Boys of Summer</p> <p> <META name="GENERATOR" content="MSHTML 11.00.9600.18921"></HEAD> <BODY background="" text="black" bgproperties="fixed" bgcolor="#d0e6ff" link="green" vlink="blue"> <style type="text/css"> nav { width: auto; margin: 0 auto; } nav ul ul { display: none; } nav ul li:hover > ul { display: block; } nav ul { background: #99FF99; background: linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%, #bbbbbb 100%); background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%, #bbbbbb 100%); background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #efefef 0%,#bbbbbb 100%); box-shadow: 0px 0px 9px rgba(0,0,0,0.15); padding: 0 20px; border-radius: 10px; list-style: none; position: relative; display: inline-table; } nav ul:after { content: ""; clear: both; display: block; } nav ul li { float: left; } nav ul li:hover { background: #4863A0; background: linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%, #5f6975 40%); background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%, #5f6975 40%); background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #4f5964 0%,#5f6975 40%); } 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Emilys</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/postcolkids.html'><span>Post-Col Childhoods</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/casefile.html'><span>Casefile Kids</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/lilghosts.html'><span>Little Ghosts</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/backfuture.html'><span>Back To The Future</span></a></li> <li class='last'><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/inhumanparent.html'><span>Inhuman Parent(s)</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/agingabnormal.html'>Aging Abnormalities</a></li> <li class='last'><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/clonedchildren.html'>Cloned Children</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/mattscully.html'><span>Matthew Scully</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/gibson.html'><span>Gibson Praise</span></a></li> <li class='has-sub'><a href='#'><span>Everything Else</span></a> <ul> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/challengefics.html'><span>Challengefics</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/crossovers.html'><span>Crossovers</span></a></li> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/ficpairs.html'><span>Fic Pairs</span></a></li> <li class='last'><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/genres/seriesfics.html'><span>Series</span></a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li class='has-sub'><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/challengeshub.html'><span>Challenges</span></a> <ul> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/challengeshub.html'><span>Active Challenges</span></a></li> <li class='has-sub'><a href='#'><span>Featured Challenges</span></a> <ul> <li><a href='http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/challenge62.html'>Reinstated</a></li> <li><A href="http://www.mulderscreek.com/tnf/challenge64.html">Baby/Kidfic plot Generator</A></li> <li><a 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m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-61462110-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </SCRIPT> <BR><BR> <TABLE width="90%" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="6"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <p></p> <p>Title: The Boys of Summer <br> Author: M.I. Renard<br> Written: June 2010<br> Feedback: mirenard1013@yahoo.com <br> Categories: MSR, Family, Post IWTB</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>"Is this Fox?"</p> <p>I stared at the receiver in confusion. The voice was soft and sweet, a little breathless. No one I immediately recognized, and yet there was a trace of familiarity to it. My first thought was to gently hang up, but then I remembered: I was a free man, in every sense of the word. I didn't really have to be wary of phone calls any longer.</p> <p>So I answered calmly, "Yes, this is Fox Mulder. Can I help you?"</p> <p>"Oh, Fox! I should have - of course you'd be the only male - um, this is Tara." When I didn't say anything, she clarified, "Dana's sister-in-law." At my continued silence, she added, rather desperately, "You know, Bill's wife -"</p> <p>Okay, I have a mean streak. So sue me. I've also had somewhat of a case against Scully's oldest brother, for quite some time. Or he has a case against me. Same difference, I suppose, but that didn't mean I had to take it out on his wife, who I recall was a decent person.</p> <p>After another few seconds, I said slowly, "Hello, Tara. It's been awhile."</p> <p>I could hear the sigh she emitted in my ear, and thought, oh, hell. Now what? Politeness, that was the key. Levity, interest. So I asked, "How are you? How are the - how many kids do you have, these days, besides the boy - Matthew, right?"</p> <p>Her voice sharpened with what sounded like relief, and she chirped in my ear, "How sweet of you to remember! Yes, Matty - we call him Matty instead of Matthew - he's our oldest. We have two girls and another boy, as well. Dana hasn't seen...um, she hasn't..." The chirp faded out to a short, difficult silence, and I knew I was supposed to inject some personal guilt into the stilted conversation, which I refused to do.</p> <p>Yeah, Scully hadn't seen her newest nieces and nephew. She'd barely gotten to know Matthew, before life as we lived it got so enormously fucked up. Blame it on me, the job, back to me, circumstances beyond our control, me again...it didn't matter, because the end result was the same. She missed out on her family, because she was too busy trying to follow me, protect me, love me. Heard it all before, hadn't I?</p> <p>Lived it all before. I matched Tara's first sigh with one of my own, and strove to keep that congenial tone in my response and frustration out of it. "No, she hasn't, and that's entirely my fault. Life has been - not easy - these past years. There were reasons, but that's no excuse."</p> <p>"Fox, please, I'm not calling to give either of you a hard time, truly. God, don't you think I know some of what you're talking about? You forget I'm married to a Navy 'Lifer' who all too many times has to put his country and his military before his family. I know, really I do." Tara was speaking earnestly, and just like that, her face flashed before me. The soft blonde hair, the pretty smile. The deep compassion I'd seen once or twice, in her eyes. The stamina and the fortitude, the loyalty. All of this she'd always had, buckets full of it, because she'd married one of those stubborn Scullys.</p> <p>I couldn't help but grin as I asked her, "So, how's Bill doing? Does he ever talk about me?"</p> <p>Tara's sudden giggle told me she'd figured out my attempt to lighten a conversation that was getting way too serious, and she replied in kind. "Oh, sure. Talks about you non-stop." A pause, and then, softly, "He doesn't know I'm calling. He doesn't know I got the number from Mom."