Title: All in a Fairy Tale By: ForensicsFreak1988
Disclaimer: I don't own Lily, her mother, or Christina, or anyone else you recognize. I don't own the Sciencenter, or it's employees (with the exception of myself- I think) I don't even own Hersey Foods, Inc., makers of Twislers (though I do worship them). I do, however own the Princess picture. And I do promise that my disclaimer will make sense once you read.
A/N: This fic is simply my take on what Lil's childhood should have been like. It goes out to Tammie, Tony, Brenda, Barbara, Vinnie, Eric, Lara, David (even if he did ditch us- Just Kidding David!) and the rest of the Sciencenter crew. For those of you who don't know what the Sciencenter is, it's an interactive children's museum in Ithaca, New York. You'll learn more about it as you read. Before you label this as a shameless Mary Sue (I am in it), let me tell you the last, and most important person this goes out to. This goes out to Lilly (with two L's), a little girl who came into the Sciencenter a few months ago, and left a lasting impression, not to mention an eight and a half by eleven reminder (a.k.a. the Princess picture). And now, before you ditch this, on with the show.
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Seven year old Lilian Rush smiled, getting out of bed. This, in and of its self was a rare occasion. Even at seven-years old, she took care of her infant sister, and her 31-year-old alcoholic mother, and rarely had either time, or reason to smile. But today, however, she was excited. Why, you ask, would a seven-year-old who had nothing to get up for, aside from a hung-over mother, a whiny 3-month-old, and school, be excited? Because Lily wasn't going to school today. Well, not for long anyway. Her 1st grade class, was going to the Sciencenter. Lily couldn't wait. She had heard a bunch of her 'friends' talking about the place, and she liked what she heard. Apparently the place had a bunch of fun things. She'd heard they had musical stairs, and corn snakes. And so, it was with a rare smile that Lily Rush slipped on her cleanest purple t-shirt, and her favorite jeans, with the little pink butterflies embroidered on the side. Shattering the illusion that she was a normal child were her hand-me-down backpack and the recycled brown paper bag that held the apple that would be her breakfast and lunch. Sighing, she went to wake-up her mother. From the sound of things, Christina wanted breakfast.
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Five and half hours later, Lily had completely forgotten the hardships that awaited her at home. Her backpack and the paper bag lay downstairs in the museum's cloak room, and the only reminder of her life was her empty stomach. The museum was everything Lily had hoped for. She had an annoying scavenger hunt she'd had to fill out, and a partner she had to stick with, but she was enjoying herself. She'd played on the musical stairs, watched rubber ducks race down a waterway, tried to catch an inflatable globe that was suspended on air, and even petted a red, amal…amalinistic corn snake named Ruby, who was being carried around by a guy who's name tag read Tony. Now Lil sat in a class-room-type thing, called Discovery Space, playing with electricity. Discovery Space had wooden boxes with science kits or games in them. Visitors could take them out, and play with them. Lil was on her second box. this one was called It's Electric. As the attendant, Elizabeth, said good-bye to a little girl named Griffin, Lily decided she wanted to get another box. Cleaning up It's Electric, she brought it back to Elizabeth.
"Thanks. Did you want another one?" As Lil was deciding which one to get, her partner, a boy named Arthur, came over.
"Oh, come on Lilian. Can't we go?" Lily sighed.
"You can go. I want to stay."
"But we have to stick together. And we've been here for fifteen minutes. Come on," he demanded, grabbing Lily's arm.
"Hey, leave her alone. Unless you want me to find your teacher to take you around the museum." In that moment, seeing the look the older girl shot Arthur, Lil know that she could trust Elizabeth, someone so instinctually drawn to protect her. Arthur glared at Lil.
"I'm gonna be out side," he informed Lil.
"Good," muttered Elizabeth. Her face softened when she turned to Lil. "Who spiked his Wheaties?" Lil smiled. "So which one can I get for you?"
"Umm…Cool Colors." Turning around, Elizabeth pulled out the box, handing it to Lil.
"Here ya go. Cool Colors. One of my favorites.
As Lil sat down, a girl with hot pink hair (at the moment), and a lot of jewelery walked in. She was wearing a Sciencenter vest on, and she meowed at Elizabeth so she was obviously another employee.
"Bluecoating?" Elizabeth teased.
"Right." The girl sat down next to Elizabeth.
"I like your hair," Lil informed the new arrival. She smiled.
"Thanks. I'm Tammie by the way. What's your name?"
"Lily."
"Pretty name."
"Hey Lily, mind if I join you?" Elizabeth asked. Lil shook her head, and Elizabeth came around the counter, and sat down next to Lil.
"So, you having fun?"
"Oh, yeah. I saw the rubber ducks, the water dam, the playground, pretty much all the 'let's-not-bore-the-kids-too-much' hands-on stuff. Arthur didn't want to do much of the science stuff, but that's okay. And I saw the snake. That was cool."
