Chapter 4

I spent the weekend with some old friends of my father's. I learned to throw a ball and went to an Orioles' game. While I was visiting them I decided it was time to make a big change in my appearance.

On the trip home, Frohike thought a great deal about what Yves had said. She was right, of course. Taking Emma with them on such a trip just wasn't a good idea. Sure they got arrested fairly often but a bit of hacking into the right computer systems usually solved that problem.

Police departments and courts were usually so busy and had so many cases backed up or so often plea bargains were made that no one noticed that their files were missing. But if the Gunmen had Emma with them, she would end up in a foster home, juvie, or somewhere else where she would be noticed. You can delete a computer file, even from CPS but a living, breathing 12-year-old child sitting in a foster home somewhere would be harder to forget making it more likely that questions would be asked.

Frohike remembered a woman named Maxine Grey who he'd met in Connecticut. She worked for the Department of Children and Families there. She would remember a child like Emma and no amount of fancy computer work would convince Maxine that the 'problem' had just gone away.

They couldn't stop doing investigative work though. He had to consider other options. Patty and Paul, the neighbors back at the house, were great but he didn't want to overtax their good-natured acceptance of Emma into their home. Yves had said that she wouldn't mind staying with Emma but she wasn't always around.

He needed someone he could really trust, someone who liked kids, someone who would understand a child who had lost a loved one. Someone who owed him. An idea began to form in his brain. He'd left the two of them, make that the three of them, alone for some time to give them a chance to finally build a life together. All the Gunmen figured that if their help was needed, it would be requested. Maybe it was time for a little visit from 'The Three Wise Men'.

Emma was doing pretty well. The whole incident didn't seem to bother her too much. She had a few more nightmares but she was still seeing the grief counselor and Frohike told her that she didn't need to keep anything hidden about what happened that day; to feel free to tell the therapist all that had gone on. Frohike was relieved that so far Emma seemed to be handling it pretty well.

The weekend before the 4th of July holiday, the Gunmen needed to go on another stake out. Emma asked to go with them.

The answer to that from all quarters was, "NO!" She was disappointed that she couldn't go but she was also afraid for them. She knew now that things could and did go wrong on these trips.

"Are you all going?" Emma asked at dinner at the warehouse. They had decided to tell her together so she knew they all agreed on it.

"Yes, we're all needed on this trip," Frohike told her.

"Then I want to come, too."

"No." He could not bend on this and trying to reason with her might make her think she could argue with him to try to change his mind. "Patty and Paul won't be back until July 7th, so we need to find somewhere for you to stay."

"How about Yves?" Emma could live with that. She was dying to see where the mysterious woman lived.

Byers had talked to Yves. "She really wanted to stay with you, Doc, but she's out of the country right now." John had taken to calling her 'Doc' since that ill-fated trip to Richmond. For some strange reason it seemed to fit and Emma kind of liked it.

"You've heard us talk about Mulder and Scully?" Frohike asked.

"Yeah." Emma answered cautiously.

"Well, how would you like to meet them?"

"That would be nice." She paused looking around the table. "But why are you asking me now?"

"They've agreed to let you stay with them while we're gone," Langly said.

Emma took several breaths to respond to that but expelled each as she realized that everything she wanted to say would be pointless. She finally settled on, "How long will you be gone?"

"Three or four days."

"Three or four days? What about the 4th of July? We were going to have a picnic at the house. With fireworks and everything."

Her mom had never let her buy anything more exciting than sparklers. Jimmy had bought a two big bags of things he called 'festival balls' and 'repeaters'. She had gone with her dad and picked out some that he said she could light herself. So, she was really looking forward to this year's celebration.

"We will try to be back in time for the picnic." Her dad put his hand on her shoulder. Emma made figure eights with her fork in the left over gravy on her plate. She knew he was telling the truth. They would try to be back but he wouldn't guarantee it. She did appreciate the fact that he seldom made promises he couldn't keep but that didn't lessen the disappointment.

Frohike took the fork out of Emma's hand and put it on her plate. He stood up, picking up his plate and Emma's and walked over to the sink with them. "Who's turn is it to do dishes?" he called over his shoulder.

"It's my turn," Jimmy lied.

"No, it isn't." Emma didn't want him doing the dishes when it was her turn simply because he felt sorry for her. "It's my day. You did them yesterday." She got up and gathered dishes to be washed.

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Jimmy was a little hurt that she wasn't going to let him get away with his deception. She must be really mad.

"I'll help you," Langly offered.

"Don't bother, I can do them by myself." Emma was working her way into a full-blown snit.

"Oh, don't be such a snotface!"

"Fine, do them yourself!"

Frohike listened to this exchange and decided that Langly had gotten himself into the situation and he could get himself out of it.

"Nope, the offer was to help. Not to do them for you."

Emma knew what she wanted to say to him but her father was still in the kitchen and she didn't feel like spending the rest of the evening sitting in her room especially if they were all leaving the next day. "Help if you want. I won't stop you."

