Winter Dream (Bernard the Elf x Reader)

Chapter 17- The Mrs. Clause

Bernard and I were in the Santa Suite, preparing to tell Dad the news. The bright colors, toys, and overall carefree atmosphere of the room brought us no comfort. None of us were prepared to tell Santa about the Mrs. Clause.

Dad was looking at himself in the mirror and stared at his pants. "That's weird, isn't it?" He tried to adjust the waist of his pants but to no avail. "These fit yesterday."

As Bernard helped Dad put on his signature red coat, Abby, one of the elves who made cocoa for Santa entered the room. "Hot cocoa for you, Santa." She announced in her usual sweet voice.

"This is not a good time, Judy," Bernard said, sounding frustrated. I couldn't blame him; the news had us all on edge.

Judy ignored his comment. "I sent Dasher down for some Brazilian Cocoa beans." She spoke, setting the tray onto Santa's desk.

Dad smiled as he made his way over to his desk. "What's the bad news?"

I glanced at Bernard, and gestured to Judy, asking him if he told her about the Mrs. Clause. Even without words, Bernard understood what I was asking. Over the years we grew able to communicate using motions only, for no other reason other than the fact that we had become that close. He shook his head 'no,' telling me that there must've been some other bad news.

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, trying to sound casual, but failing miserably.

"Whenever you play the designer bean card, you have bad news," Dad replied.

Judy's smile fell, and she slowly held up a scroll of parchment that I recognized as the naughty-and-nice list.

Dad took the list from her. "What are you doing with the naughty-and-nice list?"

"Just don't shoot the messenger..."

Dad looked at her skeptically, and slowly put on his reading glasses. I walked over to him and peered over his shoulder as he unrolled the parchment.

"It's...Charlie." She softly spoke.

"Sheen? I thought he straightened out!" Dad glanced at me as though I had an explanation.

"Not that Charlie..." Judy sighed.

Bernard's eyes flicked back and forth between Judy and Dad. Dad was silent as he read the list. "My Charlie. My son, Charlie? He's on the naughty list?" He asked in disbelief, scanning Judy's face as though he was waiting for her to tell him it was just a joke.

I quickly snatched the list out of Dad's hands to read for myself. I couldn't imagine Charlie, my sweet little brother, on the naughty list. There was no way he was capable of such a thing. I couldn't even fathom it. Alas, Judy was right. My eyes soon found Charlie Calvin's name written on the Naughty List. "Charlie would never! There has to have been some mistake!" I exclaimed.

"We don't make mistakes." Judy softly spoke as she sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Santa, (Yn)... please excuse me." She quickly left the room.

Dad was distraught. "How could this happen? Is this what you guys were trying to tell me?"

Curtis entered the room a moment later, pushing a giant magnifying glass rack toward us. "Great! You told him! Let's get you dressed for that meeting!" He spoke with relief.

"I can't have the meeting here. I'm gonna have to see Charlie." Dad said.

Bernard glanced at Curtis. "Tell him."

"I thought you told him?" Curtis asked.

I shook my head. "No, we didn't."

"Tell me what, guys?" Dad asked, sounding extremely annoyed by the whole thing. "Come clean."