March 22, 2021
Mulder opened the front door and Scully heard him exclaim happily. Turning her head, she saw he was carrying in a large box and she frowned in confusion.
"What's that you've got there?" she asked as he closed the door and looked at her with a smile.
"A pasta maker."
"A… a pasta maker?" She looked back at Faith sitting beside her on the living room floor and playing with a piano book as she sang along to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." What has your daddy done now, my love?"
"Faithy! It's here! The pasta maker we ordered is here!"
"Pasta!" she said, abandoning her book as she stood up and walked over to him. "Yummy pasta."
"When did you buy a pasta maker?"
"About a week ago. Remember when we were watching that cooking show?"
"Which one?" she asked with a laugh as she stood up and walked over to join them.
"True, we have been watching a lot of those shows," he said, as he set the brown cardboard box on the dining room table and began to pull the tape back and open it. "But there was one we watched and they made pasta from scratch. It looked easy and delicious. I thought, we could do that... I mean we have the time." He took the pasta maker box out and moved the other to the floor, smiling as he turned it around and looked at all the features.
"Ravioli… lasagnette, whatever that is… fettuccine," he said, with a nod. "Think of the money we'll save making our own pasta."
"Considering we will eventually have to buy the ingredients, not sure we'll save that much," she responded, looking at the pictures with a smile.
"Party pooper," he said and she laughed. "I was looking at the pasta makers and watching videos when you were on a run a couple of weeks ago. Faith was watching with me and she seemed interested in it. There was a little boy in the video helping his mom and I thought it would be fun to have one and try it with Faith."
"You're so cute," she whispered and he looked at her in surprise. "I love how excited you get to do things like this with her. You're such a good dad, Mulder. You really are." She smiled and he stared at her, nodding slowly as he took a deep breath.
"Thank you," he said quietly. She kissed his cheek as she placed her hand on his arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"So… let's unpack this thing and see how it works," she said with a smile.
The machine was unpacked, the parts were cleaned, dried, and waiting to be used on the kitchen counter, as Mulder wiped the table down. Scully put a pot of water on to boil and then began to gather the necessary ingredients, measuring cups and spoons. Faith was playing with Grey who had laid claim to the cardboard box, jumping in and out of it with a toy and then ignoring it to chase her own tail.
"We decided on fettuccine, right?" Scully asked and Mulder nodded as Faith laughed, picking up Grey's pink toy mouse and throwing it into the box.
"Okay. I'll get the sauce ready while you two make the pasta. Oh, I think we still have some salad. I could make that too." He gave a low grumble and she smiled. "Yes, Mulder… a salad."
"Fine… I'll just have to have some extra sauce to make up for it," he said as he took some paper towels from the roll and smacked her ass as he walked back to the table, winking at her as he did and she shook her head with a smile.
"Okay, Faithy my love, you ready to help me make the pasta?" he asked her as he dried the table and looked over at her.
"Yes. I help make pasta. Bye Grey." She waved to Grey and walked over to Mulder who smiled at her and bent down to kiss her cheeks loudly, causing her to laugh.
"Okay. Let's get your apron on."
"Okay, dada." He opened a drawer and took out her apron. It was dark blue with teal ties, neck strap, and a pocket. There were butterflies and flowers covering the whole thing in different colors of blues and greens.
"Here we go," he said as he put it over her head and crisscrossed the ties around her waist and then tied it in the front. "Okay, you're ready. Oh, wait, we need to wash your hands first. Come on!" He scooped her up, kissing her and snorting in her ear, causing her to laugh again.
Scully watched them, the way he held her, pulled up her sleeves, and helped her wash her hands as he sang the alphabet song. His care for her never failed to make her feel an ache in her chest. He was a good dad, just as she had told him, and she loved watching his attentiveness with Faith.
"Now we're ready," he said as he dried both of their hands and set Faith on a chair. "So, the recipe says to mix it up in a bowl, but… I say we do it on the table. Like real bakers would."
"I think we should concentrate on making the pasta and cut back on the dirty talk," Scully deadpanned and he looked up at her in surprise.
"Are you flirting with me?" he asked and she raised an eyebrow as she started to smile and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You just… save those thoughts for later. Right now we have some pasta dough to make." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together.
Scully smiled as she brought over the ingredients, cups and spoons, and Mulder grabbed the large cutting board, and they were all placed on the table. He took his phone from his pocket to look at the recipe and she took out her own phone and started recording them while taking pictures periodically.
