Disclaimer for the whole fic: I own nothing that you recognise.
I hope you enjoy. This was inspired by "Paved With Love" by KeelieThompson1, I strongly recommend you read her work, it is brilliant!
Lyra Watson was five years old and at five years old she had noticed certain things. For one, adults never told her anything, even though she was nearly six, and six meant she was practically an adult.
A lot of changes happened when you were six after all.
But the real reason Lyra was not happy on this particular Monday morning was because she had school and school meant having to listen to Johnny Pilgram tell everyone about his weekend with his Dad.
He always told lies anyway.
Lyra also knew it wasn't a good idea to tell Daddy about the things Johnny told everyone because he would always look at her in a funny way.
It was the kind of look Jessica Monry's Mum gave to all the new teachers.
It was sort of sad, but a weird kind of sad that you get when you break something you didn't mean to.
She didn't understand it, but had come to the conclusion of one thing.
Adults were weird.
Daddy never told her what he did, even when she asked really really nicely.
All the other kids at school knew what their Parent's did, but Lyra didn't.
She knew he used to be in the Army (Which was really stupid because you just get shot, although Daddy hadn't looked to happy when she said that)
She didn't like it when Daddy wouldn't look her in the eye, it made her sad, she often wondered if she'd done something wrong.
She knew she hadn't but she always wondered.
Daddy was sad again today. He always got like this when Lyra would mention music.
He thought she doesn't notice but she does, she just doesn't ask. Her teacher always tells her off for asking too many questions.
Daddy smiled when she told him that, he smiles a lot more when they don't talk about certain things.
Music is one of them, Daddy is another.
He never liked talking about himself, or what he was like when he was her age.
"I bet you didn't have to eat greens when you were my age Daddy, I bet you're just making it up!" she grumbled that evening at dinner.
He laughed, quite loudly and proceeded to tell her he did everything he was told at her age, no questions asked.
She would never understand adult's fear of questions.
Daddy got a new job last week.
He had done so after Lyra had asked if she would get a new school jumper soon because her last one had been ruined by Mickey Hall, he had grabbed her to hard in a game of "IT".
Daddy hadn't been happy, she could tell, but he didn't shout at her. He almost never shouted at her. He only did once really, and that was when she had touched the funny looking hat he kept in a box under his bed.
She hadn't meant to be snooping, but when he caught her, he shouted so loudly she cried, ran to her the bathroom and locked herself in.
He knocked on her door a bit later.
"Sweetheart, I'm sorry I shouted"
She just sobbed harder.
Later, when she came out because she was hungry, she found Daddy asleep on the sofa, holding the hat to his chest.
She woke him up to tell him she was sorry but he just hugged her instead.
He then put the hat on her head and said she could have it if she promised to take extra special care of it.
Through tears she promised and Daddy had hugged her really tightly before her belly rumbled and he laughed.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"Why does the hat have two funny ends?"
She never took her hat off now. She wore it for the rest of that weekend, to bed and everything!
Most of the other children at school had bear's but she had her hat. She loved it more than anything (except Daddy) and never wanted to take it off!
Her fun was spoilt when Daddy said she couldn't wear it at school because they wouldn't let her.
She didn't mind too much though, because she just wore it to the gate and then when Stacy Lovettes mum picked her up to walk her home she wore it then.
She almost never took it off
Lyra hated Daddy's new job.
A lot.
The flat she had grown up in always seemed too small in her eye's but with Daddy there less often she felt like it was really big.
Mrs. Hersh at school had said that some children were taken away from their family's if their parents weren't there enough.
She didn't want to be taken away.
When she asked Daddy about it on her way to school the next day he told her just not to mention it to anyone.
"Why?" she had asked, curious.
"Because otherwise I'll get in trouble"
"But you can't get in trouble, you're an adult!" she had argued back.
He just stayed silent.
"Daddy?" she had asked one night as he tucked her into bed.
"Yes?"
"Why was my hat under your bed?"
She was wearing said hat as she asked the question, peering up at him with the everlasting curiosity in her eyes.
Daddy sighed a bit and then sat next to her on the bed.
"Would you like to hear a story my love?"
Lyra grew excited at this, Daddy always told the best stories.
"Well, long ago, in a far away land, a man lived a very boring life,
"Like Mrs. Hersh?"
He smiled at that.
"Yes, like Mrs. Hersh, now no more interrupting alright?"
"Sorry"
"Anyway, the man grew very bored of his life and one day an old friend passed him in the street..."
By the time Daddy had finished the story Lyra didn't know what to say.
"Did you like it?"
"Yes."
"You don't sound like you did"
"Did everyone really think the Detective was imaginary?"
"Yes"
"Did the bored man?"
