Summary: Laurel Souza reflects on one of the many mysteries of life from the backseat of her Daddy's SUV. One-shot. Chlerek, needless to say.
A/N: Yeah, so this is somewhere between AU and Canonland, a bit fluffy. This is a one-shot, as I already said, but if you guys are game I will (probably) extend it to a two-shot.
Disclaimer: So in case you didn't already know, I own the Darkest Powers. No, I'm kidding I don't and I wouldn't want to own characters I didn't create. Laurel Souza, however, is mine. Or maybe she belongs to Derek and Chloe. I don't know. I also don't own The Snow Queen, a work by Joan D. Vinge, which happens to be one of my favorite sci-fi novels. And now the disclaimer is longer than the Author's Note.
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Byutifull
"Daddy?"
"Yes, Laurel?"
"Where are we going?" Laurel asked. Daddy grunted. She felt bad. Daddy had probably already told her, but she had a horrible memory.
They were on the highway to pick Mommy up from LAX after being on location in Augusta, Maine for a sci-fi fantasy novel adaptation by the name of The Snow Queen. Of course, Laurel didn't know all that.
"We're going to go get Mommy." He stated simply.
Laurel frowned. "You mean from the place with pretty white kites?" she asked, that's what mommy said they were.
"If you're talking about the airport, then yes." Daddy said, laughing his deep laugh that seemed to hum all the way from the front seat, through the black leather upholstery, past her bright purple and green car seat, cruising along her small body, and into her head, rocking her brain as Grandpa Kit does her person when she's sleepy.
"Airport…" she said, trying the word out on her tongue. She might as well enjoy saying right now. Chances were, she wouldn't remember five minutes from then.
Silence.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, sweetheart?" Laurel looked down. She played with Pinky's ear. Pinky was a black bunny with silver in her ears, a silver stomach, and a purple nose. She was a Build-A-Bear. The rabbit reminded her of herself, what with it's dark colors. Daddy said that 'for the life of him' he couldn't understand why she named him Pinky, but he wouldn't understand. She knew he wouldn't because, honestly, Laurel didn't quite understand it herself.
"Do you think I'm pretty?"
Daddy nearly swerved off the road.
"Laurel, why do you ask me that?" he asked, turning to face her for a split second before he directing his attention back to the windshield.
"Because Tommy said that he doesn't like me and I asked him why and he said it was because I'm not pretty and Samantha is. I asked him if that meant that I'm ugly and he said yup, it does. Am I ugly?" she asked. She didn't really fully understand what Tommy had meant by being ugly or pretty, but she figured it wasn't good to be ugly. Since, you know, Tommy hated her guts and all.
Daddy's hands tightened on the onyx-colored steering wheel, also tightly wrapped in cowhide. He exhaled a loud breath.
"Laurel, let me explain something to you. There is a difference between being pretty and being beautiful. Pretty is something anyone can be, but not everybody gets to be beautiful, and you, Laurel, are both. It's impossible to be beautiful and ugly, and so you can't possibly be ugly. This Tommy character, however, is a different matter altogether." He finished, narrowly avoiding calling the boy the fugliest little turd she'd ever have the displeasure of meeting.
Laurel honestly didn't comprehend the majority of what he had just said, which is what usually happened whenever she asked Daddy to explain something. She did, however, think she got something. Daddy, if she heard right, said that she was pretty and beautiful, and, the way Daddy said it, being beautiful must be a very good thing. Pulling her slightly pudgy fingers from the seat of her denim jeans, straightening out the pink sleeves of her shirt, she decided to list everybody she knew that was beautiful. Mommy said that, whenever she had a lot to write down, she put it in a list. She whispered in Pinky's floppy that she needed him to help her out. Going in her crayon box and retrieving her coloring clipboard, she began to write.
The B-
She stopped for a moment. How do you spell beautiful? Ms. Muffy says that when you don't know a word, sound it out. Probably not the best advice to give to a kindergartner, but clearly neither Laurel nor Ms. Muffy were aware of this.
The Byutifull List
Bi Laurel and Pinky
-Mommy beecuz she is nyse mos of the tyme. And she makes good spagety. And we play hyde-and-seek.
