A/N: If fics with William aren't your thing, sorry. This is mainly for mariaw, who has given me many great fic suggestions. Thank you :)
This is an AU - Mulder and Scully were able to keep their child, but the events of "The Truth" still happened, and they went on the run, but after that, this story strays from canon. Sorry if there's any plot holes/typos/whatever.
The X-Files doesn't belong to me.
2002
She was bouncing a baby in her arms and pacing anxiously around the room. He felt bad just sitting and watching, but she told him several times that she was fine. They both knew it was a lie, but they tried to ignore it. "Scully, can I please just hold him?"
She sighed. "Sure," she sat down next to him on the creaky motel bed. "Here you go. Make sure you hold his head." He almost retorted that he knew how to hold a baby, but decided he doesn't want to start a fight. They were both so tired and they wondered how their son couldn't be. He rocked the baby gently, sighing with relief when he saw his eyelids beginning to droop.
"I think he's finally getting tired," Mulder said, in a voice even lower than a whisper, as if anything would wake the baby up.
"Mmm-hmm," she replied, taking him back in her arms. "I'll put him in the crib."
He listened as she softly sang her little unconventional lullaby of "Joy to the World". Finally, when his partner's sweet, if off-key voice wished joy to fishes in the deep blue sea and joy to you and me, he was asleep. She returned to the bed and laid down. "I spent so much time getting him to sleep that I don't know if I can."
"Need me to sing to you?" he asked, and she laughed softly.
"I think I'm good. Try and get some sleep, Mulder. We'll get up early tomorrow." He nodded and kissed her goodnight. After a few hours, when she had drifted off but he was still wide awake, he heard William babbling and got out of bed before it could wake his mother. Taking William in his arms, he walked him around the room and talked to him softly. He laid down on the bed with his son on his chest, finally asleep. He smiled as the baby shifted a little in sleep and placed a tiny hand on his father's cheek. It had been hard these past few months, William was growing and they were running. They both felt bad for bringing him up in this environment, but they hoped that before he was a year old that they would have a home.
Now, though, Mulder couldn't worry about that. His son was peacefully sleeping on his chest, and they had not run into trouble for awhile now. If he had any regrets, they all faded away. For a moment, everything was okay.
2004
Their little family rarely went into town since settling down in their little unremarkable house in Washington State, but Mulder had declared he was going stir crazy. "Why don't you come to church with me, then?" Scully asked him. He shifted.
"I don't know...what about Will?"
"We can bring Will along, it'll be a family affair. I always go to church alone, can you please come just this one time? You really do need to get out of the house."
Mulder hesitated, but ended up telling her, "Fine. We'll go to church with you." She smiled.
"Thank you, Mulder. Now get ready, you have to dress a little nicer than that," he was still wearing his sleeping clothes - a white t-shirt and sweatpants. Scully dressed herself and William in nice clothes, and they packed themselves into the car.
"I can't remember the last time I went to church," Mulder said as they drove into town.
"Just try and keep an open mind," she told him. They soon pulled up to the little Catholic chruch - it was quaint and tucked away behind other buildings. It was so unlike the huge churches you saw scattered around Seattle. Scully let William out of his carseat and held him in her arms, her other hand in Mulder's as they walked into the church. They sat in the back, next to an older couple.
"Good morning, Dana," the woman said chirpily.
"Hi, Sheryl."
"Is this your son? He looks just like you! How old is he?" Truthfully, William looked more like his father, but he had Scully's blue eyes.
"One, almost two," Scully replied, stroking the wispy brown hairs on his head.
"And this must be your husband?" the woman asked, smiling at Mulder. He opened his mouth to say he wasn't, but then realized it would probably be a good idea to just nod. "So nice to meet you, Mr. Scully." she shook his hand.
As the service started, they were trying not to laugh about 'Mr. Scully'. "I kind of like the sound of it, actually," she replied. He smiled. They rose to sing hymns and Scully prodded Mulder to stand up as well, and he did reluctantly. The hymns were old and slow and Mulder didn't know any of them. Scully sang quietly but reverently, and he simply watched her. He, in his younger years, was so opposed to the idea of a higher power and scoffed at those who believed in one. But Scully's faith, which used to be ridiculous to him, was now sort of beautiful. There were times when it was dim, when she was so doubting she almost denied it. Things had changed, now, and he could tell she believed more than ever, though not in the way most did. But she didn't do a lot of things the way most people did, and he loved that about her.
As they sat down and the service began, William decided to become chatty. "Mamamama,"
She shushed him and kissed his head. "Teddy! Teddy!" he exclaimed. People were starting to turn around and look at them now. "Do you have his teddy bear?" Scully asked in a whisper.
"No," he replied, looking slightly panicked.
She rifled through the baby bag and found the teddy bear, raising an eyebrow at Mulder. She gave William his toy and he promptly threw it on the floor. "William!" she scolded. Mulder grabbed it and gave it back to him, which kept him quiet for a while. He began gnawing on the ear of the teddy bear. "No, Will," Mulder said. "Don't do that." he tried to take the stuffed toy, but his son had other ideas.
"No!" William suddenly exclaimed loudly and threw it again. They were getting a few dirty looks now. Scully rubbed her temples as William fussed and squirmed in her lap. "Shh, honey," she tried, but William was just louder, crying, on his way to a tantrum.
