The Teenage Years
Part 5
by Trycee
Time-Line: Present Day
Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, this is written for fun not profit.
*I've drawn from my own experiences as a parent of a teenager. I have had some strange experiences with other parents with my child in both sports and in dating and so I am using them in this story. *
Maggie Scully had gone home leaving Mulder and Scully to deal with their son. They knocked softly on the outside of his bedroom door.
"Leave me alone and you know I can stop you from entering my room!", he screamed.
"William," Scully said. "Come on, we need to talk."
"I know, I can already hear what you have to say in my head."
Mulder opened his bedroom door and they both walked in.
"Ah, PRIVACY!", William said, throwing up his hands.
Scully raised an eyebrow. "We just want to talk and we're going to talk, now!"
William pushed back against the wall, cradling a pillow in front of him, shielding himself. Both Mulder and Scully seated themselves on his bed."I know...there's plenty of girls out there. There will be times when I get hurt but never try to change myself for a girl."
"See," Scully said. "What are you going to do when you start doing that?"
William looked confused. "Doing what?"
"What you just did...reading our minds. William," She said, touching his pants leg. "There will be a girl out there for you that will understand you. That you can share your secrets too. Who will understand it when you start reading minds or moving objects or even..."
"Fighting off aliens," Mulder added. "Well, hopefully not for another million years."
"But," Scully said, giving Mulder the eye. "Pretending to be someone you're not, or hiding who you are to please a girl. That's not right. What would you do when you start saying something that she hasn't told you yet? I mean, then what?"
"So, I should what...not date girls?", William said, alarmed. "What, just be a freak forever?"
"That's not what you're mom is saying, William. I mean, take both of us. We both went through loves in high school, right Scully."
"That's right."
"Mom's lying," William said. "She only had like two boys she was even allowed to date in high school."
"See what I mean. Now, I never told you that. You tapped into my memories and I've told you before, William Mulder to STOP doing that."
William smirked. "Sorry, its a habit."
Mulder wiped the amused look off his face as soon as Scully looked his way. "Anyway," Mulder continued. "We both had loves..."
"And Marcus was my love...", she said, interrupting. He was the 10th grade love of my life," she said, to William.
"Okay, okay!", he said.
"And then as adults we both went through terrible times with the loves of our lives then and we both got hurt severely."
"I was so hurt that when I met your father, it took me a very long time to trust anyone. I wanted to love him but I couldn't let my guard down for a long time," she said, looking at Mulder.
"And I was crushed by a lot of women and...", he said, looking at Scully. "Let's be honest, I would've still rushed into a relationship with you immediately."
"You really wanted to say 'into the sack'," William said. "You really wanted to say, 'I would've jumped into the sack with you'."
Scully looked at Mulder and he nodded. "True, that's true. You know that's what I was thinking, Scully. But," Mulder said, turning back to their son. "I'm glad I waited because I knew that she was the right one. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her."
"Well, that explains why you lied to the Carter's saying you were married," William said.
"We are married," Scully stated.
"We are?", Mulder questioned.
"Common-law," she said.
"How come you two never just really got married...after the whole...being free from the FBI thing?"
"Well...I...ugh...", Mulder stumbled.
"Dad!", William said.
"I'm getting around to it," Mulder answered.
"Thanks Mulder, that makes me feel better," she said, rising up from Williams bed.
Mulder grabbed her hand. "I am going to marry you Scully. I promise. "
"Yeah, whatever Mulder," she said.
"Don't go!", he said, pulling her down into his arms. "I promise you, I'm going to do it. I guess I already feel married."
"Nice try, Mulder," she said, pushing away.
Mulder tightened his grip. "I'm not letting you go, until you agree to marry me."
"Come on, Mom. Agree!", William said.
Scully began to smile as Mulder nuzzled her neck.
"Ugh, Dad, please with the dirty thoughts...that's my mom!"
"Sorry!", Mulder said.
"I agree!", Scully said. "Now let me go!"
Mulder released her and she kissed him on the cheek. "Now, I guess we'll be engaged another 20 years, huh Mulder."
Mulder chuckled.
"See", William said. "I want a girl that looks at me like Mom looks at you."
