Bernard brought Mackenzie up a hill for sledding. Poinsettia, Quintin, and Curtis were at the top waiting for Bernard, not expecting Mackenzie to be with him. The three smiled at each other when The Head Elf and The Human walked up the hill holding hands. "Hi Mack." Poinsettia greeted. "Hi." Mackenzie said, turning to the blond standing next to Poinsettia, holding her hand. "Hello Mack, I'm Quintin Winter-Pine Poinsettia's husband, nice to meet you." Quintin smiled, shaking the human's hand. "You too, Quintin." Mackenzie smiled back. then turned to Curtis, who had the biggest smile on his face. "What are you doing here!?" he asked happily, the human stared at him confused. Poinsettia glared at him. "I mean uh you must be Mackenzie, the New Santa's niece." Curtis held out his hand. "Curtis Evergreen, Second in command." She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you Curtis, but I prefer to be called 'Mack'." she said, "Oh of course, sorry." He smiled; Bernard glared at him not liking that he was smiling at her. Poinsettia looked up at her brother when she noticed that he was still holding Mackenzie's hand. "Are you and Mackenzie going to sled together? That way you could have your arms around her." she asked in North elfish. Her brother blushed. "No!" he responded pulling his hand away. Mackenzie watched the elves sledding; some of them were laughing and some were arguing, because they had a race and one of them lost. She couldn't understand what the elves were saying, but it sounded like swearing. "Human." Bernard's voice made her turn around to see that he was smiling, she couldn't help but smile back. "What is it, Elf?" she asked.
"Do you want to sled with me?"
"D-do you mean together, on the same sled?" he shook his head.
"No."
"Good." He led her over to the hill, Mackenzie looked down the hill, then at Bernard. "This feels wrong." The head elf laughed. Hearing him laugh surprised Poinsettia, of course she could feel that he was becoming happier around Mackenzie, the same with Mackenzie around him. The last time Poinsettia saw her brother so jolly was when he and Mackenzie were friends when they were younger. But they now didn't remember meeting before the night when Scott became Santa. It was good that they were able to find each other again. "You'll get used to it." Bernard smiled again, then raced the human down the hill. Mackenzie fell off the sled she was using, "Okay, you win!" she laid in the snow dramatically in defeat. He laid beside her and started tickling her. "Stop it!" she laughed. Bernard smiled; the other elves around them stared in surprise as their head elf laid over the human. "Oooo." The elves said. The head elf and human turned beet red, but they just stared into each other's eyes. "Your eyes are beautiful." He whispered. "Thank you...so are yours." She whispered back, it seemed like the world stopped as they stared at each other, not saying a word. After a bit he got up, and helped her to her feet. "Uh wanna go again?" he turned away. "Uh...I would love to, but I should go home." She said, he nodded. Though he didn't want her to go, but he remembered that he would see her all the time after November. They teleported back to her house and into the front room. "Uncle Scott! I'm home." she called as Bernard let go of her. "Mackenzie! Thank goodness, you're safe." Scott called back, running into the room, and pulled her into a bear hug. "Yeah, I'm fine." She answered. The new Santa let go of her and pulled his niece behind him. "You!" he growled at the elf. "You can't take my niece away, without-"
"It's my fault." Mackenzie cut in. The two looked at her.
"It is?" Scott asked, Bernard stared at her.
"Yes, I wanted to see more of the North Pole, and get to know the elves since we will be moving there." She explained, Scott calmed down.
"Alright but tell me the next time you and Branden run off together." He said, she nodded. He hugged her again, before walking away giving Bernard the death stare. The elf walked up to her. "Thank you, Mackenzie." He smiled. "But you didn't have to take the blame."
She smiled back. "But that's what friends are for." He liked that she called him a friend, but a small part of him didn't. "Also, are we on first name bases now, Branden?" she asked with a small chuckle. The elf didn't realize he said her name. "No of course not. Human." He crossed his arms. "Aww. Too bad, I thought we were friends." She said with fake sadness.
