"No, stop right there..." Scully said, sliding the large glass door to the backyard open so fast it almost came off it's hinges "not. another. step. Stay!"

She had removed the white linen slip and changed back into the denim short shorts but with a lilac colored long sleeve sweatshirt, in place of the navy blue tank top from earlier. Mulder could see the ties of her teal bikini top hanging over the sweater and smiled inwardly. She hadn't joined them in the surf, but was still wearing her bikini even now when she could've changed into something else.

"What? Why?" Mulder looked at her quizzically and lazily tousled William's still wet, and very sandy mop of auburn hair.

William and Mulder were practically covered head to toe in sand (from building their giant sandcastle down on the beach), and Scully wasn't about to let them spread it throughout the whole house. She stood there on the threshold, her boys outside waiting patiently to be let in.

"Mommy?" William looked at Scully and then up at Mulder, confused.

"I'm sorry, Will" Scully softly smiled at her adorable young son and quickly shot a look at Mulder "Daddy should know better. Have you even looked at yourselves?"

Mulder looked down at himself and down at his mini-me, William.

"What, the sand? Scully, it's nothing"

"It's not nothing, Mulder. It's dirty! Not to mention it could get into the rug or on the sofa. You've brought back half the beach between the two of you and I'm not letting you in until I know the house will stay clean..." Scully looked at her boys and put her hand up, barring their way into the still spotless vacation house "help Will, please! Ishmael too"

"Okay, buddy. We should go hose off before Mommy has a coronary" Mulder sighed, made a face at Scully and put his hand on William's shoulder, squeezing it lightly and walking him to the middle of the lawn.

"Thank you" Scully offered as an apology for her maddening obsession with being tidy, as she leaned out of the door and ran a hand down his bicep, gratefully.

This side of Scully was borne out of her medical training, all hospital corners and extreme cleanliness. His obsessive, hoarder tendencies didn't mesh with this but they made it work. They loved each other, completely... quirks and all. There was no one else in the world who would happily put up with the other.

"ISHY!" William shouted.

Ishy appeared out of nowhere at the sound of his voice, running up the wooden stairs from the beach where he had wandered back down to while Scully admonished Mulder and William.

"Close your eyes and stand very still, buddy. Ready?"

"I'M READY!"

Mulder made William stand on the old stone pathway between the patches of grass, (eyes closed and arms in the air above him) hosing him down and then turned it on himself while periodically spraying Ishy as he ran around them both, barking at the water.

Scully stood on the otherside of the glass (the house silent, a silence she had come to loathe since having William), watching Mulder whip the backyard hose around while William and Ishy got soaked by the intense spray down. She couldn't hear much but the occasional scream leaked through, and could see that they were laughing.

Mulder picked William up and swung him around as he slowly slipped free of his grip, they were both laughing and Ishy was jumping up on them both. Scully sucked in a deep breath as she watched William start to fall, then closed her eyes and breathed out when Mulder caught him against his chest and hip.

"I think you should have a bath before dinner, Will" Scully suggested, kissing the top of his head and running her index finger over his lightly freckled cheekbone.

"Mommy... Can I have bubbles?"

"Of course, baby. Not too much, though. Remember what happened last time... when you used the whole bottle?"

"I disappeared" William giggled, jumped up from the sofa and bolted upstairs to get cleaned up and ready for dinner. When he was four years old, Scully had made the mistake of turning her back on him (just for a second) and he seized the opportunity of her carelessness, dumping the whole bottle of Superman bubble bath into the tub with him. It had quickly gotten out of control, bubbles and water covering the Ordinary House' bathroom floor. And William had indeed been briefly consumed by an overload of sweet apple smelling bubbles.

Mulder had dried Ishy off before deciding to take him with him for the quick trip into town, to pick up some groceries from the store for dinner and was just walking back through the front door as William headed up for his bubble bath.

"We're back"

Scully and Mulder watched as Ishmael followed after William.

"Did they have everything?"

