Elf in the Shed (Santa Clause/48 Christmas Wishes Crossover)

Humbug

"What have I got myself into?"

"Did you say something Emma?" asked her mother.

"Nope." Emma certainly didn't want her mother to think she was grumbling after having taken on the babysitting job without her permission, let alone after insisting that Blake didn't bring up anything Christmas related lest what he said and did get back to the boy she was crushing on through his little sister. There was also the fact she was in trouble with her mother, with who knew what kind of punishment after said babysitting job was done.

"Oh, good," her mother said, almost as if she suspected Emma was grumbling. Somehow, Laura always knew when Emma grumbled, something she explained away as being mother's intuition. They now found themselves at the kitchen, with Lucy taking a seat with her doll that Emma honestly couldn't be bothered paying any attention to. "Do you want some breakfast, Lucy?"

Blake already went back to eating his cereal while Lucy shook her head. "I already ate before coming over here."

"That doll's rather interesting," her mother said, obviously paying attention to the doll that Emma couldn't pay any mind to. Taking a deep breath, she sat down so she might finish her breakfast, hoping that nobody would talk about Christmas in front of her, particularly since everyone seemed to overdo the holiday spirit thing. "I've never seen anything like it before."

"That's because he's handmade," Lucy piped up, continuing to smile like a little angel. Why the thought popped into Emma's mind she didn't know, but for some reason, Charlie, who was known to be somewhat of a delinquent at school, or at least during the previous year, happened to have the sibling who acted like a complete angel while she got stuck with Blake, an obnoxious monster of sorts, or at least in Emma's opinion, particularly when it came to Christmas.

"Oh. The doll's a boy doll, not a girl doll."

"The doll is a Christmas elf," Lucy replied, making Emma's head jerk up, her eyes not seeing the usual red and green colors she'd come to expect of Christmas. Somehow, the conversation regarding the doll came around to talking about Christmas, yet Emma found herself left with the impression that Lucy was quite an imaginative doll, what with her imagining a doll lacking the usual Christmas colors as a Christmas elf.

"Oh really. Why is he a Christmas elf?"

"Because he's Santa's head elf."

One of Emma's eyebrows shot up, her mouth pushing together. Lucy certainly had quite the imagination, but her mouth opened. "Isn't that sexist?"

"Emma..." The tone of her mother's voice made Emma look at Laura, picking up on the fact she didn't seem to like the fact Emma was questioning the logic behind some of the Christmas traditions which now seemed ever so illogical to Emma.

"Why would that be sexist?" Lucy asked rather innocently.

"I mean, why can't it be a female head elf."

"Because he's male and he's been head elf for a very, very long time and is very, very good at his job, so nobody is ever going to replace him. Plus, he keeps Charlie and me safe."

"That's nice."

"It's much better than a snow globe and possibly works better," Lucy said for some reason. "I just need to whisper into his ear for the magic to work, but that's why it looks like him. I told him it had to, otherwise, it wouldn't make sense at all."

Except, in Emma's mind nothing Lucy said made sense, yet she found herself able to chalk up what Charlie's younger sister said up to her having a very vivid imagination. In the back of her mind, there was that little voice telling her that Charlie wouldn't care about Christmas stuff as Lucy said, yet another voice screamed even louder that she didn't want anything embarrassing to get back to him.

"Okay. I may or may not be back later to check on you kids."

"I'm not a kid," Emma protested. "I'm babysitting after all."

"Right, right," said Laura, throwing her daughter a glare to remind her that she was in trouble for taking the babysitting job without asking her. "Anyways, there's plenty of stuff to make lunch later, but you've got the emergency contact numbers. And..." Laura paused. "Did..."

"I already have the numbers from the Millers just in case there is an emergency mom. I've got this."

"Alright. Then, I'm off and will see you, kids, later. Behave," Laura stated, before heading to the door, leaving Emma to take care of her brother and Lucy, who continued holding onto her doll which still didn't seem important to Emma. Blake continued finishing his breakfast, but everything seemed to be going fine.

Then Blake decided to ask, "What's your favorite Christmas song?"

Lucy's eyes went wide, her mouth forming a circle. She started fidgeting, before saying out loud. "But there are too many! And not just ones in English!"

"So you know lots of Christmas songs?" One of Blake's eyebrows went up in excitement, a smile spreading across his face. "Want to play a game where..."

"No games where you say the first line of the Christmas song and she either guesses what the song is or says the next line. I'd go insane if you did that."

Lucy tilted her head, her mouth pressing together as if what Emma said interested her. "I know of somebody else who isn't fond of such games, particularly when there is so much to do. Uncle Scott says he needs to." Charlie's little sister paused. "I can't think of the word, but it's that word when someone needs to take a break and relax."

"I know. We can surprise mom and decorate for Christmas," Blake blurted out.

"We do that every year."

"No. I mean getting out the decorations from the shed."

"Absolutely not," Emma shook her head. Nobody went into the shed since their father died. "How about you guys go out to the backyard and play in the snow and do what normal kids do such as building snowmen instead?" She then had an afterthought. "And no getting anything for your snowmen from the shed."

"Fine." Blake sighed, before slipping from his chair. Lucy followed after him, leaving her doll behind, not that Emma paid the doll much attention, though there was a feeling about the doll that he couldn't quite place.

Every so often she took a peek out the back window and saw the two were safe and having fun, so it surprised her when she heard a loud crash that she most definitely thought came from the garden shed. The textbook she was using for studying snapped shut and she slowly stood up, feeling frustrated that Blake hadn't listened to her about going into the shed.

As suspected when she looked out the back window, neither Blake nor Lucy was in sight and the door was open, yet she felt as if she'd messed up on her first babysitting job.