Disclaimer: Reference Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. I'm sorry, but I'm lazy!

"Hello, stranger. May I take your order?"

Curtis licked his lips hungrily, having stared droolingly at the new desert options for the past five minutes. He tore his eyes away from the Cocoa Café's revised menu at the sound of the voice, snapping out of his cookie reverie. His mouth fell open. "April? What are YOU doing here?"

She pulled a pencil from behind her ear and poised it over her pad of paper. Then she made a face and gestured with it. "I'm painting the pink flamingos purple, Curtis. What's it look like I'm doing? I'm W-O-R-K-I-N-G."

"Wow, that's great! Bernard found you a job already?"

"Already?" She waved dismissively. "Pssh, I've been here a week! Where've YOU been?"

"Putting in extra hours at the Workshop, trying to convince Santa I make a better Number Two than my no-good brother. We're gearing up for the long haul again."

"Is it that time of year? So soon? It's only, what... The beginning of November?"

Curtis put down his menu and shook his head. "The Christmas Season always starts for us the day after Halloween, don't you know that?"

"Guess not." She poked him in the shoulder with her pencil. "Now what do you want? I don't get paid to chat with customers."

Judy smiled with pride at her disciple from behind the counter.

"Okay, okay..." He picked up the menu again. "How about...No...Macadamia? Almond? Oh, I just can't decide. All of them look simply delicious!"

April grinned playfully. "You know, there's a batch of White Chocolate Chunk in the oven with your name all over it."

His eyes lit up like Christmas lights on the day after Thanksgiving. "Yes, please!"

"'Kay!" She scampered enthusiastically off to the kitchen.

He leaned in that direction, cupped his hand around his mouth and called, "And gimme some regular milk in a frosted glass!"

"On it!"

He turned to the beaming Judy. "It sure is nice of you to let her work here. I know Maigri's posse is personally boycotting."

Judy joined Curtis at the table, since things were slow at the moment. She whispered, as though it were a big secret, "At first I was a bit hesitant, but she's actually more of a help than a hindrance. I don't know many people who are as passionate about their job as she is. I practically have nothing to do anymore!"

"Still, you could have said no."

She shrugged. "When have I ever turned down extra help? Especially help as eager as her. You would think she had the position of Head Elf instead of Waitress Number One. All of us should strive to have her attitude!"

"Yeah, really."

April scooted back out with a plate full of fluffy cookies and a tall glass frosted milk. "'Ere ya are, sir. Sorry for the delay. I stopped to start the dishes a soakin'."

"Oh, April, you didn't need to do that..." Judy unrolled Curtis's napkin and stuck it in her lap. She reached for a cookie, but received a glare from Curtis.

"I know I didn't need to..." She smiled and happily hugged the tray she had had cookies on. It was still warm. "I wanted to."

Judy sighed, albeit with satisfaction.

Heavenly, almost deafening organ music interrupted the relative quiet of the apartment, causing April to jump and almost pour tea down the front of her shirt. She slammed the teacup back onto the coffee table in annoyance. Stupid doorbell. "Blast! I'm coming, I'm coming!"

She opened the door to an uncomfortable Bernard. "Hello?"

"Hi." He pepped, unable to prevent a smile from making a brief appearance on his face.

Silence and an extremely long pause followed. She turned the door knob a couple of times. "Would you like to come in?"

"Sure." He waltzed in and looked around, inhaling the lavender scent coming from candles above her mantle. It was a smell only found in this particular apartment in town, and only he associated specifically with her. He never liked the smell, but none the less, it was beginning to grow on him.

"Wanna sit down?" She gestured toward the couch. They sat at opposite ends, (as far away from each other as possible) with the kitten between them. They fidgeted nervously for a couple of moments, neither one looking at the other. Finally, she turned to him and asked loudly, "So...What do you want?"

He turned to her, yet still didn't look her in the eye. His gaze rested on the unusual elephant-headed lamp staring at him in a creepy way, distracting him. He shook his head (making his dark curls bounce slightly) and said slowly, "I'm not sure."

She lightly smacked his arm. "What do you mean, you're not sure? There's gotta be a reason, there's a reason for everything. Now cough it up, Bernard!"

"I...Uh...How are you?" He winced. Boy that sounded so lame. He looked at her pathetically.

Oh, they were going THERE again. She dug some imaginary dirt from under her semi-short fingernails. "G-good, I guess. And you? Taking better care of yourself, I hope?"

"Yeah, thanks."

The grandfather clock's ticking grew noticeably louder.

"So, how's Sarah?"

"Good, good....I, um...I freed her a while ago."

April's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

He held up his hands defensively. "It's not like that...I had a crazy dream and when I woke up, I realized just how stupid slavery is." Understatement of the year, right there, folks! He smiled. "Now I'm paying her for her services, and she sees André every Thursday."

She smiled too, but it faded as she spoke. "That's great! Too bad you couldn't have had that dream BEFORE our little fight."

"April, I'm-"

"DON'T, Bernard." She threw him a weary side glance. "It's behind us now."

