Elf: Buddy's Sister

Chapter 1

                                                              *Cues Elf Interlude by Tori Kelly*

"Buddy, I have some news to tell you."

Buddy sits in Santa's office, waiting for the news. He hopes it is good; it's the holiday season and that should bring joy to everyone.

"What is it Santa?"

The large, bearded man sighs and pulls out a photo of a young woman singing and playing guitar.

"Oh, who is this? She looks nice," Buddy says.

"It's your sister," Santa says.

Buddy looks at the big man, wide eyed.

"What?! I don't have a sister. My dad would have told me, wouldn't he?!"

Santa pulls out another picture, one of his mom, Susan Wells, and a baby with a lot of dark hair. Buddy stares at it, confused.

"She doesn't look like me at all!"

"That's because she has a different father," Santa explains. "About four years after you were born, your mom fell in love with another man. After she had your sister is when she fell ill and died, and her biological father didn't want her, so she was put in foster care. She was adopted, though, by a loving family. I made sure of that."

Buddy couldn't wrap his head around all this. Did Susan Wells leave his dad because of him and then start dating this other guy after giving him up? His mom wasn't as good of a human as he originally thought.

"Why are you telling me this now, Santa?"

Santa motions for Buddy to sit in the chair across from him.

"It's because...well, first I had to tell you about not being an elf, and Papa Elf adopting you after you snuck into my bag on Christmas..."

"Oh yeah, huge plot twist," Buddy interjects.

"And then you went on the journey to find your dad and get him off the Naughty List, so it didn't feel like the right time. And you have been so happy with your dad and his family in your life and falling in love with Jovie and having a daughter...It wasn't the right time."

"Oh," Buddy murmurs. "Well, is my sister happy?"

"I would say she's happy. Quite the musician, always on the Nice List. And she loves Christmas just as much as you do."

Buddy squeals. "She does?! Oh Santa, I need to meet her! And bring her here!"

"Slow down, Buddy. We need to wait for her to have interest in finding out more about her birth family."

"Why?"

"We don't want her to have the same reaction as your dad."

"Yes, yes, I was a bit too strong with him, wasn't I?"

Santa chuckles. "You were just overly excited, which can scare some people."

While feeding their daughter Susie a bottle, Buddy tells Jovie everything that Santa told him and shows her the pictures.

"A sister? And Santa knew about this the whole time?" she asks.

"Yes, he did. But he didn't want to tell me when I was going through a crisis and trying to find my dad, which makes sense," he says.

Jovie holds the first picture of his sister next to his face.

"You guys have the same smile, I guess," she muses. "What's her name?"