Title: Pater Familias I- Not A Perfect World Author: OneMillionAndNine http://www.geocities.com/onemillionandnine Rating: Moist, glistening NC-17 Feedback: kokotheuberchimp@hotmail.com Archive: feel free. Disclaimer: I like to surf but it'll take more than that to make me Chris Carter. That aside, I still can't figure out how to turn fan fic into a cash cow. Note: Not A Perfect World was my very first attempt at fan fic and when I posted it initially I thought it was a complete story. A veritable landslide of emails informed me otherwise. Three months and 200K later, here we are. Be careful what you ask for. That said all in all this is a fairly happy shiny story though it has its dark spots. Thanks: All thanks to MaybeAmanda - she asks good questions, capitalizes, punctuates, points out gaping holes I have missed. If it weren't for her, I'd probably never post a thing. And now she's set up a website for me {gets down on one knee before the whole fic world} Mandy, will you leave your husband and be my bitch? :~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~: 01/02 After twenty hours of labor and an emergency Caesarian section, the doctor finished by putting four stitches in Scully's vagina. It had started gently, innocently even. Well, at least as innocently as things ever went between them. Mulder had asked her, in voice that was nearly a whisper, if he could touch her belly, maybe feel the baby kick. The shape of her stomach had suddenly shifted and his face lit up. "Scully this is..." He sat and faltered for a moment before breaking into a smile. "Ummm, can I...under the shirt, Scully?" A smile curled the corners of her mouth and she nodded almost imperceptibly. Unbuttoning her blouse from the bottom up, exposing a cream- white abdomen the size and shape of a watermelon, complete with red stripy stretch marks, she took his hand. "Feel there? That's his right foot," as a hard point appeared and ran deliberately just below her ribcage. Mulder came at her with the softest of fingertips and made contact. Her belly lurched and shuddered and erupted in a gentle wave of motion. For the first time, he really believed there was baby inside her. Somehow, his hands found their way to her breasts, then inside her bra. He looked up at her, startled, as if she had put them there. "I wish..." He sounded so wistful "I know." She was tired and getting more tired just listening to him. "Just my luck, Scully. You're having my baby and I've never even had my tongue in your mouth." He was looking at the floor but had yet to move his hands. She was digging her nails into her palms. Her face turned to his slowly, like a plant to the sun, her mouth pulled open by heavy expectation. "Try me." And he did. He tried. Dana Scully was both sad and relieved to realize Fox Mulder was not the best kisser in the world. Just average, at best. He managed to be both too hard and too soft at the same time, as if he could neither let himself go or make himself stop. He was sweating. Then he bumped her hard on the cheek with his nose, his enormous nose, the same one he'd always had. Shouldn't surprise her now. She tried to sound confident but all she could do was whisper. "Now I want you to fuck me." He shrunk back, shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you." She did her best to leer. "You forget; I'm a doctor." He put his head down, dejected, pressed his lips together, and seemed lost for a moment, lost somewhere inside his head. Then he stiffened and smiled, did a lame little head bob and his best whispered Elvis voice. "Okay, partner, let's. . .bring it on." For a moment, Scully was afraid to breathe. Then he was pulling her skirt down and she was giggling. He stopped for a moment, mesmerized by the sound of her laugh and the sight of her cobalt blue panties against her pale, pale skin. His hands reached up and cupped her ass, brought the panties down hard, rough even, and lifted her whole body awkwardly up. She flailed and laughed as he carried her to the wingback chair and suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore. She started to sweat. His hands were clutching at her newly heavy breasts and it was imminently clear to her what Mulder's next act would be. She sincerely hoped he was better at this. He parted her legs easily, his palms under her knees, took one look and whistled, long and low. She broke out of her reverie, half-annoyed and half-alarmed. "What?" He was biting his lip. "You look so good." "Just the standard issue, Mulder." It did not look standard issue to him. To him, it looked like a white peach in a nest of cinnamon curls. "Like a peach," he mumbled. She could not stop herself from smirking, from lifting that damned eyebrow. "That's one of the classic symbols...like a snake...are you going to ask me to tell you your penis reminds me of a snake?" He shook his head and blushed and looked, for a moment, like he was gathering his courage all over again. Damn damn damn! Would she ever learn to keep her mouth shut? In a split second, he was running his hands down the length of her legs. Slowly, softly, he pressed his tongue to the bottom of the cleft, pushing the two halves apart as he moved to her clitoris. When he reached it, it was small and swollen and shell pink. He breathed on it and her entire body shuddered. He held it between his lips and sucked gently. She had a buttery taste, half- way between a morel and a lemon He was better at this. So good, in fact, that she would entirely overlook the bad kissing. He could kiss her badly for the rest of her life. Her white knees were quivering. Her perfectly manicured hands were buried in his hair. He crossed two large fingers and slid them into her. She came in