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“Come onnnn”, the enthusiastic 7 year old says dragging her old dad into the toy shop with all her tiny might.
“I’m coming, Jeezuz.” He mutters playfully, loving that his daughter is just as strong willed as her mother (who is strong in just about every sense).
She brings them to a stop by bins full of soft toy skins. It strikes Mulder as odd how enamoured children are being able to pick out the skin suit of their little friends, stuff them and then dress them. It feels almost backwards. He holds in a shudder thinking he’s seen something all too real like the starring product on some old cases.
His life now couldn’t be more different. He mostly gets to hang out with his little ray of light, though now she goes to school he finds himself writing or reading up on spurious folklore and mythology. Mostly though he’s swapped hunting cryptids and aliens for corralling soft toys and Legos.
“Alright Lucy Lu, what’s the plan?” He asks.
Lucy looks up at him, eyebrows quirking in a very Scully like fashion as she thinks.
“Well daddy, obviously we have to check all our options first, then we can make our decision.”
“Of course.” He nods, recognising Scully’s love of logic in their little girl.
“We can’t commit until we know we’ve found the coolest plushie!”
“Can you imagine?!” He fake gasps.
Her little eyes widen. “That would be so embarrassing! You could be fluffing up your bear and then realise there was something way cooler!”
“Ugh.” He shakes his head and grimaces. “So what would you say is cool?”
“Frogs and yetis are cool.” She shrugs. “Bugs are not. Who wants to cuddle a spider?!” She shudders.
“That’s my girl. Go on then, conduct your research, Luce.”
He steps back and watches her approach the bins, casting her eyes over both the teddy skins and the pre-filled example. Every so often a hand reaches up and over to inspect the feel, and she gives a little smile and nod if it meets her expectation.
She comes back to him several long minutes later a fluffy skin in each hand.
“Two?” He asks her raising his brow slightly. He was only expecting to pay for one stuffed toy. This was about to get more expensive, he could tell.
She looks at him through her auburn eyelashes, all big blue eyes he struggles to say ‘no’ to and gives him her sweetest smile.
“Please. Technically daddy, they’re not both mine.” She begins reasoning with him.
“If they’re not both yours then…”
“This one is yours!” She pushes a largely white fluffy skin with blue accents into his belly. His hands fold over hers, as he receives the bear skin.
“Mine? I didn’t know I needed a new bear.”
“It’s not a bear daddy.” She tells him wisely. “It’s a yeti!” She squeals before he can quiz her further.
“Oh”, he holds the fluffy skin up to his face, arms stretched out a little and squints at it, imagining it all puffed up, more pillsberry dough, less flattened and hums. “I see it now.” He smiles down at his trusty companion. “It is kind of cool.” He agrees and she beams up at him, a megawatt smile that warms his patchwork heart a little every time.
“See, I knew you’d like it!” She puffs her chest out proudly.
“I love it, Luce.”
“Do you think Mama will want one?” Lucy wonders, biting her lower lip, another Scully move he’s sure.
“I think two are enough for today.”
“Oh.” Lucy frowns. “Because I did see a froggy I think she’d like. Like the song she sings sometimes?” Lucy shifts her weight from foot to foot, humming a few familiar notes.
“That’s a nice idea, sweetheart. Maybe we can come back one day and you and Mommy can pick out a frog together.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, I think she’d like that.”
“Me too.” Lucy beams with pride.
“What did you choose?”
“A jackalope!! Look, she’s going to be so cute!” She thrusts out her choice towards him, and sure enough he can see the long bunny ears and antlers. Of course his daughter would chose another folklore creature. He reaches out to ruffle her hair.
“Come on, let’s get these new friends all fluffed up.” Mulder says and cocks his head towards the big stuffing machine.
“Okay, you have to decide how squishy you want your yeti.” She coaches him.
“I’ve never given much thought to how squishy a yeti would be.” Mulder muses.
He doesn’t have all that long to decide, but Lucy assures him he’s made a good choice, and they both gave the yeti a good squeeze test and it passed the muster so they move on to the next section.
Lucy pokes at the stuffing through the small hole as they debate whether they want to give their new pals sounds. They decide against it and move on to the next step. They each pick a small coloured heart, and he watches fondly as the worker gets Lucy to hold it and squeeze it real tight pouring her love into it, think of a wish and kiss the heart before poking it into her toy.
“Did you make a wish too Daddy?”
“Oh, yeah, sure did.” He nods.
“Now, give it a kiss.” She instructs him.
“Uh…”
“Daddy.” She raises her eyebrows and puts her hands on her hips and he is of course as soft as baked Camembert and who is he to deny her such a sweet simple request. He kisses the little sky blue heart and then passes it on to her, letting her give it another kiss for good measure before she places it inside the yeti.
“Here you are.” A worker hands over the now fully stuffed and sewn up jackalope to Lucy. “I hope you have so much fun together!”
“Thank you, thank you!” Lucy squishes her new friend and smiles back at the worker. “She’s perfect. Now I just have to choose her outfit!”
Mulder’s still not convinced that stuffed animals really need clothes, but he watches as Lucy carefully inspects all the available articles of clothing. She inspects them visually, but also for items that catch her attention there’s a tactile inspection - anything from the fleetingly light touch of her finger tips, to a more careful running of the material between thumb and forefinger.
