far-"

"Louie, Louie, it's fine. I know you said it might take a while. I don't mind waiting."

"Good! I'll let you know what they say when they do come down. I've got a good feeling about them!"

Scott can't help but chuckle at the older man's enthusiasm. "Well, you've never been wrong before-"

The door to the office bursts open, slamming into the wall and making the knickknacks on the shelf shake dangerously towards the edge. Curtis enters; glasses askew, his hair sticking up at odd angles like he's been running his hands through it, and his eyes blown wide like he's just been told they have to cancel Christmas. He's fiddling with the reindeer buttons on his shirt and bouncing on his feet like he doesn't want to be standing still. "S-sir-"

Scott covers the bottom end of the phone so Louie can't hear him. "Curtis! What the hell-"

"You have to come with me right now! It's an emergency!"

"Wha-" He holds the phone back up to his ear, ignoring the loud crackle of static. "Louie, I'm so sorry, but one of my... assistants just came in and he says he needs me right away. Can I call you back later?"

"Of course, Scott! We'll talk business later."

"Thanks, Louie. Bye."

He hangs up the phone and gets to his feet, opening his mouth to ask Curtis what is going on. The boy doesn't give him the chance to though. He only takes a second to shout "come on!" at Scott, and then he races from the room. Scott follows after him as quickly as possible, heart thumping a little in panic at the thought of what could be making the elf act like this. He follows Curtis down the stairs onto the Main Floor and through the large double doors of Research and Development. One of the elves here shuts the doors behind them, cutting off all the noise from the other room. Scott spots Bernard sitting by Quintin at the large radio system. Quintin has a headset on and he's messing with the switches and knobs.

"I got Santa," Curtis says as he walks towards the Head Elf. Bernard looks up at him.

"Jeez, Curtis, you weren't even gone two minutes. I told you not to panic."

"But this is serious!"

"It's nothing we haven't dealt with before." He motions for Curtis to sit in the empty seat beside him and then waves Scott over. "Sorry for the interruption, Santa, but we've got a bit of a problem."

"What's going on? Curtis didn't say."

Bernard gives the younger elf an exasperated look. "Curtis! I gave you one job."

"You told me to get Santa!"

"I asked you to get him and fill him in on the situation."

"Well, I panicked! We're in the middle of a crisis-"

"Oh, for the love of sugar plums, this isn't a crisis! Stop worrying so much."

"Maybe you need to worry more!"

"Curtis-"

"Is now really the time for this!" Quintin shouts over their arguing.

Bernard rubs at his ear, an annoyed frown on his face. "Don't yell in my ear."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on." Scott interrupts.

"Oh right. Sorry, Santa." the Head Elf says, looking down at a manila folder in his lap. "One of our field elves missed their check-in this morning."

Scott blinks. "Uh, Bernard? I think I'm with Curtis on this one. That seems like a big deal."

"Told you-"

"Hush!" Bernard looks up at Scott. "It's not, really. If it was my magic would tell me. This kind of thing happens from time to time. It's nothing we haven't handled before. Some Santas wouldn't even bother with it when it did happen, but I figured you'd want to know."

"They didn't- ugh, forget that. I'll process it later. How exactly are you going to 'handle' this? Do we need to head down and start looking for them?"

"No, I can look from up here. I'm just waiting on Quintin to finish trying their back up radio. It's nine at night in that part of New Zealand, so Devon might already be asleep. He did always like to go to bed early."

They wait, the tension in the air making Scott's nerves rattle inside him like change in a piggy bank. Curtis bounces his foot against the leg of Bernard's chair, all the while chewing on his nails. Surprisingly, the Head Elf allows the chair-kicking, but he does absentmindedly pull the boy's hand away from his mouth, in a much gentler way than Scott's ever seen him be with the younger elf. Quintin gives the missing elf a few more calls, but they all remain unanswered.

"What do we do now?" Scott asks.

"Bernard's going to look for him," answers Curtis.

