Chapter Text
"Daddy?”
Al grunts, opening an eye to look at Annie, wide-eyed, chin digging into his chest. “What?”
“When’s Sparkles comin’?”
Trying his best not to roll his eyes—Annie’s been big in her “copying” phase, and her paraprofessional made a comment about her making faces at the teachers—he tucks an arm behind his head, using the other hand to mute Annie on the TV.
He’d only bought the stupid Elf on the Shelf because James had told him Danny and Gabi, his niece and nephew, are terrified of their doll. He thought, surely, Annie would be too.
Of course his kid frickin’ loves it. Would probably carry her around everywhere, year-round, if Kath hadn’t given him the story about elves returning to the North Pole after Christmas.
“She’s comin’ December first.”
“How many sleeps is that?” Annie asks immediately.
“None, if you don’t actually go to sleep.” She pouts at him, and he sighs, smoothing back her hair from her face. “One more. December's tomorrow, remember your calendar?”
“How?”
“What how? Use ya words, Annie Bananie.”
Annie flops on her side, letting out a dramatic sigh as he adjusts a pillow behind his head. “How does Sparkles get here from the North Pole?”
Al blanches. “She…uses elf magic. And flies.”
“How come I don’t ever see her fly?” She narrows her eyes at him.
“Because…" He scrambles for anything that sounds believable. "Her magic only works at the North Pole. When she’s here, she’s not allowed to use magic. Santa’s rules.”
“Why?”
Al sighs loudly through his nose. This is way more than he signed up for, buying that god-awful doll. “Same reason you have to be asleep before Santa visits. And why you gotta be asleep before Sparkles comes to stay for the month.”
Annie wrinkles her nose, and he braces himself for more questions he can’t answer.
Not for the first time since his daughter was born, he thinks Where’s Katherine Kelly when you need her?
Suddenly, Annie slaps her hands to his chest, pushing herself up. “Daddy, you didn’t pause Annie! Go back, go back, go back!”
“Annabella, inside voice, it’s late,” he shushes, pulling her back down to his chest with one arm. Glancing at his phone, he groans, wondering when eight p.m. became late for him. “I’ll back it up, and you close your eyes and listen to the music ‘til you fall asleep, okay?”
She grumbles as the movie rewinds, not settling against his chest until it’s at the proper spot, sighing around the thumb in her mouth.
As she wiggles around to get comfortable, elbowing Albert and kicking him in the stomach, he considers the coming holiday season.
It's the first year he thinks Annie will really remember, at least according to his brother, and Jack and Kath, who all said their kids really started retaining memories around four and five.
It scares the shit out of him.
Cupping the back of her head with one hand, he unlocks his phone with the other, searching for Elf on the Shelf ideas, trying to remember where he stashed the elf last year.
~*~
“Daddy, look at Sparkles!” Annie's eyes are wide and shining.
Al hums around his cup of coffee, nodding. “I sees it.”
“How did she do that? Does Elsa have magic too?”
Sparkles is encased in a block of ice, Elsa poised as though she'd frozen the elf over night. It'd been the first Elf on the Shelf idea he'd found online after Annie fell asleep and ran with. Luckily it's going over big so far.
"Yeah, 'course she does," Al answers with a shrug, setting his mug down. "You saw the movie, right?"
Annie nods seriously. "Is Sparkles gonna be okay?" she asks, poking the ice block with fascination.
"'Course she will. Just like Anna—"
"Ah-nna," she corrects, poking the ice again.
"Sure." How many Disney characters is he supposed to keep track of? "She thawed out, didn't she?"
"Yeah! Sparkles just needs a warm hug!" Albert watches helplessly as Annie lunges for the ice block, trying to grab for it, and, instead, pushing it off the edge of the counter.
It falls, cracking against the floor and shattering into ice cubes.
Annie stands in the middle of the kitchen, so shocked she doesn't even grab for Sparkles immediately, tugging at the hem of her nightshirt. "Oops?"
Al sighs, looking at his coffee cup longingly before stepping over the melting ice and scooping his daughter up. "Y'know, I think that worked much better'n a warm hug, there, Annie Bananie."
Casting a wary look towards the rapidly-soaking Sparkles, Annie leans close and loudly whispers, "D'ya think Sparkles will tell Santa?"
Giving her an equally serious look, he nods. "Yes. She'll tell Santa you saved her from bein' frozen forever. That definitely gets you the nice list."
Nose crinkling, she grins widely, and Albert decides maybe the whole Elf on the Shelf thing isn't that terrible.
He leans in, blowing a raspberry on her neck, and she giggles, squirming away. Setting her down before she can wiggle out of his arms, he steers her towards her room. "Go get'cha self dressed for school, okay? We can get doughnuts from Dunkin', but we gotta go soon."
Whopping loudly, Annie nearly falls into the wall turning the corner too fast.
Staring at the spreading puddle on the floor with the stupid elf in the middle of it all, Al shakes his head. "You's really more trouble than you're worth."
Sparkles just grinned smugly up at him.