Chapter Seven – When you're in too deep in your wildest dream
Bernard woke up early that morning, still nervous about the pending Council meeting. There were no noises coming from his living room indicating that Molly was awake, so he decided to take a slightly longer shower.
When he came out and had dressed, the living room was still silent. He wasn't quite sure what kind of person Molly would be when it came to the length of time required for her to shower, dress, and get ready and thought he should make sure she had enough time, just in case.
He had to stifle a laugh when he saw her. She was sprawled out as much as she possibly could on the couch, with one leg sticking up the back, and the other hanging off the side. Molly looked intensely awkward and yet very peaceful at the same time. He almost didn't want to wake her.
Kneeling beside her, Bernard shook Molly's shoulder lightly.
"Hey," he said softly, "it's time to wake up."
"A little longer mom," she slurred through her sleep. "Bernard's in my dreams."
Bernard's eyes widened and he blushed. Was dreaming about him something she did often? He shook her again, slightly harder. "Molly, it's time to get up."
Her eyes opened lazily, then flew open wider as she startled fully awake and bolted upright. "Wha? Huh? What's going on?"
"Molly, it's me, Bernard… you're at the North Pole remember?"
The momentary panic faded into recognition, and she looked at Bernard sheepishly. "Sorry… I tend to be a little disoriented when I wake up..."
"Yeah, the first time I tried to wake you up you didn't believe me."
"That'll happen."
She glanced down at her clothes and frowned. "Uhm, this is going to sound a little strange but… do you have anything I could wear? After having been in these clothes for like, 24 hours now… yeahhhhh." She trailed off as she looked back up at Bernard hopefully.
"I think I can find something – there have been many a Mrs. Claus from your world, I'm sure something of theirs that they left behind has to fit. In the meantime –" He tossed Molly a towel. "Shower is in the bathroom, you can use any of the shampoos and stuff in there. I'll leave the clothes for you at the door to the bathroom."
Forty-five minutes later, the two were on their way out the door to the council chambers. Molly was glad Bernard had been able to find a pair of jeans and a hoodie – even though they were slightly too big, it was a lot more comfortable than some of the clothing she had imagined he would come back with.
They paused at the doors to the chambers, and Bernard looked down at Molly. "You ready?"
She was fidgeting with her hands nervously. "You know, I always thought if this ever happened, I'd bounce in there with confidence, marvelling at the awesomeness of meeting the legendary figures, but now… I'm just scared."
Bernard instinctively grabbed her hand, holding it reassuringly. Whether it was himself he was trying to reassure, or Molly, he didn't quite know. "Don't worry – I'm sure everything is going to be all right."
But even Bernard couldn't shake the fear of the outcome from his mind. What if they decided Molly wasn't their problem and just sent her off into the world? What would she do in a world that wasn't her own? Did a version of her even exist in this world?
He took a deep breath, pushed open the doors and immediately prepared himself for the worst.
The council was already all there, talking amidst themselves and waiting for Bernard's arrival. They looked up when he and the human girl entered, mixed expressions of surprise and concern across their faces. Bernard realized he was still holding Molly's hand and dropped it quickly, not wanting to give the council the wrong impression. The action did not go unnoticed, as Mother Nature raised an eyebrow.
"Bernard." She gave him a slight nod. "And who is this?"
"My name is Molly, ma'am," Molly squeaked out.
Bernard was a little surprised, not expecting her to chime in quite so quickly.
Cupid fluttered over and hovered in front of her. "Looks human to me, and poorly dressed at that." He looked over at Bernard pointedly. "I never would have expected you of all people to break the rules, elf."
"Hey! This isn't his fault," Molly snapped defensively, and Cupid looked back at her. "As far as I know, this was nobody's fault!"
"She, is, right…" Father Time said slowly. The figures all looked over at him in surprise. "A magic beyond anything we have here has brought her from another world."
"Magic?" Molly looked confused. "But my world doesn't have magic."
The rest of the council erupted, everyone talking loudly and at once. The Easter Bunny was shouting about how it would affect the time and space continuum, Tooth Fairy started wailing about the Apocalypse and Sandman, well… Sandman started to mutter something about the SOS before falling asleep on the desk.
"Order! Order!" called Mother Nature. "We have much to discuss, and panicking or arguing isn't going to get us anywhere. There is also the… specific event which occurred on Christmas Eve that we need to talk about."
"She knows about that already," Bernard said quietly, afraid of causing another eruption.
"Smooth going, elf," sneered cupid.
