I Know What You Are William
by
Trycee
Time-Line: Present Day, Somewhere in Virginia.
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not profit.
Scully sat on the front porch, nervously wringing her hands and twisting the ring on her finger. Mulder had given in to the pleas of they're 15 year old son and decided to teach him to drive, against her wishes. Mulder sat in the passenger seat, instructing William on how to place the car in reverse so they could make it out of the driveway, but William kept coming dangerously close to her and the front porch and kept slamming his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.
Scully rolled her eyes at the attempt."So much for that!", she said, recognizing that William was feeling overwhelmed.
Mulder looked at his son. "NO!, you're gonna back up into your mother. Now, gently," he warned. "Look back to see where you're going."
William looked back and he could see his tiny mother jumping up out of the way. "I can't do this, dad. I'm too scared. Can't we go somewhere and do this? Like at my school's parking lot?"
Mulder nodded his head agreeing with him. "Okay, let me just switch with you."
Scully walked up to the side of the car and Mulder quickly landed a peck on her cheek as he rounded the car, jumping into the driver's seat. William had scooted himself over to the passenger side. His palms were sweating and his heart was racing. He had wanted to learn to drive but now it scared him. He was surprised when his mother touched his arm. "William," she said, with a soft voice.
He turned to see his small mother staring at him with deep sea blue eyes. Her red hair was tucked into a pony tail and she stared at him with concern. "Are you okay, honey?", she asked.
He wiped his palms on his pants legs and nodded. She reached out and touched his forehead, smoothing her hands through his auburn tresses and kissed the top of his forehead. His deep blue eyes met her blue eyes and she smiled. "Don't be nervous. You don't have to be perfect at this just yet. You have plenty of time to learn before you're 16 and 3 months, William, according to the state of Virginia. So, why you're dad is rushing you," she said, turning her attention to Mulder who smirked. "I don't know."
"Scully, at 15 and 6 months he can get his permit. I'm not rushing him, I'm trying to get him ready."
"I want my permit," William said, more as an affirmation to himself than to her.
She looked into the identical face of her son and smiled. "William, honey, can you give your dad and I a minute."
"I already know what you're going to say to him, mom," he said, taping into her thoughts and rolling his eyes. "I swear he's not pushing me."
"Scully!", Mulder sighed, stepping out and rounding the car. He placed his hands on either side of her hips drawing her against him. She laid her head against his chest and breathed deeply. After a few minutes of listening to Mulder's heart-beating and hearing his inner monologue about 'trusting him' and 'safety' and 'father-son moments', she pushed off from Mulder's chest. "Okay, okay," she said, caving in. "I'll be here when you get back."
Mulder smiled and he locked eyes with her for a moment. He winked at her and kissed the top of her head. 'Love you,' he was saying to her. "Love you too," she said, out-loud, and Mulder was pleased.
She let go of Mulder and then turned her attention to their son, checking his seat-belt, fussing about in a way that betrayed her cool exterior, letting him know she was nervous. He smiled and stilled her hand.
"Thanks mom," William smiled.
She smiled back at the teenager and touched his cheek lovingly. "Be safe."
Mulder revved up the engine of his restored mustang and drove off through the open gate. William hopped out and closed the gate behind him, waving at his mother. She waved back and watched as they spun off down the dirt road. Both of her worlds were speeding away and she felt a momentary emptiness. "I better start cooking," she said to herself.
Mulder and William were both surprised to see the school parking lot full of other students. Mulder pulled up into an empty spot. William walked up to the crowd of kids, cheerleaders and football players sitting on top of cars and sitting down on the ground. William gave a questioning glance to his father but Mulder shrugged his shoulders.
A cheerleader that William knew as Beth walked up to him. "Hey everybody, it's William!", William looked around shyly.
"What are you doing here? Is this your father?", she questioned.
"Yeah, this is my dad," he said, suddenly becoming confident, Mulder noticed.
"What are you doing here? You're a basketball player, you don't usually hang around during football season," she said, glancing from William to Mulder noticing the ways they looked differently and the ways they looked alike.
"Yeah well, we thought no one was here. He was going to teach me to drive."
"OH!", she nodded. "Well, hey, you wanna hang out with us? We're going to the lake. There's a party there."
Mulder watched as three beefy guys walked up to William, surrounding him. "Hey William, we're going to the lake. Wanna come?"
"Dad?", he said, looking past his friends and noticing Mulder edging his way back towards their car.
"Yeah son."
"This is your dad?", one of them asked. "Hey."
"Hey," Mulder nodded looking at the teens who were nearly as muscular as he was.
"Do you mind if he comes? ", one asked.
"There's no drinking, I promise," Beth interrupted.
Mulder stared at William hard.
"We're just hanging out, listening to music...", one of the guys filled in.
"We're gonna jet-ski some," the other spoke. "My parents will be there," the boy said. "I'm Josh by the way. Josh Acker," he said, extending his hand towards Mulder. Mulder shook his hand. "My parents will be there supervising the whole time. After a game we like to kick back at my lake-house and chill."
"How come you never played football, William?", Beth asked with full attention on William.
A crowd had formed around them. William smiled. He was the star of the basketball team and during basketball season he was like a God at his school. But this was the off-season for the basketball team, it was now football season and he was just a 'popular-kid' but not a football star and so until his season came back around, he wasn't the head honcho around the school. But, he needed to remind them of who he was. "Then who would win the basketball games for the school?"
