Luxury.
Wayfield, Virginia.
May 17, 2010.
"I think this is the best idea ever."
Iden was sitting bolt upright, her hand gripping one side of the raft, the other suffocating an ice cream cone. She had vanilla streaks all over her cheeks from the bumpy ride. She smiled at Mulder with all the radiance of the early afternoon sun.
Mulder nodded his agreement. He jammed his walked stick against a rock, changing their course to avoid a tree limb that barely peeked above the surface. The water was almost completely translucent, exposing the minnows that darted away from the shadow of their vessel. They were passing through a series of fields, heading for another patch of trees that led into town. Ahead of them, the world looked a lot like a Hallmark card, with massive mountains providing the backdrop, and horses grazing in the distance. Behind them, his stout cattle dog was trotting along the shore, dutifully keeping track of them when she wasn't busy sniffing a rocky crevice or chasing after curious birds.
"We could probably take this all the way to the ocean," Mulder said wistfully, shielding his eyes with his hands and squinting, as if he could see the beaches already.
Iden smiled. "I thought they were really far away."
"Well, with the right flotation devices we could hit the open water by… next year."
Iden twisted around, going to sit on the front of the raft. She dangled her feet in the water, wielding her own stick. She used it to tap the raft, adding a bit of music to their journey. "I think our raft would fall apart." She picked at a corner for emphasis. "See?"
Mulder shook it suddenly, startling her so much that she fell backward into the floorboard. He snorted, grabbing her foot and pulling her upright. "I thought I saw a bee."
"You did not," she huffed.
"Really. It was a big one. I feared for my life."
"Fox, you're a crazy person."
"I'm not the one who picked vanilla over chocolate."
She hummed, accepting his judgement, and flopped back onto the inflated bench, forcing her legs up a few times before she managed to backflip behind him. She crawled onto the side and draped herself over it, one foot and one hand skimming the water. She alternated between staring at him and staring at Frankie, who was in pursuit of a frog on the shore.
Eventually the river brought them to town. It ran under two showy, arching white bridges and on to a popular part of the river. It widened and became shallow along the fringes, forking around a white patch of sand, and on either side parents monitored swimming children. Mulder directed them to the right, waving at excited grade-schoolers as they marveled at his raft. Iden mimicked him, waving like a princess as she perched on the edge. Frankie also did her share of entertaining, begging kisses from the toddlers in the sand and provoking giggles from one of Scully's work friends, who was lounging in the sun with her husband.
Mulder called the dog off with a whistle. "Sorry Nancy!" He grabbed Frankie by the collar when she swam up to the raft, dumping her inside. "She thinks everyone loves her!"
Nancy waved at him, shielding her eyes from the sun. Frankie whimpered, walking along the edge of the raft. She puffed out her chest, perked her ears, and kept watch for them, making sure no intruders dared attempt to enter her temporary home. Iden rolled around in the floor, trying to provoke the dog to play with her, and when her attempts failed she leaned over the water.
When the populated shores passed them by, Iden came to sit with him. She petted Frankie absently, twisting her lips around. "Hey, Fox, can I ask you something?"
He was leery of her suddenly serious expression. He hated to imagine what dark things could go on in her mind. She had lost her mother three years ago to suicide, and she had been the one to come home from first grade and find the body. Since then she had lived with her potentially insane sister, who meant well, but whose parenting skills were severely lacking. Mulder was allowed to forget these things when she was smiling, but when her smiles faded, the darkness reemerged.
He flicked a leaf out of her hair. "Sure. What's up?"
"Do you think I'm really psychic?"
He had asked himself that question many times since meeting this girl and her sister. Deloris claimed to be psychic, a reader of omens and a diviner of the weather, but she laid an even more dazzling claim on her sister. She told Mulder that Iden dreamt of the future in perfect clarity. She knew situations and events that were going to happen, and she had never been wrong.