-Daddy beecuz hes reely smart and I giv him lots of kissis and hugs and he piks me up and we play wite kites.
-Grampa Kit beecuz he lafs a lot. And we watch Super Why and Elmo and Barney. And Dora. And Mickey. And Telletubbies.
-Anty Tori beecuz shes reely reely funny.
-NOT Uncle Simmy beecuz he and the tikle monster won't leave me alone. Fine Pinky says Uncle Simmy is byutifull to.
-Laurel beecuz daddy says so and if daddy says so then its true.
-Pinky beecuz Pinky AND Laurel says so.
-3 3 3 3
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"Mommy!" Laurel yelled at the top of her five-year old lungs. She ran to the short, petite blonde woman speed-walking into the waiting area with about three grey luggage bags in tow. Laurel ran as fast as her mini, light-up, Stride-Rite sneakers and stubby legs would take her.
Pinky's ear was clutched in her hand as he was mericlessly dragged along. Daddy was near jogging to keep up with his daughter, having been taken completely off guard when he let her down and she bolted clear across the the crowded area. It liked to have given him a heart attack when she narrowly avoided being wiped out by careless people with obviously deep emotional scarring that led to over-packing issues somewhere along the line, and how completely oblivious Laurel was to what was going on.
Mommy easily closed the distance after hearing her only child's soft voice ringing out loud clear. Sweeping the little girl clear off the ground, she held her tightly to her chest, their heartbeats pounding in sync.
"I missed you, Mommy." She said, lifting her head from her mother's shoulder to face her with her medium length, wavy midnight black hair and Forget-me-not blue eyes. Mommy smiled.
"I missed you too, baby." Mommy said, grinning as she peered out to Laurel from beneath her platinum-blonde auburn-streaked bob and slight bump. Mommy had been in Dublin, Ireland overseeing the production for the screenplay she'd written for her favorite sci-fi novel, The Snow Queen, a tale of intergalactic cover-ups, cultural oppositions, and intriguing (and at times incestuous) relationships.
"Daddy missed you too," Laurel said with her face fixed snugly into Mommy's shoulder.
"Did he?" She asked. Laurel nodded, then sat up and cupped her mom's ear.
"He even says your name sometimes at night!" she giggled into her ears.
"Really?" she laughed, whispering conspiratorially to Laurel.
"Mmhmm." She smiled, nodding her head emphatically. Mommy looked over at poor Daddy, who had his head hung sullenly. Unfortunately, Laurel was not aware that her Daddy had abnormally strong hearing. As in, whispering in the Souza household was a 'no-go'.
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"Hey, Laurie?"
"Yes, Mommy?" Laurel asked as she looked back over her Byutifull List to see if she misspelled any words before showing Mommy and Daddy. She didn't find anything.
"Can Pinky talk?" Mommy asked. Laurel chortled.
"Of course not, Mommy! Don't be silly!" she said, bobbing the bunny in question on her knee with a beam plastered on her face. Well, it was plastered there until she dropped a crayon onto the seat. She can't reach the actual seat from her perch atop her carchair. She pouted to herself and reached for a different shade of blue from her pack, wiping frustrated tears from her eyes. Ever since Daddy told her big girls don't cry loudly, she kept most of her insignificant sobs to herself.
"Then why do you sometimes say something that Pinky said?"
"Mommy, don't you know already?"
"Don't know what already?"
"That there are two Pinkys." She said, biting her lip as she struggled to comb her second favorite Barbie doll's red hair just right.
"Two Pinkys?"
"Yeah." Mommy turned around in her seat to look at her.
"What do you mean 'Two Pinkys'?"
"There's one right here, too." Laurel said, tapping her pretty, dark head. Mommy's eyes went wide.
"You mean somebody else talks to you?" Laurel nodded her head.
"Can anybody else see the other Pinky, too?" Mommy answered, barely keeping the desperation out of her tone. Daddy was tense, too. Laurel and Pinky 1# seemed to be the only ones in the car blissfully unaware of the change in atmosphere.
