**Heyo peeps! Well, I really don’t have much to say to all of you but... awe heck! Just enjoy the chapter ^_^**

Bernard looked around his room, sad and weary with tears in his eyes. He couldn’t stop thinking about Judy and about her loss, their loss. He sat down at a chair at one end of his room, stroking his forehead in his hands. All of his memories of his beloved Rosy were coming back to him, and only one thing remained on his mind. It was his fault. He let out a sigh and got up from the chair, having no reason to go anywhere. He noticed the cup of cocoa Judy left by accident by his door. He walked over to it and picked up the warm cup. He took a sip of the cocoa, expecting it to taste heavenly. Instead, it didn’t taste the same. It tasted different with the texture of Bernard’s depression overtaking the cup of Judy’s special recipe. He licked his lips clean and set the cup back down by the door. He suddenly grabbed his coat off of a hook and put it on while walking out of the door.

“Bernard!? Where have you been??” demanded Curtis at the first sight of Bernard coming down the stairs of the workshop. “You have got to go see Charlie! NOW!!”

Bernard didn’t answer Curtis. He kept walking as if Curtis wasn’t there. Curtis seemed dumbfounded. He stomped quickly to walk alongside Bernard.

“BERNARD!!!”

“Curtis,” said Scott from behind Curtis. Curtis turned to face the Big Guy, folding his arms impatiently. “Don’t bug Bernard today... he’s been throughout a lot today.”

“Like...” said Curtis gesturing Santa to continue.

“I can’t tell you... maybe later,” replied Scott. He knew what had happened to Bernard, and he also knew about Judy.

Without stopping to talk to anyone, Bernard walked out the front door into the chilly winter daytime. He crossed his arms, trying to shield himself from the North Pole winds. The winds reminded him of his past, memories trying to blow him away. He walked down the steps into the magical land ahead of him, but nothing seemed magical to him that day. Not a single elf was outside, all of which were busy making toys for the big day not far away.

Bernard walked alone through Santa’s town, paying little or no attention to the things around him. He wanted to be alone, he needed to be alone. The Sun was setting and the rays of bright light spilled brilliantly onto Bernard’s clothes, making the sequences on his vest dance in the light. But still, all of the magical things couldn’t make him smile.

He walked through long alleys, stepping over garbage cans and the trash spilling out of them. He stopped for a moment, not realizing how far he had walked. He then felt something soft rubbing his leg. He looked down and saw a pretty tabby cat, with a green scarf tied around it’s collar. Bernard reached down and scratched the cat on the head, making the animal purr with joy. His hand moved under it’s chin, making him purr even louder. The cat then shook his head, making something under the green scarf jingle. Bernard picked up the cat and looked under the green scarf to find it’s collar. A small bell made the jingling noise, but there was also an identification tag with it. Bernard held the ID tag in his hand, noticing that half of it had been broken off.

“Tomaso eh??” said Bernard reading the tag. “Your name is Tomaso??” He realized a cat wouldn’t understand his words, but this one seemed too. Tomaso meowed in agreement. Bernard then couldn’t help but to smile. “So who do you belong to, Tomaso??” He stopped himself for a moment, examining the tag once more. “How did this get broken??” he asked the cat. Of coarse Tomaso didn’t understand him. Bernard put down the cat and started to walk away. Little did he know that Tomaso was following him, like a faithful companion.

Bernard herd a little meow from behind him and saw Tomaso still following him.

“Do you want to come home with me??” he asked Tomaso. Tomaso looked up at him with his head tilted slightly to the side. He meowed once more before jumping into Bernard's arms. “Huh! Take that as a yes,” said Bernard smiling once more. Tomaso had given him a sense that he needed Bernard. It made Bernard feel good, just what he needed that day.

~*~

Curtis was having an awful time trying to keep on top of his work. He was frantically running around the North Pole trying to find some way to finish his work.

“Bernard is going to PAY!!!” he murmured angrily under his breath.

“Curtis,” said Santa noticing Curtis’s angry mood. “Why don’t you just cool your heels and go get a cup of cocoa from Judy.”

“Santa, you know I would just love to have a good delicious cup of cocoa,” started Curtis in a friendly calm voice,” but THIS WORK HAS TO BE DONE!!!!” All of the childish elves working around him heard the sudden outburst and they all gasped and turned to stare at Curtis. Silence fell over all of the workshop and all eyes were on Curtis. Curtis grinned nervously and turned to face the Big Guy.

