Disclaimer: I own nothing, my writing is for amusement and sanity.

Here's my Take Three! Or is it Four? I've messed with my other story "Reindeer to the Rescue", from edits to deletes and redo tries...I'm not satisfied with it, and can't make myself fix it at this point so let's try this!

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Chapter Ten

Xxx

April 8th

1:30pm

Xxx

She was glad her decision this morning had been to pull on slightly heeled boots, the snap of the heel and the extra height was enough of a boost to help maintain the façade. The seriousness on her face wasn't easily broken, but underneath the stern exterior, Carol was an absolute mess and just wished this was all a horrible dream.

Scott and Bernard were several paces behind her, not fully intentional, but it did make the next step easier as Carol stopped next to Superintendent Douglas and Sheriff McCaffery in the hospital lobby.

"How many?"

"Seven, six of them minors and one was the elder sibling of two others. The city already has someone inspecting the building for structural damage and will get back to us, but there was nothing serious there." The Sheriff explained, pulling up pictures in his camera to show the principal, "The vehicle has already been pulled out, had to basically dismantle the damn thing to get the last two kids out."

Carol did admittedly gasp at the images, a black Ford Explorer was wedged in the double doors of a side entrance at the high school, almost two thirds of the huge vehicle inside the building and getting crushed beneath the collapsing roof beam.

"How bad-"

Douglas sighed, "Zachary Hanes is in surgery-he was driving, his younger brother Mike is pretty beat up as well in the passenger seat, Claudia Hanes broke her arm-she was just behind the driver. Mr. and Mrs. Hanes are enroute right now. Emily Louis and Danielle Eisen were in the middle next to Claudia, they have bumps and bruises and a couple scrapes from the glass. Wayne Eisen and Charlie Calvin were in the last row, Wayne was the least injured out of everyone in the car. Mr. Calvin on the other hand is being observed for a concussion, we suspect he slammed into the window on impact, he's cut up pretty bad as well."

Wincing, Carol took the camera to scan through the further images of the fire department extracting the students from the car wreck.

"Have all the parents been contacted?" She didn't look up, feeling more than seeing Scott come up to her side in worry, "The Millers are on their way and-"

"Scott!" Laura's voice was shrill across the lobby.

Sheriff McCaffery huffed out a breath, "Everyone's been called, I got an officer bringing Mr. Louis in from his work place. Once everyone is here and updated from the doctors, I want all of them together. Eric here was waiting for you to arrive before we started anything."

Carol waved off Laura's panicked face, sighing in frustration before nodding in agreement, "Eric, call Jonathan Reynolds, if he's the one the school board wants as the incumbent administrator then he might as well jump in now. Sheriff McCaffery what is the city asking of the charges?"

"Judge Lorraine is waiting for the school board to speak up, he's mostly looking at charges against Zach Hanes as he was not only the driver, but is a legal adult and was driving on a suspended license. But, there is the possibility all of the students will receive possession or influence charges."

Carol choked in surprise, "Excuse me?"

Superintendent Douglas was the one to sigh in frustration this time, "There was a notable smell of smoke and marijuana in the vehicle at the time of the crash. A search of the vehicle has found some paraphernalia. We're waiting for parental consent for drug tests on the minors, and their attendance to search all the bags."

"Oh for the love of…" Carol struggled not to react, wishing she had better control over her emotions, "Has Zach Hanes been drug tested as well?"

"His results are pending," Eric Douglas scoffed, "Honestly it wouldn't surprise me if he started back on pot again, his habits are what got him expelled years ago in the first place."

Clearing her throat, Carol looked to Scott with a wince, "I need you to be with Laura and Neil, go and watch them search the bags, I need to take care of this end separately."

Without question, Scott nodded, stepping back and letting Carol slide into the role as educational administrator, this was the biggest reason Carol was finishing out her term and then leaving. It was one thing to be a teacher with a child in the school system, it is another matter entirely to be an administrator.

Charlie's past two years of delinquent activities were not helping.

"What's the school board saying about-"

Xxx

Bernard huffed out a breath as he remained hunched in one of the lobby chairs, barely watching the television in the corner versus focusing on Lucy next to him. He'd volunteered to stay with the girl when Scott, Laura, and Neil had gone to the conference room with the other parents. That had been almost an hour ago and to be honest the elf was getting worried.

While he had no idea what had dragged his thoughts to Charlie, something had yanked at Bernard's core to the extent it was almost too unsettling to focus on. And it was that uncertainty that was keeping the elf from leaving, to be called back later. He also didn't know, just how bad this was going to become. Not just counting the very thought of teleporting was making him queasy.

