-el generally feeling safe bc both of them are armed… she likes mulders secret second weapon on his ankle
-scully teaching el about hygiene like brushing her teeth and taking a bath, and also about body safety- only her doctor & mother (scully) are allowed to examine/touch her, and only with permission. mulder contributes to this by asking before he gives her a high five or a piggy back ride. it also makes el feel very safe
-the first night at the motel before they fly home, mulder goes to the
store with el to get the kind of food she likes and they come home with
just 10 boxes of eggos and a new secret handshake-at the store mulder offered to buy her some clothes of her own but she didnt know how to shop for herself and was overwhelmed so she didnt get anything. plus she has been wearing scully’s corduroy jacket since she found out she was being adopted by them and it smells like her and shes afraid if she takes it off the spell will break. (also she thinks scully is really beautiful so if she wears her clothes it will make her beautiful, too)
-SO, that night el asks if she can borrow a shirt to sleep in (and mulders like wtf we were just at the store) so he tells her to help herself to his bag… she comes out a few minutes later wearing his NY nicks shirt and when mulder & scully exchange a glance, he laughs a little and tells her that that’s sort of scullys shirt- but scully tells her she looks pretty in blue and tells her to keep it on and el smiles at the use of “pretty” with regard to her and she never forgets the first time her (very pretty) mom calls her pretty
-that night el couldnt fall asleep because she was afraid of the monster coming to get them so mulder and scully told her stories of x files cases where they originally thought there was a monster or supernatural element but it ended up being something very mundane (and sometimes silly, according to mulders recount- he just wanted to make el laugh). the rest of the night turns into mulder and scully lightly bickering over old cases and jabbing each other under the covers while el laughs from the next bed over until mulder talks both of them to sleep
-when they get home and scully takes el to the mall and buys her everything that fits that she somewhat likes and also gets her makeup done at the department store and buys her her first big pretzel. when they get home she announces that big pretzels are her new favorite food and the next morning, mulder had a box of them in the freezer all ready to be baked for breakfast
-el not being able to swing it socially with the girls at school so she hangs out with the boys but they play baseball one day after school and she is terrible and comes home crying so mulder takes her out to the park to practice and the week after she was hitting home runs and was everyones first pick
-el not really being able to comprehend that scary movies are what regular people watch for enjoyment (bc she lived it) so she prefers rom coms and makes mulder & scully watch loads of them with her in a row on the weekends. scully enjoys them though, and suggests maybe mulder pay attention and pick up some moves, which makes el laugh
-el just generally watching mulder and scully be in love and learning what its like to trust and be trusted & be happy