He was uncertain about his own belief in the ability, having encountered several dozen frauds in his new town alone, but Iden was a special case.
"Do you think you're a psychic?" he asked.
She looked away, taking one more bite of her ice cream and giving the rest to the dog. She wiped her mouth on her shirt – a habit she had, unfortunately, picked up from Mulder – and shifted around, leaning heavily into his shoulder. "I see stuff sometimes. Deloris says I see the future. She says the things I dream about really happen somewhere."
"What kind of stuff do you see?"
Her frown deepened. "I had a dream that momma would die, and then she did. She died just like in my dream. Deloris said we could have saved her."
He took a breath. Leave it to that eccentric woman to blame a nine-year-old for something she couldn't have possibly prevented. "Sometimes things happen," he said, hoping to ease the guilt in her eyes. "Sometimes we can't do anything to stop them."
"But I saw what was going to happen," Iden murmured.
He felt a strange sense of comradery with this little girl. Their lives, from very early on, had been marred by the supernatural, and they would never experience the blissful ignorance of the kids they had passed on the shore. He wasn't sure Iden could understand what she was missing at this age, but he knew she would feel it one day. It would sit like a sour spot in her throat.
"I lost my sister when I was a kid," he said. "I had the chance to save her, but I froze up. I was so scared that I let it happen. I blamed myself for that for a long time, but I realized later that I was just a kid. I couldn't have done anything to help her. Some things are just… destiny."
"Deloris says that a lot."
He swallowed the lump of doubt he had for Deloris and nodded. "She's a pretty smart lady." He reached down and splashed Iden, getting the dog on the backstroke. "And you're a pretty wet kid."
"Hey!" she shouted, jumping away from him. She grinned, grabbing Frankie and hiding behind her. She changed her mind after a moment, diving into the corner and sweeping some water toward him. Her little hand barely made a splash, but she still managed to hit him.
He got drawn into a splash war, and he didn't see a boulder approaching beneath them. The whole raft lurched and he heard an ominous hissing sound.
Iden jumped back to his side, grabbing his arm. "What was that?"
Mulder felt along the bottom of the raft, groaning when water started seeping around his hand. "I think we're sinking." He grabbed his walking stick and reached down for the bottom of the river, dismayed to find his arm wasn't long enough. He tried to use it as a paddle with little success. He could see the rapids starting up ahead, distant white caps running over rocks.
He sat on the edge, grabbing Frankie and dropping her in the water. She swam to the shore and shook herself, whimpering at him.
"Abandon ship," he declared, grabbing Iden and dragging her to the edge with him. He pulled her hand over his shoulder. "Hold onto my neck."
He slid into the water with her, swimming in a diagonal line to the shore. He let Iden climb up first, giving her a hard shove to get her up the slippery clay, and then he dragged himself up after her. He sat up in the sand, watching his raft take the rapids and go on down the river. It would be full of water soon enough. He was grateful he hadn't told Scully about it.
Iden washed the sand off of her knees, laughing as she watched Frankie pursue every bird within twenty feet of them. When Mulder stood up, she scrambled toward him so fast that she almost fell back into the water.
"Okay, me hearty," Mulder said, turning Iden toward a steep incline. "We be walking back home, and we not be mentioning this to Scully unless we be wanting Fox to meet an early grave."
"Aye aye," Iden responded, dutifully saluting him.
It was a pleasant walk that was made awkward by their wet clothes. When they reached the miniature beach again, they got strange looks from everyone, and Mulder avoided making eye contact with Scully's friend. He focused instead on harassing his pint-sized companion, ruffling her hair and shoving her before running across the bridge. She chased him, yelling all kinds of PG pirate curses, and slapped him in the back when she reached him.
"Ow, ow, elder abuse," he complained, dodging another smack. He tipped her head to the side, jumping back before she could react. "You hit like a bologna sandwich."
"You look like a bologna sandwich," she countered.
