Disclaimer: I don't own The Santa Clause movies. Period. *Smiles* I guess I need to remind you that I own April, Maigri, Sarah, Destiny, and Merope, but I probably won't tell you again for a while. Probably.

The mysterious girl known as Destiny slipped along the darkened hallways of the Workshop at about two in the morning, thankful that the whole town "slept" for a couple hours every night (EVEN during the rush season, for health reasons). She looked nervously around before stepping into an empty room and pulling out what looked like a palm pilot. She drew a shaky breath and called someone thirty-three years in the future.

"Hello?" The fog of sleep lifted from her father's care-worn eyes, leaving him alarmed. "M-Destiny, are you okay? Is everything-?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, Daddy. But I just wanted to let you know that everything is running smoothly." She smiled proudly.

"Oh." He crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow, suddenly wishing he was back in bed. "Is that all?"

"Well, yes-"

"Don't you know this line is only for EMERGENCIES? So if there's no emergency, you shouldn't be using it."

She flinched. "I'm sorry, but I...I miss you, and Mom. Tell her hi for me."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his incredibly messy jet black hair. His voice softened, as did his expression. "We miss you too, dear, but you must understand...If someone overhears this conversation, word could get back to my past self...It could cause a chain reaction that might erase your existence from the very fabric of space."

"I know, and I'm sorry." She bit her lip, fighting hard to keep the home-sickness from overwhelming her.

Her father smiled sadly. "I love you, honey. I know you'll make me proud." He broke the link.

She put the device away, then brushed off the single tear that ran down her glittering cheek. "I hope so, Daddy."

Quietly, stealthily, she exited the room. Any hopes of encouragement from her father withered like so many roses, leaving her more unsure of herself than before the conversation. She truly was on her own. She stopped by a non-stain glass window, and looked out over the sleeping city. Why was this so hard? She'd trained her entire life for this; it should have been a piece of cake.

A tap on her shoulder startled her out of her thoughts. She gasped and covered her heart with her hand. "Merope, don't do that!"

Her friend stared her down, more concerned than angry (though it didn't appear that way). "You should be in bed. You're going to eventually make yourself sick."

She turned back to the window. "I can't sleep. I'm too worried."

"Worried? Why?"

"I...Oh, I don't know." She massaged her gloved hands distractedly. "W-what if I mess this up? I could screw up the future!"

"You sound like your father. Don't worry about it. Remember what Father Time said: 'Both the past and the future are set in stone; only the present stays in a constant state of change.'"

"Whatever that means," Destiny mumbled. She hesitated then said, "I called Dad."

Merope waited for her to finish, but she didn't. The taller girl's eyebrows furrowed. "When?"

"Just now. He got mad at me and hung up."

Merope rubbed her forehead, exasperated with her emotional friend. "You shouldn't be casually calling home like that, Destiny. What if someone heard you? What if HE finds out who you are? You could vanish from history!"

Neither of them knew it, but at that moment Curtis had been on a late night, top secret assignment. He was about to round the corner when he heard them whispering. When Merope said this, he stopped to listen.

"Now who sounds like my father? I thought you just said the past is set in stone."

Merope growled. "But this isn't the past, it's the present. You could still mess up the present, and we would only know when we tried to go back. I think."

"I really hate all these time travel rules."

"But the point is, if Bernard finds out your his ya-know, it might frighten him away from your mother, and they're last date didn't exactly go very well as it is. Then it would be POOF! And I would hafta be the Regent, and you know how well that would blow over."

Curtis lifted his eyebrows in surprise and mouthed to himself, "Bernard's dating someone?"

"I think you would make a great Regent." Destiny frowned. "At least better than me."

"Don't say that. I would fly off the handle with all my decisions, and probably do more harm than good. You're way more cautious...Almost too cautious, but I can't blame you. You have a lot to live up to." Merope clasped Destiny's shoulder and gave her a friendly shake. "Hey, everything will work out. You'll see."

