Work Text:
Carla's POV
"Seriously, Sal?"
"Yes, seriously."
"And you can't ask anyone else?"
"No one that doesn't already have something to be doing." The short haired blonde speaks so calmly I almost thing she's playing me.
"I'll ask Aidan."
"He can't. Said he has been roped into running a stall." Of course he was.
"Sophie?"
"Can't do it, her and Kate are too busy and will only be able to pop by later."
"Sally-"
"Come on Mrs Connor, where's the Christmas spirit? Think of all those kids."
...
That was exactly the reason I wound up here. Sweating my arse off with a tickly chin and a dead leg, sitting on a makeshift throne inside a makeshift igloo. It had to be makeshift, we don't get enough snow to build a real one.
"Time out." I call to Sally, who saunters in and adjusts her elf ears.
"You can't just time out Mrs Connor, there's a whole queue out there."
"It's Miss Connor. And if I need a time out, I'm taking a time out."
Five minutes later, the door knocks.
"Hello Santa! Are you ready yet? Mummy just said she has places to be." I laugh to myself, pulling the beard back up over my mouth and cringing at the feeling of it resting above my lip.
"It's go time, Santa." Sally smiles that sickly sweet smile.
Taking my seat again, I brace myself as the igloo door opens and a tiny blonde bounces across the room. She hops straight up onto my lap.
"Is this okay, Santa?" She wriggles to get comfy.
"It is, Betsy."
"Woah, how did you know my name?"
"I know everyone's name." Panic flashes through me, sensing this little girl is no easy feat.
"That's a bit creepy."
"Betsy!" Lisa, if I remember correctly, scolds. An apologetic smile is on her face.
"Why thank you." I chuckle.
"Have any kids farted on your leg yet?" Her question catches me off guard and the laughter takes over, spreading to the blonde mother too.
"Not that I've heard, no. Although it goes warm at times and I do wonder."
"Ew! That's gross, which side did they sit?" She hops down, scrunching her face up and looking at me carefully.
"The other side, don't worry, you're safe." She finds comfort in that, climbing back up dramatically.
"Does Santa have a budget?" Comes the next question.
"It's a magical kind of budget. If he can make it happen, he will. If he can't, he'll do the next best thing."
"I like that answer." Lisa's smile is genuine.
"It's a bit vague for me. That doesn't help me know if I can have what I want to ask for."
"How about you tell me what it is and I'll see if I can do it?"
"That could work."
My attention is distracted for a moment as I hear Sally outside with the next visitor. "Santa won't be much longer, I'm really sorry for the wait." Her over the top voice that tells me she's hinting. Not that I care, this is the most entertainment I've had all day.
"Go on then, what would you like for Christmas Betsy?"
"There's a few things actually."
"Betsy, don't be greedy."
"I want mummy to be a bit happier. She frowns a lot. And cries. She always tells me that she has hay fever. Maybe Santa can fix hay fever? Her eyes aren't as pretty when they are sad."
"I bet you feel bad for calling her greedy now." My words come out whispered, not expecting such a beautiful wish from someone so tiny and bold.
"Correct." She wipes a stray tear.
"What else would you like?"
"I want my other mummy to want to see me. I know she doesn't love me, and she doesn't have to. I know that we can't make people love us. But she is funny and I miss her." Thankfully I have this scratchy fucking beard on because it catches my tears for me. The older blonde turns around to recollect herself briefly.
"I happen to think that you're very funny, little miss smarty pants. If she doesn't miss you, then she must be crazy." I regret my words after, only kind of. The innocence of someone so little. I have no idea what the deal is with her other mummy and maybe she can't help the situation, but I'd fight with everything in me to see my kid if I was her. I then cast a thought to Lisa. I know she's our local detective but now I know she has more of her own life than you'd think from the outside.
"Maybe, but I don't think she does."
"Is there a wish for a physical gift that Betsy would like?"
"Did you ever see the build-a-bear things?"
"I have, yes."
"I left Poopysaurus Rex at mummy's when I went last time and now she says I can't go back. She even has all my teddy clothes there. You know, my other bear Sprinkle Bum has been nakey ever since then."
"Hey, you should've told me darling, we could've gone to get some more clothes." Lisa smiles, though her eyes are sad.
"I know but it's just a silly thing because I already have them, just not at home. You would have to pay, but Santa can get them for free." I find myself smiling at the logic, then chuckling as I remember the bear names.
"Poopysaurus Rex and Sprinkle Bum, hey? We'll see what Santa can do, okay?"