</p> <p>Maggie Scully; 'Mom' to everyone in the family except me, of course. I'd never been all that sure Mrs. Scully had ever approved of me as a professional partner for her daughter, never mind a lover and life partner. She'd always been polite to me. She'd never raised her voice in anger to me. She'd seemed glad to know I wasn't gone forever, had avoided becoming worms' meat in the grave, although she couldn't have understood a tenth of what had happened to me. Sometimes, it seemed like a dream to me, too. Except I still had the faint scars here and there to prove it.</p> <p>Maggie Scully wouldn't have given anyone the phone number Scully finally sent to her, a few months ago. But 'Mom' would have.</p> <p>Time to wrap this up, find out what was going on. "Tara, why don't you tell me why you called."</p> <p>She took an audible gulp. Spoke in a rush. "I want you - well, Mom and I want you and Dana to come to Myrtle Beach. Spend a week with us there. We have this cottage. We go there every Summer. We invited Dana several times, but she'd always say she couldn't leave DC."</p> <p>A cottage in Myrtle Beach? This was news to me. Scully had certainly never mentioned it to me, not once. And she'd never mentioned being asked to meet her family anywhere. Not on a vacation like this.</p> <p>"Fox?"</p> <p>"Um, I'm here." I rubbed at my forehead to ease the tension I could feel building there. "Don't you think you should be talking to Sc - um, Dana, about this? Instead of me?"</p> <p>"She'll listen to you, Fox. It's been so long." Another gulp, chased with what sounded like a sob. Well, shit. I could never deal decently with a woman's tears; they simply decimated me.</p> <p>"Okay, all right, I'll ask her! I'll talk to her, I promise. Please don't get upset, don't cry, Tara." Panic in my voice, new tension behind my left eye. I rubbed furiously at it, knowing it would bloom into one hell of a headache in record time.</p> <p>The relief on the other end of the phone was thick enough to clog airspace. "Thank you, Fox. Here's a number where I can be reached. It's my cell phone," she clarified, then rattled it off while I quickly scribbled it down. "And you can tell her Charlie will be there, too."</p> <p>The elusive Charlie? At a family "thing?" Wow. I'd never met Charlie; he was the only Scully I'd missed getting to know, other than Bill Scully Senior, of course. I knew very little about Charlie, what little Scully herself had told me. That he'd also done his stint in the Navy but had gotten out and re-entered the civilian world. Had finished college, done a little bit of everything. I knew less than nothing about his family, only that he had a wife, a couple of kids.</p> <p>"It would be great to meet Charlie, at last. Is he anything like his big brother?" Well, I had to ask.</p> <p>Tara giggled again. "No, they're poles apart. Charlie is easygoing, a little bohemian. He's a builder. Houses, apartment complexes, professional buildings. Things like that. He's divorced but does have a girlfriend. Two boys with Bonita, that's his ex-wife. He doesn't get to see them often. Bonita is, well, difficult. I think the girlfriend's name is Ann, or Anna. Something like that. I've never met her. Only spoken to her a few times on the phone, another reason why Mom and I think we really need this time together, Fox. We all need to reconnect. Life is just too short, you know?"</p> <p>I could sure agree with her in that respect, and I nodded as I replied, "Yes, it is. Too dammed short by half."</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>Choosing a time to speak to Scully about such a delicate matter as this had to be accomplished with subtlety. I had to be careful, especially as Tara had called me, and not Scully, in the first place. I didn't want to step on any toes, deal with anger, bitterness, whatever you wanted to call it. Or tears, for that matter.</p> <p>Especially not tears.</p> <p>I was still mostly hanging out at the house, even though I'd been cleared to resume my life out in the open in front of God and Uncle Sam, so to speak. Scully was still working at Our Lady of Sorrows, still having trouble with Father Ybarra and the rest of the hospital board, although her attitude had lightened up and she was trying to be more pragmatic about her professional limitations. At least her schedule had improved and she now came home at a normal hour and usually had three days off a week.</p> <p>We'd talked at length about getting away. Scully had a month due her, a kind of 'use it or lose it' deal. We'd tentatively planned a vacation centered around surf and sand, maybe a little cabin or hut someplace where sailing was the norm and the seafood was fresh and abundant. She'd buy a bikini, a beachwear style she hadn't worn in years. I'd buy snorkeling equipment and stock up on sunscreen. We'd wear silly straw hats and make love amongst the seashells at twilight.</p> <p>Of course, it went without saying that we'd wear the silly straw hats while making love amongst the seashells. At twilight.</p> <p>But then I got called in to do a short consult. Scully had a couple of emergencies at the hospital. I caught the flu and gave it to Scully, although her case was far milder than mine since I'd been the one to refuse the stupid flu shot. It was a conspiracy, I swear, keeping us from the little hut in the sand and the sailboat. Spring turned to early Summer, and now here we were, coming up on August, without that much-needed getaway.</p> <p>Oh, I knew our getaway should be just the two of us, alone together at high tide. Yet, here was an opportunity for Scully to see her family. After years of nothing more than a few letters and some carefully-scrambled emails, to be able to sit across from her mother and hold her hand while they talked, really talked. To snuggle her nieces and nephews, laugh with Charlie, attempt to laugh with Bill... Okay, that was mean. Surely by now, Scully and Bill could sit face to face and have a laugh or two. I was banking on it.</p> <p>No doubt her family would rather have Scully all to themselves instead of having to deal with me. But I'd been invited, by none other than Tara and Mrs. Scully. No way was I about to miss out on any beach-type setting, even if a romantic stroll over twilight sand occurred with a herd of shrieking kids and one, possibly two, overprotective, hostile brothers.</p> <p>So I waited until the time was right.</p> <p>We ate dinner, discussed Scully's day. I hedged when it came to discussing my day, and was purposely vague. We cleaned up the dishes, watched the news, cuddled together on the sofa. Cuddling led to snuggling which led to kissing that resulted in the tossing about of our clothing, the speedy shedding of underwear and one hell of a coming together while Leno's voice droned in the background.