"Sure, I guess." Destiny smiled weakly.

"That's the spirit! Now let's get back before April wakes up to go the bathroom and notices that the guest rooms are empty."

They walked away without another word, leaving a perplexed Curtis to digest what he'd just heard. "I ought to tell Bernard about this. It seems that Destiny hasn't been completely honest with us."

"Ready to begin, everyone?" Destiny bounced into the area normally used for tinsel football the next morning, carrying a small boom box. She smiled sweetly enough to give the Tooth Fairy cavities.

The gathered elves groaned and grumbled a weak reply. Morning people they were not.

She took off her cloak and clapped her hands together enthusiastically. "Now I know none of you wanted to be drafted into this, but you really should be proud to participate in one of the biggest events since the event that gave our holiday its name...Well, almost that big...But you'll be a part of history! Isn't that exciting?"

The young half-elfin girl's smile faded as she took on an air of deadly seriousness. "Every single one of you will be the soldiers in the upcoming war, known in my time as the 'Great Holiday Crisis'. This war won't just involve the North Pole, but all of...Holiday-dom, if you will...It will be so terrible that all of you will be out of a job for YEARS! In fact, you're still technically unemployed in my time, over thirty years in the future. But I can't disclose any more information, since it's classified."

They stared at her like she was insane. About the only ones to take her the least bit seriously were Bernard and Curtis, standing off to the side. They didn't need to participate, but showed up out of mere curiosity. They exchanged slightly concerned glances.

Curtis tilted his head in Bernard's direction and whispered, "I need to talk to you during our next break. It's about her." He jerked his head toward Destiny, who once again put on that fake smile. Bernard stared at him questioningly, but nodded and said nothing.

"So to begin your training, Merope and I are going to teach you the ancient art of dance." She tapped the CD player on the chair beside her.

"Dance?" Someone asked, making a face. "What does dancing hafta do with combat?"

She counted off with her fingers, "It teaches coordination...Teamwork...Good tactics...And it gets all of you into better shape. Do I need any more reasons?"

"No, ma'am." He pouted.

"Good!"

Bernard personally thanked the Powers That Be for sparing him the pain and humiliation of being forced to dance in front of his peers. He turned to his little buddy. "Come on, Curtis, let's get to work." They turned their backs on the scene.

"God, I'm thankful it's not me out there."

"Me, too. Can you imagine me trying to dance?"

Both of them pictured Bernard shaking his groove thing rather badly, and shuttered. Curtis laughed curtly. "HA! Man, I would PAY to see you do that!"

"Fat chance, Number Three. Fat. Chance."

"Have you ever seen Maigri dance? Now that's scary!"

"He can dance?"

Curtis' grin widened. "Oh, yeah... He RIVER DANCES! Oh. My. GOSH! It's sooo funny..." He did a poor little imitation and stopped when his glasses threatened to fall off. "But what's really scary is that he's actually pretty good at it."

"I can imagine." He winced in disgust. "But I really don't want to."

Two hours later, the two elves slipped into the empty conference room.

Bernard flopped into a swivel chair and peeled the wrapper off of an energy bar. "So what did you want to tell me about Destiny?"

"Well, I accidentally overheard her talking to her bodyguard..."

He took a large bite of his snack and said with his mouth full, "You mean you were spying on them."

"No!" Curtis looked genuinely hurt. "It really was an accident. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. That's all."

Bernard lifted an eyebrow and kept chewing.

"Anyway...I wanted to ask you...Are you dating someone?"

*Choke* He swallowed hard and coughed a couple of times. "What in the name of holiday would give you an idea like that, Curtis?"

Curtis rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Well, as I listened to their conversation Merope said that you were dating Destiny's mother. And I wasn't even aware that you had any romantic interests with-"

"I don't." No one could mistake the cold finality in his voice.

"Then what WERE they talking about?"

Bernard sighed. "April and I..."

