Another look into the lives of the Scully-Mulder family set in the same universe as "Breakfast Strategy Meeting."
Diamond Anniversary
April 25, 2016
Maggie tended the nest while her daughter was at work, she considered her maternal responsibilities sacred, especially when they concerned the child who came to her rather late in life: Fox. She doted on him as best she could because she knew how much he appreciated the maternal attention. She and her daughter had argued over this, with Dana feeling that her husband was far too old to have a mother hovering over him. Maggie pointed out to her daughter that she didn't hover and that Fox never expected her to wait on him hand and foot, or to clean up after him; but if it just so happened that a hungry writer glowingly reviewed a lovingly made lunch, then why should she not take care of him as she saw fit? She finally pulled maternal rank on Dana, pointing out to her that Fox's childhood had been shattered and with being estranged from his own mother before she died, she felt it her solemn duty to mother him as best she could.
Mulder had always longed for maternal affection, Maggie had seen that from the moment she'd met him. Even though the present they were both living at that time was traumatic in and of itself, she could see in his eyes the way the past haunted him. They only had each other for support during that time and she never forgot his unwavering belief that Dana would be returned. Not only had it been one of her greatest blessings when her daughter had been returned, but the subdued joy in Fox's eyes while at Dana's bedside added to her own happiness.
It also never escaped Maggie's notice that she was the only person that she knew of who could get away with calling Fox, Fox. She'd never asked him why that was, having formed her own theory all those years ago. In her mind it was simple, she was Dana's mother, and in Fox's mind the woman who gave him the gift of Dana could call him anything she wanted. Maggie could call him "Stinky McAirhead" and probably get away with it, not that she ever would. She liked having exclusive rights to the name Fox, it gave her a connection to her son-in-law that was sacred to them. If Maggie had ever been curious enough to ask Fox about her assumption concerning his name, and if he were in an open enough frame of mind, he would have added that it sounded maternal coming from her and he actually liked it.
Mulder had secreted himself away in his office a couple of hours ago to work on his new book. Maggie was tidying up in the family room when the doorbell rang. She hurried to the door so Fox wouldn't be disturbed, she hoped it was the surprise Dana secretly tipped her off on and not someone who claimed to have information for Mulder. Far too often for Maggie's liking, people came to the door begging to talk with him about abductions and UFOs. She tried to send them away, but somehow Fox always sensed when such a person came to the door and his compassion compelled him to emerge from his den and listen to their stories. He catalogued them away, but directed people to MUFON for further assistance as he considered the UFO chasing chapter of his life closed.
Maggie didn't have to worry today, there was no one at the door, only the expected box. Dana had been evasive as to the contents, so when she bent down to look at the return address she was intrigued. The present came from a company that specialized in gift baskets and it was addressed to Fox. She picked up the box and carried it to his office door. She called his name and heard the clicking of his fingers on the keyboard stop. The door opened and he gasped as he saw what was in her arms, "Maggie, you should have called me to the door to pick that up," he said as he took the box out of her arms and set it on a table in his office.
"Shush, Fox, it's not heavy, now open it."
"I wonder who it's from," he asked as he tore open the lid.
"I know who it's from, but she wouldn't tell me what was in it. I only hope it's not something personal because I'm dying to know what it is."
Mulder pulled out some paper and saw the gift. He beamed and pulled out the basket. Baseball. How had his wonderful wife found a baseball themed gift basket? His eyes grew even wider as he inventoried everything in the basket: Cracker Jack, salted peanuts, Tootsie Rolls, bubble gum, baseball cards, a Baby Ruth, a baseball shaped cookie, and nestled in the middle of the goodies, he almost couldn't believe it, sunflower seeds. This was better than Christmas morning. His smile continued to grow as he tore into the package, grabbing the sunflower seeds first.
Maggie cleared her throat, "looks like there's a small card in there."
He put down the seeds and opened the card. It read:
Meet me at 8pm, you know where, and bring that fine piece of ash.
