A/N: This actually happened to me with my first tooth!
As always, don't own Finn, Rachel or anyone from Glee. Just Melody.
Chapter 4: The Tooth Fairy Ain't No Cheapskate
Melody sat at the breakfast bar, swinging her legs as she coloured her picture of Ariel with concentration. She gently played with her loose tooth as she did so, moving the tooth precariously back and forth with her tongue as she coloured. Rachel closed the door to the oven and turned around to look at her daughter, cringing as she watched her for a moment.
"Mel, doesn't that hurt?" She asked softly, wiping her hands on the dish towel that hung from the oven handle.
"What?" She looked up from the picture she was colouring her picture to stare at her mother. She still continued to play with the tooth, pushing it back and forth with her tongue. Rachel cringed.
"Your tooth, doesn't that hurt baby?"
"Oh. No. It just feels funny" The 5 1/2 year old shrugged her shoulders before picking up where she left off with her colouring. Rachel shook her head and turned away, moving to check on the vegan chicken fingers she was making in the oven as the front door to the apartment opened and Finn walked in.
"Anyone home?" He called.
"In the kitchen!" Rachel called back, smiling after a few minutes when he came into the room, shaking out his hair. "Snowing again?"
"Yeah." Finn sighed, placing the bag he had with him on the counter. He'd had a staff meeting at the school and had stopped off at the corner store for a treat for his girls on the way home. Melody looked up at her dad when she heard the bag hit the table.
"Daddy, did you bring me a treat?" She asked smiling up at him. She continued to play with her loose tooth. Finn cringed much like Rachel had. It didn't go unnoticed by Rachel.
"She's been doing it since she came home from school. Gross, isn't it? I asked her if she wanted me to just pull it out..."
"No Mommy! That'll hurt!" Melody interrupted. Rachel rolled her eyes and looked at Finn.
"See?" Finn nodded and walked closer to Melody, leaning down to look at her.
"Can daddy see your mouth?" Finn asked, looking at her intently.
Melody nodded. "Just don't touch my tooth Daddy."
Finn chuckled. "I won't. I just want to see." She opened her mouth wide and Finn got a good look at the loose tooth that was dangling in the front of his daughter's mouth. He didn't even need to touch it to see that the tooth was precariously loose all on its own. "Huh, that's really loose Mel. Maybe we shouldn't have chicken nuggets for dinner."
"But daddy I love chicken nuggets! Plus, if I cut them with my fork I can go around my tooth!" He laughed at her logic and kissed her head before going over to Rachel. He kissed her head.
"It's really loose. I don't know how it's still hanging in there."
Rachel sighed.
After they ate dinner, Rachel gave Melody a bath before allowing her to go and sit out in the living room where Finn was going over his lesson plan for the next day. Melody bounced over to the couch and cuddled up to him, looking up at her with puppy dog eyes.
"Can I help you?" He laughed as he looked down at her. She was still playing with her tooth.
"I'd like my treat daddy." She batted her eyes, looking up at him.
"Did Mommy say you could have it?"
Melody nodded. Rachel entered the room just in time for him to look at her. "Yeah, she can have it. She ate all her dinner. I'll get it."
"You're lucky your cute" Finn laughed as he kissed his daughter's head.
"I know." Melody grinned as Rachel came back into the room carrying the treat Finn had brought home for her. A kitkat bar. It was early enough that it hopefully wouldn't wind her up too much. Rachel handed the chocolate bar over to Melody.
Rachel had her own treat, a bag of sour patch kids. She plopped down beside Melody on the couch and turned the TV to the Family Channel where Melody's show was just starting. Melody's attention was so focused on her show, a rerun of the Flintstones to really focus on what she's doing. She swallowed the last of her chocolate bar and licked her lips. It was then that she noticed her tooth was gone.
"MOMMY!" She shrieked before running her tongue along her bottom row of teeth. "My tooth!" Rachel turned to look at her daughter.
"What about..."
"My tooth is gone!" The tears brimmed in Melody's eyes. Finn dropped his papers and looked at his daughter. Rachel immediately pulled Melody's bottom lip down and sure enough, her left center tooth that had been precariously hanging there since a few nights ago, was gone. "But, where is it?" Rachel looked up at Finn who met her gaze.
"Stand up Mel." She slid off the couch and Finn felt and looked around the couch for the missing tooth while Rachel took Melody to the bathroom to rinse out her mouth, though it seemed like she had swallowed any blood that could have been there. There was no tooth on the couch, in the crevice or on the floor around where Melody had been sitting. She had swallowed her first loose tooth. Melody and Rachel returned from the bathroom.
"Did you find my tooth daddy?" Finn looked at Rachel. He bit his lip.
"Mel, I think you may have swallowed it when you ate your chocolate."
The tears erupted from Melody's eyes as the idea settled in. Rachel crouched beside her and hugged her little girl as she cried.
"But Mommy...how...will the tooth fairy know that I lost it?"
"We can leave her a note baby girl, let her know what happened. She'll understand." Rachel ran her fingers through Melody's hair. Finn placed his hand on Melody's back.
"But that's not the same" Melody cried.
"I know baby, but there's not much we can do." Finn whispered. Melody sighed as she cuddled into Rachel's chest a little bit.
"Okay. I guess we can write her a letter. Can I call Nana after I write the letter? I want to tell her and Poppy...and Grandpa and Granddad too!"
Rachel and Finn smiled. "Sure, let's write that letter first" Melody smiled.
After writing the letter to the tooth fairy, explaining the unfortunate accident with her first tooth complete with a drawing of which tooth it was that she had lost, Melody dialed the familiar number of her beloved Poppy and Nana's house to tell them the good news.
Finn and Rachel smiled as they sat on the couch beside Melody as she chatted on the phone with her Nana and Poppy, retelling the story of how she had swallowed her first tooth with far less tears than when Finn had broke the news to her.
"Poppy, I swallowed it!" She exclaimed into the phone. Finn could almost hear his stepfather teasingly questioning his daughter about where her tooth was. After more giggles and one more phone call, Melody hung up the phone and looked up at her parents.
"Show us your smile" Finn asked her. Melody grinned at both of her parents, the gap noticeable. Finn grinned. "Well, I hear the tooth fairy makes her rounds soon, night want to get you into bed little miss." Melody's eyes lit up and she wiggled off the couch, running for her bedroom.
"You're bad" Rachel laughed, hitting her husband.
"Nah, just getting late." He laughed. "How much is this going to cost me anyway?"
"My Daddies used to give me $5 a tooth" She whispered, before standing up and stretching. Finn groaned.
"Wow, the tooth fairy really ripped me off then. I got a quarter a tooth, a dollar for a molar"
"Oh poor baby" Rachel laughed, leaning over to kiss his head. "Come on daddy, let's go tuck our big girl in..."