A Mother's Care
By Trycee
Time Frame: Season 9, six months after William is born.
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files. This is written for fun not profit.
Scully watched his reactions as she held up her baby high above her head as William blew raspberries and hissed and giggled. She smiled at him as her heart soared full of pride just as she still did whenever she still pulled out the only photo she had of Emily. William was six months old and growing so fast she couldn't believe how much time was flying. She placed the baby back onto her lap and touched his sweet chubby cheek, rubbing her finger across the doughy face. His blue eyes were wide and glowing, just like hers. William looked so much like her. Everyone told her that wherever she and William went. She stared at the soft tendrils of blondish hair that was giving way to a red tint. She had wished his hair would be brown like Mulder's but obviously that wish would not come true. He was a typical Scully child...who was a Mulder, she thought to herself. William gave her a deep stare that brought her out of her reverie. It was a stare that was clearly his father's stare. It made her smile but it also made her heart ache deeply. As if William knew what she was thinking, William smiled a curved smile just like Mulder. "You're becoming your father every day," she sighed.
Scully placed baby William down into the small play pin she had pulled up to the sofa so she could continue to touch her son and stare at him with wonder. He was their miracle child, an extraordinary child but she didn't want to dwell on that. William's attention turned suddenly to the door as he sucked on his pacifier. Scully looked perplexed as she watched her sons rigid frame as he stared blankly at the door. He then turned toward her and pulled out the pacifier and smiled a wide smile. Her face softened as she stared at her baby, her little man. The door bell rung making Scully jump. She walked over to the door and grabbed one of her guns which she had stashed in a table near the door, it a necessity she had learned since Williams birth. She peeked out the front door but then smiled. She swung the door open.
"Dana!", Maggie said, opening her arms wide despite the numerous bags in each hand.
"Mom...I didn't know you were in town."
"I came to see my daughter and my grandson," she said, breathlessly as she walked over to the couch, placing the bags down carefully.
She reached out her arms and William held up his hands to be picked up. She layered his chubby cheeks with kisses. "Willy...what have you been doing?", she said, in baby speak. "You been good for you're mom?"
"Oh no...He just got back from running off with a motorcycle gang," Scully joked, dryly.
Maggie sat down with the baby in her arms. "I love coming for these visits...I feel so far away in Baltimore."
"You're thinking of moving?", Scully said, arching her eyebrows.
"You could move there," Maggie said, arching her own. "That way I can see Willy all the time..."
"You know I can't," Scully said, her head dropping down to her chin. "I can't leave my students at Quantico and there's other reasons," she said, looking back to lock eyes with her mother.
She could tell that Maggie understood. "I brought gifts...", she said, excitedly as William traced her chin with his stubby fingers.
Scully smiled back and then reached for all five bags. She pulled out a few outfits. "Mom," Scully whined. "He has a closet full of clothes he hasn't worn yet...This kid is spoiled already. Jill and Tara sent the boy's old clothes and you won't stop buying them."
"Neither will you...", Maggie said pointedly.
Scully shrugged. She liked to indulge him after all he was her miracle. Scully rustled through the bags as Maggie cooed in baby talk to her daughter."Keep looking..."
Wordlessly Scully moved on to the other bags. It held diapers, another new set of cloth baby books, and stuffed animals. She was already thinking about renting a storage locker for the stuff he had as a newborn or she could give it away, she wasn't sure if she were ready to part with his things just yet but her apartment was quickly filling up. William grabbed a stuffed bear out of his mother's hands and shook it. To Scully's surprise it had a rattle inside. He smiled and shook it rigorously as he broke out into coo's, bringing smiles to both his mom and his grandmother.
"Every time I look at him, I see you again as a baby...", Maggie said in wonderment. "The Scully genes are strong," she said in a whisper.
"He has a lot of Mulder's traits...", Scully interjected. "But yes, he looks quite a lot like me...just as Emily did..."
Maggie turned to look at Scully. "I didn't mean to make you sad..."
"It's too late," Scully huffed. "Moments like this I can do nothing but think of them..."
Maggie could see the tears she was trying to control that had crept to the corner of her eyes. She needed to keep her daughter's mind on other things. "The last bag...Open it..."
