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Scully began to shake, hard enough that she had to sit Will on the counter. He immediately whimpered, clutching her t-shirt. She cradled the back of his head with her left hand, as her other steadied him upright. Throughout the decade that she had known her sister-in-law, she didn't think that she had ever been as angry towards her as she felt at that moment. Judging by the look on her brother's face, Scully guessed that Charlie's feelings were not much different than her own.
"Peter?" Charlie called into the living room. "Ten bucks if you watch your brother and cousin in the living room. Just make sure they sit down when they are eating."
"But—" the seven-year-old began to protest.
"Fifteen if you don't ask any questions," Scully countered. A look of amazement crossed her nephew's face, and he quickly clamped his mouth shut, helping his father shepherd the smaller boys into the living room. A quick peek at Karen confirmed that she wasn't at all happy about the Scully siblings double-teaming her.
After watching the kids leave the room, Scully took her first hard look at Cooke. "I was clear yesterday that my attorney would be in touch about setting up a time to meet. I do not want my sons hearing anything about this," she said, trying to muster as much politeness as possible. "Please don't take this the wrong way. My reluctance has nothing to do with a sense of warped loyalty to Bill, but everything to do with the fact that I have worked extremely hard to remove him and the chaos he causes out of my life. And I'll be damned if these children have to bear witness to any of that. If you would like to discuss anything, we can go to the outside porch, or you and my brother can meet elsewhere after his lawyer arrives. But inside the confines of this house, nothing is to be mentioned of this trial. And I am waiting until my counsel is present before speaking with you about Bill, or anything else having to do with the case."
She paused for a moment as Will began to cry; a quick brush of his forehead confirmed her suspicion of a fever. "Please pour yourself some coffee. I need to attend to my sick child, and will be back in a few moments. Karen, could you please help me for a minute?"
Her heart pounded in her chest as she climbed the stairs with the baby in her arms, his wails getting louder. She was quickly losing all composure, and she shuddered to think of how he had sounded back in the kitchen.
"Dana—" Karen began, defensively,holding up her hands as they arrived on the second floor landing. "I can explain."
"No you can't," Scully seethed, readjusting Will on her hip. "How the hell did he even get in here?"
"It was me. After Mulder left, I went down and talked to the security guy, and told him that I had a courier coming to deliver something from my office," Karen explained, her eyes drawn away from her sister-in-law, looking sheepish. "I gave him the license plate number and car make."
"Goddamnit," Scully cursed, trying to keep her posturing as relaxed as possible for Will's benefit. "When did you plan this?"
"Dana," Karen's voice rose, and her gaze shifted directly to the figure in front of her. "I spoke with Cooke yesterday afternoon. I know that you are dealing with a lot of shit right now, but think of it from my perspective. I've been dealing with the Scully family skeletons-in-the-closet for ten years. Ten fucking years, Dana. Do you know how lost Charlie is after a phone call with Margaret? How it stresses him out so much that I can barely get to him? How he's lost in thought for days on end, barely paying any attention to me or the kids? Peter is starting to figure out that there is a reason why we barely talk to his grandmother. Do you know what kind of questions I've been answering, trying to protect both him and his father? I need this resolved for us, Dana. It's not just about you. It's about Charlie, and our marriage, and our sons."
"But why bring him here, when I told you I didn't want him in my home?"
"The last time I checked, Dana, this wasn't your house," Karen stormed off, blonde hair flying, clattering back down the stairs.
"Fuck," Scully whispered, cradling a screaming Will close.
XXXXX
Charlie found his sister ten minutes later, as she was giving Will a cool bath in an effort to keep his temperature down. It was the first time she had seen Will miserable while in the water; instead of splashing around with his bath toys, he was noisy wailing, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I didn't know, Danes," Charlie sighed, sitting on the toilet. "I had no idea she did that."
"I know," Scully quietly replied. "Can you take over for a second? I need to check his ears."
"Of course," Charlie said, maneuvering around his sister to keep his nephew propped up in the tub. The little boy gave his uncle a mournful look. "Have you thought about forgiving me yet, Will? I just wanted to play with your puppy."
