Even Santa Needs Cybersecurity
By Skyler10 Carol knew her roommate-turned-girlfriend Daisy worked in cybersecurity at her family’s Christmas-centric toy company, but she didn’t know much else about it. Meanwhile, Daisy has a romantic Christmas retreat planned for them, but on the way, she gets called into work: at the North Pole!
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Neither Carol nor Daisy had experienced a “typical” American Christmas: the warm fireplace, snow falling gently, Christmas tree serenely standing guard by the window as the family watched movies and ate the ugliest of their hand-decorated cookies before guests came over the next day. A break from work and school, a few gifts exchanged, a time of peace and togetherness away from the worries of the world…
“You know,” Daisy finished her pitch, “the normal family Christmas. The one in all the movies and cards and books.”
Carol sighed and taped down wrapping paper on a gift for her little niece. “That’s just not my experience at all. Christmas with my family ranges from chaos to disaster. There’s no peace or rest or cozy family time. Christmas is the worst. Well, second worst after Thanksgiving. At least at Christmas there are holiday parties and events to escape to.”
Daisy sent her most empathetic pout to her roommate-turned-girlfriend in response. “See, that’s exactly why we need this. It’s our first Christmas together, as a couple, and it’s time we start our own traditions.”
She gestured to brochures for the perfect romantic Christmas getaway, fanned out on the table as if Carol’s gift wrapping station had become a travel agency.
Carol raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Are you sure your parents don’t mind you not being there? Isn’t this the biggest day of the year for a Christmas-focused toy company?”
Daisy fluffed some gift bows, not meeting Carol’s eyes. “Well, technically I would still be on call. And I'll need to put in a lot of overtime to automate everything to run while I'm gone.”
“Ah, so it’s not a break from work.”
“It is! I’m not going to be there for any of the debrief or post-delivery analysis or even run the diagnostic reports until we're back.”
Carol took the bow Daisy had been fiddling with and taped it to the top of the gift.
“Okay.” Carol set the gift in her finished pile and cracked a smile that quickly turned into a grin as Daisy squealed and threw her arms around Carol in a hug. “You didn’t answer my question, you know.”
Daisy pecked a kiss to Carol’s cheek. “Hmm? Oh, about my family. Nah, they’ll be so busy, they’ll hardly miss me.”
“But you have told them you’re taking vacation days?” Carol pulled away with her arms extended but not letting go of Daisy completely.
“Eh… I sort of hinted…” Daisy cringed. She nodded in acquiescence as Carol picked up Daisy’s phone from the table and handed it to her. “I know, I know. I’ll call.”
“You’ll call now? While you’re out of the room so I can wrap what’s in this next box that’s a surprise for you?” Carol winked.
“Yeah, I’ll go.” Daisy’s smile returned and she started to walk toward the sliding patio door.
“No peeking!” Carol shouted after her.
—--------------
Daisy had not been totally honest with her girlfriend. Well, she had, but the information that she worked remotely from LA for her family’s Christmas-focused toy company “up north” had been missing a crucial bit of information. It was not actually a company at all, and it didn’t have a U.S. office in Alaska, a Canadian office in Quebec, or an international headquarters in Iceland, all of which necessitated a whole winter wardrobe that didn’t get used in LA. In fact, it was even farther north than that. But having this conversation had never gone well, in Daisy’s experience.
Besides, even when you live with someone before you start dating them, the question of “What does your grandpa do for work?” doesn’t really come up out of the blue. Parents, sure. That was easy enough: her mom was a freight air traffic control director and her dad was VP of operations at the family business, which he would inherit from his father. Fact. But also lacking in specifics.
Everyone assumes an air traffic control director works for an airport. Everyone assumes a VP of operations is a rather boring desk job with spreadsheets and budgets and deadlines.
No one assumes they are working at the North Pole. No one assumes the family business is literally Christmas. No one assumes you’re Santa’s granddaughter.
But it was time to find a way to tell Carol. Hopefully, the romantic, Christmas-filled vacation would be the perfect time, saturated in the joy, magic, and wonder of the holidays. Anything was possible at Christmas, even trusting that the love of your life won’t suddenly think you’re insane.
Daisy’s mom, Melinda, had had it pretty easy: one year, working in airspace defense for the government, she was the officer assigned to meet the Claus family consultant—Santa’s eldest son, Phil “Coulson.” She asked why he didn’t choose Clauson, and he said that “son of Claus” wasn’t much of an alias. They went out for holiday pie at her favorite neighborhood diner, and the rest was history.
Melinda tended to believe what she saw and hold everything else in skepticism, or at least, a healthy dose of distance and nonattachment. So when she saw Phil and met his parents, and then learned the psychology and neuroscience of the incompatibility of adult memory versus magic, she nodded and took it all in stride. Not much phased her.
Carol, on the other hand, had high hopes and deep wounds, as big as the night sky she studied and photographed. She left for university as soon as she could afford to go, on a dozen pieced-together scholarships and a savings account her parents had given her on her 18th birthday. They weren’t the most emotionally mature or relationally stable parents, but they did what they could financially for their kids, especially to avoid any failures in the eyes of their competitive, pretentious cliques at the Air Force officers’ club.
They’d been moved by the Air Force every few years of Carol’s childhood and teen years. University for four years, including working there in the astronomy department during the summers, had been the longest she’d stayed anywhere.
Daisy wanted more than anything to change all of that from here on out. They had a great place outside of LA near the coast. Nothing like the bitter cold of the North Pole nor the constantly changing climates of Carol’s half-dozen “hometowns.” Here, they could just be themselves. Sure, they both had work trips, and Daisy’s required a near-suspicious amount of winter clothing, especially in summer, but for the most part, their townhome in the sun was exactly where they wanted to stay.
But for a change of pace, a white Christmas just seemed more appropriate.
