A/N: I was prompted to write about Amelia and Derek as children. This was the result. I hope you enjoy it! x
There were few things Amelia Shepherd treasured in her life – she was never a particularly sentimental girl, even as a child – but one of them was a particularly fluffy toy rabbit; brown with floppy ears and marble button eyes given to her as a toddler. After their father's death, she used to clutch it tight, saturating its fur with her tears in the middle of the night, and for awhile, she took it everywhere she would go. She hugged it until its fur was clumpy at matted, and it looked worn and old, but the love was still the same. It gave her comfort she could find in nothing else, and she swore maybe it was magic.
But during what their mother termed 'spring cleaning' – although it was a one-shot deal serving only to purge the house of having too many reminders of Christopher Shepherd – Amy's toy was lost to a garbage bag full of old toys and clothes to be donated or sold. Swept away with discarded items far less loved by the family, she realized too late that her bunny (cleverly named Mr. Flopperson by their dad) was gone.
Hours were spent wailing, and the little girl was inconsolable. The magic was gone, and now she had to face the crushing sadness of the death she had witnessed all by herself. Derek tried to comfort her. He read her stories every night and sang to her. He even tried dressing up as a princess for a tea party with her, but nothing seemed to work. For too long, only sadness and tears. So he set out on a new mission: to return Mr. Flopperson to his rightful place in the arms of the littlest Shepherd.
He couldn't drive just yet, being two years before the legal age, but his bike served to take him to every second-hand thrift shop he could find. It had to still be there somewhere, didn't it? Who would want a ratty old rabbit? Although he searched every shelf, every rack of toys, it amounted to nothing. With the allowance money he had saved for a movie date with one of the girls from the cheerleading squad at school, he bought for Amy a small unicorn pendant. It wasn't her rabbit, but perhaps it would do. Holding it tight in the palm of his hand, he rode back home, perching on the stoop of their home until his baby sister returned home from her playdate down the street. He had wanted so badly to bring home Mr. Flopperson – to see the dimple on her cheek so determined to stay hidden. His head hung, and he exhaled a heavy breath.
But a thought suddenly occurred to Derek as he tried to wait – a lone place he had yet to check. Within seconds, he sprung to his feet and onto his bike. Only a few blocks away, he parked outside the church their mother had long tried to drag them to every Sunday (and finally given up, having lost faith along with her husband). He pulled open the heavy oak door, setting off toward the playroom where children too small for Sunday School were often sent during services. The pastor's wife was cleaning up in there after the day's earlier services, and he offered her a warm smile – his regular charm.
The situation was fast to explain; that Amy needed the bunny, and she had never meant to give it away. Given all that had happened to the Shepherd family, no protests were heard, just a simple sentiment: "A brown bunny? I'm not sure… I think we might– " He fidgeted, trying not to bounce in place as the older woman paused to decide whether or not it had wound up in one of their toy bins. In silence, she took a few steps toward a chest filled with plushies, and reached down to retrieve her prize. "Is this it?" The joy and relief in his eyes told it all, and he thanked her with a hug before rushing home.
Amy was seated at the kitchen table when he found her, frowning as she half-heartedly colored in some kind of map illustration for her kindergarten class. With Mr. Flopperson tucked behind his back, he grinned as he approached, gently setting it in front of her. Wide cerulean eyes shifted up, and for a second just a look of shock. She reached out to take the toy, hugging it against her chest and then turning to look at him. Tears filled her eyes, and a smile like he hadn't seen in months beamed through her expression. Jumping to her feet, she wrapped her arms around him. "You found him!" she cried.
"I found him," Derek repeated. As they pulled apart, he crouched to her level, pulling a small chain from his pocket. "And there's something else. I got you this." He held out the pendant, and she took it between her fingers, inspecting it. "It's a unicorn, and it's magic, too. It helped me to find Mr. Flopperson. So you can wear it whenever you can't bring him somewhere, or when you get too old, and it'll protect you."
She bit her lip, looking between the necklace and her brother. "It's magic, too?" she repeated.
He nodded in return and she fidgeted with the clasp, trying to put it on. He took it back, undoing it and positioning it loosely around her neck as he reclasped it. Her hand shot up to play with it, and she grinned at him once more. Arms flew around Derek's shoulders, and she whispered, "Thank you," in his ear.
"You're welcome," he replied, his own grin radiating through the room. She hadn't been this happy in months – not since their father had died – and his heart felt like it might explode from being the one to return the smile to his littlest sister; that he had brought magic back into her world.