Title: Her Mother's Daughter
A/N: As promised, a sequel to "His Father's Son"... hope you all like it. R&R!
-McDiggin'It
Summary: Merlin sees just how much his daughter takes after her mother in a little argument over her new friend.
...
It's bitterly cold outside as Merlin practically dives into his home.
Almost immediately, an excited shriek of "Daddyyyyyyy!" meets his ears and he grins widely as he turns to greet his littlest troublemaker.
She comes barreling towards him, and he quickly squats down and opens his arms, catching her immediately and enveloping the 4 year old in a warm hug.
"Hello, my little princess." He greets fondly before pressing a kiss to her chubby little cheek.
"Your little princess got a little boyfriend." Bailey, who is now 9 says teasingly on his way to the refrigerator.
Merlin looks up with surprise then, looking over at his son. "What are you talking about, Bails? And where's your mother?"
Morgana emerges from the living room then, dressed comfortably in sweats and one of his old t-shirts from college whilst carrying 2 little bulldog pups in both arms. "Trying to get these two to sleep." She says tiredly.
Merlin smiles at her as he picks up their little girl and carries her as he approaches his wife, "Hey, Love." He greets softly, leaning down to kiss her.
"Hey." Morgana sighs softly, stopping momentarily to kiss him chastely before depositing the two pups in their little bed by the stairs.
"How was your day?" Merlin asks, genuinely curious about his wife's day. She's been feeling lightheaded a lot for the past couple of days.
"It was okay. My boss wants me to manage the Lighthouse project for the remainder of the month we have left."
"Oh?" Merlin looks c
"I feel like I'm taking care of 6 kids instead of two."
Merlin furrows his eyebrows as he does a quick mental headcount of the kids and dogs together. Bailey and Vivian, Bob and his two pups, Jack and Jill. That's five. "Did we get another dog?" He asks curiously, looking around the house.
Morgana quirks an eyebrow at him, "I counted you as well." She says teasingly.
Merlin laughs, rolling his eyes at her and then looking down at his daughter. "How was school? Did you-,"
"Daddy, I got a boyfwend!" Vivian squeals in delight, much to Merlin's chagrin.
Bailey comes back from the kitchen, smirking at his dad. "Told you so."
Merlin looks helplessly at Morgana, "What's V talking about, Morgana?"
Morgana grins widely and goes to the living room. Merlin follows along with Vivian as Bailey trails behind them with a juice box in hand. Morgana then takes a piece of paper and hands it to Merlin. "Read it."
Merlin looks curiously at the little half crumpled up piece of paper before setting his daughter down on the couch and sitting beside her. He unfolds the piece of paper, immediately scrunching his nose up as he stares at the pencil written chicken scratch on it. Slowly, he begins to read, his eyes growing wider and wider with each misspelled word.
Deer Vinny,
U R my bestest frend in the hole wyde werld. U mayk me smil nd U alwayz treet me kinedly. Will U bee my frend for ever?
Luv, Nathan
"Okay, what is this?" Merlin demands ever so calmly.
Morgana quirks an eyebrow at him, knowing what he's really asking. 'What the bloody hell is this shit?'
"I believe it's called a love letter." She giggles softly, giving her husband an amused stare.
Merlin does not laugh, further furrowing his eyebrows as he glances warily at his daughter before looking at Morgana. "First of all, what in the world are these schools teaching our kids?" He looks at the letter again, "I mean, the only words he managed to spell correctly are 'me', 'will', and 'the'. What does that tell you about this kid?"
Morgana laughs, giving him an incredulous look, "That he's only four years old?"
Merlin scoffs, "I think he's a little idiot."
Suddenly, his little girl gasps so loudly, it startled him. "Daddy! Don't be so rude. Nathan is my fwend!"
Merlin again throws a helpless look at his wife, who simply folds her arms across her chest and gives him a teasing smile. "Yeah, daddy. Don't be rude." She says mockingly, obviously enjoying her husband's dilemma.
"I'm sorry, princess." Merlin says thoughtfully as he puts the letter on the coffee table and pulls his little girl into his lap. "Daddy didn't mean to call your friend stupid."
Again, the little girl gasps, this time putting a hand to her mouth and looking absolutely offended. Merlin quirks an eyebrow at her, noticing how much she looks like her mother in that moment. Morgana does the exact same thing whenever he says something that she doesn't like. So dramatic. The little girl suddenly hops off his lap, turning and folding her arms across her chest and gives him a Morgana-like glare. "He is not stupid, daddy." She stomps her foot petulantly, and Merlin resists the urge to laugh.
He throws a pointed look at his wife who only smirks at him. "She gets that from you." He says matter-of-factly.
Morgana giggles, sticking her tongue out at him. "Better me than you."
"And why is that?" Merlin asks defensively.
At that moment, Bailey throws his juice box towards a laundry bin in the corner, cheering loudly when it goes in. "Booyah!" The little boy exclaims loudly.
Morgana smirks at Merlin, giving him a triumphant smile. "That's why."
Merlin frowns, "I do not say 'Booyah'."
Morgana laughs at that. "Yes you do! Bailey's first word would've been 'booyah' because you wouldn't stop saying it every time you changed him and threw his dirty diapers in the trash bin. So instead, his first word was 'boo' because he hadn't figured out how to say 'yah' yet."