Halfway back to the house, it occurred to Mulder that his phone was still in his pocket. He took it out, watching with dismay as water drained from the keyboard.
"You need a new phone," Iden stated, smiling a little.
He flicked the battery at her, getting her in the thigh. "Very keen observation there, little lady. Hey, whoa, watch that. Could be corrosive."
She stuck out her tongue, giving Frankie another scratch between the ears and then running at him. She hook both of her arms around one of his. "Carry me back!"
"Do I look like a taxi to you?"
"Fox," she whined, sinking down to her knees. She clawed at the ground. "I think my legs may be broken. I see the light! I can see my life flashing before my eyes!"
"All five minutes of it," Mulder grumbled. "Hop on."
When he arrived at the house with a soaking wet nine-year-old clinging to his back and a stumpy cattle dog dragging its feet behind him, he was horrified to find the SUV in the driveway. Scully was already starting toward them, looking at him incredulously.
"Mulder, what the hell have you been doing?"
He let the little girl slip down his back. "I bought a raft. Did I ever mention that? Iden and I went for a little ride." Iden wrapped her arms around Scully, smiling up at her. Mulder did his best to look anywhere but her face. "We sprung a tiny leak."
"We were sinking!" Iden said, glancing back at Mulder. She was oblivious to his cease-and-desist expression. "We had to abandon ship and walk home!"
Scully swept the girl's hair back with both hands. "That sounds really exciting."
"Are you on break?" Iden demanded.
Scully glared at Mulder for another split second. "Yeah, honey, I came home to get some lunch. Little did I know what I would find."
"Is Fox in trouble?"
Scully tilted her head, shrugging, and led Iden into the house. "How about we get you a quick bath? You're all muddy. You'll get a rash if you keep those wet clothes on much longer."
She shot one last scowl at Mulder as she escorted the girl into the house. Mulder followed them, changing into a fresh pair of clothes before doing his best impression of a starfish on the couch. He rubbed Frankie down with a towel before allowing her to settle between his legs. She rested her head on his thigh, sighing, and stared absently at the television.
When the girls returned, Iden was dressed in a set of princess pajamas she had left by mistake last week. He could hear the washing machine running in the other room, coaxing the mud and clay out of her jean shorts. She sat on his chest, giggling when Frankie jumped up to greet her.
Scully leaned over his shoulder suddenly, very close to his ear. "Don't burn the house down. I'll be home in a few hours. Channel the responsible adult inside."
"Responsible… what now?"
She slapped one cheek and kissed the other. "Shut up, Mulder."
He spent the rest of the afternoon with Iden, happily taking a break from his research. He hosted a showing of several kids' movies, helped her construct the best blanket fort in the history of the world, and then cut off all the lights and told her the story of one of their past cases, entertaining a question and answer session afterwards. Iden was a bright, curious kid, taking on the strangest mysteries with the most whimsical explanations. It was one of the reasons they connected so well – they thought alike. Iden was just as wild as he was.
Scully came home with Chinse food, obviously delighted when she saw that Iden was still there. She went on a full tour of the blanket fort while Mulder set out the food.
He heard his email ding in the other room, but he managed to ignore it. Scully and Iden joined him, but somehow his mind had managed to wander back into the cave while they were in the other room. He thought again of the people who had gone missing, how devastated their families must be, and it brought his mood down. Scully noticed as soon as he took his seat, but she said nothing. She distracted Iden with the ritual opening of the fortune cookies.
Over an hour later, headlights flashed out front and the Frankie alarm went off again. Scully took Iden to the door, handed her a neat pile of her formerly drenched and muddied clothes, and watched her walk out to her sister's car. Mulder hung back, still munching on the last fortune cookie.
"She needs more stability," Scully commented as she shut the door. She brushed past Mulder, beginning to clean up the table. "Deloris throws that girl around like she's a pet."
"She seems happy enough," Mulder said.
"For now, I suppose."
