Regeneration- Second Sarah

Disclaimer- When Sarah is thinking, talking, or being talked to that's me. All the other dialogue is from the Santa Clause movie from Disney.

Sarah had been thrown into the Time Winds. She kept a firm grip on her communicator, so she could call the Enterprise to come when she landed. That is, assuming the landing place was somewhere the communicator would work.

The travel wasn't painful, just very disorienting. There was no way to tell which was up and which was down. A colorful pattern would grab her attention, suck her into it, and then another pattern would do the same. And to move her it seemed the Winds had to become a part of her. It got into the blood, and the mind.

Is this how being drunk feels like?, she wondered. Abruptly everything stopped moving. She was lying on something cold and hard. Above was the night sky. But something seemed wrong with it. There were odd ribbons of color mingling with the stars.

The Northern Lights, her mind supplied helpfully. This must be in the Arctic. Sarah stood up, got extremely dizzy, and fell back down. The effect of the Time Winds was still heavily in effect. The communicator had been smashed on a piece of ice. She tucked the remains in her pocket.

It took several moments before she spotted the giant hole in the ice. She crawled up to it. Inside there were so many colors she almost thought there were more Time Winds. But it turned out to be a lot of small people, dressed in colorful clothes. And there was a sleigh on a circle of ice, with a boy inside it.

Sarah got excited. Had she stumbled on to the place? The Time Lady stood up. Bad move. She overbalanced, and fell in. Air and colors flew past. She tucked in her legs and rolled as she hit the floor, so the landing didn't hurt as much. No doubt about it. This was the Workshop.

"Are you okay?" asked the kid in the sleigh.

"Oh yes." she assured him. The words came out slurred. Ahead was a girl elf having a heated discussion with tall, thin man in a red suit. Sarah stumbled in their direction. Someone bumped into her, also heading towards the two.

"Excuse me." he said.

"Why? Did you fart?" But he had already moved on.

"Hey!" he said, hands on his hips. "Who's causin' all the trouble around here?"

"He is!" "She is!"

"Excuse me," he said to the girl. "are we on a coffee break?"

"We don't drink coffee."

"Then I guess the break is over! Back to work. Thanks."

"Take it easy on her, will ya?" said the grown-up. "Who are you?"

"I'm Bernard."

Sarah burst out laughing.

The elf turned. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing. I suppose it can be pronounced that way too. ...Hey, did you ever break into my house when I was a kid?"

Bernard blinked. "...Not that I'm aware of."

Sarah blanked out for the next few moments as a wave of pain hit her. She vaguely remembered the grown-up saying something about shoving a sea kayak down a chimney. The elf seemed to think she was a friend of the new Santa, and the new Santa thought she was a friend of the elves. When focus returned, the kid from the sleigh had walked up to the three of them.

"Who's this?" asked Bernard. His voice had been harsh before, but now it was softening.

"This is my son, Charlie." The grown-up put a hand on the kid's shoulder. "Charlie, this is buh- beh-"

"Bernard." Sarah said helpfully.

Charlie reached out a hand cautiously. "Hi, Bernard."

The elf shook it. "Hiya, sport."

Sarah smiled.

"Hey, Dad!" Charlie said. "He called me 'sport', just like you!"

"Wonderful." the grown up said sarcastically.

"Hey, you know what?" said Bernard. "I got somethin' for you. Now hold out your hand, alright?"

The new Santa groaned at the cheesiness, and went to lean on a door labeled Ballroom. Bernard took a gleaming snow globe out of his bag.

"Now be careful." He handed it to Charlie. "This is very old, just like me. Shake it up, Charlie."

Sarah giggled. "That sounds like a name for a disco album."

Charlie shook it gently. The globe showed a small sleigh, descending into a picturesque little town. Apparently someone had manipulated the elemental atoms to psychically tune in to the mind set of the viewer. A.K.A., you could only see if you believed. Figuring this out made Sarah's Wind drugged head hurt.

"Woah."

"Why don't you, uh, hold on to it for me for a while?" said Bernard. "It might come in handy."

"Thanks." said Charlie, completely awed. "Thanks a lot. I promise I'll take real good care of it."

"Make sure that you do."

"I will." He went to show it to his dad. Sarah smiled at the elf.

"What?" he said.

"You're sweet with children." she informed him.

"Hey, Barabbas-" The grown-up began.

"Bernard." Sarah and Bernie said together.

"Whatever. Can we take a direct flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in Denver?"

Bernard ignored him. "Larry," he said to a passing elf. "take Charlie here and get him some chow."

At the word chow Sarah's stomach rumbled. She hadn't eaten in two days. So she followed Larry too.

"Hello." Sarah said, catching up with him and Charlie. "So, I was wondering-"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Sarah. Well, I call myself Sarah. My real name is too Gallifreyan to just toss it around."

Larry's eyes widened. "You're a Time Lady? But we lost contact with your people years ago! We thought you were all dead."

"We are." Any emotion was forced back. "I survived because I was on a starship when the daleks attacked."

"You've ridden in a spaceship?" Charlie said, his eyes growing wide. "How far?"

"Oh, across the universe and back." she said casually.

Larry took them to the kitchens. Inside they saw all manner of sweets being made, such as gingerbread houses, cookies, hot cocoa, eggnog, candy canes, and every other Christmas food you can think of. Apparently the elves had known they were coming, because three plates of turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, and a bit of cranberry sauce were set out , along with three cups of eggnog. Sarah didn't normally like eggnog, but the Workshop's version was delicious. She left with a full belly.

Surely there must be a laboratory around here, she thought, where they invent new toys. The elves seemed kinder to than they were to the new Santa, and they pointed out the right direction. There were all kinds of machines there. Some she recognized, some she didn't. She set her communicator down on one of the tables, planning to come and fix it later. Now it was time to find Bernard and Santa. They were in the busiest part of the Workshop. The Head Elf looked tired and frustrated. Santa looked uncooperative. She ran up to them, just as Bernard shouted, "TRY TO UNDERSTAND THIS!"

Santa jumped.

"Ooo-ooh!" chorused the elves.

"Dude." said Sarah. "Calm down. Take a deep breath."

Bernie inhaled deeply, then plastered a smile on his face, and chuckled exasperatedly. He grabbed Santa gently by the arm, and pulled him along. "Let me explain something to you, okay? Toys have to be delivered. I'm not gonna do it. It's not my job. I'm just an elf. It's Santa's job, but Santa fell off a roof; your roof. You read the card, you put on the suit, that clearly falls under the Santa Clause," He stopped walking, the frustrated look back on his face. "so now you're Santa, okay?"

"A question." said Santa.

"What?"

"When can I get outta here?"

Suddenly Sarah's brow furrowed in pain. "Bugger."

"Are you alright?" asked Bernard."How did you get here, anyway?"

"I took a little spin on the Time Winds."

"The Time what?" asked Santa.

"Dr. Hismus!" Bernard called.

A smartly dressed elf popped out from the crowd. "Yes, sir?"

"Take...I'm sorry, what's your name?"

"Sarah."

"Nice to meet you, Sarah. Hismus, take her to the elfirmary and treat her for Time Wind travel."

"This way, Time Lady." Hismus said. She followed, her mind wandering. What if the communicator was never fixed? What if she never got back to the Enterprise? She looked back at Bernard. He radiated authority, had a good heart, and genuinely cared about his fellow workers. A lot like her. She knew he would get her home.