Wonderwall
"And I'd give up forever to touch you 'Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't wanna go home right now" -Goo Goo Dolls- Iris
September 1st 1969
"Come on, Ahab or we're going to be late", five year old Dana Scully cried as she slipped off of her father's lap and landed feet first on to the kitchen floor.
She was finally starting Elementary School today and was so excited to be able to go to school like Missy and Bill even if her school day wouldn't be as long as theirs just yet.
Her mother smiled half proudly and half amused across the table from her, shaking her head at her youngest daughters enthusiasm to get to school on time. 'Long may it last', Margaret Scully thought to herself, rubbing a hand across her very pregnant stomach where she was carrying her fourth child.
"Dana Sweetheart, we have to wake up your brother and sister first and get them ready too", she said, heading over to the kitchen area to get some breakfast together for the two other hungry children who would be up in a matter of minutes.
The little girl continued to tug at her fathers shirt but not before throwing her mother the puppy eyes, pleading for her to understand why it was crucial she be on time.
"Daddy we have to go", she said, hurrying over to the corner to where she had hung up the ladybird patterned schoolbag (containing only her lunch, crayons and the book her father read her a chapter of every night before bed: Moby Dick) that her mother had bought for her the day before.
Dana had woken at the crack of dawn almost as early as her father (who's body-clock had not adjusted since his days in the navy), adamant that she was going to get ready for school all by herself with no help from anyone. She had been looking forward to this day all summer long, having picked up on as much as she possibly could from Melissa and Bill and insisting that her mother teach her how to read and write the alphabet.
William Scully chuckled affectionately, ruffling his youngest daughter's scarlet hair. "Patience, Starbuck. Not a sinner will be there at this hour".
"But Ahab", Dana whined. "You always say a good sailor starts early and is up with the sun".
"That's exactly right,Starbuck", he answered proudly.
Margaret Scully smiled lovingly between her husband and daughter as she approached the table again. "And that's also why you're a little girl and not a sailor".
The five year old pouted, sulkily and returned to the top of the table where she had left her Doctor's playset with the plastic stethoscope and thermometer the night before where she had promptly roped her older brother Bill into being her patient.
"Alright, fine", she mumbled, ready to wait for her siblings who would take forever to be ready.
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Fox Mulder peered out his bedroom window, still clad in his favourite flying saucer patterned pyjamas.
He adjusted the telescope that he always left next to his window so it pointed up to the sky above where he loved to look up in hope of not only seeing the stars but in hope of catching sight of a real UFO. He loved learning all about aliens and the stars. Many of his favourite comic books had aliens and space travellers as their main characters.
The sky seemed clear today, not a space ship in sight. How disappointing!
Fox was quickly pulled from his search for Extra-terrestrials by his wailing little sister in the room next door. 'Sammy is awake', he thought to himself excitedly, pushing the eyepiece on the telescope away from his eye.
As noisy as his baby sister was when she was sick or hungry and woke up crying in the middle of the night, her older brother still loved her dearly and was as protective of a big brother that a five and a half years old could be. Even though he was only five, he never needed much sleep anyway. His mother and father had been a little bit worried at the beginning but where now well used to their son's late nights and early mornings.
Fox quickly moved the telescope away from the window before hurrying out of his own room into Samantha's nursery next door.
"You awake, Sammy?", he asked, his little head popping inside the door of the nursery and stepping out of the hallway into the pink flowery coloured room. "Sammy!", he called out to the infant over her cries.
Samantha looked out at her brother through the bars of her crib, her crying now quietened to a soft whimper.
She was usually a fairly happy baby, noisy but happy, and when she cried she could usually be calmed down with somebody talking to her and keeping her company.
Fox smiled, sitting down on the rose coloured carpet next to the crib. Samantha gurgled quietly, her hazel eyes wide and curious as she looked out at her brother. He tears were drying on her face as she rolled over on her side to look at him properly, smiling when she realised who it was.
"I'm starting school today, Sammy", Fox told his year old sister happily. "I can't wait because it's going to be great".
"You're not old enough to go yet but you will be in a few years when you are five like I am now and then I'll be nine and I won't let anyone be mean to you ever, I promise", he told the oblivious infant confidently, his eyes shining.
Just then the door of the nursery opened and Teena Mulder walked through, smiling briefly at the sight of her two children.
