September 8, 2008
Wellington Mall
Samantha Hill sighs and pulls out her cell phone.
She and Adrianna decided to go post-maternity shopping, in an effort to give her daughter something to look forward to other than not being pregnant anymore. She told Adrianna that she shouldn't look for clothes in her pre-pregnant size, but rather, clothes a size smaller than her current size and preferably ones with some stretch. "Mo-oom," her daughter had whined, "I've already got fat lady clothes."
At that moment, Samantha wanted to hit her head on the wall. Instead, as she's done so often, she'd put on a determined smile and nearly shoved her daughter out the door. And since her car is in the shop and her husband has already gone to work they took a taxi to the mall. She's determined to force her daughter to look on the bright side, dammit.
And part of this bright side, she thinks, includes a place where she'll have to speak civilly to the one she's calling while her daughter's in the dressing room.
"Mulder," he answers.
"Luke is keeping the baby and taking it to Boston," she says without preamble.
There's a pause. "Samantha? Are you okay?"
She starts to laugh, but it chokes off into a sob. "You're joking, right?" she says, and without further prompting, she goes on, "I've had to deal with my three younger children wanting to take the city transportation rather than the school bus last school year so they wouldn't have to deal with their classmates' jeers. I've had to juggle and re-juggle what after-school activities and friends are that are still positive and which will be cut out, and that's not including everything Adrianna has to go to. And I've had to bully my pregnant daughter into going post-natal shopping so she has something lovely to look forward to after all this, only so I can call my stupid brother and tell him that his stupid friend's son is continuing to torture my daughter by keeping their baby and taking it to Boston! And you think I'm okay?"
She sighs, then speaks again before he can. "You know what? I'm not okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this happened. I'm sorry that it's my daughter that has to go through this. I'm sorry that her ex-boyfriend chose to do what he did, and I'm sorry that everything's falling apart, again, because of him, but we're going to do the best we can. Goodbye, Fox."
She hangs up, trying to take deep breaths through her nose, because she's already seen the worried looks on the salesgirls' faces. She feels a tiny bit better, but only a tiny bit, getting that yelling off her chest, although she probably should have given her brother a chance to say something a little less stupid. Oh well.
She wanders around the store, hoping Scott will forgive the huge hit to his credit card as she's nearly hit the max on hers. Before she can rifle through some promising tops for Ariel, a panicked voice calls her from the dressing room.
"Mom? I think, I think I'm having my baby!"
She takes off at a dead sprint to the fourth stall down, then bangs on the door. "Adrianna? Honey? Can you open the door?"
"Okay," her daughter's voice sounds relieved, and she unlocks the door. Adrianna is sweating and panting heavily, and whimpers when her mother checks her forehead. There's a wet mess on the floor, but thankfully, none of the clothes are down there.
"Are you okay to walk?" Samantha asks her.
Her eldest bites her lower lip and shakes her head. Then what looks like another contraction hits her, and she doubles over, well, as much as the pregnant girl can. "Oh God, it hurts," she sobs.
"Come on, let's get out of here," Samantha says, grabbing both of their purses and hauling her shaking daughter to her feet. She glares at the salesgirl who gives them a narrow-eyed look. "Clean up in there, my daughter's having a baby," Samantha snaps, then practically manhandles her daughter through the mall and to the cab stand. From there, she just as forcefully handles the situation. "Wellington Women's and Children's Hospital," she says when asked their destination.
It's not long before she and Adrianna get to the hospital, and they are seen by a nurse, since Adrianna's doctor is seeing another patient. After a battery of questions, both verbal and written, Samantha snaps and asks when their doctor will be free.
"Don't worry, it's just false labor," the nurse tells them dismissively.
The girl in question had been lying down on the examination table, but at that statement, she props herself on her elbow. Adrianna is breathing heavily, sweating anew despite just wiping off her forehead with her mom's tissue. "False?" her voice and tone goes up. "But it hurts! It can't be false!"
