Another Tumblr writing challenge - this time with the prompt "seasons".
This story has minor spoilers for Existence, but other than that you're good.
Spring
It's late spring when they bring him home from the hospital, a miracle in the form of a seven pound eight beautiful bouncing baby boy, the perfect combination of both Mulder and Scully's genes. He has his mother's coloring, her nose and her piercing blue eyes, though Scully insists this could well change. If Mulder focuses hard, he can make out some features of himself in his son – his chin and his lips, possibly his height. He holds his son properly, confidently, for the first time in Scully's bedroom as she tells him the baby's name. William after his father. Not her brother, nor her father, but his. They talk about truth and love and make a promise with a kiss.
Later, on the sofa, Mulder still cradles William in his arms as he dozes, watching every breath the baby takes, cataloguing every single moment spent with him. His son – their son, their tiny miracle. Even when Scully asked him months ago to assist with in-vitro fertilisation, he'd never pictured this moment. Back then a baby was hypothetical – just a dream – and his and Scully's relationship was so undefined that had the process worked, he wasn't sure what part he'd have been expected to play in the baby's life. This time though it was clear. He'd made it clear - at least once he'd stopped acting like a first class asshole – that he wanted to be there for Scully and their child, and thankfully she wasn't opposed to the idea. Now their dream was a reality, a gentle weight in his father's arms. Mulder at least looks the part of a dad now, like someone who knows what he is doing, even though deep down he's panicking that he's going to drop his son, or that he isn't supporting William's head correctly. Thankfully Scully has taught him well.
Mulder feels himself begin to doze when Scully walks into the living room, carrying a stack of mail. She sits gingerly on the sofa, and out of the corner of his eye Mulder sees her grimace. Not that he can blame her. It was a harrowing birth after all, and Scully certainly didn't have an easy time of it. He watches through hooded eyes as she opens envelope after envelope, each containing a greetings card proclaiming "Congratulations", or "It's a Boy!" She smiles as she reads each card, then hands one out towards him. He looks at her questioningly.
"It's for you."
Puzzled, once Mulder reassures himself that he's not about to drop William, he reaches out to take the card from her grasp and reads Maggie's tidy script. "To Dana and Fox," he reads to himself. "Congratulations on the newest addition to your family."
A family. He hasn't had one of those in a long time, he thinks to himself. But he does now. His family is contained within this apartment – everything he needs is right here with him on the sofa. He's one lucky son of a bitch. "Your mom knows," he simply comments, and Scully huffs out a laugh.
"Of course she knows," she says. "She's known for a long time. You think she thinks you've been sleeping on the sofa all this time?" Scully edges towards him, resting her head on his shoulder as she reaches out and takes hold of William's impossibly tiny hand. "Will you stay?"
"On the sofa?"
"No Mulder", Scully answers with a grin. "Not on the sofa."
"Do you mean tonight or…?"
"Or what?"
Mulder takes a deep breath. He's rehearsed this a thousand times over in his head, but never anticipated that the day would ever come when he needed to say it out loud. "Well, the way that I see it, there are two options. I go back to my apartment, grab a few clothes to tide me over, or…"
"Or?" She's not making this easy for him and she knows it – he can tell by the gleam in her tired eyes that she's playing with him.
"Or I call Frohike and tell him he can have my fish."
His proposal is initially greeted with silence. "There is a third option," Scully eventually begins, and for a moment his insecure side wonders whether he's overstepped the mark. And then she continues. "You could bring your fish with you. I mean, we can easily find space for them, and there's no sense in subjecting them to Frohike unless it's absolutely necessary. Besides, I think William will like a pet when he's older. I like option three," she admits, and suddenly Mulder finds himself grinning widely.
"Me too," he says. "Me too."
xxxxxxx
Summer
"Mulder? Mulder?" Mulder stops walking and turns to see Scully approaching him, William's sunhat in her hand. "The wind caught it", she explains, reaching out to place the hat back on William's head, covering up his thin wisps of fair hair. Scully is certain that more hair will come soon, but Mulder still jokes that there's no getting away from it - the baby looks like Skinner.
