TITLE: Hush
AUTHOR: Cheddar (cheddar1013@yahoo.com)
RATING: G-ha ha now you don't have an excuse not to read it :-D
CATEGORY: V
SUMMARY: Scully tires to get a little person to sleep
SPOILERS: Requiem, Post-Modern Prometheus (small)
ARCHIVING: Sure, as long as my name and e-mail are on it
FEEDBACK: Good or bad, I welcome any feedback. Send it all to cheddar1013@yahoo.com
DISCLAIMER: As much as I love M&S, they aren't mine. However, rumor has it that once Chris passes away, I am the rightful heir… Wha'd you say? You can't believe everything you hear on the internet? Pshaw!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a very short little vignette I wrote one afternoon- not a deep, heavy, post-Requiem fic, but a nice, sweet little babyfic (yes- a babyfic. don't say I didn't warn you). Enjoy.
"There you go sweetheart," Scully whispered. "Now how about thinking nice thoughts so mommy can get some sleep tonight, okay?"
The tiny baby she held in her arms scrunched up her face and pushed the bottle away in disgust. Scully sighed. She had been crying nonstop for about ten minutes now. "You have to be hungry. You haven't eaten since this afternoon.."
But her daughter refused to be persuaded by food. Once again she angrily hit the bottle and pushed it away. (Though she was barely a month old, she was already the strongest baby Scully had ever seen. "You're going to grow up to be a basketball player, aren't you?" she would chuckle. "Or maybe you won't be so lucky and you'll inherit my height." At this she smiled. "Then you could play baseball instead.")
Although she had not eaten in a while, Scully gently picked her up and tried to burp her. "Come on… work with me here" she pleaded. But the baby continued to cry. What was wrong?
A possibility that Scully had not yet encountered yet was what if she was sick? Panic set in as she raced for the baby thermometer. Her hand shook as she placed it in the baby's ear- making her scream even louder. 98.5°- no fever.
Fatigue had still not yet encumbered her daughter, much to Scully's dismay, so she checked to see if she needed her diaper changed. Nope. Clean as a whistle. The baby continued to scream on the changing table, and her confused, exhausted mother plopped down in the chair beside her. She was running out of options.
Scully leaned over and rubbed the little girl's stomach as she reached for the phone.
"Hi Mom, it's me. Yeah I'm okay I'm just… Yeah having trouble getting her to sleep. I've tired everything… uh huh I tried that… yep… already did that… yeah… Oh no I haven't... Okay I'll try it. Thanks, Mom."
Her mother had suggested just holding the baby and rocking her. She said maybe it didn't have anything wrong with her- she just needed a little love. With a sigh and a silent prayer, Scully picked up her baby and sat in the rocking chair, hushing her. "Shhh… shhh…" But the baby refused to stop crying.
With despair and frustration beginning to take their toll on her, Scully suddenly felt very alone. Who was she kidding? She can't raise this child alone. She can't even do something as simple as put her to bed when she is upset. And it's only going to get harder and harder with each passing day. She needed someone's help. She needed the little girl's father…
A flicker of hope quietly lit when Scully got an idea. Very patiently and quietly, she began to hum a song. At first it didn't work, and yet as she got to the chorus, her daughter began to quiet down just a little bit. Scully continued to hum and the baby continued to get quieter and quieter, until she rested her tiny head against her mother's shoulder and closed her eyes.
Scully's eyes began to water from relief and suddenly didn't feel so alone anymore. She tenderly kissed her tiny forehead and set her in her crib, continuing to hum softly. Once she finished the song, she smiled and whispered to her baby,
"Your daddy will smile when I tell him I put you to bed by humming 'Walkin' in Memphis."
"Scully, I… I just never saw you as a mother before." –Mulder, "Home"