Chapter Text
As Scott Calvin/Santa Claus descended down the chimney in yet another house on Christmas Eve, he was happy. He'd been making good progress this Christmas and was almost finished with giving presents to every kid in the world, so he could finish early this year. This was the third year he'd been Santa Claus now, so he was used to this life now. He still missed not having Charlie with him every week, but he could cope with that, as he could still see Charlie whenever he wanted. Scott was in the process of putting presents under the Christmas tree when he suddenly heard the cocking of a gun, so his body froze and he could feel his heart start pounding in his chest. "Turn around with your hands up in the air. Slowly." he heard a man's voice behind him say, so he did as he was told. When he was facing the man, he saw that it was the owner of the house, James Murray. And he saw the small handgun in James's hand aimed straight at him, so he gulped in fear, because he knew that James would not hesitate to shoot him, if he did something James didn't like.
"What the fuck are you doing in my house?!" James asked angrily. He was pissed that a stranger was inside his house without his permission. And he knew if the stranger with the thick white beard and big belly would move in the wrong way, he would do anything to protect his family.
Scott knew he needed to thread this carefully. "I was just putting presents under the Christmas tree for your family."
"Why would you do that? Are you a fucking pedophile who's been spying on my kids?!" James asked angrily and was instantly on high alert that the stranger in his house would hurt his children. He knew now that he needed to protect his children, so his finger tightened on the trigger.
Scott shook his head. "No. I'm Santa Claus and..." He barely had time to get his words out, when he was interrupted by a loud noise, so he got startled, before he quickly grabbed his sack with toys and rushed to the fireplace. And he quickly ascended the chimney before James had time to squeeze off another shot. As he was up on the roof, he quickly climbed into the sleigh and sat down, while the reindeers looked at him. He grabbed the reins and told the reindeers to go. "That was close." Scott thought quietly to himself, as they were back up in the air. But as they'd been up in the air for a while, Scott started feeling a slight discomfort in his belly that grew worse by the minute, so he started squirming in his seat to get more comfortable. After a while it got so bad, so he had to clutch his gut. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, when he felt something wet sticking to his fingers, so he lifted his hand and looked at it. And his eyes widened in shock, when he saw that his fingers were covered in blood. Then his gaze strayed downwards, before they stopped at a growing red stain on the widest part of his big belly near his navel. He pulled his red robe to the side and pulled his now blood stained white undershirt up over his belly and saw the small round hole standing out in a stark contrast to his pale skin around the wound. "Shit! So I did get shot after all. I need help. Fast." he thought, as he started looking around. "The North Pole's too far away. And I can't go to a hospital." he thought quietly to himself, as he could feel himself slowly fading. He knew he wouldn't make it to the North Pole in time, as he was sure he would lose consciousness much sooner. Then a thought suddenly appeared in his mind, so he turned back to his reindeers. "Take me to Laura and Neil Miller's house." he told them, as he knew his ex-wife could help him, as she knew he was Santa Claus.
The reindeers looked back at him and saw the seriousness of the situation and turned in the direction of Laura and Neil's house and picked up their speed.
Scott clutched his belly again and felt the blood seeping out through his fingers. And his vision started darkening around the corners. But he tried to keep himself awake as he knew he would probably not wake up again if he lost consciousness now. He tried to focus on the pain in his gut to stay alert, but quickly realized it was a bad idea, as it hurt like hell. So instead he tried to focus on the sights and noises around him to get him to stay grounded in the land of the living. This wasn't how he had expected Christmas Eve to end up. Rushing towards Laura's house while bleeding out from a gunshot wound in his belly. And he hoped the fat in his belly had stopped the bullet from doing any major damages. Although it would be a difficult task of getting the bullet back out, as he could still feel the bullet still lodged deep inside him. He just hoped it wouldn't be too painful. Before he knew it, the reindeers landed in front of Laura and Neil Miller's house. By now, blood had stained his hand completely in red, so he knew he needed to get out of the sleigh and to the front door quickly before he would collapse. His wound screamed in protest as he climbed out of the sleigh and staggered towards the front door, so he groaned several times in pain and clutched his belly tighter. It was a long and painful walk, so he sighed in relief when he finally reached the front door, after he had stumbled several times and almost face planted once. Then he raised the hand he didn't clutch his belly with and knocked on the front door, before he leaned heavily on the doorframe, as his legs threatened to give out under him. He couldn't see his feet as his big belly was in the way, but he could just picture how bloody the snow was becoming, as he could feel the blood dropping from his hand. And he looked up when the lights above the door was switched on, before the door opened and Laura peeked out.
