Knowing Scully, I'd expected there to be a lot of screaming when she woke
up, maybe even some things thrown at me. This is the reaction I was
prepared for. What I wasn't prepared for was what really happened.
The faint sound of the cabin door shutting was my only clue that she was awake. I wondered if maybe she didn't realize that William was there too, which is the only way I could rationalize her bolting outside without having tried to get into my room. But how could she have missed the playpen and the scatter of William's things? Both kids were still asleep when I unlocked the bedroom door, so I exited as quietly as I could.
When I got outside, Scully was waist-deep in water.
"What are you doing?" I called as I closed the distance between us.
"Swimming back to land, what does it look like I'm doing?" She asked tonelessly.
"It's too far to swim. Besides, I have William here too."
"I know."
She did?
"Look Mulder, you win. If you want him badly enough to kidnap him, I can't really do anything right now to keep him from you. I'll take you to court, of course, and have you declared insane, but..." She trailed off, letting her hands drop into the water.
"If I wanted to keep William, I would have just taken him." I pointed out. "I'm not trying to take him away from you."
"Then what are you trying to do?" She looked slightly exasperated. That was an improvement over the wooden way she looked before.
"Trying to convince you that we should be a family."
"By kidnapping me and William?"
"Call it an intervention." She stared at me. "Come out of the water. You'd drown of exhaustion before you could make it back to the mainland."
She seemed to be weighing the two options, coming inside with me, or drowning. It looked like it was a close call as to which was worse. After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly trudged out of the water, giving me a wide berth as she passed by.
I left her alone to take a shower and change into dry clothes, occupying myself with getting both babies changed and dressed while she did. William didn't seem as shocked to see me when he woke up this time, so I was feeling a little better about things when I brought them out to start breakfast.
***
They tell you that honesty is the best policy, but I don't think the person who came up with that theory was a terribly bright one. Sometimes, a lie is a hell of a lot more serviceable than the bare truth. More believable too.
Maybe I should have lied to Scully. She seemed willing enough to think that Evie was mine, biologically, on first sight, so maybe I should have let truth take a back seat and told her, Yes, this baby is mine. I had a fling while I was gone, I'm so sorry, so sorry. Her mother died when she was born, so now I'm stuck with her.
Sure, she would have been mad, but I think she'd eventually have forgiven me. At least she wouldn't have been scared to death of the baby, like she so obviously was. Even now, I still don't know what she thought Evie was going to do to her. The saddest explanation, perhaps the closest to the truth as well, is that she was really afraid that she could grow to love someone she considered a monster. I'm sure that her religious upbringing was wrapped up in that some how, even tighter than the wrapped up baby I offer to her.
You'd have thought I was offering her the alien embryo that Deep Throat had her go get for him. To my surprise, Scully did take the baby from me, though, suddenly, and held her very stiffly. Evie didn't like how she was being held, and began to snuffle. Babies do that all the time when they're not in comfort, but they don't usually cause the person holding them to look terrified when they do. What was she expecting, that Evie would retaliate like the kid in that "It's a good life" twilight zone episode?
I sprang to the rescue and took Evie back before she began to cry in earnest. A binky stuck into her mouth calmed her down quickly. Too bad the same could not be said about Scully. I wasn't sure what I should do. Make a dumb joke, offer a word of encouragement? Insist she stop being so silly? Ok, I knew that the third one wouldn't help matters.
In the end, it was William who changed the mood of the situation. I'm not sure how long he'd been walking, but he was able to stand on his own, if unsteady, feet and toddle around. And what he did was come over and look at Evie.
When he reached out to touch her, I was sure that Scully was going to scold him, or maybe even get up and snatch him away, but she did neither. She just sat there tensely, and watched as William patted Evie with one small hand.
"Baby." He remarked with a toothy grin. It seemed to tickle him that Evie was smaller than he was.
"Yes, a little baby. We must be gently." I told him, helping him touch her softly. She didn't seem to mind, and just continued to suck on the pacifier.
"Will's baby?" He gave me a questioning look, and I didn't know what to say.
Scully, however, said "No." So quietly you could barely here her. But William did, fixing her with a puzzled look. "Mulder's baby." She added.
I wasn't sure how to take that. Did she mean no, she's not William's because this wasn't going to work, or not she's not William's because I'm the dad in this family? I was afraid to ask, so I didn't challenge the statement.
