Magical

Chapter 14

      Rose woke up to find a concerned Bernard hovering beside her. She slightly jumped back in surprise and then clutched her head as pain spread through her cranium.
     "Thank goodness you're alright!" Bernard whisper-shouted. "I was starting to think you'd never wake up." He looked down when he said that, tears glimmering in his eyes at the thought.
     "I'm fine." She croaked, rubbing her head. "What happened? The last thing I remember..." She trailed off.
     "You overdid it and passed out."
     "What's going on with my magic? It hasn't acted up this badly since I got it and it's never made me sick."
     Bernard bit his lip. "I can honestly say I have no idea why it's making you sick but we don't have time to worry about that now. I need to talk to you and your father."
     "Why? What's going on?"
     "I think it'd be better if I explained it when we're all together."
     Rose smiled and took Bernard's hand. She managed to get to her feet without much trouble. Afterwards, she followed Bernard as he led her out to where Santa was in the middle of a game of tackle football with the elves. She laughed as the elves tackled Santa to the ground and dog piled on top of him.
     "You guys aren't elves! You're wizards! I swear, no matter how many times you guys pull that play, i never see it coming." He turned his attention toward Rose and Bernard when the latter called his name. "Princess!" He shouted as he stood to hug his daughter. "Are you ok? We were all worried when you passed out."
     "I'm fine, dad. How long was I out for?"
     "Just a few hours."
     "Santa," Bernard called again, "we need to talk."
                             * * * * *
     A few minutes later, Santa, Rose, and Bernard walked into Santa's office/living area. Santa took off his coat with a surprised noise.
     "What's going on with this suit? These fit yesterday, didn't they?"
     At that moment, Judy walked in with some hot cocoa. "Hi, Santa, Rose!"
     "Now's not a good time, Judy." Bernard complained.
     Judy went on talking until Santa gave her a little smile. "What's the bad news?"
     "What'd ya mean?"
     "Using when you play up the cocoa bean cart, generally, you have bad news." With that, Judy pulled out a familiar scroll of parchment. "What are you doing with the naughty and nice list?"
     "Crap." Rose muttered.
     "What? Have you seen the list?" Santa asked his daughter.
     "Just don't shoot the messenger." Judy said.
     "It's Charlie, dad."
     "Sheen? I thought he straightened out."
    "Not that Charlie. Our Charlie." Rose said quietly.
    "Our Charlie? My kid Charlie?" Santa asked, turning first to Rose then to Judy. Judy sadly nodded before walking out the door. "This is not good! Is this what you and Curtis were trying to tell me?"
     At that moment, Curtis walked in, wheeling in some type of cart. "Great! You told him! I'll just have to get you ready for that meeting!"
     "I can't have the meeting here, Curtis. I have to go home and see Charlie."
     Bernard gritted his teeth as he said, "Number two, tell him!"
     "Santa, there's a clause."
     "Yea. That'd be me."
     "No I mean there's another Santa clause."
     "Curtis in case you haven't notice, this time of year, there's a lot of other "Santa Clauses"."
      "But there's another one. There's the first clause but then there's a second clause."
     Rose groaned. "Curtis, you're giving me a headache. What're you trying to say?"
     "Ok. When the other Santa fell off the roof, you found this." Curtis pulled out the card. "Yea the wearer puts on the suit, becomes Santa Claus and the rest would be history."
     "Right." Bernard said. "But it seems our number two elf, the "Keeper of the Handbook" OVERLOOKED THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS!"
     Curtis looked unaffected by the Head Elf's angry outburst. "Wow. One mistake in 900 years."
     Bernard growled in annoyance. The noise scared Rose who had never seen Bernard so angry within the 7 years she'd known him. He placed the card in a slot on the cart and pulled out a magnifying glass. As Santa kept remarking how he couldn't see the writing, Bernard kept bringing up bigger and bigger magnifying glasses until he finally pulled out one so big, he had to use two hands to move it.
     Santa, Rose, Bernard, and Curtis crowded together to read what was written. "The wearer must enter a state of holy..." Santa paused. "Matrimony? I gotta get married?!"
     "Yes." Bernard said. "It's the Mrs. Clause."
     "What if I don't wanna get married?"
     That's when everyone noticed that Scott had lost a good deal of weight. "Dad, you're..."
     Scott turned his attention to his daughter. "Sweetheart, your ears..."
     "What?" Rose looked in the mirror to find her ears were becoming more rounded. "What the hell?"
     "Oh dear...the desantification process has begun!"
     "The desantification? Wait. You mean it says in that clause that if I don't get married, I can't be Santa anymore?"
      "'Fraid so."
      "Well...what's happening to me?" Rose asked.
      Bernard looked sad as he explained, "When Mother Nature made you Santa's guardian, your powers were tied to him. As long as he's Santa, you're his guardian with all of your powers and appearance as an elf. But if he loses his powers and isn't Santa anymore..."
     "Then I'm no longer his guardian and I'm back to human again." Rose finished sadly.
     "There's gotta be something we can do!" Santa said. "How much time do I have?"
     "28 days."
     "So I have to find a wife by Christmas."
     "Actually, Christmas Eve." Curtis said.
     Santa sank into a chair, his beard disappearing. Across the room, Rose's hair darkened two shades. "Christmas is getting very complicated." Scott complained.
                           * * * * *
     After the meeting with the other legendary figures, both Rose and Scott still weren't sure what to do. They knew they had to leave to go back to see Charlie and hopefully find Scott and wife but neither knew how to leave without scaring the elves.
     Rose decided to go to visit Bernard as he always helped her to get her thoughts together. She walked into his office where he was busy filling out paperwork. He turned in his swivel seat when she walked in.
     "Hey, B. Can we talk?"
     "I guess we should." He tossed his quill to the side, standing up from his desk. "What's on your mind, Snowflake?"
     "Today's been a real mess, hasn't it?" Rose blurted out.
     Bernard exhaled loudly. "I guess so."
     "I'm worried. What if my dad can't find someone? Not that I don't think he could it's just...worse case scenario, he doesn't. Where does that leave us? He won't be Santa, I'll be human again, we'll miss out on the greatest thing that's ever happened to us both. And I'm scared I'll lose you. Please," she said, trying hard not to cry, "please assure me like you always do that everything will be alright."
     Bernard bit his lip and Rose looked up to see him looking conflicted. "Rose, you know that I love you..." He began. "But, I'm sorry. If you become human, there's nothing I can do. If you become human, we can't be together."
     Rose felt tears begin to fall. "Wait. What? Are you saying that you don't wanna be with me if I'm human? Is that it?"
     "No! It's not like that! I swear! What I meant was--"
     Rose interrupted him. "No. I think that's exactly what you meant." Hot tears fell down her face as she tried desperately to control her rising temper. "I'm not good enough for you, apparently. I never was...and I never will be."
     "No that's not what I meant!" Bernard shouted desperately, tears in his own eyes.
     Rose gritted her teeth before she yelled, "Screw you, Bernard!"
     With that, she turned on her heel and stomped out his office, slamming the door behind her with finality.