Ultimately, she selects a soft lilac zip sweater, and a black skirt for her jackalope, and even a pair of tennis shoes. He would roll his eyes at Scully and bemoan the fact that he bought a pair of tiny round sneakers later, but for now he thinks he remembers his own little ray of light wearing something similar just a week or two ago. Of course she would choose to have her new friend’s outfit match with familiar items. Some little girls he’s sure would choose ball gowns and fairy wings, but not his little Lucy.
“What about you Daddy? What did you choose?” She asks him once she’s decided on the outfit.
“What did I choose?” He frowns and glances down at the yeti he’s holding half heartedly against his hip. “I’m not sure mine needs clothes.”
She looks up at her father incredulously.
“You can’t let him by naked!” She admonishes him.
“I can’t?” she shakes her head. “Maybe something simple then? What would you recommend?”
She smiles, thinking she saw something that could work and flits away, reappearing with a blue pullover sweatshirt.
“Do we need pants?” He checks, thinking a sweatshirt is plenty good enough.
“Mommy would say yes.” She tells him matter of factly, and she’s not exactly incorrect. He remembers Scully often trying to wrangle a toddler Lucy back into her clothing and the frequent conversations about needing to wear pants especially if you were going outside the house.
Mulder picks up some tiny basketball shorts. He doesn’t know if a yeti would play basketball, but they sure as hell wouldn’t wear stiff denim or a pinstriped suit.
“I think this will do.”
Lucy gives him a thoughtful look with a raised Scully eyebrow, looking every bit like her mother on the verge of arguing back, but she ends up nodding in agreement. It might not have been her choice, but it would do.
As they head to the tills, the clerk asks what name Lucy would like on the jackalope’s adoption certificate. “She’s called Jackjack! It was nearly JackieJack, but I think Jackjack works better. It’s a bit like my brother’s name Jackson, but I don’t think he’ll mind.” Lucy offers up more information that is really required, but the worker smiles and nods along anyway.
“Oh, good choice, I think Jackjack is a great name for her. And do we have a name for the yeti?”
“What do you think Luce? Yetyet?”
“Nooooo.” She laughs, elongating her vowel. “Don’t be silly Daddy! His name is Kevin!”
“Oh, Kevin the yeti, of course.” He chuckles and shrugs at the worker behind the till.
And so, what feels like eons after entering the store, both father and daughter leave with a large box (no doubt a future art project for Lucy to color in or decorate) each, even though Lucy’s box is mostly empty as she clutches her new friend snugly between her chest and her arm, and she slips her free hand into her dad’s much larger hand and squeezes it.
“Thank you daddy, that was fun.”
“You’re welcome Luce.” He squeezes her hand back, his thumb running over the back of her soft youthful hand. “You sure you’re okay with both the box and Jackjack?”
“Yep! I got it!” She tells him proudly. It’s probably a good job they’re heading straight back for the car he thinks.
When Scully lets herself back into the house after a long shift, Mulder is sat on the sofa, ankles crossed on the coffee table, watching over Lucy who has somehow commandeered Kevin the yeti and plays with both Kevin and Jackjack on the living room floor.
Having toed off her shoes and hung her jacket by the door, Scully steps towards them both. Lucy is highly absorbed in her play but offers her mother a bright smile of acknowledgement, quickly delving right back into her play. Scully smooths over Lucy’s hair, dropping a quick kiss to her daughter’s head before joining Mulder on the sofa.
“Long day?” He asks, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
Scully sighs, and curls into him slightly.
“I missed you two.” He squeezes her shoulder, and turns offering a quick kiss. “Hmm.” She hums and smiles at him, savouring these sweet family moments she gets to come home to after so long - a lifetime of everything they’ve been through. “I see we’ve acquired some new friends.” She comments, raising an eyebrow in fond amusement. He knows she thinks he spoils Lucy sometimes, but she’s bought so much light into their lives, and every smile and laugh chases the darkness that bit further away. Of course he wants to keep her bright happiness going.
“Hmm, yes. I thought she was choosing one, but she chose one for her, and one for me.”
“And yet she plays with both.”
“What can I say? She’s a mastermind, that daughter of ours.”
“Naturally.” Scully smiles and watches Lucy fondly.
“She chose Jackjack the jackalope, complete with purple hoodie, black skirt and tennis shoes.” He mock groans. “I’ve been reduced to buying tiny tennis shoes for stuffed toys.”
“You could have said no.” She whispers and fondly rolls her eyes at him, patting his thigh.
“To my little Luce? Could you imagine?!” He mock gasps. “She loved it, I figured let her enjoy the experience while she can you know?” Scully nods against his shoulder. She knows. After everything, they were adamant Lucy experiences a soft and innocent childhood full of joy and laughter for as long as she could. Her older siblings hadn’t been afforded that luxury. Emily, forever three, a quiet little thing that had felt and seen far more than a pre-schooler ever should. And William… entrusted to adoptive parents for his own safety, just for the darkness to catch up with them eventually. Lucy loved her older brother very much, but he wasn’t around quite as much as she’d like. He was trying, and he was alive, and part of the family, and that counted for rather a lot after all was said and done.
“And then there’s Kevin, the yeti.”
“Yours, I presume?”
“She said she chose him for me, yes. I’ve hardly seen the little squatch since we got home though.”
“You must be devastated.” She laughs, and he just shrugs.
“She wants to go with you sometime soon. Spotted a frog she thinks you’ll like.”
“Jackjack, Kevin and Jeremiah - an unlikely bunch, but I quite like the sound of that.” Scully can’t help but smile as she starts humming the song she first sang to Mulder, and then to both William and Lucy.