Bernard twists a little in his seat so he can look up at his boss again. "Alright, listen up, Santa. The magic I'm going to use to find Devon... Well, sometimes it leaves me acting a little strange. But the effects don't last long, so don't get worried. I'll be back to normal once I free myself from it."

Scott nods, but the Head Elf's words don't really reassure him. If anything, he's even more nervous. He just doesn't like the way Bernard said he had to "free himself" from whatever magic he was about to use. It just makes it sound like the magic might be dangerous. Bernard hands Curtis the folder and then sits back in the chair, folding his hands in his lap and leaning his head back. He's staring up towards the ceiling, his breathing even. There's another tense pause. Scott's waiting for something to happen- a flash of light, or even the shower of sparkles that always appears whenever the elf teleports- but nothing happens. At least, he thinks nothing has happened, until he notices that Bernard's normally bright brown eyes are clouded with a strange faraway look. He waves his hand in front of the boy's face, but he doesn't even blink.

Nearly an hour goes by before Bernard groans, the heel of one hand rubbing at his right eye while he shakes his head. Scott had dragged the chair from Quintin's desk over to the radio after about fifteen minutes of waiting and was currently busying himself with trying to lean it back on two legs. He lets it fall forward, a loud smack ringing through the air as he lands, and asks, "so what just happened? Did you find him?"

"That took a long time! Is everything okay?" Curtis says, leaning so he can look in Bernard's eyes.

"Yea... He's... um." Bernard's voice sounds off. Like he's in some sort of dreamy trance. Scott gently shakes the boy's shoulder, trying to rouse him from this odd state his magic has left him in. The Head Elf rubs at his eyes again, mumbling some slurred words under his breath.

"Bernard?"

"M'fine, boss," the elf finally answers, "and so is Devon."

"You found him?" Quintin asks.

"Yea, he's at some older woman's house... and I think there was a police officer there. It just looked like they were sitting at her kitchen table."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know? Maybe the lady noticed him walking around alone at night and thought he was a kid so she got worried and invited him in until the police officer could find his parents."

Scott frowns. "I thought you said you guys can use your magic to make sure adults don't notice you?"

"We can." Bernard unclips his radio from his belt. "But there's always the rare chance they're someone who can see through our magic. Some humans are more... in tune with the supernatural. Most humans aren't, nowadays, but every once in a while we'll run into one. And even if that is what happened, she still couldn't tell he was an elf. Like I said, she probably thought he was just some lost kid."

"Well what are we supposed to do now?"

"I'm sending ELFS to go grab him." Bernard presses down on one of the buttons, calling Josiah's name into the speaker of the radio. The boy's voice answers them a moment later, a little tinny sounding and with something like the banging of a hammer in the background. He tells them a team is deploying right away and that they'll radio Bernard as soon as they get Devon. Bernard sends the other Research and Development elves to the workshop floor, telling them to go help out there for the day. He explains to Scott that he likes to stay here in the department until he's sure they've gotten the missing elf, so it's better if the other elves just go and help out on the Main Floor so they don't have to try and work around everyone at the radio. He also says that Scott could leave if he wanted to- he promises to let him know once they hear from ELFS- but he refuses the elf's offer. There's no way he's leaving until he's sure Devon is safe.

Three more hours pass by. Curtis has to leave at one point when Herennia calls saying the ladder is jammed in Wrapping and she can't get hold of anyone in maintenance to fix it. The boy comes back almost thirty minutes later, a tray of sandwiches and cocoa in hand. He sets it down on the table beside the radio and then starts passing out the food and drinks, simply saying "from Judy" at Bernard's questioning look.

At the four hour mark, Scott's nerves are about done for. Even Quintin has taken to pacing around the room, chewing on the end of his pen as he stares at the radio in Bernard's hand. He mumbles, "it shouldn't be taking this long."

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything is fine. It might just be taking them a while to get him away from the house." Bernard says, eyes not leaving the device he's holding.

"Four hours though?"