Mulder looked at the calendar and realization dawned. He grinned; the anniversary of Scully's long ago very late or very early birthday present. Why she decided to celebrate this year when they'd done nothing more than mention the day in passing in the ensuing years he didn't know, but he was thrilled the date was important enough to her to mark the occasion. So much for work today, suddenly he had other plans.
"I'm not going to be home for dinner."
Maggie was no slouch at investigating either, decades of motherhood made Quantico's training look like kindergarten. Dana had already informed the family that she would not be home for dinner tonight. Her daughter had let everyone think it was work related, but from the look on Fox's face, she surmised that whatever was written on the card was personal. That was fine, she could turn tonight into a grandma and grandson pizza and movie night.
"We won't wait up," she said.
Mulder kissed his mother-in-law on the cheek, "help yourself to anything you want from the basket." He tucked the card in his wallet, shut down the computer, and picked up his car keys and the sunflower seeds. Knowing that Maggie wouldn't take anything from the basket even though he had offered, he grabbed the Baby Ruth and tossed it to her. "Nice catch," he said on his way out, "see you, later, well, sometime, maybe tomorrow." He gave her an innocent grin as he waved goodbye.
Maggie smiled and waved back. She shook her head in wonder at those two, serenely happy that her daughter and son-in-law had triumphed over all the trials of their time at the FBI and were now enjoying the joys they deserved. She took a bite of the Baby Ruth, of course Fox knew it was one of her favorites, and started to mentally put together a list of movies for William to choose from tonight. Before she could get very far on the list, she remembered that Dana had asked for a phone call from home to confirm the arrival of the basket. "Poor Dana," she thought, "she's probably expecting a call from Fox. She'll have to make do with me instead." She hit her daughter's number and wasn't at all surprised when the phone was quickly answered. "Scully," she said, having not even bothered to look at the phone.
"Hi, honey, Fox loved the gift."
"Can I talk to him?" She hoped she didn't sound disappointed that her mother was on the line and not Mulder.
"Sorry, he didn't say where he was going, but he ran out of here so quickly he almost broke the sound barrier."
"So he liked it?"
"You could say the gift was a home run."
"Mom."
"What?" she said innocently.
"Nothing. I'll see you later."
"Not according to Fox you won't. He said, and I quote, 'sometime, maybe tomorrow.' I said we wouldn't wait up for you two."
"He didn't really say that."
"He did, and since I won't be able to say it later, good night."
"Mother."
"Good night, dear," she said with what Scully considered to be infuriating sweetness.
"Good night, mom," was her only course for response.
Scully gave herself a mini break from work to allow herself a smile about how well the basket was received. She'd had no way of knowing if Mulder remembered the night of that impromptu batting lesson as fondly as she did and she hadn't expected him to even do anything about it if he had, but she wanted to mark the date, and hopefully recreate the magic that had existed on that baseball diamond all those years ago. Her mind was wandering back to that night and for once she wasn't going to discipline it. She closed her eyes and remembered the feel of Mulder's arms around her, the joy of hitting the ball together, the crisp spring night and the stars above. It was a perfect evening made perfect by the fact that they had been able to let go of their daily concerns to revel in being together.
Being together that evening was wonderful in and of itself, but if Scully had to pinpoint one reason why she had such fond memories of it, it would be because it was when the Mulder who had been lost when Samantha was taken came out to play; the fun, carefree, sweet Mulder. She'd had rare glimpses of him through the years, but it was that night on the baseball field that that long dormant piece of him started to come out of hibernation. Once he made his peace with Samantha's passing and they'd established a romantic relationship, sighting this piece of him became more frequent. William added doting father to the mix and broke the final seal that Mulder had secured over that part of himself, releasing him from the past and setting free all the joy Mulder had kept locked up through the years.
Her phone rang again, bringing her out of her reverie. "Scully," she answered, immediately becoming professional again.
"Hello, Miss No Nonsense, I'd like to speak to another part of you, the one who just made a rather surprising romantic overture."
Scully's phone manner instantly softened, "Hi Mulder," she said.