seconds and a cold wave shot over her. He sucked a little harder, twisted his fingers inside her, slid them halfway out, pushed them all the way back inside her. She came again, hot this time. He started licking, stroking, biting. She came three more times. Hard. In rapid succession, like fire crackers . Her eye lids were fluttering and she was muttering, but he couldn't tell if she was saying "Fuck Mulder," or "Fox Mulder," or "Fuck Mother," for that matter. "Fox Mother," maybe? He was trying to stay calm, trying not to get excited. He wanted this to last. She was talking. Her voice was a shaky squeak. What was she saying? "My turn." "Day. . .um, Scully, you don't need to...you don't have to prove anything to me. It's not necessary." "My turn, Mulder." She sounded close to old self now, and struggled to get out of the chair. It was his turn to give up control. He grinned. "Okay, you drive - I'll stand up - you can stay where you are." For a moment, as he came to his feet, he seemed all knees and elbows. Her hands went shyly but purposefully to his fly as he pulled off his shirt and threw it as hard as he could. It hit the wall and slid behind a low bookcase. He looked away - consciously, purposefully away - as she pulled down his boxers. She smiled a soft smile but he was not looking. "This certainly isn't standard issue." "It's not "this", Scully." The way he said it was wistful and slightly pained. "It's just me. Just me." He thought about telling her the story of his first time, how, at the tender age of 16, he'd ended up driving Jeannie White, the class slut, to get stitches. It had been a Tuesday afternoon, late spring, and, as was her wont, his mother had been down the hall sleeping with Prince Valium. He was set to go to Oxford in the fall, but he had wanted to go there feeling like an adult, like someone in charge of his life, and that meant not arriving in England still a virgin. So he'd brought Jeannie, who'd been all of maybe five-foot-two and tiny, tiny like Scully, back to his mother's house. It had lasted all of fifteen seconds, she'd torn in three places, and the only time she'd spoken to him afterwards was to call him 'a complete asshole' repeatedly as he'd driven her to the clinic in his unconscious mother's car. His father, having learned all about it, thanks to the rumor mill, had slapped him upside the head until he'd bled from his left ear. For the last month of high school, his nick name had changed from "The Nose" to "The Dick". In the split second that the thought took, Scully leaned forward and covered the tip of his cock with feathery kisses. He decide he'd share that charming story with her some other time. The head was violently purple and roughly the size of a tangerine; the whole thing was pretty much the size of Scully's forearm. She glanced at her arm for a quick comparison. Pretty much exactly, in fact. He'd never get the whole thing into her. The space simply did not exist. Well, there was something she could do. She slid out of the chair to get the right angle, knelt in front of him, opened her swollen lips wide and slowly, careful, swallowed him down to his stiff black pubic hair. He looked drunk his face wide his eyes slipped to slits, "Shit, Scully. You think you know somebody. . .!" Then, more quietly, "I guess it's true what they say about Catholic girls." If she could have, she'd have smiled. She began to make snakelike movements with her tongue instead, her luminous eyes shining up at him all the while. She was on the brink of either gagging or crying. He didn't want to know which it was. He was gasping. He had never even heard of anything like this, let alone felt it. He couldn't help opening and closing his mouth with no sound at all, fishlike. Abruptly, he was pulling out of her mouth and swearing. "Shit Shit Shit!" His cock was dripping wet and leaping in the air. "I'm coming." "SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh..." Scully remained calm, pressed her little hand firmly to the base and stopped him, somehow. Then she almost undid it all by running his entire length along her cheek. She was smiling. She gestured with her head, tugging uncertainly at his hips. She was leading him into the bedroom. Her bedroom. Her bed. White sheets. White sheets and skin like milk. He wanted to whistle again. He wanted to make a joke but found he couldn't; the point of no return had come. For awhile, they kissed and groped on the bed, lost for words for once, her hands stroking him until he took it upon himself to press the thick head against her pale and tender opening. He was sitting on his heels, his long thighs underneath her, easing his way into her as slowly as possible, his thumb drawing tight circles on her clitoris. It was Dana Katherine Scully who lost control first, seized him by his hips, and pulled him in as far as he could possibly go. He was ramming her cervix and every stroke hurt, but she kept coming and coming. To be fair to Fox Mulder, the first seven seconds felt like someone was skinning his dick with a wire loop, but after that, it was bliss. She was moaning and writhing, really writhing, and Mulder was doing all he could not to follow her, not to come. He reached down and pinched the inside of his thigh until he was sure it would leave a purple mark. He had waited too long not to make it last. He pulled her little legs together and held them in front of him as he fucked her. Kissed the soles of her feet, pretty little feet with nails painted to match her pussy. "Mulder?" He was lost in the rhythm. "Mulder?" He smiled down at her. The baby was moving, kicking, turning. "Let me get on top, okay?" She was insensible, on fire, nostrils flared, eyes dilated. Her skin was no longer pale, but flushed, very flushed, though she was quick and sure as she mounted him. Again, it took all his concentration not to come instantly. 