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It’s unfair when she turns those wide brown eyes towards him and quivers her lip just a little.
“Please, daddy, can we watch a movie?” Ally asks, taking the opportunity to wrap her arms around his leg and stare up at him, eyes impossibly wider.
Kira will be a little upset if they stay up past bedtime again. But it will only be a little past bedtime. And she’s making it impossible to say no.
“Just one movie,” Scott says, trying to sound stern. “But you have to put on your pajamas and brush your teeth first.”
Ally squeals and runs off.
Scott shakes his head, smiling softly. He loads the movie she’d requested on the tv before taking a moment to check the twins are asleep in their cribs. Satisfied, he goes to stand outside the bathroom and watch the tooth brushing from a distance.
“I can do it myself, daddy,” Ally says, squirting about twice as much toothpaste as she needs onto her stegosaurus-shaped toothbrush.
“I was just checking on your brother and sister,” Scott lies. She’s so independent now at five. He’s proud of her, but it’s hard not to miss when she needed his help more.
“Aren’t you going to put your pajamas on?” Ally asks through a wide mouthful of water and toothpaste.
Really, he’s completely helpless to her. And his pajamas would be more comfortable for both of them.
After they’re both changed they crawl onto the couch. Ally snuggles against him, her torn dinosaur footie pajamas warm and fuzzy against his arm. His own t-shirt and sweatpants are worn and comfortable. He pulls the blanket around them and presses play.
The first scenes of Encanto filter on the screen. Abuela speaks in Spanish, beginning to explain the Madrigal family history.
“Do you speak Spanish, daddy?”
“A few words,” he answers, tugging her closer.
“Oba-san Noshiko speaks Japanese. Do you speak Japanese?”
“Only a few words, too.”
“Is Gigi Melissa from Colombia? Like in the movie?” Her eyes are glued to the screen now. Mirabel is singing about her family.
“No, she’s from Beacon Hills. But her mother—my Grandmother, and your Great-Grandmother—was from Mexico.”
“Was she like Abuela? Was she like mommy? Was she magic?”
Scott tries to remember her. He’d visited her two or three times when he was younger, long before he’d become a werewolf. Stiles had gone with him once for an entire week.
“She was kind,” Scott says, thinking about how she’d bought him and Stiles both new swimsuits, even though it had only been Scott’s that had ripped.
They’d gotten matching batman swim trunks that year. They’d spent most of the week in her swimming pool.
“She made the best churros. She let me and Uncle Stiles dip them in the cinnamon sugar. We made the biggest mess and she just smiled and pinched our cheeks and told us we could only have one before dinner. Uncle Stiles had already shoved three in his mouth.”
“What’s a churro?”
“It’s a dessert. Kind of like a doughnut. It’s fried dough with cinnamon and sugar.”
“They sound good. Can we make some?”
Scott smiles. “Maybe this weekend. Gigi Melissa might really like that.”
“Can I call her Abuela Melissa? Like Oba-san Noshiko?”
“You’d have to ask her. But she might not mind.” Scott thinks she’d probably be touched. Ally’s attention drifts back to the movie and Scott enjoys the quiet, not that he minds her questions. She’s intelligent and inquisitive and he loves that about her. She reminds him of her mother.
-
“Mirabel should have a gift,” Ally says as the movie ends. “I bet Oba-san Noshiko could give her one.”
Scott strokes her dark hair. “I think the point is she doesn’t need a gift to be special.”
Ally frowns. “But she’d be more special with a gift. Do I have a gift? Like mommy? Or Oba-san Noshiko?”
“Do you think Oji-san Ken is special?” Scott counters.
“Oji-san is the best grandpa. And Grandpa Sheriff and Papa Chris.”
“None of them have gifts,” Scott points out.
“Oh.” The word is solemn, as though this bears the deepest consideration. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. Why are you ticklish?” He brushes his hands along her belly until she’s squirming and giggling and asking him to stop.
He scoops her into his arms, unable to resist placing a kiss against the top of her head. “You’re special exactly as you are. With or without a gift. Whether you’re like your mom or me or Uncle Stiles, you’re still Ally and that will always be enough.”
She squirms a little in his arms. “Daddy, I’m too big.”
Scott smiles past the pang of realization that one day she really will be too big to hold in his arms. She settles despite her protest and leans her head against his chest. “Can we go to Gigi Melissa’s and make churros this weekend for real?”
“I’ll ask.” The way she smiles at him melts his heart.
He carries her to her bedroom, settles her into bed. He’d heard Kira pull in a few minutes ago, is unsurprised to see her leaning against the door to Ally’s room with a knowing look on her face.
He shrugs and Kira smiles softly. He takes her hand in his. She leans up and presses a kiss against his cheek. “You have to learn to say no to her.”
Scott can’t keep the smile off his face as Kira leads them back to their room. Kira’s mild disapproval can’t keep him from being glad he’d given into her. He shoots off a text to his mom about making churros this weekend before laying in bed next to his wife.
The four steady heartbeats of his family lull him to sleep. The perfect lullaby.