Once the table was cleared, Langly rinsed the dishes while Emma loaded the dishwasher. They worked in stony silence. That is until Emma dropped a dish and it shattered on the floor at her feet. "Shit!"

"Watch your mouth! Your dad would have a fit if he heard you talk like that."

Fortunately, Frohike had gone downstairs. Emma bent down to pick up the pieces. "Don't move or you'll cut your feet." Emma wore shoes only when she had to and it had been too hot recently to even wear socks. She stood waiting impatiently while Langly went to get a broom and a dustpan.

With the broken pieces cleaned up, the dishwasher running and the rest of the pans, etc. washed, dried and put away, Langly went down to the work area where the others were preparing to leave the next day.

"What was that crash?" Frohike asked Langly.

"Emma dropped a dish. It broke into like a thousand pieces."

"That's good."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I thought she'd thrown something at you."

Langly laughed. "She is in a rotten mood."

"She'll get over it but I was afraid this would happen."

"What?"

"That she would expect to go with us again."

Langly was puzzled by this. "Why would she want to after what happened last time?"

"Well, she wants to be with us for one thing. And I think she's worried that something bad is going to happen. If she's with us, she'll know what's going on."

"True. I'm sure she can think up all kinds of horrible things that could happen." Langly knew she had a vivid imagination.

"Has she told you any of the nightmares she's had since that last trip?" Frohike asked.

"A couple of them. Nasty stuff. Did you hear the one about the morgue?"

"Yeah, Byers told me that one."

"Me too. He said that she had to go around in the middle of the night and check that we were all still alive. Poor kid."

Frohike looked back towards the stairs. "What's she doing now?"

"She said she was going to pack."

"I'll go see how she's doing."

"Watch out," Langly warned, "she really might throw something if she's still pissed off."

Frohike laughed, "I'll be sure to duck."

Emma was in her room considering the assortment of clothes that she had placed on her bed. She wasn't sure what to bring. When she stayed with Patty and Paul, she could always go next door and get whatever she needed. This uncertainty was adding to her already foul mood.

"How's it going?" Her dad asked as he came into her room.

"Terrible. I don't know what I'm going to need and some of the stuff I want is back at the house."

Frohike offered some advice. "Just bring a little bit of everything. I'm sure Scully can wash anything you need to use more than once."

"I don't want her to have to do my laundry. I don't even know her. Besides I can do it myself."

Frohike was undeterred, "Why don't I take you back to the house so that you can get what you want?"

"There isn't enough time." Obviously she wasn't really looking for help. She just wanted to complain.

"Sure there is. I'm ready to go for tomorrow. Get your shoes. We're going to the house."

Emma sighed and did as she was told. She did want to pick up some nice clothes, just in case. She had no idea what to expect but she didn't think her usual shorts and t-shirts would cover all the bases.

On the drive over to the house, Frohike talked about Mulder, Scully and little William. He was trying to familiarize Emma with the family so that she wouldn't be so nervous about staying with them. Emma had heard about the two adults many times but she didn't know they had a child. Somehow that made them seem a little less scary.

Frohike explained that William had been a bit of a surprise to everyone. He was a little more than a year old now. Emma had been missing little Louie, Patty and Paul's three-year-old son. With that family on vacation and Emma not being around much she had seen very little of her small friend. So there being a young child to play with made the thought of staying with Mulder and Scully more palatable.

At the house Emma rummaged around in her closet and found two lightweight dresses and a pair of sandals that matched. She was going to have to talk to her dad about getting some new clothes. These were from last summer and she was lucky they still fit. They were a little tight across her chest and a bit short but they would do.

She threw the clothes into her bag and headed down to the kitchen where her dad was sorting through the accumulated junk mail looking for bills or anything else of real interest. She set her bag down on the counter.

"Find everything you wanted?"

"Almost." Emma opened the cupboard next to the stove and began moving the spice jars around. She pulled out three small jars: ginger, cloves and cinnamon, and placed them on the counter. Then she climbed up on the counter to reach the top shelf.

"What're you doing?" Frohike asked watching her gymnastics.

"I know there's a jar of molasses up here somewhere." She finally located the sticky brown bottle, placed it on the counter and jumped down. She tried to unscrew the lid but it wouldn't budge. She took it over to her dad. "Can you open this for me?"

"Sure." He took his gloves off, not wanting to get molasses all over them. The lid was nearly glued in place by the thickened fluid stuck to of the lip of the jar. He got the lid off and handed the jar back to Emma.

"Thanks." She looked inside to see how much was left. "That's enough for what I want." Closing the jar, she took it over to the sink to rinse it off. Frohike joined her there to wash his hands. He touched the tip of her nose with one sticky finger leaving a brown smudge on her face. "Hey!" Emma complained as she tried to clean her nose.

"You could have rinsed the jar before you handed it to me," Frohike said as he washed his hands.

"Sorry." He handed her the damp towel he'd used to dry his hands pointing out where her nose still had molasses on it. When she didn't manage to get it all, he took the towel from her, put one hand behind her head and started rubbing her face with the towel. "Stop!" Laughing, she grabbed the towel from him. "I can do it myself."