"Oh, April, I see..." Bernard gave him an icy stare, and he waved it off. "No, sorry, please continue."

"We spend more time with each other now, but we're not dating. We're just friends. I think..."

"You think?" It was Curtis' turn to lift an eyebrow.

"Well...I get this weird feeling when I'm around her, like part of me wants to be more than just friends, but part of me wants to walk away and never see her again. I know how she feels about me, but that doesn't exactly make me happy."

Curtis sat in the chair opposite of him, suddenly feeling like a psychologist. "How does that make you feel?"

He squirmed, obviously not used to talking or really even thinking about his feelings. "Nervous. Just nervous. What if...I mean what if we start to get close and it doesn't work out? Or...Even worse...What if I do, ur, fall in love with her?"

"What would be so wrong with that?"

He practically shouted the answer. "She's human!"

The other elf took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, fed up with all the anti-human energy running rampant through Elfsburg. "Let me ask you again...What's so wrong with that?"

"I don't know. I guess that's just a cop-out answer." Bernard tapped distractedly on the table and stared at his energy bar for a long time, suddenly lacking an appetite. Finally he looked at him and whispered, "I'm afraid, Curtis."

Curtis' mouth fell open. "You? Afraid of something? Impossible!"

"This is new territory. I've never been in love before! Never! Well, I thought I was once, but that turned out to be just a crush...And...I was...Young. Naive. But now...What if this is just some weird crush or a fling or something? I don't want to hurt her." He drew a shaking breath. "I don't want to get burned, either."

His friend cleaned his glasses with the corner of his shirt and held them up to the light. Satisfied in removing the imaginary dirt, he replaced them. "You know what you could do to find out for sure, don't you?"

"No!" Bernard pounded his fist angrily on the table. "I will NOT kiss her, okay? I don't want to PAIR BOND with her, for cryin' out loud!"

Curtis held up his hands defensively. "All I'm saying is if you want to stop torturing yourself about this, you'll do it and just get it over with. Either way, I think you'd be a lot happier. Now..." He stood up. "It's time we got back to work."

The big day finally arrived for Charlie, who rode Comet (a much smoother ride than Chet) back to the States for the wedding. Scott wanted Charlie to have it at the Pole, because with it being so close to Christmas the poor man couldn't leave for any reason. But Danielle wanted a 'traditional wedding', so Charlie mumbled his apologies to his workers and flew home for a week.

Everyone felt on edge because while Charlie had finally told Danielle about his home and she surprisingly believed him, she hadn't actually seen it. Santa addressed the whole town about what to do and what to expect. "...Don't throw the rice until after they've landed, it might spook Comet. And don't do anything to possibly frighten Danielle off." He stared pointedly in Maigri's direction.

The elf put on his best innocent face. "I don't know what you're talking about, Sir."

"Oh, um-hmm, sure you don't, Maigri." Santa threw a look at Bernard, who rolled his eyes. "Just remember, one more slip up and you'll suffer a fate similar to Quinton's."

Maigri went pale and clammed up, shoving his hands in his pockets and shrinking back into his frilly collar, too dejected to push his luck any further. "Yes, sir."

Destiny walked by and giggled. She gave him a sideways nudge. "You're always so cute when you're upset...Just like a little bull dog puppy."

Then she casually sauntered off, swaying her hips.

He stared after her in wide eyed, open mouthed shock. Did she just HIT ON him? No girl ever hit on Maigri before...He didn't know whether to be ecstatic or insulted. He blinked out of the dazed state and looked around nervously. Had anyone seen that? Embarrassed, he felt a blush creep across his face.

Destiny called him cute.

Then that stubborn, narcissistic voice in the back of his mind gave him a swift kick, whispering, 'What the heck are you thinking, here? Remember what is!' He frowned. "Half-human wench."

"Look, here they come!" Someone pointed at the top of the ice cave, where a tiny dot appeared. The couple hadn't even bothered to change out of their wedding clothes before speeding home.

