The falls

chapter fourteen

The sleigh glided smoothly through the night sky, the stars twinkling above as Jessica, Neomi, and Lauren finally breathed a sigh of relief. The last present had been delivered, the town of Gravity Falls was peacefully asleep, and Christmas had been saved.

Jessica adjusted the reins as they approached the Mystery Shack, guiding the sleigh to a soft landing in front of the crooked, eccentric building. It was eerily quiet for a Christmas Eve, but the strange, glowing snowflakes in the air reminded them that in Gravity Falls, even the snow was weird.

Lauren hopped off first, stretching her tiny gnome arms. "Well, that was a close call. Who knew saving Christmas would be part of the deal tonight?" She chuckled, clearly proud of her part in the adventure.

Just as Neomi and Jessica were stepping out of the sleigh, they heard a soft groan from the back. Turning, they saw Santa slowly sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Huh... What happened?" Santa asked, his voice groggy. His eyes blinked with confusion as he looked around at the sleigh, the shack, and the three girls.

Jessica gulped, feeling the weight of his gaze. This was the actual Santa Claus, after all.

"Um... well, about that..." she began, nervously scratching the back of her head. "You kind of... crashed your sleigh in the woods, and you hit your head. So, uh... you were unconscious."

Santa frowned, clearly trying to process what she was saying. "Unconscious? My sleigh crashed?" He checked his sleigh, then looked at them, puzzled. "and what about you?"

Neomi stepped in with her usual enthusiasm. "We saved christmas!" She grinned, clearly excited to share. "Lauren here woke us up, told us about the crash, and then we, uh... kind of took your sleigh."

Jessica winced. "Yeah, we... sort of borrowed it. I mean, we couldn't just let Christmas not happen, right?"

Santa raised an eyebrow. "You borrowed my sleigh?"

"Well... kind of." Jessica sighed. "We thought it was the best way to make sure everyone still got their presents. You were out, and Christmas needed saving. So we flew around, delivered the gifts, fixed the sleigh—oh, and used a strange printer to clone ourselves for efficiency."

Santa stared at her blankly for a second. "Clones?"

Neomi nodded eagerly. "Yeah! It was awesome. Except, uh, don't let the clones get wet, because, well, let's just say snow isn't their friend."

Jessica quickly added, "But we really only did what we had to. And... we're really sorry for kind of, um, stealing your sleigh."

Santa blinked a few more times, taking it all in. "So... you three delivered all the presents? Saved Christmas?"

Lauren, standing proudly next to them, grinned and said, "Yep! We've got it all covered. You can go back to... well, being Santa now."

Santa's confused expression slowly melted into a warm smile. "Well, I have to say... I've never had someone save Christmas for me before." He chuckled softly, shaking his head. "You three did something pretty incredible tonight."

Neomi pumped her fist in the air. "Yes! Christmas saviors!"

Jessica let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, relieved that Santa wasn't mad. "So, um... are we good?"

Santa laughed, his belly shaking with the classic "ho-ho-ho." "Oh, we're more than good! I'm impressed."

As Santa stood up and dusted himself off, he gave them a wink. "Now, how about I take it from here?"

With that, he climbed back into his sleigh, gave the reins a flick, and with a hearty "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" he took off into the starry sky, leaving behind a trail of glowing snowflakes.

Neomi turned to Jessica, beaming. "We saved Christmas! Can you believe it?"

Jessica chuckled, finally feeling the holiday spirit settle over her. "Yeah, we really did."

Lauren added with a grin, "And we did it in true Gravity Falls style—completely weird and awesome."

As the three of them watched Santa's sleigh disappear into the night, Jessica couldn't help but smile. This had definitely been the strangest, yet most magical, Christmas of her life. unexpectedly neomi kissed her. and then she backed away. "oh my gosh I can't believe I just did that!"

"Yeah... um... please ask next time."

Neomi couldn't help but smile and shake with excitement because Jessica had just suggested there might be a next time. And Jessica smiled again because she didn't not want there to be a next time either.