————- Carol rolled her suitcase to her red SUV, where Daisy was packing up.
“Ready for this one?” Carol asked, and Daisy gestured to the intended space for it. Their matching suitcases with matching luggage tags sat side by side.
“We are going to be THAT couple, huh?” Daisy tilted her head and noticed they were even wearing complementary outfits, completely accidentally, with Daisy in an evergreen sweater with tiny black stitching and Carol in an evergreen and black flannel shirt.
“Everyone will have to suffer through our cuteness. I’m not hiding it.” Carol shrugged with a nonapologetic air. “It is a romantic retreat after all.”
Daisy closed the trunk of the SUV with a satisfying bang. “I’m just glad I automated everything at work. I have my phone and my laptop if needed, but it was worth the month of stress.”
“Genius.” Carol pulled Daisy close and kissed her briefly. “Ready to hit the road?”
Daisy ran back inside to grab her backpack with her laptop in it from the entryway of their house and locked the door. “Yep.”
She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, but she ignored it. Her cousins were very anxious about not having her at the North Pole for the actual holiday for the first time. But Daisy's job could now run itself. There was no need to worry. Santa's GPS was programmed, radar systems were tested and operating at peak performance, and there was no reason to worry.
What could happen? Aliens? Robots? A hacker better than Daisy who could get around her labyrinth of protections? Not likely.
Daisy queued up their shared list of Christmas songs they both agreed on, which had taken quite a bit of time to compile. Carol swayed to the beat as she drove and they sang along, making up words where they didn't know the lyrics by heart.
They stopped for burgers and fries for dinner, knowing the rest of the week would be full of much better (and more expensive) delicacies, and then they traded off driving. Still another three hours. Not bad, but Carol was getting sleepy in the passenger seat. Daisy turned down the volume on the playlist a bit.
“You don't have to,” Carol said around a big yawn.
“It's okay. Get some sleep, babe.”
Carol nodded and cozied up to the window with her oversized hoodie as a pillow.
Daisy lipsynced to “Driving Home for Christmas” as she passed a big rig truck. When the truck’s headlights were a good distance behind her, she pulled back over in the right lane to allow anyone else to pass who might be coming up behind her. She drummed the beat on the steering wheel but then gripped it a little tighter as she entered a dark mountainside tunnel, the big truck behind her aiding her own headlights in feeling less alone in the void.
She noticed the tunnel getting darker and darker. The truck had disappeared from her rearview mirror, and her heart jumped. She couldn't worry about them now though; she needed to stay focused on the road. Her phone rang (again) and she ignored it (again). Not the time to check in, family! She'd call them back once they made it to the mountain resort. Surely the exit was just ahead.
Instead of open road leading around a small city and to the ascent up the snow-dusted mountain, the tunnel seemed to go on forever, until the near-total darkness was illuminated by a sparkly golden glow.
Carol stirred as Daisy's phone rang for the second time in five minutes. “Babe, just answer—wait, what the fuck?”
“Oh good, you're seeing that too. I was afraid I was going crazy.”
“Uhhh no, there is definitely something there… Is it swirling?”
Daisy slowed and darted her eyes to the SUV's screen that no longer showed the GPS map, just the currently playing song. She was about to poke at it to bring the map back and see what was ahead, when Carol leaned forward, suddenly fully awake and alert.
“It’s so weird. Does it look kind of like a giant snowflake, but also with something spinning in the middle? I’ve never seen anything like that.”
“I have.” Daisy's stomach sank. She angrily slapped the steering wheel. “DAMN IT. No! I planned so carefully! They can’t do this!”
Carol turned from staring in bafflement at the portal ahead of them to staring at her girlfriend.
“Daisy! What is happening?” The pitch of Carol's voice went up as the SUV did, lifted from the road as they were completely engulfed in the pull of the warm golden glow.
“So, there's something I have to tell you.” Daisy sighed and turned to Carol, hands on the wheel and eyes on the road no longer necessary. She reached out to reassure Carol they were safe with her hand on Carol's knee. “It's about my family's company, we’re—-okay this is going to sound ridiculous, but you have to trust me.”
Daisy's rushed explanation was cut short by a hard landing on ice, and the gold light faded into an Arctic evening. The wheels didn't slide, however, as a conveyor belt kicked in and pulled them gently along a sleigh-ride-worthy landscape. Puffins flew overhead and white foxes darted alongside them. The telltale red and white striped pole with a welcome sign rose from a snowbank, and Daisy typed in her access code begrudgingly, punching the numbers with her fingertips and giving the middle one to the security camera when she was done.
“Uhhh,” Carol stared at the scenery in disbelief, “Is this your family's company?”
“Yep, this is HQ, the original distribution center is over there, reindeer care center on the right, welcome to my icy, enchanted hometown,” Daisy grumbled, pointing to a village that seemed to sprawl on and on over the snow-covered hills. “This was not how I planned on showing you at all. For one, it would have been voluntary.”
“It’s, uh, elaborate. Very all-in on the Christmas theme. Any idea how or why they have abducted us?”
“It probably has something to do with the phone calls and texts,” Daisy admitted sheepishly.
“Oh, you think?” Carol asked sarcastically.
Daisy could tell Carol's patience was running thin for an answer to all, or frankly any, of this.
As Melinda, Daisy's mother, would say, “Seeing is believing.”
The scenic wintery conveyor belt ride came to an end as a garage door opened in the side of a mountain of ice.
Inside, a team of elves ushered Daisy and Carol out of the SUV. Too baffled to do anything else and not seeing any other options, Carol followed along as Daisy went into work mode. Down a festively decorated grand hallway and past a control room where Melinda was in full command overseeing a crew, Carol took it all in with unhidden awe and incomprehension.