</p> <p>Half on and half off the sofa, Scully lay atop me and panted in my ear while I strove to catch enough breath to form actual words. Tried to garner enough brain matter to assure whatever words I formed would be careful and subtle, as mentioned previously.</p> <p>She was stroking my hair, running still-trembling fingers through it, which I loved. Her body was warm and damp, her legs twined around mine, soft hair trailing over my shoulder and lips tracing a pattern alongside my jaw, when I not-so-subtly blurted out, "So, Scully...you want to go to Myrtle Beach with your family next week? They've got a cottage and we've been invited. Your mom and Tara invited me. Us, they invited us. Well, they called me, that is, Tara called me and invited us, and you weren't home to take the call, but that was all right since Tara called to speak to me, and -"</p> <p>I was babbling. For Christ's sake, I had to stop babbling.</p> <p>I felt her stiffen, vertebra by vertebra. Limb to limb. Her head lifted from my shoulder, the sensual afterglow that came from good, satisfying sex clearing from her eyes, and she narrowed them both at me as her voice, soft and still a bit raspy, inquired gently - too gently, believe me -</p> <p>"Cottage? My family invited us to a cottage? Next week. A cottage. Myrtle Beach. Tara called. You. She doesn't even have our number, Mulder... Oh. I see. My mother supplied the number, and Tara called. You. I see."</p> <p>Levering herself off my chest, enough to face me, Scully's nails dug into my skin and I flinched but stayed calm. "Scully, Tara would have spoken to you if you'd been here, you know that. It was just that she caught me instead." Well, that sounded completely reasonable.</p> <p>Scully slowly sat up, untangled her legs from mine, pulled a soft throw from the back of the sofa and wrapped it around her. There was a deep frown on her face that forced a sigh from me when I saw it. This family stuff could be so touchy, and I had been caught in its backlash before. Funny, the way I could have cared less about the dynamics of my own family, but got so quagmired into the bog often created by one or more Scullys.</p> <p>"Scully, listen -"</p> <p>She raised a hand to stave me off. "Just tell me, Mulder. It doesn't matter that you got the call, really. In a way, I can understand Tara's reluctance to wait until she could speak to me. Just tell me what she said."</p> <p>I blew out a steadying breath and caught one of Scully's hands, gave it a squeeze. She squeezed back, thankfully, and left her hand in mine. I chose my words as carefully as I could. "Tara wants us to join the family in Myrtle Beach. I get the feeling it's kind of an annual thing, since she said she's asked you before. Which is news to me," I added, still a bit rankled from being left out of that particular loop.</p> <p>To her credit, Scully's cheeks flushed a little, though her voice stayed fairly matter-of-fact. "Mulder, I refused in the past because at the time Bill was so often on the damned warpath and I didn't want to deal with him. Sometimes Mom would call to invite me when we were on a case or in the field and I obviously couldn't leave. Later on, our circumstances were...not good. Other times, I just didn't want to, even though I knew my time would have been open and available. My family is - well, you know what my family is! Difficult at best. They mean well, but that doesn't change much, does it?"</p> <p>As she spoke, Scully nestled closer to me and I gladly wrapped my arms around her, blanket and all. I rested my cheek against her tousled hair and waited for more. Excuses, further discussion, it didn't matter as long as she was communicating. So often, her feelings about her family remained silent, unsaid, leaving me to guess what she might be thinking, dealing with.</p> <p>Silence reigned for a little while, before Scully stirred against me. She whispered, "I miss them, Mulder, you know I do. It's been too long. I don't even know my nieces! And the new baby, God...I've never seen him, and he's got to be out of diapers by now. And Charlie," she looked up at me, "does this include Charlie? What about Bonita and the kids?" Her head dropped to my shoulder again and she mumbled into my skin, "I've lost track of my own family. They've become strangers to me."</p> <p>"I know, Scully. I do. But it doesn't have to remain that way." I kissed her forehead and then her lips, when she raised her face to me again. I pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth and murmured there, "Let's go to Myrtle Beach. Let's take this time for ourselves and for your family, too. A week with them, and then we take three weeks for ourselves, okay? We'll stay longer, or go someplace else, your choice. Another beach. Or the mountains, whatever you want."</p> <p>She hugged me tightly. "Okay."</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>I'd been to Myrtle Beach when I was a kid. I remember staying at one of the hotels along the beach, a small hotel with small rooms. Samantha would have been very young, barely out of diapers. I recall much sand-castle construction and long hours splashing in the surf, under the protective eye of my father, while my mother reclined under a large umbrella with Samantha napping next to her in one of those little portable playpens. Back then there hadn't been much on the beach besides hotels, motels, some cottages and plenty of seafood restaurants.</p> <p>But the place had changed. A lot. Now there were shopping centers, enormous hotel resorts, casinos, an amazing mall built over water, more entertainment than anyone could possibly have time for... Really something else.</p> <p>The cottage the Scullys had rented was off the beaten path a little, though the beach was visible from the shaded back yard. More than a cottage, it boasted five bedrooms, a nice living area and eat-in kitchen, three bathrooms, even a small heated pool off the crushed rock patio. I was afraid to ask what something like this cost to rent for a week, and was determined to chip in our share of the total, even though I sensed that Mrs. Scully would refuse to let us pay.</p> <p>She'd been alone in the cottage when we arrived. Everyone else had gone out to dinner, and Mrs. Scully had pleaded a headache and had remained behind. I figured she'd done it on purpose; shooed the rest of them out so that she could greet us first, and grab some alone time with Scully. I was fully prepared to hang out down at the beach for a few hours and let mother and daughter have their reunion.</p> <p>But Mrs. Scully hugged me as hard as she'd hugged Scully, when we finally climbed out of the car and stood on the sandy pathway in front of the cottage, stretching our stiff legs. Flying out of the house, Mrs. Scully had caught first Scully, and then me, in a prolonged hug that actually brought tears to my eyes as I held her.</p> <p>"You're here! Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" Back to hugging Scully, who was furiously blinking back tears of her own. I must have had the biggest smile on my face as I watched them together, two petite women with opposing coloring yet with the same lovely features. Both strong women, both having suffered more than their share of loss. And both trying to find the best way to deal with the difficult situation of bridging an enforced gap.</p> <p>I really hoped that the next week would help reduce that gap, for all the Scully family members.</p> <p>"You come right inside! We can get your suitcases later. Come inside, I made iced tea, and cookies. Are you hungry? I made sandwiches, and a big bowl of chili." Hustling us along the pathway, Mrs. Scully had us both herded into the cottage before either of us could blink.</p> <p>"Mom, I'm not hungry yet. Where is everyone?"</p> <p>" Mrs. Scully, you don't have to wait on me." Both Scully and I spoke at once. Scully had already given the living room the once-over, perhaps wondering if the rest of the family would pop out from behind the drapes or come running down the stairs to greet us.</p> <p>"I sent them to dinner. I wanted some time alone with you first, Dana. Fox, you just start calling me Maggie, all right? Otherwise it'll be too confusing, with you always calling Dana 'scully,' and me thinking you're talking to me." Mrs. Scully - well, Maggie, that is - gave me a big smile and a pat on my shoulder, then hugged both of us again, before wiping at her damp cheeks and apologizing for being such a waterworks.</p> <p>With neither of us wanting anything to eat or drink just yet, we decided to unpack and relax on the back patio until the rest of the Scully herd returned from dinner. Maggie had put us in the bedroom across the hall from her - and several doors down from Bill and Tara. The kids had been relegated to their own bedroom, which was already cluttered with toys, beach balls, assorted pool floats and sleeping bags. A double set of bunk beds faced each other from opposing ends of the room, with Maggie laughingly explaining that nobody wanted to use them.</p> <p>"They're all too enchanted with the idea of 'roughing it' on the floor with their sleeping bags," she said. I stood inside the door and viewed the litter with vast amusement, recalling more than once as a kid when I'd tossed a blanket in the floor and slept there, pretending I was in the jungle or somewhere else equally exotic.</p> <p>"What about Donny?" Scully wanted to know. The youngest Scully, Bill and Tara's newest. "Surely he can't be old enough to use a sleeping bag, Mom!"</p> <p>"Oh, yes. He's old enough. He's almost three." There was the merest hint of censure in Maggie's tone as she replied, and I could see that censure hit Scully right between the eyes, for they immediately went blank, her face expressionless. The Scully inscrutability, was what I had always called it; a self-preservation tactic that I had often admired as much as despaired of. In this case, I knew exactly what she was thinking: censure, because it had been years since she'd seen Matty. She'd never met the girls, or Donny. Had barely emailed her brother, over those same years. A few scattered telephone calls had ended in tension for both of them. Oh, yes. I knew.</p> <p>I jumped into the sudden silence. "So, fill me in, Maggie. How many kids in here besides Donny and Matty? I'm looking forward to meeting all of them."</p> <p>She gave me a disbelieving look. "You're kidding, right? They're all little monsters. Thank goodness! Normal boys, a little roughhouse, but I'm sure used to that." She counted off in her fingers. "Let's see... Bill's girls are Eliza and Connie. Charlie was able to bring his two, so we also have Mark and Johnny. Ann - that's Charlie's girlfriend - has a son from a previous marriage, Todd. Who's actually the same age as Matty, so those two get along very well." Obviously giving in to the need to straighten something in the childish pig-sty laid out before us, Maggie bent and picked up a few stuffed animals, depositing them in a huge cardboard box crammed into another corner. She smiled faintly. "Toy box. Well, sort of."</p> <p>I chuckled, Scully managed a small grin, and we turned away from bedlam and walked to the other end of the hallway, into the room we'd be using.</p> <p>It was a decent size, and had everything we needed: queen bed, closet space, a highboy dresser, a portable fan in one corner and a window air-conditioner across from the bed. We would be sharing a bathroom with Maggie, who gestured to the window air unit and told us the house was an older model that had never been upgraded with central air.</p> <p>"Goodness only knows what the owners' electricity bill must be like, in the Summer! But almost every room excluding the bathrooms has a little window unit like this one, and there are fans everywhere. It's not too bad at night, but it can get miserable during the day." Maggie bent to smooth the coverlet over the bed, and even I could see how nervous she was.</p> <p>"How long have you been coming here, Mom?" Scully stood with her arms crossed, a self-defensive pose although her voice was soft and neutral.</p> <p>Maggie sighed, faced her daughter. "We've rented this cottage every year for the past five years. Before that, we rented from a little motel that had cabin units, nearer the beach. Back when there was only Matty, and Eliza was an infant. But when the babies began to come a little faster, we decided to find something bigger."</p> <p>"Five years," Scully said, flatly.</p> <p>"Yes. And I stopped inviting you two years ago because I only had an email address that you rarely if ever responded to. I had no physical address, did I? I had nothing," she gulped in a breath that wobbled a little, "nothing, until you emailed me a few months ago and gave me a goddamned phone number." Pressing a hand to her lips, Maggie turned toward the door. "I apologize for cursing. Come down when you're ready, and we'll eat." She strode out, her heels clacking on the wooden stairs.</p> <p>"Oh, shit." Scully rubbed her hands over her face, tugged them through her hair, stared blindly out the nearest window. "What the hell are we doing here, Mulder?"</p> <p>I stepped behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her back against me and pressing my lips to the nape of her neck, bared by the ponytail her restless fingers had loosened. I murmured comfortingly, "You're reconnecting, and I'm acquainting myself with the family of the woman I love. That's what we're doing here." I turned her around and wiped away what tears she had allowed to fall. Kissing her damp cheeks, then her mouth, brought both of us some ease from the tension that had been palpable since we'd first stepped foot in the cottage.</p> <p>"I'll never make it through a week." It was mumbled into my shoulder.</p> <p>I gave Scully a reassuring squeeze. "Sure you will. I'll help you. I'll act like an asshole around Bill, he'll beat up on me and thus ignore you. The kids can use me as a human punching bag, too. Charlie can poke fun at me. You can tell the women what a wuss I am when I see a spider in the house. Then you can all point and laugh at me." I bent down and peered into her face. "Deal?"