"I don't know," Scott sighs, "I agree with Quintin. It's been a really long time since we've heard anything,"

As if that was their cue, the radio suddenly roared to life, a girl's voice echoing over the line. Bernard nearly drops it in surprise. He scrambles to press the button on the front that will let them speak to each other freely. "Sorry! What was that, Nora?"

"I said we've got Devon. We would have had him sooner, but someone was having too much fun stuffing his face!"

There's a moment of quiet grumbling. It almost sounds like someone is wrestling for the radio on the other side. Scott and the others all share a confused look. Then, the air echoes with static as a boy starts speaking to them. "It's not my fault, Bernard! The lady who thought I was lost was really nice and she gave me a bunch of cookies and stuff so I wouldn't be scared. I couldn't say no. That would have been rude."

"Devon," Bernard sighs, rolling his eyes. "Well, I'm glad you're safe. Nora, let me know when the flight squad's on the way home."

"Oh, wait!" Devon calls, a little too loudly. His voice crackles over the line, making them all wince. "I don't want the lady to worry about me disappearing suddenly. She mentioned some vase she broke today that her late husband had given her for their anniversary years ago. Can I have permission to fix it for her before I leave? Maybe it'll make her feel better about me being gone if she thinks I wasn't just some lost little kid wandering alone at night."

"Why'd she tell you about some broken vase?" Curtis asks.

Devon laughs. "She was almost as chatty as I am! It was great."

"I don't know, Devon..." Bernard hesitates. "I don't know how comfortable I am with you doing that. It's kind of like revealing magic to her."

"Please? She was really nice to me, and I think it'd make her feel better to have that back. I promise not to let her see me do it!"

"Um... alright, fine. But be quick about it! I think Nora's mad enough already. Don't tick her off anymore."

Bernard presses the button so they can no longer hear what's happening on the other side. Scott stands up, stretching his arms over his head. He asks, "so what happens next? Does Nora bring Devon back home to the pole?"

"Nah. She'll just go ahead and take him to his next scouting location."

"You don't want him to come back so you can ask what happened?"

"I already know what happened." Bernard shrugs, picking up the chair Scott had been using and putting it back at Quintin's desk. "She thought he was a lost kid."

"But it took you a really long time to find him," Scott argues.

"That's because that lady had one of those fancy-looking wrought iron fences around her yard. It's hard for my magic to see through those things."

"Still, I think it would be better if we heard exactly what happened from Devon."

"Why?"

"Because, we can be better prepared for next time. Or we can let the other field elves know what to look out for so they don't accidentally get spotted too. If you just send him to his next location without seeing what went wrong then the same thing could happen again."

Bernard stares at him, an impressed and almost surprised look on his face. "Huh... alright then. I'll tell Nora to bring him back. Quintin can talk to him and then make a report for you on what Devon said."

Scott smiles his thanks and then heads out to go see how everything is on the workshop floor, a little pleased that Bernard had seemed to like his suggestion. He was still pretty new to the whole "being Santa" thing, even though it was now his seventh month of living at the pole, so he was glad he was able to come up with something that might help the elves in the future. It made him feel like he was doing a good job.

The next two weeks fly by in a blur. He and Quintin go over the report he'd made from talking with Devon, he almost forgets to call Louie back to talk about the couple interested in his townhouse, and every afternoon he spends with either Curtis or Bernard down on the workshop floor, helping the elves with the toys. One day, he goes up to his office to catch his breath and relax for a moment when the phone rings. He stares at it in surprise, because the only people who call this line at ten-thirty in the morning only do so on the weekends. Scott picks up, expecting to hear Charlie's or Laura's voice.

"Hello?" he asks.

"Scott? Hey, it's Neil."

"Uh... hi, Neil. What's up?"

"Well, nothing good, I'm afraid. Laura just called my office here and said that we all have to go talk to Charlie's principal this afternoon. Something about a fight? I'm not sure exactly, Laura was rambling. You know how she gets when she's really upset about something. All I know is she asked me to call you and see if there's any way you can be at our house a quarter to three? The principal wants all of us there."