“Santa, I’m sorry,” said Curtis looking at the ground. “I just...”

“You need Bernard’s help, don’t you??” Curtis looked up at him and opened his mouth to protest against the truth, but he figured there was no use for it.

“Yeah,” he finally admitted. All of the working elves seemed satisfied. They turned back to their work and the sounds of the workshop started up again.

“Curtis, I know you hate having Bernard in charge all of the time, but you have to understand that he’s been here longer then you. He’s earned the job, and it took him a while so mind you.” Santa stopped talking a moment, making sure Curtis was still listening. “And he needs this job. You have to understand that he has no where else to go. This is the only place he has...” Santa was cut off by the front doors of the workshop opening. Bernard had finally returned.

“Oh finally!” groaned Curtis, almost totally forgetting Santa’s words of wisdom. He stomped over to the front doors where Bernard stood with Tomaso drooped over his shoulder. He was scratching Tomaso under his chin again and Tomaso was purring very contentedly. All of the working elves looked up at Bernard standing at the door and saw Tomaso. In an uproar, they all set aside their work to pet the curious tabby cat. Santa too seemed amused by the new arrival of Tomaso. He laughed joyously by the happiness spread apon the workshop after the sadness brought along by Bernard.

“So Bernard,” started the Big Guy walking through the crowd of elves over to Bernard. “Who’se your little friend??”

“Oh! This here is Tomaso. I found him in an alley down on Gingerbread lane.”

“Who does he belong to??” said Santa scratching Tomaso on the head.

“I don’t know. If you look at his collar, his ID tag has been broken off.” He pushed aside Tomaso’s scarf to reveal the ID tag to Santa. Santa put on his glasses and looked at the ID tag.

“So it has, Bernard!” Scott turned around and faced all of the elves. “Does anyone know who this cat may belong to??” All of the elves looked at each other and exchanged glances. None of them had seen Tomaso before.

“Well then,” continued Santa. “Do you want to keep him here with you??”

“If that’s allright,” said Bernard smiling innocently. He didn’t really intend on keeping Tomaso here with him, but he didn’t have a problem with owning a cat as a pet either.

“Of coarse that’s allright Bernard! Why, this place could use a cat anyways.” The faces on all of the elves brightened up, and they exchanged whispers about the new pet excitedly. Bernard was happy for Tomaso. It reminded him of himself in the strongest way.

As the crowd died down, Bernard went back to his room. He took a big old basket and put a couple of blankets in it for Tomaso. Tomaso leaped into the basket and curled up and went to sleep. Bernard smiled again at Tomaso’s sense of innocence. The door opened suddenly and Curtis was at the door.

“Bernard, I’m warning you! You have to go help Charlie! He really desperatley needs your help.”

“Did you ever get to see Tomaso??” said Bernard ignoring Curtis. Bernard was now so happy again, and Curtis didn’t want to spoil it for him.

“No,” said Curtis walking over to the basked stroking Tomaso’s back. Tomaso opened his eyes slightly and gazed up at Curtis. He opened his mouth and yawned streatching out his body contently. “He’s sweet.”

“You know what the strange thing is though? He reminds me of myself.”

“Why do you say that??”

“Tomaso is like that thing that doesn’t really have anywhere to go. He kinda helps himself to place after place, not really having one exact location to settle down in and live the rest of his life in.”

“How are you put into that??” asked Curtis, completley unaware of Bernard’s past.

Bernard walked away from Curtis and Tomaso, moving towards the blazing fire in the fireplace. “Well, before I came here, I didn’t really have a home... or a family. I mean, I had a family that took care of me, but they weren’t my family. I never really quite knew my family.”

“What happened to them??” asked Curtis still stroking Tomaso.

“I don’t know. Actually, I can’t really remember much about my past. It doesn’t really bother me much either, but... it kinda takes part of me away.” Bernard suddenly seemed so distant from the rest of the elves. Curtis looked up at him and no longer saw Bernard the head elf, but he saw an elf without a full life, or past.

“I’m sorry Bernard, I don’t really know how to help you.” Bernard looked at Curtis.

“It’s allright. It doesn’t matter that much to me. I live a happy life here in the North Pole! I don’t really need to know my past.” Curtis nodded and walked towards the door.

“It’s late, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night,” replied Bernard gazing back into the fires. He sighed hevaly and looked at Tomaso sleeping contently atop of the soft basket. “Well my friend, I guess he isn’t as annoying as he wants to be.”


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