"Go and get changed for school, Fox?", she told her son firmly as she scooped Samantha out of the crib, settling the baby on her hip.
Fox pouted, folding his arms stubbornly. "What's wrong with my alien pyjamas, Mom", he asked, standing up.
Teena shook her head. "You can't wear pyjamas on your first day of school, Fox. I left some clothes out on your bed for you to wear".
The little boy sighed, knowing that there wasn't much point in arguing with his mother on the matter.
"Okay, I'll get dressed", he said, pulling the door of the nursery behind him as he turned to head back to his own bedroom to get his stuff ready for the day.
"Hey Mom", he said turning around again, another thought popping into his head. "Can I wear a tie? Dad showed me how to tie one all by myself like a real grown up". Fox wasn't entirely sure what his father did for a living, only that he wore a suit and tie and had lots of co-workers who were tall and old and smoked. Fox didn't like them much but that didn't mean that he didn't want to be like his father.
Teena smiled affectionately, tickling her son's cheek as she passed him on her way back out through the door to get a bottle for Samantha. "If you think you can manage it, Fox".
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A lot of the kids that Dana had passed on her way into her new classroom had seemed very upset to be starting school for the first time. Some of them were even holding tightly on to their parents so that they wouldn't have to go into school alone.
The youngest Scully daughter had hugged her father (who had dropped her and her siblings off at the school) tightly and followed Bill and Melissa into the large brick coloured building.
She shuffled into the classroom, the nerves finally beginning to settle in and nibble at the pit of her stomach.
Dana pulled herself together like her father always told her to, flattened the pleats on her skirt like her mother always told her to do and headed straight into the colourful looking classroom, coming face to face with her new teacher and the handful of her classmates who were as brave about their first day of school as she was.
A tall blonde haired lady with horn rimmed glasses walked over to greet her from where she was talking to a small group of boys at the other side of the room. Immediately Dana realised that the woman must be the kindergarten teacher.
"Hello Dana", her new teacher said kindly to her, her eyes bright and friendly. "Your older sister Melissa told me all about you last year. My name is Ms Nolan and I'm going to be your teacher for the year".
Dana nodded in greeting, sticking out her hand as her parents had always told her. "It's very nice to meet you, Ms Nolan", she replied confidently, beginning to feel a little more calm and at home. Everything was going to be perfectly fine.
Ms Nolan nodded, glad to see that at least one more of her new students wouldn't be as shy as the rest on their first day. "It's lovely to meet you too, Dana. Why don't you go over their and sit with some of the boys that will be in your class".
Dana smiled and did what she was told, heading over to sit with the boys her teachers had indicated towards.
The five boys sitting around the circular table look up at her briefly before four of them shuffled a little further away from her down the bench, fully engrossed in whatever game that they had chosen from the shelf at the back of the room. The four of them totally ignored her.
Dana rolled her eyes, sitting down. She didn't really care if the boys were going to be rude but she always hated when boys said that they couldn't play with girls because they had "cooties". It had really annoyed her ever since Bill had brought some of his friends over to play during the summer and his friends had totally ignored her and Missy.
There was only one of them who seemed friendly. The fifth boy shook his head slightly at the other four, not seeming to mind the fact that Dana was a girl and grinned up at her toothily.
Even though Dana had not met too many boys the same age as herself she could tell that he was taller than most people their age. His brown hair was a little messy and his hazel coloured eyes were wide, curious and friendly.
The little brown haired boy promptly stuck out his hand to Dana like his mother always told him was how a gentleman behaved when meeting someone new.
"My name is Fox Mulder", he said brightly.
Dana looked at him unconvinced, her bright blue eyes widened comically. "Your name is Fox?", she asked, a little shocked because she had never heard of anyone called after a fluffy red animal before.
Fox giggled slightly, shuffling over only a little to make room for his new friend beside him. "That's right. What's your name?", he asked with a smile. He liked her already with her big blue eyes and bright red hair.
Dana regarded him, unsure for a second whether giggling at his funny name would be mean or not. "My name is Dana Katherine Scully", she replied with an amused smile, sitting down next to him.
Fox smiled goofily. "Nice to meet you, Scully", he said, voice popping when he called her by her surname. The second it left his lips he knew it fitted her even more than 'Dana' did.