What’s the emergency? Daisy inquired of a dapper, four-foot-tall, rosy-cheeked, pointed-eared gentleman in a red-and-white pin-striped suit who joined them. Despite his childlike air, he had a clear position of authority here.
“Your grandfather wants a word.” At this, the entourage sped up their walk and talk.
They descended and ascended elegant staircases and grand open workspaces with sketches displayed, prototypes in motion, and elves bustling about with clipboards, tablets with styluses, and hot beverage tumblers. Carol at first assumed they were filled with coffee, but the numerous kitchenettes on their path informed her the office beverage of choice was cocoa. Festive coffee, espresso, and tea were small options on the control panels, but at least eight varieties of cocoa were clearly the designed purpose of the machines. What Carol assumed was a microwave revealed warm Christmas cookies when the employee opened the door, even though they hadn't put anything in.
Daisy was clearly unphased by any of this. She stopped in front of a grand set of gold doors and steeled herself for confrontation. After she nodded, the elves opened the doors and a grandmotherly receptionist greeted them: Santa's personal secretary, according to the title on her desk nameplate. Cute.
“Go on in. He's expecting you,” she said to Daisy. “You too, Carol.”
—--- Inside a massive executive office space, a proportionally large desk sat in the center of the room, unoccupied but covered in various folders, spreadsheets, knickknacks, dual computer monitors, and various other office supplies. To the left was a conference room with a somewhat-literally frosted glass door—frosted as in covered in etchings of beautiful, intricate snowflakes, as if the artist had known each flake by name.
To the right, a booming laugh sounded and Carol's attention snapped to the source. She'd never heard a more genuine “ho ho ho” of a laugh, and her visual confirmation set her mind spinning.
He looked exactly like she'd always pictured him: red suit with hat dangling out of his pocket, shiny black boots, tall, full white beard, Northern European pale but with rosy cheeks, and rounded body in the way of a former athlete who aged out of muscularity and metabolism, but still had hidden strength and resilience. He carried a large mug of cocoa in one hand, fresh from a kitchenette around the corner.
“Hello, my Daisy! And this must be Carol. My how you've grown from the little girl I delivered gifts to.”
“Hey Grandpa,” Daisy greeted. “You know, Carol and I were just on our way to a nice, romantic getaway, remember? That's why I automated all of this? So what's up with the portal?”
His face fell and he sighed. “I'm sorry, but we had to. The whole operation is at risk. Your team says our systems have been attacked. Your protections held, but the fact that they found us to attempt it at all has everyone worried. Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve! We couldn’t risk it.”
Carol was still stuck on his comment about her as a little girl. If nothing else, this guy was committed to the bit. She had to give him credit for that.
“Okay.” Daisy accepted the situation and pushed up her sleeves. “Let's get to work.”
The receptionist entered and beckoned for Carol to follow. Carol glanced at Daisy to gauge her reaction: sympathy and apology.
“Sorry, top secret stuff. Even the elves require a special security clearance,” Daisy clarified. “Mrs. Parker can show you around while I fix this, then it's off to our Christmas trip. I promise.”
Carol hesitated and spoke quietly to Daisy, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Daisy pulled her aside into the adjacent unoccupied conference room.
When they were alone, Carol’s stream of questions sputtered into a single one that hardly felt adequate for the astonishment and confusion swirling inside. “Is he…?”
Daisy smirked. “Thought that part was obvious. Yes, my dad's dad is Santa Claus. My dad will inherit the title, and he's training his godson and protege, Mack, to take over after him, and I'm in line to take over as director of operations as we combine tech and North Pole magic.”
“North Pole magic? You're talking about this like it's a normal business! Are you telling me you're wizard royalty or something?”
At this, Daisy burst out laughing so loud, Santa and Mrs. Parker heard and turned their attention toward the conference room door.
“No, I'm not magical. This place is. It's sacred, for lack of a better term. And it's a family operation, but it's not like a kingdom. More like only a really small number of adults can know about it, so it's generally those who have grown up here or whose parents or partners did. I know what you're thinking. You have that face. The only parts of what I told you that were a lie were the names of places, and that it’s a normal company instead of a mythological tradition.” Daisy shrugged as if this were a mere technicality.
“Really, the only lie?” Carol’s questions finally rushed out. “How do you make money? How did you grow up here and turn out so normal? How does any of this work? What's with the elves? How did any of you even get here in the first place? What's magic and what's tech here? And don't just tell me magic is technology we don't understand yet!”
Daisy laughed again at Carol's interrogation that was, at this moment, less genuine curiosity and more overwhelm and incredulity at the reality of a myth around her.
“We have a department that is focused on understanding magic as a science, so that last part is true. But for the rest, it's best if you see it yourself.” Daisy nodded to where Mrs. Parker was waiting.
Carol searched Daisy's eyes and leaned in close, lowering her voice again. “Swear to me that all of this is real. I understand why you couldn't tell me the whole truth because honestly I'm still struggling to believe it. And there's probably some NDA you have to sign at birth or something. But if this is a joke, or I'm being punked, or this is just elaborate corporate theming and the magic is a bullshit marketing buzzword, you need to tell me right now. From here on, no more lies.”
She didn't have to add the “or else we're done,” but it hung in the air. Fortunately, Daisy took her seriously and didn't laugh again, though her expression was one of anticipation, like a kid at Christmas, in fact.
“Not only is this real, it's even better than you ever imagined. Sure, a lot of it is just a normal job. Or worse, which is why I’m here to save Christmas from a cyberattack, apparently. But besides the cold, it was a great place to grow up. Things aren’t always this hectic, of course. Just our busiest time of year with a tech crisis I need to go handle. Are we good?”
”Yeah, I am still processing, but after I see more of it, it might sink in.” This time, Carol laughed a little along with Daisy, just to break the tension and at how bizarre the situation was. “Okay, Santa’s granddaughter, go save Christmas.”