Finally clean, Emma went back to raiding the cupboards. She put two cookie sheets on the counter then opened the recipe box that lived in a corner near the sink. She shuffled through it, looking for a specific recipe. After consulting the ingredients on the card she added a box of soda to the collection on the counter. "Let's see, I know we have sugar, flour, salt and eggs back at the warehouse."

Frohike glanced at the recipe card as Emma moved away from her stash of ingredients. He opened the cupboard, took out some shortening and moved everything onto the cookie trays. Emma grabbed her bag and Frohike picked up the baking supplies and they both headed out to the car.

Back at the warehouse, Emma finished packing. Then she went into the kitchen and started on her cookies. It was quite late by this time but on the way home Emma explained that she wanted to make the cookies to give to Mulder and Scully to thank the couple for letting her stay with them. This was a huge improvement over her bad temper of earlier, so he let her stay up late to do the baking.

The smell of fresh baked cookies was a novelty in the warehouse and it brought hungry Gunmen out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, Emma insisted that the cookies were not for them. She even swatted Langly's hand with a pancake turner as he tried to take one when he thought she wasn't looking. He stalked off, his feelings more hurt than his fingers. She had never made cookies for him before. How come Mulder was always so lucky?

Early the next morning, they loaded everything into the van and headed over to Scully's old apartment where the family was still living until they could find and/or afford something bigger.

After watching Emma try to pick up her duffle bag while balancing the plate of cookies in the crook of one arm, Frohike grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. After asking him to hold the plate for a couple of seconds, she said good-bye to all the guys, hugging each of them in turn, trying not to think of how dangerous this new mission of theirs might be.

Langly was the last to say goodbye. He held out his arms for his hug but Emma hesitated. "Wait, I almost forgot." She trotted over to her father to get something out of her bag. It was a big zip-lock full of cookies. She brought them over to Langly. "Here these are for you." When his eyes lit up at the sight of the cookies she added, "All of you. Sorry, Langly, you're going to have to share." She hugged him then holding on to him for longer than usual. "I'm sorry I was such a brat yesterday, Langly. I was really mean to you."

"Hey, don't worry about it, squirt. I wish we could take you with us but I would never forgive myself if something really bad happened to you."

"But what if something bad happens to all of you?"

Juggling the plate of cookies and the bag, Frohike glanced at his watch. Time was becoming a problem. "Come on, Emma, let's go."

"Nothing bad is going to happen to us. We'll see you in a few days." Langly assured her.

Emma gave him one more, quick hug, took the plate of cookies out of her dad's hands and followed him into the apartment building.

Standing outside the door to the apartment waiting for someone to answer the bell, Emma nervously asked her father, "What if they don't like me?"

He turned to look at her. "Why wouldn't they like you?"

"I don't know." She was just looking for reassurance.

He put his arm around her and gave her shoulders a quick squeeze as the door opened. "Hello, Frohike, and you must be Emma." Scully greeted them as she let them in. Emma was surprised to note that the woman looked very familiar. Her red hair, intelligent face, the tiny gold cross she wore on a necklace…Emma knew she'd seen her somewhere before.

Then she realized where. Her father had a box of photographs in his closet. Many of them were of this woman. But why did he have so many pictures of her? Emma watched her dad talk to Scully: the way he stood, his expression, his tone of voice. Scully was more than a friend to him. Much more. Emma could only wonder for a short time because the question that had just been asked of her was repeated, "Emma, did you hear me?"

"What? Oh, sorry, Dad. What did you say?"

"You have something you wanted to give to Scully and Mulder."

Emma glanced down at the plate of cookies in her arms. "Yes, I did, Ms. Scully. I made you some cookies."

"My name is Dana."

"Dana. Here, they're ginger snaps. I hope you like them."

Emma handed her the plate. "Thank you. They look delicious." Dana took the plate to the kitchen and set it on the counter. "Let me show you where you can put your stuff." She took them into William's room. There was a crib against one wall and a twin bed was set up across the room. "I hope you don't mind sleeping in the baby's room. We'll have him bunk with us so he won't disturb you."

"Oh, you don't need to do that. I don't mind sharing with William."

Frohike had hoped to see the toddler before he left. "Speaking of the little tyke, where is he?"

Dana smiled at Frohike. "He's out jogging with his father. Mulder got one of those jogging strollers so he could take William with him. He says it's to give me a break in the morning but I think he's just getting soft and thinks this will motivate him to exercise."

Frohike laughed and asked, "Too much good home cooking, huh?"

"Not unless you think he's a good cook. With me working most days, he's been playing the stay-at-home dad. That doesn't involve a lot of physical activity. Well, at least it didn't until William learned to run."

There was a noise at the front door and Scully went to check it out. Frohike helped Emma get her things settled until he could hear Mulder talking to Scully in the living room.

"That's Mulder. I'm going to go see how he's doing."