Dana looked sideways at him. She had never been called by her surname before but despite this she returned the sentiment immediately. She kind of liked being called 'Scully'. It was exactly the same name that her father's navy friends called him when they came over to visit with their own families some evenings.
"You too, Mulder", Dana said, almost glad to call him that because she wasn't sure if she could keep a straight face while calling him 'Fox'. Foxes were animals not boys!
"So", Fox said now that she was seated next to him and was already a friend. "Do you believe in aliens?", he asked brightly even though his father and mother told him not to bring up such things among his school peers. Scully wouldn't think he was weird like the four other boys he had met so far, right?
Dana looked at him seriously for a second and snorted softly when she realised that he wasn't kidding. "No of course not. My daddy always says that they aren't real and that's what I think too".
"Of course they are real. Aliens are as real as you and me are", Fox argued. There was no way that he was backing down on this one even if his new best friend didn't share his opinion. "Would you like if some alien somewhere in the universe said that you weren't really? ".
Dana shook her head unconvinced and lightly tapped her foot under the table. She totally ignored his second question(it was just too silly) and decided to focus on the argument on a whole.
"Well have you ever seen one?", she asked him, her sceptical expression making her look far more than her five years.
Fox nodded enthusiastically, his whole body bobbing in agreement. "Sure I have. I saw a real live UFO in the sky outside my house the other day", he said recalling the tiny spacecraft with a green light he had seen in the sky through his telescope.
"Don't be silly, Mulder. That was a fancy plane!", Dana explained impatiently, ignoring the stares that that they were beginning to get from the other five year olds who had at this point shuffled to the other side of the table.
"Was not", he argued, his big hazel eyes wide in determination. Of course aliens were real! Of course what he had seen was a UFO! What else could it have been? Not a plane, surely?
"Was too", Dana said finally as she proceeded to open her ladybird school bag and take out the plastic stethoscope that she had somehow managed to smuggle out of the house despite her mother's wishes and her brother's watchful eye. "Now are you going to be my patient or not?".
Mulder sighed, discontentedly but nonetheless went along with her examination.
"Was too", he muttered one final time under his breath as Dana pretended to take his temperature, shaking her head at her new friend's silliness.
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"This is Fox Mulder", Scully announced to her mother later in the day when the afternoon had come and school was over. As soon as she had spotted her mother in the yard she had grabbed Mulder's hand and dragged him outside to introunce him to her mother.
Mulder to his credit, followed her unquestioningly and smiled politely as Margaret Scully regarded the two five year olds in front of her. The first thing that Maggie immediately noticed was their wide and matching cheesy grins, the seconds was Fox Mulder's black and slightly swollen eye and Dana's bruised fingers.
"What happened the two of you?", she asked, looking between them, concerned. Their injuries didn't look too serious but surely Dana hadn't gotten into a fight with someone. Maggie Scully knew her youngest daughter was stubborn and had a bit of a temper but hit someone, surely not?
Scully blushed, looking down at the tarmac beneath their feet, suddenly very interested on the silver buckles in her shoes. Mulder looked over her shoulder on to the street to avoid eye contact, the tips of his ears turning scarlet.
He took it upon himself to speak up because he knew that Scully wouldn't say anything even if her silence caused her more trouble.
"It wasn't Scully's fault, Mrs Scully", he said, kicking at a stone beneath his foot. "Tom Colton called me Spooky", he said referring to one of the more pompous blonde haired boys in their class. "And Dana punched him to back me up".
Scully smiled over at him gratefully, looking up at her mother to tell her the next part of the story even though it was a little embarrassing. "Then Tom called me Mrs Spooky so Mulder punched him for being mean to me but Tom punched him back and then Ms Nolan came over and sorted it all out and gave us ice packs to take down the swelling".
Mrs Scully shook her head looking between the two children not sure whether to be angry at her daughter's behaviour or amused at the loyalty between the two five year olds. Already they seemed to be quite the dynamic duo.
"Well how are we going to keep the two of you out of trouble now, huh?", she said with a sigh, well aware that herself and Mrs Mulder would certainly have their work cut out for them.
Hope you guys enjoyed that. This story kind of popped into my head and I really couldn't resist writing it. I want to add a few more chapters to this from here up until maybe their late teens (I'm not sure yet) What do you guys think? should I continue this or focus more on my other stories.
Please leave a review!