They looked away again. Bernard turned his attention to the fluff ball between them. He scratched the kitten under the chin and spoke to him with a talking-to-babies voice. "And how's Tinsel today? Huh? Doing well, I hope."

Tinsel mewed at him contentedly.

April suddenly blurted, "This place is so empty, I hate it!"

He reeled from the outburst. "What do you mean? It's full of-"

"Oh, it's full of CRAP, all right! I have all the pretty candles and books I could ever want." She waved violently to the bookshelves full of untouched volumes of classics like 'A Christmas Carol' and the entire 'Wizard of Oz' collection.

He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I miss being with you, Bernard." She took a deep breath and added shortly, "And with Sarah. You guys were like my..." She trailed off, realizing with dread exactly where this conversation was heading.

"Family?"

She choked back the rising tears. Why, oh why must she be so dad-gummed emotional? "I miss my family so much! Without you two around to keep me company all I can think about is the fact that I'll never see my parents or my little brother alive again! It's eating me up inside, making me absolutely sick." She took a couple of deep breaths and narrowly avoided having a panic attack. She looked to Bernard, hoping he would do something to make her feel better, but he just stared back, unsure of what to do. Women were still a complete enigma to him.

Slowly, almost painfully, he stood up. "Um, I think I ought to go. I just know that whatever I say right now will make you feel worse, so..."

She showed him to the door. "Take care."

He shook his head and stopped, knowing he was totally pressing his luck. "This is completely random, but do you want to see a movie with me later?"

She opened her mouth, but he cut her off.

"Just as friends, of course."

"Oh, of course." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled the best she could. "Sure. Just let me know when."

"Okay, it’s a date." Without thinking, he impulsively leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. They stared at each other wide eyes in stunned silence.

After a few tense seconds, she completely broke down. "Ooooh, screw you and your damned mixed signals!" And slammed the door in his face.

He leaned against the closed door, defeated. "Smooth move, Casanova. Just as friends, huh? What the HOLLY BERRIES was that?" He kicked the snow off the top step angrily, wanting very badly to kick himself.

*Flash* A swirling vortex of light opened up and regurgitated two teenaged girls. It was so completely unexpected that he barely had time to process the phenomenon before it died away. The girls lay face down in the snow in front of him. One was a short elf with curly dark hair; the other tall with a blood red braid that streamed down past her butt.

The shorter girl picked herself up first. "Boy that was a rough trip."

"And WHO said time travel would be a breeze?" The other girl leapt up with effortless ease, and quickly dusted herself off. It was then that Bernard noticed how different she seemed from what he would consider 'the norm'. She had a long, pointed nose and somewhat floppy multiply-pierced ears. And she was dressed like a gypsy.

The elvin girl swatted the snow out of her jet black locks and made a face. "Well, he made it look easy!"

Her companion rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Hello? Father Time? That's his JOB; of course he's going to make it LOOK easy."

"Uh, excuse me, but..." Bernard chuckled and leapt off the steps, with an air of fake amusement. "WHO ARE YOU?!?"

The two girls turned to him and smiled equally fakely. The shorter girl smacked her forehead. "Oh, forgive us. I'm Destiny, and this is Merope."

Merope waved.

"That's nice." No one could mistake his sarcasm, yet they ignored it. "Let me ask you again. WHO ARE YOU?"

They exchanged a knowing glance. Destiny fished around under her cloak, and produced a shiny badge. She blew on it before handing it to him and recited as though she'd had it memorized her entire life, "I am the Regent, sent back in time thirty-three years to prepare you and all those here at the North Pole for total, unavoidable war."

He tore his eyes from the badge and gave her a "You've got to be kidding me" look. "Excuse me. WAR?"

"What part of war don't you understand?" Merope snapped. Anyone else (except maybe Maigri and Curtis) would have jumped back in fear.

He looked at the badge again, turned it over. Yeah, it was the real thing all right. Frustrated and confused, he handed it back to her. "There hasn't been a Regent in over a thousand years."

She beamed with obvious pride. "Yes, I know."

Bernard looked back and forth between the girls. Finally, he pointed to Merope. "So, if you're the Regent, who's this?"

Merope examined her claw-like, black and orange striped fingernails.

"This is my best friend slash bodyguard."

"Okaaay. I guess I need to call an emergency board meeting." He rubbed his forehead and stormed off toward the Workshop, mumbling about Regents and unavoidable wars.

Merope stared after him. "Pleasant, isn't he?"

Santa leaned forward. "So explain to me this Regent thing again. I'm just not getting it."

All eyes turned to the dark haired girl in the back of the room, who seemed remarkably calm. She smiled that dazzling smile and began to speak, when Bernard cut her off. He halted his incessant pacing of the room for a brief moment. "If something should happen to you for any reason, she would...*unpleasant gulp* Take over."

"Well, what about you, Bernard?"

His unhappiness came through loud and clear. "All the Council Members gave their approval...Even Miss I'm-Too-Good-Woman-In-The-Moon, but she shouldn't count since she went off on her own..."

Merope frowned deeply. "Hey, don't talk crap about Diana; she's the best female warrior of all TIME!"

"Plus," Curtis said with a mischievous smirk, "She's drop dead hot!"