"I'll be right out. I want to hang up these two dresses first."

Frohike went out into the living room. He figured Mulder would have some questionable comment to make and he'd rather not have it said in front of Emma. "Frohike! You old dog! I always knew you had it in you!"

Scully and Frohike had ironed out all the arrangements for Emma's stay so this was the first time in a long time the two men had spoken to each other. Scully wasn't pleased with Mulder's comments though. "Mulder, knock it off. She doesn't need to hear that." Scully began unstrapping William from the stroller.

He was unrepentant but decided to save the rest of his sleazy comments for later when there were no kids around. "Well, when do I get to meet her?"

Frohike called to her. "Emma, I need to leave."

Mulder turned to see if Scully required any help with the new stroller. After he unbuckled the last strap so that she could finally lift the child out of the contraption, he turned back to Frohike and saw Emma standing next to him. The girl smiled at him and held out her hand, "Hi, I'm Emma." Mulder froze in place and stared at her. Emma let her hand drop and looked over at her dad, unsure what to do.

"Mulder, this is my daughter." Frohike said his friend's name in the hopes that he would say something.

He finally blinked and said, "I'm sorry, you caught me off guard for a moment."

"What do you mean?" Frohike asked.

"Here, I'll show you." Mulder walked past them into the living room.

Scully, with the baby still in her arms came over to Frohike and said, "I was afraid this might happen. You didn't see it, Frohike?"

Mulder came back with a photograph. In the picture was a little girl who was 8 or 9 years of age. There were quite a few similarities between Emma and the girl in the picture. Emma reached up and touched her hair. It was French braided down both sides of her head just like the little girl in the picture. She had started wearing it in two braids instead of one earlier in the summer because it was cooler on her neck and back.

"This is Samantha. She was my kid sister. She disappeared when she was a little younger than you. You looked so much like her for just a few seconds… it caught me off guard," Mulder repeated.

The timing was terrible but the guys had been waiting out in the van for too long.

"Emma, I have to go." Frohike told her.

"Dad, I …" She didn't finish the sentence in front of the others but Frohike knew what she wanted to say. He took her aside and hugged her close, kissing her forehead as he released her.

"I know, I know, but everything will be just fine. I've trusted these two people with my life many times. I know they will take good care of you." He studied her face and hugged her again. "I'd ask you not to worry but I can tell you already are. Be good. I'll call you every evening."

"Goodbye, Dad."

"Good bye, honey."

Mulder had gone to change the baby and Scully stayed in the kitchen to give the father and daughter some privacy to say goodbye. Scully moved to open the door for Frohike. "Don't worry, Frohike, she'll be fine."

"I know she will. Thank you, Scully, and thank Mulder for me."

"I will. Goodbye," Scully said and shut the door. She turned back to look at Emma across the room. The girl already had one side of her waist length hair unbraided and was working on the other.

"Do you have a brush I can use?" Emma asked. She did not want to disturb Mulder with the baby and all her stuff was in the nursery.

On her way back from the bathroom with a stiff bristle brush in hand, Scully checked on Mulder and William. They were just about done. "How's it going?" Which actually meant, "How are you doing?"

"We're good to go," said Mulder. He finished redressing William and tossed him in the air making him squeal in delight. "Do you think I freaked her out too much?"

Scully indicated the brush in her hand, "Showing her the picture helped but she's redoing her hair. She is Frohike's daughter though. I'm sure she's pretty tough."

"I'll be out in a sec," Mulder told Scully.

Emma had her hair arranged in one ponytail high on the back of her head when Mulder brought William out to the living room. She just had way too much hair and with the weather so hot it was miserable to wear it down. The only problem was that the weight of all that hair in one spot on her head usually gave her a headache by the end of the day. That's one reason she always braided it.

It was probably time to just get rid of it. She was 12 after all and old enough to decide what to do with her own hair. All she needed was a big pair of scissors. She wasn't sure if she'd have the nerve to do it but by bedtime, if she did get a headache, the decision would be much easier to make.

Mulder smiled at Emma. "Let's start over. Hi, it's good to finally meet you."

"Hello, Mr. Mulder."

"It's just Mulder."

"Dear god, another one," thought Emma but she knew his first name was Fox and no one called him that.

Mulder was still holding the baby. "And this fine lad is William."

Emma held her hands out to the baby to see if he'd let her hold him. He considered her for a few seconds then leaned out towards her, his chubby little arms reaching for her. Emma held him so that they were nearly nose-to-nose.

She smiled at him making the same kind of silly faces that her little friend, Louie, always found entertaining. She was rewarded with a delighted giggle from William. He grabbed for her glasses but she gently disengaged his fingers before he could bend them.

"He's adorable," Emma told Scully. She looked over at Mulder who had half a dozen cookies in his hand and another in his mouth, "I was going to say that I made you some cookies but I see you've already found them."

"They're delicious, thank you," he said around a mouthful.

"They're better with milk." He decided to take her advice.