</p> <p>Scully snorted, her version of a stress-reducing laugh. "Deal, God help us both."</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>Everyone had trooped in about an hour after we'd had a silent meal of chili in the kitchen. Maggie hadn't said very much during that meal and Scully had said less than that. I'd asked a few questions and had gotten a few polite answers. Yes, Myrtle Beach had changed a lot. Yes, Crabby Mike's was still in business and still had the best seafood buffet in town. Questions and responses of that nature served little purpose other than to stiffen up my neck, and ice Scully down until she was just about frozen to her seat. If Maggie noticed, she kept it to herself.</p> <p>Into this 'warm and loving atmosphere,' the Scully men and womenfolk tromped, Charlie first. I stared at him, fascinated by his resemblance to Scully. The same hair color, same eye color. Charlie wasn't much taller than Scully, either, and had that same curving half-smile that could look demure one moment and mischievous the next. He shook my hand and seemed to be all right with having me there with his sister. His boys were both dark-haired but had their dad's blue eyes. They ducked their heads and smiled, a bit shy, although the younger boy, Johnny, did step up to Scully and hug her.</p> <p>Ann, Charlie's girlfriend, was tall and curvy, with the whitest blonde hair I'd ever seen. Since her eyebrows and lashes were just as white, I figured the color was natural. She had gray eyes, a lovely smile, a whisper-soft voice. Her son, Todd, was a carbon copy of his mother, and at twelve and a half was almost as tall as her, too.</p> <p>Matty looked amazingly like his dad, and he greeted Scully with enthusiasm, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing the breath out of her lungs. When he lifted her off her feet, she gasped and laughed, the first time she'd laughed all evening. Already taller than his aunt, Matty was still reduced to a little boy when reunited with his 'Aunt Day.' His younger sisters were pretty and blonde and both very shy, keeping their distance but offering identical smiles. I figured Scully would win them over in a matter of hours.</p> <p>And Donny, the youngest, rode his father's shoulders into the kitchen, shrieking happily, chattering a mile a minute. Bill's face was alive with laughter for perhaps three seconds after he came into the kitchen, and then he spotted me. His lips thinned, he offered me a short, abrupt nod, and not a whole hell of a lot more than that to Scully, who still stood next to Matty. She murmured back to Bill, but gripped Tara very tightly when Tara walked up to her and held out her arms.</p> <p>"Oh, Dana. I'm so glad you're here. So glad." They clung, while Maggie watched them with what amounted to envy on her face and Ann smiled serenely. Charlie and Bill headed for the fridge and a few longneck bottles, and when Charlie held one up and gestured to me with it, I nodded. He snagged an extra one and handed it to me, and with unspoken assent the men moved out to the back patio and left the kitchen to the women and children.</p> <p>Somehow, I could only think that decision to join the guys might have been worse, than staying in the kitchen with emotional women and screeching kids.</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>"So, Mr. Mulder. I suppose I should thank you for making my sister agree to come here. Seeing as our mother couldn't accomplish it." Bill cut into the silence of the evening, his voice harsher than I remembered. He leaned back in his lawn chair and stared at me while he took a long pull from his beer.</p> <p>"Jesus, Bill. Give it a rest, already." Charlie sighed and shook his head as if in defeat of his brother's attitude, then turned to me with that half-grin. "Ignore the boor, Mr. Mulder. He can't help it."</p> <p>"Just call me Mulder, Charlie, please. You too, Bill," I pointed my empty bottle at Bill, and smiled at the sneer he made no effort to hide.</p> <p>"Oh, yes, that's right. We all have to address you by your last name, don't we? A little eccentric thing you and my sister had going. I'd have thought the two of you would have outgrown that by now."</p> <p>"Bill." Charlie's voice held a warning. I waved him off.</p> <p>"It's all right, Charlie. Bill has a right to be pissed at me. Our history has never been pleasant." I set my bottle on a low table next to my chair, half-afraid I'd give into temptation and bash the damned thing over Bill's head if I didn't remove it from arm's reach. I faced my old nemesis and stated bluntly, "I didn't talk your sister into anything. She wanted to come, and your wife wanted both of us here. I know what you think of me, Bill. Some of your assumptions aren't too far off the beam, but never doubt that I love your sister deeply. Never doubt that I'd do anything to change some of the events of the past, if I had the power to."</p> <p>"You had the power to stay away from her, didn't you? Mulder," Bill drawled my name as if it would leave a nasty aftertaste in his mouth. There was a little ice chest on the glass patio table, and I reached in and grabbed another beer, twisting the cap and taking a healthy swig, before I deigned to answer him. My eyes met his, squarely. "I couldn't have stayed away from Scully, any more than you'd have been able to leave Tara's side, if you'd ever found yourself in a situation like ours, Bill. Better believe it. It was always far more than the job, right from the beginning."</p> <p>"Ah, yes, the job. Christ, didn't we all get to listen to an earful of that!" Bill showed his disgust quite plainly. "She should never have joined the fucking FBI. To this day I don't know what the hell she was thinking."</p> <p>"Why don't you ask her, then? She's right behind you," Charlie suggested with a brotherly smirk. I could tell he was enjoying this, and I had to wonder what kind of relationship the Scully men had, that would afford them amusement at each other's stress and pain. Probably no different than brothers everywhere, I supposed. Except I'd never known that kind of dubious bond, had I? My only sibling - a sweet and innocent girl - had been stolen from me before we'd ever had a chance to develop and grow together.</p> <p>Even now, even after all these years, the pain was there under the surface, stinging and sore.</p> <p>While I was fighting with bitter memories, Bill half-turned in his seat and watched through narrowed eyes as Scully walked to my chair and sat on the arm, her hand coming to rest in my hair. Fingers that felt slightly chilled waffled through the short strands at my nape, a soothing, repetitive motion. Of course she knew what I was feeling. Scully always knew. I sighed under my breath and pushed my head back into her hand, needing her touch.