Chapter Text
Bernard was the first. He'd told Santa Claus to go visit Charlie when he could, but it wasn't as often as Charlie probably would have liked. Then again, no amount of time would be. It was unfortunately during one of the times when Santa was in a long meeting with the Legendary Figures Council when the feel of the snowglobe hit, but even Bernard would have to admit that it felt off. While it was connected to Santa, the magic had been set up by Bernard so he received the same ping that Santa received. Bernard was guessing that Charlie might have nudged it accidentally or even forgotten that it was magic and just shook it. He had done that enough times in that first year when Scott wasn’t able to feel it yet.
He shared a look with Santa. The Council would likely tell him to go, but Scott was determined to make a good impression and they had asked him for help this early in the relationship. Bernard motioned he’d go check on it and Scott gave him a thankful look. If Charlie accidentally bumped it or shook it, Bernard could brush it off with a playful scold. If he needed his dad, which was understandable, he’d let him know he’d be there very soon. The meeting shouldn’t take too long and if it was something that Charlie needed right away, Bernard could turn around and get Santa before the meeting ended. As he landed, he made a note that if Charlie had shaken it, he was also getting a gentle scold on the importance of sleep as he glanced at the clock to see it was six in the morning.
He quietly teleported again directly into Charlie’s room in order to not wake up the older members of the household accidentally. When he got there, he found Charlie completely asleep, and his heart raced in concern of some sort of trap. To make matters worse, the beloved snowglobe wasn’t sitting in its normal spot.
"Oh," a whisper came from behind him. He whirled around to see Laura Miller, holding the snowglobe sheepishly. "I thought you'd be Scott."
"He's in the middle of a meeting. I was going to tell Charlie that he'd be down soon," he said, taking the snowglobe from her gently and setting it back. "I can give him a message..."
She fretted. "It's actually... let's go in the living room. I don't want to wake him up yet."
Bernard firmly agreed, shutting the door softly behind him and headed back with her. "Mrs. Miller?"
"My mother is in the hospital and I need to go see her," she said. "Neil is out of town and I don't want to have to wake up Charlie and take him all the way there..."
"I can stay with him until Santa can come down," Bernard said.
"Is that part of your job?"
"It is now. Besides, I like Charlie. When is he supposed to be up?" He asked.
"Now," she admitted. "He doesn't have to go to school today. Are you sure?"
"I can handle it," he assured her. "I'm... well... I'm pretty good with kids. And Santa will be here as soon as he can."
"Thank you," she said. "Help yourself to the fridge, I'll go shopping when I get back."
She headed into Charlie’s room and gently woke up her son. "Mom?"
"Hi Charlie. Your grandma is sick and I need to go check on her. Your dad will be here soon, but..." she looked over her shoulder to request the name again. He mouthed it to her. "Bernard will be here to watch you until then, okay honey?"
"Bernard is here?" Charlie asked, now fully awake. He pulled himself out of bed and looked at Bernard. "You never visit."
"Well, he's visiting now," Laura said, looking conflicted on if she should go.
"How'd he get here?"
"Tell you what, Sport, I'll explain everything, but your mom needs to leave. Is that okay?" He asked and Charlie nodded. Laura looked relieved, mouthing a thank you to him as she raced out the door. Bernard turned back to Charlie. "Your mom shook the snowglobe. I was coming to tell you that your dad would be a little late getting here."
Charlie nodded. "He usually comes when I shake it."
"And he always should," Bernard said. "Because it's important. Do you want some breakfast? Your mom said we could raid the fridge."
“Really?”
“Really. Do you like waffles?”
"Can you make waffles?"
"Do you have a waffle iron?"
"Yes!"
"Then I can make them. Come on," he said, leading Charlie into the kitchen.
"Do you know how to cook?" Charlie asked and Bernard looked at him in bewilderment.
"Charlie, I wouldn't have offered if I didn't know how," he said.
"Dad burned the turkey and he said he knew how."
"Santa..."
"The flames were really high."
"Well, I know how to cook and bake," he assured him. "Without starting fires."
"How'd you learn, Bernard?" He asked.
"Well, Judy is one of my best friends and I didn’t want her to learn alone," he answered. "But I'm also in charge of all of the elves. I should be able to do their jobs in case they need help. So, when Judy was old enough, I learned when she did. We still bake together sometimes."
"Does that mean you could do everything at the North Pole?" Charlie asked, his eyes impossibly wide. Bernard was grabbing the ingredients and paused for a moment to consider it.
"I'm not great at Quintin's job," he answered truthfully.
"I did okay there," Charlie told him. Bernard reached over and ruffled the boy's hair.
"You did great," he corrected him. “Hey, how about I show you how to mix all of this up? That way, you can make it when your dad is here.”