"Bernard." The Head Elf corrected him sharply. "And it wasn't me who told her. She already knew about that before she arrived."
The air was tense in the room, and Molly was starting to wish she hadn't agreed to come along. She didn't want to cause Bernard more stress and clearly the air had not settled in the 200 years since his and Cupid's fight.
She was ready to snap something rude at Cupid, but bit her tongue, if only for the fact that she didn't want the council members thinking she was disrespectful. After all, this was the first time they had met.
Mother Nature sighed. "Molly, would you mind telling us how you know about the Secret of Santa?"
"Cause the North Pole sure ain't a dead giveaway," muttered Cupid from the corner of the room.
"Cupid, please try to be a little more polite and stop acting like she's an enemy. Let's hear her side of the story first."
Molly looked over at Bernard, unsure of whether she should tell the truth or not. She was shaking and suddenly felt as if she was going to be sick. Legendary figures or not, would they believe her story?
Bernard, noticing how nervous Molly was, nodded encouragingly. "It's okay, go ahead."
The Easter Bunny elbowed Sandman awake. "You might want to hear this, buddy."
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward. "This is going to sound a little crazy, but I'm from a completely different, well, universe, I guess. Where I'm from, there's no such thing as magic, or Santa Claus – it's just a legend for us. This, your world… it's a story where I come from."
The room was silent, and she wondered if any of them believed her. Their expressions were hard to read, even though she thought she had known the characters incredibly well. Some looked perplexed, others confused, and Cupid, well, Cupid looked bored, irritated, and somewhat smug.
"I was walking after school when this blizzard started, I tripped and fell, and when I woke up, I was in Elfsburg," she finished. "I can't explain anything beyond that." She shrugged and looked down at her feet, afraid to see what their expressions might hold.
The council sat silent for a moment, before Sandman cleared his throat, yawned, and spoke up. "It certainly sounds like a farfetched story, but I must confess… it sounds too wild a tale for it not to be true."
"How does that make any sense at all?" asked Cupid. "It's so out there, it has to be real?"
The Easter Bunny nodded. "I agree – no sense at all."
"Why would I make this up?" Molly demanded, feeling angry. More anger at herself for hoping they might believe her, but it was enough to make her put her foot down. "And how the HELL would I get to the North Pole, and find my way into Elfsburg all by myself, know about Santa and the Santa Clause, and everything else?"
She felt someone's hand take hers and looked up to see Mother Nature standing in front of her. "Don't worry, I believe you." Turning back to the Legendary Council, she spoke again. "The girl is genuine."
"How do you know that?" Cupid asked.
"Because I'm Mother Nature." She left it at that, and none of the other council members proceeded to argue.
Feeling slightly relieved, Molly stepped back beside Bernard, trying to calm her shaking hands.
"Then we are presented with a dilemma," began Father Time. "If we cannot send her back, what do we do? We cannot allow a human to reside in Elfsburg – if we break one sacred rule, it allows for others to be broken as well. We do not know what leaving her here would do to Christmas."
Molly started to feel panicked again. Where would she go? What would she do? Would she ever make it back home? She had always dreamed of coming to this world, of being a part of Christmas, and Elfsburg and the story, but she had never once thought about whether the rules would get in the way.
Her breath caught in her throat and she felt herself getting dizzy. She thought she was about to fall over, when she felt a hand on her back, steadying her.
"It will be okay," Bernard leaned down and whispered. "Just breathe. I won't let them abandon you somewhere without contact."
The council members shot back ideas over the span of the next few minutes, all of them equally terrifying as the others. Father Time suggested manipulating a thread of time to fit Molly in where her otherworld version might be, or to fabricate her history with another family. Cupid suggested dumping her on a remote island somewhere, and Easter Bunny mentioned something about making her become his full-time bunny-sitter.
Each idea seemed to get more and more daunting, until Bernard cleared his throat incredibly loudly, commanding the attention of the room. When everyone had finally stopped talking, he spoke up.
"I have an idea – Molly knows Scott Calvin better than any of us do. He's a character in a story from her world and right now, he is not taking very well to the idea of being Santa. In fact, he is adjusting far worse than any other Santa we have ever had. And his son, Charlie, seems to like her. What if we send her down to watch over him for the time being? In the real world, we can fabricate the documents to make it appear as if she is a live-in caretaker of sorts."