"Hi," he beamed back.
They were quiet for a moment or two, they didn't need eye contact to enact their silent communication skills. Right now they could each feel the other smiling through the phone. Scully could swear she heard Mulder's thrill regarding the present and he could sense how happy she was that the present had been so well received.
Scully finally broke the spell, "why did you leave the house so early? It won't take you this long to get to the field, even with DC traffic."
"I suddenly had some shopping of my own to do."
"Oh?" she sounded very intrigued.
She could definitely hear his grin through the phone now, "you'll just have to be patient, you're the one who decided on 8 pm."
She'd wanted an earlier start time, but the field was booked, so 8 pm it was, and she was lucky to get it at all.
"Of course, you could meet me for dinner. Rinaldo's?" He offered.
Oh, he was in fine form today, teasing her with hints of shopping and her favorite restaurant. She whimpered, "I'd love to, Mulder, but I don't think I can get out of here any earlier." It was a semi-lie. She'd be getting out of here around normal time, but had to complete final preparations for tonight, including eating. As tempting as Rinaldo's was, and she was very tempted, this time she wanted to be the one at the field waiting for him to show up. She wanted to be at home plate hitting balls, giving him ample opportunity to admire her form as he walked up, there was something about the symmetry that appealed to her. He'd given her the chance to admire his form, now she wanted to return the favor.
He was disappointed, but his mind quickly made other plans, "fine, 8 pm then, don't be late."
"Don't worry."
They clicked off without another word. Scully looked at the clock and wondered how she was possibly going to get through the rest of this day. So much for time being a universal invariant, today it seemed that time had barely moved at all from the moment she'd arrived; a snail moved at the speed of light compared to the way time was moving today. She took a deep breath, "focus, I have to focus on work now. That will make the day pass more quickly. Focus. Focus. Focus." Unfortunately for Scully her eyes happened upon a picture on her desk. One of Mulder, casually dressed, but with a grin on his face that always made her melt. So much for focus. Her mind wandered until her office phone rang, rudely bringing her back to the world of work, but at least she'd killed some time.
Mulder pulled out of the parking lot he'd called from. He now had four stops to make, and somewhere along the line he had to make time to eat, he'd need it to keep his strength up for tonight. He pulled into the parking lot for his first stop, fortunately he could pick up two of the items on his shopping list there, one of which would be custom made so he had wisely planned this first. After a long afternoon of running around he completed his errands and was finally on his way to his date. The clock moved more quickly for him than it did for Scully, but that was only because he was trying to get so much done.
At the baseball field Scully was going over the final preparations. Fortunately, there was no rain in the forecast, and Mother Nature finally seemed to notice that it was indeed spring, so there was no snow in the forecast either. The pitching machine was ready, there was no kid to shag balls this time around. She'd considered having William be the ball boy, but she wanted to keep this moment between Mulder and herself. She also reasoned that if she had William here, then she should have her mother too, and if three was a crowd, then four was out of the question. The fact that it was a school night also swayed her decision. She checked her outfit one more time, even though she'd checked it probably a million times already.
At around a quarter to eight she stood near home plate and started hitting balls; or at least tried to hit them. She noted with some dismay that she didn't hit as many as Mulder did when he was in this position. He did display some fine athletic prowess that night, she remembered fondly. She also knew that he was displaying his athleticism on purpose, and he knew she knew that. It had been very much a, "look at me, I'm a fine physical specimen," moment. Like she really needed to see him playing baseball to notice that; she noticed just fine without the benefit of seeing him elegantly follow through on a hit, his long limbs extending the already above average length of his body. Scully looked at her watch wondering when the heck it was finally going to be 8 pm, she'd already worked herself into a frenzy and that was only through memory, she couldn't imagine what sort of state she'd be in when he finally did arrive.