He chuckled. "Uh I should go..." he turned away, "Alright...but will you come back?" she asked hopefully, he faced her.
"Of course, you'll be seeing a lot more of me now that your uncle is Santa."
"Good, but I don't know how much of you I want to see." Mackenzie said a bit flirty. The elf chuckled awkwardly. "See you later, Elf." She winked as she headed towards the stairs. "Yeah...see ya Human." He smiled then disappeared.
Once she saw that Bernard was gone, she leaned against the wall and slid down, sighing as she did.
"Are you alright?" Scott asked from the living-room, making her almost jump out of her skin because her uncle was silent until now. "Y-yeah, just fine." She hoped that he didn't hear what she said to Bernard. "I'm going to do my homework, then take a shower." She got to her feet and ran upstairs.
Bernard returned home and went to find Tante, because he needed to talk to someone about the sparkle. He had to know if that was the reason for his odd behavior earlier. He found her in the workshop making toys with her sons. "Tante.... uh can I have a word with you?" Bernard asked. She looked up and nodded, then followed him out of the room.
"Bernard, what's the matter?" she asked. He took a breath.
"I went to see Mackenzie; we went sledding.... then we laid in the snow...and I... laid over her and just stared into her eyes. I have to know why!?" he shouted. "Is it The Sparkle?"
"The Sparkle does bring the elves who shared it together. So yes." Tante answered. "I don't have time for this! I'm the head elf, I'm the one who is supposed to keep everything in line. So, I can't be going about-"
"You think that Mackenzie will get in your way?" Tante interrupted. Her nephew shook his head. "No, I didn't say that...I just meant..." he paused looking down at the floor. "If I chose her then I'll only have two options."
"And what are they?" she asked. He kept his eyes on the floor. "To give up everything... or to watch her grow old and leave me all alone!" he cried, looking up this time. "I don't want either of them! I just want her!" tears rolled down his cheeks, he knew that he could only have one of them. Tante wrapped her arms around him, he cried into her shoulder. "Shh, it's alright, sweetheart." She rubbed his back. He calmed down. "Why don't you go see her?" she asked. "It will help set you at ease.", he wiped his tears away. "O-okay...I'll do that." He teleported to Mackenzie's room. She jumped when he appeared in the room. Luckily, she just finished dressing. "Don't do that!" she kept her voice down so Scott wouldn't hear her, then she noticed the tears falling. "Hey, why are you crying?" she put her hand on Bernard's cheek and wiped the tears away as they fell. "It's nothing...I'm fine." His voice shook as he spoke. "No, you're not. What is it?" she whispered. He wanted to tell her but didn't know how to. His arms went around her. "Please don't leave me." He whispered in south elfish. She blinked confused because she couldn't understand him. "What?"
"You're my Christmas spirit." He answered in the same language, more tears fell onto her shoulder. Though she couldn't understand him, it didn't seem to matter, the only thing that did was that he was here. "It's okay. Don't cry, you'll be okay." She whispered. He let go of her. "I'm sorry...I don't know where that came from." He cleared his throat, he went over to her bed and sat on it. She sat beside him. "It's alright, I'm always here for you." She smiled at him and took his hand. They both blushed when she did, but neither one of them let go. "Thank you."
"Of course, that's what friends are for." She leaned on his shoulder. He agreed, and he was glad that he didn't say any of those things in a language she could understand because it would be really embarrassing if she knew what he confessed. The two sat on the bed quietly, neither one knew what to say, but Bernard didn't mind the quiet. It helped him relax and he realized that Tante was right; he was at ease when he was with Mackenzie. "Do you want to talk about why you were crying?" she finally asked. "No not really..." he answered staring at the wall. "I should go home now." he stood up but so did Mackenzie. "You can stay the night." She suggested, not sure why she would ask him to stay over. He turned to face her. "Only if you want to."
