Santa’s Pretend?
Requested: 🙅♀️
Summary: It’s Christmas time and the mall is packed. You take your daughter to the mall and Buck tags along because he wants in on the pictures.
Warning: Some fluff, but really just Buck with kids and saying Santa isn’t real.
Author’s Note: I saw this GIF set the other day of Buck + Kids and the last made me want to write a little thing about Buck saying Santa isn’t real to a kid and the mom trying to fix it. GIF NOT MINE! Don’t @ me.
masterlist
the other masterlist
xx
Christmas was a major event for the entire month of December around your house. Your parents had made sure it would be that way when you were growing up and the traditions just kind of.. stuck when you had your daughter. She loved Christmas just as much as you did and she made sure to make as big of a deal of it as your parents did every year; often over-exaggerating certain details to her friends. But the last two Christmases had been difficult, after the divorce, and you could tell that your daughter was feeling the stress of it all.
“You ready for pictures?” you said enthusiastically to your daughter, who sat waiting for you on the couch while Miracle on 34th Street played on the screen.
“We’re going to see Santa!” she exclaimed
“And..” you started when there was a knock on the door, “Buck’s coming along for the day!”
“Hey kiddo!” He greeted your daughter when you opened the door, outstretching his arms to catch her in a hug
“BUCK!” she yelled out when she saw him, giggling when he picked her up.
“Do we have a game plan?” He asked your daughter, mocking a serious tone and raising his eyebrow at her
“We go in, stand in line, get the picture with Santa and then go skating!” She answered
“Wha-?” you gasped, laughing at your daughters response, “Miranda! Who said anything about skating? Buck and I might have some things to do today you know...”
“Skating won’t take long. Please!” your daughter whined and Evan joined her
“Pleeeaaaseeeee!” You rolled your eyes at them before finally giving in
“Fine. But only because it’s Christmas...” When the three of you got to the mall, Miranda immediately ran to line up to see Santa while you and Buck slowly followed behind her
“Thank you,” you said to Evan, holding his hand while you waited in line, “I know this isn’t exactly how you wanted to spend your day off”
“Are you kidding?” he countered with a smile, “I’d spend all of my days off like this. With you and Miranda.” You cuddled up next to him as the line moved slowly and kid after kid had their turn to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas; you and Evan watch as Miranda got more excited with every step she took.
“We’ll be back in five minutes everyone!” the Elf-Clad volunteer said from the makeshift North Pole, “Santa’s gotta recharge with some Hot Chocolate! Stay put and we’ll see you soon!”
“What?!” A man yelled from the front of the line, “we’ve been waiting here for three hours and now that we’re at the front of the line you’re walking away?”
“Sir, please,” the volunteer said calmly, “Santa needs a break. I understand that the wait has been long but his break will be quick. Believe me, he’ll be back in a Jiffy!” You and Evan smiled at each other at the young Elf’s attempt at staying positive
“I don’t give a rats ass!” he yelled, leading you to cover Miranda’s ears before the man said anything worse, “if he knew he was going to get so tired so fast maybe there should’ve been a maximum for this line up. To prevent all of us wasting our god damn time while he sits in the back and gets drunk!”
“YEAH!” the people in the lineup reinforced the mans points but you just looked around anxiously
“I mean why should we let a drunk guy in a costume talk to our kids in the first place?! Have them sit on his lap?!”
“YEAH!” The crowd repeated
“I’ve got shit to do today and I don’t want to waste another three hours waiting for Jolly ‘Ol St, Nck to come back just as drunk as when he left!”
“Mommy?” Miranda asked you, turning to face you, “what’s going on?”
“Nothing sweetheart,” you answered, “a man is just upset that Santa went on a break.”
“Santa went away?”
“He was thirsty so he went to get some Hot Chocolate!”
“Are we going to see him?!” Miranda asked, panic starting in her voice
“Of course, baby,” you said, brushing her hair behind her ear, “we just have to wait a little bit longer.”
“THERE’S KIDS HERE WHO WANT TO SEE SANTA!” A lady from behind you yelled, presumably after listening to the conversation between you and your daughter
“Miss please” Evan started
“Santa will be back soon and all the children will be able to see him before the day is done!” The volunteer repeated
“LET THE KIDS SEE SANTA!“
“Miss” You and Evan tried to calm the lady down before things got too out of control
“BRING BACK SANTA!” She chanted and it wasn’t long before the entire line was chanting along with her
“BRING BACK SANTA! BRING BACK SANTA! BRING BACK SANTA! BRING BACK SANTA!”