Daisy kissed her lightly. “Thank you for being so cool. You’re the best.”
They reemerged, and Santa still looked jolly as a default state, but seeing his forehead crinkle, exactly like Daisy’s, told Carol that he was stressed. Santa’s cybersecurity depended on her girlfriend. That felt pretty cool, even if the rest of this turned out to be a weird dream.
——
Carol left with Mrs. Parker for the official grand tour, and Daisy was free to snap into work mode. But Santa was her grandfather first and her boss second.
Santa eyed her carefully. “I’m guessing you didn’t tell her before we–“
”Nope, thanks for that, though.” Daisy’s sarcasm earned a raised eyebrow that told her she was walking on thin ice tonight. “Sorry, it’s not your fault. I was going to tell her on our trip. This was just a day or two too early. But Mom always said she had to see it for herself to get that it was real.”
Santa chortled his signature “ho ho ho” at this. “Your mother has been a gift better than any I have put in a stocking. She’s got the whole operation ready to go on manual if we have to.”
Daisy heard the unspoken challenge in his words. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
Santa’s eyes twinkled, knowing the playful competition between the mother-daughter pair. They set off toward Daisy's office, stopping only for tumblers of cocoa along the way.
——
Mrs. Parker clearly loved this part of her job the most. She lit up at each trivia fact about “HQ” she could share, even more so when Carol asked a question she could answer.
After an hour, as they stepped out onto a heated scenic balcony, Carol sensed she could open up to this woman about more than historical questions about architecture and functional questions about how things worked.
“You realize how weird this is for me, right? Like, I haven’t believed in Santa since I was, whew, maybe 9 at the latest?” Carol kept her tone light, feeling out how Mrs. Parker would react.
“I know.” Mrs. Parker’s gentle tone held both empathy and confidence. “But you are one of those adults who can believe again. I can tell.”
Carol stopped their wandering and leaned her forearms on the railing between swoops of garland. Looking out at the mountains of ice, Carol asked, “So you've been here a long time, it sounds like. Were you born here?”
“No, I wish.” Mrs. Parker stood next to Carol and pointed to a warehouse with a strange roof. The only thing Carol had to compare it to was a retractable roof on a football stadium. “You know what’s in that building? That’s where the toys are loaded in a magical bag for Santa’s sleigh. You see, my husband was the world expert on a special kind of spider web. He'd studied spiders so long, people called him the Spider-Man! But Peter didn't just research spider webs. He knew the spiders; he could almost communicate with them. The North Pole scientists learned that when he exposed the spiders to certain magnetic fields, the spiders made webs so strong that they could stretch without breaking, even under intense stress. Even a bag with toys for all the children in the world, lifted out of a warehouse with a crane.”
“And that fits in the sleigh because of, what, magic?” Carol tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
“The magic is all I know to call it. I'm not in the fantastical science division.” Mrs. Parker shrugged. “Peter could have explained it better. He took a job here, and we loved it so much that when he died, I stayed. The North Pole is home. It’s more than homes that look like gingerbread and reindeer that fly, you know. It’s a lovely community—a library, an excellent school, and a historic city hall just down that way.”
“That's so … ordinary.” Carol watched an observatory with a giant telescope turn to a new position, a task she’d done herself dozens of times. “I mean, the supernatural spider webs are not normal, but just taking a job based on research and development in a small city. I never thought the Nole Pole would be so sciency.”
”That’s the thing, Carol,” Mrs. Parker spoke with the serenity of hard-earned wisdom. “It’s not so different from the rest of the Earth. There’s magic everywhere. We just see it more clearly and obviously here, and we have gathered the right people to study it, who hold both the capacity for wonder and the discipline of intelligence. Acceptance of mystery and the curiosity to learn from it. Those are rare in combination. And unlike children everywhere else, we don’t age out of belief because we don’t have to simply believe. It’s part of our daily lives.”
”I hadn’t thought about it like that,” Carol confessed. “So is the North Pole’s job to help kids believe as long as possible or to remind adults of what they used to have and start to believe again?”
“Neither.” Mrs. Parker snuck a glance at Carol. “We’re here to inspire generosity and the spirit of the season. It’s not about us and the legend of Santa Claus at all. It’s about remembering that you too have the ability to bring joy to others by sharing what you have.”
”That’s what my mom told me when I asked if Santa was real.”
”She’s right. And you’re right of course too. It was all real; your brain just grew too mature to see us and know we were there.”
Carol wrapped her arms around herself and back away from the railing. ”Thank you. What’d you want to show me next?”
To continue their extensive tour, they returned inside and Carol’s focus was fully dedicated to following the flow of conversation between a room full of excited young elves preparing for their first Christmas Eve on the communications team with NORAD. Mostly they would be monitoring the radars that Melinda’s team operated and sending the data to North America and similar organizations all over the world. The elves competed for Carol’s attention, showing her all the bits and bobs on their control panels as Mrs. Parker tried to keep order.
Behind them, Melinda shouted “Cookie break!” and the room cleared in a hurry, allowing Melinda to greet Carol and welcome her to the North Pole. They’d met in California, but of course, Carol hadn’t known the full truth of Daisy’s parents’ jobs. To be honest, Melinda was the last person Carol would have assumed worked at the North Pole, or any magic toy factory and distribution center. Perhaps that was a requirement for a job like this, though. Someone too exuberant in a flashy Christmas sweater all year long would be too suspect. Former CIA, slim-fitting dark pants suit, dry humor, a woman of few words–that was who you wanted to keep Santa’s secret, especially at the very top.
They finally arrived at Daisy’s department, where humans and elves of all ages and sizes and nationalities were working at Daisy’s direction. A large screen showed a map, a list of constantly changing IP addresses, and a huge window of code that might as well have been random symbols for all Carol knew about it.
“Delta team,” Daisy commanded, “hit it. Alpha, you’re back on deck.”