"Think we should double the recipe, so… we'll need…" He took out the cup and put it in the flour, making sure it was level before pouring it onto the cutting board. Adding a second one, he then added a teaspoon of salt and mixed it carefully. He gave Faith the spoon and helped show her how to mix it gently.
"Now we have to beat the egg slightly before we add it to this mixture."
He turned around quickly and took a small bowl down from the cupboard. As he came back to the table, Faith was still holding the spoon, mixing up the flour. As he reached for the eggs, she lifted the spoon into the air, a large amount of flour sitting within it. It flew back, hitting him square in the face.
The shock of it caused them all to freeze and then Mulder coughed loudly, a huge puff of flour falling onto Faith and the table. She gasped and Scully started laughing... hard. When she did, Faith copied her as Mulder shook his head, wiping at his face, still coughing as flour fell from his lips.
Scully kept laughing, bent over and then back, her head falling back as she tried to hold the phone steady. Faith put the spoon in the flour again and Mulder, his face still covered in white flour, stopped her from using it to hit him with another scoop.
She looked up as he did, saw his messy face and began to giggle before laughing hysterically, which caused Bella to bark and come running over to see what all the excitement was about. She jumped up and down, her tail wagging as they all laughed and Mulder shook his head as he reached for a kitchen towel, flour falling everywhere.
"Well," he choked out and Scully stopped the recording on the phone, trying to catch her breath from laughing. "That wasn't exactly what I saw happening, but I should have expected it." He coughed and shook his head, flour falling once more as he looked at Scully who started laughing again at the sight of him.
Taking a few minutes, they cleaned up. Faith continued playing in the flour and created a bigger mess as it fell on Bella, covering her back and making her sneeze. Scully laughed as she took Faith from the chair, and turned down the gas under the pot of water, keeping it on a low boil, as Mulder wiped down the table and dried it again.
"Okay," he said with a chuckle. "Let's try this again." He took Faith from Scully and looked at her as he held her. "No more throwing flour at daddy, okay?"
"Okay, dada." Scully chuckled at the seriousness of her tone and took out her phone to record again.
Thankfully, the second attempt was much better than the first and the pasta dough was set aside to rest for a little while. Faith was taken off the chair, but kept her apron on as she went to play.
Working together, they made the salad and the sauce for the fettuccine, keeping it on a low simmer as the pasta maker was reassembled and Mulder read the instructions.
Cutting the dough into sections a bit later, they rolled out the dough, Faith once more on the chair. Mulder then helped her turn the crank handle and feed a portion of dough through, pasta noodles coming out the other side. He looked up and smiled at Scully who was once more taking a video and pictures. She smiled back as she watched him lifting the pasta delicately.
"Dada. We make pasta!"
"We sure did, love. Look at it, it's perfect. We did a good job, a spoon of flour and salt to the face notwithstanding." Scully chuckled and turned off the video, catching his eye and walking over to him. She wiped off the top of his right ear, a bit of flour still remaining.
"Just so cute," she whispered, kissing his cheek and smiling.
He nodded and smiled, feeding the dough through the machine again. Laying them in little nest piles, he showed Faith how to sprinkle them with flour as they rested once more before being cooked. When they were done, he lifted her from the chair and bopped her on the nose with a flour covered finger.
"Thank you for your help, my love. You did a great job. Wasn't that fun?"
"Uh huh, dada. Fun." She held his face in her hands and smiled at him, Scully snapped pictures, her phone on silent as to not disturb them, that happy ache filling her heart again.
When it was ready, Mulder held Faith as he dropped one little nest of noodles in at a time, stirring it and watching it cook, taking a long noodle out to test it and see if it was ready. Again Scully snapped pictures, laughing as Faith chewed on an extra long noodle, a happy smile on her face.
The noodles were drained and plated, sauce poured over them, and the salad dished up. Everything was placed on the table and they sat down to eat, Faith still wearing her flour covered butterfly apron.
"Oh, this is so good," Scully exclaimed as she took the first bite. "So much better when it's fresh."
"Could not agree more," Mulder replied as he slurped up a long noodle and Faith laughed, munching on a cucumber and Scully smiled as she took another bite.
The meal finished, Scully brought a chair to the sink and let Faith "help" her with the dishes, which mostly involved her splashing in the warm bubbly water and helping to rinse the silverware. It did not matter though, as it made the tedious task of washing dishes more enjoyable.