Samantha Hill squeezes her daughter's hand reassuringly. "How do you know?" she asks, less a question and more of a demand.
"Your OB should have told you about Braxton Higgs contractions, right?" the nurse shoots back. "From what your daughter told me, she doesn't have any bloody show, what she thought was amniotic fluid was merely her bladder, and her contractions are erratic, and they mostly stopped when she lay on her right side. But it was good of you to have it checked out." The nurse looks at the sweating girl, demeanor softening slightly as she takes in Adrianna's unhappy expression. "Fair warning, I wouldn't be surprised if you have more contractions like this before the actual event."
Adrianna groans. "Really?"
Her mother, however, sighs, her own history of pregnancy coming to the fore of her memory. "Honey, I'm sorry, but I rushed your father over to the hospital a couple of times before I had you," she says, and squeezed her daughter's hand again.
By the time she was pregnant again, she'd known what real contractions felt like, so there had been no more false alarms with babies two through four. Samantha half closes her eyes, trying to predict whether Adrianna will ever change her mind about motherhood and eagerly go through the experience of pregnancy at another time. It's hard to tell, but she honestly wouldn't be surprised if the baby Adrianna is carrying turns out to be an only child… or at least on his mother's side. If Luke is so happy to take on parenthood at twenty-two, it's not hard to imagine him with several more children in the future – just not with Adrianna.
The blonde, sweaty girl sighs, then lay down on her right side before closing her eyes. "I don't want to go through that again unless I'm actually having the baby," she says softly.
"I know, sweetheart, I know," her mother says soothingly, while her heart squeezes painfully in her chest. If she could, she would take on her daughter's pain for her, but that's not how it works. That's never how it works. "But maybe next time might be the real thing. You never know until it happens."
"Your mother's right," the nurse interjects. "Don't be put off by false labor, but do check for the signs. If everything checks out, do come to the hospital, no matter what, okay? We'd rather see you here again with false labor than have you wait over-long at home when the real thing begins."
Adrianna forces her eyes open, and both her mother and the nurse are concerned about her, they want the best for her. And it feels like forever since more people than her mom wanted the best for her. "Okay," she says in a small voice, then closes her eyes again.
"Your doctor will be with you as soon as he's finished with his other patient, all right?" the nurse says, and leaves the room.
"Mommy, I was so scared," Adrianna sighs. "I just wish I could get it over and done with."
Samantha wipes her daughter's forehead. Me, too, she thinks, but aloud, she says, "Just rest, baby, just rest."
She isn't sure if she has used up all her prayers, since she normally isn't the praying type, but she prays the next time they are here, her daughter will actually be giving birth, and that the baby will be healthy because as bad as this is she's acutely aware that none of this is his fault.
September 10, 2008
Copley Square Complex
It is one of those days where it's warm enough to play outside only if you are constantly active, and cold enough where the heaters have to be turned on even if you're sitting longer than ten minutes indoors. Melody and Katie are outside with the more active kids, and Gibson's inside with those who need help with their homework or who are playing board games. He wishes Shon and Thomas were still with the after school program, but they'd gotten hired by a couple of companies when they graduated, so he doesn't begrudge their luck. Much. Whenever envy rears he tries to tamp it back down by reminding himself that without the edge over the competition that grad school will afford him and Luke, the other boys needed that sort of luck more than he does.
So far it has seemed like it's a regular session, with the kids finally getting back into school mode, and they're either burning up their energy outside, or playing or studying mostly quietly inside, and Gibson hasn't been expecting a meltdown so soon in the school year.
Of course, that's exactly what he gets when he hears a crash and everyone looks to see what has happened. Two girls, Gina and Alice, are staring at the overturned desk, board game pieces scattered on the floor near the game mat itself. Then Gina, normally a quiet little brunette, bursts into loud tears and runs out the room, slamming the door behind her.
Alice looks at the closed door contemptuously as only a third-grader can. "That was stupid," she declares, then smirks at Gibson. "Aren't you going to go after her?"
