𝓦𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓓𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶 (Bernard the Elf x Reader)

Chapter 21- The Santa Handbook

"Santa, I need you to look forward and put on a smiley face," Bernard instructed as we led toy Santa into the workshop.

My stomach was practically doing somersaults from how nervous I was. This was the first time we were bringing Santa in front of so many other elves, and I knew that one slip-up could blow our whole cover. I had no idea how the elves would react to discovering they had been lied to, and I certainly wasn't eager to figure that out now. "All you need to do is say 'hello' to the elves. That's all." I explained.

Toy Santa nodded and looked at some of the elves that were passing by. "Ho, ho, ho! You're doing a wonderful job!" He said a little too enthusiastically.

Suddenly, one of the elves approached him, carrying a toy car. "Santa, when you said you wanted bigger wheels, is this what you meant?" He asked.

The toy Santa glanced at Bernard and me with a questioning look. The two of us gestured to the elf and slightly nodded our heads. Toy Santa turned his head back to the elf. "Ho, ho, ho! You're doing a wonderful job!!" He yelled.

The elf looked at him, slightly confused, but walked away. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're doing great. You could dial it down a little on the 'ho, ho, ho's' but otherwise you're gold." Bernard forced a smile.

"It also wouldn't hurt to quiet down a bit either," I suggested.

"Ho, ho, HO!" Toy Santa exclaimed. "Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho!"

As he kept shouting "Ho, ho, ho," Bernard sucked in a breath and looked at Curtis.

Curtis smugly smiled. "What don't you just say it? 'You were right, Curtis. I was wrong.'"

"Okay, okay, I admit it. They're happy, they're working hard, and everything going to be fine." Bernard grinned.

"If he doesn't screw up between now and Christmas eve." I sighed

Suddenly, toy Santa approached us. "This book is very interesting reading. There are a lot of rules right here at the North Pole that they aren't following!"

"That's what I've been saying all along!" Curtis cried. "Things have gotten a little too sloppy around here."

Bernard and I exchanged a worried glance.

"Yes!" Toy Santa agreed. "Sloppiness means mistakes! MISTAKES AREN'T A GOOD THING!!" He yelled. "I might have to make some changes around here."

Curtis grinned. "What did you have in mind, boss?"

"Let me show you." He spoke. "There's many things. Look here..."

"This isn't good, B..." I softly said as toy Santa and Curtis walked away.

Bernard shook his head. "Believe me, I know. But there's nothing we can do. I mean, look at him! He's unpredictable. If we're going to do something we have to remain calm and keep level heads on our shoulders." He sighed. "If worse comes to worst, we can always lock him up somewhere. He's powerless."

I nodded. "Alright."

I was missing my dad more and more each day.

:-:-:-:-:

It had been about two weeks since Dad left to find a wife and left us with toy Santa. Things were going alright...well sort of. On the plus side, none of the elves had figured out the truth about 'Santa', but on the downside, Bernard and I were finding it harder and harder to appease toy Santa when it came to altering things around the North Pole. He never put down The Santa Handbook, so he kept uncovering more and more flaws within the Pole.