"True."
"True."
"Alright," Mulder said, tapping William on the back. "Call us if you need me to pick you up."
"Thanks, dad."
"No problem," Mulder said, waving.
"Ooh, William, you're dad is pretty cute!", Mulder over-heard one of the girl's saying. "And you're pretty cute too, William."
Mulder stepped into his car and revved it up as the girl's squealed. William shook his head. Mulder pulled out and headed back home leaving the teens to themselves. William was surrounded by the popular football stars and the cutest cheerleaders and his smile widened as he looked around at the faces of his classmates, some he recognized and some we're juniors and seniors.
"I think you're cute, William," Beth said, wrapping her arm around his waist as they walked towards the various cars in the parking lot. "Even though you're a ginger."
"You don't think ginger's are cute?", he said, surprised.
"You know the whole deal nowadays. Red hair is supposed to be evil or ugly or something like that," she said, shaking her head. "But I don't believe that, especially not in your case. I think you're sexy."
She said it with a smile as she watched Williams face turn bright red in front of her." You're tall, and lean and you've got muscles and not like those football freaks," she continued, turning to stand in front of him. "You have these deep blue eyes like you can look into my soul or something."
William smiled widely. He knew from the attention he always received from girls that he was attractive, despite having red hair. He was never without a girlfriend unless he wanted to be. But lately he had been focused on regaining his parents trust after having been thrown in jail at a party intoxicated. He had become less of a partier and more of a home-body, focusing on helping his parents around the house and helping his dad with his paranormal business. He had kept himself busy trying to stay out of trouble.
Beth reguarded him closely. "I wish you'd pay attention to me sometimes."
"You think I don't?", he said, with a raised eyebrow.
"How many girlfriends have you had, William?", she said, shaking her head. "Tons. And none of them we're me."
"So what are you saying?", he said, licking his lips. "You want to be my girlfriend?", he said, with a knowing smirk.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," she said, she said wiggling her eyebrows and grabbing his hand, leading him into a minivan full of teenagers.
William looked around at the kids some of which he knew only by face. They were older or from a different crowd than he normally hung out with but he felt comfortable amongst them. Beth held his hand and laid her head against his shoulder as they lay on the floor of the moving minivan. A 17 year old senior laughed nervously as he cut around street corners and nearly ran into on-coming traffic while those who could see screamed out of fright or excitement as he drove his mom's minivan to the lake.
"So?", Beth continued, their backs pressed up against the minivan door.
"So?", he said, focusing his attention on the blond haired girl.
"Am I?", she questioned.
William smiled. He shrugged his shoulders. 'Why not', he thought to himself. "Yes. You are my girlfriend."
"OH, BIG NEWS!", one of the students yelled. "Beth and William are a COUPLE!"
"Yes, it's official," Beth smiled, proudly.
William smiled back at the pretty girl he barely knew. She whipped out her cellphone and snapped a photo of them and quickly posted it on Twitter and Facebook, letting the whole world know that he was hers. William though didn't even know her last name but he was enjoying himself, reveling in the attention he was getting from her and from the others. He glanced in back of the van and his eyes held the attention of another girls eyes for a moment until she turned away. She was quiet, not talking to anyone, only staring out the back window.
Beth threw herself over him and kissed him on his cheek and began running her hands through his auburn tresses that he'd grown longer. It felt good to have a girlfriend, of course, he had no problem in that area, but he hadn't tried to have one recently and this one practically fell into his lap, whatever her last name was. He knew he would have no problem finding that out. He could tap into her memories and her thoughts at any moment, so he relaxed and enjoyed the attention he was receiving as the car swerved from the inexperienced driver on the highway.
Mulder closed the front door to their home and the smell of food assaulted his senses and his stomach began to rumble. He sat down at the stools at the counter and watched as Scully hummed off-key to the radio as she cooked. She could feel Mulder watching her and she didn't acknowledge him. She was always aware of him whenever he entered a room and so she waited for him to speak.
"I hope you're not making too much."
"Why?", she said, turning to look at her husband.
"Forget the driving lesson, Scully. Apparently William is invited to a party at the lake."
"A party, Mulder? But what about alcohol?", she said, alarmed.
"I know what you're thinking," he said, sliding off the stool and entering the kitchen. "This kid, Josh Acker's parent's are gonna be there. They're not drinking."
"You're sure of that?", she said, with a raised eyebrow as she stared up into the calming hazel eyes of Mulder.
"I went with my gut, Scully," he said, kissing her nose. "There's a bunch of football players and cheerleaders and I got the impression they hang out and jet ski and goof around, that's all."
"Football players, Mulder? Since when don't they drink?"
"It's 10 am. Scully, I'm pretty sure they're not going to the lake to drink at 10 am. We'll pick him up later before they get into any real trouble."
Scully sighed. "I hope you're right, Mulder."
"We have to trust him again, Scully. He made one mistake. He's still a kid. And we owe it to him to let him lead a normal life."
"One with a secret," she sighed. "No matter what, Mulder, he isn't normal. He can't let his guard down. William is special and all it takes is one slip up and we could lose him again. Maybe not from aliens this time but from the government."
"Relax Scully," he sighed. "Let William have a little fun."
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