“Okay!” Charlie said, watching Bernard like a hawk. Bernard wasn’t the worst teacher in the world and he easily made sure to watch Charlie to make sure he wasn’t going too fast. Charlie took it in like a little sponge to Bernard’s amusement.
"Alright, the mix is ready to go."
"But what about syrup?" Charlie asked. Bernard looked in the fridge and sure enough, it seemed that the Millers were out. He glanced over and saw the strawberries on the shelf, pulling them out.
"We'll make some," he said.
"You can make syrup?" Charlie asked.
"Sure, where did you think it came from?"
"The store."
"Okay, but where did the store get it?" Bernard asked. Charlie considered.
"They made it?"
"Well, someone did," Bernard answered. "Here, come help me mash these strawberries while I get the base started. Just like this, Charlie."
Charlie immediately followed suit while Bernard took care of the stove. "Like this?"
"Looks great!" Bernard said, putting them in and letting Charlie watch them cook. When they were finished, he got each on the plate and spread the syrup over it.
"Wow, Bernard! This is really good!" He said.
"Well, I've had time to practice," he reminded him. "And see? No fires."
He was really going to need to talk to Scott about cooking lessons apparently. Sure, the elves did the cooking at the North Pole, but he needed to learn for when he was watching over Charlie. The boy in question just beamed at him as Bernard's radio went off.
"Bernard? Is everything okay?" He heard Scott ask.
"Hi Dad!" Charlie called from where he was sitting.
"Charlie?"
"Mrs. Miller had a bit of an emergency so I was watching him until you finished your meeting," Bernard said.
"Bernard made me waffles!" Charlie said happily.
"He did? Well that was nice of him. Alright, Sport, I'm going to grab Comet and head over in a few minutes," Scott said.
"Okay, Dad!" Charlie said happily.
"See you soon!" Scott called out and hung up. Charlie looked at Bernard.
"Can you make all of the food before Dad gets here?" He asked.
Bernard stifled back a laugh. "I'm not that fast about it."
Charlie made a face, but nodded. He moved the dishes into the sink and took Bernard's hand. "I'll read you a story."
Bernard started to protest that he could read when he realized that Charlie was likely excited that he was able to read to others instead of just the other way around and patiently let him, helping him with some of the words. That was where Scott found them a little while later.
"What are we reading?" Scott asked from the doorway.
"The Little Engine That Could," Charlie answered. Scott headed in and sat on Charlie's other side as he finished the book. He turned to his dad, practically jumping in his arms, and Bernard smiled softly. "Hey Dad? Can Bernard stay and make dinner?"
"I can make dinner, Charlie," Scott told him.
"Bernard made waffles and they didn't catch on fire or anything!" Charlie informed him. Bernard gave Santa a stern look.
"I'm adding in 'teach Santa to cook' to Judy and my things to do," he said dryly. "I should get back to the North Pole."
Charlie's excitement dampened and Bernard felt bad about being the cause of the change. "Oh."
"It's not that I don't want to stay around, but the elves get bratty if I'm not there to keep them in line. I don't have that problem with you," Bernard said easily and Charlie smiled a bit from that. "But your dad can stay here as long as he needs to. I'll take care of things."
"Thanks, Bernard," Charlie said, moving over to hug the elf which he returned. "Thank you for breakfast!"
"You're welcome," Bernard said. "I'll see you back at the North Pole, Santa. I'm talking to Judy when I get back."
Scott groaned and looked at Charlie. "You had to tell him about the turkey?"
"Mom doesn't like fires," Charlie said solemnly. Bernard was pretty sure that Charlie didn't either but he just nodded as solemnly as the child instead. Scott didn't look impressed, but part of Bernard's job now was probably making sure Charlie's needs were met and 'feed the child edible food' was definitely part of that. "Thanks, Bernard! You should come back some time!"
"He will," Scott said and Bernard forced back the protest. "Thank you, Bernard."
"You're welcome, Santa," Bernard said between clenched teeth and looked at Charlie more softly. "See you around, Sport."
And with that, he disappeared and reappeared in the North Pole kitchen. Judy looked over in slight annoyance. "You're lucky they don't startle from that anymore."
"We need to talk," he said instead. She looked concerned. "Santa can't cook."
"We usually handle that for him," she said, brushing it off.
"Judy, he set a turkey he was making for Charlie on fire. And while a turkey is a harder meal to make, I’d rather he didn’t set the poor Millers’ house on fire while he and Charlie are in it," he answered. Her eyes widened.
"I'll clear off part of my schedule," she assured him. "How did you...?"
"Charlie told me," he answered. "He was worried about me making him breakfast."
“Why were you making him breakfast?"
"I was baby-sitting."
"Why were you… Start at the beginning?"
And he did.