Mulder shrugged, unfolding his third fortune for the night. He cocked an eyebrow. "You will fall into bed with a beautiful woman."
Scully laughed. "Right."
"Hey, I just obey the signs," Mulder said, sneaking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her stomach. He pressed a kiss to her cheek, sliding her hair back to kiss her neck. She squirmed, still trying to scrape the plate into the trash. "We can't deny our fate, Scully. We have to embrace the signs as they are revealed to us."
She set her plate on the counter, leaning quietly into his arms and shutting her eyes. For a moment he thought she was thinking the same thing he was, but her expression became sad. She ran her hand over his. "You know, she's right around William's age."
He swallowed. Mentions of his son gave him a painful sense of grief. He had never really gotten over that loss – the loss that happened in his absence. He had held William all of one time. He could not even drum up a memory of his face. It stung his heart.
"Yeah," he responded, his voice a little thick.
"You would have been a good dad," she went on, twisting in his arms. She kissed him lightly on the lips, pressing her forehead to his. "Iden loves you."
"You would have been a good mom," he countered. "Iden thinks you run this relationship."
She smirked. "Well, she's not wrong."
When the dishes were done and the house was mostly settled, Mulder returned to the couch. Scully joined him, relaxing into his side for a while before sinking down to put her head in his lap. She held one of his hands, running her fingers over his wrist. He stared at the TV, aware of what he was seeing, but not really watching it. He wasn't particularly interested in penguin migration right now. He was trying to remember what his son looked like.
"I'm sorry I brought it up," Scully murmured, twisting around so she was on her back. She kissed his palm, her eyes glittering in the light of the television.
He smiled down at her, but the expression left him as he spoke. "Can you… remind me? What did he look like? I saw him once before… before he was gone."
She took a deep, settling breath. "He was beautiful. He hardly had any hair – it would have been blonde, or light brown, I think – and his eyes were the prettiest shade of blue. He reminded me of you so much, mostly because he woke up in the middle of the night, every night, and cried until I gave him what he wanted."
Mulder grinned. He raked his fingers through her hair, getting it out of her face. He loved the way she looked in this light, the way she looked when she was remembering something pleasantly, instead of painfully. It reminded him of the dozens of cases they had worked in the moonlight. It gave him a peaceful longing for the past.
She glanced at the clock. "When do you have to leave?"
"Soon, but not too soon."
"Is that why you're always late?"
He laughed. "You caught me."
"I wish you wouldn't go," she whispered, staring into his eyes for a moment. She had heavy thoughts dragging her mind down. He could read it on her face. She was reluctant to say what she was thinking about because the few times that they had breached this topic had led to fights. He shared her hesitation, though he wished things were different.
He drew in a deep breath, tilting his head back to view the ceiling. It was much easier to speak to her, to tell her something she didn't want to hear, if he couldn't see her eyes.
"I have to go, Scully."
He wanted to ask her if she would still be here when he returned. Their last case had brought that question to light. Scully had threatened to leave him for his devotion to the supernatural. She had been serious, too. It was all over her face. He could remember that expression – the expression he loathed the most – more than he could remember the moment they had reconciled. It was the bad things, the looming threats, that clung to him.
Losing her was the worst thing he could imagine, but his passion called him away. He wanted to find those people, to solve this mystery, and to go on to solve the next one.
When he looked down at her again, he found a familiar blankness in her eyes. It was always there when she withheld her feelings. "I hope you find what you're looking for."
Ouch.
He tried to come up with something to say as she rolled off of the couch, kissed his forehead, and retreated to the bedroom. He came up with nothing. He could have gone after her and swept her off her feet, promising that he would drop the case, swearing that he would forget about the caves and the disappearances. He could have saved the situation before it ate away at their fragile new life. He could have done a lot of things to comfort her, but he grabbed his bag instead. He lingered against the bedroom door, listening to her moving around on the bed, and then he left.