”Ready, ma’am.”
Carol blinked in surprise. Daisy was such a casual, chill person at home and out in the world. Seeing her in a position of formal authority, being called ma’am especially, was almost hilarious. As if she were playing a role to the point of parody. Carol didn’t laugh though. The vibe in the room was one of bated breath and a mission to carry out. To the elves and humans dressed in festive candy-cane striped sweaters and evergreen tree-print button-up shirts, this was a crucial strategic moment, no different in intensity for them than an intelligence agency’s officers waiting to see if their moves and countermoves had led to a successful outcome saving a dignitary or taking down a terrorist cell.
“Alpha team, go.” Daisy barked the order, but kept her eyes glued to her laptop in front of her, glancing up only briefly at the large screen in the front of the room.
Daisy and the rest of the room waited in silence until suddenly the code changed and the map zoomed to one green circle that turned to red with a satisfying error sound. The room erupted in cheers, and Daisy jumped out of her chair in excitement.
“Ping, and pong, you jingle jerks!” she shouted at the screen. “Zeta, lock it down.”
An elf stood and approached Daisy with the respect of a soldier approaching a commanding officer. “No incoming activity, ma’am. Outside of the regional offices, of course.”
”Good work, everyone.” Daisy clapped the shoulder of the elf who delivered the news. She spotted Carol, Melinda, and Mrs. Parker at the back of the room, close enough to observe without getting in the way. She made her way through the celebrating cybersecurity staff to the observers, keeping her attention on one in particular.
Carol stepped forward, no longer able to resist, and kissed Daisy in full view of everyone in the room, though most weren’t paying attention to the silent group in the far back when they had celebrating to do.
Carol regained her senses and pulled away quickly. ”Sorry if that was inappropriate!”
Melinda quipped, “We’ll let it go this time.”
As usual Carol knew there was a bit of truth behind the teasing. Daisy, however, was delighted.
“The tour went well, I guess?” She still only focused on Carol’s reactions, hungry to see what this day would mean for their relationship and in Carol’s impression of her hometown.
”Yeah, Mrs. Parker was a great guide. I still want to hear your side of things, though.” Carol took Daisy’s hand and swung it lightly. “I especially enjoyed seeing you work. Who was that Daisy? I have never seen her before. That… that was hot.”
Daisy simply laughed and led Carol out of the conference room, out of the department, and to a gold elevator with whimsical swirls and stained glass.
Melinda cleared her throat. ”It’d be nice to say hello to my daughter.”
”Sorry, Mom,” Daisy turned back to wrap Melinda in a warm hug. “I’m glad to see you too. How are things going in your department?”
Melinda’s lips turned up in a quirk of a smile. “Guess what is coming in right now on the weather radar?”
”Seriously?” Daisy rushed to the window, but all it revealed was pitch-black night in one direction and aurora waves in various colors in the other. Carol had never seen anything so stunning, but Daisy searched the darkness for something.
Mrs. Parker picked up on the hint. “I’ll tell Bernard to get your room ready.”
”Thanks, and our luggage is in our SUV,” Daisy added.
“Of course.” Mrs. Parker took the first elevator that arrived as they recounted the tale of their snowflake portal for Melinda.
“So now,” Daisy finished, “we might miss our Christmas trip altogether, depending on how long Grandpa needs us here.”
Sensing their frustration creeping in, Melinda added, “FitzSimmons turned on the time freezer. That’s the snowflake one you came in through.”
”Time freezer?” Carol asked at the same time Daisy asked, ”Wait, really?”
Melinda nodded once. “From what I understand, they can put you back in time to check in to your hotel on the night you were supposed to arrive, but not until the weather’s clear in both places.”
”Magnets,” Daisy sighed to Carol as if that explained everything.
The elevator dinged as it opened, though it sounded more like a jingle bell than the typical elevator Carol was used to.
“Dinner’s at six in the Frost Garden,” Melinda instructed. “It’s pho night.”
”Yes!” Daisy turned to Carol to assure her. “It’s indoors, more of a sculpture garden with ice carvings and flowers and stuff. Every kind of soup they make is amazing, but pho is perfect for a night like this.”
”The ultimate winter comfort food,” Carol agreed as they boarded the elevator. Daisy scanned a keycard she pulled from her pocket and pressed the button for the Blitzen floor.
Unlike the grandiosity of the ground floor, Blitzen was more of a cozy vibe. Part gamer cave, part idyllic holiday cottage, complete with stone fireplace and fluffy rug in the living area, a big soft bed visible through the doorway to the bedroom, and a wood dining table, which was mostly covered in tech gear and various cables and cords. Not unlike her grandfather’s desk.
“This is my place,” Daisy explained. “I sort of moved out at 18, but I don’t know if it counts if I was mainly here for breaks from university and as a work rest stop, and my parents are like a floor away.”
“So this is where you were staying when you had to go on overnight work trips?” Carol couldn’t stop herself from exploring, noticing every detail of Daisy’s other life without her. Carol’s mood turned dark thinking about it that way: Daisy’s secret double life. As tempting as it was to sink into self-pity, Carol also noticed that for a secret double life, it was remarkably consistent. It wasn’t that Daisy was a different person here than at home. Here, she could just be honest about her family and job in a way she couldn’t anywhere else.
Carol’s sinking heart jumped in her chest as she approached the bedroom, with Daisy watching her carefully and following behind. On the wall facing her bed, Daisy had a collage frame with photos of the two of them, and some of just Carol. These were some of their happiest moments or significant events in their relationship.
Daisy came up behind Carol and wrapped her arms around Carol’s waist. “You were always with me, even though you didn’t know it. I wanted to tell you so many times, but I couldn’t imagine that you’d accept it.”
“Honestly,” Carol admitted as she turned to face Daisy, “I don’t think I could have without seeing it myself. Experiencing this, I understand now. Or at least, I’m trying to.”
