Things were much different in the alternate reality....
     Charlie had woken up to the sound of something on the roof. His dad took so long to get outside that, by the time he did, Jack had already slipped on the coat. With that, he climbed the ladder, and disappeared off to do his job.
     Around that time, Scott came rushing out the door only to find nothing there. He went inside and got angry at Charlie for waking him up. Rose tried to defend her brother and also got yelled at for her troubles.
    Meanwhile, Jack made it to the North Pole where he was to meet with Bernard. Bernard was very surprised at who was wearing the coat.
     "Frost?"
     "What? Expecting someone else, Mon Ami?"
     "I'm not sure." Bernard said.
     In his mind, something felt off. Still he showed Jack around the Pole before sending him to his room to get some cocoa and meet Judy. While that was going on, he consulted with the Council of Legendary Figures. Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. Jack had followed through on the Santa Clause. He was Santa now.
      The following morning at the Calvin house, Rose and Charlie left as fast as they could. As the year progressed, things steadily got better for Jack but worse for the Calvin/Miller family.
     The family steadily grew apart. The more time passed, they more they grew to hate each other. Rose resented her father for hurting the family. She resented her mom for choosing Neil. She resented Neil for just existing. Scott resented Laura for tearing the family apart. Charlie resented each member of his family for the same reasons as Rose. And now it was all falling apart.
    After a year, Laura and Neil came to the same conclusion they had started to come to in the original reality. Except, this time, Bernard wasn't there to help Rose.
    Being 17, close to turning 18, Rose decided she was better off on her own. She ran away from home and wandered around from town to town for several weeks until the day that she met...him.
     It was a normal day when she tried to steal a man's wallet. The man turned and grabbed her arm quickly. When he turned, she realized, to her horror, who it was.
     "Santa?"
     He smirked. "Call me Jack." He took his wallet back. "And, as for you, you do realize I could put you on the naughty list for life for this?" He waved the wallet in her face. She instinctively recoiled. "But...I think I can help you."
     "How?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
     "By taking you to the North Pole."
     He held a hand out to her. With half smile, she took it and they disappeared on the spot.
                            * * * * *
    As soon as they reached the North Pole, they were greeted by Bernard who rushed to meet them. The second his eyes locked with Rose's, he felt something. Jack noticed the look and knew he'd have to do something about it.
     After awhile, Rose was taking care of things at the Pole. To allow her to stay, she was, just like in the other reality, appointed as Santa's guardian.
     As time passed that following year, the Calvin's and the Miller's lost hope of finding Rose. This then lead to Charlie downright refusing to accept Neil as a part of his family. With that going on, it wasn't too many months before the fighting led to a divorce. Laura mainly got custody of Charlie while Neil took Lucy.
     That was the year that Jack showed off his plan to change things at the Pole. Bernard and Curtis fought against the project, claiming it wasn't right. Jack then decided to take matters into his own hands. He arranged for Bernard to have an accident. As for Curtis, he was downgraded and kept a close watch on.
     Things would only continue to fall apart back at home.
      Charlie became even worse than he had in the original reality, doing worse than just vandalism. Eventually, Carol figured out she couldn't control anything and left for another country. All the while, Scott's main focus was on his job, completely neglecting his family to the point they all despised him.
      As for Jack, things couldn't be better. He had the job and had remade it to better fit his needs. There was only kne other thing he needed to worry about. He remembered that Scott had had 7 years as Santa before he almost lost it all due to the Mrs. Clause.
     He already had someone in mind. So, with three years passed and only 4 remaining, he set to work wooing the woman he had chosen to be his Mrs. Claus.
     Due to everything, Rose was extremely hard to win over but after a year and a half, he convinced her to give him a try. Eventually, she let him take her on a date. Therein followed several more.
     Even though Rose had had her reservations about the man, she quickly grew to care for him, half organically, the other half due to him using an old reliable with the frozen heart.
     It took some time, but between the two, she finally agreed to his proposal. They were married with one year to spare in a beautiful wintry wedding.
     Even though Rose didn't agree with Jack's plans for the Pole, she went along with it because she loved him. She tried to get in touch with her family but the damage had already been done. Her father never approved and her mom didn't want to make the trip for the wedding. Rose shrugged it off, claiming it was the straw that broke the camel's back. They didn't want to be part of her life then they wouldn't be.
     So she continued with her life at the Pole. Her dreams of being a singer (a dream she'd had since she was a teenager) were realized and she sang at the Pole for every holiday that people dropped in. They loved her!
    Still, something always bugged her. Every now and then she felt out of place like things weren't what they seemed. The day her father showed up at the Pole claiming things were all wrong was one of those days.
     Little did she know, it was only scratching the surface of the truth she already knew in her heart.....