#charlie scully
msr | s3 | words: 1,060
She has a big brother, a big sister, and a little brother. She has always been the responsible one; when she was eight years old, Mom had designated her to be the counter. She was to make sure that Bill, Missy, and Charlie did not wander off too far away on family outings. She always stayed close to Mom and kept her eyes on her three siblings.
Bill was not always the square he is now, and Missy could be distracted by ladybugs and kitty cats, but most of all, it was Charlie that was the hardest to keep tabs on—he was attracted to everything shiny and colorful.
The fourth series reads as follows:
Apple Balancing…Potential…The Newbies …The Dessert
To catch up: First series…Second series … Third series
&&&&&&&&&&
“Do you know that there is a dinosaur that lives in a lake in Georgia?”
Mulder nearly dropped his cards, “Scully!”
“There is, Mulder. I did not want to tell you while we were there and once we got back, I could not tell you but right now, I am going to tell you that I think you just might have been right about that one.”
The table fell silent immediately, Charlie asking, “a dinosaur?”
“Yes. He smashed our boat to bits,” putting her cards down in lady-like fashion, she crashed her palms together, missing the first time but connecting the second, “to bits and bits and it sank and we sat on a rock and ducks scared us and Mulder said he would eat me if he had to.” Suddenly covering her mouth, of course finding contact first time out the gate and slapping herself in the process, “that sounded dirty. I did not mean eat me but eat me eat me, like gnaw on my thigh bone and hope to get rescued before he had to eat my liver which reminds me of this other …”
Mulder stopped her flailing arms vainly attempting to find the vicinity of her liver with pointed finger, then his liver with pointed finger, “Scully, Scully, shh, hey, remember, we don’t talk about things like that at the dinner table.”
“But we already ate dinner and had Dessert …. Desssert … Dessseeeerrt … Mama, do you have anymore dessert … damn it, Dessert … I made sure to caspitalize it this time.”
Mulder’s hands grabbed for her again, successfully pinning her arms to the table, light but firm, “stop waving those fingers around, you’re gonna take out Charlie’s eye or knock poor Ruth to the ground.”
Charlie, for his part in all this, was dying next to his sister. He’d never seen her drink the Punch before and the ruckus she was causing had him laughing to the point of tears, “is she always like this? She’s only had one glass. What’s she like on two?”
Seeing Scully had forgotten dinosaurs and cannibalism for the moment, he let got of her hands, handing her cards back, “no idea. I’m usually rambling on about pie, from what I hear.”
Maggie smiled and slid a glass of water in Scully’s direction, “your sister is usually fairly floppy by now but her M.O. seems to have changed since Will was born so we will just have to watch and see what happens. Meanwhile, since I’m winning, I’d like to get back to the game.”
Back to the game indeed, until 10 minutes had passed and Mulder felt something sliding under his arm. Looking down, he saw slender fingers and scarred knuckles trying to sneak cards from his hand. Whispering at her now leaning-in figure, “what are you doing?”
Whispering, not really whispering, her answer, “I need your eights and your trees, I mean threes.”
The whole table could hear her.
Mulder looked at the messy cards in her hand, “you need ones and fours.”
“I know that but I like your eights and trees better. Eights and threes are all curvy and look like snowmen but fours and ones look like knives and scalpels and sharp things and I do not like sharp things. Too many stitches and hospitals for sharp things. Pointy. Points hurt.” Pulling up her shirt suddenly to reveal a fading scar down her side, “see, Charlie, pointy things do that.”
Charlie sobered immediately, also seeing the puckered gunshot wound of one Peyton Ritter, “Day?”
Scully let her shirt drop back down, oblivious to her brother’s reaction, “snowmen are more fun than knives and definitely more fun than bullets, let me tell you … bullets move fast and they hurt, zing, burn right through you …” Looking around, she smiled, “Ma, are you sure you ran out of cake?” When no one answered, Scully swung her head around, everyone a blur until Charlie, where she stopped, discovering he wasn’t laughing anymore, “are you okay?”
“I’ve just … I’ve never seen your … gunshot … thing.”
She threw her arms around her little brother, “I am fine, Charlie Bucket, never fear. I have Mulder and Walter and Frohippy and Langley and Byers watching out for me.” Hugging him around the neck, “and if everybody else fails, still got you, right?”
He hugged her close, “yeah, Day, you’ve still got me.”
Expecting an answer, all he got was a snort and a giggle, “fails … snails … whales … bales … of hay … day … Day.” Sitting up quickly, knocking Charlie’s chin with the top of her very hard head, “Day. That is my name, ask me again and I will tell you the same.”
