Magical

Chapter 20

     Carol Newman was cleaning some fresh snow off her car when Charlie walked up. "Principal Newman, can we talk?"
     "Of course, Charlie." She said, brushing off more snow.
     "You keep asking me what's bothering me. I'd like to talk about it." Carol set down her brush. "My dad is Santa Claus."
     "Oh, Charlie, not you too. First your father, then your sister..."
     "Just listen." He talked some more before showing her the snow globe he'd gotten years ago when he first met Bernard. One look and she started laughing, the magic effectively making her believe. "You haven't seen anything yet."
                            * * * * *
     Scott and Curtis were now, unfortunately, tied to a chair. "This is all my fault." Curtis said. "I thought I could create another Santa. My elven pride blinded me. There's only one Santa."
     "Well I've done a pretty rotten job." Scott replied. "I didn't check the list twice, my son thinks I betrayed him, my daughter's boyfriend is trapped in his own house, my daughter is trying to fight a battle she shouldn't have to, and I hurt the woman I love. I ruined Christmas."
     At that moment, Charlie appeared, followed by Carol and the Tooth Fairy. "Scott! I got to fly with the Tooth Fairy!"
    After thanks were passed around, Delia appeared at Tooth Fairy's side and the two flew off. Just as that happened, Rose and Bernard came running in from the village.
    "Bernard! You're ok, my friend!" Scott said, hugging his future son-in-law-to-be.
    "I'm just fine, Santa. Who's your friend?"
    "Carol? When did you get here?"
    "Rose, I'm sorry I didn't believe you and your dad. Thank you for everything." She looked back to Bernard, "And I'm guessing this is your fiancé?"
     "Hi. I'm Bernard. Nice to meet ya, Mrs. Claus. Santa, we gotta go!"
     The group ran off, Carol making a comment under her breath that she wasn't Mrs. Claus. And, with that, they raced off to rescue the elves.
                          * * * * *
     A few minutes later, Scott, Carol, Charlie, Rose, Bernard, Curtis, and all the elves rushed out to find Toy Santa had already taken off with the sleigh. Bernard whistled and a reindeer came rushing out of nowhere.
     "You gotta save Christmas!" Bernard reminded him.
     Chet hit Scott right in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Rose and Carol helped him back to his feet then he approached Chet.
     "How much flight time does he have?"
     "About a minute and a half." Bernard replied.
     "But he has a whole lot of crash time." Curtis joked. "He's just a baby."
     "Well let's see what this baby can do!"
     With that, Scott took off into the air.
                            * * * * *
     Bernard shouted, "Ok, everyone! Outside!"
     All the elves and the visitors turned and ran outside only to find an army of toy soldiers standing at the ready for them.
     "Snowball fight?" Rose suggested.
     "You're brilliant!" Bernard said.
     Carol, Rose, Charlie, and the elves started fighting the toy soldiers, running forward, and pelting them with snowballs. Bernard and Quincy goy on a couple of snowmobiles and used a rope to knock several more over.
     Rose was fighting a bunch of toy soldiers when someone kicked her in the chest, knocking her backwards. She got back up to see that Toy Rose was standing there, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
     Rose snarled. "You are gonna pay for that!"
     With that, the two ran at each other, hands and hair flying. Rose punched her toy counterpart in the face but Toy Rose grabbed her hair. Rose fell to the ground, jumped up, and leapt at Toy Rose.
     Fortunately, Rose was a good fighter from doing gymnastics for so many years. Unfortunately, so was her toy counterpart.
     At that moment, a bunch of elves came running up, effectively distracting Toy Rose. Rose knocked her toy counterpart to the ground and the elves jumped on her, trapping her beneath them.
     A few minutes later, they saw the sleigh rushing at them and Toy Santa yelling, "DON'T WORRY! THE TOWN WILL BREAK OUR FALL! MOVE OUT OF THE WAY UNLESS YOU WANNA GET RUN OVER!"
    The sleigh landed, bumping into the stairs and Toy Santa flipped out of it. The elves took the two toys, put them through Curtis' machine, shrinking them both down into small toys. The rest of the toy parts were taken to the scrap pile. It was over.
    Christmas was saved!
                           * * * * *
    Sometime later, Scott was dressed in the Santa suit, rushing down to where his sleigh was. Rose, Carol, Charlie, and Bernard were with him.
     "What are you doing?" Bernard asked when he caught up to Scott.
     "You know the drill. I got presents to deliver."
     "Aren't you forgetting something?" Rose reminded her father.
     "You gotta get married!"
     With that, Scott stopped in his tracks. With all the excitement, he had forgotten about his current predicament. He had no magic, was no longer Santa, and had way of doing his job.
     "Excuse me?" Carol asked.
     Scott explained as best he could about his situation. Rose rolled her eyes.
     "Dad, get down on one knee." He do so. "Now repeat after me: Carol," he repeated her, "you say this is moving so fast. But you've known me you're whole life. When you were a kid," her dad interrupted.
     "I got it now, princess." He turned back to Carol. "Santa was always there for you just as I will always be there for you. Will you marry me?" 
     "I will." Rose said, encouraging Carol.
     "Thank you. I got it." She paused a second. "I will."
     Everyone jumped for joy.
                                * * * * *
     Minutes later, Carol was dressed in a white dress and red hood. All the members of the family and the elves watched as witnesses.
     "By the power vested in me," Mother Nature said, "by me, I hereby pronounce you Santa and Mrs. Claus. Go ahead. Kiss her."
     Scott kissed Carol. Immediately, his belly reappeared and his beard grew back. Everyone turned to Rose to see that her hair was back to bright red and her ears were pointy again. The tooth that Charlie had been missing suddenly reappeared.
     The whole family hugged one another.
     With that, Santa rushed to get in the sleigh. "Well, Mrs. Claus after work starts vacation time which means a three month honeymoon for you and me. Nothing tropical. You do not wanna see this in a speedo."
     "Don't be home too late."
     "And so it begins."
     With that, Santa took off for his midnight ride yet again.