Laura's expression turned from confusion at seeing Scott at her front door on Christmas Eve to shock and horror, when she noticed the way Scott was clutching his belly and the blood that covered his hand. "Jesus Christ, Scott!"
Scott was relieved at seeing her standing there. "Laura..." he said weakly. Then his legs finally gave out from under him and he collapsed to the snowcovered ground.
Laura quickly rushed over to his side, before she turned her head towards the still open front door. "Neil! Come out here! Quickly! Scott is hurt!" she yelled to her husband, before she turned her gaze back to Scott, who was looking back at her with painfilled eyes. "Scott. What happened?"
"I got shot, when I was delivering Christmas presents at one of the houses. I guess the owner didn't like me coming down the chimney instead of the front door." Scott tried to joke, before he grimaced in pain when his gunshot wound hurt, so he clutched his belly tighter in pain.
Laura would have chuckled at the joke, if she wasn't too worried about seeing Scott seriously injured like this. "Why didn't you go to a hospital?" She heard Neil come rushing down the stairs and towards them.
"I was too far away from the North Pole and would never have made it back there in time and a hospital is out of the question, as the doctors would have called the cops and wondered why I would enter a stranger's house. And then I would have been arrested for breaking and entering. I can't get arrested on Christmas Eve, as I still have presents to deliver. So just patch me up quickly and I'll be on my way to deliver the rest of the presents." Scott told her, before his gaze turned to Neil, as he knelt down next to Laura. He saw Neil's eyes widen in shock, when he noticed the huge amount of blood covering his hands and staining the ground red.
Laura nodded, before she turned to Neil. "Help me get him up off the ground and inside." she told him, before she grabbed Scott's left arm.
Neil nodded and took Scott's right arm. And together they lifted Scott up off the snowcovered ground. Scott let out a groan of pain, as his gunshot wound hurt at the movement. Then they slung Scott's arms over their shoulders and helped him inside. "Where should we lay Scott down?" Neil asked of Laura as he looked at her.
Laura looked back at him. "In the guest bedroom. I don't think Charlie should see him like this." Then she looked at Scott again and got worried, when she saw how bad he looked. He was halfconscious and was barely looking where he was going, while blood was dripping to the floor. She made a mental note to clean the floor thoroughly when Scott was feeling better and she didn't need to watch over him. As they arrived at the guest bedroom, they brought Scott over to the bed and helped him lie down.
Scott let out another groan of pain as his wound hurt again at the movement. And he squeezed his eyes shut, while he gritted his teeth. He could feel himself getting more alert, as he had walked from the door to the guest bedroom. But he was still too out of it to notice the worried looks Laura and Neil were giving each other.
Laura turned her gaze back to Scott, "Let's get this robe off of you." before she started opening the red robe Scott was wearing. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw just how much blood that was staining his white shirt red. She knew that it must hurt a lot, when she helped Scott out of his robe, as she saw Scott grimacing in pain. Although he didn't let out a single sound this time. Then she turned back to Neil. "Can you go and get the scissors?"
Neil nodded, before he left the room to fetch the scissors. When he came back, he gave the scissors to Laura. "Here you go."
Laura thanked him as she grabbed the scissors, before she turned back to Scott and started cutting from the hem of his shirt all the way up to the top. Then she opened the shirt, so she could see the injury better. And she saw that the bullet had entered about half an inch to the right of his navel, so she knew she probably had to dig in deep if she wanted to get it out. Unless the bullet had gone right through him and exited through his back. She also saw just how huge Scott's gut had become since he became Santa Claus 3 years ago. He also had manboobs after he'd gained a lot of weight. "How many pounds have you gained since you became Santa Claus?"
Scott shrugged his shoulders, which was a big mistake as it sent sharp pains shooting through his gut. Although he tried to ignore the pain, as he focused on Laura. "I don't know. 100 pounds. Maybe more."
"I think this is a lot more than just 100 pounds." Laura told him, as she grabbed a roll of fat on his belly and squeezed it. She had no idea why she did that. But she liked having Scott bigger and softer like this. He felt a bit like a soft giant teddybear. Although she quickly let go of Scott's large belly, before she turned back to Neil. "I need tweezers, rags, towels, a bottle of antiseptic, a needle and some thread."
Neil nodded again. "On it." before he left the room yet again to fetch the items she requested.
