Bernard sighed as he and Curtis walked through the workshop. The number two elf had been interrogating him since he got back. "Curtis. what Krampus told me is classified, and everyone knows that you can't keep a secret." Bernard said stopping by a blonde girl who was painting and leaned down looking at her work. "Looks good, Betty." He smiled.

"Thank you." She smiled back. He started walking again, missing the death stare that Betty's husband Noel was giving him.

"No, I'm not talking about that, I want to know why you were gone for so long?" Curtis asked, making The Head Elf stop again, because he knew that Curtis wouldn't stop questioning him until he gave an answer. "Mackenzie and Charlie invited me to dinner." Bernard wanted to leave it at that, but unfortunately for them they stopped next to Poinsettia, and Bernard knew that he wouldn't hear the end of it. "But why were you there in the first place!?"

"Because I went to check up on the New Santa." He turned and looked down at his sister who was smirking up at him, "Don't even think about it." he said in south elfish. He knew that she would talk to him about it even if he didn't want to, though nothing happened and nothing would.

"Come on Bernie, spill the cocoa beans!" Poinsettia begged as they got Santa's room ready. It was a weird feeling for the two elves since it had always been their parent's room. Jessica was fine with moving out of the room and giving it to the new Santa, but her kids thought it was odd and they didn't like it. "There's nothing to tell. I went over to check up on the New Santa, I ended up playing Sorry with Charlie, and then stayed for dinner." Bernard explained changing the sheets on the bed.

"You had dinner... with Mackenzie!?"

"Not just her, Charlie was there too." The Head Elf replied. "Yes, but the sparkle is never wrong, so why don't you admit that-"

"Because nothing could ever happen!" he shouted. She stepped back. "The rule states, that no human besides Santa and his children who are born here, are allowed in the North Pole, it's for the safety of the SOS."

"I think it would be alright if Mackenzie stays here." Poinsettia said.

Bernard turned to her. "Rules are rules."

"Well, some rules are meant to be changed." She winked walking out of the room, carrying the dirty sheets.

"No, no!" he ran after her. The rules shouldn't be metaled with, and Poinsettia knew that.

Mackenzie was sitting at the table, drawing in a sketchbook. "What are you drawing?" Scott asked looking down at the paper. She blushed and tried to hide it, but it was too late. "Is that you and Bumblebee?"

"N-No!" Mackenzie closed her sketchbook. Her face turned beet red now that she couldn't get Bernard off her mind. "And his name is Bernard." She put the book in her backpack.

"Well, gotta go." She stood up.

"Alright. Have a nice day." Scott said as she quickly headed to the door.

"Oh, and don't forget that you're going to Charlie's school for career day!" Mackenzie reminded Scott as the door slammed behind her. Of course, he didn't forget because if he went to the career day, it would give him the chance to one up Neal.

Mackenzie continued drawing the picture of Bernard and her during lunch. She was adding the sparkle in their eyes. "Who's that?" her best friend Amber asked looking down at the drawing. The red head blushed, "Uhm...Bernard, his father works with my uncle." She lied, because the whole Santa Claus thing sounded crazy. "He's cute." Amber smiled at the picture. "Yeah...I guess." Mackenzie closed the sketch book and put it back into her backpack.

"What's with his clothes?" her friend Kyle asked. "Where is he from?" she knew that her friends would not stop pestering her with questions until she satisfied them. Mackenzie thought of a lie that would be believable. "Canada." She finally said. She was unsure why Canada popped into her head. Maybe because she remembered how south elfish sounded like Swedish, but hey the Canada lie seemed to work. "Really? Cool!" Amber smiled.

Kyle nodded. "You know, he looks like your imaginary friend, and he has the same name." he added. Mackenzie looked up really puzzled. "Why does everyone keep saying that I had an imaginary friend?" She asked. "Because I would remember if I did." Wouldn't I? She thought to herself. Her friends looked at each other just as puzzled as she was.

"Oh, and as a Canadian we don't dress like that." Kyle said. The fact that Kyle was Canadian had completely left Mackenzie's mind.

"D-did I say Canada? I meant uh.... Sweden!" now her friends were worried about her. Because first of all, she didn't remember having an imaginary friend and second of all Mackenzie had almost a photographic memory. So, how could she forget having an imaginary friend, and changed the location from where this "Bernard" was from. "Are you sure he's not from the North Pole?" Kyle asked chuckling.

Amber giggled but Mackenzie blinked because she didn't get it. "What are you talking about?" she asked, but before he could answer, the school bell rang, and everyone had to return to class.

Bernard sat at his desk going over some paperwork and trying to ignore Poinsettia, who was trying to get him to go see Mackenzie. "I have a lot of work to do, I don't have time to-" "Don't have time? Or don't want to do?" Poinsettia moved her eyebrows up and down. He sighed dropping his pen on the desk. "If I go see her, will you stop bothering me?" he asked.