"Let me have him," Mulder said. He took William in his arms and held him firmly in his arms, rubbing his back. His sobs turned to hiccups he seemed to be calming down. The service was ending and they bowed their heads to pray, Mulder quietly slipped out with William. As the rest of the congregation flooded into the lobby, a few couples, usually with children, gave him sympathetic looks, and some looked annoyed. "Will, I don't know what got into you, but you can't do it again, you hear me?" he said to his son. William simply smiled and tugged on his father's nose. "Ow!" Mulder exclaimed, and William giggled. "Yeah, I love you, too, kiddo."
Scully approached them, her cheeks tinged slightly pink, holding William's bear. "We left this on the floor."
"Teddy!" William exclaimed and reached for him.
"You think you can have this back after all the trouble you've caused?" Scully said, more jokingly than anything. "I don't know what happened," she said to Mulder, giving her child his bear. "He's usually so good."
Mulder shrugged as they began walking out to the car. "He's still little - it happens."
"I just don't know what got into him," Scully replied, placing him in his carseat. "What got into you, huh?" she asked her son, giving him a kiss on his chubby cheek before returning to the passenger seat of the car. "Maybe he didn't get enough sleep."
"Stop worrying," he said. "Our kid had a little tantrum, so what."
Mulder was so good with their son, and Scully was honestly surprised by it. He obviously had his moments - just the previous week, she had gone to the dentist and they had tagged along. She was sitting in the dentist's chair, and he had popped in to ask her question after question. "Where are the baby wipes?" "He spit up on his shirt, what do I do?" "Um, he's crying now."
Still, he was a wonderful, which she felt guilty about being surprised about. But Mulder was so different from when she worked with him many years ago, and she thought then that he could never have a child, and here they were.
She considered his words, and had to nod in agreement. "I guess we need to get out more," she chuckled. She glanced back at William, who was dozing with his bear as they drove on. She smiled. "Did you even listen to the sermon, Mulder?"
He didn't answer right away. "How would you feel about me if I said not really?"
"I would not be surprised at all, Mulder."
"I can always count on you, Scully," he said, flashing one of his teasing grins that hadn't changed since so many years ago. She smiled back, mostly because they were at a point in their life where he could smile like that, where it didn't hurt to. He seemed to know what she was so happy about and took her hand once more as they approached the tiny farmhouse that was home.
2009
"...He didn't get much sleep last night, so shhh," Mulder awoke to Scully's voice. He cracked an eye open and saw William, who had wriggled in between him and Scully.
"Why didn't he sleep?"
"Sometimes he just has a hard time getting to sleep, baby," Scully brushed a few strands of hair out of William's eyes.
"I don't have a hard time getting woken up, though," he said.
"Good morning, dad," William said and wrapped his arms around his father's neck.
"Hey, kiddo," he hugged him back. "How'd you sleep? Ready for school?"
"Yeah! Can we have breakfast now?"
"Why don't you go get dressed and I'll start making breakfast." Scully said, getting up and tying a robe around her waist. William dashed out of the room. She laughed softly. "Wish I still had that energy." Mulder was getting up, sitting on the edge of the bed and stretching. "You can go back to sleep, if you want," Scully said.
"I'm good," he assured her. "I'll start the coffee, okay?" he hugged her from behind, and she instantly relaxed into his arms. "Hell, it's early, you still have time to sleep a little more."
She smiled. "I would like to, but I need to get ready." She could tell he was trying to dissolve some tension - they had argued the night before and went to sleep in horrible moods. "I'm gonna start breakfast and then jump in the shower."
He nodded and followed her downstairs, where Will was dressed and reading the comics. Mulder ruffled his hair as they began the coffee and breakfast. Scully went upstairs to shower quickly. Mulder finished making the waffles and gave an enthusiastic William some, while he settled for coffee. "The school bus'll be here in half an hour," he reminded his son.
They had moved - when William turned four, the subject of school got brought up. "I want him to go to school and have friends. I don't want him to live in the middle of nowhere for the rest of his childhood. It's safe for us to return to civilization, Mulder. We have to move." she had told him. He had been hesitant - he loved their little farmhouse. But he knew Scully was right. It was closer to the hospital; she wouldn't have to drive as far. And William really did need to go to school. So, he agreed, but not after a few arguments about it.
It had caused a lot of tension between them; he made it clear he wasn't used to living like this and it was hard to adjust. It frustrated her, and it was the reason for their fight the previous night. He didn't like this. She said he needed to learn to like it.
When the school bus came for William, Scully sent him off with a kiss as he went off to second grade. He liked school, and he had taken a great interest in science, which Scully very happy about. She didn't have to be at work for another hour, so she continued getting ready. Mulder sat on the bed as she rubbed wrinkle-resistant cream on her face and tied her hair up; even though he loved her hair down, she insisted it just got in her way. She stepped out of the bathroom and saw him, deep in thought, and sat down next to him. "Hey," she said softly, snapping him back to reality.
"Hi," he replied.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Do I get in your way?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you ever wish it was different, that I hadn't gotten us into so much trouble? Do you think you'd do better with someone else, someone not as difficult?"
She placed a hand on his cheek. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wouldn't change a day."
He smiled, not feeling the need to say anything. He pulled her hair out of her ponytail and played with it, combing his fingers through it. She smiled softly and closed her eyes. There were no words, there was no need. This was many things on his part - an apology, an 'I love you', a moment of peace. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Good. Really good." and it was true.
Before she went to work, he put her hair back up for her and they shared a kiss. He was left alone, but he felt okay. Everything was okay.
When Scully came home, she heard music playing in the living room and found her son and Mulder dancing and Mulder giving Will piggyback rides. She laughed and wished she could've shown a younger Scully this - the Scully that had just been assigned to work with Fox Mulder.
A/N: Thanks for reading.
-Lulamae