The Mrs. Clause

After the emergency shut down, Santa decided to go on patrol to make sure the elves returned to work since Christmas is around the corner and November was coming to an end. Bernard and Merry stood beside the jolly man while Curtis tried to keep up with the group, "Now hold on, just a minute!" said the young elf, pulling out a rather large handbook from his messenger bag, "You know I didn't break any of the rules, according to the Santa Handbook-""The handbook~" said Bernard sarcastically, "Curtis, do you go pee-pee with that thing?""I certainly hope not" said Merry, "But probably"Curtis rolled his eyes before speaking, "It says elves are encouraged to listen to music. It makes them more creative, more productive, and more alert""Not while we're in an Elf-Con related situation""Look out!"

The four quickly ducked, Bernard placing a hand over Merry's head to keep her safe, as a reindeer was flying out of control until he crash landed on a nearby roof. Once the coast was clear, they stood up to check the damage the reindeer caused. Thankfully, the reindeer was not seriously injured."That's gonna leave a mark" said Santa, "Is that Blitzen? Looks like Prancer""That would be neither" said Merry, "I think that was Chet""Who?""Our reindeer in training""Well, please tell me that it's early in his training. Wow, nice fall"With a nice pat on Bernard's shoulder, Santa makes his way back to the workshop and checks on the elves' progress with the toys.

Bernard made sure the coast was clear before glaring down at the young elf, "Curtis, when are you gonna tell him?" he whispered"Not now" Curtis replied"Tell him what?" asked MerryBernard and Curtis froze, glancing at the female elf in a panic. "Uhh... that-that Comet ate all of Santa's cookies again" Curtis lied, smiling awkwardly. Merry raised a brow, clearly not buying the lie the young elf just told. Bernard hesitates before slowly making his way to Merry, "Now don't be mad, Sugarplum" he said"Why?" asked Merry. The head elf whispered into the female elf's ear, which resulted in Merry glaring at Curtis, "How could you not tell Santa about this?""I will... eventually" said Curtis.

Merry sighed and shook her head, "This is definitely worse then the news I have for my dad""What news?" asked Bernard, "How bad is it?"Merry hesitates before leaning towards the two elves, "It's about Charlie""Sheen?" asked Bernard and Curtis"No, no, no. Not that Charlie"It was then Bernard realized the 'Charlie' Merry was walking about was her little brother, Charlie Calvin. This could really affect Santa in more ways than one, but the main problem was what Curtis recently discovered and set the Charlie problem aside. The three elves then make their way to the workshop, keeping up with Santa as the jolly man in red checks on the progress of the toys.

By the time the three elves got to the workshop, they found Santa working a functioning toy car for kids to ride in, making sure the engine was purring just right. Once that was done, a young baker elf offered the jolly old man a fresh cookie from the kitchen, which Santa happily accepts. The baker elf even offered one for Merry, who kindly accepts it and uses her magic to conjure up a new whisk for the other."Here you go" she said"Thank you, Merry" said the baker elf, making her way back to the kitchen with a smile on her face. Santa then comes up to one of the worker elves, who was having trouble with a kangaroo toy that keep falling on the table. "Alexander. Let's think" said Santa, "Take the hat off"Alexander the elf does what Santa says, removing the hat off which made the kangaroo toy bounce properly on the table. This showed that the hat was causing too much counterweight. Alexander thanked the man in red before going back to work.

Finally, Santa stops and looks up at the elves in the present department upstairs, "Hey, Joey!" called Santa, "How's that static-free tinsel coming?""Hey, guys!" Joey the elf calls his coworkers, "Santa wants to see the new tinsel"Without hesitation, the elves dump the new tinsel towards Santa from the second floor, which also ended up on Merry and Bernard. Of course, Santa didn't get mad, instead he suggested he and the elves settle things with a nice game of tinsel football outside, which they were delighted to do. When Santa leaves, Bernard and Merry remove the tinsel and turn their attention to the young elf. "Curtis, you need to tell him, right now" Bernard glared"I don't know," said Curtis, unsure of himself, "He's so happy right now. Why do I have to be the one to tell him?!""Because, I'm the head elf, I don't give bad news. It's one of the perks of my seniority""Not to mention it's you who made the discovery, Curtis" said Merry, "And I can't tell him either, since I've got news of my own."

The female elf kindly pulls Bernard close to carefully remove the leftover tinsel in his dark dreadlocks. The head elf blushed at how close Merry was to his face as well as how focused she was. When Merry pulled away, she smiled and said, "You had some tinsel in your hair, Bernard""Oh, um, thank you, Sugarplum" said Bernard"You're welcome"The head elf immediately takes his leave to join Santa outside. Curtis glanced at Merry with a suspicious look, "You haven't told him?""Told him what, Curtis?" asked Merry"That you obviously like him!""Not yet, but I hope he likes me too""Why can't you two just kiss already?! It's been 8 years since you guys got together and neither one of you kissed or even told each other that you like one another!"Merry covered the young elf's mouth and glared down at him, "Don't make me turn you into a turtle dove, Mister" she hissed, "One peep out of you and you're history, understand?"Curtis nods silently before the two leave the workshop to watch the game outside.