"Don't forget happy for mummy and my other mummy to want to see me."
"I won't forget, Betsy Bum."
"Hey! It's Betsy."
"Sorry, I thought because you teddy is Sprinkle Bum..."
"Hmm, call me it again."
"Call you Betsy Bum?"
"Yeah, I think you can call me that, Santa."
"Well then, merry Christmas Betsy Bum." She shuffles down onto the floor and Lisa reaches for her hand.
"Thank you." Lisa speaks softly.
"We're not done yet, you didn't have a turn mummy."
"We came to see Santa for you, Bets."
"Well you're here now. He can't bring you what you want if you don't ask him nicely."
"Betsy-"
"Hurry up, I have places to be mummy." Oh the level of sass. She's me in the body of a tiny blonde, I'm sure.
"Okay, fine. Santa, for Christmas I would like-"
"You have to sit on Santa's lap."
"Betsy, I'm a grown up."
"I don't make the rules." She holds her hands up in a surrender, rolling her eyes.
"No, you don't. So I'll tell Santa from where I'm standing."
"Then you don't get to have nice things for Christmas, you'll probably get coal or toilet paper or something."
"Bet-"
"What is it you always tell me, mummy? Something like we should never argue with the rules." The older blonde looks to me for help.
"I'm not sure that's how it works." I try.
"Well I know it is. It's in all the Christmas movies. Just hurry up and sit down."
"She's not going to give up." Lisa sighs.
"I don't mind if you want to keep the peace." I offer, seeing the awkwardness.
"Are you sure?"
"As long as you don't fart on my leg, there'll be no problem here." This gets the pair of them laughing.
"Hi." Lisa mumbles shyly, sitting on my thigh.
"Ho ho ho, what would you like for Christmas?"
"You uh, you know my name too?"
"Of course I do, I know everyone's name."
"Told you it's creepy." Betsy glares at us both, pointedly.
"Right. I'd actually really like much, just maybe a break." She laughs, jokingly.
"Okay, we'll see if Santa can deliver a break." Silence takes over for a moment as I begin to think her request over.
"Thank you, again." Lisa shuffles her feet on the floor, a squeak being the result of this.
"Woah, did you just fart on me?" I tease, crackling laughter from Betsy.
"No! It was my shoe!" The blonde protests.
"Hmm."
"Come on smelly bum, let's go home." Betsy tugs Lisa's hand.
"Say bye to Santa then, hopefully you'll be good enough that he can make your wishes come true for Christmas."
"You're silly, mummy. That's not the real Santa." Betsy shakes her head with giggle.
"Excuse me? Why did you make me sit on Santa's lap then?"
"Because you don't like people. It was funny."
"Who says I'm not the real Santa?"
"Uh, you're a girl. Santa doesn't have pretty eyes like yours. Plus he is way to busy to sit in a pretend igloo in Weatherfield when it's nearly Christmas." That stuns me into silence.
"Have kids, they say." Lisa laughs at Betsy's cheekiness.
"I'll take the compliment anyway. Thank you, Betsy." I smile softly. She reaches forward to pull at my beard now.
...
After retiring the Santa costume once the Christmas Fair ends, I settle myself into the cafe with a coffee.
"You look deep in thought." Roy observes out loud.
"Yeah, I am as it goes."
"A penny for them?" He sits beside me, a mix of concern and curiosity on his face.
"I played the big fat man today."
"Yes, I heard."
"I had a little girl ask for her mum to be happy and for her other mum to want to see her. Something so simple that so many kids have naturally. So many kids were asking for these crazy expensive toys and games, and little Betsy wanted something that I used to ask for myself at Christmas time."
"It's struck a chord."
"Yeah. It's probably silly, I listened to so many wishes today and I could hardly tell you anything about those conversations."
"It's not silly at all. So am I right to assume you're wondering how to deliver?"
"Yeah."
"Find out what her mum wants for Christmas. Maybe getting that for her could make the happy wish come true at least. It is not realistic to make someone want something, not least when it comes too seeing another person."
"That's a good idea. I know that part isn't exactly doable. But it's all I ever wanted too, it sucks."
"So work on that first." A plan flashes through my mind.
"Thank you, Roy." I pat his hand with my own before taking off.
...
A bonus plan formed naturally a few days later.
"Mummy! It's the knicker girl."
"The knicker girl?" The older woman turns to face me and I recognise the two instantly.
"Yeah, the one what works in the knicker shop."