"A fight? I-is Charlie okay?"

"He's fine, I promise. The principal said the kids were separated before anyone got hurt. I don't know all the details. So, can you make it?"

"Yea, yea, I'll have someone get Comet ready and then I'll be on my way."

Scott hangs up the phone and then uses his radio to call down to the stables. The elf who answers promises to have the reindeer ready as soon as possible. Scott races to his room and throws an overnight bag together, just in case. Then, he radios Bernard and tells him he is leaving to go see Charlie and that he doesn't know when he'll be back.

He gets to the Miller's at around two-thirty in the afternoon. Laura and Neil are sitting out on the back porch talking when Comet lands in the yard. Scott heaves himself off the reindeer, and after giving his friend a grateful pat to the head, walks over to join them. They get to their feet as he approaches. Laura is worrying her bottom lip, staring into her empty coffee cup.

"Thanks for coming," Neil says.

"Of course. So, what happened exactly? Do we know any more?"

"All the principal would tell me was that Charlie got in a fight with that Bobby Lawson kid from his class during recess," Laura sighs.

"That mean kid who's always picking on the other students?"

"Well, we don't want to call him mean. I'm sure there's a reason for him acting out in an aggressive manner," Neil chides.

Scott rolls his eyes. "Thanks for the input, doc. Right now though, I'm more concerned with why him and Charlie are fighting."

"Well, the meeting's at three," Laura says, opening the sliding glass door. "Drop your bag off inside and we can head to the school."

Principal Moore and Mrs. Thompson- the guidance counselor- are sitting in a meeting room right off the main office when they arrive. The school receptionist ushers them into the room, closing the door behind them and cutting off the noise of excited children heading to their school buses. Both ladies look very troubled, though in different ways. Principal Moore's hair looks like she's been anxiously running her hands through it all day and she's clicking her pen over and over again in that same way Laura always did whenever she was particularly frustrated with Scott. Mrs. Thompson has her head leaned into one of her hands and she's staring up towards the ceiling, though her eyes look unfocused, like her mind is far away from this room. They take their seats at the other end of the long table and once she is sure they are settled, the principal starts speaking.

"I'm sorry to have to call you all in under these circumstances, but I take bullying and fighting very seriously at my school. And even though they are young children, both Mrs. Thompson and I agree that this kind of situation needs to be dealt with strictly, so it doesn't keep happening in the future."

"What situation are you talking about, exactly," Scott interrupts. "What happened between the kids?"

"I'm getting to that Mr. Calvin." Principal Moore says shortly. She fusses with some papers she has sitting in front of her on the table. "It seems that during recess, Charlie and Bobby got into an argument- about what neither one will say- but it eventually escalated to the boys pushing each other around and Bobby getting knocked into one of the slides. The nurse said he was fine, he'll probably just have a bruise, but it could have been a lot more serious. And since Charlie is the one that started the fight I thought-"

"Whoa, whoa! What do you mean Charlie started it?"

"Scott," Laura presses, trying to stop him before his temper gets the best of him. She clears her throat and says, a little more calmly than Scott had been. "Are you sure Charlie was the one to start all this Principal Moore? He's a very gentle boy. I've never known him to get into a fight with anyone before."

"Several other students around them say they saw Charlie push Bobby first."

"But-"

"It doesn't matter who pushed who first." Mrs. Thompson interrupts. Scott sees her frown at the principal. "Especially since we don't know why they were fighting in the first place. Both boys need to face consequences for being involved in the fight. Now, since this is Charlie's first time being in trouble like this, I've recommended to the principal that he be suspended for only two days."

"Suspended?" Scott scoffs. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No, I'm not."

Neil leans forward, hands folded in his lap and a frown on his face. "May I ask what consequences Bobby is receiving for this fight?"

"No-" The principal starts.