“I’ll show you more tomorrow if you want,” Daisy offered. “The unofficial tour, not Mrs. Parker approved.”
“I’d love that.” Carol leaned in and Daisy met her lips as intended.
“I love you.” Daisy let the words tumble out so softly, so sincerely, that Carol took a second to process them.
“Me too. I mean…” Carol blushed and wet her lips. “You know what I mean.”
Daisy’s face fell in disappointment. “It’d be nice to hear it. Feeling a little exposed here, secrets and all.”
Carol rushed to regain her voice and enough brain cells to string together sentences. “I do! I love you too. I don’t have words for how much. So much it scares me because I want to say things we aren’t ready for. Or, one thing, actually. A question. THE question.”
“Yeah?” Daisy’s smile lit up the room again, that pure joy and anticipation. “Good. Me too. Someday.”
“Good. But not yet. I only just now found out what your real job is!” Carol knew her smile was reaching the point of being goofy, but she couldn’t contain it. “Now I just have to impress your parents with my reaction to all of this, on the most important week of their year, and everyone else since you’re basically the Christmas princess to these people.”
Daisy laughed. “Again, not a princess.”
They kissed over and over until they remembered they had to get ready for that dinner.
“More later,” Carol promised.
“Mmm yes, please,” Daisy agreed, head still a little foggy from lovesickness. She pulled away with a brush of her hand down Carol’s arm. “C’mon, let’s get ready.”
—---
Daisy hardly noticed time passing with her three favorite people out for dinner together. Carol had been desperate to give the “correct” answers to questions like “How did you enjoy the tour” and “Did you have a favorite part?” But once she loosened up, as the night went on, she was easier to like and get to know, so her camaraderie with Daisy’s parents came back even stronger than it had been when they had visited Daisy in LA.
Now that their big secret was out in the open, and Carol had clearly accepted and responded well to it, everyone felt the weight off their shoulders. Not that this relief freed them of any stress, of course. The dinner doubled as a last-minute preparation session and placement interview for Carol’s talents and abilities matched with the North Pole’s needs for the next day. While being an astronomer and astrophotographer wasn’t in high demand for day-of Christmas Eve action, Carol was intrigued by the day’s stop by the stellar cartography lab. For the day-of, though, Carol would be put to work at the launch dock getting the sleigh off the ground, and then help to monitor weather patterns around the world in the meteorology lab. Melinda and Phil approved of her flexibility and versatility, and Phil made a comment about this being a “team sport” and “each playing their part.” Carol knew it was meant to be a leadership speech about the importance of small roles, but her heart stuck on being called part of the team.
They eventually did go “home,” back to their respective floors, to sleep and then prepare for the next day, which would be the longest workday of their year. Whatever amorous promises Daisy and Carol made earlier in the evening would have to wait. Now was the calm before the metaphorical Christmas storm.
—-----------
Christmas Eve started early in the morning at the North Pole with a large breakfast with all of the staff and family. Santa made a speech of gratitude and motivation, as was tradition, and after they were finished eating, they scattered to their respective stations, each with a purpose and task list they had been working toward all year. The Christmas staff buzzing about included elves, humans, and even—as Carol was initially alarmed to discover—a full security team of enchanted polar bears whose anthropomorphized ancestors had found their way to the North Pole centuries ago. They had found acceptance and belonging as part of the company and the frozen city, so their descendants also called this city home. It was all part of that teamwork Phil had described the night before.
“Hey, Tal,” Daisy greeted one polar bear as they left the breakfast hall. “How are the puffins?”
“Ready as they’ll ever be, ma’am,” Tal answered.
“Good to hear.” Daisy high-fived his massive paw as they passed each other.
“Um, merry Christmas,” Carol added.
The polar bear was already out of earshot, but Daisy placed a hand on Carol’s and whispered, “We don’t say that yet. Here, we wait until the sleigh gets back. Then Santa says it first.”
“Oh! Sorry.” Carol cringed. “I have a lot to learn.”
“It’s okay,” Daisy assured. “I can teach you.”
“Couldn’t ask for a better guide,” Carol agreed. “And you still owe me that personal tour at some point.”
Daisy opened her mouth to flirt shamelessly in public, but she was interrupted by an elf and a human in matching red and green plaid business suits who briefly greeted Daisy and began listing the problems of the day already, detailed on the tablets they were holding.
Carol squeezed Daisy’s hand. “You go do your thing. I can find the meteorology lab from here and check in with them.”
“Thanks. And text me if you need anything or get lost. Or just to let me know how you’re doing.” Daisy pecked a kiss to Carol’s cheek.
“You too. Good luck down there, babe. You’ve got this.” With a final squeeze of their hands, they parted and Daisy focused on the information verbally flying at her.
—------
The more Carol saw of this place, the more she loved it. At least, indoors. She couldn’t imagine living here full-time, but she was already thinking about when they would come back next year and how much better prepared she would be.
The launch dock was the busiest of anywhere, but far from chaotic. It was all an organized system of crowded activity, like LA traffic viewed from above. Carol found herself fitting right in, and the long-time veterans answered questions before she even had the chance to ask them. The crew used their various heights to their advantage, with elves climbing under and into the sleigh for maintenance, and humans tending to and harnessing the reindeer. The magic of propulsion, mechanics, navigation, and aeronautics combined with the science of each for a launch schedule that was timed like clockwork.
The elf working next to Carol chortled at her observation that this was all so well planned. “I’d certainly hope so. We have been doing this for generations after generations. If we didn’t have it worked out by now, that’d be a sad statement.”
“I guess so!” Carol agreed, just as a loud boom sounded outside the launch dock.
“Right on cue,” the elf sighed. “Of course the meteor would arrive a day early.”
