Once Scott's retirement stuck, he was grateful to settle down in Florida with Carol and the kids. Chicago had been the wrong choice in the end, something they realized after saving Christmas yet again. Sticking close to Charlie, Marie, the boys, and the Millers was the best outcome of this whole scenario. "I may not be Santa any more but this heat is still not doing me any favors," Scott complained to Carol as they walked outside to join the others.
She snorted but Lucy beat her to the punch. "You still hate Florida, Uncle Scott?" she teased.
"Mostly but it has a lot of points in his favor, Luce," he shot back, glancing around at their family.
"We're perks!" Laura grinned at them before starting a conversation with Carol and Marie.
"We're going to the zoo!" Sandra informed Cal with a glare, disrupting the various conversations currently happening.
"Why can't we go to an amusement park first?"
"Stop whining!"
"Kids!" Carol warned.
"Ever think life would turn out this way?" a curious Neil questioned Scott after taking a sip of his ice tea.
"Not really. Never where I saw this going," Scott answered honestly. "And retirement was not part of my plans once I became Santa."
"I still can't believe you did retire. I thought you were going to Santa forever. Pretty much figured you were immortal." Lucy was honestly a bit sad that wasn't the case.
Scott turned to Marie. "How did you react when you found out the truth?" He desperately needed to know.
Marie laughed as she glanced over at Charlie. "I've known for years," she admitted.
"Wait, what?" A confused Scott also looked over at his eldest child.
Charlie only shrugged. "Don't look at me - it was her idea."
"What was her idea?" Carol questioned as she stood up so she could move over to Scott's side.
"I told her the truth after we got married - I didn't want to hide it from her." Charlie tried to squash the irrational guilt, knowing he'd have to live with it.
Marie sighed. "I decided trolling you was a lot more fun than admitting to knowing the truth. Still blows my mind that my father-in-law was Santa. The kids have always known, though. You'd be surprised how often we have to stop them from spilling the secret to lord over their friends."
Charlie stood up and beckoned Lucy, Cal, and Sandra over to him as Scott tried to process this new information. "Wow. Pretty evil of you, Marie, but good job."
"Thank you, Scott. But yeah, I didn't want Charlie to take over as Santa any more than I wanted him to take over your fake shrimp business."
"Fair."
"I thought so. Are we ordering pizza? Let's figure this out!" Marie encouraged.
"Why exactly are you hugging us?" Lucy asked Charlie, side-eying him as she tried to get out of his embrace.
"Because I want to spend some actual time with all three of my siblings - do you know how rare this was before Dad retired? It didn't happen very often, and I was tired of it." Charlie had spent years as an only child and it was still thrilling to him that he had come out of this with two sisters and a brother.
"Yes, this is very sweet and all but you're smothering me." Lucy smirked at him as she stepped back.
"I happen to think his hugs are very nice and warm. We should hug more often. Ooh, do you think we can go find a wild animal somewhere that I can watch movies with?" Sandra's one track mind had struck again.
Charlie couldn't help the bark of laughter that escaped. "Never change. I love you little weirdos."
"Hey!" Cal protested.
"He's right," Sandra admitted.
Scott teared up, marveling at the banter. "Look at them - all three of my kids together."
"Scott, you cry over this every time the three of them are together," Carol reminded him with a kiss.
"It's adorable." Laura whipped out her phone and snapped a quick picture of all three Calvin kids together before forcing Lucy into the shot so she could take another one. Then she called Charlie's sons, Peter and Asher, over for yet another picture.
"Laura, why don't we take a picture of the entire family?" Neil suggested.
"Sounds like a wonderful idea," Carol agreed. She kissed Scott and grabbed his hand as Charlie hunted down an actual camera to take a group photo with because they weren't all going to fit in the frame of a cell phone camera.
"Normal life is awesome!" Cal raved after Charlie ruffled his hair once the picture taking finished.
"All my kids are thriving. Cal and Sandra are the happiest they've been in a while." Scott couldn't believe it.
"Me too. How about you?" Carol pressed.
"I am very happy. Miss the job but the time was right to retire." And Sandra would be ready once she was finally old enough to take over - that had been a shock, and he was still kicking himself for not considering her in the first place. But she'd get a normal life before she grabbed the reins, and in the meantime, the new Santa was doing a great job.
As the night wore on, the group began to disperse and head back home, leaving the Calvins alone. Scott and Carol went to bed after helping the kids clean up, and she flipped around to face her husband. "I love you."
"I love you, too, Carol. Marrying you twenty seconds after I got to truly know you was one of the best decisions of my life," he joked. Then he sobered. "I knew you were it for me, my soulmate, almost immediately. Thank you for agreeing to marry me all those years ago."
"Don't make me cry. Damn iti, Scott. We've had a pretty good life, haven't we?" Living in the North Pole had gotten a little lonely sometimes, even with the elves, but she didn't regret it for a second.
"The best." He leaned over and kissed her, pulling back when there was a knock on the door and Sandra stepped in. "What's up, kiddo?"
"Can we get a dog?"
Scott and Carol glanced at each other and started shaking with laughter. "We'll consider it - we'll talk about it more in the morning," Carol told her.
Sandra's face lit up. "Thank you! I'll have a presentation ready for you when you wake up."
"I don't doubt it," Scott murmured as she quickly hugged both of them before fleeing back to her bedroom.
Thirty years of taking on the Santa mantle had led to this moment, and Scott was still glad he had accidentally killed the last one. So far, life post-Santa was going great, and he looked forward to spending a lot more time with the woman he loved, their children and grandchildren, and the ex-wife and her husband and daughter who had somehow become his best friends. He definitely hadn't seen that coming when his marriage to Laura fell apart, and he knew she felt the same.
The Calvins were on top of the world now, and absolutely nothing could ruin that for once.