The Teenage Years

Part 7

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. *

William was so nervous as he stared in the mirror. Mulder smoothed the lint brush over his shoulder and patted him on the back. "Don't worry, you look good. You smell Good. She'll love you."

"My first date with her and I have to bring my parents," he said, rolling his eyes.

Mulder raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, that kind of sucks. But, look at where we live."

"What was your first dates like?"

Mulder smiled. "They used to have roller rinks. You know what that is?"

William stared at his father for a second, tapping into his mind and seeing his father in 1975 at the age of 14, placing skates on his feet and circling a freshly built roller rink. He could see a young tall Fox Mulder wearing pastel-colored bell bottomed pants as a silver disco ball flashed blindly and loud disco music blared and girls giggled hoping he would talk to them. "Seriously? They thought you were cute back then?"

Mulder popped his son on the top of his head. "OUCH!", William said.

"Anyway," Mulder continued. "My sister Samantha was gone by then and my parents weren't around and the only attention I got was from girls."

William nodded. "Yeah."

Mulder sighed, trying to decided what to reveal and what not too. "So, I would often take a date there when I was fourteen. We'd skate and have a good time. It meant the girl show me off to all her friends and we'd eat at the cafe there and that was about it back then."

"And they liked it because you had money."

Mulder nodded. "Yeah. It was a different time...a different place. I'm sure you're mom's experience was different too. I mean, she was living on a Military base. Her father was a Naval Captain and then your Uncle Billy was in charge when he wasn't there. The older protective brother kept an eye on her."

William nodded. "If Emily would've lived, she would've been an older protective sister to me."

Mulder looked at William. He was almost his height with dark auburn hair and Scully's skin color and blue eyes and his own build and facial features. He placed a hand on his arm. "Do me a favor, William. Don't bring Emily up, ok?"

William cocked his eyebrow.

"You're mom has never gotten over her death, ok."

"OK," he said, feeling a little down. "But, she was my sister. Don't I get to grieve her lost?"

Mulder wrapped his son in his arms and hugged him tightly. "You're right. You're right. I shouldn't have said that. Look...forget about all this. We were talking about you're date anyway. So tell me about Lisa."

William immediately perked up. "Honestly, I've only seen her in class. I didn't think she was interested in me."

"How come?"

"She'd looked at me and turn her head."

"Like how?", Mulder asked.

William demonstrated to Mulder the shy way that Lisa would glance at him and quickly duck her head away.

"So she liked you."

"I didn't know it until all this. And then when you and Mom were in the meeting, she was hanging with all her friends and she saw me and she walked straight up to me and said, 'I like you. I want you to call me'."

"That's my boy!", Mulder smiled.

"There were some other girls that gave me their numbers too but I was really surprised about her. I mean, I thought Susie was the love of my life."

Mulder smirked.

"But now Lisa."

"Whoa, Slow down there...", Mulder said. "Take it one step at a time," he said.

Scully knocked on the door and peeked her head in. "You two ready?"

"Yeah!", they both called out.

She pushed open the door and was surprised. William was dressed in a black sweater and grey jeans that reminded her of the style Mulder would wear that would drive her crazy. She looked at Mulder and could see he was watching her. "You approve Scully?"

"Yes, I approve. She'll love it, William. You look extremely handsome anyway but this was the right touch. You're father is right."

William smiled. "OK. I'm ready. Let's go."

The house was larger than their own home, perched on the top of a hill. Mulder stepped out and opened the door for Scully and she was careful with the bottle of wine that they brought as a gift. William walked alongside his parents. He was wringing his hands and Scully reached out to touch his hand briefly and squeeze it. "It's okay," she said. "Just breath."

The door flew open and a tough looking man opened the door, much to Mulder and Scully's surprise.

"I'm Tim Hayes. Come on in," he said, shaking Mulder's hand first and then Scully's.

She smiled warmly. Mulder placed his arm protectively around her, just as she knew he would. It was his signal to any other man that she was taken. Tim Hayes held out his hand and shook Williams hand. "William."

"Sir," William said.

"A good firm handshake. I like that in a lad."

William smiled.

"Well, come on in. I hope you don't mind dogs and a mess cause we have them both," he said, leading them towards the living room.

Scully could see no visible mess and assumed that was just an expression though she did see two small dogs laying on the floor. He offered to take their coats and then hung them up for them. Jamie Hayes came out of the kitchen and extended her hand. "I'm Jamie, Welcome," she said.

"Williams Parents" Scully said.

"Well, welcome Williams parents."

Lisa appeared behind her and Williams eyes lit up. She was shy and hid behind her mother.

"Wow, you could not deny that you are his parents if you wanted too," Jamie laughed. "It's like split down the middle, genetically."