Unbeknownst to Scully, Mulder was already there. He'd been there for a while, watching her, just watching her as she took care of every detail and started to practice her swing. He noted she was still using the "hips before hands" technique, but she wasn't hitting many balls. He'd change that once he had his arms around her again. Speaking of which, even though it wasn't 8 o'clock yet, he had no reason to delay this evening any longer. He snuck away from his secret hiding place and approached Scully from the same way she had all those years ago, giving him a delightful chance to admire the way her body moved through a swing. He leaned against the fence, as she had all those years ago, except he brought his own bat, one of the purchases he had made today. He placed it jauntily over his shoulder and said, "so I got this gift basket..."
Scully was so startled she dropped her bat. "You're early," she sputtered out when she finally found her voice. She moved away from home plate, closer to him.
"You want me to leave and come back in ten minutes?"
"No," she answered simply, but her mind was screaming, "hell no, definitely not!" He looked so perfect leaning there that she was distracted by wanting to memorize every nuance of his pose.
Mulder's peripheral vision also got a workout as something came into view. "Scully, ball!" He shouted, calling her back from gazing, no matter how much he didn't want to. His natural instinct to protect Scully at all costs had not abated through the years. He threw down his new bat and ran to her, pulling her farther out of the path of the incoming pitch.
The ball probably wouldn't have hit her anyway, but she was grateful Mulder saved her from possible harm. She didn't want to take any chances about winding up in an emergency room tonight, she'd long ago had her fill of visiting those with Mulder. Mulder let go of her and ran out to the mound to temporarily shut down the machine. He jogged back to Scully, "no kid this time?"
"I wanted privacy."
He grinned, and her heart flipped.
"Nice jersey," Mulder admired her, taking his time to gaze his way all the way down and up her body. Her hair was up in a pony tail, a style that never failed to make his heart skip a beat in its simplicity. The rest of her outfit consisted of leggings and sneakers, but it was the fact that she was wearing a baseball jersey that made him want to forget playing baseball so they could head for the hotel room he'd reserved on one of his stops today to...play baseball. He was grinning that boyish grin that always melted her heart. "Mulder 42, on the jersey? I'm touched."
"Thanks, I always knew you were the answer to life, the universe and everything." If Scully didn't know better she'd swear he was blushing.
He kissed her cheek, then he turned around to attend to his discarded bat, giving Scully a chance to see what he had printed on his new jersey, purchased at the same place as the bat.
"Mulder," Scully said with tender awe.
Mulder bent down to pick up the bat and turned to look at her, "yeah."
"Scully 1 on your jersey?"
Somehow his grin grew even wider, "of course, because you are the best and number one with me, always."
Scully was so touched by this that she could actually feel herself fall even more in love with him. She was tempted for just a millisecond to grab his hand and run with him to the nearest private place, the dugout could work well she reasoned, but she didn't want to throw all the plans she'd made for the evening out the proverbial window. Plus the fact that if anyone knew the benefits of a simmering slow seduction, it was the two of them. Instead she turned her back to him, picked up her bat, casually leaned it against her right shoulder, tilted her head over her left and said, "get over here, Mulder."
His face lit up, that was the final invitation he'd been waiting for, and it was a very sexy one at that. He practically jumped to her side. His arms were around her as they stood at home plate, but they weren't fitting together as nicely as they had the first time.
As always, Scully diagnosed the problem, "Mulder, nice as this is, we are at cross purposes with two bats."
He teased, "you told me to bring the 'fine piece of ash'."
"You thought I was referring to the bat?" she looked up at him incredulously, then laughed.
His eyes twinkled as he teased, "had you."
"No, you didn't."
Mulder wasn't going to waste time arguing, he tossed his bat away, but instead of putting his arms around his wife again, he turned her around to face him.
"Mulder, I don't think this will work in this position," she stated.
Mulder just smiled a Cheshire Cat grin and pulled a box out of the back pocket of his jeans, a black velvet box, the kind of box that comes from a jeweler; a little something from one of his other stops of the day.
Scully looked at him in amazement.
"Trade you the bat for the box, Scully."
"What?" She had been so surprised by his gift that she had forgotten she was still holding a bat.
