#babar the cottage
the fourth series reads as follows:
To catch up: First series…Second series… Third series
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Sitting on the back porch of the beach house, sun lower than the roof, throwing them in shade and a semi-cool breeze, Mulder veed his knees up, propping Will, his miniscule baby bum wrapped in an impossibly small diaper, on his thighs, tiny feet wiggling and occasionally making contact with Mulder’s belly.
“You have the most adorable feet,” catching one and leaning forward to kiss the heel, then the barely there toes, “but don’t tell your mother, she’ll get jealous.”
Scully, files stacked on her folded legs, “I shall contain my rage.” Holding the top folder up, “John Doggett. New York cop, detective, now works for the FBI in Investigation. Military man, Marine …”
Mulder cut her off, mouth still nibbling Will’s feet, “he’s got that damn DoD rec letter. It just doesn’t sit well.”
“I know,” pulling the letter out, “but it looks like a standard thing and remember, Skinner picked him for us originally. I trust that, Mulder, almost as much as I trust if you’d have done it.”
Sitting back, now playing with Will’s finally fattening legs, “how old is he?”
“40, I think.”
“Beats the toddlers I’ve dealt with so far. Married?”
“Divorced. One son who died a few years back.” She’d forgotten that part and with sudden shooting fear in her heart, she looked over to make sure Will was still there, “um, it’s why he left New York.”
Mulder felt the same chest-compressing panic and with a deep breath, kept an eye on his boy as he nodded, “I’d like to talk to him.”
Simultaneously cheering and praying, she opened a second folder, “and then we have Leyla Harrison. She dropped her resume off to Skinner a few days ago and mom dropped it off yesterday morning. She’s incredibly green but apparently has enough enthusiasm to keep the home fires burning in the basement for decades to come.”
“So, she’s you but might actually believe me one day?”
She would have thrown the file at him had Will not been within papercut vicinity, so she settled for a smirking glare and full-on ‘bite me’ eyebrow, “don’t push it, Sparky. You may never see me naked again.”
“I’ll take that bet ‘cause I don’t think you’d be able to follow through.”
Returning to her papers, “yeah, probably not.”
Mulder held his finger near Will’s hand until matchstick grippers grabbed him tightly, squeezing the bejeezus out of pointer, well, Will-size bejeezus, which, really, felt like almost nothing and fairly close to heaven at the same time, “your mama likes me.”
“Don’t listen to him, Will, I’m just here for the beach house.”
Shaking his head and grinning at both wife and son, “read me out this Harrison person. Let’s see if she’ll make it through the first week.”
&&&&&&&&&&&&
It took a fair amount of arguing, but in the end, Mulder begrudgingly admitted that both Doggett and Harrison might possibly be a semi-decent fit for his life’s work. That out of the way, he followed Scully into the house, ready to eat the dinner, ready to bathe the kid, ready to snuggle with the wife, ready to spend one more night on vacation in king-size perfection.
It wasn’t until they’d reached the snuggling part that the lightning began flashing off in the distance, thunder rumbling low at first but becoming louder and closer with every minute. Soon, the windows were rattling as the wind and rain pummeled the little house. Will, like his parents, didn’t sleep through the onslaught, but unlike his parents, Will cried his pitiful cry, Scully nuzzling him close, fitting him safely between her breasts, close to her heart, leaning back on the pillows Mulder shoved behind her. Repeatedly kissing Will’s head and whispering nonsense love to fall on his ears, she glanced over, seeing Mulder settling beside her, “I’ve changed my mind. We should move here right now.”
“Give me time to train the newbies and ween myself from the guns and the monsters and we’ll talk.
Knowing that was about as likely to happen as her ever liking pie, she sank into the fantasy for a moment, then, “how about we meet in the middle and just come back here in a few weeks? Maybe bring the rest of the kids out sometime.”
“I’d like that. Have sandcastle contests and beach bonfires and hot dogs and s’mores …” trailing off, “damn it, I’m hungry again.”
With a chuckle, “I’ll take half of whatever you go get, if you don’t mind.”
“Sandwiches, coming up.”
&&&&&&&
Once fed, half-asleep and jelly-boned, Mulder slipped an arm over her belly, soft whisper in her ear, “I could get used to this.”
Pulled back from oblivious dreamland, she asked into the darkness, “aren’t you already used to this?”
“I question perfection, Scully, you should know that by now.”
Turning her head enough to kiss his temple, “don’t question this, Mulder. Whatever else happens in that head of yours, don’t question this … ever.”
“We should have another.”
“Kid or cottage?”
“Kid. Cottage. Both. House in Baja to surf whenever we want, kids to teach.”
“You’re dreaming, aren’t you?”
Breathing out a long sigh that signaled full-on sleep mere moments away, “you taught me how to hope, Scully. Unleashed a monster.”
She was awake the rest of the night, visions of a future out of her reach forefront in her ever tumbling mind.
&&&&&&&&&&&
They were so close to having a completely phone-free weekend but right there, smack dab in the middle of breakfast, Scully’s phone vibrated: across the table, onto the floor, plastic thump, then across the wood, stopping only when it hit a rug. Both stared at it silently, just the other side of amazed, “persistent little bugger, isn’t it?”
“I’m not looking at it until we are finished eating.”
Not about to cross her, he did set a little timer in his head to keep track of just how long the phone hiatus would last, knowing her and her familial connections wouldn’t allow her to ignore a possible issue with one of them for more than a few minutes.
3 minutes, 49 seconds.
She did pretty well in all honesty and he didn’t chide her about getting up, leaning over, retrieving electronic nonsense from the floor, “don’t say a word.”
“I’m not.”
But he would say more later, when she was a few hours from having caved to technology and could see the humor in the 3 minutes and 49 seconds.
“So, who’s yelling at you?”
“Mom.” Listening to the voice mail, she smiled, “she says she’s planning a surprise party for Walter in a few weeks and you are expected to keep him out of the house beforehand.”
Mulder studied the air above her head for a moment, then, “instead of dread, I feel something akin to gleeful anticipation. Is that wrong?”
“You’re going to make him crazy for the whole day, aren’t you?”
Nodding with an enthusiasm that made her just a little bit nervous, “Oh, your mother never should have given me her Walter.”
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Waiting until the very last possible moment to start the drive home, Mulder locked the door behind them, Scully standing still beside him, Will in her arms. When she didn’t move down the steps to the Jeep, he peered around her shoulder, “Scully?”
And then he saw tears streaming down her cheeks, soaking chin, shirt, kid, “do we really have to go home?”
He grabbed them both in the softest, bone-crushing hug he could, “you are adorable, you know that?”
One giant sniff later, she got herself under control, “I hate hormones.”
Squeezing her a second time, “come on, woman, we’ll be back in two weeks and how does staying a whole week sound?”
“Perfect.” Moving towards the car, “and just to remind you, if you breathe a word about this to anyone, I swear to you, you will never, ever, see me naked.”
Holding her hand down the steps, “we just had this talk yesterday, didn’t we?”
“How about I will never, ever, ever, share another bag of M&Ms with you so long as we both shall live.”
“Now that’s just mean.”