Will's face crumpled. "You might want to reconsider, buddy," continued Charlie. "I give awesome Christmas presents that are super fun and very noisy."
"Thanks for the tip," Scully snorted as she re-entered the bathroom, otoscope in hand. "This is going to be tricky."
Will immediately began to squirm and splash as his mother tried to look into his ears. "This one looks infected," Scully sighed, picking up her son out of the tub. "I need to find a doctor."
"Karen's driving back up to Cambridge this afternoon as planned. I've been asked to not return home until I've moved forward with this whole Department of Justice thing," Charlie explained, handing a terry cloth towel to his sister. "She knows I'm not looking forward to a deposition, so she at least wants this guy to talk to me informally."
"Please don't do that without an attorney present, Charlie. It's never a good idea," Scully explained as she lifted Will out of the tub. "The feds never have an informal conversation with a suspect or witness. It's not like how it is in the movies."
"You know and I know," Charlie nodded, lost in thought as he played with his baseball cap. He shouldn't have been surprised that his wife had delivered an ultimatum; over the years, their biggest arguments had centered on issues related to his family, and in particular, on his relationships with his mother and brother. He had thought he had solved the problem by maintaining less contact with them, but that solution had been, at best, a Band-Aid over the real problem.
He had to admit that Karen had done her best to relate to his feelings, and had shown an exceptional amount of fortitude and patience over the years. But Charlie wondered if Karen could have ever truly understand the complicated Scully family dynamics. Her family had been the opposite of his own—a WASPy upbringing in the suburbs of New York City—a far cry from Naval base housing. He was all too aware that without his full scholarship to MIT, he most likely never would have met, much less married, someone in the social strata of Karen Delano Mueller, who had been raised in a world of prep schools and charity galas and European summer vacations. In many ways, Charlie mused, he and Dana had both found partners who grew up in similar circumstances. Over the years, Karen had tutored him in the art of small talk and fine dining, not to mention how to dress the part of an elite banking family member, and Charlie so no evidence that his sister had played (or would ever play) the part of Eliza Dolittle.
"Let me make a couple of phone calls," Scully offered, her voice jarring Charlie from his thoughts. "Our lawyer was supposed to be calling Justice today to set up a meeting."
"Dana, I don't want you to have to pull strings," Charlie whined, slumping against the bathroom wall. Much like his sister, Charlie was extremely independent, and hated the fact that he had to ask for guidance in any way. He would rather spend hours slumped over his laptop in search of answers rather than depend on someone else's advice.
"It's non-negotiable, Charlie," Scully told her younger brother, well-aware of how stubborn he could be in admitting that he needed any kind of assistance. "You can't afford to procrastinate in any way. From what you just said, it sounds like if you want to keep your family, you are going to have to bite the bullet and get this done the right way. But this isn't something that you can just get over with; you need to talk to an attorney. I can't speak for the state of your marriage, but I do know that you love Karen and you love your children, so do what needs to get done, and do it right. If you need time, Charlie, stay here. Although I don't know how much fun it will be with a sick kid in the house."
"Fine, call your guy. And I'm sorry," Charlie said, looking straight at his sister for the first time since he had wandered into the bathroom.
"You didn't do anything wrong, Charlie," Scully told her younger brother.
"Not about that, I was talking about what Karen said," Charlie sighed, once again nervously fiddling with this Sox cap. "She shouldn't have said that to you, Dana."
"She told you?" Scully asked with an arched eyebrow, surprised, as she wrestled with Will, trying to get him re-clothed. The one-year-old was now clutching his left ear, making it nearly impossible for his mother to put his dinosaur t-shirt over him.
"I couldn't help but overhear," Charlie admitted. "She lashed out at you because you were there. It isn't personal—she has always liked you. You were just the nearest target. None of this, well, family stuff, has been easy for her. She loses sight sometimes, of how things affect other people, how people process things differently. But she means well."
"She's just trying to protect her family," Scully awkwardly responded, turning her attention to her sick child.
XXXX
"I think Will has an ear infection," Scully explained. Will was sobbing in the background, clearly not happy to have been abandoned with his uncle on the back porch while his mother made some phone calls in the kitchen. "I'm taking him to the doctor in a few minutes."