Her giggles got them over the awkward bullet wound, liver eating, cannibalistic, Jurassic lean the evening was taking, and making sure she quit while she was ahead, Mulder moved her punch away, far out of the reach of her once again wandering hands, “I told you, you can’t have my cards.”
“But I like yours better.”
And those damn blue eyes batted blurrily at him and without another thought, he gave her his hand, “if you lose with what I just gave you, you’re making dinner for a week.”
Attempting and failing to keep the cards between her fingers, “big ass lasagna, coming up.”
She lost.
Then fell asleep against his shoulder while they played another 20 minutes.
Getting her to the spare room and settling her in, Mulder returned to the game packing up, “hey now, don’t I at least get one round to redeem the last hand Scully massacred?”
Frohike smacked him on the arm, “next time, my friend. Langly is about to crash and Byers already called not it on carrying him inside so we either leave him here or head out now.” Raising an eyebrow, “and that puts him sharing a room with you two.”
“Goodbye, Frohippy.”
Soon, Maggie was giving Will his bottle, and sneaking him upstairs to sleep in the portable crib already conveniently set up beside her and Skinner’s bed. Allowing his child his first Grandma sleepover, he looked over at Charlie, “feel like raiding the leftovers?”
Already headed to the fridge, “way ahead of you, Mulder.” The meatballs were just as good cold and coupled with large glasses of milk, both men were settled on the porch within minutes, Charlie swallowing his mouthful before, “what’s on your mind?”
Looking at his brother-in-law, “I’m sorry for tonight. We’re usually pretty good at keeping work separate from here, but apparently the Punch got the better of your sister.”
“It’s okay, although I gotta say, it was a little unsettling to see her scars like that. I know she’s been shot but to actually see it …” he shuddered slightly then returned to his food, taking another forkful, “let’s just say, I’m going to go home and thank Sarah for having the nice, safe job she has.” When Mulder didn’t respond, “can I ask you something?”
“I can’t guarantee I can answer but I’ll try.”
“How often are you two really in danger? I mean, serious, I could very well die today danger?”
After chewing, swallowing, drinking, clearing his throat, Mulder answered, “your sister, not very often anymore but me … probably a couple times a month at least, depending on the case.”
With the frankness only a little brother could have, “then why do you still do it?”
He couldn’t come up with an answer.
&&&&&&&&
Scully woke to Maggie warming up a bottle and humming in the kitchen outside the bedroom door. Getting up, she found she was, while not hungover, incredibly thirsty. Joining her mother and son, she drank a full glass of water while running her fingers over Will’s perfect handful of scalp, downy softness beneath her palm, “how did he sleep?”
“Like a baby.” Maggie nuzzled his forehead, “he only woke up once with a wet diaper but otherwise, he let us sleep until a few minutes ago.”
“He’s a good boy like that.” Fingers leaving Will, she moved to the fridge, “I don’t have a hangover, but I’m going to eat my cold tacos anyway. Want one?”
“No, thank you. Walter will be down soon and he’ll make the oatmeal and we’ll eat then.”
Taco en route to her mouth, she stopped, “should I wait?”
Maggie eyed the congealed burrito bean paste solidified on the end of the tortilla three inches from her daughter’s face, “I’d prefer not to watch you eat that while I’m eating, thank you.”
With a grin, Scully bit down, beans and rice threatening to spill down her chin, “but it’s so good.”
“You are not my child.”
Continuing her eating, she moved to the back door, “did you know Mulder and Charlie are out here?”
“Are they in the hammock together?”
Her Mexican mouthful nearly exited her nose, “thank God, no.”
“Someone should probably go wake them up so they can get to work.”
Seeing potential in such a suggestion, she scooted outside, leaning over her brother upside-down, nose to nose, “Charlie? Charlie? Time to get up.” When he didn’t move, she said it louder, “Charlie!” then got the hell out of the way, knowing he would jump up immediately.
He did not disappoint.
He also stumbled forward after he stood and ran right into the deck railing, hanging over for a moment before, “damn it, Dana, you trying to kill me?!”
“Just scare the hell out of you. Did it work?”
He remained where he was, head hanging over, “what time is it and if it’s before 6, you’re going to suffer.”
“It’s 5:54.”
Groaning, “Good Lord, woman, what the hell is wrong with you?”
“You have to go to work.”
“I’m having a meatball hangover. I can’t be expected to think today.”
Walking over to him, she tapped the back of his knees with her toe and watching him collapse to the ground, still hanging onto the railing, “you finished them?”
“Your husband helped.”
She truly enjoyed hearing him called that and smiling, “he probably had three while you scarfed the other fifteen.”