Merlin huffs, knowing she's right, and then shrugs at her. "What's wrong with saying 'booyah'?"
Morgana shrugs back at him, "I never said there was anything wrong with it. Besides, you already have a mini you," she points at Bailey. "It's only fair that V takes after me."
"I-,"
"Daddy," The little dark haired, green eyed girl interrupts, still glaring at her father. "That is not important right now. What's important, is my friend Nathan."
Merlin squints at his daughter as he tries to think of something to say. He wants to laugh at how she begins tapping her foot impatiently on the living room carpet, much like her mother does when he's trying to make up a reason why he never hangs up his towel after drying off. "Errr, right. I'm sure he's very important to his own parents, but-,"
"Merlin." Morgana says his name warningly and gives him a pointed stare.
Merlin huffs as he scoots forward on the couch and pulls his daughter up into his lap again. "What I meant was, I know that Nathan must be a very special boy if you decided to be his friend... and," he looks at his wife again.
Morgana is smiling at him, her heart warming at the adorable moment between her husband and their little girl. "You're doing great." She whispers.
Merlin nods, looking back down to his daughter. "I want you to know that as long as you are happy, and you have good friends, daddy will be okay with that."
"So you won't kill Nathan?"
Merlin and Morgana both stare at their youngest in surprise as Bailey starts snickering. Morgana throws a glare at her son as Merlin turns his daughter a bit in his lap so she's halfway facing him. "No, Princess." He assures her, watching her facial expression change from worried to relieved. Honestly, he thinks she's too young to already be making those faces. "Baby, why would you think that?" He asks curiously.
Vivian immediately shoots a look at her older brother, "Bailey said so."
Bailey rolls his eyes at his little sister, folding his arms across his chest and muttering something under his breath that sounded remarkably like 'tattletale'.
Morgana narrows her eyes at her son, "Bailey, why would you tell your sister that kind of stuff?"
The boy shrugs, "Isn't it true? Dad said he would wring the neck of any boy who dares to look at V in any way."
Morgana then turns her glare towards her husband who suddenly seems interested in the little pink barrette in his daughters hair. "Merlin!"
"What?" His tone sounding innocent, but he knows that his wife knows that he's anything but, at the moment.
"What is wrong with you?" Morgana demands, her eyes still narrowed towards his husband who shoots a narrowed look of his own towards his son.
"Tattletale." He mutters.
"Merlin!"
"I'm sorry! But I only told Bailey that because I didn't think this little one would find a male friend so soon." He is NOT going to call it her 'boyfriend'.
"Dear God." Morgana groans. "Sweety," she says to Vivian. "Daddy will not harm your friend. Right Merlin?" She turns her eyes to her husband, daring him to disagree.
Merlin swallows thickly and nods immediately. "Of course not. Daddy was just joking with Bailey and he took it quite literally... although, when you're older-,"
"Merlin." Morgana interrupts warningly.
"Errr, when you're older, you should be very cautious of the friends you make, okay?"
Again, the little girl sighs in relief. "Okay. Can I go play with my dollhouse now?"
Merlin chuckles as he kisses her head and sets her back down on the floor. "Yes you may." The little girl skips away with a wide smile on her face. Bailey gets up too, muttering about homework and running upstairs to his room, leaving the couple alone in the living room.
"That went well." Merlin smiles, then stops at the look on his wife's face. "What?"
"Don't 'what' me, Merlin!" She snaps. "Why did you tell Bailey such a thing?"
Merlin shrugs, "I was talking to Arthur about it and Bailey overheard."
Morgana huffs, shaking her head. "You two are impossible."
"So you say, but it's the truth. Our little one will not date a day before her 30th birthday. And if I'm lucky, she might even become a nun and not date or marry at all."
"Or she could hate you forever if you do that."
Merlin shrugs, "So be it. I'd rather she hate me than get hurt. Men are animals."
Morgana snorts, throwing him a pointed look. "I see that."
Merlin laughs, shaking his head. "I'm only kidding about her not dating... I just hope she doesn't ever get hurt."
"Merlin, no matter how much we try to shield and protect her, she will one day get hurt. It's inevitable and it happens to everyone."
"I know." He sighs, "but it won't stop me from hoping."
"I know." Morgana sighs. "Just please try harder next time."
Merlin grins at her and pats the space beside him on the couch. "Wanna watch a movie?"
Morgana rolls her eyes but gets up and joins him anyway. He pulls her close under his arm so she can lay her head against his chest like she always does when they're sitting together. "I still think you could've handled that situation better." She mutters against his shirt as Merlin takes the remote and turns the TV on.
He rolls his eyes and looks down at her, "Well I blame you."
Morgana turns her head up, glaring at him. "What did I do?"
"She's acting just like you, and it scares me." He laughs.
Morgana playfully smacks him in the chest, "Yes, well I did push her out of my vagina." She says bluntly, to which Merlin howls with laughter.
Suddenly, Vivian pops in beside them and glares at her father with her hands on her hips. "Ssshhhhh! Daddy, I can't play when you keep laughing." With that, she turns and stomps back to the next room to play with her dollhouse.
Morgana snickers as Merlin blinks at the place where their daughter had just been standing. "She is definitely her mother's daughter." Merlin chuckles softly.
...
A/N: Hope you all liked this one. Let me know what you think!
-McDiggin'It