After a fun game of tinsel football, Santa was standing in his office getting ready for his meeting with the legendary figures. The moment he looked in the mirror, Santa noticed his pants were a bit loose and raised a brow, "That's weird isn't it?" he asked, "These fit yesterday, didn't they?""I'll have Judy tailor it for you, Dad" said Merry, until Abby the elf enters the room with Cocoa for Santa."This is not a good time, Abby," said Bernard, placing the red coat on Santa, making sure it fits just right."I asked Abby to send Dasher down for some Brazilian Cocoa beans" said Merry"Merry's right, Santa" said Abby, "Hope you enjoy it"Abby leaves the room with a smile until Santa glanced down at his daughter with suspicion. "What's the bad news?" he askedMerry decided to play dumb, "What do you mean?""Whenever you or some other elf play the designer bean card, generally you have bad news"

Merry glanced at Bernard, who silently gave her the 'tell him' look, before using her magic to conjure the naughty list and hand it to her father. Santa raised a brow and glanced down at the list, "What are you doing with the naughty and nice list, young lady?""Don't shoot the messenger, old timer" said Merry, hesitating to continue as her father stared down at her, "It's... Charlie""Sheen? I thought he'd straightened out""Not that Charlie"Santa paused, glancing down at the list for Charlie Calvin, checking it twice to see if it was true. But alas, Charlie's name was right there on the naughty list in red ink. "There's gotta be a mistake" he said"I thought so too, Dad" said Merry, "But after checking it twice, maybe thrice, sure enough Charlie somehow ended up on the naughty list""Did you check the crystal ball Father Time gave you last year?""Yep, and you would not believe what happened last night"

Merry conjures up a crystal ball in her hand, using her magic to show an image of Charlie to Santa. There Charlie and his friend were on the rooftop of their school at night, breaking into the building and making graffiti above the gym. It was a Christmas Tree with no symbol across from it. Seeing that Santa had enough, Merry takes the crystal ball away and gave her father an apologetic look, "I'm so sorry, Dad" she apologized, "But it is what it is"Santa sighed in frustration, pacing around his room a bit as Curtis entered with the rolling magnifying set. "How could this happen?"  asked Santa, "Is this what you guys were trying to tell me?""Great! You told him!" said Curtis, "Good, let's get you dressed for that meeting""Not exactly" said Merry, "But there's something more important than that""What could be more important than Charlie being on the naughty list?" asked Santa, "Either way, I can't have the meeting here. I really can't, I gotta go see Charlie"

Bernard gives the younger elf a stern look, "Number two, tell him now""I thought you guys told him already" said Curtis"And we told you before, Curtis. You made the discovery, you tell him" said Merry"Tell me what guys?" asked Santa, confused with what's going on between the three elves, "Come on, come clean"Curtis looked up at Santa, taking a deep breath before finally coming clean, "Santa, there's a Clause""Yeah, that would be me""No, I mean there's another Santa Clause""Curtis, in case you haven't notice, this time of year, the malls are full of other 'Santa Clauses.' Unless you're talking about Merry""It's not me, old timer" said Merry"But there's another Santa Clause" said Curtis, "There was a first clause, but there's a second clause"Get on with it!" said the puppets in the background.

Curtis sighed before pulling out a familiar business card from his pocket. The very business card that started it all when Scott Calvin and Merry Calvin became Santa and his elf. "When the last Santa fell off your roof and you two formed a binding contract, you found this"Santa knew the rules, when putting on the suit and entering the sleigh, the wearer takes on the duties and responsibilities of Santa Claus and the rest is history, or so he thought. Bernard steps in, "But it seems our number two elf, 'The Keeper of the Handbook'' he glares at Curtis, "Overlooked the single MOST IMPORTANT DETAIL IN THE HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS"Merry placed a calming hand on the head elf's shoulder, which made Bernard take a deep breath and hold the female elf's hand for support."Wow," said Curtis, unfazed by the head elf's anger, "one mistake in 900 years"

Once Bernard was calm, he pulled out one of the magnifying glass' to show what was written on the card. Unfortunately, Santa could barely read the even finer print than the last. This kept going on until Santa gave up on looking through the small magnifying glasses. "Oh, for goodness sake" said Merry, having enough of Bernard pulling out the smaller ones, by pulling out the largest magnifying glass which finally showed the finer print, much to Santa's delight. The four gathered around to read the fine print until Santa's eye widen at the words 'Holy Matrimony' written on the card"I gotta get married?!" he yelled"Yes" said Bernard, "It's the Mrs. Clause""Honestly, I thought you guys would get married at some point"Merry and Bernard blushed, glancing at one another before awkwardly looking away. The puppets in the background chant 'Here Comes the Bride' until Merry gave them an icy cold glare, which made them squeal and hide behind the curtain.

"Well, what if I don't want to get married?" asked Santa, adjusting his belt, half his belly suddenly disappeared."Oh, dear" said Curtis, "The de-Santification process has begun!""de-Santification process?" asked Merry"Are you telling me the Clause says, if I don't get married, I don't get to be Santa anymore?" asked SantaBernard nods sadly, "And Merry won't be an elf, which means the de-Santification process will affect her too"This was really putting Santa on edge, worrying about what would happen to kids all over the world along with the elves, even Bernard and Curtis. Merry was just as concern as her father, seeing that the de-Santification process would affect her as well, and she loved being an elf. "It's not completely hopeless" said Bernard, reassuring the two, "You still have time to find a wife""Well, how much time do I have?" asked Santa"28 days" said Curtis"28 days? So I've gotta find a wife by Christmas""Actually, Christmas Eve," said Merry.

Santa sighed in defeat, thinking it was all over until Curtis spoke up, "You can't think that way," he said, "Please, don't give up hope. Cause if you do, then we have to"The room fell silent as they looked up at the man in red with a bit of hope. Suddenly, Santa's beard became shorter as did Merry's elf ears. The female elf gasped when she touched them, her eyes filled with worry. "Christmas is going to be very complicated" said Santa"Don't threat, Santa" said Bernard, "While you have your meeting with the Legendary Figures, Merry, myself, and Curtis will come up with something"