This earned a reprimanding glare from everyone in the conference room.

"...Well, she is..."

"CURTIS, BE QUIET!" Everybody barked simultaneously.

He shut up.

Bernard took a deep breath. "Anyway, they gave her authority over me. But not over you."

"How old are you, anyway?" Maigri asked with a raised eyebrow. He rested his elbows on the polished marble table, clearly bored out of his wits.

Destiny swiveled all the way around in her chair before answering. "Twenty-eight." (A/N: She looks fourteen.)

"Great! We're dealing with a mere child here!" He threw his hands in the air and leaned back in his chair. "How can you be that young? You're an elf, aren't you?"

"Half elf, actually." She didn't even blink an eye. However, Bernard choked on his cocoa, causing quite a few worried looks. Charlie patted him on the back and he coughed loudly.

Maigri scrunched up his nose. "Ugh, that is SO not right!"

"Maigri," Santa said, staring impatiently at his feather pen, "If all you have to bring to this table is your prejudice, I suggest you leave."

He crossed his arms and pouted. "Sorry, sir."

"I'm sure you are." He nodded at Destiny, and told her sarcastically, "Oh, he's real sorry."

She made a face in Maigri's direction. "He's so much nicer in my time. I don't understand it."

"Destiny!" Merope, who stood over her, bopped her on the head. "You're not supposed to give away information like that. Think, girl! Any little thing you slip might make you cease to exist or something!"

"Sor-ry! Sheesh!" She rubbed the back of her head.

Santa suddenly became all business. "So, Miss Regent, what needs to be done to prepare for this war?"

"Let's see..." She counted off on her fingers. "We need to train an army of elves, build spaceships (please don't ask), and of course Merope and I need a place to stay. That's all we should concern ourselves with for right now."

That's all. Really, no big deal.

Bernard stepped up in the following awkward pause, as usual. "Well, Charlie, you can get working on those spaceships, right?"

The young man blinked. "I guess, but I'll need help with the more technical issues."

"Curtis can help you."

"That's what I'm here for!" Curtis rubbed his hands together excitedly. He'd always wanted to build a spaceship!

"As for a place to stay...I think I might be able to convince April to let you stay with her. That is, if she'll talk to me." He ignored the looks the elves gave each other.

"Great! So that's it for now."

Santa stood up. "Well, then. Meeting adjourned."

April once again opened the door to a nervous looking Bernard. "What do you want this time?"

"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that, it just happened. Okay?"

She threw her arms into the air like she wanted to strangle him. "NO, not okay! Bernard, I'm confused. Are we more than, less than, or just friends?"

"I'm not sure." He glanced over his shoulder. "But that's not why I'm here. This is a business trip."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"We have some unexpected visitors that need a place to stay. Could you take them in?"

She narrowed her eyes. "How many visitors?"

"Two. They're female, in case you're wondering."

She snapped her fingers. "Darn."

He stared questioningly at her.

"Kidding! Just kidding! Go ahead, send them over. But if they treat me like crap, I WILL complain. Got that?"

He smiled. "Sure. Come on in, girls!"

They hopped in eagerly and waved. "Hi, I'm Destiny..."

"And I'm Merope..."

"And I'm leaving...Talk to you later, April. We're still on for that movie later, right?"

She sighed. "I don't know, Bernard. I just don't know."

He left without another word.

She shook her head and turned to her new guests. "So, I'm April. I guess we'll be living together for a while. Why don't you tell me a little about yourselves, and then I'll tell you about myself?"

They winced. "Our history is classified, I'm afraid."

"And we already know ALL about yours."

She threw them a suspicious glance. "What did Bernard tell you?"

"Nothing! Honest!"

"Sure. Well, isn't there anything you can tell me more than just your names?"

"Got a while?"

She shoved her hands into her pockets. "I have tonight off, so I'm not going anywhere."

Destiny suddenly had an idea, and jumped around excitedly. "Oh oh oh! I got it! We can have a slumber party! You know, build a cozy fire, make a tent out of blankets and chairs..."

Merope chimed in, "Yeah, and toast s'mores and tell ghost stories! We haven't done that in ages!"

April smiled. It would definitely be good to have someone around the apartment, especially a couple girls close to her own age. Oh, she now had gossip buddies! She already knew that this would be a good thing. She could just tell. Bernard would not regret this. She would probably even go with him to that movie now. Then she could tell her new friends all about it...But would that make it a date? Oh well! "I'll grab some marshmallows and gram crackers. And chocolate, can't forget the chocolate bars..."

In another dimension, in the middle of an elaborate labyrinth, an impossibly tall gothic style castle loomed ominously. Clouds around the top of the castle erupted into blasts of lightning, casting frightening shadows over its already fearful gargoyles.

In the main chamber, robed figure sat on his throne in the darkness, gazing into a crystal ball. He watched the girls running around in their pajamas, throwing marshmallows and pillows at each other, having the time of their lives. He cackled evilly, the sound bouncing off the chamber's high walls. "Laugh while you can, girls. Laugh while you can. For there will be nothing but misery when I'm through with you."


Back to Holiday Crisis
Back to the Shrine
Home