"You hold the box, I'll hold the bat," he explained, secretly loving that he'd managed to shock his brilliant wife into such an entranced state. He gently nudged the bat away from her hand and placed the box there instead. She looked up at him with barely suppressed excitement, what she saw in his eyes was unrestrained joy. She had to kiss him, she leaned forward, placed one hand at the back of his neck and implemented her kissing plan. Mulder dropped the bat in surprise, but recovered quickly and did his part in making Scully's plan come to fruition.
"Thanks, Mulder," she said when she finally pulled away.
"If I had known a box would elicit such a reaction, I'd have given you a box every day."
She quirked one end of her mouth and an eyebrow up at him. He smirked in response.
"Open it, will ya, the suspense is killing me," he urged.
"Like you don't know what's in here?"
"Oh, yeah, I guess it doesn't matter then, does it. Fine, I'll just run out and turn the pitching machine back on." He feigned a slight move in that direction, but Scully caught his arm.
"You'll stay right here."
"Yes, ma'am," he smiled.
Scully opened the box and her jaw dropped. On the velvet sat a diamond solitaire necklace, square cut, but set on its points so it looked like a baseball diamond. Scully was never very interested in sparkle for the sake of sparkle, but she was so touched by this unexpected gesture that she almost burst into tears.
Mulder very tenderly removed the box from her hands, he took the jewelry out of the box, put the box back into his pocket and fastened the necklace around her neck, it fell near her cross and the two mingled together as though they had been fashioned specifically for each other, "happy diamond anniversary," he said.
"Hap...an...vers...ry," was all she could say in return. Scully's lack of articulation didn't matter to Mulder, now it was his turn to kiss her, which he did for quite some time. The dugout was making another appearance in Scully's mind. The batting practice re-creation was quickly becoming secondary to this evening's activities. She'd have been deliriously happy just to have Mulder's arms around her again hitting baseballs, never had she expected him to up the game with his own contribution to the evening. When they finally did stop kissing they looked at each with nothing but love and admiration in their eyes. It had taken them so long to get to a point where they wouldn't hide their feelings from each other that now they took every opportunity they could to remind each other of the truth of their hearts. She snuggled in, tucking her head under his chin and they just held each other for how long neither really knew, they had achieved euphoria just by being near each other.
Mulder took a deep breath and kissed the top of Scully's head. She looked up at him and smiled.
"We have a decision to make; stay here and play, or hit the hotel room I booked...and play," Mulder stated their options.
He'd booked a hotel room? Scully was tempted, so very, very tempted to skip her planned activity. She even considered suggesting they just make out in the dugout but she had a feeling things would get, and she silently excused herself for this, "out of hand" if they attempted anything at the field. The fact that they were in a public place also inhibited this notion. She could see in his eyes that he would be fine with either option and she didn't want to have all her planning go to waste. She really wanted to relive the joy of playing baseball with him. There was also the new idea blossoming in her mind; she could call in sick to work tomorrow and request a late check out from the hotel.
"Mulder, would you be angry if we stayed here a while?"
"Angry? At playing baseball with my girl? You've given me a gift with this, Scully, I don't want to miss a moment of it. Let's brush up on your batting technique."
Putting his arms around her, he pulled her close. He placed his hands around hers on the bat just as he had done all those years before and they moved in harmony. It was completely irrelevant that there was no ball to swing at. They took several swings at those non-existent baseballs. Old memories mixed with the new ones they were creating. Scully experienced the same thrill she had all those years ago. Yes, his boyish agility did, and still, turned her on, even though she would have denied feeling anything all those years ago.
"Do you know how happy I was just to get my arms around you?" He reminisced.
"About as happy as it made me?"
"No way, I was happier, I was crazy about you."
"About me?" She looked up at him, "I'm honored to have such a prominent place in your craziness."
"Cute," he said as he quickly kissed the tip of her nose. "How about I flip the switch on that machine so we can actually try this with a ball or two."
"That would add a level of danger to the proceedings."
"We do like to live dangerously."