"The one that works in the knicker shop." Lisa corrects her, placing her order at Roy's counter.
"It's a factory, actually." I decide to get involved.
"Isn't that the same?" Betsy crinkles her eyebrows.
"No, sweetheart. A shop would just mean I sell them. A factory means they are made there."
"So you're a knicker maker?"
"Kind of. I'm the boss, so I design them and have my workers make them with materials."
"You have your own minions?"
"Probably not the right thing to call them, Bets." Lisa shakes her head, pulling up beside her daughter who is stood leaning an elbow on the table I'm occupying.
"We can call them minions." I laugh."
Betsy slides into the chair beside me.
"Betsy, you can't just invade someone's space like that. You need to as first."
"Sorry. Can I invade your space please?"
"Of course you can." I laugh.
"I'm so sorry. It's Carla, isn't it?"
"If by it, you mean me, then yes Lisa. It's Carla." My tone is teasing and I watch her carefully as realisation seems to wash over her.
"Bets, why don't you go wash your hands ready for your cake?"
"But we-"
"Off you go." She gives in, waving dramatically at me before sliding off her chair.
"You're Santa."
"Sorry?"
"I sat on your lap the other day."
"Lucky for you, you aren't wrong here, because that could be awkward." I laugh loudly.
"I knew it."
"How?"
"Your voice when you said my name." Her face flushes pink now. Interesting.
"What about it?"
"I wouldn't forget that. I don't know what I was expecting Santa to really look like, but it wasn't this." She scans her eyes over me shyly.
"Yeah, well, the red fat suit isn't my usual attire." Her laugh is contagious and suddenly I'm giggling with her at my own joke.
"Figured."
"Do you have any plans today?" It's my turn to ask questions.
"I'm working this afternoon, so I was just hanging out with Betsy before dropping her to my sister's."
"Do you think maybe we could pop to build-a-bear?"
"Why?"
"I want to make a new bear with her. Sprinkle Bum must be missing their sibling."
"Oh, you don't need to do that. I'm going to take her after Christmas with her Christmas money. I didn't know she was feeling that way. I already finished her Christmas shopping when she told you that."
"You're organised. I like it. But I was hoping I could get it for her."
"Why would you want to do that?"
"It tugged on something."
"I can't accept that offer from you, you're essentially a stranger asking to spend money on my kid."
"Hey, we aren't strangers. You sat on my lap!"
"You know what I mean."
"Come on, I'll sit on your lap and ask for it for Christmas if I have to." She giggles and the sound needs to be bottled up and kept forever.
"Okay, fine. We can go and build a new bear."
"Thank you."
...
"What are we calling it, Betsy Bum."
"We're calling it Santa McFarty Pants."
"Are we? It uh... It really suits him." I laugh loudly, only getting louder as I see Lisa's head shake.
"Yeah. Cause you were Santa and that's how I met you, and now you're here making it with me." She is the cutest kid known to man.
"That's how you met me?" I'm not sure Lisa wants her to know I was Santa.
"Yeah! Well not for the first time, I see you coming out your shop, factory a lot. But the first time I talk with you." And she wants to name her bear after me. My heart clenches.
"Hey missy, how did you know Carla was Santa?"
"She called me Betsy Bum. I only told Santa she can call me that."
"She's smart." I laugh, receiving nothing but agreement from the two blondes. "Come on then, pick some clothes for Santa McFarty Pants and maybe we should find something for Sprinkle Bum so they aren't nakey for the foreseeable."
...
Lisa's POV
"Thank you so much for this morning, Carla." We met up for a coffee after I dropped Betsy off, since I have time for a quick one before my shift.
"No need. I wanted to."
"I still think it's weird."
"Betsy was me, at her age." She blurts.
"Wanting your build-a-bear to stop being nakey?" I laugh in attempt to keep it light, but I can sense the deeper meaning from within the brunette.
"Wanting my mum to want me. Losing the few things I owned as I kid because we were constantly moving in to strange homes and leaving without warning, never to go back again."
"Carla, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay. I'm in a very different place now. Hearing Betsy just made me ache a little, for the little girl not understanding and for grieving something that didn't make sense in such a small mind."
"Becky left us."
"Huh-" I interrupt her, realising I just threw that out there.
"Her other mum, Becky. She pushed for us to have Betsy. She wasn't awful. She just wasn't cut out for the family life. She wanted the thrill and the fun of no commitment. Apparently Betsy and I were too much commitment. The last time I picked Betsy up, she told me it wasn't working. Her new piece of fun had come over by surprise and wasn't keen when she saw Betsy asking them to play with her."
