Photo Finished (48 Christmas Wishes/Santa Clause

Photo Finished

Bernard's ears were buzzing.

More specifically, the buzzing was right between his ears, a sensation he always got when things had become overly tense and were stressing him out. Knowing his sister was coming, that she—and her three friends—had indeed been assigned to the management section, or so Sammy called his division. It really had never had a name, for a long time being run by him and him alone, every so often getting someone not like Curtis to help before they would fade back into the elven community.

Mindy—there was the train of thought that his sister would be another Curtis.

"What's this?"

Bernard snapped, too, his head turning to see Curtis had found his photo. He reached out, snatching it back. "Give me that."

"Why do you have a photo of you with a mall Santa? Who's that other elf?"

Bernard glared, which would typically tell other elves they 'd hit a topic that was off-limits from being discussed. He looked at the photo, slightly frustrated that Mrs. Claus had found out exactly how Mindy and her friends' test went down, that Mindy had managed to drag Bernard into getting the task is done for the simple fact he was her older brother—there was no pretending about it even though they felt like complete strangers to each other. A part of him wondered if being strangers to one's siblings as an elf was the equivalent of human siblings not getting along. "Likely."

"What?"

"I'm muttering to myself, Curtis," Bernard said, putting the photo down. "We're getting a few more assigned here to help us in the office."

Curtis frowned. "Why?"

"Because."

"Does this mean I'm in charge of them?"

Bernard stared before saying. "Oh, I'm sure that will go over well with Mindy."

"Mindy?" Curtis said. "You're already on the first name," and then he said, "Bernard, I didn't think you had it in you."

"What?" Bernard glared at Curtis.

"You could get in a lot of trouble with Santa for that."

Bernard 's eyes widened, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Where exactly did that mind of yours go, Curtis? Do I even want to know where it went?"

"You supervised the final assessment for becoming a Christmas Elf, right?" Curtis said. "Mrs. Clause said you were in charge of one of the groups. But you could get in a lot of trouble for falling in love with them and assigning her to our division."

Bernard reached for one of the pillows used to decorate the office and—

WHACK!

"Bernard! What are you doing?"

Bernard cringed, turning to look at Mindy, who was with her two friends. Cam had that perpetual smile on his face while Sammy looked on with worry. Mindy was, of course, irritated. He took a deep breath. "Hello, Mindy."

Curtis looked at him, then at Mindy, before looking at Bernard again. "You two don't have to pretend not to like each other."

"What?" Mindy's voice strained. "We absolutely do not like each other!"

"Speak for yourself," Bernard said, feeling the sting of her words.

"What are you doing here?" Mindy asked, her voice straining. "I thought you worked in—whatever division the janitors work in."