"Everything we didn't have... and needed, yes. I'm pretty good at this foraging for food thing, Scully"

"If you say so" Scully offered and placed a soft thankful kiss on the corner of Mulder's mouth while sliding her hand down, gently grazing his right hip along the way, to take the reusable net shopping bag from his hand "I'm going to make sure those two don't make another mess, but then I'll be starting dinner"

She was trying not to down play these little achievements of his; it taken a few years (and some hilarious and frustrasting mistakes) but now he was completely capable of going to the grocery store alone, as long as the shopping list was short and concice, no room for distractions and could also do minor plumbling fixes around the house. Which was a major step up from his only ability of being able to replace a lightbulb, when they had first met fifteen years earlier.

"Sounds good. You can send Ishy back down, if you're really worried about him causing more trouble up there"

Scully carried the grocery bag into the kitchen, placed it on the counter and removed a couple of items before heading up to check on William. Mulder was relaxing on the sofa, feet up and TV on; a basketball game playing on mute.

"Will do"

Scully grabbed a couple of wash cloths and a towel from the closet in the upstairs hallway.

She could hear William splashing around and hoped that Ishmael wasn't in the tub with him; it had happened in the past, much to Scully's shock and horror. She pushed the bathroom door open with her foot and saw him blowing bubbles at Ishy, who was biting futily at them and then one landed on his nose and William began to laugh, trying to brush it off but only managing to add more suds.

"Here..." She handed him a wash cloth, and put the towel on the rack across from the them "use this to clean it off his face, baby"

William leaned over the side of the bathtub and wiped the cloth over Ishmael's face and nose, almost jumping out of his skin when the dog sneezed and shook it's head in response.

"Whoa! Sorry, Ishy"

"It's OK. I just don't think he likes the bubbles. How about we send him back down to daddy?"

William nodded, and Scully pulled the door open wider from her squatting position next to the tub and shooed Ishmael out of the bathroom.

"Put your jammies on before you come back down for dinner. Okay, baby?" Scully handed him the clean wash cloth, and smiled.

"Yupp" William grinned back.

Scully found Mulder in the kitchen, filling up a tall glass with tap water while he settled his breathing pattern.

"Where have you and Ishmael been?"

"We went for a jog... on the beach. You didn't need me did you?" Mulder answered, coyly but with a hint of concern.

Scully narrowed her eyes at him, he was still wearing the black tee (which did look kinda sweaty and wet) and old grey basketball shorts that he had changed into after their trip down to the beach and his face was flushed. Mulder had taken the free time before dinner, while Scully was distracted with William to head down to the beach.

"No. Just wondered where you were..." Scully smiled "I'm going to start dinner now"

"Would you like me to help?"

"Would you like to help me?"

"Absolutely!" Mulder whispered in her ear, as he slipped his arms around her waist.

"Good"

"What can I do for you?"

"This..." Scully handed him a large fresh chicken breast for him to prepare "needs to be cut up into smaller pieces"

"Delicious. Why does it have to be slimey?"

"I don't know, Mulder. Can you..." Scully was reaching for a wok in a cupboard above the stove. Mulder reached up over her head grabbing it and placing it on the stove for her "thank you"

"Always" Mulder smiled, and went back to cutting the chicken breast up into bit sized strips.

Scully was back on her health food kick, so it was an all fresh ingredients chicken stir fry for dinner tonight. Thankfully for Mulder (and William. Who also liked ), it was real chicken and not tofu... or just a straight up boring vegetable stir fry.

"I think it's time for the chicken strips to go in the wok. Mulder?"

Mulder could hear the oil sizzling in the wok.

"Ready!"

She stepped aside, watching as he pushed the chicken bits from the wooden cutting board with a knife, into the hot oily wok to cook. Scully tossed the various types of vegetables in; bok choy, peppers, spring onions and mini corn, then poured some soy sauce over the whole thing,

"Will? Dinner is ready"

"I'm playing Spongebob! " William was playing 'Spongebob Squarepants - Yellow Avenger' on his PSP(Playstation Portable).

"Aren't you hungry, buddy?" Mulder asked, standing by the back of the sofa watching him play the game for a moment.

"Eh. A little bit..."

William was laying on the sofa under a cozy, wool blanket, Ishy on the otherside just barely covering his feet with his warm, fluffy body, a fire raging in the fireplace across from them.

"Put the game away now, please!"

"But... I'm winning. See, daddy?"