"A-are you sure." He asked. She nodded letting go of his hand and got into the bed. He stared at her unsure what to do. "Uh, do you have another room I could stay in?" he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, there's Charlie's room but the door is always opened when he's not here and it's near my uncle's room, so he could catch you." She answered. "But would we get caught if I slept in here?" Bernard asked nervously and a bit awkward. "It would be fine." She promised. "But if you're not comfortable with it, then you could-"
"It's fine, I just didn't want to make you uncomfortable." He said, she smiled at him. "I was going to say the same thing." She replied, he sat on the bed, looking at her.
"You're sure this is alright?" he asked. She nodded, he took his shoes off and got in next to her. "Do you want to sleep with your hat on?" she whispered, he thought about it then took it off and set it on the table by the bed. They looked at each other but said nothing as they stared at each other. She smiled softly at him, he smiled back. "Uh goodnight." She rolled away from him and looked at the wall. "Goodnight, Kenzie." He responded, she blushed at the nickname as she fell asleep. He closed his eyes and started falling asleep, trying to keep his distance without falling off the bed because he didn't want to make her uncomfortable.
Mackenzie woke up the next morning lying on something that didn't feel like her bed. She opened her eyes and gasped quietly when she saw Bernard fast asleep next to her. He looked so peaceful and handsome, she couldn't help but stare, his snoring was soft she could hear his heart beating. It was calming and she found herself falling asleep again, against his chest. Soon the elf's eyes opened and looked at the teen sleeping against his chest, he knew that he should leave and get home, but he didn't want to wake her up, so maybe it would be alright if he stayed a bit longer. Soon there was a loud knock on the door, waking the two up. They jumped blushing a lot realizing how close they were lying together. "Y-yeah?" Mackenzie asked. "Mack, you awake?" Scott asked. "Y-yeah, what's up?" she answered. "Breakfast is ready." He called. "Okay be right down." She replied. Scott walked away and went downstairs. "Sorry...but I should go." Bernard whispered sitting up so he could put his shoes and hat on, he stood up and turned to her. "Th-thank you for letting me stay." He muttered. "Y-yeah, you're welcome...you can come and stay anytime." She whispered back turning red. He did too, then smiled. "I'll see you later." She stood up and hugged him, he wrapped his arms around her, not wanting to let her go, but he knew that he needed to go. "Yeah." He whispered again, then they let go of each other. He teleported back home. Once he was gone, Mackenzie went to join her uncle in the dining-room for breakfast, as she ate her bowl of cereal, she thought about why she invited Bernard to sleepover last night. She knew that Scott would flip out if he knew that the elf slept in the same bed as Mackenzie, even if they just slept and didn't do anything. But she would still keep it to herself.
Bernard teleported to his room so he could make it seem like he was there all night. He took his shoes and hat off, then hopped into his bed. Just as someone started knocking on the door. "What?" he groaned trying to sound tired. "Uh...you've been asleep for a long time, and we're getting worried." Curtis answered. "What time is it?" the head elf asked still acting tired, "9Am." Number two responded. Bernard's eyes widen, he couldn't believe that he stayed that long at Mackenzie's house. "Oh Garnet! Why didn't any elf wake me up!?" he jumped up and threw on his shoes and hat on and rushed to the door, ripping it open. "Sorry, but we have been busy...and-"
"And what? Forgot about me?" Bernard glared at the blond elf, pushing past him, and headed down the hall. "No that's not what I meant." Curtis followed his boss, then he noticed that it looked like Bernard was crying. "Have you been crying?"
"That's not your business." He answered angrily, walking quicker downthe hall. Curtis knew that was true, but he couldn't help but worry about hisboss, because he's been acting strange since that Christmas Eve when Scott andMackenzie arrived at the pole. If only he knew that it was because Bernardfound his true Christmas spirit, and never wanted to lose it.