"Of course, Dr. Miller." Mrs. Thompson says over the principal. "Bobby will have the same two days of suspension. After all, it's only fair since we don't know what exactly caused the fight."

She looks over at Principal Moore again- who, by her expression, Scott guesses does not want to be punishing Bobby at all- and clears her throat. The other woman sighs and passes over paperwork for them to fill out about the suspension. Scott has a feeling Mrs. Thompson knows a lot more about the fight than she's letting on, but for the life of him he can't think of why she'd be keeping it all to herself. He wonders if one of the students told her something in confidence about what had happened between the boys? But she'd still have to tell them about it if that were the case, wouldn't she? Laura sighs as she starts reading over the paper. "I just don't agree that suspending them is the best solution. Shouldn't we sit them down and talk to them together? Maybe the boys would tell us what happened then."

"The principal and I agree that's a good idea, Mr. Lawson actually suggested that as well, and we'd love to arrange that meeting. But it will take place after the suspension."

"Yes, because fighting is not tolerated at my school." Principal Moore's face reminds Scott of spoiled milk. Her frown is as sour as vinegar, her nose and eyes scrunched up like she's just smelled something awful. He takes the paper when Neil hands it to him and skims what's written on it. He has a feeling he should be thankful Mrs. Thompson has always been a force to be reckoned with. Otherwise, he thinks this conversation would have gone a lot differently.

They pick Charlie up at the front office afterwards and then head home. The car ride is uncomfortably silent. Normally, Charlie would be ecstatic to see his dad and he'd try to cram as much conversation as possible in the ten minute drive between the house and the school. This time though, Charlie just stares out the window, holding tight to his backpack as he watches the scenery go by. When they get home, the boy unclips his seat belt and races towards the front door as fast as possible. Laura follows after him to unlock the door. As soon as its open, Charlie runs upstairs, his mom calling up after him to get started on his homework. Scott agrees to stay for dinner so they can all talk to Charlie about the incident together. He helps Laura clean up around the house and then he sets the table while she helps Neil finish dinner. They eat in silence for a few minutes, only the occasion compliment about the taste breaking the quiet. Finally, after sharing a look with both Neil and Laura, Scott clears his throat and sets his fork down. "Sport, there's something we need to talk to you about."

"'Kay," Charlie mumbles, not looking up from his plate.

"It's about the fight you got in to today, with Bobby."

Charlie doesn't say anything. He just pushes his peas around on his plate. Laura sets her silverware down as well and leans towards her son, trying to grab his attention. "We want to hear what happened from you, Charlie. Can you tell us please? Why were you and Bobby fighting?"

"Charlie," Scott says when the boy still won't answer. "This is serious. Talk to us, sport."

Finally, Charlie throww down his fork, some food being knocked off his plate as the utensil rattles against it. The boy's lips are quivering and Scott can see angry tears starting to well up in his eyes. "It's all Bobby's fault! I was playing by myself when he came over and started saying that you were a bad man. He said he heard his dad say you should be in jail. And then he started telling the other kids that you were bad and were going to get arrested. I told him to stop, but he wouldn't. So I pushed him and then he started pushing me back. I didn't mean to for him to hit the slide, but he wouldn't leave me alone!"

Scott feels his mouth drop open. He's completely at a loss for what to say. The fight was all his fault? His son is getting suspended all because of what people think of him now. Charlie hadn't said anything about anyone bothering him at school, so Scott had started to think they'd gotten lucky and that misunderstanding in November hadn't affected the boy at all. Apparently, he was wrong.

Neil reaches over to squeeze Charlie's shoulder. "I know it's hard to hear people say mean and hurtful things about the people we care about, but violence isn't the answer. When someone says something like that to you, hold your head up high and walk away. He wants to upset you and hurt you, so try your best not give him that satisfaction."

"And listen, Charlie. Even if Bobby and his Dad think your dad is a bad person, it doesn't matter. All that matters is what you think of him. Do you think he's a bad person?" Laura says, brushing her hands gently through her son's hair.