The grad student only goes to the window, pulls it open, and yells, "Look out for Gina, she just ran out!" Katie nods, and a couple of the kids with her wave. He waves back, then shuts the window. The rest of the kids inside are watching him and Alice with not-so-hidden curiosity.
"Well, that was stupid," Gibson says dryly as he flicks his gaze at the fallen board game and desk. "You can't even play without being a sore loser."
"Am not!" The little girl bristles. "I won!"
He rolls his eyes, as if the items on the shelves aren't slightly shaking along with her. "Yeah, because winners knock down the game."
"She was cheating," Alice goes on, her eyes narrowed. "You're on her side because you're a cheater, too."
Now Gibson laughs, he can't help it. "What? I was helping Danny with his homework, I wasn't even near your game," he says and the little boy with the bad haircut nods in agreement. "Want to see what real cheating looks like?"
The little girl looks taken aback, as do the other kids. "Okay," she says carefully.
"Pick up that board game and right the desk, and I'll show you," he says. Then he looks at the rest of the room. "Good thing I'm not a real teacher, or I'd get in trouble, huh?" he winked, and a couple grin shyly back.
Alice pursed her lips, but after a few moments, she pulls the desk upright, and reset the board game and the pieces on top. "Okay, now what?"
"Now, you sit down, and I'll sit down, and we'll play," he says as he thinks, Hmm, I might be a little rusty.
She sits down with a smirk, then lifts her chin. "Okay."
He sits across from her, and they proceeded to play Battleship. Some of the kids came around, which is exactly what he hoped for, and while he fruitlessly tried to read her mind, he set up his board. They go through the usual gambits, going for the center (neither of them had set up in the middle), then the corners (same), and then Alice goes on the attack.
Or she would, if she could figure out what's going on. Gibson is telling a story about how someone at his school was trying to use a Super Mario game as the background for his own game, and while it was obvious that his classmate was cheating, his professor thought it was too stupid to believe that it was funny, and the other kids in the after school program think so, too. Some of the kids are thinking about the times when they were playing Super Mario or some other dumb video game, so they are useless. Others think that they can't see how Gibson is cheating, because the boy in his story was totally cheating and he isn't. And still others are wondering what they would eat when they got home, or when their mom would come home, or how long they could stay before it got too dark…
"Will you just shut up!" she yells.
Gibson frowns. "I haven't said anything for a while except B-9. It's your turn, Alice."
The other kids look at her, and it seems he is right. Blushing angrily, she snaps, "G-8!"
"You already said that," one of the boys says, "and his boat was sunk already."
Yes, okay, she can see that clearly, why can't she see anything else? She looks at the top graph. "Uh, I-2?"
"Nope," Gibson says, "I-2."
She stares down. If she put the pin in, it would sink her last boat. "How did you do that?" she glares, shoving the pin in with a loud thump.
Gibson looks at the other kids. "Anyone care to guess how I did it?"
Most of them look confused. "You weren't looking at your side," one of the boys says.
"Nice," he nods. "I was looking at my top graph and checking the empty spaces. We both have the same kind of boats with the same amount of holes inside, so I had experience and statistics on my side. I can show you the basics later. How else?"
"You were talking about Super Mario?" another offers.
Gibson grins. "Good catch. Yeah, I was distracting her, so she wouldn't be focused on the moves, but on what was around her. When I was your age, playing games like chess meant you had to be quiet like in a library, so you couldn't use stories as distractions. Nowadays, if you're playing with friends, it's not so strict, but it's one of the few games where officially, you're supposed to be quiet."
"That's boring," one of the girls remarks.
"Kinda." Gibson smiles a little, putting his pieces away. "The thing is, as long as you can concentrate on what you need to do, it doesn't matter what's happening around you." He nods at the second boy, who had a notoriously short attention span. "And yet enough of you paid attention to keep track of the game. If you can do that during class, when your classmates are whispering in the back, or if there's something in the window that looks more interesting, try and focus on what the teacher is saying and what he's writing. Because guaranteed that'll show up on a quiz later on, and when you remember what he said two days ago, you'll ace the test. It's like winning the game." He raises his eyebrows. "Got it?"