Scully smiled shyly and looked up at Mulder. He was looking proudly at both Scully and William.

"So, what's your first name?", Jamie said, looking at Scully.

"Oh, I'm Dana."

"Dana, would you like to help us girls in the kitchen."

Scully glanced down at her dress she knew would probably get ruined but then nodded. "Yes, I would."

"Let's leave the boys to watch football."

Scully tried to hand Mulder her purse and she saw him shake his head no. She glanced over at Tim Hayes and then at William and then walked on to the kitchen following Lisa and Jamie.

Tim had a mini-bar set up in his living room and so he reached in and pulled out a beer for Mulder and a root-beer for William. He stood up and opened a large cabinet to reveal an enormous wall sized flat screen TV. "So, I have over 300 sports channels alone. Pick and choose what game you want to watch."

William looked at his father and Mulder looked back at him. This was more than they had ever seen. "What is it that you do?", Mulder asked.

"I'm a truck driver," Tim said. "How about yourself."

"Retired Former FBI Agent."

Tim sat his beer down. "Seriously?"

"Dead-serious."

"Both my parents were FBI Agents," William explained. "My dad ran his own division and my mom was assigned to work with him."

"Obviously that worked out great!", Tim chuckled, looking at William.

Mulder chuckled with him. "Yeah it did."

"Man...FBI, huh. Wow...So what do you do now?"

"I have a Paranormal Business."

"What like the Ghost Hunters on TV?"

"Yeah, like that."

"You get many calls."

"Not a whole lot in the winter. The summer is my busiest season. I travel and investigate paranormal claims."

"Man...The stories I could tell you," Tim said, kicking back his beer. "Truck drivers see things at night," he said. "We're the first to see it."

"Yeah I bet."

Scully had rolled up her sleeves and was chopping vegetables with Jamie on the counter. They were all laughing and talking. "No, I grew up in Maryland until I was thirteen and then we moved to San Diego and so I started dating in California. So, we never did anything like this."

"Really?", Jamie said, surprised. "I can't imagine not getting to know the family first before the kids start dating. As a matter of fact, when I started dating Tim, I met his extended family. His mother, cousins, everyone, first and THEN we started dating. And we dated all through high school and then got married right out of high school. That's typically how it is in these parts," Jamie said. "People tend to get married straight out of high school around here but they stay married, typically...not always...but they try."

Scully blinked several times and stared at both mother and daughter. "Well I expect William to just maybe enjoy her company and get to know her and grow as a person so he can move on to the next step in his development. "

"Well, don't worry. They're both just freshmen. Who knows, in three more years, they might both be engaged to someone else," she said, moving past Scully to work on the rest of the meal.

Scully shot a glance at Lisa who smiled at her nervously. Jamie turned back to her.

"So what is it that you do?", Scully asked.

"Me?", Jamie said. "I'm a stay-at-home mom. "Tim is a truck driver and I take care of things at home. And you?"

"I'm a Doctor."

Jamie looked surprised. "Wow. Must be in the city, right? Cause there's no place around here to be a doctor."

"Our Lady of Sorrows."

"Oh, we've been to County."

"Right. I know it."

"And you're husband?", Jamie said, gathering up the veggies Scully had chopped.

"We're both former FBI. He's retired now."

Jamie took it all in. "I'm pretty impressed. Were you a doctor then or afterwards."

"I was a doctor then just not practicing."

"That's pretty neat. I was thinking about going back to school when Lisa gets out of school."

"You should go," Scully said, sensing the woman's discomfort. "It's never too late."

Jamie smiled back at her. "That's true. Isn't it."

Lisa watched the interaction of both Women, taking it all in. Jamie turned to her daughter. "Set the table, okay, Hun."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good girl."

"She'll make a fine wife, someday," Jamie smiled proudly.

Scully cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.

"So, lets gather the men so we can eat. We have more to talk about don't we."

Scully smiled shyly. Suddenly she had an overwhelming feeling and as much as she didn't mind Jamie, at that very moment she just wanted to be with her own family and no one else. She was wishing Mulder was by her side even though she knew he was in the next room. She could hear him shouting at the TV screen but her heart was with him. As if he knew what she was thinking, suddenly he was there beside her. "Everything alright Scully?"

She looked up into his eyes. "It is now," her eyes conveyed. "It's great," she said, out loud.

He nodded and helped her up from the chair and his hand slipped down to hold hers. They walked together over to the dining room table and seated themselves. They sat next to their son and Scully looked at Mulder. His eyes were telling her to just get through this for Williams sake. She glanced over to their son but he was busy looking at Lisa who was smiling widely back at him and Scully knew then that she could endure this. She had to him...for William.

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