"I'm on the ferry now," Mulder explained, frustrated over the timing of Scully's phone call. After dropping off Kyle at camp, he had driven around the island, hesitant to make his way to the PO Box in Hyannis where he would pick up the hard drive that Frohike had allegedly sent him. As much as he wanted answers, he wasn't sure if he could handle the truth regarding his friend's motives. "But I can turn around once I get to the Cape."
"There's no need to rush home. Pick up the package," Scully reassured him, waving to Will through the sliding glass door. "Umm, Thomas Cooke was here. So I had to get a hold of Preston. This guy wants to talk to me and Charlie, and as much as I want to put Bill away, I know we need to do it the right. The las thing I want is to be called to testify. Preston is flying here this afternoon, and we're having a sit-down with Cooke tomorrow morning."
"This Cooke guy's on the Vineyard?" Mulder responded, his voice sharpening. "Why?"
"Karen invited him to the house, and told the security guy that she was expecting a courier, and gave Jimmy the plates and everything." Scully rushed.
"I specifically told Jimmy that only you or I would be clearing visitors," Mulder angrily replied. "Cooke was at the house?"
"Yes, Cooke was here, but left after I put him on the phone with Preston. Mulder, what was Jimmy supposed to do? Yes it's worrisome, but Karen played him. It's a moot point, though. She's getting ready to leave now."
"She as in just her?"
"Her and Noah," Scully said more quietly, slipping into the laundry room and closing the door, to ensure that no one could overhear her. "Karen gave Charlie an ultimatum about talking to Justice. Peter was upset that Charlie wasn't going home with them, and I thought it would be okay, and said he could stay—"
"Scully, relax, it's fine," responded Mulder, his voice softening. "I'm just surprised, that's all. Of course he can stay."
"It's been chaotic all morning. And I'm sorry that I went ahead and called Preston, I just needed to get a hold of him before Charlie did something stupid," Scully blurted out. "And I should have called you as soon as Cooke walked through the door."
"Scully, calm down," Mulder interrupted her. "Why are you acting like you did something wrong? You have nothing to worry about. You have every right to contact Preston, and have your brother visit. You handled the situation. What's really going on, Scully?"
"It's fine," Scully stammered. "I'm just frazzled. I need to get Will to the doctor. I'll call you after the appointment."
As Scully ended the call, Mulder looked at his phone, confused as to what the hell was going on home. Scully was rarely frazzled, and the fact that she had shared her self-doubts over every decision she had made that morning throughout their short conversation concerned him greatly. It frustrated him to no end that there was nothing he could do at the moment, and once again cursed his poor sense of timing.
XXXXX
Upon their return from the pediatrician's office, Nathan had quickly picked up on the fact that his brother was monopolizing their mother's attention, and demanded some TLC of his own. It didn't matter that Peter and Charlie were playing trains with him, or that they had even taken him down to the beach before giving up and returning the minutes later; he made it clear that he wanted his mother.
Scully felt an overwhelming sense of guilt as she sat on the couch with both of her children. She had just given Will his first dose of penicillin, and he was beginning to drowse on her lap. Nathan had quickly escaped the kitchen after Charlie had had helped him off his booster seat upon finishing lunch, and had made a beeline to the living room, quickly clambering up the sofa. He was trying to nudge his brother off Scully's lap when Will squirmed, kicking Nathan in the chin. The screams and howls of both children filled the house for a good ten minutes, as Scully did her best to cuddle and calm down both of them. Thankfully, Charlie toted Will upstairs after the toddler fell asleep, allowing Nathan to have his mother to himself until he too dropped off into his afternoon nap. Once the two-year-old's breathing deepened, Scully slipped off the couch and pulled a blanket over the boy, not wanting to take him to the nursery and risk waking up either chid.
True to form, Mulder missed the chaos entirely, and arrived home fifteen minutes later. Scully signaled to him that they had to keep their voices down, and three adults retreated to the den after noticing the box Mulder had carried in with him. As promised, it contained a zip drive, which Charlie quickly connected to the desktop, and immediately began to reformat. After fifteen tense minutes, he muttered, "I'm in, guys."