They took a walk when they were done, needing some fresh air and exercise. Everyone came along, Grey trotting along with them until she scampered off to chase at something they could not see. Bella was happy to be out as well, sniffing out all of her familiar places.
Coming home before it was too dark, they said hello to all of the garden figurines Scully had bought a couple of years ago at the fairy tale amusement park. Faith especially liked the white unicorn with the golden mane and tail, petting it and telling it goodnight. Grey came running up the drive with a meow and they all headed inside.
Faith had a bath and was read a story in their bed, yawning tiredly and rubbing her eyes, falling asleep before it was finished. For a few minutes, as she lay facing Scully, draped across her body, Scully simply stared at her. She ran her fingers through her soft dark hair, over her perfect porcelain like skin, and down her nose and across her pouty lips that were so much like Mulder's. She was so beautiful, this perfect person they had created.
"She's perfect, isn't she?" Mulder said quietly, kneeling down beside the bed and staring at her, his hand on her pajama clad thigh, his thumb rubbing softly.
"I was thinking the same," Scully whispered, running her fingers through her hair again. "She's beautiful."
"Of course she is. Have you looked in a mirror lately?" She smiled and reached out a hand to touch his cheek. He turned his head and kissed her palm, staring into her eyes with a soft smile.
A few minutes more and he lifted Faith gently and carried her to her room. Scully stretched and placed Faith's book on the nightstand before getting up and walking out of the room. She heard Mulder humming softly and she smiled. She knew Faith had not woken, but it seemed they both needed a little extra cuddle time with her tonight.
Downstairs, she straightened up and was deciding on a glass of wine when she heard her phone vibrate with a text. Walking over, she saw it was from Mulder and she frowned with a smile as she looked up the stairs, wondering why he was texting.
Opening the message, she sighed deeply. It was four pictures that he had taken without her knowledge. One was of Faith bent over, nose to nose with Grey, as she played in the cardboard box. Another was her touching the unicorn in the garden, the last bit of sunlight captured perfectly. The next two were of Faith sleeping on her in the bed. One of only Faith and the other with Scully's fingers resting on her cheek.
She smiled as she saved them and selected the one of her sleeping as the wallpaper on her phone. As she opened her camera roll to reciprocate with photos of him and Faith, she heard Faith's door close and Mulder walking quietly down the stairs.
She smiled at him as he reached the bottom. Locking her phone, she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He hummed a small laugh and she took a deep breath as she closed her eyes.
"How about some ice cream?" he asked softly and she nodded against his chest. "Good. I'll get it." He kissed the top of her head and she let him go, sitting on the couch and unlocking her phone again.
She looked through the pictures, watching the videos with no volume, laughing silently as he got hit in the face with the flour. Rewinding it, she watched it again, covering her mouth with glee. Going back, she looked at the photos she took while taking video and her eyes widened.
"Here you go," he said, holding out her bowl of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge on top. "What's that you're looking at?" She turned the phone toward him and he laughed as he sat down, both bowls in his hands.
By some stroke of luck, she had captured the exact moment of impact. Faith held the spoon aloft. flour was flying up, the air around them hazy, and his face was hysterically comical: his eyes closed, eyebrows up, and mouth pulled down as the full force of the flour hit him.
He took the phone from her as she took her ice cream and he set his bowl on his lap. Zooming in, he chuckled at the look on his face and the way Faith held the spoon, as though she both seemed to have no idea while also knowing exactly what she was doing.
It was the perfect accidental shot.
Sending it to himself and making it his wallpaper, they then watched the videos she took throughout the day as they ate their dessert, laughing as they did.
He collected their bowls when they were done, took them into the kitchen, and put them into the sink, rinsing but not washing them. He came back and sat beside her again, taking her hand and sighing.
"It was a good day today," he said and she nodded, putting her head on his shoulder.
"It was. I'm glad you bought that pasta maker." He chuckled and she smiled as he hit the home button on his phone. "If only for that moment and that photo, it was worth every penny."
They both laughed as he set the phone down and he squeezed her hand. Sighing, she yawned and closed her eyes with a smile.
"You're a wonderful mother," he whispered and she opened her eyes, watching his thumb rubbing her hand, as she remembered her words to him earlier in the day. "I know you know, but you should hear it more."
"Thank you," she whispered back, blinking away sudden tears. He hummed and kissed the top of her head, squeezing her hand again.
"I love you," he whispered and she smiled.
"I love you too… flour face," she said softly as she snuggled closer to him, his happy laughter filling her ears.