Three months later...
"No! Nononono!" Markie yelled, running very quickly. I'd been thrilled when he started walking, but now that I was trying to chase him down for a bath, I missed the pre-mobile baby he'd been so recently.
As inevitably happens when you're trying to catch a young toddler, the doorbell rang. "Come in!" I yelled, catching Markie as he howled in protest.
"Sorry to catch you at a bad time." Agent Scully apologized.
"It's ok. I was just trying to catch him for a bath."
"No bath." Markie protested loudly.
"I'm afraid that his bath is going to have to wait." Mulder said. "We need you to come with us right now."
"Now? I don't think there's anyone at my folks house at the moment would could watch Markie, and I don't have a regular baby-sitter." I fretted. While I had agreed to offer them help whenever they were in the area, I hadn't expected it to be a drop of the hat sort of situation. So far I hadn't done anything for them, so the fact that it'd be my first "case" made me nervous too. Not that I thought they'd expect too much from me, I was supposed to be a consultant, not an FBI agent, after all.
"It won't be dangerous, so you can bring him along." Agent Scully replied.
I didn't like the idea of carting around a one-year-old while looking for little green men.
"You're sure it's not dangerous?"
"Positive. Have you ever heard about the hauntings of the shoal islands?" Mulder asked me.
"Sure. Captain Kidd was supposed to have buried his treasure on one of the islands, and there's a ghost who looks for constantly."
"Not constantly." Mulder corrected. "On during a full moon while there's a thunderstorm."
I'd lived in New Hampshire most of my life, but I'd never heard those conditionals. I shrugged, it was possible, the shoals' ghost wasn't a very widespread story so maybe I hadn't heard all the details. The sky was turning cloudy, so maybe it was going to storm. "It's the full moon tonight?"
"Yes."
"So what's the game plan, are you planning to arrest the ghost or something?" I smiled wryly.
"We're going to see if there's a way to catch the image on tape. You are willing to help us, aren't you?" Mulder asked with puppy dog eyes.
I've always been fascinated with ghosts...not to mention the promised stipend was attractive. " Sure, why not, but first let me get Markie dressed for going out in the rain."
I would probably regret helping them, but it was a nice switch: being around them without being the focus of the investigation. Besides, we can all use a little adventure in our lives.
The sky darkened rapidly from bright sunshine to gloominess as agent Mulder's car brought us closer to where we'd be launching off from. I glanced over at Markie in his carseat, and thought about Chase being back at the house. I wished again that there had been time to get someone to look after them, but there hadn't been time. Chase was probably safe enough, but would Markie be? I hoped that Scully was right about it not being dangerous. Still, the thought made me shiver.
The weather didn't hint at improvement, because the sky was completely leaden by the time we got to the boat launch. Scully dashed up to the man who'd been waiting for us, to get the keys. He frowned, and I think he was lecturing her about going out in this weather. He sort of had a point. It wasn't raining yet, but I covered Markie's head with a blanket anyway, just in case. Surprisingly considerate of him, Mulder carried the carseat to the boat. I honestly appreciated that since I had my hands full between carrying Markie and his diaper-bag plus lugging the sturdy metal-framed baby carrier I'd need to use later. I don't think he heard my thank you over the wind, though. Scully let us into the cabin not a second too soon, because the clouds burst just as Mulder shut the hatch behind us.
It wasn't as small a boat as I'd been picturing. I thought there would be a tiny cabin for the controls, and the rest open, but the cabin took up most of the boat's surface, and there were only narrow walkways above the hull. I wondered if the boat's owner had a small child as well, since one of the two benches in the roomy cabin had catches for a carseat like Markie's. I gave Mulder a hand setting it up, before putting Markie back in it.
Of the four of us, Markie seemed the most at ease. His eyes sparkled as he craned his neck to gawk at the cabin's interior, obviously fascinated. The sight of Mulder putting on a life vest made him grin toothily. At least one of us was having a good time.
"You've used a boat like this before?" I asked, giving the controls a nervous glance. I'm not fond of water, so I'd only been on boats a handful of times before, and I'd certainly never piloted one.
"Yes." Scully said, handing me a life-vest while tossing a small one to Mulder, presumably for the baby. "We've had to use boats on a couple of cases before." She didn't look me in the eye as she put her own vest on, and there was something in the careful way she did it that made me wonder if they'd been a necessity on either of the other cases. I made sure mine was tight too.
"What sort of cases?" I tried to sound casual.
Mulder frown at me. "That's classified."
"I see. You can drag me and my child out here to help you, but you can't tell me anything about your other cases. Great." I knew I was being childish, but I didn't care at that point. It was better to be fed up than scared.
"We were looking for a missing ship in one case, and investigating the deaths of some people that had been caused by an aquatic animal." Scully told me.
"That's all I wanted to know." I said grumpily.