“Oh my god.” Carol gasped, unmoored by the call back to reality and her job at home. “I completely forgot. I didn’t have any plans to study it myself so I didn’t keep track.”
Carol joined the crew running outside. This was no ordinary space rock, however. It glowed bright red, so bright Carol thought it was simply on fire, but this was less of a combustion glow and more of a sparkle kind of glow.
A Scottish man’s voice next to her said what they were all thinking, “Wot the hell?!”
“My thoughts exactly, and I’m an astronomer. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Carol stood with hands on her hips, watching the glittery rock and its large black hole in the snow. “It’s like a video game gem or something.”
The young man raised his eyebrow, “Astronomer? Are you Daisy’s girlfriend?”
Carol turned to introduce herself with a handshake. “That’s me. Carol Danvers.”
“Leo Fitz, you can just call me Fitz though. I’m sort of part of the extended family. My wife, Jemma Simmons, is actually her dad’s cousin’s daughter. Not sure what that actually makes me, but we were all raised here together, so Daisy and I say we’re cousins just to save time.”
“Oh! FitzSimmons is Fitz and Simmons; there are two of you!” Carol exclaimed in a jolt of memory. “And you work with time freezing?”
“Yeah,” Fitz huffed out a sigh, “And it bloody nearly killed me. Got it working though. In the end.”
“Ah. Good work.” Carol wasn’t quite sure what to say, and the meteorite had just continued to sparkle and glow as if it had no other state. So Carol did what any scientist would do: she poked it with a stick.
The fallen pine branch did not burn up, nor did it make the rock explode, so she and Fitz shrugged and approached it. Eventually, they couldn’t resist. At their touch, the rock shot up in the air and showered red glitter like pixie dust on the entire crowd, which had grown considerably in the last few minutes since it hit. The glitter bomb continued until it was completely gone, just a story they would tell for ages to come.
Carol blinked several times, and noticed she was far, far colder than she had been, and others around her were shaking their heads and rubbing their eyes, some yawning and stretching.
Daisy rushed out to Carol as others tended to the crowd around them.
“Come inside,” Daisy urged. “What the hell happened out there?”
“It was so shiny!” Carol explained as she picked red glitter out of her hair. “I don’t know, Fitz and I just touched it and it went all sparkly on us, and then it got even colder. And darker?”
Carol noticed the sky. The stars shouldn’t be in this position for hours yet.
Daisy groaned. “Okay, no more touching shiny magic rocks from the sky. That was natural time freeze powder. FitzSimmons have invented a synthetic that powers their time travel machine, but that out there is the real thing, which works differently, especially raw. With natural unprocessed powder, anyone it touches is literally frozen in time. You’re lucky you only got a dusting.”
“So what time is it?” Carol asked as they gathered around the sleigh with the rest of the launch team and staff who’d come out to help. The reindeer were impatiently sniffing and looking around for their sleigh driver.
Daisy pointed to the massive ornate gold clock on the wall. The ticking hands were almost to midnight.
“Oh my god, I almost ruined Christmas!” Carol paled.
“We’re fine,” Daisy assured with a hand on Carol’s puffy coat. “But yes, that did put us in emergency mode for a while. Santa’s on his way down now.”
The crew, covered in red glitter, sheepishly made way for the big man in charge. He didn’t remark on their sparkle nor the redness of their cheeks and noses.
“Everything ready, Yule?” Santa shouted over the stomping of anxious reindeer hooves.
“Aye-aye, sir!” Yule the elf called back. “All go from systems control as well. Navigation is clear, radar is clear, toy sack lowering now. Reindeer?”
Carol swore she saw a nod from the lead reindeer, a large buck with a bioluminescent nose that nearly made Carol pass out.
“Is that? He’s real?”
Daisy smirked. “Yep, that’s good ol’ Rudolph. Not exactly a fog light, but enough to compete with those glow-in-the-dark fish off the California coast at home.”
Carol was too preoccupied reading the names on the harnesses she hadn’t noticed until now. “Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen…” she read out.
“Gang’s all here,” Daisy confirmed over the shouts of final checks from each department and the securing of the toy bag. Carol knew it was another portal or something, bigger on the inside, but it still baffled her how relatively small the bag was compared to the number of children in the world. Daisy had warned her some of the gifts were not tangible, but rather good things that would happen to the kids or their families, the holiday miracles and small mercies that magic could provide that held more value than any toy. Still, the bag seemed comically small for the whole globe to be visited in just one night.
The countdown began, and Carol joined the cheers as they hit 3… 2… 1! Liftoff sent the reindeer and then sleigh into their ascent, rising and rising above the endless hills of snow, and then down to the sleeping children of Earth.
Fitz reappeared by Carol’s side and was joined by a thin English woman, who said excitedly, “Beautifully executed launch. I’m Jemma Simmons by the way. Lovely to meet you, Carol.” She shook hands with Carol and turned to her husband to get back to business. “Now, Fitz, let’s collect as much as we can. With proper equipment this time.”
Her withering look nearly made Carol laugh, despite being one of the scientists at fault. Jemma led Fitz to the hazard suits on the wall.
Daisy took Carol’s hand. “No exploring for you, glitter girl. It’s time for part 2.”
Carol remembered she was supposed to report to the meteorology lab. Daisy walked her there to ensure she didn’t get lost (or touch anything else shiny), and Carol felt a bit like she was being dropped off at her first day of school.
She made quick friends there, though, after joking about it being a literal meteorology lab, heavy on the meteor. This not only sent them all chuckling but gave her points in their endless competition with the astrophysics lab. She wasn’t a meteorologist herself, but she understood enough to be of use, especially in a mystical, geographically isolated, barren land that seemed to be closer to space than to the normal Earth life she was used to. By the end of the night, she was even introducing Daisy to the meteorology lab staff members Daisy hadn’t met yet. While the launch dock had been camaraderie akin to a union factory line job or mechanics’ shop, the meteorology lab was more of a geeky science convention that happened to feature an abnormal amount of objectively attractive nerds. Whether it was 30-something Candy sick of losing out on promotions at the news station in Ohio or 60-something Juan who retired from the international climate research crew in Antarctica only to find he missed it terribly, these people were all highly intelligent and deeply unaware of their TV-ready good looks.