William scrunches his face up in disgust as the hat goes back on, and wriggles in his dad's arms. Mulder tightens his grip on his son, relieved when William finally settles. He's just over ten weeks now. They're still learning how to do this.
"Do you think I should put more lotion on him?" Scully asks, reaching into her bag and retrieving sun cream without waiting for an answer. "I'll put more lotion on him."
"He's fine Scully. You put some on him not too long ago."
She frowns, then looks up at the sun as though assessing it. Before she can open her mouth to argue, Mulder sighs then, after shifting William in his arms, hands over the bag he's carrying. She immediately reaches for it, then roots around for the lotion. As Mulder holds their son, Scully gently applies lotion to William's bare arms and legs, before turning her attention to his face, protecting every inch of him from the sun. When she's finished, she blows a raspberry against the palm of William's tiny hand, and in return receives a gummy smile. Mulder mentally captures the image of mother and son's beaming smiles, storing it with the hundreds of other magical moments he's witnessed since William's birth. To think he almost missed out on this, he muses. He once believed that all he needed in life was to discover the truth about monsters and conspiracies and little grey men, but he was wrong. All he needs is his family right here.
It's their first vacation as a family. The first time Mulder and Scully have travelled somewhere together outside of work. Just five days on Martha's Vineyard. Mulder had been hesitant at first – the Vineyard had held some bad memories for him after all – but Scully had wanted William to see where his dad had grown up, even if the baby was far too young to take any of it in.
"You know, I had a dream about this place a while back," Mulder begins, gently swaying from side to side. "I was on the beach making sandcastles with a little boy."
"Sandcastles?"
"Well," he smiles. "A giant spaceship."
Scully chuckles. "Now why doesn't that surprise me?"
"He was four, maybe five. At the time I didn't think anything of it but now I wonder."
"You wonder?"
"What if it was William?"
Scully smiles. Sometimes he just can't resist. The little boy in question lets out an impressive sneeze, surprising himself and his parents. "It's ok baby," his mom says, taking William from Mulder's arms. You'll get used to daddy's theories after a while."
Mulder rolls his eyes, but he's grinning. He'd once said he'd never really seen Scully as a mother. She's a great mom though, and it's the most natural thing in the world for her to look after their son. "Maybe I was getting a glimpse into the future."
"And if you were?" Scully asks, setting off down the beach with their son, Mulder hot on their heels. "What was William like?"
Mulder's smile widens at the memory. "He was happy."
Autumn
Scully is surprised to return home from work one evening to see Assistant Director Skinner sat on the sofa. She looks him up and down, taking in his work attire; his pinstriped grey suit, a hideous red and grey diamond patterned tie that was too long for him, and rounded glasses perched on the edge of his nose that were far too big for him. The instant he sees her, Skinner grins, but Scully makes no effort to return it, instead sighing in resignation as she removes her jacket, draping it over the side of the sofa before kicking off her shoes. Conveniently her partner is nowhere to be found. "Mulder?"
The man in question steps out of the kitchen, a bottle of milk in his hand. He tests the temperature, satisfied it isn't too warm. "You're home."
"What the hell is going on?"
Skinner's smile never fades as he looks between the two of them, before settling his gaze on the bottle of milk.
"What do you mean?"
"Why have you dressed William up as Skinner?"
Mulder glances down at their son who now reaches out his hands towards the bottle, and then grins. "Happy Halloween Scully." He sits down next to William, shifts his son onto his lap, and begins to feed him.
"Halloween is on Wednesday."
"We're getting into character now."
"You're not dressing him up as Skinner."
"Why not? I figure we can just don our suits and go trick or treating as ourselves."
"Skinner has nothing to do with Halloween."
"Well the Skinman scared me at times. Didn't he you?"
Scully tries to maintain a straight face, until she sneaks another look at the baby. He's wearing one of his father's awful ties, she realizes, but goodness knows where Mulder got the tiny suit from. With the oversized glasses and his fair hair, William does look like a miniature version of their former boss. Before she can stop herself she lets out a giggle. "You know this counts as child cruelty."
"And that Winnie the Pooh outfit you got him doesn't?"
