Elf: Buddy's Sister

Bonus Chapter

Five years later

Buddy opens his new laptop, the Skype window up and running. Michael taught him how to video call on his computer, and now he waits. A few months ago, he found out the hard way that technology does not work in the North Pole (a story for another time), so whenever he and his sister want to chat, he stays at his dad and Emily's. It's the middle of April, and he hasn't seen his sister since January.

The phone symbol on his screen starts to wiggle, followed by the sound of bells. He clicks on it, and his sister pops up.

"Hi, Tori!" he exclaims.

"Hey," she answers, a huge grin on her face. Buddy can tell she hasn't slept much, but he totally understands why.

"How are you doing?"

She sighs. "It's been a crazy couple of weeks. But I'm good...we're good."

She glances at someone off camera, and he hears a male's voice.

"So where is she? It's been so hard waiting," Buddy says, on the edge of his seat.

Her husband appears on the screen, holding a small bundle in his beefy arms. She takes the bundle from him and moves her computer closer.

"Buddy, say hello to Saoirse Olive Murillo," she announces, holding the baby up to the screen.

He feels his heart swell in his chest. "Awww. She's adorableeeee."

Tori beams. "We just changed her diaper and gave her a bath, so she's out for a couple of hours."

The baby purses its lips and waves a hand. His sister plants a kiss on her head, which is mostly covered with hair. Buddy can't believe that he is an uncle now, and that someday he can show her the North Pole and watch her play with Susie and William, Jr.

"Tell him the story," her husband says.

His sister takes a deep breath. "Oh man...well, I had her in the hospital parking lot."

"You what?!" Buddy gasps.

"Yeah, I told Andre I couldn't make it, so he ran inside and almost broke down the doors. I was so stressed, Buddy, I thought my labor would take hours. I saw Dre running towards the car with two nurses. They opened the passenger door and were asking me questions, but I was in too much pain to talk..."

Her husband coughs. "I wanted to strangle one of them, she was being so bossy..."

"Shush," Tori says, cutting him off. "Anyways, the pain was so bad I thought I was going to die and then she came out so fast. The older nurse caught her, I think. I looked at Dre and he was crying, so then I started crying, and then all I remember is holding her against my chest as a team of people wheeled me into the hospital."

"Oh wow, that's quite a story," Buddy replies. "How long were you in the hospital?"

"Five days," Tori answers. "We were beyond ready to go home."

Buddy chuckles as her husband nods vigorously and points to himself. The baby grunts and wraps its tiny fingers around his sister's thumb.

"Gosh, she's so cute," he says. "I want to snuggle with her right now."

"Well, you better come to LA then," Tori remarks. "Andre's also been dying to play his new video game with you."

"Yeah, so he can beat the crap out of me."

Her husband laughs. "You're actually pretty good, man."

Buddy grins. "Whatever."

They talk for almost an hour, and then Tori says she's ready for a nap.

"See you soon, big bro," she says, and they do a virtual fist bump. "Love you."

"Love you more!" he exclaims.

Tori ends the call, and he closes his laptop. The sky is a deep blue with little clouds, so he decides to go on a brisk walk before heading back to the North Pole. He thinks about how happy he is, being a part of a family in both worlds. If not for Santa, what would his life be?