Chapter Three: A little unsteady

Molly was woken in the middle of the night by someone pounding loudly on her door.

"Go away mom!" she yelled, rolling over and burying her face in her pillow.

The banging continued and she groaned and sat up, temporarily confused as to where she was. As everything came rushing back, Bernard came rushing through the door looking furious.

"What in the Name of CHRISTMAS did you do?!" he yelled, looking as if he would lunge over and strangle her at any moment.

Grumpy from the rude and startling awakening she had just received, Molly sniped back, "I have NO idea what in the blazes you are talking about. I've been asleep since Judy brought me to this room."

"Santa just 'fell' off the roof. Of a man named Scott Calvin. Who has a son named Charlie, who just HAPPENED TO PUT ON THE SANTA SUIT!" he roared.

"Ah yes, because clearly I have so much bloody power, that I can manifest this kind of thing in my sleep!" Molly yelled back, glaring at the angry elf.

The tension in the room was building faster than the temperature in an overloaded steam engine. Both occupants of the room were so busy glaring at each other that they had not noticed the small crowd of elves now gathered around the door to see what the big hullabaloo was all about.

"You tell me," Bernard retorted, crossing his arms. "Just a few hours ago, you were the one who predicted all this, and I can't see any other logical explanation."

"Logical? We're in the middle of the BLOODY FREAKING NORTH POLE! You're an ELF for goodness' sake, and you're talking to me about LOGICAL?" She let out a frustrated growl and dropped her head into her hands. "Ugh. None of this is logical Bernard. Hell, where I'm from, the North Pole doesn't even exist! It's a mythical tale for children. You're a MOVIE character. So none of this is logical."

"Here we go again, with the whole movie excuse!" He snapped back. "Why do you keep trying to push it?"

"Because. It's. The. TRUTH! Did you even bother to go check out my driver's license like I told you?"

Bernard flushed, looking ashamed for just a moment. Before he could say anything else, they heard someone clearing their throat, and looked over to see Judy in the doorway, holding out a plastic card to Bernard.

"I thought you might want to see this," she said cheerfully to Bernard. As he looked over the card, Judy smiled at Molly and winked at her.

Molly mouthed out 'thank you' to the small elf, before returning her attention to Bernard.

Bernard's frowned, sighed in frustration, and then muttered something Molly couldn't make out under his breath. Judging by the smirk that now played across Judy's face, it probably wasn't something very elf-like.

"Sorry…" he muttered, walking over and handing the card to Molly. "It appears you were telling the truth."

It was only then that Molly noticed there were a whole lot more elves than just Judy and Bernard at the door and that she was sitting on the bed in nothing more than sleepwear. Suddenly feeling very awkward, she pulled the blankets up to her chin.

"Uhm…can I have a couple minutes of privacy… to uhh… get properly attired?"

Bernard, realizing that he had barged in on Molly in her sleepwear, flushed slightly. "No need really… you can go back to sleep…"

Molly snorted. "You think I could fall back to sleep after that wakeup?"

Pausing, Bernard glanced back at Judy, who raised an eyebrow at him, then shrugged, leaving the head elf to make a call. "Well, if you insist, then you can at least make yourself useful. Meet me in the office in ten minutes. Judy will show you how to get there."

Without another word, Bernard hurried out the door, shooing the elves back to their own work as he went.

After he had disappeared out the door, Molly looked over at Judy. "Are you sure he's got a nice streak somewhere in there?"

Judy just laughed her musical laugh and winked. "I'll be just outside the door whenever you're ready."

The office was not the one exactly what she had expected. Molly had assumed that Bernard would be working in Santa's office, the one she was incredibly familiar with from the movies, but instead, she found Bernard waiting for her in a small room just off from the main stables.

Judy had left her after showing her to the office, and Bernard was pacing around inside the small room, muttering to himself.

"Bernard?" Molly asked quietly as she entered the room, alerting him to her presence. She didn't want to startle him and receive another mouthful from him.

He stopped his pacing and looked up, then motioned for her to take a seat in one of the two desk chairs present. She sat down in the one nearest to her while Bernard took the one behind the desk, and then rolled around in it so that he was beside her. He stared at her intently a moment before starting to look mildly sheepish.

"So listen," he looked away, beginning to fidget with his hands. "I have to apologize for my rude behaviour. It's just a very stressful time of year for me, and well… I may have a temper problem."

"Heh, you're telling me," she replied, looking away. She hated when people apologized. Things felt so awkward. She changed the subject quickly. "So what do you need my help with?"

"Well, I was hoping that you could tell me a bit about this Scott Calvin guy," Bernard admitted. It was evident he picked up on the purposeful topic change, but he didn't push, which made Molly feel a little more relaxed.

"I'm not telling you anything. There is no WAY I am risking screwing things up," Molly replied. "If I tell you about things, then it could change the entire course of events, and what's supposed to happen will be forever ruined."

Bernard looked thoughtful for a moment. "How do you know that what happens in your 'movies' is what's really supposed to happen though? If those are fiction, this is real… so what if what you being here is meant to be what REALLY happens?"

"Well then, my knowledge of the movies wouldn't really do much, would it? For all I know the Scott Calvin in 'my movies' could be the exact opposite of the one here."

Bernard made a 'hmph' sound and spun around to face a green navigational screen on the wall.

"Well. It appears he's almost back at the Pole. Wait here," he said, standing.

"I beg your pardon? I am not waiting here by myself."

Bernard raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were afraid of messing things up?"

Molly shrugged. "Hey, you said I might be wrong, so I'm gonna go with that option."

Bernard glanced down the hallway, looking a little worried, then back at the blonde-haired girl who was quickly becoming a bit of a thorn in his shoe. "Fine. You can come. But keep quiet and don't do anything stupid."

Molly snorted again. "Oh, I won't… I'll leave that for you to cover."

As they turned to head down the hall, Molly thought she saw a tiny smile itching at the corner of Bernard's lips. Her heart pounded a couple times, reminding her that despite Bernard's earlier rudeness, her crush on the elf remained.

"Uhm, Bernard?" she called after the elf.

"What now?"

"I'll be there in a minute… I uhm, need to go to the washroom."

Bernard rolled his eyes. "Fine, see you there."

After Bernard had disappeared down the hallway, Molly slipped back into the office for a minute and closed the door. Then she did something she hadn't done in a while. She began jumping up and down in circles squealing like a little girl.

"AHH! I'm IN the Santa Clause! I'm IN the Santa Clause! And Bernard is here and just as cute in person and EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

After about a minute of doing this, she stopped, cleared her throat, smoothed back out her sweater and hair, and walked calmly out of the office and down the hall as if nothing had happened.