September 2022

Scully walked into her office and sighed. The later shifts at the hospital were always harder, but she was happy with how the day had gone. Well, content anyway.

She still had an hour to go, in which she would need to finish up her paperwork, leaving notes for the doctors on call in the morning. Sitting down at her desk, she sighed as she opened a file, rereading what she had written earlier, adding notes from

the day.

As she moved it, reaching for the next folder, she heard a buzzing sound, and turned to her left, seeing her cell phone light up with a message from Mulder. She smiled as she picked up the phone and opened the message.

It was a picture of the moon, a bright full moon, taken from their porch, a small portion of the drive and the magnolia trees in the bottom corner. As she stared at it, the phone buzzed with another message.

Opening it, she found a picture of their porch swing, the new pillow Faith had insisted on sitting in the middle; white with numerous rainbows upon it. She grinned at the picture and then the phone buzzed again.

A picture of the porch chairs.

Then a picture of two glasses of wine on the table between the chairs.

She smiled, about to text him and tell him she would be home soon, when a message appeared and she sighed, the poetry of the words stirring her soul and arousing her all at once.

"Come home

Beautiful lady

I've left the lights on

Though the stars

And the moon

Are burning brightly"

She exhaled, looking back through the messages and shaking her head; that man did know how to get to her. Exhaling again, she set the phone aside, not answering him, knowing it would only prolong things and she was now eager to hurry the paperwork along and get home to drink wine with him by the light of the moon.

Her notes may have been shorter than usual, but they were thorough and contained what was needed. Placing them onto Doctor McKay's desk, she gathered up her things, walked out the door, and smiled as she headed to her car.

The gate to the drive was open, cutting out one stop she had to take in order to reach the house. She closed it after she drove through, not wanting Bella to run out and away. Driving up and parking beside the house, she saw him sitting on the porch, the white fairy lights on and the porch light off.

Smiling as she made her way to the stairs, she glanced at the moon across the field, wanting to see the view he had been enjoying as he waited for her arrival. Looking back at him, she grinned as she walked up the stairs.

"Hello there, beautiful lady," he said and she stepped closer to him, bending and kissing him, her hand on his shoulder.

"Hello," she breathed against his lips, kissing him again. Pulling back, she smiled as she took off her coat and tossed it onto the porch railing. Sitting beside him, she accepted the glass of wine he handed her.

Holding it in her right hand, she held her left out to him, silently asking for his hand. He interlocked their fingers, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing it.

"How was your day?" he murmured, kissing her hand once more.

"It was okay," she answered, taking a sip of her wine, squeezing his hand and releasing it, bringing hers to rest on the arm of her chair.

"Just okay? Hmm. Give me your high and low." She smiled as she thought of the game they played with Faith, the high and low of the day, always trying to highlight the positive over the negative.

"Let's see…" she said, leaning back, and resting her head against the chair. "Low of my day… there was only light cream cheese in the cafeteria."

"Oh… that is a definite low." She laughed and nodded, taking a drink of her wine.

"And my high…" She turned her head and smiled as she looked at him. "Knowing that you were waiting here for me."

"Gross," he said, shaking his head as he grinned at her and she laughed softly. Turning her head, she looked at the moon and sighed happily.

"What about you? What did you two get up to today?"

"Well… we decided on a color today."

"What? Really? That's exciting!" Looking at him again, he nodded and smiled. "So what's the color then?" He cleared his throat and grinned as he lifted his glass to his lips.

"All of the colors."

She laughed, the sound of it echoing in the still, dark night. Shaking her head, she looked at him and he nodded.

"So… then no decision has been reached?"

"No, Scully. The decision is all of the colors." He spread his hands wide and she laughed again.

Over the summer, despite the heat, they had all been working on a non-tree treehouse. It was more of a playhouse, but Faith had called it a treehouse so often, that was what it had become.

Everything had arrived in a huge kit, the wood a light colored pine with a plan to paint it when it was put together and finished. Skinner had come over a few times to help with the building of it, the house more intricate than believed when it had been purchased.