"Yes." She smiled. Bernard stood up and teleported to the Calvin's house.

"My work here is done." Poinsettia said to herself, cracking her knuckles in satisfaction.

Mackenzie got home, and heard a noise come out of the kitchen. She quietly closed the door and reached into the closet for a weapon she could use: she pulled out Charlie's pooka-dot umbrella. She headed to the room, umbrella aimed and ready for a fight, just as Bernard came around the corner with a footlong Turkey sandwich on poppy seed bread with pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, Roast beef, onions, ham, and cheese. They both jumped. "What the hell are you doing here?" Mackenzie asked. "I could have dropped my sandwich!" Bernard exclaimed catching his breath. Mackenzie rolled her eyes. "Poinsettia made me come." He lied, because truth be told he really wanted to see Mackenzie again but didn't want to admit it. He noticed the umbrella in her hand. "Were you going to hit me with that?" he pointed at it. "If I needed to, which seems like I don't need to." She went back to the main room and hung it up by the door.

"Did you make a sandwich?"

"Yes, I was hungry." He took a bite of it. she stared at him.

"So you went through my refrigerator, while I wasn't home?" she questioned.

The elf looked up at her. "Yes. I was hungry." He repeated but looked down. He was nervous to be here with Mackenzie alone, because of that stupid sparkle.

"Where is Santa?" Bernard asked looking around for the man.

"You mean my uncle Scott?"

Bernard nodded taking another bite of his ridiculously large sandwich.

"He's at Charlie's school for career day." She didn't know if elves had career day.

"It's when the parents talk-"

"I know what it is." He cut her off turning to face her. Mackenzie rolled her eyes again. "Uh do you want to watch a movie?" she felt her heart start to race, when he looked at her.

"Sure." He agreed

They walked to the living room; Bernard sat on the couch while Mackenzie looked for a movie to watch, soon she turned to him. "I know it's early, but would you like to watch a Christmas movie?" Bernard laughed. "It's never too early."

She forgot that she was talking to a Christmas elf.

They watched The Bishop's Wife. She ended up falling asleep against Bernard's shoulder, just as Dudley (Cary Grant), and Julia (Joretta Young) started ice skating. Bernard couldn't help but smile at the human as she slept, snuggled against him. He put the blanket that was laying on the back on the couch over her, after a bit he found himself dozing off as well, but he couldn't sleep here, for two reasons; one: the new Santa would flip if he saw Bernard sleeping on the same couch as his niece, and two: Curtis and Poinsettia would never let him live it down. But when did he care what Curtis had to say, "Some rules are meant to be changed." Poinsettia's words echoed in his head, so maybe just a few minutes, he closed his eyes and soon fell fast asleep.

Then the sound of a car door slamming loudly woke them up. They blushed when they saw how close they were to each other. "S-sorry." Bernard muttered.

"It's fine." Mackenzie muttered back.

"I should go." He stood up. He knew that the new Santa wouldn't be happy to see him, for now at least. "Y-yeah." She stood up as well, she held out her hand, he shook it.

"Will I see you again?" she asked. "Not that I wanted to see him again," she lied to herself. A bright smile went across Bernard's face.

"Of course."

She smiled back. "See you later."

"Yeah... bye." With that, he disappeared, just as Scott started to open the door. Mackenzie ran over to the phone that hung on the kitchen wall. She put it to her ear and said "Great! See you then." She hung it up as he walked inside.

"Who were you talking to?" he asked in an angry tone.

"Kyle, we were planning to hang out with Amber." Mackenzie lied, turning to her uncle. She didn't know how he would like the fact that Bernard was here sleeping on the couch with her. "Is something wrong?" she noticed the unusual angry look on his face. "Charlie brought up the Santa thing."

"Well, he is only 8, so he'll believe it." she knew that she should keep the fact that she and Bernard were going to hang out to herself. "Yeah, I guess." Scott went to the kitchen. His niece followed him. "Did you make a sandwich?" Scott asked after noticing that all the ingredients for a sandwich were still out on the counter. "Yeah, I was hungry after school." Mackenzie lied again. She cursed Bernard under her breath for leaving everything out. She started to clean up the kitchen as Scott grabbed a snack before starting dinner.

Bernard returned home and went to his office to finish his work. He smiled to himself thinking about seeing Mackenzie again. Seeing her again would make him happy, but he had to keep it to himself; otherwise, if Poinsettia, Curtis and Noel knew that Bernard fell asleep on the same couch as a girl the North Pole would know in a second flat. It was common knowledge that North Pole Elves loved to gossip, and that's the last thing he wanted, even if he knew nothing could ever happen between them. Because rules are there for a reason and are not meant to be changed.