The faint sound of the cabin door shutting was my only clue that she was awake. I wondered if maybe she didn't realize that William was there too, which is the only way I could rationalize her bolting outside without having tried to get into my room. But how could she have missed the playpen and the scatter of William's things? Both kids were still asleep when I unlocked the bedroom door, so I exited as quietly as I could.
When I got outside, Scully was waist-deep in water.
"What are you doing?" I called as I closed the distance between us.
"Swimming back to land, what does it look like I'm doing?" She asked tonelessly.
"It's too far to swim. Besides, I have William here too."
"I know."
She did?
"Look Mulder, you win. If you want him badly enough to kidnap him, I can't really do anything right now to keep him from you. I'll take you to court, of course, and have you declared insane, but..." She trailed off, letting her hands drop into the water.
"If I wanted to keep William, I would have just taken him." I pointed out. "I'm not trying to take him away from you."
"Then what are you trying to do?" She looked slightly exasperated. That was an improvement over the wooden way she looked before.
"Trying to convince you that we should be a family."
"By kidnapping me and William?"
"Call it an intervention." She stared at me. "Come out of the water. You'd drown of exhaustion before you could make it back to the mainland."
She seemed to be weighing the two options, coming inside with me, or drowning. It looked like it was a close call as to which was worse. After what seemed like an eternity, she slowly trudged out of the water, giving me a wide berth as she passed by.
I left her alone to take a shower and change into dry clothes, occupying myself with getting both babies changed and dressed while she did. William didn't seem as shocked to see me when he woke up this time, so I was feeling a little better about things when I brought them out to start breakfast.
***
They tell you that honesty is the best policy, but I don't think the person who came up with that theory was a terribly bright one. Sometimes, a lie is a hell of a lot more serviceable than the bare truth. More believable too.
Maybe I should have lied to Scully. She seemed willing enough to think that Evie was mine, biologically, on first sight, so maybe I should have let truth take a back seat and told her, Yes, this baby is mine. I had a fling while I was gone, I'm so sorry, so sorry. Her mother died when she was born, so now I'm stuck with her.
Sure, she would have been mad, but I think she'd eventually have forgiven me. At least she wouldn't have been scared to death of the baby, like she so obviously was. Even now, I still don't know what she thought Evie was going to do to her. The saddest explanation, perhaps the closest to the truth as well, is that she was really afraid that she could grow to love someone she considered a monster. I'm sure that her religious upbringing was wrapped up in that some how, even tighter than the wrapped up baby I offer to her.
You'd have thought I was offering her the alien embryo that Deep Throat had her go get for him. To my surprise, Scully did take the baby from me, though, suddenly, and held her very stiffly. Evie didn't like how she was being held, and began to snuffle. Babies do that all the time when they're not in comfort, but they don't usually cause the person holding them to look terrified when they do. What was she expecting, that Evie would retaliate like the kid in that "It's a good life" twilight zone episode?
I sprang to the rescue and took Evie back before she began to cry in earnest. A binky stuck into her mouth calmed her down quickly. Too bad the same could not be said about Scully. I wasn't sure what I should do. Make a dumb joke, offer a word of encouragement? Insist she stop being so silly? Ok, I knew that the third one wouldn't help matters.
In the end, it was William who changed the mood of the situation. I'm not sure how long he'd been walking, but he was able to stand on his own, if unsteady, feet and toddle around. And what he did was come over and look at Evie.
When he reached out to touch her, I was sure that Scully was going to scold him, or maybe even get up and snatch him away, but she did neither. She just sat there tensely, and watched as William patted Evie with one small hand.
"Baby." He remarked with a toothy grin. It seemed to tickle him that Evie was smaller than he was.
"Yes, a little baby. We must be gently." I told him, helping him touch her softly. She didn't seem to mind, and just continued to suck on the pacifier.
"Will's baby?" He gave me a questioning look, and I didn't know what to say.
Scully, however, said "No." So quietly you could barely here her. But William did, fixing her with a puzzled look. "Mulder's baby." She added.
I wasn't sure how to take that. Did she mean no, she's not William's because this wasn't going to work, or not she's not William's because I'm the dad in this family? I was afraid to ask, so I didn't challenge the statement.