The Yule Clause

Chapter Seventeen. Santa's blessing.

Though Mackenzie knew this was a bad idea, she was glad to be away from Laura and Neal and to be with her uncle again. But overall, she was with Bernard again, which made her heart even happier. Charlie was walking beside Bernard, Poinsettia, Scott, and Mackenzie through the North Pole, on the way to the workshop. "Bernard?" the boy asked looking up at the elf. "Yeah?"

"Do you love Mack?" the head elf's face turned beet red, and he chuckled awkwardly. Scott glared over at Bernard. "What... why would you ask that?"

"Because she loves you." Mackenzie also turned red. "No, I don't!" she quickly said. "But you told my mom and Neal that you did at the courthouse." The 8-year-old said, making his cousin and the elf even more embarrassed, but they didn't say anything else. They just looked at each other, both blushing a lot. Bernard quickly turned his attention to Santa, who still didn't look happy "Santa come with me." The man nodded as the elf looked at his sister. "Settie, please find Charlie and Mackenzie something to do." "Will do." Poinsettia led the two away. The Head Elf took Scott to his new office and over to the desk. He handed him the magic snowball. Scott stared at the elf. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"This is how you check on the children, ask it to show you anyone." Bernard explained. Scott thought a bit. "Show me, Robert Jackson." The snowball glowed and showed the mean boy from Charlie's class. Bobby was stealing $5 from his mom's purse. Scott looked at the elf. "This is wonderful." He placed the snowball on the desk. "Now, you and I are going to have a talk." Bernard gulped, because there was something about the way Santa said that that scared him. They sat on the couch. "You're a good kid." Scott started. Bernard stayed silent because he was older than Scott. "And I can see that you care for Mack, a lot."

"More than you know, sir." The curly haired elf smiled but it disappeared when he noticed that Santa wasn't. "Are these feelings new or did you have them when you visited her as a child?"

"NEW I swear! Back then we were just friends." Bernard promised. Scott was quiet, which worried the elf. "Alright, then you have my blessing." He said, a bright smile went across Bernard's face. "Thank you, Santa!" he got up to leave. "I'll go tell her!" Bernard headed for the door but was stopped by Scott calling. "No kissing until you two are married!" the elf didn't know if the new Santa was joking or not. But he nodded. "I'll send Curtis in with the handbook." Then the elf left. "There's a handbook?" Scott asked himself, though it didn't surprise him, the elves seemed very by the book.... then there's Poinsettia who just seemed out of place here.

Bernard found Mackenzie working at the wood table. She had always been good at wood work, not as good as the elves, but still good, she was making a dining-room set for a dollhouse, when the head elf walked up to the table. "Kenzie, could I have a word with you?" he asked, stopping next to her, she looked up at him. "Sure." She stood up and took his hand making both of them blush. He took her out of the room, and to the ballroom. They stood outside of it; he took her other hand. "What do you want to talk about?" Mackenzie asked. Bernard was nervous to tell her but needed to. "Charlie was right, I do like you." The elf said. She hugged him. "I like you too." He wrapped his arms around her waist. "I could have told you that months ago." Poinsettia's voice appeared next to the door. "What do you want?" Bernard asked annoyed, letting go of Mackenzie. "There's 30 days until Christmas, and our New Santa still has a lot to learn." Poinsettia reminded. Bernard didn't realize that Christmas was that close. But now he was worried that Scott wouldn't be ready by the 24th. "Alright Poinsettia. You and Mackenzie go check on the preparations and I'll make sure that Santa is ready." Bernard ordered; the women nodded. They then went their separate ways. "He takes his job seriously, doesn't he?" Mackenzie asked as she followed Poinsettia. "Yeah, our father, gave him the job...so I think he feels like if he makes a mistake, even the smallest one, he'll let father down." She said sadly. "And this Christmas Eve, will be hard on all of us."

"I'm sorry..."

"Thank you." She said then gave Mackenzie a smile, although the smile lasted a bit longer than it should have. "Why are you smiling?" Mackenzie felt uncomfortable. "Because you make my brother jolly, the jolliest I've seen him in years." The elf said making the human blush. "Well then he makes me jolly as well." She answered smiling back.

"So, uh...what kind of job, do you think I'll be good at?" Poinsettia thought for a short while. "Well, you're good at woodworking, but are there any other skills you have?"

"I'm good at planning." Mackenzie replied.

"Perfect! Then you will be the North Pole's Christmas planner." The brown-haired elf smirked. "That way you can always work with Bernard." Mackenzie liked the sound of that. "What do I have to do?" "Plan meetings with the legendary figures, and make sure that Christmas Eve goes just right." Poinsettia said. "Well, the last thing, is Bernard's job, but I think he'll like it if you help him out."

"Isn't that Curtis's job?" Mackenzie asked turning to Poinsettia. "Yeah, but he stresses Bernard out, so having you there will calm my brother." Poinsettia smiled. "I can feel it when you're around him."

"What do you mean you can feel it, like emotions?" Mackenzie thought that was cool. The elf nodded. "Yup, Bernie and I are the only elves here who have two abilities."

"Like what?"

"As you know, I can turn invisible. But not only that. I can feel/help people's emotions as well. Bernard's abilities are obviously teleporting, he can also see into the future, but only in pieces, oh and Christmas Magic like Santa. So, he has three." Poinsettia finished explaining. Mackenzie found that cool. "Did he see my uncle becoming Santa?"

"No that was a surprise." Poinsettia muttered. "But Bernard is really happy that you're here." Mackenzie blushed a bit. Poinsettia led Mackenzie back to the workshop and handed her a clipboard. "Alright, let's check on the preparations." The two went around the shop, to check on everything.