The rest of the morning was pretty uneventful. Emma had brought several things to keep herself entertained including a laptop computer. Langly had set it up so that they could play games together if he wasn't busy. He'd also shown her how to connect a webcam so they could see each other. Emma plugged it in and hooked it up but she knew it was too soon for him to be online. They were still traveling and would be until early evening.

She was sitting reading a book after lunch when Mulder came in and threw a mitt in her lap. "Come on, you need to practice."

Emma picked up the mitt and tried it on. "Practice for what?"

"Fly balls, what else? Come on, you don't want to sit inside all day do you? Let's go."

"Mulder, give the girl a chance, would you?" Turning to Emma she said, "He wants you to go play catch with him."

Mulder wound up to throw the ball at Emma. "Outside!" Scully commanded, "and not with that hardball. Get one of William's tennis balls to start."

"Ah, Emma's not afraid of the hardball, are you, Emma?"

Emma gave Scully a pleading look.

"Mulder," Scully went over to him, "a tennis ball first." She took the real baseball away from him. "Why don't you two go over to the park and William and I will join you when he wakes up." Mulder tried to grab the baseball back from her. "No, I'll bring it with me when I come."

At the park Mulder and Emma threw the tennis ball back and forth a couple of times. Mulder was appalled by the fact that Emma had no idea how to throw. "You throw like a girl!" he accused her.

Emma was a little hurt by that statement. "But I am a girl."

"Sorry, that's not what I meant, well, yeah, maybe it was but…" He finally gave up. "Do you mean to tell me that you live with four men and not one of them has played catch with you or even taught you how to throw a ball? We're going to have to work harder at getting them out of that hole they call an office and into the sunshine."

Emma agreed with that but she defended them anyway, "Jimmy's been teaching me how to shoot baskets."

"Baskets? Basketball? Oh, no, baseball is the game for you." Emma could tell now that he was teasing. It was kind of fun catching the ball. She had never used a mitt before and it took a little getting used to. She was right handed and wanted to wear it on that hand but it was built for her left. Mulder said she needed her right hand free for throwing. He gave her a few pointers on how to stand and move to throw the ball farther. It really did make a difference.

"Do I still throw like a girl?" she asked after practicing for a while.

"Yeah, you do but you're getting there."

She aimed the next ball at his face. He ducked, neatly catching the wayward ball. "Hey, that wasn't nice!'

"Don't blame me, I had a rotten teacher so I throw like a girl."

Scully found them chasing each other around the park. Emma in the lead ducking behind trees and bushes trying to throw Mulder off. For his part, Mulder was not trying very hard to catch her. Scully had seen him run down enough suspects to know that this little girl was really no match for him, but the chase was the game. And they were both enjoying it. Scully was glad that she had brought cold drinks with her. They were both going to need them.

Emma spotted Scully with William in a stroller and ran in their direction stopping within five feet of them and stood there panting. "Hi!" She wasn't watching Mulder anymore but Scully was.

"Look out!" Scully warned. Mulder ran up, grabbed Emma from behind, locked his arms around her chest and rolled with her across the ground. His intention was just to grab her and spin her around but he lost his balance and had to roll holding on to her so that he would end up on the bottom to keep her from getting hurt. Emma was too shocked to even react until they stopped rolling.

"Hey, knock it off!" Emma did a mental check for broken bones. Finding none she got him to let her go and stood up. She took off her glasses to make sure they were all right, too.

"Mulder, that was too rough!" Scully admonished him. Frohike would kick their asses if anything happened to his child.

"Ah, she's all right. Nothing but a little dirt and grass stains that will wash right off." He started brushing the dirt off Emma's clothes until she stepped away to get out of his reach.

"Ow, that hurts!" Emma complained. Mulder couldn't do anything right.

He sheepishly pointed out that Emma had quite a few twigs and leaves in her hair but he didn't offer to pull them out. "It's okay, Mulder, I'll get them." She looked out to where they had been playing catch. "I don't know where I dropped the mitt."

"Don't worry. I'll find it." Mulder went in search of both mitts and the tennis ball. Scully sighed as she watched him walk away.

"He didn't hurt you did he?"

"No, he just surprised me. Can I help you with that?" Scully had pulled a large plaid blanket out of the stroller and was laying it out in a shady spot on the ground. Emma caught the far side and helped to get it straightened out. Scully had also brought lots of cold drinks, some fruit, crackers, and several of Emma's cookies.

William was getting fussy about being confined to the stroller. Scully took him out and put him on the blanket. He sat there for less than three seconds before he was off and running. Mulder returned at this moment, threw the gloves and the ball on the blanket and took off after William. "Thank you, Mulder," Scully called after him.

With William and Mulder running around in the field, Emma and Scully got a chance to talk.

"How long have you known my dad and the guys?" Emma sat on the blanket picking bits of grass and other debris out of her hair. Cutting it was sounding like a better idea all the time.

"Oh, gosh, that's been eight or nine years now. You're dad was funny the first time Mulder took me to meet The Lone Gunmen." Scully smiled to herself remembering that day. Her initial impression of the guys had not been a good one but now that they were such close friends she could laugh at herself.

