Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Forty-Eight

"Twins?" Bernard's voice cracked as he sputtered out the word. A week had passed since he and his wife had first found out they were going to have a baby. Now the time had come for their follow up appointment with Dr. Hismus. After a brief examination, the three elves sat in the doctor's office and he relayed his newfound information to the couple.

"That's what my scans are showing here, sir." The doctor replied with confidence. He slid the scans across the desk so that Bernard could see for himself. "You sound upset?"

"He's terrified." Jess answered for her husband. She reached out and took his hand in comfort. She picked up the scans from the desk and smiled. "Please tell me what we're having. Boys? Girls?"

"One of each." Dr. Hismus announced.

"One of...oh Bernard isn't that wonderful?" She squeezed his hand excitedly.

"Mmhhmmm." He nodded, his mind already calculating the cost of two babies.

"And this should go without saying Mrs Calvin, but you should stay away from alcoholic beverages and other substances for the next year. Anything much stronger than a Tylenol should be avoided really. And please don't overexert yourself at work. I can write a medical note if need be."Again the doctor turned his attention to the Head Elf who was still looking pretty pale.

"That won't be necessary." Bernard mumbled. "Thank you doctor. This is great news." He added, getting to his feet.

"Thank you so much for your time Dr. Hismus." Jess said, standing up herself. "We'll see you at our next appointment. And if you'll excuse us, I'd like to get my husband back to work before he has a mental breakdown." So Jess and Bernard left the doctor's office and crossed the small patch of snow to the main workshop. All the while Bernard was chirping warnings at his wife.

"Careful," He remarked. "We don't want you falling or getting hurt." In response, Jessie just rolled her eyes at him. This was his way of coping with their dramatic news, so she let him fret and fluster all the way back to the workshop.

Scott was excitedly pacing the workshop floor waiting for his daughter and son-in-law to return from their appointment. No one outside of the family knew that the Elf couple was expecting a baby. So to the rest of the North Pole it looked like their Santa was pacing nervously. The second Jess and Bernard stepped through the front doors, he rushed to them.

"So?" Scott asked, his eyes wide with anticipation. "Wait, don't say anything!" He held his hands up to stop them from bursting out any news. "Let's go to my office where the elves wont overhear."

"Please excuse me, I have some urgent work I must see to it in my office." Bernard excused himself from the conversation and crept into his own office.

"What's wrong with Bernard?" Scott frowned. He knew his son-in-law was nervous about becoming a father, but he had really hoped this doctor visit would inspire him somehow. Then again Bernard himself had been hoping for baby girl, maybe that's what had him so out of sorts.

"Is it a boy?" Scott asked his daughter his daughter, he really wanted his first grandkid to be a grandson.

"Yes, dad, it's a boy."

"Alright, team baby boy!" Scott cheered. He held his hand up to his daughter for a high five. Jess slapped his hand and laughed. "Oh Bernard will be fine. The second he lays eyes on his baby boy, he'll fall in love with him. just like I did with you."

"That's very sweet Dad." His daughter kissed him on the cheek. "And it's not the baby that's got Bernard so flustered. It's the babies."

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Babies, Dad." She repeated. "As in pleural. As in twins. We're having twins, a boy and a girl."

"Twins? Wow, that's ah...that's something." her dad whistled. "Say why don't you go find Curtis? He's been wondering what's going on. He asked me this morning if he was getting fired. I figured he should hear the good news from you."

"Yeah, sure." Jessie nodded. "I'll talking to him after I check on Bernard."

"Why don't you leave Bernard to me?" Scott suggested.

"You?"

"Yes me. Why not? let me talk to him man to man."

"I-I don't know about that..."

"Oh come on, it will be fine!" Scott put a reassuring arm around his daughter. "Go find Curtis, I'll talk to that husband of yours and then we can all meet up together for dinner."

Bernard sat alone in his office and stared at the usual spray of paperwork that was scattered around his desk. Normally he'd throw himself into his work, he wanted to throw himself into his work. He wanted a distraction. Something that made him feel like he was in control. But the truth was the Head Elf was not in control anymore. His wife was pregnant through some sort of Christmas miracle.

That sure had thrown him for a loop. Now they're telling him he was soon going to be the father of twins. Two babies meant twice as much to prepare for! Not to mention Christmas. Christmas was going to be a disaster! And it wasn't like he could simply leave Curtis in charge. The number two was in charge for less than 24 hours and the place had gone sour faster than egg nog.

Yet most of the departments had been repaired. Reasonable vacation requests had all been approved and after-Christmas bonuses had all been delivered. Bernard hadn't been this far ahead on his work since before he was married, and yet he couldn't shake the heavy feeling in his chest. He was overwhelmed. There was a knock at the office door, Santa let himself in.

"Hey Bernard!" Scott greeted Cheerfully. "Listen I was,ah, just talking to Jess. Twins. Wow. That's, ah, a big responsibility."

"Santa I promise you it is a responsibility I am willing to take on." Bernard swore. He sat up straight in his chair and looked back at his father-in-law very seriously. Scott smiled. He invited himself in and sat in one of the chairs opposite his son in law.

"You know when Jessie was born, I was terrified."

"You were?"

"Well of course!" Santa laughed. "I didn't know anything about raising a kid! Sure Laura and I had talked about it, but we didn't know what we were doing."

"But Santa...Scott, when did you know you were ready?"

"The first time I held Jessie in my arms. She looked like an alien, all kids do at first. But I was sitting there holding this little girl in my hands and I thought How the hell am I going to be able to take care of this thing? How am I going to make sure my little girl is safe from with world? And as I was thinking that, tiny baby Jessica reached out and wrapped her hand around one of my fingers. And that was when I knew. From that day forward I was the king of the castle and Jessie was my little princess."

"That's a very touching story, but what if that doesn't happen?" Bernard worried. "What if I scoop up these two little elves and I hold them in my hand and...nothing? Or what if they grow up to hate me?"

"Oh they least they say they will a lot. " Scott laughed. "The first time they want to go to a party and you tell them no because it's a school night. Or when they sneak their first sip of egg nog and they try to sneak into the house late at night. But sometimes if they're mad at you, that means your doing the right thing. Besides Laura and I didn't raise our kids alone. We had lots of help from our parents..."

"And Dr. Miller?"

"Yeah, and Neil. And you kids will have tons of help too! Me, Carol, Neil, Laura, Charlie and Lucy, all of the elves...Bernard your kids are going to grow up with the biggest family anyone could ever ask for. We'll all be parenting experts before they're three."

"I suppose you're right." The Head Elf nodded.

"It was bound to happen sometime." Scott shrugged, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "Listen I'm going to take the reindeer out for a spin, so I'll let you get back to work. But Carol and I will be expecting you guys over for dinner. I want to talk about this addition you want to put on your house."