A/N: This popped into my head almost randomly, so I cannot claim the quality will be great!

"Babe, can you go talk to her?" April asks him, already totally busy with two of them - Victoria rapt attention drawn to the TV, thankfully, and Sam lying down on the floor staring at a pile of crayons and colored pencils - and the two oldest doing their own thing around the house, likely stuffed into their rooms. "She won't come out."

"Yeah, sure. What's it this time?" Andy asks, smirking.

"Monster," April replies, a sorrowed look on beneath her eyes. "She won't listen to me."

"Ah, she's probably just super scared babe!" he reassures her with a little grin and leans down to kiss her quickly. "You're the best mom."

"Mhm," she mutters and slinks over to Victoria. Pulling the little girl into her chest, she whispers something and they giggle before turning back to look up at the TV.

Andy takes that as his signal to go. On the snowy Saturday morning, they were planning to go find the biggest hill in the entire county, get some sleds, and spend the entire day getting their noses red, smiling, and enjoying the brief winter since it so rarely snowed here. It was something Andy missed dearly, but every chance he had he was taking his kids out to make snow angels and sled and watch it clump, have snowball fights, and the whole deal. The problem was, Lucy refused to go.

She kept saying something about a monster, and slid underneath her parents' bed. Refusing to move for April, she called him for him after his shower.

"I swear, she's just the best hider in the world!" Andy says loudly as he walks into their room. "We're just gonna go sledding but I can't find- oh!" He crouches down and pulls up the blankets hiding the little girl underneath the bed. Beady, green eyes stare back at him and little hands clutching a stuffed puppy retract further. "There ya are. Hey, c'mon don't you wanna go sledding?"

Lucy shakes her head slowly.

"Why not?" he asks, peering underneath. Andy looks over his shoulder and then back at her underneath the bed. "If I come under there with you, will you tell me?"

His daughter nods shortly and Andy turns himself around. Barely able to fit underneath the bed, and only then because it was so high up off the ground, he squeezes in tight and makes room next to her. "C'mon, scoot over," he says with a laugh, poking her side until she smiles and giggles with him. Fit underneath, snug, Andy turns his head onto his cheek to look at her. "So, what's up Cici?"

"There's a monster under my bed," she whispers like the supposed monster will hear her.

"A scary one?" he asks, and she nods. "Scarier than your mom after Auntie Ann visits?" Lucy nods vigorously, and Andy's eyes go wide in a joking frightfulness. "Wow, that is scary!"

"I don't wanna go out."

"Why?"

"The monster will find me and eat me and you and mom and-"

"Whoa," he whispers, moving closer. "D'you think I'm gonna let some dumb monster eat my baby?"

He adds that bit with a chuckle, tapping her belly again and shifting his other arm out from under him to launch a minor, but loud, attack of tickles at her.

"Daddy!" she shouts, whining in that joyful squeal he loved to hear.

After calming down, and stopping, Andy sighs. "We can go check under your bed if you want," he offers.

"No don't!" she grabs his arm, wide in her little hands.

"Cici, nothing's gonna hurt your dad."

"It's really scary," she says and draws her hands up to her mouth, fingers sticking out like fangs. "It's got big teeth!"

"Wow."

"And huge claws and... and, and it's scaly all over," she trails off, her wild eyes going to some far off imagination that Andy adores more than anything else in the world. Well, that's not true. He doesn't have a favorite, but he loves all of his kids more than anything else in the world. "It'll eat you!"

"I think I can handle it," Andy says with a grin and Lucy gives him an unsure grimace. He's seen that before in those old pictures he managed to get from April's mom. "I think I might need a helper, though. I know just the person for it." He reaches out and touches the stuffed puppy. "I think Johnny Karate could use Pup's help on this one."

Lucy looks down at the dog and her face brightens a little bit. "I wanna make sure Pup is okay," she says.

"Johnny Karate's never had two sidekicks before," Andy says in awe. Squeezing himself back out of the bed after a huff and an exertion upward to give himself a little more room, he huffs out, "I might just need it, too."

Lucy crawls out slowly and hands her stuffed animal to him. Pretending to sweat, and be tired, when he touches the dog he makes a show of standing up and taking deep, deep breaths. She just giggles and he reaches down to lift her up, cradling the three year-old against him. Walking through the living room, April glances at him with Victoria still in her lap and he nods. In the bedroom - the lair of the monster - he lets her down and walks over to the bunk bed, cautious.

"Is this where the monster was?" he asks, serious. Lucy nods. Getting to the floor, he looks underneath and back at her. "I think I need Pup for this one."

Taking the dog, he peers once more underneath the bed and then laughs. Standing up, he walks over to Lucy and crouches in front of her. Holding up Pup, he nods and then gives his daughter a big smile.

"I think Pup scared it off," he claims.

"Nuh uh-"

"Uh huh," he fires back childishly. "I think I saw it but once they saw Pup-" he makes a running motion with his fingers and points out the window. "It ran away with its tail between its legs."

"I never said it had a tail," Lucy says a little indignantly.

"Oh it did! A big one, too," Andy nods when her eyes go wide again. "Uh huh, it was really scary. But the thing saw Pup and just ran away."

"So is it outside now?" she asks, scared.

"Yeah, but monsters don't like it when it's light out," Andy tells her, nodding all the while. "It's true! Why do you think they always hide under your bed or in the closet. They're super afraid of lights!"

"So-"

"So it's running away from Pup and the sun," he tells her. Handing the stuffed dog back to her, he sits up on his knees and grins. "I think we could use you two when we go sledding. Don't you think?"

"Pup can protect us!"

"Exactly!" Andy shouts and grabs her by her waist and lifts her up with him. Grunting from the strain he hates to admit, he stands up and sighs. "So, you wanna go outside with everyone now? Help keep your brother and sisters safe?"

Lucy nods rapidly, a smile pushing her cherub dimples into focus again. He laughs and kisses her cheek loudly, eliciting another set of giggles from her. He walks out to the living room to join the rest of their family, April already getting Victoria into her little snow pants with the other pair for Lucy on the couch behind her that she slips into without much help. Lucy spends the whole ride talking about Pup and how awesome he is.