"Oh, yeah, what did he do?" Emma liked to hear stories about her father.

"Well, maybe it wasn't a good idea to bring that up."

"Why? What happened?"

Scully considered Emma for a few seconds. Was 12 too young to hear that her father was, well, that he was Frohike? With Mulder around it was bound to come up. "Ask your dad. See what he says. I'm curious if he remembers."

Emma was a little disappointed by this but she intended to do as Dana suggested. "He has a lot of pictures of you."

"He does? I don't know that I've seen that many. Where did you see them?" Emma was ashamed to admit that she had seen the photos when she was snooping in her dad's closet.

"He keeps them in a safe place along with a bunch of others." Emma hoped that would satisfy her.

Dana could see that Emma was a little uncomfortable so she let it drop. "He does like to take pictures."

This was something Emma could heartily agree with. "He drives me crazy sometimes! Just when I think I can relax, there he is with his camera. Once he took a picture of me while I was sleeping! He lets me help in the darkroom and one time, when I was in there, I saw it hanging on the wall. It was so embarrassing!" Dana tired hard not to laugh at that statement.

Emma was getting frustrated with her hair. There was still a lot of junk in it and it was getting all tangled. This was why she always braided it! Scully could see that she was having trouble. "Would you like some help with that?" Emma had dealt with her hair by herself since before her mother died. She missed her mom braiding it for her. Letting someone else help would be a relief and didn't seem to be betraying her mother in any way.

"Please. That would be great. It's a huge mess."

"Why don't you take out the pony tail and we'll just start over?"

Emma pulled the elastic out of her hair and let the tangled mess fall down her back. Scully reached for William's bag and pulled out the comb she kept in there for her own use. "I only have a comb."

"That's okay. Just start at the bottom and work your way up." Emma turned around so that her back was to Dana.

"Let me know if I hurt you."

"Don't worry about it. I have a tough head. My dad keeps saying I have a thick skull."

"I'm not sure that's what he means by that."

"I know." Scully continued to tug the comb through Emma's hair while the girl watched Mulder and William play.

This was so idyllic. Emma tried not to enjoy it too much but this was a perfect picture of how families were supposed to be: a caring, gentle mother, a father who spent time with his children. Emma shook her head to bring herself back to reality. She missed her mom, of course, but she was happy with her life.

"I'm sorry. Did I pull too hard?"

"No, it's fine. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"Families."

"Any families in particular?"

"Yours, mine." Emma turned slightly to see Dana. "Are your parents still alive?"

"My father died a few years ago, my sister after that. But I still have my mom and two brothers. Do you have any other family?"

Emma shook her head. "No. Not really."

"Cousins, aunts, uncles?"

"None. What's it like having two brothers?"

"Probably not all that different than living with Langly."

This made Emma laugh. "Yeah, John and Jimmy, too. They're all really nice to me although they can get kind of bossy sometimes."

"Well, there you have it. That's exactly what it's like having brothers."

"Really?"

"Do they tease you a lot?"

Emma gave a short laugh, "All the time."

"That's a brother's most important job: teasing his sister." Scully ran the comb down the length of Emma's hair. "I think I got all the debris out. Do you want me to put it back in a ponytail?"

"Yes, please." Emma watched as William did a serious face plant in the grass. Mulder picked up the squalling child and carried him back for Dr. Scully to examine thereby ending all girl talk.

The following evening, Emma sat at the computer waiting for her dad and the guys to come online. She adjusted the camera so it was pointing right at her face.

Although she said otherwise, Emma could tell that Dana was really mad at her. She told her to go wait for the call so that Emma could tell her father what she had done.

Emma didn't understand what all the fuss was about. Dana said that Emma should have talked to her dad before making such a big change. Mulder agreed with Emma. He didn't think it was all that big a deal. He said, "It's not like she got a tattoo or anything. Calm down, Dana, it will grow back."

That did nothing to improve the red head's mood. "It would have been nice to return her to her father looking the way she did when she arrived."

Emma felt bad that she had caused this disagreement between them and when she told Mulder this he reassured her that they seldom agreed on anything and that it had been that way since the first moment they met.

The connection came up. "Dana, they're online." Emma informed her. Langly's face filled the laptop's screen.

"Hey, brat, how's it going?" Langly asked.

"Hi, Langly. Is my dad there?" Emma wanted to get this over with.

"Okay, fine, don't talk to me." He used his mock hurt face.

Scully came up behind Emma and clearly wasn't in any mood for Langly's antics.

"Langly, get Frohike."

"Yes, Ma'am." Langly saluted. "Frohike, it's for you," he shouted over his shoulder. He turned back to the screen and asked, "What did you do, Emma? She looks pissed."

"You're not talking to my daughter with that mouth are you?" Frohike came into view. "Move over, punk." Langly got up and let him sit down.

"Hello, ladies. How are we doing?" Frohike asked, smiling at the two of them on his computer screen.