Scott blushed a bit as Laura had grabbed onto his belly and squeezed it. But it also felt kind of nice, as he couldn't remember the last time a woman touched him like this. Specially after he'd gained a lot of weight. Although he couldn't get involved with Laura anymore. At least romantically. He had messed that up and it was way too late now. Laura was in love with Neil and they had a 1 year old child named Lucy. "Is Charlie asleep?" he asked Laura.
Laura nodded. "Yeah. Last time I checked anyway."
Scott smiled. "I can't believe Charlie is 11 already. It feels like yesterday when he was born."
Laura smiled back. "Yeah. They grow up so fast. One minute they're babies and the next they're almost teenagers."
"There's two more years to that. How's Lucy? Is she asleep too?" Scott asked, as he needed to have something else to talk about, to keep the focus off of the pain in his gut. Although he couldn't stop himself from wincing, as he tried to push himself up against the headrest of the bed.
Laura moved forward and placed her hand on Scott's chest to stop him from moving. "Lie still, Scott. You're seriously injured. And yes. Lucy's asleep too. And she's doing great. That's more than I can say about you at the moment." she told him, as she looked down at the still bleeding hole in his gut. They turned their gazes to the door when Neil came back with the items she'd requested.
Neil looked at Laura. "Where do you want me to put these?" he asked, as he looked around in the room.
"Put them down on the table beside the bed." Laura ordered him, as she walked to the table and grabbed the bottle of antiseptic, when Neil put the items down. She poured the liquid onto her hands to sterilize them, before she went over to Scott and looked apologetically at him. "This might sting a bit."
Scott looked slightly worried when he saw all the items on the table. Specially the tweezers, as he knew Laura would push them inside his wound to dig the bullet out. But he squeezed his eyes shut and let out a groan of pain when Laura cleaned his wound with the antiseptic. And he tried to stay still, but couldn't help but to squirm as the liquid stung. Then he heard Laura take the items closer to the bed, as she sterilized them. "This is really going to hurt." he thought quietly to himself.
Laura turned to look at Neil. "Can you put the belt in Scott's mouth so he can bite down on it instead of his tongue? And you might need to hold him down while I take the bullet out."
Neil nodded, before he grabbed a leather belt from the drawer in the room and walked back to Scott and folded it in half, before he put it in Scott's mouth. He saw Scott biting down on the belt, before he grabbed Scott's wrists and pinned his arms down on the bed above his head.
Laura grabbed the tweezers, before she turned back to Scott. "Try not to move." Then she pushed the tweezers into Scott's gunshot wound to dig the bullet out.
Scott squeezed his eyes shut and tried to keep himself from crying out in pain as it hurt like hell. But he couldn't keep the groan from escaping his lips. And he was glad that Neil had put the belt in his mouth as he was sure that he would have bitten his tongue off if it hadn't been there. He'd never felt such an intense pain before in his life and wished he would pass out, so he could escape the pain. It also took all of his willpower to stay still and not to squirm on the bed. Then he felt Laura push the tweezers even deeper inside his wound, so he cried out in pain, as it got much worse.
Laura had tears in her eyes, as she knew she was the one causing Scott more pain than he'd already been in. But it couldn't be helped. She needed to get the bullet out of him before he would bleed to death. As she pushed the tweezers even deeper inside his gunshot wound, she suddenly felt them graze against metal, so she knew she had found the bullet. And she grabbed a hold of the bullet and started pulling it out. When she finally pulled the bullet out, she looked at it and thought, "How can such a small object do so much damage?" before she dropped it in a plastic cup. After that, she grabbed the thread and needle and started sewing Scott's gunshot wound closed. She looked up at Scott's face and saw that he was still conscious and looked back at her. "How are you feeling?" she asked him, as she finished sewing him up and cleaned his gut from the blood drying on his skin and taped a gauze over the gunshot wound.
"I'm okay now, so I can go and deliver the rest of the presents before Christmas Eve is over." Scott told her, before he tried to push himself to sit up on the bed. But a sharp pain coursed through his wound, so he grimaced in pain and clutched his belly.
Laura shook her head and laid a hand on his chest to keep him from getting up. "You are not going anywhere for a while, Scott. You've been shot and is still seriously injured."
Scott sank back against the pillows. "But who is going to deliver the rest of the presents to the kids who hasn't got their presents yet?" he asked worried.
"I'll do it." they suddenly heard a voice saying from the door. When they turned their gazes to the door, they saw Charlie standing there.