A/N: Here's chapter 12. Enjoy it! And once again – thanks so much for reviewing. I'm always looking forward to look into my mailbox! And that's because all of you!
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7.46 PM EST-Time, Saturday
Katherine Scully's house, Lincoln Landing
It was really quiet. And just the sounds of animals and birds interrupted this silence. The old peach plantation stood in this conflicting light and looked majestic, hovering in between old trees and looking like an enchanted fairy castle. The setting sun touched everything with her blood-red light and evoked a glowing effect. Which was stressed by the still high temperatures.
Nobody was outside but all doors and windows were wide open, so the slightest breeze could find its way into the house. But there was no slight breeze. The house was lit and decorated thoroughly. Everything was done, ready for the birthday party.
"I'm going downstairs, taking care of the punch!" Megan called and hopped down the stairs. She was wearing a short, crème-colored dress.
"Yeah, just go ahead … I'll be there as soon as I can to help you!" Answered Tara exiting her room and following Megan downstairs. Arriving on the first floor, Mulder, Scully, Annabelle, Patrick and little Matthew entered the house through the front door and a bright smile appeared on Tara's face. "Hey, there you are! Did you have fun?" She took little Matthew into her arms, pressed a soft kiss on his hair and looked at the others again. They all looked as if the sun had kissed their faces – a little tired but sun-tanned.
Dana was feeling the exhaustion, but it had been a wonderful day, nevertheless. "We had lots of fun!"
Megan entered the hallway from the kitchen and stopped in front of the little group. "Oh, I'm glad you're back. How was it? Nice?"
Annabelle and Patrick nodded intensely. "It was so great … we went swimming … Fox got lost in the woods … and …"
Megan took them by their hands and led them up the stairs. "Okay, I see. It must have been lots of fun, but you can tell me more after I put you two in the bathtub."
Tara directed her words towards Fox and Dana in front of her. "You should get ready as well." Tara also went upstairs. "The guests will be coming in half an hour."
Mulder nodded and guided Scully towards the stairs, his hand on the small of her back. This day had been wonderful. In all these years that he had known Scully, he had never thought of her as being so funny and humurous. There was so much to learn about her, so much more besides the brilliant and intelligent FBI-Agent he already knew. He liked the feeling of his hand on her back and as if she liked it too, he felt her leaning into his hand, which caused a shudder to run down his spine.
Scully swallowed and turned around to face him. His hand on her back felt warm and comfortable, but she had always loved their volatile touches. Her body loved these touches. "The sun tanned your skin!" She said examining his face with her blue eyes. He looked healthy, exhausted but happy and although he was standing one step further down the stairs he was her height. Saltwater and wind had tousled his hair. But that was cute. She loved the thought of taking her hand and stroking his hair, just to touch it. Feel, what it would be like. Dana suppressed as small sigh - she would never forget this day. It had been so simple and yet so unique – as if there had never been something else and yet never been somtehing more special and exciting. As if they had always spend time with each other, having fun, bantering around. Her complete inside was a tickle. It was tickling everywhere – where his eyes met her or where his hand was touching her back.
Mulder smiled softly. "Hey, same with you. I say, we should escape the office more often … and go out."
"Maybe … we should." She replied as they arrived in front of Scully's room. If it would be like this all the time, then she wouldn't hesitate to escape with him. She swallowed as she took a deep look into his hazel eyes and nervously licked her lips. "We … we have to hurry. The guests …"
"Yeah … the guests." Mulder looked down at his watch an nodded in agreement, although he disliked ending this day by letting her into her room. She said her "See you" and then he watched her enter her room. Mulder smiled to himself, strolled over to his door, opened it and happily dropped down on his bed.
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8.36 PM, EST-Time, Saturday
Katherine Scully's house, Lincoln Landing
With an overly enthusiastic and happy sweep, Mulder opened the door of his room and stepped out into the hallway. Music was playing downstairs, he could smell something delicious which caused his stomach to growl and a lot of different conversations between people was audible. The birthday party had started.
Muder closed his door, crossed the hallway and leaned against the handrail of the stairs to watch the party's swirlings from above. Guests were standing everywhere, mostly old guests. Immediately, the image of feeding cups popped into Mulder's mind and he chuckled. But it also caused him to take a look over to Scully's door for she had metioned the feeding cups in the first place, back in Washington. Was she already mingling with the guest downstairs? Or still in her room? He decided it would be best to start mingling and looking for her in the process. He straightened up, brushed some folds off his trousers, descended the stairs and was immediately met by Tara and Matthew.
"Fox, finally! I thought you would stay up there." A friendly smile covered her face.
And Mulder returned the smile.
"Where is Dana?" Tara asked and handed Matthew over to Mulder. The little boy seemed to like it, for he started smiling and babbling, while fumbling with Mulder's T-Shirt. "I can leave him here with you, right? I have to take care of something, but I'll be back! Okay?"