"Kinda," one of the boys scrunches his face as he speaks. "That's kinda hard."
"'Course it is," Gibson says cheerfully, leading them back to their desks. "You have to work at it. That's why it's called classwork and homework."
Some of them groan. "I thought you said you'd help us cheat," the first boy says.
Gibson snorts. "That was for Battlefield. You think I'd actually help you cheat in school?"
"Yeeeees," they chorus, and he snorts.
"Brats," he says, but smiles. As Alice continues to stare intensely at her open board, he walks back. "Come to the Light Side," he says, "we have cheaters."
He could almost swear the small twitch on her face is a smile. "The Dark Side has cookies," she answers.
He smiles sadly, but can't help remembering what he'd seen. "The cookies are a lie." Then he left her looking small and afraid, almost hating the accidental lesson on top of the deliberate one he'd given, and nearly apologizes. Nearly, but doesn't, because it is more honest than anything she's learned before about her abilities, and if he says anything, even an apology, it would be a lie. So he continues to tutor Danny and the others, leaving Alice to her thoughts.
It's not long before their day ends, but Alice continues to mope until Gibson hears a semi-familiar voice saying, "Come on, you know we've got to go get our shots."
"Shots for what?" Gibson asks curiously.
Charlotte turns and awkwardly says, "Ah, you know, for allergies" in a way that indicates that she hadn't expected to be overheard while she talked to her younger sister.
"Oh, that sucks," he offers. They just nod in a resigned sort of way that suggests that they're used to being stuck by needles. "How have you been, anyway?" he asks Charlotte. "I haven't seen you much since graduation."
Truth to be told he'd rarely seen her before then, either, but it's now even more unusual to catch a glance at Alice's older sister. She sure does seem involved in the little girl's life still, though, so he supposes she still must live in the area.
"Yeah." She sighs. "I've been working quite a bit." Gibson gives her an expectant look, but she just lowers her eyes. "As a secretary for Bean Pot Games. I know I shouldn't bitch given I was able to find a job at all in this economy, but I didn't exactly intend to only answer the phones and typing documents for a game company, you know?"
"At least you got your foot in the door at a gaming company," he offers, but this doesn't look like it comforts her much. "Maybe Luke and I won't even be that lucky when we finish grad school in a couple of years."
Or maybe longer, he thinks ruefully, when it comes to Luke. John and Monica hadn't told him he was insane to go forward with his plan to get a Masters, but they were already trying to encourage him to consider dropping back to part time so he can work more to support himself and the baby.
"Yeah. Maybe one day I'll impress the right person with my ability to correctly direct their phone calls and they'll promote me to working on a game," Charlotte says with more bitterness than he expects. "It'll be just like a movie."
"Charlotte, come on," Alice whines, tugging on her sister's hand until she gets her attention. As soon as the older girl looks down, Alice frowns. "I wanna get it over with. And we don't wanna get sick."
"That's true," Charlotte mutters, and then she looks back at Gibson. "Well, nice seeing you. Until next time."
Gibson just nods and watches them leave. Even though it's a relatively warm inside by now, he shivers. Until just then he's never realized that he can't read Charlotte's mind, either. But then, up until she mentioned getting shots and his curiosity about what they were for just got the better of him, he's never tried to.
It's not yet seven o'clock on Saturday morning, and Mulder is feeling quite proud of himself because Isaac woke up forty-five minutes ago and he has been able to look after the baby while Scully sleeps, even if he's years out of practice when it comes to solo baby care. Fortunately Scully left a bottle in the fridge so he hasn't had to wake her to nurse him, and he's regained his previously rusty diapering skills too.