“Guilty.” Letting go of the rail, he leaned against the support, “you should scare him, too. Let him join me in my utter loathing of you at the moment.”
With a ‘pshaw’ and a ‘guffaw’ she leaned over Mulder the same way but this time, the moment she said his name, he opened his eyes and grinned, “hi there, wife.”
“Morning, husband.”
Charlie groaned, “both of you just shut it. You’re disgusting at 6am.”
“I thought we were disgusting all the time.”
Charlie simply lay down on the deck, “just let me go back to sleep in peace, would you?”
the fourth series reads as follows:
Apple Balancing…Potential …The Newbies
To catch up: First series…Second series … Third series
you know what? I had sudden doubts about posting an entire chapter about a dessert and I honestly sat and thought about if I should, then I remembered … this is Life and the Dessert is Life at our house … It should be at yours, too …
&&&&&&&&&&
Scully had to laugh. Mulder came home and talked her ear off the first day Harrison worked with him, “my God, Scully, I want to ask where she’s plugged in so I can disconnect her from her power source every so often. You were never this … this …” hands flapping helplessly, “exuberant.”
“Regretting it yet?”
By now, his shoes were off, and she was pressed against him in a full-body hug, his chin vibrating her skull, “I’ll give her time, but really, she’s the damn Energizer bunny gone wild.”
“Have you switched over to decaf yet?”
“Five seconds after she left the interview, I stole a case from the kitchen upstairs. Skinner saw me and asked, but when I told him Agent Harrison had been by, he held the door to the elevator for me and wished me luck.”
Smiling into his chest, “well, it’s Thursday, and you know what Thursday means, don’t you?”
“Cerulean blue punch and failed attempts at sobriety?”
“And one baby.”
“Rock, paper, scissors you for who’s staying straight and who’s drinking the Kool-Aid?”
Mulder lost.
“This could get dangerous, Mulder. I haven’t had a drop of punch in something like 11 months.”
“Dangerous … or the most entertaining thing anyone has seen in a very long time.”
Finally pulling away, grin widening with every moment, “I pumped enough to last Will through tomorrow, but I only get one glass, understand?”
“This should be a blast.”
&&&&&&&&
Not seriously concerned but wondering just the same, “Mulder, does my looking forward to blue-tongued liquor make me an alcoholic?”
“Personally, I think you just look forward to the hangover breakfast. It’s really the only time you don’t have to explain to anyone why you are making a Pedro’s Taco Hut run at 7:15am.”
“Think we should buy some now so I can just reheat them? Save me a step in the process?”
Detouring to their taco haven, “why not.”
Arriving with baby, bag of tacos, and Mulder, Scully entered the house and stopped dead in the doorway, “oh … my … God … she made cheese-stuffed Italian sausage meatballs and garlic bread and …” taking a deep sniff of the air around her, “oh, lord in heaven, she made the Dessert.”
Following with a bit of trepidation given her sudden and intensely frightening nasal superpowers, “what the hell is the dessert?”
Scully didn’t answer, sliding on stocking feet into the kitchen, calling out loudly, “did you use Heath bars or almond and chocolate?”
Maggie’s voice drifted down from upstairs, “Heath bars. What do you take me for, your Aunt Bethany?”
“I withdraw the question.”
Mulder, behind her with a baby and oodles of curiosity, given the mention of Heath bars, “I ask again, what the hell is the dessert?”
Skinner took Will from him, “a frightening looking layered concoction of pudding and Cool Whip and cake and the aforementioned Heath bars. There are two of them in the fridge, and Maggie swears there won’t be any left by tomorrow morning.”
Scully beelined for the refrigerator, opening the door to survey heaven in twin glass dishes, “was there any cake left over?”
“Maggie hid it somewhere.”
Scully sniffed deeply again, bloodhounds around the world instantly jealous of her flaring nostrils, her movements calculated and slow around the kitchen until she stopped at the pan drawer, “gotcha, crazy woman.” Opening it, she turned over the two nested pans and the Tupperware bowl, finding four pieces of dark chocolate cake, one of which immediately went into Scully’s mouth, “like three layers could stop me.”
The two men looked on in befuddlement, “who is that woman?”
Stashing the tacos in the fridge without really looking at the dessert, “I think she’s Scully, but the devilish mumbling is confusing me.”
“Is Maggie going to kill her when she comes in?”
Scully heard them and laughed, “it’s ‘Find the Cake.’ If you find it, you get it. If you don’t, you chase your little brother around until someone falls down in exhaustion.”
Maggie popped around the corner, spying her daughter, “are you going to share at all?”