—----------------
The whole North Pole staff all joined together in the launch dock again as Santa returned many hours later. The jubilant, triumphant MERRY CHRISTMAS call and response that Daisy had described seemed to shake the entire building with its echoes. If their energy had been failing before, no one would have guessed from the celebration after that first “Merry Christmas.”
The ensuing afterparty was loud, so Carol struggled to explain her impressions of the meteorology lab social scene discreetly but clearly to Daisy, who seemed a bit distracted anyway. She was quiet and watching the party crowd without seeming to take any of it in.
Carol faced her to capture Daisy’s full attention, then gently placed her hands on Daisy’s waist and leaned in, diverting her lips from a kiss at the last second to Daisy’s ear to speak without being overheard.
“You okay? Ready to go to bed?”
“Yeah,” Daisy said and turned to their friends in the area. “Getting tired. Good night, everyone!”
Jemma called out, “We’ll see you in the morning before you leave?”
“Yes!” Daisy waved to the rest out of earshot and took Carol’s hand, clearly on a mission to not be at this overstimulating party any longer.
In the silent elevator with just the two of them, the exhaustion hit Carol with the impact of that meteor hitting the snow. Daisy must have felt it too, as she held onto Carol for support, even as others boarded and exited at their floors.
Inside her own quarters, Daisy groaned with exhaustion as she kicked off her shoes and made her way to the bedroom, Carol close behind and mirroring her actions. They bantered groggily, not making much sense even to each other, as they got ready for bed, then collapsed into the big, fluffy softness together. Carol pulled Daisy close and kissed her long and slow, passionate but with appreciation, not a request for more.
“Thank you,” Carol whispered. “Thank you for letting me in, for all of this, for allowing me to not just know the whole you but to be part of it. Tonight was…”
“Magical?” Daisy finished with a knowing smile. “Thank you for being so amazing at all of it. Everyone said you did a great job at your parts too. Minus the meteor thing. What did we learn?”
“I promise I will not touch shiny magic rocks, even if they fall from the sky right in front of me.”
Daisy’s faux scolding was met with a sigh of faux contrition, though Carol truly did feel sorry she and Fitz had caused trouble and delays to the tight, carefully planned schedule. Carol would have said as much again, repeating earlier sincere apologies, but Daisy yawned, which made Carol yawn.
“Mmm good.” Daisy replied and snuggled into Carol’s embrace. “Good night. I love you.”
“I love you too,” Carol whispered with a kiss to Daisy’s lips and then to her temple. “And merry Christmas.”
—---------------
The next morning, they had brunch with the late risers who had been at the party as long as they were or longer. Then it was time to leave it all behind and return to their normal, nonmagical, but more romantic, planned Christmas vacation.
Fitz welcomed them and their luggage into his lab, urging them to not touch anything, which Carol snorted at, given the events of the night before with the space rock, but didn’t feel she knew him well enough to tease him about it.
The portal worked flawlessly with the time freeze; their phones said it was once again the night of December 23. In fact, Fitz did them even better: they arrived in their SUV parked directly outside the resort. Unfortunately, it was in an employee-only spot, so they had to repark, but Fitz did his best, which was not just impressive but supernatural. Magical.
Daisy unloaded their luggage from the trunk. “Remind me to send Fitz a thank you note specifically about not making me drive up the mountain.”
Carol took her suitcase and quipped, “If only we could teleport back down.”
“Yes!” Daisy laughed. “Hey, I just thought of something.”
“Hm?” Carol stopped at the foot of the wooden porch steps up to the hotel’s entrance because Daisy had. They were arriving so late, no one else was around.
“It’s night here, but we just woke up in the morning where we came from.”
“Ugh, jet lag and we didn’t even fly in the sleigh.” Carol winked in humor but noticed Daisy had intended something else.
Daisy drew a heart in the snow on the railing of the porch steps. “I was thinking more like what we’ll do while we’re wide awake all night in our hotel room. It’s too cold to walk around out here, and everything’s closed, so we might as well stay in.”
“And keep each other warm?” Carol hinted.
“I have some ideas about that, yeah.” Daisy tapped Carol’s butt and continued up the stairs and into the hotel lobby, with an eager Carol by her side all the way. They checked in with the night shift staff and got their room keys, passed the giant Christmas tree and gorgeous seasonal decor, and they barely noticed the live jazz coming from the bar. The click of Carol locking their hotel room door behind them, however, they certainly did notice. The sound set off a familiar pattern of kisses, clothes coming off, more making out, torturous teasing foreplay, and finally, finally, finally the lovemaking they had been waiting for.
Intimacy isn’t simply in the physical meeting and reactions of bodies, but in the minds and emotions of them. For Daisy, with her biggest secret revealed and her fears turned to joys, she could be more free and present with Carol than ever before. For Carol, knowing the full picture of Daisy’s identity, with no more barriers to connection or sense that Daisy was hiding, made her crave Daisy more. The guardedness between them was dissolved into an unbreakable bond. Though they didn’t say so, they each knew in their hearts that this Christmas had given them certainty: they weren’t only girlfriends; they were future wives.
But those words spoken aloud would wait for another Christmas one day. For now, they worshiped each other in touches and kisses and waves of pleasure throughout the night by the warm light of the fireplace with snow falling again gently against the window. Though they lived December 24 twice that year, they would never forget either day, filled with double the love, acceptance, Christmas spirit, and magic for those who dare to believe.