He ran out and restarted the machine, staying out on the mound to enjoy the view of Scully at home plate. The first pitch flew and he shouted, "make contact, Scully!"
"Get back here so you can make contact!" He jogged back before the second pitch made it over home plate and resumed his place in their batting stance.
The next pitch flew in and they hit the ball into left field.
"Quiz time, Scully, do you remember the rule that accompanies this action?" He placed his hand on her hip even more suggestively than he had the first time.
"I remember; it's 'hips before hands'."
To reinforce that nugget of knowledge she gently nudged her hip into his abdomen. This was not the way he had taught her, but he didn't mind her refinement of the technique.
"Scully, you keep that up and we'll be at the hotel room long before I expected us to be there."
They connected on another pitch sending this ball toward first base.
"I can't believe you really booked us a room for the night."
"Of course you can't believe it, but I did, and I picked up dinner to be delivered to our room when we are ready."
"Dinner?" Her mind put two and two together, "Rinaldo's?"
"See, like always, you and me thinking in sync."
In sync they hit another ball into the field.
"Room service is going to deliver food they didn't make at the hotel?" she asked.
"A hotel will do pretty much anything to make its guests happy if you tip them enough."
"I'm shocked you picked a place with room service, at least your taste in hotels has improved."
The sound of a bat making contact with a ball was one of Mulder's favorites, and that was the sound they made as they sent a pitch to left field.
"Maybe if you're really lucky I'll order up some ice cream, none of that tofutti crap."
"Good, you still owe me for that one."
"Never let it be said that I don't repay my debts," he said then quickly kissed the top of her head.
"The kiss is nice, Mulder, but it won't distract me from ice cream, and it had better be chocolate, with hot fudge topping."
"Is there any other kind?" Mulder's mind was thinking delicious thoughts about hot fudge and the way Scully liked to lick it off a spoon. He'd like to lick it off of a few other places.
He swung as another pitch came their way, "let it fly, Scully, let it fly!" They connected well on this one and it went soaring to midfield.
Time once again showed how variant it could be because instead of the snail's pace time that Scully had cursed this morning, now time had simply ceased to exist. There was nothing but this moment of the two of them working together, hitting pitch after pitch, laughing and enjoying the closeness they shared. Mulder was still such a virile man and she loved the feeling of being pressed against his chest, hearing his strong heartbeat. He loved being able to cuddle her close without any pretense this time around. The world could have ended around them and they wouldn't have noticed. They had created their own world which consisted only of each other, a bat and a ball.
They were so lost in their bliss that it could have been two hours or ten minutes later when they finished off another round of pitches and Scully moved her hands off the bat to say, "Mulder, what are we doing here?"
"We are playing baseball, letting go of all our concerns," Mulder answered simply as he took one hand off the bat and let the tip hit the ground. He leaned on the bat, and placed his free hand on his hip.
Scully turned around and fiddled with a fascinating button on his jersey, "they're gone and so am I, let's hit the showers," she paused to look him in the eye, "or the bubble bath as the case may be."
His eyes lit up at the thought of either a shower or a bubble bath with Scully, he wasn't picky about which, if he was really lucky it would be both.
"Your car or mine?" he leered.
"Better take both of them so we don't have to pick one up in the morning...or afternoon as the case may be."
"A wise choice, but it will be torture to be apart from you for even such a short time."
"A tad melodramatic for you, don't you think?"
He shrugged, "I can't miss you?"
"Mulder, the sooner we get in the cars, the sooner we can get to the hotel and...have dinner."
"You always were the practical one," he said as they started to make their way out of the stadium.
"No kidding." She waited a couple of moments and then said, "race you to the cars and last one to the hotel room has to bathe the other."
Mulder immediately slowed down so that he was barely moving. Scully shook her head, her eyes glittering, "I'll see you at the hotel," she said, waving goodbye.
He waved back, and silently thanked whatever powers that there might be that saw fit to grace his life with his Scully.
Note: yes, this gift basket does actually exist, including the sunflower seeds. I saw a picture of it and the story jumped into my head.