Molly mind started spinning. The idea was good, better than any idea she could have come up with, except for one thing: having an 18-year-old living with a middle-aged man would look kind of suspicious. And how would they convince Scott? As far as Molly could remember, the first real indication he received that he was Santa, besides the physical changes, was the Naughty or Nice List. Would this screw up the timeline?
Her head was starting to hurt at all the things she was rushing to figure out. In the meanwhile, the council looked contemplative, but no one had spoken yet.
"I can take care of her, help her through and all of that while taking care of things here," continued Bernard. "I'll keep watch and make sure that nothing happens, that none of the secrets are let slip."
"Are you sure you can handle all of that responsibility Bernard?" Mother Nature expressed in concern. "You're fantastic at running the North Pole, but that's a lot of added work."
Bernard nodded and smiled. "From the little time I've had to get to know Molly, she's clever, caring, intelligent, and mature when needed. I think that having her there will actually be a great help."
Mother Nature nodded. "In that case, all in favour?"
All but Cupid raised their hands. Even Sandman, appearing to be sound asleep lifted his arm up off the table.
"Perfect, then it's settled. As is the dilemma surrounding Mr. Calvin and how we will get him to adjust to being Santa." Mother Nature tapped her staff on the ground twice. "Meeting adjourned."
"Thank you," Molly said, bowing respectfully. She wasn't sure why she did, it just seemed like the right thing to do.
Mother Nature smiled, and all the council figures disappeared, except Father Time.
"Bernard," he said, "would you mind giving me a moment with the young lady?"
"Not at all." He bowed his head respectfully and turned to leave, but Molly clutched his arm tightly and looked up at him terrified. "It's okay, Father Time is a softie, I promise," he reassured her before lifting her hand off his arm and retreating out the doors.
The large, wooden doors were closed with a loud thud, and Molly looked over at Father Time.
Father Time chuckled when he saw her scared expression. "You have nothing to fear, I just need a word with you. Please, come closer."
Molly nodded solemnly and walked over to where he sat.
"I don't know what magic brought you here, or how you will get home – but, by reaching into the fabric of time, I have discovered one thing. You must not reveal to anyone the outcome of the stories from your world, or any specific incidents."
Molly looked wildly panicked for a moment. "But I—"
"I know, you already did when the new Santa arrived – but those were minor, they were already in the middle of occurring and therefore could not be altered. What you need to remember is this is not your story – here, this is real. Things may occur as they did there, and they may not, but they must not be forced into happening a certain way. Your very being here alters everything. If you force your hand, if you try to force things to happen as they did in your world, the very fabric of both our realities could shatter."
"So, the fate of the universe, parallel universes, Christmas and everything rests on my shoulders?" She gulped. Whatever notions she had of a silly adventure were completely gone.
"Something like that."
"Then we are all in big trouble."
Father Time laughed. "I wouldn't worry too much. Just remember to act as if you don't know what will happen, and everything will be all right." He winked and disappeared.
Molly stood still for a moment, taking it all in. She had no idea how her speaking of events could tear the fabric of reality, but she didn't want to test it. Right now, though, she needed to figure out how this whole living with Scott Calvin thing was going to work.
"You can do this, Molly… you've got this." She pulled the hoodie's sleeves over her still shaking hands, feeling somewhat safer in the folds of the sweater, and left the council chambers.
Bernard was waiting for her just outside the door.
"Well, what did Father Time have to say?" He was slightly worried to see her expression remained frantic and the colour had still not returned to her face.
"Just that the fate of everyone in time and space rests in my hands, not like it's a big deal or anything, right?" She laughed sardonically. What was that phrase everyone always said? Be careful what you wished for? It seemed she was receiving a harsh dose of that. "Real great. The fate of us all in the hands of my clumsy ass."
"Wait, what?" Bernard was slightly confused. How could she be responsible?
"Father Time told me, if I tell anyone of what happens in our movies, or try to help anything along, the very fabrics of both of our realities will tear."
Bernard broke out laughing and pulled Molly into a comforting hug. "Oh you silly girl!" he exclaimed. "All you have to do is just act normal, and everything will be okay. It's not that big a deal."
"I don't understand how you can think that – I mean what if –"
"No what-ifs. Literally just roll with the snowballs thrown at you. If something happens, react like you normally would. Forget the story. Just live. Be who YOU are, not what the story is, and everything will be okay."
He pulled out of the hug, draped his arm around her shoulders and started to lead her towards the kitchen. "Now let's get you some hot cocoa and discuss how in the world we are going to convince Scott Calvin to let you stay with him."
"Coffee," she corrected him as she smiled feebly and allowed him to lead her away.