Mulder glanced at his son. "You will. But it took a long time before we found someone that looked at us that way, right Scully."
"Yes," she said, sitting down and staring into Mulder's eyes. "I had a lot of men mistreat me and they never appreciated me. Your father was the first one that respected me and loved me and wanted me for me. He was the first man that would wait so long to be with me. It amazes me to this day. And when he looks at me, I see love, I see respect, and I know that he was placed on this planet just for me. And William...she is out there for you. That's what I'm saying, there will be plenty of girls in your life. And Susie is one of them. Don't break her heart and don't allow her to break yours. But don't change who you are to suit her or her parents. I never changed myself for your father and vice versa. As a matter of fact, that was one of the qualities that I most admired about your father...his stubbornness. That no matter if people were laughing and mocking him about Aliens and UFO's and all other paranormal events, he would stand his ground to anyone and he was always right...he was always right."
Mulder smiled, his eyes locked on to hers. "And that was one of the qualities I loved about your mom too. She never wavered. She never compromised."
"It drove you crazy!", William said.
"It drove me crazy, yes!", Mulder added. "Cause she would always rationalize it all but she was as solid as steel and I loved her for it."
"Okay...y'all have turned my 'parent's talk' into some mushy love thing between the two of you and now I'm gonna wretch. Could y'all take that into your bedroom and keep it down, the volume on my headphones only goes to a certain level."
Mulder's mouth gaped open but then he grabbed William and tickled him. "I'll tell you later the difference between dating a girl in high school and dating a woman."
"YEAH?", William perked up.
"When you're mom isn't around.", Mulder said, cocking his head in her direction.
"Gotcha!", William said.
"Okay, Okay!", Scully said. "Goodnight, William. I hope you know we love you dearly," she said, giving him a large hug. "And change out of these clothes. Don't fall asleep in them. And pick up this room. Why are they're clothes scattered all over it."
"I knew she'd get to that," William said.
"I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing she said," Mulder said. "Good night son," he said, closing his bedroom door behind him.
The front door slammed and Scully glanced up from the recipe book she was pouring over. She rounded the corner to find William sitting on the sofa flipping channels. "What happened to basketball practice?"
"I decided to skip it. There's another mandatory meeting again tonight though."
"Damn," Scully huffed.
Without a remote, William was flipping the channels rapidly and Scully walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened?"
"Nothing."
"William, what happened?"
"Susie told everyone that you and Dad were UFO hunters and some of the kids think its cool while some won't talk to me including Susie."
Scully sat down on the edge of the sofa. "I'm sorry."
"I got teased the entire day at school," William said. "They called me E.T. and asked if I were ever probed by an alien and stuff like that."
"And they don't even know the truth," she whispered.
"Maybe I should just wipe this entire day away. Just erase it."
"So, something goes wrong in a day, in your life, so you wipe it clean, cause you can...because you have the power too. And what have you learned, William? What, are you going to do that with every day of your life? Because life is full of bad days, son."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I really liked her and I really liked playing basketball."
"Then why are you here? Why aren't you on the court playing hoops or whatever you call it? Why are you letting them stop you?"
William took in what she was saying. "Can I just stay home until the meeting? I mean, I'll go to practice tomorrow. Can I just stay home?"
"Sure," she said.
Scully smoothed her hand over Williams auburn hair and wiped the tear that was falling down his young cheek. "It's okay, William. It happens to us all."
William wiped his face and shrugged his shoulders as if he didn't care.
"You hungry?"
"Not really," he said, looking off.
She knew he was lying. "I'll fix you something anyway."
Mulder opened his office door and peeked out. He was surprised to see William there. He knew immediately that something hadn't gone right at school. He came down and sat next to his son and flipped the channel until he found a basketball game. He waited until Williams tears had subsided before asking him what team he wanted to be. "Green," William said.
"I'm red," Mulder answered.
Scully brought them both a few sandwiches and drinks. Mulder locked eyes with her and in an instant knew the story.
"There's another mandatory parent meeting tonight Mulder."
"Yippee!", Mulder said.
"I'll get started on dinner. You two, watch the game. It's supposed to start snowing tonight. Any requests?"
"Chili", they both said.
"Okay. Chili it is," Scully answered.
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