"Of course not, Mommy, don't be silly! Other Pinky is just up here, I can't see him! Isn't Mommy silly, Pinky?" At this point Laurel was talking to stuffed Pinky, not faceless voice Pinky. Mommy and Daddy were visibly relieved, Other Pinky was probably just her conscious or something. Hopefully.
Silence.
"Mommy?" Laurel was nervous. She had to make sure Mommy and Daddy liked her list. They were pulling into the shiny suburb entitled 'Hidden Hills'. Laurel lives in the Bellbrooke subdivision but they always use the opening to Auburn to access the street that led to her house. Of course, Laurel didn't know all that. She recognized the houses and stores and streetlights and that's how she knew she was home.
"Yes, sweetie?" Mommy asked, her smooth light voice back to normal. They were almost home, she just decided to wait so she could show Mommy and Daddy the list at the same time. She smiled, she was doing what Daddy would call 'critical thinking'. If he knew what was going on in her head he'd be proud. At least, she liked to think he would.
The SUV came to a halt in the winding, off-white driveway. As the black Odyssey's roaring abated, Laurel watched as the black doors flew open and activated the motion sensitive porch lights. For some odd reason her parents never stayed in a specific area for very long. She couldn't imagine why. None the less, her parents shady tendencies were of no matter to her.
She calmly watched the upper-middle class family's modest three-story cobblestone house, accentuated with white paneling and a silver knocker. The pale ultraviolet security lights illuminated Mommy's hair, causing it to become nearly white in appearance and gave her an otherworldly appearance in stark contrast with the mess of colors splashed haphazardly against the willing sky. She waited patiently for someone to come get her, seeing as she was about three feet tall.
List tucked safely in her crayon box, she turned and saw her first favorite Barbie doll. The doll's naturally puffy doo, caramel-brown skin, and hazel eyes reminded her of her best friend, Consty, the doll's christened name. No comb she owned would be able to navigate Barbie Consty's tangled hair but she loved to run her fingers over the tight curls. Adjusting her sparkly pink dress, she heard the rumbling bass call her voice.
"Laurel." She turned to meet a pair of emerald green eyes and midnight tresses akin to her own. She decided to have a bit of fun with Daddy before he reached over her to unbuckle her seat belt.
"Daddy, do you like Barbie Consty's dress? She's about to go on a date with Xavier so she has to look beautiful for Xavier," She raises a delicate brow, smiling as her father was immediately uncomfortable. Xavier was Laurel's best boy friend at school but him and Consty couldn't stand each other, so Barbie Consty and Barbie Xavier were of course madly in love each other. She thought it was funny.
"Umm, sure Laurel let's go inside before Mommy accuses me of trying to infect you with influenza," Laurel was starting to get the feeling Daddy was doing that on purpose. Confusing her, that is, not infecting her with influenza. Armed with Pinky and giving him her coloring box-turned-Ark of the Covenant, she allowed him to pick her up and carry her to the doorstep. He learned a long time ago what happened when he told his daughter to walk with her box and Pinky.
She laid her head against his chest, fighting off sleep (as it was only late afternoon) and the urge to look at herself in her father's sunglasses, which were sitting atop his head, for the hundredth time. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of his heartbeat and the thud of his feet against the concrete. As soon as they crossed the threshold she opened her eyes and perked her head up. Right, she had something to do before she took a nap. This all needed to be accomplished quickly as she needed to be awake in time for Super Why to come on.
"Are you tired?" Daddy asked her. This was a crucial moment. For some reason, even if she told him she wasn't sleepy and and didn't feel so he would sometimes still take her to her bed anyways and she'd be out before they reached door. If she wanted to take a nap, if she was hungry, if she's annoyed, if they needed to turn to Wild Kratts.
If Laurel did not effectively convince her father that she wasn't about to pass out he was going to put her to sleep and she would forget about the list and keep forgetting about the list until she eventually threw it away by accident and it was gone forever.
And that would be bad.
"No, I'm not sleepy at all, Daddy," she faced the white underbelly of the door.
"Laurel, you fell asleep as I carried you from the car to the house," He said with that dry tone that might as well have just said, Sweetheart, please stop kidding yourself.
