I go through a thorough The Santa Clause binge every Christmas, and nearly every year, I find myself wanting to write about these characters. The Santa Clauses has been adding so much potential for offshoots that I finally decided to have a go at it. My favorite installment is the second movie and I love all of the Scott/Carol scenes. The idea for this fic has been lingering in my mind as an AU, but I thought when rewatching S1.E4 that I could change it a bit to make it work within the universe. I enjoyed writing this and hope to come up with some more ideas! Thanks for reading :)
"What gives?" Scott asked as he handed Carol a cup of hot cocoa. They might not be Santa and Mrs. Clause anymore, but some habits were tough to break.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You've been staring at me like that all week."
"Like what?"
He sat down on the sofa next to her. "With your chin propped up on your hand and smiling that grin of yours."
Carol giggled. "It's just funny to see you looking like that."
"Normally people think I look funny as Santa."
"That's not what I mean. Seeing you as your regular self keeps making me think of the night you showed up at my door asking me out for noodles and pie." She laughed again.
"I still say that's an okay date."
"Mine was better."
"You're right. What was it again? A thin-crust pizza and a movie?"
"Two for the Road," she reminded.
"Ah, right."
Setting her cocoa down on the side table, Carol snuggled up to Scott's side. "Do you ever wonder what might have happened if we'd had that date instead of going to the Christmas party?"
"To tell you the truth, no." When she frowned, he added, "It's just that no matter what our first date was, I was still going to have to tell you that I was Santa Claus. That's what freaked you out."
"Because I thought you were playing some cruel joke on me."
Scott quirked an eyebrow. "So if it hadn't been for the sleigh ride and Secret Santa and everything you told me about Christmas when you were growing up, you would have believed me?"
Carol paused, and Scott smiled.
"That's a no then?" he said.
"It's an I don't know."
Touching her knee, he asked, "How do you think that date would have gone? You can't tell me that the snow, the doll, and the mistletoe didn't influence your feelings for me. Up until then you couldn't stand me."
"That's not true." She nudged him as she sat up. "I let you into my house, didn't I?"
"I just figured you thought I was there about Charlie."
"I quickly realized you weren't. I think it was that day at the park when I started seeing you differently." She suddenly laughed. "I just remembered that a little girl came up to you saying something about Christmas. That makes sense now."
"Only took a couple of decades," he chuckled.
Carol rolled her eyes.
"You were enchanted by Santa's magic even if you didn't realize it."
"Maybe."
"All right then. Say I wasn't Santa and I showed up at your door that night. What would have happened?"
"Well," she hummed, "I would have asked why you were there. You would have asked me out for noodles and pie and I would have laughed at you."
"That we've established."
"Then, of course, you would have asked me what I considered to be a date. Same answer. You would have invited me to go along to pick up the pizza and rent the movie."
Scott jumped in. "Then you would have said let's order in and then you would have admitted that you already own the tape. You would have shown me your classic film collection and I would have teased you for blushing because you somehow thought it would make you look less like a woman able to terrorize your students."
She swatted his arm.
"Right. You would have done that after I teased you just too much."
"That's right," she said with a phony cold tone.
"But you realized if you kicked me out you wouldn't be getting a free pizza, so you grabbed the tape and showed me to the phone. We'd proceed to argue over toppings while ordering, confusing the person unfortunate enough to pick up the phone."
"Absolutely," Carol said. "But at least we agreed on the crust."
"So we knew a future together wasn't completely ruled out yet."
Carol continued the scenario. "You would have decided to be a gentleman and let me choose the toppings – Peppers and no onions – mostly because it was the first date and you were hopeful."
He held up a hand. "Guilty as charged."
"Then we would have fumbled through an awkward conversation while we waited for the food to arrive."
"We never fumbled," he said, breaking character.
"No, but you aren't Santa Claus, remember? We talked about Christmas because we were in a sleigh. What would we have talked about otherwise?"