"Some people don't deserve the family that they get blessed with."
"I don't know about blessed. Betsy is incredible, for sure. Me? Washed up, boring, serious, too quick, too mumsy."
"I'll guess she told you those things?"
"Maybe." I shrug with a laugh, not liking the level of attention.
"Well she was wrong about those things. You'll see that one day. I for one think you are fun, for what it's worth."
"It's worth a lot, thank you."
...
"Mummy! Santa has been!" Betsy presses her nose against mine as I lay in bed. I open my eyes to her face up close.
"Has he now?" I smile at her excitement.
"Yeah! Can we look?"
"Come on then." She tugs me out to the living room.
Betsy tears through several presents before I clock the one Carla dropped off and slipped under the tree late last night.
"Can I open this mummy? It has different paper."
"Of course you can. That one is from Carla."
"She got me a present?"
"She did, I think you made quite the impression, Bets." I laugh fondly.
She opens up a pink and purple wardrobe, with a card stuck to the box.
"Can you help me read please?"
"It says
To Betsy Bum,
I thought Sprinkle Bum and Santa McFarty Pants could do with somewhere to keep all their new clothes. Merry Christmas cheeky girl!
Love Knicker Girl."
I find myself smiling at the words and the thoughtfulness of the brunette.
"Wow. That's so kind of her mummy! Can we get Carla a present?"
"We can, darling. We'll go out and find one after Christmas." I felt awful when she delivered the gift last night because I hadn't gotten anything for her, not expecting it since we only recently met properly.
"Oh, this one has a L but I don't have that in my name." She hands me a tiny gift, wrapped in Santa patterned paper. I open it slowly, confusion etching my face as I hold the kitkat in my hand. "Why did she get you that?"
"I have no idea Bets."
"There's another one here for you mummy. I think this is from Santa."
My jaw drops at this gift, knowing full well it wasn't Santa. I don't have the kind of money for this.
"What is it, mummy?"
"It's a spa stay."
"Sounds boring."
"Oh, it's far from boring. You'll get it when you're a grown up. It's nice to have a break like that sometimes."
"You did ask Santa for a break! Maybe Carla really was working for Santa and passed our wishes on like she said she would, mummy." My heart flutters at that, remembering now that I did in fact ask for a break. It was a joke, since there isn't anything I want or need, other than sometimes a break from every different role I play every day.
"Maybe she really did."
Before texting Carla to thank her or invite her for a drink to end Christmas night, I decide on the gift Betsy and I can gift her.
...
"Thank you so much for our gifts, Carla."
"No need to thank me. I was just doing my job as Santa's assistant." She winks and I feel the heat rising in my cheeks.
"No, you went above and beyond."
"Did you open the spa ticket first or the kitkat?"
"The kitkat."
"Good! Did you get it?"
"Get what?" My brows furrow.
"Kitkit... take a break... it was a hint before you opened Santa's present."
"Oh. Ohhh." I get it now.
"Carla!"
"Hey Betsy Bum!"
"Thank you for my present."
"You are very welcome. I hope Sprinkle Bum makes use of her wardrobe and doesn't walk around nakey ever again." Betsy and I laugh at her silliness.
"Me too, it's worse than when mummy looks for her bra and walks through home with her boobies out!"
"I do not!" The heat has no chance of leaving my cheeks now.
"Yes you do!" Carla laughs loudly at this new knowledge.
"Anyway, I actually invited you to give you your gift." Betsy grabs it from under the tree and moves to drop it on Carla's lap.
"Lisa, this is naughty. You really shouldn't have."
"One could say the same to you!" I poke her on instinct before realising it may have been pushing boundaries.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it. I haven't had a spa day in a long time actually."
"Well now you have one. The only catch is that you have to spend it with me. I booked you the same date."
"And what a catch you are." Her tone suggests double meaning, but I don't want to read into it too much.
"Carla, did you know something?" Betsy interrupts.
"I know a lot of things, kiddo. What do you want to know?"
"Santa did remember my wishes."
"He did?" Carla's smile is wide and excited.
"Yeah! I got extra clothes for my bears and mummy has been happy lots today! He didn't make the other one work, but I know that one is tricky. But mummy is very smiley." The brunette looks to me as if for confirmation.
"Yeah, she is, isn't she? I think happy suits your mummy a lot."