June 18th, 2012
Outdoor Batting Cages, Alexandria, VA.
1:21pm

Mulder rapped his knuckles across the top of the baseball helmet, that he'd just placed on Wiliam's head, making sure it was on properly. William was wearing a Yankees jersey, that Scully and Mulder gave him for Christmas the year before. Scully was standing on the other side of the cage, watching her boys.

"GO WILL!"

Mulder stood behind William and tapped his thigh, squaring the eleven year olds feet on the mat, so he wouldn't be bowled over.

"Are you ready to hit some balls, Will?"

"I think so, yeah"

William swung the bat, just barely missing the first ball and looked over his shoulder at Mulder, who cheered him on.

"Next one, buddy! All you have to do is swing hard and follow through"

The second ball came hurtling towards William, causing him to let go of the bat on the backswing (it crashed into the cage in front of Scully) and step backwards off the mat.

"I suck at this!"

Mulder put his hands on William's shoulders, turning him around to face him.

"It just takes a little bit of practice, Will"

Mulder picked the bat up off the dirt ground, smiling at Scully. She smiled back.

"Hmm"

"Concentrate and more importantly, don't loosen your grip on the bat"

Mulder stood on the mat, swinging the bat over his right shoulder, preparing to hit the next ball. William watched on. The third ball flew straight towards him, suddenly there was a loud crack, as the bat onnected with the ball and the netting on the far end of the cage rippled as the it bounced off.

"Whoa!"

"See? Easy"

William took the bat from Mulder. After watching his father knock the it out of the park, so to speask, he felt a bit more confident about his ability to hit the next one. And he did. A machine shot out the next ball and everything went into slo-mo. William focused on the small white dot, lifted the bat over his shoulder and swung down with force, connecting with the ball and watched it land at the other end of the cage.

"I DID IT!"

"I told you. You're a pro!"

"Mom, did you see?"

"Of course! I'm so proud of you, Will"

Scully was leaning against the metal fence, smiling at William.

"Can you play?"

"Not really, but your dad was kind enough to give me lessons for my birthday back in the day"

Mulder took a few steps towards the cage door, and opened it.

"Hey, Scully. Let's see how much you remember from that lesson, shall we?"

"Yeah! Come on, Mom"

Scully tenatively joined them. Mulder followed her over to the mat, handed her the bat and whispered something in her ear. She laughed.

"Hips before hands, right?"

Mulder grinned and stood next to William again. Scully stepped forward, swung the bat and smashed the baseball into the net, exactly like Mulder had.

"Damn, Scully, that was sexy as hell"

"Way to go, Mom!"

Scully turned and smiled widely at her boys, equally impressed with herself.


"Lunch break?"

William and Mulder both nodded.

"Will.. hotdog or hamburger? Soda?"

"Hamburger... and a coke!"

"Hotdog for me, Scully"

Mulder and William found an empty picnic table, while Scully went to get their food at the cafeteria. When Scully made her way back to the table, a few minutes later, there was a handful on sunflower seeds on a napkin between Mulder and William.

"Couldn't wait, huh?"

"Will and I decided to have a little pre-snack snack"

Scully placed the tray, with all the food on it, in the middle of the table. Mulder grabbed his hotdog and handed William his burger and drink. Scully slid her salad of the tray and sat down next to Mulder.

"I can't believe how far you hit the ball, Mom. It was SO awesome!"

"Thank you, Will"

William went back to eating his food and Scully looked at Mulder.

"Didn't think I could do it, didya?"

"Sure, I did"

"Just admit you underestimated me, Mulder"

"Ok, I wasn't sure you paid attention back then and to be honest, I was just trying to get close to you"

"I know. Why do you think I let you touch me like that?"

Scully had a bite of her salad, and sipped her 7UP.

"You knew?"

"How are you shocked? Subtlety isn't really your thing, Mulder"


Mulder kissed Scully and William made a disgusted face.

"Gross!"

"I don't think it's gross. What do you think, Scully?"

Scully kissed Mulder back.

"Nope. Not gross!"

William looked at them absolutely horrified. Scully and Mulder chuckled.