The Workshop: A "The Santa Clause" Fanfiction. (Bernard x Female OC)

It's Lovely Weather to Talk About My Sad Backstory With You

(A/N: TW: There is mention of death later as we continue. It's mostly there to describe Angie's backstory, but I wanted to give everyone a heads-up.)

After the three of us got changed we head back out to the car. Charlie quickly fell asleep in the backseat as I drove. A mixture of fun, swimming, and the sun made me feel very tired as well.

"You're a good sister, Angel... Angie." Bernard corrected himself. "So many humans have such strong "sibling rivalry", but you seem like you actually like your brother."

I smiled, "You know, I just try to be the person I know my mom would want me to be." The two of us spoke softly, as to not wake Charlie. "I didn't have that person there for me when she died... Charlie wouldn't have that type of person around either... My dad just wasn't there for me the way I needed a dad. And I worry about him, I think at some point he'll need a parent to be that person, not me. Especially now, Dad and I are both going to be gone... If we'll be at the North Pole, Charlie has nobody. He needs his dad." I stopped myself once I realized I was beginning to ramble, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to spill all that." I shook my head, feeling awkward. I didn't normally talk about this sort of thing, I usually tried to keep these feelings under wraps.

"No, it's okay, you can talk to me." He assured me. After a long silence, he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what happened... to your mom?"

I chewed on my lip for a moment, thinking hard before I answered. "She was sick most of my childhood...she developed cancer when she was pregnant with me. She got better for a little bit, but it came back when I was seven. She died the next year. It was right before Christmas too." I answered softly after taking a deep breath. "But she was really good about making everything feel normal. She was so perfect and generous and she did everything for us-" I felt my throat tighten with emotions and my eyes heating up. I stopped talking until I felt the feeling pass slightly. "She still had us decorate the whole house that year because she knew I loved doing that."

Bernard sat there, looking at me with a focused expression, but didn't say anything.

"She always knew what to say or what to do. I just wish I was able to hear her voice again." I could feel the tears coming back to the corners of my eyes and I blinked rapidly.

I couldn't stop myself from spilling everything. It was like a weird waterfall of words coming from my mouth that I had no control over. Maybe it was all this pent-up for years, I wasn't sure. I never told anyone about these things or how they made me feel. Bernard sure didn't seem to mind that I was totally trauma-dumping everything I've held onto for the last almost 20 years.

"And my dad, I love him, I really do but when Mom died, he just changed so much. He went through a full breakdown when it happened, and locked all our doors to the house so nobody could get in. He didn't even realize that I was standing outside after getting home from school and practically froze in the snow! My neighbor had to call my grandparents from the phone book because my dad literally forgot about me out there. What kind of parent does that?" I wiped my eyes again, and my hand quickly found itself back on the steering wheel, clenched white. I knew I was getting angry but it was too late to stop myself from continuing to rant on.

" I lived with my grandparents for a full year, and when I got back he was so different. He never took down the tree we had, it was all brown with pine needles everywhere, and he never took the decorations down. The whole house was covered in dust and muck, and he sat in his room alone most all of the time. I don't think he realized that, at that time I didn't need anybody else but him. I needed my dad and I didn't never got that back fully."

I had to stop myself from talking because I realized that I was beginning to raise my voice, and I could hear Charlie stirring in the back seat. I quickly wiped my cheek with my sleeve.

"I'm sorry," Bernard said after a long silence.

"I just want Charlie to not have to grow up so quickly like I had to. I want him to enjoy being this little and naive."

"Thank you for telling me," He rested his hand on my shoulder and focus directly into my eyes.

I knew I was bitter at my dad about all of this, but hearing the words come out of my mouth made me realize just how much it was, and it was almost surprising to me. I disliked how he coped by putting work over his family. I didn't like how he thought marrying Laura would make him move on from everything we went through. It wasn't fair for her, and it wasn't fair for me either. He thought I needed two parents in the house, but they fought so much that it only made things worse. Then Charlie came along. You'd think that would make them at least attempt to get along and work things out, but instead, they divorced when he was four.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said all of that. My dad is a good dad. I have a good family, I am very lucky." I felt embarrassed after saying all of that, and the feeling hit me hard suddenly. I glanced away from Bernard, and he lifted his hand up.

"You can still love somebody that has hurt you before," Bernard said, "And there's no shame in feeling the way you do."

I stayed quiet, thinking hard and biting at my lip again. "Thank you... for listening to me. And for tolerating me. I know I'm not the easiest person to teach."

"Believe it or not, you aren't the worst company I've ever had." Bernard chuckled softly, "And you know, you are teaching me things as much as I'm teaching you. Just, different things... like what chicken fights mean." He smiled a small smile, trying to make me feel a little better.

I carried Charlie to Laura and Neal's door. It wasn't that late yet, but he was exhausted from the long day, and I didn't want to wake him up.

"He's pretty pink, did you put sunscreen on him?" Laura asked me, taking him from my arms.

"Oh I did, every couple hours. We just inherited Dad's pale skin." I laughed quietly, "I made him drink lots of water, and he ate all his snacks."

"Good," Laura smiled. "Thanks for taking him today, I'm sure I'll hear all about it tomorrow."

A/N:

So I was going to add this to the end of the last chapter, but I didn't really want to add a note in the middle of a paragraph. It's not really a full chapter since it's so short, but I thought it was an important character moment that I wanted to still post separately from another chapter.