</p> <p>"You have something to say to me, Bill? Now's as good a time as any. Get it out into the open at the beginning of the week, so I can attempt to enjoy the first vacation I've had in years." Scully had a firm tone to her voice that nevertheless managed to remain calm and even.</p> <p>"You don't want me to get into it, Dana. Or should I be calling you 'scully?' I hear you don't answer to your first name any longer." Oh, Bill was in rare form. Shit. This was going to be a long week. I barely restrained myself from rolling my eyes, when Charlie caught my attention and winked at me.</p> <p>"I think we need to 'get into it.' I think you need to say what you've been dying to say, Bill. You won't get a better opportunity. And then I'll tell you the truth. Whether you believe it or not is your problem." Scully took the beer out of my hand and drained it, then handed it back to me. Her eyes had a glitter to them as she softly repeated, "Get into it, Bill."</p> <p>"Okay, fine! I want to know where the hell you've been, the past eight years! A handful of fucking emails, a phone call now and then, and never to me. You spoke to Tara. You spoke to Mom, but never to me. You deserted your family, and still, none of us knows why! You owe us, Dana, Scully, whatever the hell we're supposed to be calling you these days. At the very least, you owe your family an explanation." Bill had surged to his feet and stood over his sister with both hands clenched into fists.</p> <p>I could feel my entire body tensing, anticipating the necessity of punching Bill out, just in case he entertained any thought of using those fists on Scully. But she'd jumped to her feet as well and faced him, a foot shorter and every bit as angry.</p> <p>She poked a finger into his chest and it was like poking a pissed- off crocodile. Both Charlie and I held our breaths. She fumed at Bill, "I took the job because I wanted it, more at the time than I wanted to be a damned doctor. I went into a partnership with Mulder because I knew I could make a difference. I stayed with him because there was vital, important work to be done, because we were the only two who could do it...and because I love him." Her voice lowered to a rasping whisper. "And I stayed away for eight years because the people we were fighting against would have killed us to keep quiet all of the incriminating things we did know. I stayed away, willingly, to protect not only Mulder, not only myself, but my family as well."</p> <p>"What the hell are you talking about?"</p> <p>Scully poked Bill again, this time harder. "Think about it, you stubborn asshole! You've been in and around the government long enough to know what an extended reach they have. You think they'd have stopped at Mulder and me? They would have gone after you, too." As Bill's face whitened, and Charlie gasped softly, Scully nodded and stressed, "That's right. Your family. Your wife. Everything you hold dearest. Mom. All of you, in danger, all of you vulnerable. I've seen people disappear, Bill, as if they never existed. If you think it can't be done, then you're merely deluding yourself."</p> <p>Bill looked shell-shocked. "I never thought - you can't be serious! Dana, things like that don't happen..."</p> <p>"Susanne Modeski." I spoke the name clearly, and watched Scully's head whip around, then nod sadly. I added, "Believe it, Bill. It happens. We saw it happen. We know people it happened to, as Scully said. If she cut you off; if she left you and your family in the dark so much and for so long, she did it out of love and incredible worry."</p> <p>Bill sank into his seat. When Charlie handed him a beer, he took it and gulped half of it down in one long swallow. He wiped his mouth with a shaky hand, and oh, I felt for him in that moment. I really did. Bill Scully, big and tough Navy man. Head of his family since the day they buried Bill Senior. A strong man, a family man, a dedicated-to-duty man. And in so many ways a blind man. It was easy to slip them on, those side blinders that blank out the bad that any government can perpetrate in the name of the better good. It didn't make all government evil, but it did warrant some basic common sense and caution. All Scully and I had really been guilty of was taking off the blinders, and acknowledging the bad right along with the good.</p> <p>"Bill..." Scully moved to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, and smiled faintly when he convulsively laid his large palm over her fingers. "Bill, I can apologize sincerely for not speaking to you when I did call, now and then. Sometimes I would be so bone- weary, and I just didn't want to fight. Your answer is so often confrontation, while you cram your opinion and your will down the throat of whomever you're confronting. I didn't have the...fortitude...to take that on."</p> <p>He nodded, gripped her hand tighter, and I saw Scully wince a little but she left her hand on his shoulder. I knew from experience that Bill Scully had a grip like a damned bear. Well, I'd give her a hand massage, later.</p> <p>A small sound caught my attention and I turned, looking toward the glass patio doors. Tara and Maggie stood there, unabashedly eavesdropping. Both sported damp, pale cheeks, and both managed small smiles when I surreptitiously offered them a thumbs up.</p> <p>Quietly I got to my feet and walked to the door, leaving the Scully siblings alone. They had much more to talk about, and I supposed I'd get my turn with Bill - if not Charlie as well - some other time. And Scully would have to sit down with her mother and Tara, too. If we were to enjoy any part of this vacation and behave with any kind of normalcy, what still festered had to be taken out, discussed and banished as much as possible.</p> <p>I slipped into the kitchen, placed an arm around each woman, and led them into the living room where the din of wild children could be heard over the jangling dialogue of Spongebob.</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>Breakfast was a meal I usually skipped, but the morning after we arrived at the cottage, I decided to go down, eat something and be as friendly as possible to as many Scullys as I could find at the table. Anything to clear out the residue left from all the strain bouncing around the cottage, from the night before.</p> <p>Scully had come to bed a little late, but I hadn't been asleep. I'd been dividing my time between watching TV and flipping through a 'Loving Myrtle Beach' magazine that I'd found on the nightstand. She'd slipped through the door, offered a smile and had disrobed on her way to the attached bath. Moments later, I'd heard water running.</p> <p>She'd climbed into bed, fragrant from her shower, and I tossed the magazine aside and took her into my arms. Scully didn't want to talk, so I didn't push. Instead, I had curled her against me, kissed her, stroked her. Kissed her some more. Found myself grinning like a fool when her hands tugged at my shorts and she flicked them over my shoulder, a navy cotton slingshot. Her hands had framed my face and she stared at me for the longest time.