"You are not dressing him up as Skinner for Halloween."
Mulder pouts before turning his attention back to his son. "Your mom's a cruel woman Will. I guess we'll just have to go with the vampire outfit and be boring like the other kids."
A thought suddenly pops into Scully's head. "Mulder…you haven't told Skinner about this?"
His pause tells her everything she needs to know. "I emailed him a photo. I'm not entirely sure what his response was – I think the Bureau's policy on unacceptable language in correspondence came into play. I think he was impressed though."
"Mulder –"
"It's ok, I printed out a copy for the photo album, and an extra for your mom."
Scully takes William from Mulder's arms as he finishes with his bottle. She presses her lips to his crown, smiling to herself as the baby moves and his glasses slip off to the side. Now he looks like a drunk Skinner. "You know, he does look like him," she teases as Mulder reaches for the camera on the coffee table and snaps a few more pictures.
He pauses in his photography and narrows his eyes. Scully, is there something you want to tell me?"
xxxxxxxx
Winter
"Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma."
Scully inhales sharply as wakes and opens her eyes. She's greeted with William's infectious grin as he sits before her on the bed. The eight month old is clearly pleased with himself for waking up his mom. Now it's playtime. "Good morning little man," she says, wrapping her arms around him and shifting him closer. She plants her lips on his forehead.
"I wouldn't even think about going into work today," comes a voice to her left. Mulder is stretched out on the bed next to her, his head propped up on his hand as he watches mother and son interact.
"Why not?"
"We had more snow last night."
"Haven't they cleared the roads?"
Mulder shoots her a playful grin. "I've no idea. But don't go into work today."
"Mulder –"
"What? It's dangerous. I'm sure even if the roads are clear, they'll be like an ice rink. It's safer for you to stay here with us, right buddy?"
"Bah!" William shrieks in response, a little too close to Scully's ear for her liking.
"Besides, it's freezing outside. You'll catch a cold. Stay here. We'll take Will out to play in the snow. You know he loves the snow –"
"I thought you said it's freezing outside and I'll catch a cold?" Scully's smiling now. The bed is far too warm for her to even think about getting up, and she must admit, she's far too tempted to spend a day at home with her family.
"We'll wrap up". I'll make you hot chocolate, and maybe when Will takes a nap later I can think of other ways to keep you warm."
"Oh god," Scully says, laughing. "That was bad."
"I can think of more?"
"It's fine."
"I'll put marshmallows in your hot chocolate?" He knows his got her now. Mulder reaches for the phone as Scully reaches out to tickle her son, who promptly giggles. Neither parent will ever of that sound. "I'll make you breakfast in bed", he adds as Scully takes hold of the phone.
"Maybe later," she says, for now content to lounge in bed with her boys.
Xxxxxxxx
They go for a walk in the snow, passing various snow men, women, children and angels made by the kids who live in the neighborhood. William is intrigued by the snow but finds he doesn't like the taste of it, or when it falls close to his eyes. When he begins to look cold, despite being wrapped up well, they take him home, and he promptly passes out from the excitement. Mulder and Scully curl up with their son on the couch, Scully lying with her back against Mulder's chest with William on hers, and as the baby sleeps, the snow continues to fall. As Scully looks down at her son, she feels like she never wants to move. It's rare they have quality time like this to simply lounge and do nothing. She works during the week and when she gets home she only has a few hours with her son before he goes to bed. Weekends are precious but go far too quickly. Days like this are perfect.
"You know," Scully says drowsily, feeling as though she could easily join William in a quick slumber. "If it carries on snowing like this, I'd better not chance going into work tomorrow either." She feels Mulder smile against the back of her neck.
"I heard it's supposed to snow all week."
"All week? Damn."
"I know. It would be a shame. I'm sure Will and I will have to put up with you."
"I guess you will."
She hears Mulder let out a contented sigh and for a moment wonders whether he's drifted off. Maybe they should all take a nap, she thinks. Just a quick one, then she'll get up and make dinner. "Want some hot chocolate?" she hears from behind her, and she shakes her head against him. "Maybe later," she says, before her eyes close and she joins her son in a peaceful sleep.