Scully pulled out two salads and a jar of baby food. Scully smiled and then glanced over to William. "He'll certainly get hungry as soon as he sees us eating..."
"I've had four, remember!", Maggie said softly. "If he's anything like his uncles...If he's anything like his father...He's gonna be tall with a healthy appetite."
"Who doesn't have a good appetite when you're cooking?", Scully smiled. "Thank God I cook like you."
"You'll need it. Boys will eat you out of house and home."
After they'd fed William, they let him play in his play-pin as they ate their salads. Scully then picked the baby up and started sniffing his head as she held him, waiting on him to burp into his bib as she gently patted his back.
Maggie watched them curiously. "I used to sniff your head," she laughed. "Its a mom thing..."
Scully looked surprised. "I didn't realized I was doing it."
"You always smelled so clean...at first it was the newborn smell and then it was the shampoo. I think most of us do that," Maggie chuckled.
Scully laid William down in the play-pin and put a blanket over him as he closed his eyes for a nap. They then sat back on the sofa. Maggie placed her worn but firm hands over her daughters hands.
"William's hair," Scully laughed as she shook her head. "He smells like coconut...An organic coconut baby shampoo. It's similar to the kind I used to use using when Mulder and I were just partners..."
Maggie waited patiently listening to the laughter that was bubbling up from within Scully, a rare treat. "I remember...", Scully continued. "When I first started using it...I couldn't figure out why Mulder kept invading my space...", she said, with a smile. "I mean he always invaded my space...Later I found out that he was attracted to me from day one just as I was..."
"I knew it," Maggie said, quietly.
"He just kept coming over to me while we sat on the couch, he kept leaning in...in a way that only he can and he kept putting his face so close to mine I could've kissed him if I wanted...", she said and then stopped. Her face turned a pale pink as she confessed to her mother.
Maggie was smiling and then squeezed her hand encouraging Dana to speak. "It wasn't until one day when he was sick here and I found him sniffing my bottles in my bathroom did I figure it out. He later told me he always sniffed me. He'd always memorize each change of scent from whatever I would try. He knew my perfumes, he knew my shampoos, he knew my body washes...", she smiled. "Just as I knew all the same things about him..."
Maggie placed another hand on top of Scully's. "You miss him, don't you?"
Scully's smile faded and her eyes began to tear up. She knew that she could cry in front of her mother. There had been only three people that she let her guard down too. Her mother, Missy and then finally Mulder. And since the pregnancy, Scully had found it difficult to keep her emotions in check the way she once had. The Stoic Scully, the Ice Queen had melted away years before when she realized how much she loved Mulder and then after they'd consummated their relationship, she had no longer felt the need to hide herself away from him. She felt his comfort when she let him in. But the pregnancy had been her emotional unraveling. Now she was bare, her tears, her emotions; it was a both blessing and a curse to be so exposed.
"I miss him so much," she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"He's coming back...as soon as it's safe...", Maggie said, enveloping her into her arms.
Scully looked down at the baby who'd awakened and sat himself up, staring up at her. She could see he was tearful as well. "William needs his father," she said, softly as she picked him up, trying to calm him before he broke out into tears. He was obviously reacting to her own tears; the bond of mother and child was so strong. "I need Mulder too, " she said, barely audible. "I lost him once...then to lose him again..."
"He'll be back," Maggie said, trying to reassure her.
"I know...but a part of my heart is gone," she said, as fresh tears traced down her chin.
William instantly reacted and let out a piercing scream. Maggie lifted him up out of Scully's arms and began to sing to him which quieted him down. "It's okay, Willy," Maggie said in a sing-song-voice. "Mommy's okay...Mommy has you..."
William sniffled, his eyes on his mother. He was pinning her with a soulful sorrowful look that was nearly too much for her to take because it was Mulder's look. She swallowed her tears. "Mommy's okay, William...Mommy's fine...", she said, touching his hand. She picked up his pacifer and placed it in her mouth, 'cleaning it', the way mom's do and put it in his.
"And you're a doctor," Maggie said in a mocking tone, raising a brow.
Scully smiled shyly. "I'm too lazy to get up right now," she said, as she noticed the stiffness in her body. She was putting on a brave face for William and her mother but her body knew better.
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