"Of course not! He's the best person ever. He's Santa Claus! But you guys said I couldn't tell anyone that, so I didn't. I just wanted Bobby to stop. And since I can't tell him your secret, Dad, I just... I did the first thing I could think of."

"Which was pushing him," Scott sighs. He rubs a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted. He looks over at the two other adults at the table. They look as tired as he is.

"You know what, Charlie," Laura starts, standing up from her seat, her half empty plate in her hands. "Let's finish this conversation tomorrow morning. Why don't you go ahead and go on up to your room. It's getting close to bedtime, anyway."

Charlie does as he's told, mumbling goodnight to everyone as he leaves. Scott picks up his and Charlie's plate as well and follows Laura to the kitchen, Neil right behind him. "I guess I'll head back to the pole. I can get Bernard to bring me back down in the morning."

"Oh, no, you don't have to do all that." Laura insists. "Stay in the guest room. You know you're always welcome to."

"I don't know—"

Neil gives him a hearty pat on the back. "Come on, Scott. Stay. There's no point in making Comet fly all the way back to the pole at night, right?"

"Oh, alright. Thanks."

He doesn't get back to the pole until late afternoon the next day. He, Laura, and Neil had spent most of the morning talking with Charlie about what went on with Bobby and ways the boy could ignore him so they didn't get into another fight. Charlie listened, and he promised to try, but other than that he didn't say much to them about it. Scott feels a heavy lump of guilt sitting in his stomach. His son had never been the best of friends with Bobby, but there's never been this kind of trouble before. He doesn't want things to be hard on Charlie just because of his mistakes, but he has no idea how to fix this. All he knows is that this is his fault.

The door to his office is already cracked, so he pushes it the rest of the way open and steps inside. Bernard is there, dumping an armful of blueprints onto the desk.

"Hey," Scott says.

Bernard jumps a little. He turns to face his boss, a small frown on his face. "Hey. I didn't think you'd be back already."

"Why not?"

"Well, it seemed like whatever you needed to go do was important, so I thought you'd be gone for a couple days at least." Bernard's head tilts to the side. He's staring at Scott with that expression he has that makes him feel like the elf is reading his mind. "Everything okay?"

"No," Scott answers truthfully. He dumps his bag into one of the oversized armchairs. He knows Bernard is waiting for him to elaborate, so he continues. "Charlie got in to a fight with another boy at school, so now they're both suspended for two days. I have to go back down when it's over so we can have another meeting with the principal."

"A fight? What on earth were they fighting about?"

"Me."

"What?"

Scott sighs and then lets himself fall into the other armchair. He rubs a hand through his hair and down his face. "Bobby- the kid Charlie was fighting with- starting telling everyone at recess that I'm a bad person who was going to get arrested and sent to jail. Charlie got upset and since he couldn't tell the truth about me, he decided to push Bobby and then the boys started fighting."

"Oh..."

"Ugh, this is all my fault." Scott groans.

"What? No it's-"

"Yes, it is. I'm the one who told Charlie he has to keep me being Santa a secret. Also, I'm the one that people think is this horrible, dangerous person who kidnapped his own son last year." He sees the elf open his mouth, most likely to argue and say Scott's wrong, so he holds up a hand to stop him. "Can I... can I get some time alone right now, Bernard? I just need some space to think."

Bernard stares at him. His face is strangely blank, like he's hiding his expressions from his boss. Scott frowns. He's never seen the elf look so closed off before. Finally, after a long enough pause to make the moment awkward, the Head Elf nods his head. He says quietly as he heads for the door, "Alright. I'll see you later then, boss."

The door shuts with a loud click. He briefly thinks about getting up and looking at what the elf had dropped off at his desk, but a moment later decides he's too tired to. Instead, Scott moves his gaze over to the fireplace and let's his mind wander down the guilty path it had been on before- the ticking of antique clocks and the crackling of burning logs the only thing to accompany him in the now oddly quiet, gloomy room.