Scully tilted her head in Emma's direction. "Emma has something to show you."

"What?" Now he was concerned.

"Really, Dad, it's not that big a deal."

"Emma, what does Scully want me to see?"

"It was just getting to be such a pain."

Frohike sat back with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm waiting."

Emma sighed and reached back and pulled the elastic band out of her hair letting it fall around her face. Her dad leaned into the screen to get a better look. "Turn around." She did as she was told. Her hair came to just below her shoulders and was very uneven. "Did you cut it yourself?"

"Yes," was her nearly inaudible answer as she turned back to face the camera.

"Did you bother to check with anyone before you did this?"

"Well, no but..."

"When did you decide that cutting your hair would be a good idea?"

"Yesterday."

"Why didn't you talk to me about it when we were online last night?"

She knew he wouldn't like the answer to that one but it was pointless to lie. "Because you would've told me to wait until you got home."

"Yes, I would have."

"But it's so hot and I couldn't wait. I think I'm old enough to decide what I want to do with my hair."

"I agree but the way you did it was sneaky. That's why it's a problem."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, I know. We'll talk more about this when I get home."

"Do we have to?" Emma figured enough had been said.

"Yes, we do. Now put Scully back on." She was standing just out of sight of the camera.

"I'm right here, Frohike."

"Emma, go into the other room. I want to talk to Scully in private."

Emma started to protest but Mulder, who had been watching from a distance, came and escorted her from the room. Scully watched as they left.

"She's gone. I'm sorry about this, Frohike."

"Don't let it bother you. She's full of surprises."

"Is this what I have to look forward to when William gets to be that age?"

"No, I've met your son's father. It will be much worse."

Scully laughed.

Frohike continued, "Listen, can you take her to get it fixed? It looks awful. What did she use to cut it anyway? A chainsaw?"

Scully laughed again. She was glad she had talked to Frohike. He usually put things in perspective. "We've made plans to do that already."

"I'll pay you back when we get there."

"Oh, absolutely not. This happened on my watch. I'll take care of it."

"Scully, I know you guys are living on only your salary."

"It's not all that bad that I can't afford a haircut. I insist on paying for it."

"Well, thanks. Hey, if you really want to bug her, don't let her pay for it either. She'll want to and it drives her nuts when she doesn't get to pay for things."

"Thanks for the hint."

Frohike turned to what was really on his mind. "Do you believe her reasons for cutting her hair?"

"Yes, I do. We spent quite a while yesterday trying to get tangles and knots out of it after a mishap at the park."

"Let me guess, Mulder had something to do with it."

"You got it."

"So, she seems all right to you?" This concern was always in the back of his mind.

"Yes, Frohike, she's fine."

"Thanks again for taking care of her for me."

"I'm more than happy to help."

The next day, after the repair job on Emma's butchered hair, which, to her chagrin, she did not get to pay for, Mulder had a surprise for Emma.

"Here you go," he told her mid-afternoon after Scully had gotten back from work. He was holding an envelope. She took it out of his hand, looked up at him then back at the envelope.

"What is it?"

"Open it."

Emma did as she was told. In the envelope there were two tickets to an Orioles' baseball game. She looked questioningly at Mulder. "They're for this evening," Mulder explained.

"You want to take me to a baseball game?" Emma was surprised.

Mulder fought the urge to give a truly smart-ass answer. Instead he went with, "Yup."

"Okay." Emma wasn't sure what to think of this development.

Mulder was disappointed. He thought his little surprise would be met with more enthusiasm. Scully had warned him that this might happen. He pointed to the tickets.

"They're playing the Mariners."

"Ooh, I like the Mariners." Emma and her mother, Michelle, had spent quite a bit of time in Seattle over the years. Michelle had been part of the design team that worked on Safeco field. Emma had even gotten to meet some of the players but had never watched a game except on TV. "Do you think Edgar Martinez and Ichiro will play?"

"Do you mean to tell me that you'll be rooting for the opposing team?" Mulder feigned dismayed shock, but at least she now had some interest in the event. "Maybe we should sit in separate sections. I don't know if I can be associated with you." Emma had gotten used to his teasing by now so didn't worry about the imaginary threat. "Come on, we need to get going if we want to find a place to park."

"But there are only two tickets. What about Dana and William?"

"We'll be staying here," Scully informed her after hearing the question as she came into the room. "William is at an age that taking him anywhere which would require him to sit still for hours on end would be torturous for everyone involved. It'll be hard enough for Mulder to sit still that long. Can you imagine what it would be like to have both of them there?"

Emma laughed at Scully's teasing of Mulder but she also felt a little guilty. "Look if you two want to go together, I can stay and baby-sit. I've done it before for my friend Patty."

"Sorry, Emma, you're stuck with Mulder for the evening."

"Hey!" Mulder complained about all the abuse, "I'm a fun guy!"

"Yeah, but sometimes you're a bit too much fun," she told him. Scully turned back to Emma, "And besides the idea was for you to go out and do something, not leave you here with the baby."