Charlie scrolled through the directory, noting aloud that most of the files were compressed .jpegs. Mulder recognized the bulk of the photos from the album that Valerie-the-alleged-nanny had given them back in South Carolina, but something seemed off about them. He wished he was able to compare them.
"These look like the ones we got with the boys, but they are different," he said. "What do you think?"
"They seem familiar, but I can't say for sure," responded Scully, uncertain.
"Let's get Byers to email us a few scanned copies," Charlie suggested.
After opening up the Gunman's email, they were able to determine that the zip drive contained mirrored versions of the physical photos found in the album; but there was no way for Charlie to quickly ascertain which versions were the original. "This is a mess," Mulder grumbled, completely frustrated when they realized that the best course of action would be to send the zip drive back to DC, so Langly could use his considerable expertise to untangle the issue.
"Wait," Charlie practically exploded out of his chair, immediately sitting back down. "There's something else on this drive."
"But we've gone through all the pictures," Scully said. "Multiple times."
"No, it's not that," Charlie grumbled. "This hard drive is practically at capacity, and these photos only take up about 20% of the space."
"So what's taking up the rest of the memory?" Mulder asked.
"That's what we need to figure out."
XXXXX
"Hey Sherman," Mulder called out to his nephew, who was looking glum on the couch. Peter was annoyed at his father, who had promised to take him back down to the beach after their failed attempt from that morning, but was instead spending his time at the computer.
"Want to go on an adventure with me?"
Peter's eyes lit up. "Okay," he said tentatively, biting down on his lip.
"We need to pick out a movie to watch tonight," explained Mulder. "And then get Kyle."
"But won't Kyle want to pick a movie?" Peter nervously asked.
"He always gets to pick the movie," Mulder dismissed. "Tonight it's your turn."
Scully turned around from her perch on the floor, where she was helping Nathan with some sort of complicated-looking alphabet-and-animal puzzle. Scully had ordered it through some catalogue, and was extremely excited when it had arrived the week before, going on about how educational it was, and how it engaged multiple senses. Mulder didn't think that one simple toy could really have all that much of an effect on a child's development, and had just chalked up Scully's enthusiasm to her need to justify the purchase. In any case, Nathan had woken up from his nap relatively happy, and was clearly enjoying himself with the game.
"Thank you," Scully mouthed. She had felt terrible when Peter had explained that he was promised a trip to the beach, and she would have brought him down to the water herself, but between naps and pickups and waiting for Preston to arrive, she wasn't able to leave the house. She hadn't even had the chance to explain her nephews sullenness to Mulder; he had just instinctively known that Peter was having a rough day, and had wanted to do something to make it a little better.
"You seem more quiet than usual," Mulder said to Peter as they pulled out of the driveway, giving a slight wave to Jimmy, who was parked on the shoulder of the road. Since his chat with Mulder a few hours earlier, was with no doubt all the more alert as to who would be entering and exiting the grounds.
"Are you mad that I stayed here?" Peter asked, looking out of the window, away from Mulder. "Instead of going back home?"
"Of course not," Mulder said, trying to get a read on the boy's expression through the seven-year-old's reflection through the passenger side window. "You can stay as long as you want. Why did you think I was mad?"
Peter shrugged. "Cuz my Mom told me. I mean, my Mom said something, but it wasn't to me, but I overheard it when she and my Dad were fighting. And I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you our not," he sputtered. "So no matter what, I think I'm going to get in trouble."
"Peter, you can tell me anything. I won't get mad at you," promised Mulder, pulling into the gas station. "Honest. It's the second rule of the uncle-nephew code of say-whatever-you-want-and-you-won't-get-in-trouble. He stopped the car and touched his shoulder lightly; along with his red hair, Peter had inherited the Scully family trait to never look directly at another person with whom they are conducting an uncomfortable conversation.
Mulder thought that his comment would prompt Peter to ask him what the first rule of the code was, but instead, Peter surprised him by opening up. "Mom just said that it wasn't Dana's house so it didn't matter if she said it was okay that we stayed."