"Work, I guess. I knew what you did. Would you have known my job if I hadn't been Santa Claus?"
"You tell me."
Scott shrugged. "All right then. We would have talked about work. Then I would have gotten nervous that I was boring you so I would have wandered back over to your movie collection and started pointing out my favorites, silently judging you on your opinions of each one."
"And you found absolutely no flaw in me whatsoever," she teased.
"Uh-huh. Other than the fact you didn't have any of the Christmas staples."
"Did pre-Santa Scott have the same enthusiasm toward Christmas?"
"Enough that he put on a dead guy's coat in order to keep his kid believing in Christmas."
"Awww."
He went on. "Maybe we talk about that a little bit, but we get interrupted by the delivery boy. You put the tape in the VCR while I pay the kid, and then we settle on the couch."
"And I'm horrified to see you eating straight from the box when I come back with the plates."
"I remind you that I've been on my own for too long."
"I decide to find it endearing."
"And we start the movie."
"And you tease me for crying."
Scott nodded. "And then I wonder why you've chosen a movie about a marriage falling apart for a first date."
"I laugh and tell you next time we'll watch Breakfast at Tiffany's."
"To which I reply I'd rather watch My Fair Lady."
"To which I take personal offense."
"But you also realize that you're falling in love with me."
Carol smiled. "Inevitable, huh?"
Moving closer to her again, he set his own mug of hot cocoa aside. "So where does that leave us? I won't be able to spoil everything with the Santa revelation."
Tugging on his shirt, she said, "Hmm… we're already cozy on the sofa."
"Which would be fantastic if not for the 'all marriages are doomed' seminar we just watched."
"Oh, Scott," she said, mildly exasperated.
"Hey, just staying true to the man I was before Santa. Don't tell Neil I said this, but he was right when he used to say that I had a terrible fear of commitment. Probably was right about a lot of other junk he said, but I'm only giving him this one."
"What then? You get freaked out because of your previous marriage and make an excuse to leave?"
"I said I had a fear of commitment, not that I was stupid enough to leave a beautiful woman who was even the slightest bit interested in me before I'd kissed her goodnight."
"Something tells me you have more than a kiss goodnight in mind," she smirked.
Scott fake gasped. "Principal Newman on the first date? Doesn't sound right. Second date, however—"
"We were married!"
They both laughed, finally closing the distance between them.
As Scott's hands slid down to Carol's waist, he lifted his head and said, "I do think Principal Newman might have been the type to fool around a little bit…"
"Something you never got to find out on your own," she said with a taunting yet amorous tone. "And never will."
Locking his arms around her, he said, "We'll see about that."
She laughed as he kissed her again and leaned them back against the cushions.
"Hey Mom! Dad! Look at this game we found—"
"Oh, gross!" Sandra cringed.
Carol and Scott sat up quickly.
"Sorry," Carol said, though couldn't help shooting Scott a smirk.
Clearing his throat, Scott said, "And that's why pre-Claus Scott and Carol didn't have children."
Cal narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
Blocking her ears, Sandra said, "Oh gosh, please don't ask them. They might tell us."
"What's this about a game?" Carol said, sparing her daughter any further horror.
"Family game night!" Scott said, taking the box from Cal. "Yeah, I've heard of this."
Patting his arm, Carol stood. "I'll go make some popcorn."
"How about ordering a pizza while you're at it?"
"A pizza?" Cal questioned. "Dad, we just ate like an hour ago."
"Sudden craving." He looked back at Carol as she started toward the kitchen. "Peppers and no onions?"
"No onions?" Sandra said, sitting down on the floor as the three of them started setting up the board. "You love onions on your pizza."
"I'll order it," Carol said with a wink. "And maybe we can rent Two for the Road later. It must be on one of those… streaming… things?"
Cal and Sandra laughed.
"We're not asking you to watch it," Scott assured.
"You're both so stuck in the 2000s," Cal said.
Husband and wife sharing another smile, Scott said, "You got that right..."