Mulder nodded and assured her with another smile. One day with an infant and he had become pretty experienced with handling the small boy. As Tara had dissappeared into the crowd of guests, Mulder and Matthew crossed the room towards the punch bowl. He adjusted the toddler on his left hip to get his right and free and reached for a punch glass. "So, little man, let's have some punch!" Mulder said and tickled Matthew's toes, before pouring some of the dark-red liquid into his punch glass. He was about to take his first sip, as suddenly Annabelle and Patrick were standing right in front of him.
"Hey, there you are!" Patrick said.
"Fox, can we go to the beach again tommorrow with you and auntie Dana? Please, please, please …" Annabelle begged and beamed at him with a heart-warming smile.
"Well, you know …"
"Please, uncle Fox, please … I promise I'll let you win when we run a race next time. Honestly! Please?" Patrick whimpered and tucked on Mulder's trousers.
He really liked these kids. And the best thing about it was, that they loved and worshipped him back. He felt content and happy about that fact. Even little Matthew liked him, whoose father Bill Scully seemed to avoid every contact with Mulder. Spending another day at the beach with Dana and the kids would be awesome, but at the same time impossible. They had to get back to Washington.
"Oh yeah, come on, Fox. It's so much more fun spending time with you and Dana then with mummy and daddy. You're so much cooler!" Annabelle supported her brother and smiled her broadest smile. "When you marry auntie Dana, can Patrick and I live with you?"
Mulder's mouth popped open in astonishment. The truthfulness of kids was definitely disarming. "Uhm … we … we're not going to get married, Annabelle."
Patrick frowned and you could literally see his brain cells work. "But … you always look at each other … with this funny look." He added and stopped pulling at Mulder's trousers. "That's the way you look at someone when you're in love …"
Mulder's eyes grew even wieder.
"… that's what my great-grandmother told us!" Patrick's huge eyes stared at Mulder.
Who else could have told him that? Thought Mulder and tried to explain himself. "Hey, look …"
"Are you planning to have babies?" Asked Annabelle, while her eyes trailed from Fox to Matthew and back.
Kids and bluntness. "Annabelle, for having babies you are supposed to get married, but your aunt Dana and I are really not planning to …"
"Oh no, no, no … you don't need to marry for having babies. My teacher, Mr. Tim told us, that babies come from …" Annabelle shook her head.
Mulder blushed and looked around to see if anyone was listening. "Yeah, yeah, I … I know, I … I know where babies come from, Annabelle!" He wondered what he looked like, because he felt as if his cheeks were burning. This conversation was great. Had Annabelle inherited Katherine Scully's interrogation skills? He lowered his voice and spoke directly to Annabelle. "But, I believe that your brother Patrick here doesn't know the secret yet. And we won't spoil it for him, will we?"
Annabelle nodded and giggled at the same time.
Patrick shot mistrustful glances from Mulder to his sister. "What secret?"
And at this exact moment the birthday girl stepped into the little circle, put an empty glass next to the punch bowl and scrutinized her great-grandchildren and Mulder. "Secret?" She asked but smiled graciously, for she was completely happy with herself and the party.
"Oh, uhm, it's nothing." Mulder tried to play it down.
His face had gained some color and he appeared a little more relaxed and less stiff and reserved. He seemed to get used to this family and place. Katherine smiled for exactly that had been her plan. She liked Fox and was 99,9 sure he was the man to make Dana happy. "Fox?!" But still poking and prodding.
He smiled back at her but said nothing, simply ignoring her question. He just knew her for one day, but she had welcomed him so warmly to this family and place, that it was just impossible to dislike her. But he was not up to explaining the secret. Instead he just said: "Hi Katherines, great party!"
Katherine blinked and smiled. Was he making fun of this party? But his honest smile told her no. "Oh yes, I like it, too, but wait until we all get our feeding cups out!!!" Katherine grinned, shook er head slightly and understood that he didn't want to tell her the secret he had with the kids.
Mulder grinned and mused if Scully had told her granny the joke about the feeding cups.
Katherine's smile grew wider and she touched Mulder's arm softly. "The kids love you."
Mulder looked down to Matthew, Patrick and Annabelle and shrugged his shoulders. "I like them, too."
Inwardly, Katherine sighed. He was such a nice boy. A treasure. The kids worshipped him, Dana loved him, even if she would never admit it, he was awfully handsome and more than nice. He was Mr. Perfect. "Where's Dana, by the way?"
Mulder shrugged his shoulders in ignorance.
Katherine could read his eyes and therefore see he had been asking himself the same question. "She'll surely be here any minute. Come on, I want you to meet some of my friends, Fox!" Said Katherine, handed Matthew over to his father and send Annabelle and Patrick to play.
Both kids disappeared reluctantly.
A/N: Thanks so much for still reading the story! That's it for chapter 12 – there's more birthday party in the next chapter. Hope you still like it. See you then. Take care, Kat.