Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Seventy-Two

Only mildly confident that Jess could handle herself in the electrical room, Scott decided to leave her to work in there anyway. She was right. They were both very different people now than they had been when thy used to live alone together. They had both had to learned to live completely different lives and for Scott that meant putting his family before work this time. So, he was going to go back to the Kitchen and enjoy a nice lunch.

But Scott couldn't have predicted the scene he'd walked into. One of the kitchen's main ovens was covered in a green foam. It looked like one of the industrial fire extinguishers had been discharged. Carol, Lucy, Neil, Sylvia and Bud were all there looking quite shaken up.

"Whoa, whoa, what happened?" He asked, looking to the family with great concern.

"Oh nothing." Frost said appearing from behind a set of industrial counters. "Except that you didn't tell your in-laws that your ex-wife is spending Christmas with you!"

"More secrets." Bud frowned. Scott was about to explain that this wasn't a secret at all. Carol was Jess's mom, and Lucy was her sister. They were just as much family as Bud and Sylvia. There was no reason they shouldn't be invited for Christmas too! But then there was a panicked cry from some of the elves behind them. The family turned to see exotic cocoa beans sprouting from the hot chocolate machines. Scot flung his arms out protectively and instructed all of the elves to get back. Then the machine began to smoke before simmering and fizzing out.

"Nothing works in this joint!" Bud huffed in disapproval.

"If you think this is bad, you should see the delivery room!" Frost laughed.

"Is there a problem? I want to see the delivery room!" Bud demanded. So, Scott and Carol reluctantly took the Newman's to see the elf delivery room that was in the process of being outfitted for a normal sized human. "This is not a delivery room! This is a disaster area!"

"Well, we're remodeling." Scott explained as if that would make things better. "You can see, it's gonna be big!"

"This is a broom closet!" Bud argued. "How come the oven in the kitchen is bigger than the delivery room?" Scott looked to Carol in exasperation. He couldn't exactly explain that the ovens in the kitchen were designed to feed hundreds of workers whereas the delivery room was only designed for the delivery of elf babies. He also wanted to add that his very own grandkids had been born in this delivery room, but of course that would be giving too much away. He could practically hear Curtis whispering the Secret of Santa Claus in his ear.

"How about that Syl!" Bud hissed at his wife. "Our grandchild is being born in the broom closet of a Canadian Toy factory!" Bud held his daughter's face between his two hands. "Sweetheart, be honest with me. Are you being held here against your will?"

"Is there even a doctor here?" Sylvia asked.

"Yes of course there's a doctor here!" Scott promised.

"That's it! I'm taking over this project! Somebody get me an apron!" The elves did as they were told and handed an apron to Mrs. Claus' father.

Scott didn't even have enough energy to argue with his in-laws at this point and was glad to be pulled away when Jess called for him over the pole's loudspeaker. One of the conveyor belts had caught fire. Thankfully Jess had cut the power to the rest of the machinery which would stop the fire from spreading as soon as the fire elves could extinguish the flame. They were on their way to the center of the workshop after leaving half the team behind to clean up the mess in the kitchen. Santa and the fire elves arrived at the same time and nearly the entire North Pole watched as the flames were extinguished, leaving a smoldering belt behind.

"We'll get through this, Dad." Jess said leaning her head on her dad's shoulder.

"I don't know, Princess." Scott frowned. "Things are looking pretty bad. Look the springs are melted off the pogo sticks, all that's left from the wooden trains are the wheels, the garland's singed, even the jingles bells are crushed and Christmas is tomorrow."

"Jingle Bells?" Jess repeated having a sudden idea. "Curtis and I can handle things here. You had promised Lucy that you'd show her your snowglobe collection. Why don't you go do that. I'll meet you upstairs when Carol is ready to decorated the tree."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Jess?" Scott was skeptical.

"Yes. Trust me. I know the perfect elf for the job." So, Scott set off the find Lucy. He had promised to show her his hall of snowglobes and he supposed if he could keep at least one promise, the day wouldn't turn out to be a complete waste. In the meantime, Jess went home where Bernard and the kids were having their own late lunch.

"Jessica you're home early." Her husband seemed surprised.

"Yes, but not for very long I'm afraid. I need you. The North Pole needs you." She explained everything that had happened that day. Though she was careful to leave out her personal suspicions about Frost. That was something that was going to have to stay between here and Quintin for now. "Listen, you're the only person besides Curtis who knows the Christmas Handbook cover to cover. You still remember everything that happened before my Dad became Santa so that means you remember how to do everything the way it was done before Research and Development had all the technology that they do know. You can help us get Christmas back on course."

"But Jessica, I'm afraid that's not who I am anymore. How will the elves trust me when I can't remember what's happened for the past ten or so years?" Bernard asked.

"You're still Bernard." She told him. "They'll trust you, even if you can't trust yourself. Even if you can't remember, they do. They remember that you were the greatest elf the North Pole has ever seen. You became Keeper of the Christmas Handbook from a trial where you had to convince the entire North Pole that you were right for the job. They know you and they believe in you. You can do this."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Curtis bit his lip as he watch Bernard working with the team of elves who'd been tasked to clean up the center workshop and get the conveyor belts moving again.

"Curtis he's our best shot at getting Christmas back on track again." Jess assured him. "He remembers ways of doing things that neither one of us were even around for, and what was it you said to me? If we don't believe in ourselves, how can we expect anyone else to."

"I know what I said." Curtis sighed. "I just...I don't want anything else to go wrong. We're so far behind and Mrs. Claus' parents don't seem to be having a good time..."

"I have a plan for that too." Jess smirked. "Have you ever known anyone who's been able to resist my kid's charm?"