Being a minor, the trespassing and defacing of public property, all of it had fallen off Charlie's record with the community service hours, and the sharp turn-around of his grades, school attendance, and attitude had encouraged the school administration to withdraw any actual charges on the teenager.

That would rapidly change should drugs be found in the teen, or any evidence tying Charlie to the car crash.

The pager in his bag went off, and Bernard tried to hide his low sigh from Lucy when she startled at the sound. A faint grin was enough to calm the girl, while Bernard fiddled with the device and glanced down the hall towards the conference room.

:Not There-Checked THRICE:

Relief flooded through Bernard's body, yet while he wished it was enough, the message wouldn't hold grounds in the situation. Not with enough fingers pointing at each other in blame.

Xxx

Scott was tempted to rip his hair out, between Laura's borderline hysterics, the blatant denial from Jennifer Hanes, and the rude attitude of Richard Eisen…Scott was straining not to say anything stupid or crazy to the other parents. The police search of the bags had revealed contraband in Wayne's backpack and Emily's purse, that and a half-consumed blunt was found dropped at the driver's feet in the wheel well. Edward Louis had just groaned, muttering about sending his daughter to boarding school after this.

"Sheriff, please ask the doctors to drug test my idiot daughter, I'll sign whatever it takes. This will be the last strike in her mother's book and I hear Chicago's boarding school is lovely over the summer." Mr. Louis stated, cutting off the bristling accusations flying from Richard Eisen about Charlie's horrible influence on his daughter and son.

Scoffing in disbelief, Jennifer waved off the paperwork giving her parental consent, turning to Superintendent Douglas instead about her daughter's cheer team status. Laura and Neil were in deep discussion with another officer about just how they were looking to charge those underage. Scott on the other hand, rubbed at his face and made his excuses to step out for a moment.

Pausing in the hallway, he let out the low sigh before heading to the lobby, wanting to check on Lucy who had just about been abandoned in all the chaos. None of the parents had been allowed to go see any of the teenagers yet, some for tests, others because it was easier to finish the police proceedings before allowing the parents into the ER department.

Scott wasn't sure if he could face Charlie until he had more information, he was honestly worried he wouldn't handle the situation properly. Stepping into the lobby, Scott nodded politely to Rachel Eisen who was waiting aimlessly as well, before he headed over to where Lucy was folding paper into origami shapes with Bernard's quiet instructions.

The elf jerked up before Scott could get too close, motioning his boss to a side seating area off the main area, Lucy remained in place, concentrating her focus on the papers. Ducking out of full view, Bernard quickly adjusted his hat, pouting a little at the pinch on his ears before passing his pager to Scott.

"I called and had Judy double check this, her and Danny in the Center guarantee it's correct."

Scott stared at the pager, almost crushing the device in his frustration, "I'm not questioning-"

"I get it Santa." Bernard lightly gripped Scott's wrist to calm his grip, his voice was low to keep it from traveling, "I get it, but you needed to see this even as much as you can't tell anyone. Keep calm, and focus. Charlie is innocent."

Sighing heavily, Scott nodded in thanks, "You have no idea how much this helps."

"You'd be surprised," Bernard shrugged, waving off the confusion on Scott's face, "It was a long time ago, don't worry about it. Go focus on Charlie."

Xxx

Xx

Xxx

10:56pm

Xxx

His head was killing him, and the bruising along the left side of his body was not helping Charlie try and sleep in between the obnoxious checks from the nurses. After an exam, he was given the news of a Grade 3 concussion and whiplash, and stitches up his left arm from glass slicing into the skin. Charlie had been left alone in the private ER cubicle for hours, besides periodic checks from the nurses keeping him under observation, and the passes of the police officer monitoring all of the teenagers.

Close to six o'clock, after Charlie had refused dinner, a police officer had accompanied a doctor to perform a drug test. That had earned some serious frustration, Charlie hadn't even been aware of the drugs until the test. The Hanes' vehicle had smelled of cigarettes and faint other things the entire day Charlie was riding in it. It was common teen gossip that Zach still dabbled in the crap that got him expelled from high school before Charlie was out of middle school. But he hadn't mentioned having anything in the SUV when Charlie had joined the group on the trip to the movies and then the mall. After stuffing himself with mall food and popcorn, Charlie had dozed off on the ride home, bracing his backpack between his feet and leaning against the window.

