Magical

Chapter 31

     When Jack left Rose to "chill out", he rushed off to find Santa. The big man was walking through the snow, hands in his pockets, looking like he wanted to cry. Smirking, Jack sauntered on up to him.
     "I blew it again." He said. As Jack "tried" to convince Scott that that wasn't true and he'd done a good job, Scott scoffed. "Christmas is a disaster, the in-laws resent me, my daughter is gonna have to raise her kids without her husband, and my pregnant wife wishes she'd never met me."
     Jack pulled out a wrapped gift. "I was gonna wait until tomorrow but it seems like you need it today." At first, Scott refused but, with some persuasion, began opening the present. "So do you wonder if this is even...?"
     "Worth it? More than you know."
     "So you wish you'd never been Santa at all?"
     "I wish I'd never put on that coat. I wish I'd never been Santa."
     "At all?"
     Scott sent Jack a weird look at how pushy he was being. "At all." He finished opening the box and took out the snow globe. "I wish I'd never been Santa at all. Happy?"
     The magic began to surround them both and Jack grinned evilly. "I am now."
     With that, the Escape Clause was enacted. Scott and Jack were dropped in the past on the night that the former had put on the coat. After some wrestling, Jack hit Scott with a shovel then immediately put on the coat. They both disappeared, fast forwarding to the present.
     That's where Scott would learn that things had changed...drastically.
                          * * * * *
     When the magic had disapated for the second time, Scott found himself in an office building bathroom. He looked like he had before he became Santa, no beard or gray hair at all, dressed in a fancy suit.
    Shaking his head, he left the room to find another man in a suit pacing the room and explaining something to him. Confused, Scott asked, "What day is it?"
    "December 24th, sir."
    "It's Christmas Eve? Why are we working? This is a time for family. Where's my family right now?"
    "I don't really know, sir. You don't see them often and you never talk about them."
    "I've gotta go!" Scott shouted as he rushed out the door.
    A few minutes later, Scott pulled up to the Miller's house. He knocked on the door and it was answered by a very angry looking Laura.
    "What are you doing here?" She asked rudely.
    "Well I can over here to see..." Scott trailed off, unsure what to say.
    "See what? Why on Earth would you drag yourself all the way over here?"
    At that moment, Scott was saved from answering as Charlie came running down the stairs. "Mom, is that Eric?"
    "No it's not and you're not going out tonight!"
    "Whatever." He turned his attention to Scott. "What're you doing here?"
    "I came over to see you and Rose."
    "Ok. Why?"
    "Because we don't see each other enough."
    "What?" He asked, confused. At that moment, Charlie's friends showed up and he rushed out the door, against his mother's wishes.
    Laura was about to shut the door but Scott stopped her. "Can you at least help me find Carol?"
    "Carol?"
    "Carol Newman."
    "Carol Newman? The principal of Charlie's school?"
    "Yea. Do you know where she is?"
    "No. She left awhile ago. I guess she ran out of students to terrorize. I don't know."
    "What about Rose? Is she here?"
    "No!" Laura shouted, looking even more angry and hurt. "Don't you remember? She left. She ran away."
    "Where?"
    "The North Pole."
    "The North Pole?"
    Laura rolled her eyes. "Yes. The North Pole. After you decided work was more important to you than her, she ran away. She went to the North Pole and got married." Laura explained.
     Scott had some hope then! If Rose still ended up in the North Pole with Bernard, then maybe he could find a way out of this mess!
    Laura handed Scott a brochure. "And Neil's been taking Lucy there ever since he and I got our divorce."
    Scott saw the brochure and visibly groaned. Frost turned the North Pole into a theme park of all things!
    He ran off, assuring Laura that he would make things right again. And with that, he bought a plane ticket to the North Pole.
                          * * * * *
    Scott looked over at the mess the North Pole had become. Every which way, people ran to and fro, parents shouting at their spoiled kids while the kids complained about their presents. Signs were plastered everywhere: "Shave a reindeer." "Put your name on the nice list." "Don't forget about the show tonight."
    Just as Scott was looking at the chaos, he was interrupted from his thoughts by a voice, "Hello, sir."
    He turned to see one of his favorite elves. "Curtis!"
    "Yes sir. Can I interest you in tickets for tonight's show? I can throw in a voice recording pen. Will that be cash or credit card, sir?" He pressed a button on the pen, making it play back, "Will that be cash or credit card, sir?"
     "That's silly!"
     "And, if you're still not sure, I'll even throw in a pass to the nice list."
     They argued over the naughty and nice list until Scott shouted, "Bring me to your boss! Curtis, where's Frost?"
     "Security!"
     "I'll take care of him." At that moment, Jack Frost appeared. "Nice to see you, Mon frere. Has it been 10 years already?"
     "Frost, what have you done?"
     "What? No hello? Love what you've done with the place?"
     As they argued over what was best for the Pole, Scott was distracted by the sound of heels clacking on the floor as a familiar figure approached.
     "Rose!" He called out, happy to see her.
     To his surprise, she sauntered up to Jack. She was dressed in a sparkly red dress, low cut with thin straps that were falling off her shoulders, the end long in the back but short in the front, showing off her legs. Covering the exposed skin was a long white, fur trimmed coat. Her hair was long and lose, falling over her shoulders, small snowflakes adjourning it.
     With no hesitation, she kissed Jack passionately. Scott saw Jack smirking into the kiss as he wrapped an arm around her. "Mon Ami, may I introduce to you my beautiful wife, Rose Claus."
     "Wife?" He choked out.
     "Yes, dad." Rose said, rolled her eyes. "You never approved of our relationship, remember?"
     "Well yea! It's Frost!"
     "I don't wanna hear it! You never acted like my father before!" She snapped. "And you have no right to start now! At least he was there for me!"
     "It's ok, Snowflake. Let's just calm down. After all, we have a show to do soon."
     "Frost! This isn't right!" Scott yelled. "She's my daughter for one!" Rose rolled her eyes and scoffed before tying her robe and turning away. "And, for another, this isn't what Christmas is supposed to be about!"
     "Doesn't matter. You were the one that gave it up."
     "You tricked me! I didn't know you had my snow globe!"
     "What're you talking about?" Rose asked, confused.
     "Don't worry about it, sugarplum." Jack said gently to his wife. "Why don't you go get ready for your debut?"
     Rose thought about it. "K." With that, she turned and disappeared into the crowd.
     "Isn't she great? My guardian and my wife!"
    "It isn't right!" Scott repeated.
    "Well who said, 'I wish I'd never been Santa at all?'"
    "What?" Scott asked, discretely pulling out the recorder pen.
    "I said, who said, 'I wish I'd never been Santa at all'? Rudolph? Rudolph's mama?" He mocked.
    "Switch back with me, Frost. Now's your chance."
    "And this is your chance...to enjoy the show. Luckily for you, I'm in a rather good mood. And Rose wanted you to have these." He pulled out a ticket to the show and a backstage pass. "Enjoy! Thanks so much!"
    Then, with that, Jack Frost sauntered off, grinning evilly.