"Are you sure?" Emma asked but she was getting used to the idea and was starting to anticipate a good time.

"Yes," Scully grabbed William as he tottered past. "We're going to have a good time just the two of us. Aren't we, sweetie?" William patted his mother's cheek, said something incomprehensible and squirmed to be let down. She set him back on his feet and he continued on his mission to spread toys all over the living room.

Getting ready to go took more time then Mulder thought. He told Emma she had to bring a mitt just in case a fly ball came their way. (Now she understood what he had meant the first day about practicing catching flies.) Scully insisted that they both wear sunscreen in case they were sitting in the sun. Emma hadn't brought a jacket with her, so Scully dug out one of her own that fit Emma well enough.

Emma didn't feel like carrying the jacket all evening because she figured it would not get cold enough to wear it but after the hair cutting fiasco, she wasn't going to argue the point with Scully.

Once they figured they were ready to go, Emma decided she needed her sunglasses and that search took a few minutes. Mulder was beginning to appreciate just how low maintenance Scully was. "Be patient, Mulder, she's just a child." Scully reminded him.

"Come on, Emma, let's go or we'll end up parking down on the waterfront and have to walk back to the stadium."

"I'm ready," she told him, trotting back to the front door wearing her prescription sunglasses.

"Are you going to wear those the whole time?"

Emma patted her purse. "No, I've got the others."

"All right, let's go!" Mulder was a little relieved.

Emma sat in their seats at the stadium and enjoyed the show going on around her. The game hadn't started yet but there were several people out on the field preparing it for the game. Some of them had huge rakes and were tidying the dirt around the bases. A couple of people had hoses and were wetting it down.

Others came out carrying a long, narrow, wooden box. They laid it down along where the foul line should be and hit it with a hammer along the length of the box. When they picked it up there was a lovely new white foul line. They moved the box farther down and repeated the process until the whole line was laid out. A different wooden box was used to create the batter's boxes around home plate.

Mulder had impulsively decided that there was something they needed and climbed over several seats to avoid making people get up so that he could go get this mystery object. Before he left, he extracted a promise from Emma that she would not move until he got back.

They had gotten separated in the crowd on the way in. He turned a corner ahead of her and when Emma got there he was no-where to be seen. So she did as her mother had taught her and stood in one place until he came back to find her. She could hear Mulder yelling her name long before she saw him and his relief was evident on his face when he spotted her.

He held her hand the rest of the way, even though she insisted that she could just walk in front of him. He wasn't going to take a chance of losing her again. Emma humored him. He was still new at being a dad. He'd get the hang of it eventually.

Mulder returned, once again climbing over the seats. Apparently he felt she needed a really big foam hand with one pointing finger that stated, "We are number 1!"
Emma put it on her hand. "Thanks, but do you have a thick, black marker."

Mulder checked his pockets. "Nope, it looks like I left all my thick, black markers at home," he joked. "Why did you need one?"

"I wanted to write 'Mariners' on this really big!"

He took the foam hand from her and started whacking her on the head with it. Emma grabbed it back and tried to do the same to him but someone in front of them got bumped and complained, "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry," Emma and Mulder said in unison and settled in to watch the players warming up on the field.

After the National Anthem, for which they joined in on the singing, the game began. Mulder actually allowed Emma to go get them chilidogs and soda during the fourth inning. She didn't think he'd let her go as far as the bathroom unescorted after what happened on the way in.

They ate peanuts, which a vendor was selling in the aisles. Emma almost had more fun watching him than the game. He could throw the big packages of peanuts with amazing accuracy from behind his back. The two of them also split a large wad of cotton candy and got very sticky.

During the seventh inning stretch, they all stood and sang 'God Bless America', a new tradition since September 11, but then lightened the mood with the usual 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' When they got to the part where everyone changed the words from 'root, root, root for the home team' to 'root, root, root for the Orioles', Emma sang 'Mariners' very loudly. Mulder grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth as the other spectators turned and stared at her. They had good naturedly put up with her cheering when Edgar made two homeruns and Ichiro made one but the song was sacred. Emma just smiled at them when she sat down. Mulder explained, "She's young. She doesn't know any better."

After eating a huge pretzel during the eighth inning and washing that down with ice cream and more soda, Emma was feeling a little woozy. The Mariners won the game but by that point Emma had been sitting in the sun too long, had eaten too much junk and had just generally over done it to do any gloating.

The walk back to the car seemed longer than it should and Emma curled up and tried to fall asleep on the way back. Her roiling stomach made that impossible.

When they got back to the apartment, Scully noted that the girl looked very pale under her tan. She had Emma get ready for bed immediately. When she was in the bathroom, Emma allowed herself to throw up. She washed her face and brushed her teeth.

Scully and a rather shamefaced Mulder were standing outside the bathroom when she came out. Scully had been reading him the riot act after getting him to admit all he had let Emma eat. Scully checked her for a fever and finding none, tucked her into bed. Emma mumbled something about apologizing to the guys when they called then fell fast asleep.