He'd woken up to Danielle screaming, before his head had collided against the window and Charlie had blacked out for a couple minutes. He'd woken up that time to Wayne scrambling to get out of the SUV before the cops arrived, ultimately they'd all failed in attempting to escape. And Charlie had gotten a ride to the hospital in a too loud ambulance and listening to Emily cuss out the EMT in the back as she sat in handcuffs.

Now Charlie was trying to sleep, his body aching for rest and an escape from the pain. No one had come to tell him the results from the test, and his parents hadn't even bothered to step out of the conference room he knew they were hiding in.

"You look worse than coal in the morning."

Jerking to see the new voice, Charlie cringed in pain when his body throbbed, collapsing back to the pillows when a warm hand rested on his shoulder, "Ow…"

"Easy Sport, don't think that's a good idea."

"What are you even doing here?" Charlie muttered, not looking up when Bernard eased onto the chair he pulled closer to the bed so he could keep a hand on the teen in comfort, "Police would have called dad hours ago."

"They didn't need to, we were already in town." Bernard's steady voice earned an actual look from Charlie, and before he could ask, the elf shrugged slightly in the dull sweatshirt he had on, "Something happened at the shop, so we came down."

Just enough subtle emphasis to tell Charlie why the elf was now hiding in plain sight, and looking just as tired as the teen felt. And made more sense as to why none of the bags had been passed back to the teenagers all in the ER.

"My bag…"

Bernard's brow furrowed, "What about it?"

"…'s why you're here." Charlie waved vaguely towards the door, "…'s why I was in the car. Mall has an antique shop, I was going in for a quote and had the snow globe in my bag when the car crashed. Before the cops got there I was digging in my bag for my phone."

That earned a grimace, and Bernard carefully turned the hand that was wrapped with bandages, "And you were bleeding…bet that's why I couldn't make sense of it. The magic in the globe would have reacted violently to your injury. Explains why I was dizzy."

"Sorry," Charlie fought to keep his eyes open, the light bugging him and only getting worse, "Didn't mean to-"

"Hey-hey-hey…" Bernard shushed the teen, smoothing a hand over Charlie's arm, "Don't kiddo, it's okay…you had no way of knowing."

"But-"

"I'm fine," Bernard cut off Charlie again, "You need to focus on resting Sport, I know you're in pain."

"Hurts…"

"I know kiddo…just breathe, you'll be okay." The elf gently uncurled the boy's fingers, relaxing the fist and draining some of the tension, "Just breathe Sport."

Charlie huffed slightly, but let his eyes close against the light when Bernard's fingers gripped his firmly, if no one else was going to bother to come near him, he'd take what he could get while feeling so lousy.

The silence stretched long enough that Charlie's blurry vision tried to find the elf next to him, "I didn't know there was drugs."

"Hmm?" Bernard turned to meet Charlie's gaze after a second, "What?"

Shifting on the pillow, Charlie wiggled his hand towards the door, even still clasped with Bernard's, "Zach's truck, I didn't know there were drugs. I thought he just had cigarettes."

The elf cringed, '"I know, got some proof of my own besides that negative drug test. Your girlfriend on the other hand…not so lucky."

"Told the cops it wouldn't say anything."

Bernard shrugged, "Adults believe what they see."

He tried to snort in amusement, but the action made his neck and shoulder throb, Charlie was almost in tears by the time he was able to focus beyond the pain. Collapsing back onto the pillows, Charlie tried to blink away the moisture in his eyes, failing as his head swam in dizziness.

"Sshh…it's okay, breathe Charlie-"

"I want my dad…"

"I know…I know…"

Charlie whined, turning to hide in the darkness of the pillow, wishing he had the strength to move more than that.

"Hey-c'mon, that's not gonna help-"

"No-"

"Charlie-"

"Go away."

A deep chuckle broke through the pain, the warm hand on Charlie's shoulder was no longer the thin, work hardened fingers that had been gripping Charlie's. This was one the teen had known all his life.

"C'mere Sport." With Bernard and his dad steadying him, Charlie sat up enough to lean into Scott's chest, sighing in relief at the warm hug, "You've had a rough day, huh kid?"

Charlie just groaned, ignoring the chuckle rumbling from his dad's chest as he sagged further into the hold.

"Carol's out chatting with the others-"

Muttering under his breath and further hiding his language in his dad's sweater, Charlie tried to ignore Scott's voice, failing when the adult tipped his head to rest better on Scott's shoulder.

"You have to stay here under observation for the night, then you can go home. School board is still working out the details but I'm pretty sure Zach Hanes is getting arrested for destruction of public property and endangering minors."