"Well, in my opinion, it's Dana's house too," Mulder said, trying to be as cheerful as possible. "So if she said okay, it's fine with me. And to tell you the truth, kiddo, if you asked me first, I would have said it was okay too."
"So why did my mom say that?"
"I have no idea," responded Mulder. The wheels were turning in his head; no wonder Scully had sounded so sensitive earlier, vocalizing how she had second-guessed herself on every decision that she had made that morning. He suddenly remembered a remnant of a conversation he had with Karen a few nights earlier, about the Scully siblings' innate sense of insecurity and self-doubt. "Maybe she was thinking of it from a legal perspective, because her name isn't on the deed yet. But you know what, Sherman? I wouldn't worry about it. The only thing you need to think of is what movie we're going to get. And I think that we should also pick up some ice cream. Real ice cream—not that tofutti stuff that's in the kitchen."
XXXXX
Even though Kyle had been pestering his father about basketball camp since he found out about the program a few weeks earlier, he wasn't sure if he actually wanted to go. After the first couple of weeks on the Vineyard, he was bored of hanging out with his father and Dana all day, and wanted to meet kids his age. But after that morning when his father registered him for for the program, and he got to play with the other campers for an hour, he realized that he was probably never going to see them again after the summer was over. Initially, he enjoyed having Peter around; even though his pseudo-cousin was seven-years-old, he acted older, and was well-versed in video games and baseball statistics. But it had been nearly a week since the Scully clan had arrived, and Kyle was looking forward to having less people around. Although he really liked Charlie and Peter, he found Karen to be too loud and kind of obnoxious.
The first day of camp went better-than-expected, and if things went as well the next day, he was hoping to ask his father if he could invite some of his teammates over the house. When he saw his father pull up in front of the community center, he said goodbye to some of the kids he had eaten lunch with, but the smile on his face disappeared when he saw a mop of red hair on the passenger side seat of his father's car. Had he got his cousin's departure date wrong? Why couldn't Peter have stayed home so he could at least have been able to talk to his father alone?
"Did you have a good time?" Mulder asked the eleven-year-old as he climbed into the car and threw his backpack across the backseat.
"Yeah it was fun," responded Kyle, his voice muted. "I thought you were going home today."
Peter warily turned around. "Me and my Dad are staying for a few days," he nervously explained. "Is that okay?"
Kyle's eyes slanted slightly upwards, and he caught the look in his father's face, the look that said lie-through-your-teeth-if-you-have-to, through the rearview mirror.
"That's awesome," Kyle said, hoping he sounded remotely cheerful, or at least not sarcastic. Overall, he guessed he didn't really mind too much, especially if Karen and Noah weren't going to be there.
He just wished he didn't have to keep sharing his father with so many people.
XXXXX
As fitting the status quo for the day, as soon as Mulder had a second alone with Scully, the baby monitor loudly crackled with Will's cries. "I'll get him," Mulder offered.
"Bring up some juice with you. He's probably dehydrated," Scully said, rushing to the fridge to hand Mulder a tumbler.
Will's sobs had muffled by the time he reached his son's room. As Mulder entered the nursery, he could see Will standing up in his crib with a confused look on his face.
"Hey there, buddy," Mulder said, picking him up. "I hope you are starting to feel better."
After a quick diaper change, Mulder scooped up Will and Doggy, and sat down on the old cherry rocking chair that Scully loved so much. He handed the juice cup to Will, who drank it greedily. "You are much more agreeable now than you were this morning, buddy," Mulder said to his youngest son. "You were not a happy camper. Does your ear still hurt?"
Will looked up at his father. "Your mom told me that you were very brave at the doctor's," Mulder said. "You are such a good boy, and I love you very much. Do you know you look just like your big brother when he was your age?"
Will ignored him in favor of his juice, which, by Mulder's judgment, wasn't going to last much longer. "I'm going to promise you this, buddy. Your mom and I are always going to love you and we're always going to be together, okay? Your big brother didn't get that, and I'm going to do it right this time, for you and Nathan. All five of us are going to be together, okay? And maybe if we're lucky, we'll get to see your Aunt Samantha and your cousin. Wouldn't that be fun? Having everybody in this house for summer vacation?"