He didn't answer.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"If I wear the hat, am I a Detective?"
"...Yes"
"Does that mean I can solve crimes!?"
"No."
Lyra was worried.
It was very late, she had checked the clock a million times that evening and still Daddy wasn't home and she was angry because she hadn't had dinner and she was worried that somehow the other adults would know Daddy wasn't here and think he was being a bad Dad and take her away.
When Daddy had finally came in the door (it was 10:00 o'clock!) he looked tiered, more tiered than Lyra felt. He looked at her, sitting on the floor, hat on head, still wearing her uniform and sighed.
"Would you like to stay with my tonight?"
"Yes please Daddy"
As they laid down Lyra noticed him wince like his side hurt.
She didn't say anything though, she was so tiered she wasn't even hungry anymore.
She could detect in quiet to herself.
Lyra was on her way home from school and a bit annoyed.
Her day hadn't gone very well, even though it was Friday and that usually meant the best day of the week!
First she and Daddy had woken up late so her hair had been tied up messy on her head and that meant Mrs. Hersh would give everyone a big lecture on tidiness which was boring.
Then half way through break she realised she had forgotten her hat!
How was she supposed to help people if she didn't have her hat?
In a foul mood, Lyra walked home with Stacy and Mrs. Lovette, not talking to either of them. Then when Mrs. Lovette had bid her good bye, she climbed the stairs to her and Daddy's flat, took the key out from under the welcome mat and opened the front door (liked Daddy had taught her)
The sight that greeted her was one that she would probably always remember.
Daddy was sitting in the middle of the room, on the big sofa, head in hands. At first she was happy that he was home early, and then she noticed something.
"Daddy, where's the Telly?"
He looked up and Lyra noticed straight away that one of his eyes had a big purpilish bruise around it.
"I...I don't think we need a Telly Lyra, do we?"
He was giving her that look again, like he was begging her to understand.
"No Daddy, we don't".
Later that evening Lyra had to do her homework.
She hated homework more than she hated Mrs. Hersh and that was saying something.
The reason she hated it was because she wasn't very good at a lot of it, and she didn't feel she needed to be.
"Lyra, you need to learn these things or you're not going to get very far in life"
"But Daddy, I don't need these things, I just need my brain!"
"Why is that then?"
"Because I'm going to be the Bored Man's Detective"
"Oh, I see, well you can't be"
"Why, I just need to say things not write them down, you wouldn't see a bad guy and pass him a note telling him to stop, and you wouldn't count the money that's been stolen!"
"Yes but you won't pass tests!"
"What tests?"
"Um, Detective Tests..."
"You're lying Daddy"
"And how do you know that?"
"You shifted your eyes, that's what Kitty Turnblad does when Mrs. Hersh asks her if she did the homework"
Lyra did end up doing her homework that night.
But only because Daddy threatened to give her extra vegetables at dinner, not to tell her any more stories and that he would hire Mrs. Hersh as a nanny.
She did it without a fuss after that.
It was Saturday and that meant it was Pancake day.
It had become an unofficial tradition for the two Watsons that every Saturday for breakfast they would have Pancakes.
Daddy had said it was because they were cheap, Lyra didn't really care why, she just liked them.
But on this particular morning Lyra was not woken up by the smell of Pancakes or her Daddy calling her. It was by a smashing sound.
Suddenly alert Lyra rushed out of bed (hat forgotten in her hast) and rushed down stairs to see if Daddy had accidently broken something and needed help.
Jumping down the last step she was greeted by a very strange sight.
Daddy was standing near to her, at the edge of the room with his Pyjama's still on (she realised he must have just woken up as well). He was very pale and was staring at something in the living room.
Moving behind him, she hid behind his legs, poking her head out.
She saw two very strange looking men sitting on the big sofa. One was sort of...ginger and looked very scary to her and the other looked bored. Neither of them had caught sight of her yet and she only peered down that second to see what had smashed.
Looks like Daddy had made himself tea, she wasn't surprised, he really liked it.
Poking him she whispered very loudly
"Daddy, who are they?"
Both men looked at her sharply, as if they hadn't seen her at all (she had just thought they were ignoring her) the scarier of the too gave no reaction apart from a slightly widened eyes and a small quirk of an eyebrow.
The other just looked at her like she was a maths sum that didn't quite add up.
If her Daddy had heard her he didn't show it, he just stood there, pale and shaking slightly as if he had seen a ghost.
Lyra poked him again and when he did not move she came out from behind his legs turned to the two strange men in her home and pointed a finger at them accusatively.
"You've broken him!"
Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, I'd like to hear some feed back in reviews if that would be alright?
Next Time: Lyra finds living in a new strange home with the new strange man is...strange.