So, while the rest of the house sleeps, Mulder spends some time with his dry and fed son while the baby is alert enough to pay attention to what's going on. Scully is already fretting about having to go back to work at the end of September and while he nods in agreement that three months bonding with the baby does seem short, he envies her a little that it's okay for her to spend the time home with Isaac at all. He would have liked to take three months off too, but Wayne and his costars would have lost it if production on the show had to grind to a complete halt for that long. As it is everyone is getting sick of the wacky guests that Wayne has dug up to fill in for her in her absence.
"But hey, at least we have mornings like this one, right little guy?" Mulder asks the baby who is lying in his lap.
Isaac's blue eyes flash and he kicks happily, obviously pleased that his father is talking to him.
"I knew we were on the same page," Mulder says, tickling his belly to make his little feet go wild. "Say, have you got a smile for Daddy in you?" he asks, thinking that Scully has reported seeing some already.
Since no one else is around, Mulder amuses himself by making silly faces at the baby. Suddenly, he thinks about the Mr. Potatohead face he once made for Emily, back in the path he didn't take this time. At the time he'd been pleased by her reaction, but now it hurts to think about back then still in a way that doesn't make sense to him given that his niece is alive and relatively healthy across town, rather than dead as a preschooler like before.
He must frown, because when he next pays attention to his surroundings, he notices that Isaac is mimicking him. A frown on a baby that small looks so odd that he laughs, and after a moment his little son seems amused and smiles up at him.
"Oh, well there's a smile!" he coos at the boy, hoping his tone doesn't trip over to the dreaded baby-talk Scully still insists not be used with their offspring.
Somewhere in the house the landline rings and he cringes when it stops immediately. Scully has probably gotten up to answer to answer it. "So much for mommy sleeping in, huh?" he says glumly.
But then a voice at the door says "Dad?" and he turns to see April in the doorway holding the cordless phone. "Gramma Teena wants to talk to you."
"Oh, thanks." He reaches for the phone, but doesn't know what to do with it given Isaac needs to be held too. "Could you take your brother, please?"
April's eyes widen, and her voice is a little shaky when she says "Okay." She actually reminds him a bit of his mother when she tentatively picks the baby up, like she's afraid he'll detonate. April of course has no idea how terrified Teena seemed to be of her two oldest grandchildren when they were the baby's age, but he remembers all too well.
"Thanks," he tells her gratefully. He expects her to immediately put her brother in his crib because she still hasn't really warmed to him much, so it's a bit surprising when she sits in the rocking chair and carefully arranges Isaac on her lap.
Mulder smiles and steps out into the hallway, not planning to go very far in case April really has a problem. Idly, he wonders if she's struggling more to adapt to having a baby in the house again more than the two older kids because she'd been too young to be expected to help much when even Zoe and Brianna were that small.
Remembering why he's left the room in the first place, he holds the phone up and asks "Mom?"
"Fox," she says calmly, which is reassuring considering she's not the sort to call at that time of the morning for no reason. "Do you and Sammy have some time today to come over and help me out?"
"Sure. What do you need help with?" Mulder asks, imagining yardwork that needs to be done.
"I bought new curtains and I'm afraid that I'm too short to take down the old ones and put these up. And if Sammy could find my Halloween decorations up in the attic that would be lovely."
"We'd be happy to," he says, hoping that Sammy won't mind that he's speaking for both of them. "We'll come over after we have breakfast, okay?"
"Thank you. I'll see you then," she says happily.
"Okay, see you soonish."
He has just ended the call when April calls "Dad!"
Mulder rushes back into the room, worried that something has gone wrong. But when he gets to her, April looks happy. "Dad, look! He's smiling at me!"
"Wow," Mulder tells her. Isaac is indeed smiling up at his older sister. Mulder squeezes her shoulder gently to make her look up. "Do you know I didn't even see him smile myself until this morning?"
"Really?" she demands to know, sounding a little suspicious.
"Really. I guess he really likes you."
"That's pretty cool."
"Isn't it?"