“IF YOU DON’T BRING HIM BACK,” you heard the man at the front shout, “I’LL GO BACK THERE AND BRING HIM OUT MYSELF!”
“BRING BACK SANTA! BRING BACK SANTA!”
“Mommy!” Miranda’s voice was trembling with fear and you kept her close to you
“Evan maybe we should go,” you whispered, “I don’t like this.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” He agreed but not before the angry man stormed behind the curtain and brought out the Mall Santa who let out a string of curse words leaving all the parents desperately trying to cover their children’s ears
“Santa said bad words!” Miranda stated before Evan picked her up and the three of you left the line and made your way to the skating rink
“Miranda,” Evan started, kneeling in front of your daughter to try to explain, “I know you heard Santa say some bad words but you don’t have to worry about that okay?”
“Why not?” Miranda asked and you listened intently, furrowing your brow as you were unsure of what he was going to say
“Because that wasn’t really Santa!”
“What?!” Miranda exclaimed and you hastily shook your head as your eyes grew wider at his confession, hoping he’d notice you
“No see. That guy was just pretending to be Santa!”
“EVAN!” You yelled in a whisper to him to get him to look at you
“Santa’s pretend?!” Miranda started to cry, “Mommy! Why is Buck saying that Santa isn’t real?!“ You knelt down in front of her, glaring at Evan before looking your daughter in her eyes
“Let’s go get some Hot Chocolate okay?”
xx
When you got home, Evan lingered outside the door not wanting to overstep his bounds.
“Come in, Evan...” You smiled and he obliged
“So...” Miranda started, climbing up on the couch, “Santa’s not real?”
“I shou--” Evan began but you stopped him by putting a finger in front of his lips, smiling at him before shaking your head.
“Do you remember when I first told you the story of Santa Claus?” You asked and she nodded as Evan slowly sat on the adjacent couch, “Did you ever have any questions about how any of it was possible? Even when I told you it was magic?”
“I guess...” she replied
“Well here’s the truth. There isn’t one Santa. The Santa at the mall was one of many Santa's”
“So Santa is pretend..? How do the presents get under the tree and in the stockings?”
“Well.. Mommy does that.” Her eyes fell to the floor, “your grandparents did that for me and their parents did that for them and so on. That alone doesn’t make us Santa.”
“I don’t understand” she admitted and you smiled
“There is magic in Christmas. In the things that you cannot see and can only feel and believe in. Santa is that magic for so many of us, even if he’s not a real person. We’re all Santa. We keep Santa alive so that the magic and the spirit of Christmas can live on in you and me and Evan and Chris and Eddie and Bobby and Daddy and everyone we know and love. Daddy and I taught you to believe in Santa so you could believe in yourself too. In your ability to be kind and loving and gentle and jolly and hopeful and giving and strong and happy. So, no, there’s no one Santa and they don’t live at the North Pole. Santa lives in our hearts. I’m Santa, Buck is Santa and you will be too. We’re all apart of this wonderful, magical secret as long as we keep the spirit alive. Does that make sense?”
“I think so.” She said as you leaned in to hug her tightly, “so like. We’re part of a secret club but we can’t tell anyone?”
“Yeah. Kind of.” She smiled at you, “I love you sweetheart.”
“I love you, too, Mommy,” she jumped off the couch and started to run to her bedroom to get ready for bed, “I love you too Buck!”
“Love you kiddo!” He turned to you and smiled before dropping his head to the floor
“Hey” you laughed
“I’m sorry” he responded
“Don’t be. I think it’s good that we were able to talk about it. I mean, sure, maybe I would’ve liked it to happen differently but we were bound to have the conversation eventually.”
“You were great though” he smiled
“Trust me, I’ve been googling this stuff for years for fear that this day would come,” you confessed, “I found all these speeches on Pinterest. Thank Goodness for Pinterest.” You and Evan both laughed before you heard Miranda call out for him to tuck her in and you were left alone, realizing you know had to tell your ex that your daughter knew the truth about Santa.