“Under normal circumstance, highly doubtful.” She did, however, hand over the plate with two large chunks still left, “but since I’m generous to a fault, I will split my winnings in half.”
Mulder took the plate with the smallest amount of apprehension, “why am I still afraid you’ll bite my hand off?”
“You know me.” Kissing his cheek, a crumb or three of cake at the corner of her mouth, “and once again, it’s ‘Find the Cake.’ Mom makes the dessert we all devour, but there’s always cake leftover. She hides it. It turns us all against each other, and then it’s Battle Royale, followed by name-calling and pouting. It’s tradition.”
Mulder turned to his mother-in-law, “you know you’re all crazy, right?”
“You married her, remember that.”
Chewing his mouthful of cake, Mulder’s eyes wobbled in ecstasy, “and I am so glad I did. Had I not, I wouldn’t be related to the baker who made this.” Wondering if he should make a grab for the last piece, “why have none of them ever tasted like this before?”
With a smile, seeing the stealing debate happening, Maggie split the last piece, handing one to her daughter and one to him, “because the Dessert cake is special cake. If you ask any more questions, you’ll get none of the finished product.”
“My God, between Betty and her Punch and you and the Dessert, do you like what I did there, by the way, you can actually hear the capital letters in both Punch and Dessert, you’re on your way to an entire meal where no one knows what they’re eating.”
She swatted him on the backside with the towel she was carrying, “wait until we hit Kitchen Sink night. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, get out of the way.”
Looking towards Scully, whose eyes seemed to glow at the prospect of Kitchen Sink night, “what the hell is Kitchen Sink night?”
&&&&&&&&&
Charlie showed up a little while later, Sarah and their kids gone for the night at her mother’s house, “got enough for me?”
Maggie looked up as her youngest son waltzed into the kitchen, “of course, but I thought you were working tonight?”
“Transformer blew about half an hour ago. I can’t do the updates, and the drive to Sarah’s parents is too long just to turn around and come home, so I thought I’d try to get a halfway decent meal here.”
“Hey, Charlie?”
Turning towards the voice, “yeah, Mulder?”
“Do you know about the Dessert?”
Charlie, for his part, flashed back to 10 years old, and his eyes began darting around the kitchen, reaching for the closest cupboard, pulling the door open so fast it bounced back at him, “where is it? Did you find it already? Please tell me you didn’t find it already?”
Scully laughed at him, bouncing Will against her shoulder lightly, hoping for something approaching a healthy yet non-spitty-up burp, “I beat you by an hour, Charlie.”
“Damn it.” Turning to survey his mother critically, “if I give you $20, can you bake me my own cake, like, right now?”
Mulder would have hugged all of them at that moment if he could have.
&&&&&&&&&
The meatballs were phenomenal, warm, delectable, oozing cheese in every bite, he would have eaten more, but in the middle of dinner, Maggie got up and removed the bowls from the fridge, displaying the Dessert for all to see.
Scully and Charlie slow their chewing slightly.
Finally, dinner was put away, and after the dishes were cleared, the dessert bowls came out. Mulder feared for himself as well as the ladies who just arrived, that they would all be trampled in the clamor to the concoction, but heaping helpings were passed out in an orderly fashion, spoons used instead of scooping fingers, and he breathed a sigh of relief that he most likely would not have to throw himself between Charlie and Scully because someone got an extra dollop of pudding.
Then he scooped up a spoonful.
And ate it.
And forgot the world around him.
There had never been a Dessert, good God-damn, he was thinking in capitals as well as speaking in them, that had ever made him feel this good.
It was cool and slurpy and crunchy and cake-y and whippy and …
Laughter penetrated his cloudy haze and looking up, found all the ladies and Charlie staring at both him and Skinner. Now, he didn’t want to see that look on Skinner’s face ever again, but at this moment in time, he imagined he was wearing the same orgasmic, ‘if I didn’t just get fucked but good’ smile and glad he wasn’t alone in his embarrassment, grinned wider, “this isn’t too bad.”
Napkins, hastily grabbed dishtowels, and one pacifier flew at his head.
He kept eating.
Good to her word, there was nothing left in either dessert bowl by the time the Punch came out. Mulder leaned over to Scully, who was, hand to God, licking her bowl, “you got room in there for Punch?”
“There’s always room for Punch, and given I’ve been off the stuff for a year, I don’t think I’ll be drinking that much anyway.” Then, kissing him full on the mouth, pudding taste everywhere, “you sure you’re okay being designated diaper-er tonight?”
He would have answered, but he was too busy pulling her close to return the kiss, Charlie whining about them in the background while Janet began shuffling the deck.