"Deserves it." Charlie grumbled, lips twitching when Bernard huffed his own agreement.

"Not counting possession of illegal substances and providing to minors…looks like you'll have to find another way to get to the mall for now."

Shrugging, Charlie just growled, "What's the point…not gonna be allowed out of the house for a decade."

"You say that like it's a long time…" Bernard snarked, settling back in the chair now that Charlie was calming down finally.

Rolling his eyes at the elf, Scott adjusted his grip on the exhausted teenager, "I don't think that's the plan, to keep everyone satisfied I think you're just getting thrown back on community service hours-"

Charlie groaned, burying his face in Scott's shoulder.

"-once you've recovered; you won't be heading to school for a couple days at least, and won't start your service time until a doctor approves you. Not with that concussion."

"Think they'll give me pain meds now…?"

Scott smirked, reaching around his son to press the call button, "Yeah, I think we can get that arranged, they'll be moving you up for observation in a few. Try and get as much rest as you can tonight, okay? Things will look better tomorrow."

A nurse appeared before Charlie was able to form a coherent response, passing medication to the teen at his parent's behest. By the time Charlie was able to spread out on the bed, he wasn't functioning clearly enough to really pay attention, but did grab at Bernard's hand when the elf started to leave.

"…'m sorry…"

"What for Charlie?"

"…broke it…"

He didn't hear a response, just sighing as the drugs kicked in and his brain gave up. Charlie fell asleep to someone's hands smoothing blankets over his shoulders.

Xxx

Xx

Xxx

12:00am

Xxx

After briefing Jonathan Reynolds, discussing all options with the Sheriff and her Superintendent, and getting the results back from all of the tests done, Carol's entire body was throbbing with the tension headache building behind her eyes.

Once she had ensured all of the parents signed off on the drug tests, Carol hadn't stepped foot in the conference room all evening. She'd only left her duties to call Laura's babysitter to come pick up Lucy, grateful beyond words that Bernard had been able to hang around with the little girl, the elf had brushed off her concerns, disappearing into the ER cubicles once permitted to check on Charlie himself while everyone else was busy.

Now, handing off the last of the paperwork Rhonda had rushed over, Carol sighed heavily as she glanced down the hallway where doctors and nurses were settling patients for the night, somewhere…her husband's son was getting moved to a private room out of the ER department for observation, and somewhere there were five other teenagers being released or settled into their own beds, her students.

"It's decided then?"

"Yes," Carol stepped away from Reynolds with a sigh, "It is."

The conference room was a buzz with tired, cranky parents and a couple officers, but they all settled when the principal walked in ahead of the other three men. Stopping at the head of the table, Carol waited until all eyes were on her.

"Charges will be placed on Zachary Hanes, pending his release from the hospital. Mrs. Hanes you have the right to call an attorney on your younger children's behest, but your eldest son is on his own as a legal adult. As for the minors, Emily, Wayne, and Danielle would have been receiving charges of minors under the influence of an illegal substance-"

"What the hell?!"

"You can't do that!"

Carol ignored the shouts, "Claudia should be receiving possession charges on top of influence-"

"What about that stupid Calvin boy-"

"Don't you dare accuse my son-"

Jennifer Hanes snarled, "That delinquent-"

"Enough!" Sheriff McCaffery's fist slammed down on the table, "Considering how high the tox-screen results showed up on Zachary's blood tests, you're lucky he's not getting attempted murder charges Jen! So, zip it!"

Once the room was quieter, Carol went on, "Instead of any records being tarnished, all of the students involved will serve In-School Suspension, as well as complete allotted community service hours per the city's agreement with the school board."

"All of them?" Richard Eisen asked, glaring at Laura and Neil Miller in particular.

"Yes, while both Michael Hanes' and Charlie Calvin's drug tests came back negative, all students will receive the same school disciplinary actions and complete their service hours. And to further keep this fair-" Carol waited for the parents to stop their uproar, most of them at least, "The school board has designated Dr. Jonathan Reynolds here as the incumbent high school principal. I have assisted Sheriff McCaffery and Superintendent Douglas in briefing Dr. Reynolds as to the students and the situation. And from this point on am stepping down from any decisions with this event. Anything further will go through these gentleman and not myself."

Before anyone could question her, Carol left the conference room, maintaining her mask until down the hallway and no longer able to hear the echoes of the arguing going on behind her.

Somehow, her feet carried her to the private wing, where the students being held overnight were already settled into bed.