When the last screw was put in, Faith had been over the moon, clapping her hands and hugging them all before she opened the door and stepped inside.

It was a decent sized house, one that Scully could stand inside with Mulder bending only slightly. One large room was all it had, but to Faith it was like a palace, considering all the things she had wanted to put inside of it. It had a Dutch door, the top of it with a heart cut out in the middle. There were seven windows, with window boxes beneath four of them. A gabled roof extended out over a small porch with railings on three sides.

They had numerous tea parties and even a movie night with a sheet hanging on the wall to project it upon. Mulder had needed some ibuprofen the next day, the house not quite large enough for his over six foot tall body to lay in comfortably.

But Faith had loved playing in there, always rearranging the furniture she had brought inside. Trading the books from the bookcase in her room to the small one in the treehouse, back and forth as her interests changed. Little plastic chairs were sitting on the small porch and the window boxes had real plants in little plastic pots, though they did not actually grow very well, as Faith dug them up frequently, curious as to how they were doing.

It was her house, however, and they let her do what she wanted with it- within reason of course. She wanted curtains and Violet, their wonderful neighbor, surprised her one day with white ones covered in rainbow colored polka dots. She helped her hang them up and Faith had loved them. She wrote Violet a thank you note, which had made Violet cry, hugging Faith and telling her she was more than welcome.

The color of the house… that had been a never ending discussion, the color of it changing every time they thought they had it nailed down. They had gone to the hardware store and let Faith pick paint sample cards, hoping it would narrow down her options, but instead she had walked out with a huge stack of them. She had laid them all out on the living room floor, laying on her belly as she had stared at them, her concentration unwavering, as she took the decision very seriously.

A color had not yet been chosen yet, and that trip to the hardware store had taken place over three weeks ago. She had decided against some of the samples, but there were still quite a few on the floor, with no one allowed to touch them but her.

"So," Scully laughed again. "How did she uh… narrow it down?"

"Would you like to see?"

"Absolutely."

"Come on then," he said, setting his glass down and standing to his feet. Reaching for her hand, he pulled her to her feet and set her glass of wine beside his on the table.

They walked down the stairs and around the house, the moon alone bright enough to light their way. He squeezed her hand and she smiled, grabbing his arm with her other hand.

Standing in front of the treehouse, he took a flashlight from his pocket and turned it on, before opening the door and gesturing for her to enter first. She smiled, ducking only slightly as she stepped inside, the beam of the flashlight revealing how the decision had been made and Scully laughed quietly as she shook her head.

All around the room, as high as Faith could reach, a different paint sample card had been taped to the wall. Clusters of colors were together, some random lonely ones, and some in a rainbow pattern. There was no rhyme or reason to it and Scully found that her usual need for organization was overpowered by the beauty in the chaos of colors.

She smiled and looked at Mulder, who was also grinning as he looked at them. He turned to her and nodded with a shrug.

"She was in and out of the house today, as I fixed the clothesline, Bella always trailing after her. I went inside to get our lunch ready and didn't even notice the paint cards were all gone from the floor. We ate lunch and she asked if she could go back outside and I said sure. As I was finishing the clearing up, she came in with a huge smile on her face, pulling at my arm and asking me to come see something." He grinned again as he held an ocean blue card between his fingers and then let it go. "She was so proud of herself, telling me she had finally decided on the color and wanted to show me, but I had to close my eyes before she would open the door and show me."

"Did she lead you in?"

"She did and I one hundred percent hit my head on the way inside. Not too bad, but still…" They both laughed and she looked at the color samples again. "As I looked at them, I asked her why she chose all the colors and she said because she couldn't choose just one and she didn't want to make them sad and hurt the other colors feelings when they weren't picked." He looked at Scully and she shook her head slowly.

"That girl," she whispered, taking a deep breath. "She has such a kind soul. So diplomatic. That's you, through and through." She smiled at him and he shook his head.

"No, that's both of us," he corrected her quietly and she smiled as she rubbed his arm. Sighing, she looked around the small room again.