</p> <p>"Yeah?" I'd raised an eyebrow at her, inquiringly.</p> <p>Her lips curved, that half-smile. "Yeah."</p> <p>I had flopped onto my back and flung my arms above my head. "Well, okay. But you have to buy me dinner and tell me you love me, first."</p> <p>"I'll buy you breakfast. I'll still respect you in the morning, too." She'd put her lips against my ear. "I'll tell you I love you."</p> <p>"You have to be sincere." I'd given Scully a rude smirk and watched her swallow a chuckle. Her hands slid over me, shoulder to chest to waist to groin, where they lingered, and cupped, and traced random patterns on my skin until my eyes wanted to cross.</p> <p>"If I have to, then I guess I have to, Mulder." She'd kissed me, deeply, a little roughly. Deliciously. Had whispered on my tongue, "Sincerely, I love you. Please oh please. Let me have my way with you."</p> <p>Well, that had sounded pretty damned sincere to me. I offered a regal nod of my head, then had ruined the cool facade by rolling Scully beneath me, and plundering like a Neanderthal.</p> <p><HR width="70%" align="CENTER" color="#d0e6ff" hr=""></p> <p>So I sat at the kitchen table and watched seven children rip through pancakes and blueberry syrup like a herd of starving monkeys. Which, in effect, they were. It was all I could do not to laugh aloud. They were slobs, even the older boys. The girls cut their pancakes with dainty precision, then stacked the pieces onto their forks and shoved it all into their mouths, giggling through syrup and melted butter, having some sort of sisterly competition. Donny had syrup smeared over one ear and down the side of his cheek, where he tried to extend his tongue far enough out to lick at it.</p> <p>I grabbed a napkin, wet it in my water glass, and wiped the stickiness off. He offered me an angelic smile, then spoiled the effect by lisping, "You sweep wif Aunt Day?"</p> <p>Maggie, standing at the stove flipping more cakes, gurgled in shock. Tara gasped and tried to shush her youngest, while the older kids giggled and Charlie roared, doubled over in his chair. Bill, standing at the counter sipping coffee, just shook his head and kept his lips zipped.</p> <p>Scully hadn't come down yet, thankfully. I couldn't keep a grin off my face; the kid was so damned cute. Briefly I debated the best way to approach this, then finally said, "Yeah, buddy. Aunt Day and I... sweep."</p> <p>"Okay!" Apparently satisfied with the answer, Donny scrambled off his seat and bounded into Charlie's lap.</p> <p>Charlie oofed softly as he caught the boy around the waist and steadied him, allowing him to bounce on his knees. "Mind the jewels, kid," he muttered under his breath.</p> <p>Ann and Scully walked in just then, deep in conversation. Ann immediately moved to Charlie's side and bent down to kiss him, and swiped her long hair over Donny's nose, making him giggle. She then worked her way around the table, bestowing kisses on child and adult alike. When she reached me, she brushed a kiss across my temple and for a few seconds I felt like a ten-year-old. When I looked at Charlie, he winked.</p> <p>Scully had found her way to the coffeepot as well, and poured a cup. She'd murmured a 'good morning' to the room in general, had offered me a sleepy, outrageously sexy smile, had bussed her mother's cheek lightly as she'd walked by her. But she came to rest against Bill, and his arm went around her shoulders so naturally that it brought a little lump to my throat. In silence they stood side by side, sipping coffee, each wearing their own version of the Scully half-smile.</p> <p>As first breakfasts go, it wasn't too awful.</p> <p>Later, we took the kids to the beach, everyone loaded down with towels, inflated floats, pails and buckets, two ice chests and an enormous picnic basket that I was told held large amounts of cold fried chicken and popsicles. All of the kids swam like little fishes, even Donny, though he was wearing water wings and a small life jacket as a precaution. We let the kids loose and they ran shrieking into the surf.</p> <p>I watched the Scullys slather themselves with SPF 50, knowing by long association with my own Scully that the family complexion hadn't escaped any of them, even Bill. Ann didn't bother to attempt the sun and instead helped me erect a portable nylon pavilion. Several chairs and all the food and drink ended up underneath it along with Ann, her white skin and a small stack of paperbacks. When she called to Todd with an admonishment to put on a shirt, he ran up to her, grabbed the shirt and put it on, then tore back down to the surf and plunged in, drenching himself until the material clung to his skin, protective and cool in the heat.</p> <p>Since the sun had always been a friend to me, I was content to sprawl on my towel and soak it all up, though Maggie had tossed the lotion my way with an order to put some on my skin. I didn't try fobbing her off because I understood only too well her phobia concerning cancer. Obediently, I lotioned up.</p> <p>Amidst the screech of children, the incessant caw of seagulls and the rest of the confusion of a typical Summer beach, we fell silent ourselves, a murmur now and then from one to another all that was necessary. Scully lay with me for a while in the sun, her body prettily displayed in the black bikini she'd bought. Tara, sleek and trim in a royal blue tank suit, splashed with Donny in the surf, with Maggie joining them for some sand-castle construction. I heard Charlie and Bill chatting, low voices somewhere behind my head, and it was too easy to drift, too easy to let a lot go; shit I'd been carrying for far too long.</p> <p>Maybe I dozed, maybe I dreamed. But I definitely jumped a little when Bill's hand came down on my shoulder. "Turn over, Mulder. You're looking pretty red."</p> <p>I flipped to my stomach, mumbling into my towel, "I never burn."</p> <p>"Everybody burns." Bill sank onto the sand next to me, and I turned my head toward him. He was sitting on Scully's towel and when I looked around for her, I saw her under the pavilion with Ann. Charlie was down at surf's edge, knee-deep in sand castles, and for the moment Bill and I were all alone. Which I'm now sure, he'd planned.</p> <p>"So, how the hell are you, Bill?" I was nothing if not cordial and polite. And stupid, too, seeing as how Bill could flatten me with one hand.</p> <p>Bill adjusted the edge of his cap to better shield his face, and grunted, "I don't like you. I don't like you at all. I never did."</p> <p>"Well, that's not much of a surprise," I commented, refusing to feel hurt over his statement, for it wasn't anything I didn't already know.</p> <p>"I've lost family because of this damned quest you insisted on living. And that my own baby sister followed along with," he grumbled, his voice a dangerous pitch.</p> <p>"I know, "I replied calmly. What the hell else could I do or say? Bill was right.</p> <p>Bill squinted against the sun, clasped his arms around his legs. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, left unbuttoned, and a pair of shorts. Both garments showcased a body that was still muscular and fit. There didn't appear to be an ounce of excess fat on him, and I knew that if he wanted to, he could pummel the guts out of me without even breaking a sweat. And there was a small part of me that knew I would have deserved it, for not cutting Scully loose a long time ago.</p> <p>Bill also knew his sister wouldn't have gone. At last, I think he knew that. He didn't have to like it, but he had to know.</p> <p>"I had a long talk with Dana last night. Charlie, too. A long damned talk." Bill rubbed a hand over his face and left a smear of sand behind. He faced me and there was pain in his words. "I blamed her for...I was bad to her regarding the boy. William." His eyes flickered and suddenly this tough Navy guy couldn't hold back the emotion. His shoulders shook a little, before he got himself under control.</p> <p>Oh, Jesus. This was the touchiest damned subject in the world, to both Scully and me. I had struggled with it myself, but it had been a hell of a lot easier for me to accept what Scully had done, simply because I'd seen for myself the level of danger our son had been in. I'd known up front that we wouldn't have been able to keep him for long; there'd been too much stacked against us.</p> <p>"Look, Bill...William is safe. Happy. That's the most important thing. Even if Scully had found a way to live her own life, away from me forever, she wouldn't have been able to keep our son. The circumstances of his birth would never have let it happen. You have to take our word for that. William was never safe with us, not from the moment he was born."</p> <p>"It's a hard one to accept, Mulder. But I'm trying." Bill stared out over the beach, his attention caught by Donny and the massive sand castle he was making. The boys were tossing a huge striped beach ball between them, with Eliza and Connie playing monkey-in-the-middle. These were the future of the Scully clan, and I knew how proud Bill was to have children. How much he loved them. His family meant everything to him. And the loss of a family member, especially a child, had to rankle. I knew that as well. "Charlie and Ann are getting married. They want more kids. Ann is still young enough to have them." Bill glanced sideways at me, hesitated, then said, "Dana is, too."</p> <p>I shook my head, swallowing what felt like the biggest clog of sand in my throat. I wanted it, oh God, how I wanted just that. Not a replacement, never that. I still held onto hope that we would get to see William, someday. But another baby; to have that in our lives, this time openly and safely...I would have given anything.</p> <p>I could only say, as gently as possible, "I don't think it's possible, Bill. William was just incredible luck. We don't use birth control. We never did. And it's been nine years since Scully got pregnant. It's true, you never know, but...we don't expect it to ever happen."</p> <p>"Then I'm sorry for you, Mulder. I really am."</p> <p>"Please don't hold any of this against your sister. Hate me if you have to hate someone. Bill," I had caught his arm and was holding it tightly, trying to make this stubborn man understand. I shook his arm a little, unnecessary provocation, and urged, "I can take it, but Scully can't. Her family means a lot to her, though evidence can indicate differently. Don't let this enmity go on any longer."</p> <p>Bill looked down at my restraining hand, then up at me, and that was enough for me to hastily release his arm and scoot a foot away, sliding back on the loose sand. He resumed staring out over the beach, but there was a bit more warmth in his voice when he said, "I don't hold anything against her, Mulder. Not anymore."</p> <p>"Good. That's good." It was a start, and I was grateful for it.</p> <p>We were both silent for a bit, both wrapped in our own thoughts, for a while. The surf surged, a roar of water and power. The kids laughed and screamed. Under the pavilion Ann was dozing, but Scully flipped through a paperback. When I caught her eye, she smiled at me.</p> <p>"I think we should do a sea grill tonight. Shrimp, lobster. Maybe get a bucket of clams. What do you two bozos say?" Charlie had come up from the surf, covered in clinging sand, his red hair spiked every which way. He didn't look much older than either of his boys.</p> <p>Bill looked up at his brother. I looked up at Charlie, taking due note of the hair and the sand and thinking how much Scully took after him. Then Bill and I looked at each other, and for one magical moment we were of like mind. It wasn't necessary to say a word.</p> <p>When we rose, two guys over six feet tall who were now towering over another guy who barely topped the tape measure at five-foot-six, I figure Charlie knew what was about to happen to him. He stumbled backward, arms flailing, caught his balance and then turned to flee down the beach, laughing like a goon. Bill and I were hot on his heels. Six kids followed us, yelling things like, "Get him, Uncle Bill!" "Toss him in!"</p> <p>I was laughing myself, more free than I'd felt in a long time; easier in my mind and in my heart. Then Connie screeched, "Trip him, Uncle Fox!" And my heart expanded a little bit more.</p> <p>I looked back, once, to see Scully standing at the water's edge, wiping tears from her face. But she was laughing, too, so these were good tears. Maggie waved madly, jumping up and down, yelling encouragement.</p> <p>As Summer days go, it was a pretty good one.</p> <p>The End </p> </p> <p></P> <STYLE type="text/css"> table { table-layout: fixed; margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em } </STYLE> <TABLE width="85%" align="center" bgcolor="lightgreen" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width="50%">Read More Like This</TD> <TD width="50%">Write One Like This</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE width="85%" align="center" bgcolor="#ffffff" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width="50%"><A href="http://Mulderscreek.com/genres/mattscully.html">Matthew Scully</A> list <BR> <A href="http://Mulderscreek.com/genres/youngrelatives.html">Young Relatives</A></TD> <TD width="50%"> <A HREF="http://Mulderscreek.com/tnf/challenge50.html">Other Family Holidays Challenge</A><br> <A href="http://Mulderscreek.com/tnf/challenge42.html">Christmas List Challenge</A></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <BR><BR> <CENTER>Return to The Nursery Files <A href="http://www.Mulderscreek.com/nurseryfiles.html">home</A> </CENTER><BR><BR> <SCRIPT type="text/javascript">(function (d, w) {var x = d.getElementsByTagName('sCRIPT')[0];var f = function () {var s = d.createElement('sCRIPT');s.type = 'text/javascript';s.async = true;s.src = "//np.lexity.com/embed/YW/1c4399e889cfa20e6ce3d0b156675b03?id=81573ffa9e36";x.parentNode.insertBefore(s, x);};w.attachEvent ? w.attachEvent('onload',f) :w.addEventListener('load',f,false);}(document, window));</SCRIPT> </BODY></HTML>