Wayne Eisen had been released to his mother an hour ago, he'd made eye contact with his principal and looked completely broken and apologetic, well aware he and his friends had screwed up.

Emily Louis was being held under court order for drug detoxing and then being sent to a juvenile rehabilitation, it was long overdue and part of Carol was glad her father had finally had enough of his daughter's issues to get her proper help.

While currently cheer captain, Claudia Hanes was likely to get full school suspension, depending on her attitude. Bare minimum she'd be stripped from the cheer team and her class ranks, not counting the broken arm eliminating her from the squad for at least six months. She was asleep when Carol passed her room.

Mike Hanes was equally unconscious, having cracked a couple ribs and wrenched one of his knees pretty badly when the front of the SUV collided with the school building. Carol desperately wished the student had gotten his grades up this past month, if he had…he would have qualified for the baseball game out of town…and wouldn't have even been in the vehicle to begin with.

Neither would Danielle for that matter…she was only being held overnight for the drug tests, that and her father was still caught up with the officers to sign off on her release.

As for the last teenager involved, Carol paused outside the room, staring through the window at Charlie curled up on the bed. For the level of concussion he'd sustained, and bruising whiplash, he was luckily sound asleep now that he was out of the chaotic ER department.

Before she could stop it, Carol's hand flew to her mouth to stifle a sob, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with her as she stared at her students.

Someone's hand lightly gripped her shoulder, but Carol refused to turn, refused to let anyone else see the stoic principal breaking.

"Carol?"

Bernard's soft question, having left Charlie's room once he'd noticed her, broke through the woman's attempts at biting back her tears. Her shoulders shook, but that was all anyone else saw unless right next to her.

"They could have died."

"Hey…whoa…let's not go there, okay?" Bernard's hand squeezed lightly, "The kids are safe-"

"No-"

"Yes-all of them are safe, beat up a little, but they're safe."

Carol shook her head, "I can't do this, I thought I could keep it separate, but I can't."

"What do you mean?"

She waved a hand down the hall vaguely, "This, the students and keeping separate from my emotions. I can't do it…I tried the last time, but-"

"What last time?"

Cringing, Carol took a shaky breath to steady her voice, "Not this school…my first, I was a new teacher. My worst student was a lot like Charlie, defacing property-truancy-insubordination…you name it. I tried so hard to get to through to her, but she kept up her pattern. Second semester, I finally thought we'd made progress, she even landed a scholarship to college with my help…I left for spring break to see my family…and I came back to find out she'd been killed in a car accident…the group of kids and young adults she hung out with and got into trouble together…drunk driving…the car went off a bridge."

Bernard flinched, but didn't move his hand, "That's why you've been so hard on Charlie the last two years."

Carol nodded sharply, "I can't watch that again, from any of my students. Whether I'm a teacher or administrator, they deserve so much more than that…"

"You excused yourself from the case, didn't you?" There was no accusation in the elf's tone, steady acceptance is all Carol heard around her headache.

"I had to keep it fair, and I knew I would act irrationally to those responsible. Charlie might be completely innocent, but not only would the other parents riot, but given his previous record I had to take that into consideration. All of them are lucky the city isn't going to force criminal charges on anyone besides Zach."

Grumbling under his breath, something that sounded like 'coal for life', Bernard gently guided the woman to a chair outside Charlie's room, leaning on the wall next her once settled.

He let the silence hang for a couple minutes, giving Carol the time to compose herself before Bernard spoke again around a heavy yawn, "They finishin' up then?"

"Yes…" Carol bit back her own yawn, "Should be done soon, especially this late. Can't believe it took so long with those stupid arguments. Even with lab results in hand, one parent didn't believe their child was high as a kite in that car."

Bernard snorted, "Adults see what they want, not what's in front of them."

Rolling her eyes at his snark, Carol leaned further into the chair, letting her shoulders sag in fatigue, "Enough about that, are you okay? Last time I saw you, you weren't looking that great with all of this."

Shrugging, Bernard rubbed at his eyes, adjusting his hat quickly when it tried to shift, "I'm okay, Charlie has an idea on what happened but I'm going to wait til tomorrow to check. Everything's fine at the shop by the way, Judy's been keeping me posted."

"Do you need to get back? Scott and I can make arrangements with the Millers-"

"Nah," Bernard waved off her concern, "I'm where I'm needed."

She smiled, a full genuine one that got an equally worth one from the Head Elf, "Thank you Bernard, truly."

"You're welcome Mrs. C, anytime-though preferably without a hospital involved."

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