"How will we ever accomplish this, Mulder?"

"Well," he said, turning off the flashlight, and the room was plunged into darkness. He slipped the flashlight back into his pocket and pulled her close as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I raised that question to her as well and I was told, "You can do it, Daddy. I know you can."" He stared at her and she grinned.

"She has complete faith in you," she quipped and he laughed softly.

"She does indeed. It's scary sometimes, that's for sure."

"Why would you say that?"

"I… I just don't ever want to let her down. To be less than in her eyes, but I know that someday, somehow, I will."

"Mulder…" she whispered, shaking her head. "Neither of us will ever be perfect and while we strive to always do our best… there will be times when we fall short, either because of our own shortcomings or because she will find something we do to be so embarrassing." She rolled her eyes and smiled at him. He chuckled with a nod and then sighed deeply.

"I know," he whispered.

"But for now," she whispered back. "You can do no wrong. You are her superhero, her helper, her confidant, her best friend. She knows that if she puts up all the colors on the wall, you will get it done. Not because she demands or expects it, but because you are her daddy and her daddy can do anything." She smiled and he ducked his head with a smile. "Complete faith in you."

"My Faith has faith," he whispered and she nodded, stroking his face gently.

"She's not the only one." He bent his head and kissed her, her arms tightening around his neck as he lifted her slightly off the ground.

They left the little house, Mulder careful to not bump his head, and closed the door behind them. As they walked back to the porch, she took a deep breath as she grasped his hand, smiling at how happy she felt even as she imagined all the painting they would soon be doing.

"Do you want to head inside?" he asked as they walked up the stairs and she shook her head.

"Not just yet," she said, sitting down and smiling at him.

"Then I will get us some more wine," he said, picking up their glasses, dropping a kiss on her head, and walking into the house.

Bella came out, her tail wagging happily as she walked over to Scully, giving her a lick and nudging at her hand.

"Hey girl. How you doing, huh?" She rubbed her ears and pet her muzzle, scratching under her chin. "Did you have fun with Faithy today?"

"Mama?" She heard and turned her head to find Faith standing in the doorway, barefoot in her pajamas, a black nightgown with a sleeping rosy cheeked yellow moon and yellow and pink stars. Rubbing her eyes as she blinked in the light, she yawned tiredly.

"Hey, love. What are you doing up?" she asked as she sat up and opened her arms. Faith stepped onto the porch, climbing into her lap and snuggling close. "You should be sleeping."

"I heard you talking and I wanted to see you," Faith said quietly, the baby doll she had gotten for her second birthday and had loved ever since held tightly, as Scully wrapped her arms around her.

"Well, I'm glad you did. I missed you today."

"I missed you too, Mama." She yawned again and snuggled closer, her breathing already becoming slower. Scully smiled, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head.

Mulder walked out, stopping in his tracks as he saw Faith on her lap. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and she smiled. Setting down their glasses of wine, he held his arms out to take Faith and put her back to bed.

Scully shook her head, happy to cuddle her for a while longer. He nodded with an understanding smile and sat down in the chair beside her.

Closing her eyes, she leaned back and situated Faith to lay against her chest. Resting her right cheek on her head, took a deep breath, breathing in Faith's sleepy scent.

"This," she whispered, opening her eyes and looking at Mulder. "This moment, this past hour, this is my high of the day."

He smiled and reached for her hand, connecting the three of them. She closed her eyes again and squeezed his hand gently, wishing she could freeze this moment and stay there forever.

"Mama," Faith breathed in her sleep and Scully smiled softly. She knew she could never truly freeze time, as much as she may want to make it happen.

Tomorrow would arrive, the sun rising and taking this night away with it, but it would be remembered; by the brightness of the moon, the richness of the red wine, the taste of Mulder's kiss, a treehouse room full of color samples, and the warmth of the little girl in her arms.

Let tomorrow come, she thought, kissing the top of Faith's head again and sighing a happy smile.

Tomorrow they had a wish to fulfill, with a visit to the hardware store, and a rainbow selection of paint to bring home.