"But I'm not sleepy!" she said and jumped down from his arms to support her position, a precarious thing to do when those arms belong to man trumping six feet. After regaining her footing she took off for the kitchen, managing not to slip on the lengthy elaborate rug swathing the wooden floor in the foyer as she passed the stairs, past the black couch as she tossed Pinky and the Ark of the Covenant onto the plush cushions and the carpeted reprieve the living room gave and into the hardwood kitchen where her mother was heating up a Marie Callender to eat before she started unpacking.
"Mommy, Mommy come here! I want to show you and Daddy something!" she says, clutching her mother's wispy hand in her own as she dragged her into the living room. Daddy had been on his way to the kitchen (the man ate every five minutes) when she shut that idea down with a clipped "Daddy, couch"' as she continued with her Mother.
Once both of her parents were sitting restlessly on the couch, Pinky having been ordered into Daddy's lap she pulled out the list and gave it to smiled at it and showed it to Daddy, who was in the process of frowning when he remembered who was watching him and quirked his lips. It was, after all, a touching thought.
"Why don't you read it, sweetie?" Mommy smiled at Laurel, betraying nothing.
"Okay," she said. Catching it from her mother's hands she began to read it aloud.
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"No, I think you were right about 'Uncle Simmy' the first time," Daddy remarked and winced when Mommy nudged him with her elbow as Laurel laughed. Daddy was so funny sometimes. Laurel raised her arms, meaning she wanted Daddy to pick her up. He lifted her in one hand like a tissue box and began to toss her around.
He ran around the house, twisting her this way and that while she spread herself prostrate onto the palm of his large hands, laughing herself sick all the way. He would throw her high in the air and then catch her miraculously as she is about to make contact with the floor. She shut her eyes and imagined she was outside playing 'White Kites' in the summertime, like they usually do.
As they came back into the family room he tossed her up very far (they have very high ceilings) so that she could see the stars from one of the skylights and came spinning slowly back down. She landed on a soft stomach.
"Ouch!" Mommy cried with a laugh as Laurel just about laughed herself to death as she rolled off her mother and onto the bluish-grayish carpet.
"I'm sorry Mommy, it was all Daddy's fault!" she said, pointing an accusing finger at the heaving mammoth of a man. They were all laughing at their collective folly.
The three-person family sat down in front of the couch, Daddy flipping through the channels. His legs were stretched out fully, Mommy had one leg out and one tucked firmly beneath her chin, and Laurel had both knees curled up to her lips. They were all lined up with Daddy on the right. Laurel got up and climbed into her mother's lap, laying back while Mommy crossed an arm around them both.
Nothing interested Laurel and when Daddy and Mommy both started to get caught up on a special about Margaret Mitchell she decided she had had enough of them for now. She got up and took Fluffy's ear in her hand. Rubbing her eye with a balled up little fist she faced her father, who was still at least two feet taller than her even when he was sitting down and she was standing up.
"Nap time." she announced unceremoniously. She clambered up his legs and wrapped her arms around his neck, her head finding the familiar crook in his neck. He stood up and wrapped her legs around his torso and started his ascent up the stairs. She turned to wave blearily at Mommy who smiled warmly and waved back at her until she disappeared from view.
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After taking off her shoes, taking a bath, pulling on some flannel pajamas, washing her face, and brushing her teeth she was finally ready for bed, because Daddy pretty much guessed that this was going to be it until tomorrow. They sat in bed as Daddy finished reading her Chapter Ten of Beauty and the Beast by Jeanne Marie Le Prince. As Daddy tucked her in she whispered something into his ears.
"Daddy is beautiful." he smiled.
"Laurel is beautiful." she smiled. Laurel closed her eyes and turned over, pulling the green and blue plaid comforter up to her and turned to Pinky.
"Don't worry Pinky, you're beautiful, too." Laurel drifted off to sleep. And maybe, if Pinky could, maybe he would have smiled, too.
A/N: Alright so if you would like I could make a Day 2 sort of thing. It would probably be from Derek's Third Person view. Biya!