Charlie wrapped his arms tighter around his new bride, who clung to him like he was her only lifeline. "Open your eyes, Dani, were almost here."

"No!" She moaned and grasped his shirt tighter. "I think I'm going to pass out!"

But then, she did open her eyes. And they stayed open until they landed. He helped her down, and she swallowed hard. A hand finally pulled off the veil from atop her wind blown hair absent-mindedly. She spun around a couple of times, looking at the buildings, the elves, the reindeer...Everything. She turned back to the grinning young man and managed to find her voice. "You told me it was amazing, but I didn't believe you."

Charlie's smile took up most of his face, he was so happy. "Isn't it great?"

"You were right," she said and tossed away her bouquet without another thought. "We SHOULD have performed the ceremony here!"

The bundle of white roses flew through the air, almost in slow motion, and bounced off the side of April's head. She reached out and caught it before it hit the ground, then stared at it, absolutely shocked.

"Whoa, girl, you know what that means!" Merope smacked her on the back, knocking the wind out of her. "You're next, baby! YOU'RE NEXT! Ha!"

"I...I...No, there must be some mistake!" She held the bouquet at arm's length as if it were a poisonous snake about to strike.

The elves decided that was the time to throw their rice and yell their congratulations. Destiny practically shouted over the commotion, "No mistake, April. Things like that ALWAYS happen for a reason!"

She looked up and locked eyes with Bernard fifty feet away. His face seemed frozen in an expression of total fear, for in that moment, Curtis' previously overlooked words rang in his pointy ears. 'As I listened to their conversation Merope said that you were dating Destiny's mother.' He looked back and forth between April and Destiny, dread washing over him. No WONDER Destiny had looked so familiar! The smile, the shining eyes...Those were April's features, but...The dark, perfectly curly hair, the nose...Suddenly, Bernard felt VERY sick.

Curtis noticed. "What's wrong, Bernard?"

"I need to sit down." He did, rather swiftly.

"Are you okay? Do I need to call a medic?"

He shook his head, his eyes clouding over. The world around him disappeared, until just the four of them remained. "My daughter. She's MY daughter, Curtis. With...April...I mean, look at her."

It finally dawned on Curtis too. He squinted at Destiny and scrunched up his nose. "Ohmigosh, you're RIGHT! She looks just like you! I don't know why I never saw it before."

The shock of that realization evaporated as quickly as it hit him, leaving Bernard just plain angry. He scrambled to his feet and marched over to where April and Destiny stood laughing. He grabbed Destiny by the elbow and spun her around. "Who are you?"

She flinched, alarmed at his tone. "What do you mean, Bernard?"

"You know VERY well what I mean, Destiny. Why didn't you tell me you were my daughter?"

Her eyes went wide. "You know? How?"

April split the two apart. "What in the name of all that's good is going on here?"

He talked around her. "Did you really think I wouldn't figure it out?"

"I...I hoped you wouldn't..." Destiny wrapped her arms around herself, knowing she could vanish any minute. "I had strict orders not to tell you who I was...Because it might make you not want to fall in love with Mom, and..."

He flung his arms around in the air. "I DON'T LOVE APRIL, OKAY? AND I NEVER WILL!" As soon as the words flew out of his mouth, he regretted them. But, alas, he couldn't take them back.

The whole town fell silent. All eyes, including those of the newly expanded Calvin family, turned to him.

April's eyes filled with tears. "I knew it! I just knew this was too good to be true!" She threw down the bouquet and ran off at top speed. After an awkward pause, the rumorous whispers started anew.

Destiny turned to her best friend, shaking, her eyes also filling with tears. "This is it, Merope. I'm going to disappear for sure! I blew it. I blew it! They'll never get together now!" She broke down into racking sobs.

Merope wrapped her arms around the girl protectively as a parent would and glared at Bernard in total disgust. "Good going, jerk."

Only then did he realize the full impact of his words.

And that he hadn't meant any of it.


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