For the Love of an Elf (Bernard the Head Elf romance)

The Truth

*note: This chapter was so hard to write and took me several days because this story is about Claire, and I'm trying to write original dialogue and scenes that aren't in the movie and I'm sorry for the long wait. I appreciate all the readers I have and those that have added this story to their libraries. I see you and I appreciate you. What you don't realize is that I am writing the fanfics on my profile in preparation for writing original stories that I already have a lot of ideas for and your support is very encouraging. So thank you!

When Claire led Bernard back to the floor, he reacted pretty much how she thought he would. 'Curtis, what is he doing in the Naughty and Nice Center? What's going on here?' The latter was said to Fake Santa, who said, 'Well, I'm checking the Naughty/Nice List. Actually, I'm checking it twice.' 'I already told you!' Bernard looked between Claire and Curtis nervously. 'It's been checked, don't worry about it.' But Fake Santa was already on a rant about kids being bad for doing small things that her dad would usually let slide right around Christmas. He wanted to edit the List. This was bad. They had one major concern and it had just been blown out of the water. Even Curtis was finally voicing concern over the imposter's behavior. Then he stomped off yelling orders to bring him the whole List, Curtis scurrying behind. Claire whipped around, grabbing Bernard by the front of his sweater and dragging him towards her dad's office. A few 'ooh's went up around them, and a couple of elves gave her winks as they passed. She just screwed up her face in confusion and kept walking. When they were safely behind closed doors, she locked them in and shoved him down in Santas chair. 'Ready to concede yet? Or are we just gonna wait until he puts every child on the Naughty List, my dad has no time to fix it, and Christmas is ruined? Huh?' Bernard chewed the inside of his lip anxiously, but didn't answer. 'Bernard?' Claire kneeled in front of him and cupped each of his cheeks with a hand. 'Are you ok?' He met her eyes and said, 'I don't know. We can't let him change the List, but we can't afford to pull your dad until he's ready either. I don't know Claire. I'm sorry.' Her anger melted a little, and she brushed the hair from his face. He no longer wore it in locs. Instead, it was in soft, tight curls that she really wanted to run her hands through. Did he look older, almost? It was probably the stress getting to him. Suddenly she felt guilty for being so hard on him. He had been there and done more for her dad the past eight years than she had been able to do. She tightened her hold on his face and said, 'We can call dad, real quick, and just see how things are going. If he's making good progress we won't tell him about this mess. We'll just deal with it. And if he's in a mess himself, well, there's no more time anyway. We'll bring him back and cross THAT bridge when we get to it. The children come first, right? It'll be fine. I promise you.' She went to pull away, but he put his hands over hers and breathed deep, eyes pleading. 'Just a minute, please?' He sounded exhausted. Claire had gone completely still at his touch but nodded. She stroked his cheek, and slowly, after a moment, he leaned forward, touching his forehead to hers and closing his eyes. He sighed deeply, and despite their predicament, a giddy thrill shot through her. Then the knob on the door jiggled making her shoot to her feet. Curtis yelled from outside, 'Let me in! What are you doing in there?' Cheeks red in embarrassment, she unlocked the door, and Curtis slipped in, looking both ways before shutting and locking it again. 'We have to stop this. This is wrong. Not what I wanted at all, I swear.' Still sitting behind the desk, Bernard said, 'We know. We've got a plan.' With Bernard and Curtis listening, Claire called her house, hoping her dad would pick up, but instead got her mom. She said that Scott was currently on a date and that things were going wonderfully, hopefully right on schedule. They said I love yous and see you soons and hung up. A collective sigh went up between the three in the room, half relief and half resolve. They would have to deal with the current mess themselves, but at least all future Christmases should be safe. Bernard and Curtis went to go find Toy Santa and try to keep him away from the List while Claire went down to the stables to see Terrence. She needed his advice on something. When she arrived he was brushing Vixen out in her stall. Claire leaned over the door and he greeted her with a familiar smile. 'I need a favor, Terrence.' He stopped brushing to look at her. 'Well that was straightforward. What can I do for you? I figured you'd be helping your dad put the finishing touches on things upstairs. Or kissing up to you know who.' He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. She picked at her nails nervously. 'That's what I need help with. I need you to find out if Bernard likes me back or not. I fully intended to use this trip to get over him, but we've had a couple of moments, where I think he might actually like me. Or not. I don't know, and I can't just go around asking the other elves what they think. How embarrassing would that be?' Terrence resumed brushing and said, 'Why don't you just ask him yourself?' She looked at him in surprise. 'Because then he would know I like him. Duh.' Vixen snorted and Terrence said, 'Oh trust me, he knows. You don't really hide your feelings well, and elves talk.' She covered her face with her hands. 'Great. So while I thought we were having "moments" he was probably just pitying me. If you'll excuse me I'm going to go eat my weight in cookies in the kitchen.' Terrence hung the brush up and jogged after her. 'Wait, Claire! I didn't say he doesn't like you.' She stopped then. 'Why? What do you know?' Terrence looked nervous. 'I shouldn't tell you this, but if it'll get you to talk to him I will. You're old enough now.' She looked at him expectantly, and he twiddled his fingers. 'There's been talk, gossip, that he's found his soulmate. And that maybe, that soulmate could be you. It's the way he acts when you're here, different. Less uptight, more energetic. He literally can't help it. It's been that way for years, and I'm not sure he's even noticed, until this year. But you've been here for almost a month right in his face, so I'm positive he knows by now.' Claire looked flabbergasted. 'What? But that's-, no way-, I'm human! How could that be?' 'It's not unheard of for an elf to fall in love with a human. It's happened a few times over the centuries. Some humans just have beautiful, pure souls that attract magic, and the rest goes from there. As for you being his actual soulmate, you need to ask him about that. I only told you this much so you would go talk to him. He'll tell you the truth if you bring it up.' He turned to walk away and she grabbed his arm. 'How can you be sure he won't lie, or deflect?' 'Elves don't make it a habit to lie, and no matter what, we can't deny our mates. It goes against our very being.' She let go of him. 'Thank you, Terrence. I'm gonna go find him. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?' He nodded, smiling. 'Alright, Claire. Good luck.' She ran back into the workshop, desperately looking for Bernard, but nobody had seen him in a while, not even Curtis, who was still trying to keep an eye on Toy Santa. So instead she went to find Tinsley in the kitchen, and stayed there helping tray up cocoa and cookies for break and washing up after. When she realized how late it was getting she took off her apron and went to Bernard's office in a last attempt to find him. It was empty, which was unusual because normally he stayed up late reviewing reports. So she just walked to her room, dressing and getting into bed. She would talk to him tomorrow. That night, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.