"Oh, which snake?"
"The red one, umm…"
"Ruby."
"Right. Arthur petted him the wrong way though." Elizabeth glared, shaking her head. Turning to Tammie, she muttered, "Bet Barbara loved that."
Tammie smiled, and Elizabeth turned back to Lil. As she was drawing hockey sticks on a coffee filter, that she would drop water on, watching how the colors separated, someone whistled outside. Elizabeth set down the red marker, and glided back into the chair, just as a man with brown hair and a smile walked in holding a white envelope.
"How's it going?" he asked. Elizabeth gave him a thumbs-up gesture, and Tammie muttered "Good."
"Here ya go," he said, handing each girl a purpleish slip of paper.
"Thanks David." Tammie said.
"Pay check. Always good to have." Elizabeth observed, winking at Lily. The Boss, because for all the girls were comfortable around him, he was the boss, walked out, resuming his whistling. Elizabeth got up, then turned to Tammie.
"Can you hold fort? I'll be right back." Elizabeth said, making a whoopty-do twisting gesture with her index finger.
"Only if you share."
"Don't you always?"
By the time Elizabeth was back, something crinkling in her blue apron pocket, Lil was doing Draw, a box with markers, crayons, stencils, and paper. Elizabeth sat back down, pulling a thing of Twislers out of her pocket. She opened them, taking one for herself, and giving one to Tammie. When she noticed Lil's whistful expression, she said, "Hey, you hungry?" Lil shook her head, but it an act of pure betrayal, her stomach growled. Elizabeth smiled, handing Lil three Twislers.
"Here, just… If David comes back hide them." Lil smiled at her, biting in to them greedily. Once she'd finished her breakfast, she thanked Elizabeth, then went back to drawing. She drew a picture of her, her mom, and Christina, all playing at a park. When Elizabeth complimented it, she smiled.
"Thanks. I drew it for my mom, but she'll probably just throw it out once she thinks I'm not looking."
"Of course she won't."
"Oh, she will."
"Maybe. I don't know your mom," Elizabeth admitted. "Still, it's a nice picture."
Suddenly Lil got an idea. Smiling to herself she drew a sun, and some grass on a new sheet of paper. Then, a determined look on her face, she drew a fairy-tale princess, making sure to give it yellow, or blonde, hair.
"Who's that one for?" Elizabeth asked. Lil smiled.
"It's a surprise." Carefully, she wrote, By,From: Lily. Then she realized something. She sighed. "You'll have to write your own name on it. I don't know how to spell it," she said, handing the drawing to Elizabeth. Elizabeth looked shocked for a moment (well, mock shock really) and then she smiled.
"Thanks, Sweetie." Ruining the moment, Arthur stuck his head in.
"Can we go?" Lil sighed again, then nodded.
"Just a second," Lil said. Cleaning up, she gave the box back to her new friend. Elizabeth handed it to Tammie, then wrapped the rest of the Twislers in the wrapper.
"Here. Don't let Arthur steal them." Lil smiled at her, then went out into the museum.
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An hour later, as they were getting ready to leave, Lil saw Elizabeth again. She was walking around, letting visitors pet a white snake. Lil walked over.
"An albino?" she asked. Elizabeth smiled at her, bending down so she could pet the snake.
"Yep. Her name's Candy."
"She's beautiful."
"That she is. Hey Tammie, can you hold Candy for a sec?" Tammie came over, taking the snake from Elizabeth. Elizabeth bent down again.
"Now Lil, If you ever need to talk to me, or you want to hang out, call me. Okay?" the older girl said, handing Lil, a piece of paper and a ten dollar bill. Lil's eye's widened.
"But I never said any thing about myself. How'd you…" But Elizabeth interrupted her.
"I was just like you. Drunk mother, baby brother, whole nine yards." Before she knew it Lil was crying. Right in the middle of the Sciencenter. Elizabeth pulled her into a corner, holding her. "Shh…" she murmured. Lil had never felt so embarrassed in her life, but Elizabeth didn't seem to care. Once Lil had collected herself, she smiled up at the older girl.
"I don't know what to say."
"How about I'll see you around." Lil hugged her again, before muttering "bye" and following her class. Elizabeth stepped out of the corner, taking Candy back from Tammie.
"Ya know Kitty, It's people like her this place was built for." Tammie smiled.
"Ain't that the truth?"
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Later, as she lay in bed, her stomach full from the trip to McDonalds Elizabeth's ten bucks had bought, Lil smiled. Today had felt good. Running around the Sciencenter, laughing with her mom at McDonalds, hanging up her drawings. It had felt good to, for once in her life, be a KID.
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I hope you liked it. If y'all beg enough I might do a sequel, sort of the adventures of Lil and Elizabeth, but I really wrote this, as mentioned, because I wanted Lil to have a good memory of her childhood, and for Lilly. Please Review even if you think it sucked (and I'm kinda feeling like it did right now.)