Kyle and Peter tiptoed down the hall; they hadn't intended to overhear what was obviously a private moment between Mulder and the baby, but did it really count as 'listening in' if the baby couldn't talk? Kyle felt that weird flutter in his stomach that sometimes happened when he thought too much about how his mom wasn't around any more, and how things had changed so much over the past few months. Even though he really liked Dana, he sometimes imagined what it would be like if his mom was around instead of her, and that that all five of them—his parents, his brothers, and him—were going to go back to Manhattan in the fall.
He and Peter settled down his room, ready to play Boggle, when he realized that something was wrong with his cousin. "My mom and dad used to fight all the time," Kyle told Peter. Mulder had quietly told him why Peter was having a rough day; since he hadn't been instructed to not mention anything, he decided he should just say something. Keeping obvious secrets was stupid.
"Really?" Peter asked, doing his best to pretend that he wasn't upset.
"Yeah," Kyle sighed. "It sucks. But sometimes you get some cool presents out of it. I would rather they not fight, but getting extra ice cream or a video game isn't too bad."
"I got to pick out a movie at the video store," Peter asked. "Is it okay that I got Spaceballs?"
"That's one of my favorites! Me and my Dad haven't watched it in a long time. We should definitely watch it tonight with our dads," Kyle said, happy that Peter brightened up. Although that he had wished it was just him and his Dad at the house a few minutes earlier, he decided that having his new cousin and uncle around wasn't too bad.
"I have another question. Who's your Aunt Samantha?"
"It's a long story," Kyle said. He didn't think he had ever explained who she was to anyone, since his mother had explained to him that he shouldn't talk about it. But telling Peter was different-he was his new cousin, and he was probably going to find out anyway. The boys abandoned their game, and Kyle told Peter everything he knew.
XXXXX
"What's that?" Peter asked when he saw his aunt pour some medication into a tube-type dispenser that he had never seen before. They were just finishing dinner, and Peter was considerably happier than before the meal. His father agreed to watch Spaceballs, just like how he and Kyle had wanted, and since they wouldn't be able to start the movie until after the adults talked to Preston, he wouldn't have a bedtime.
"It's called a medicine dropper. Will has to take some penicillin for his ear infection, and he tried to spit it out when I gave him is first dose with a spoon," Scully explained, motioning Peter to move closer. "You see how it kind of looks like a syringe? When I push it, Will's going to swallow the medicine so fast that he can't spit it back up."
Will clearly did not enjoy the taste of his penicillin, but Scully was right in that the medicine dropper prevented him from spitting it out. "I know it tastes bad, sweetie," Scully said as she ruffled Will's hair. "Just sit tight for a few minutes."
"Me, me!" Nathan clamored.
Mulder, distracted from his conversation with Preston about Charlie's frustrations over not being able to open the zip drive file, watched in awe as Scully washed out the medicine dropper with a bottle brush, and then refilled it with some juice. "Okay, Nathan, open up!" she said.
"More!" Nathan said, giggling.
"Not tonight. Maybe tomorrow," Scully said as she rinsed it out and placed both the medicine and the medicine dropper in a high cabinet with a childproof lock. She was taking no chances with Nathan's curiosity, especially since whatever Nathan liked, Will liked. She was beginning to have second thoughts, in that the boys would think that the medicine was a candy or a toy. "Bath time, guys."
Mulder sat back on his perch on a kitchen island stool as Scully and the boys left the room. Since their trip to South Carolina, he had seen a new side of Scully. Not a new side, he scolded himself. Just more open. The passion that she had shown in her work over the past dix years was not nearly as intense as to the passion she had for their family. He wondered if anyone at the Bureau would even be able to recognize this woman standing in this kitchen who was able to give equal, loving attention to two toddlers, one sick and the other rambunctious.
XXXXX
Forty-five minutes later, the adults retreated to the back porch. Just as Preston began to lay down the prosecution's case against Bill, both Peter and Kyle came flying outside.
"What's wrong?" Scully asked, noting the look of alarm on both boys' faces.
"Uncle Bill is on the news," Peter said, breathlessly. "He was in handcuffs and everything."
With that, everyone rushed back into the house.