'Okay, think think think think think, in ancient Rome, this position was known as 'The Racehorse'. It was the most expensive, since Roman prostitutes charged by the amount of effort they had to expend. It cost five times what the standard rear entry position ran under the reign of Claudius. Or, to be precise, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus.' He was struggling not to come with every fiber of his being, willing himself elsewhere if only for long enough to catch his breath. 'Claudius was declared Emperor by the Praetorian Guard who discovered him cowering behind a curtain, clutching his cock, after they finished slaughtering the rest of Caligulae's family. They needed an Emperor to justify their continued existence and the ineffectual old man was well suited to their purpose. Caligulae meant literally 'little boots,' from a tiny soldier's uniform he had worn as a child when he served as something of a mascot for the Roman legions fighting the Gauls on their home turf. The position was commonly known as 'The Racehorse'.' Scully arched her back and screamed. Scully. He was fucking Scully. Or rather, Scully was fucking him. He could not hold another thought in his head, could not think at all. He could only respond, had to respond. Was responding. He took Scully's ass in his hands and arched his own back to meet her. Rose. Fell. Rose. Fell. Lifted the two of them high off the mattress. 'The Racehorse,' indeed. Her orgasms went rippling through her, through him. He pushed her, pulled her, lifting her higher, bringing her down harder than she could have done on her own. For years, he had imagined this about a million different ways: Scully on her hands and knees, soft kisses on her nape, his hands running gently down her spine, followed by penetration in one swift, wet stroke, and more kisses on the back of the neck. Maybe a little biting. Maybe a lot. But he had forgotten that now. He was sobbing, unable to catch his breath, Scully was shuddering, the baby was kicking, and he was coming. He was coming deep inside Scully, and he felt golden. Then, suddenly, her shudder became a grimace and he was washed out of her in a deluge of hot water. Scully had pissed on him? Noooooooooooooooooooo. He had been pissed on before; it wasn't like this. Scully was panting and gritting her teeth. Oh Shit! He had broken her water! He stared at his dick; there was thick, pink mucus and flecks of blood all over it. How fucking erotic. How perfect. As soon as the pain passed, Scully was out of the bed like a shot. He could hear the shower. "Scully, Hey! Scully! Sculllleeeeee!" He was wondering if he could possibly find one more way to screw up today. Big. Dumb. Ox. Monster. Worthless. Loser. Jerk. Asshole. Loser. He was repeating himself. He ran to the bathroom, pulled back the shower door. She glanced up at him. "I'm fine. Really." She smiled a little weak smile, shut off the water. "Towel?" He handed it to her dumbly, but inside he was screaming {Fine? Fine!? 'Dying of cancer' fine or just plain 'Mulder, you've screwed up again' fine???} Her face went rigid and she nearly dropped the towel - another contraction. He was holding her in the shower then, silently, his sweat and musk against her clean, sweet skin. The whole thing took less than 2 minutes. "Mulder?" She sighed. "Have you stopped talking to me? it's been a long time but I usually don't have this effect on the men I sleep with." "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he moaned leaned into her and, for a moment, she was afraid he was going to cry. "I'm not hurt. No one's been hurt, Mulder. It felt good. I liked it. Okay?" He didn't answer, merely turned on the water and began soaping himself angrily. She tried to find the words to make him snap to - something he might say. Then it came too her. Maybe he'd laugh. "Cowboy up, partner; today you become a father." Instead, he vomited, and then he started to cry. Maybe it was inevitable. She rolled her eyes and decided she had done all the Mulder coddling would do on that particular day and left him to finish his shower. She brushed her teeth. She flossed. She put on her stupid maternity sweat pants and her Quantico t-shirt. She packed her overnight bag. She was tired and excited and stunned but most of all she was pissed off. She wanted to cry. She wanted to be a basketcase too. But that option wasn't really open to her. When Mulder went back to the bed room with his wet hair and his rumpled suit, Scully was holding onto the dresser, swearing. Another contraction. He supposed the expectant fatherly thing to do was time them. He suppressed a smile and looked at his watch. He cupped the small of her back with his hand in the familiar gesture, counting. Seconds later, she handed him her car keys. "Hope you can pull out of your sensitive misunderstood Spooky routine long enough to take me to the hospital," she snorted carefully slipping her feet into unlaced tennis shoes. He laughed out loud. "Could I get out of this if I told you I don't know nothin' bout birthin' no babies?" "Not unless you want me to call Frohike." "That's low, Scully. Besides, the only reason he'd come is to get a look at your snatch." She arched one eyebrow. "Snatch, Mulder?" He smiled inanely and nodded. "Snatch, cunt, pussy, quim, beaver, hair pie, shall I go on?" She wasn't sure whether she should blush, giggle, or look for her gun, but opted to keep looking annoyed. "Is this supposed to be turning me on?" "No. It's supposed to turn me on." He smiled dreamily. "Move the seat back for me, will you?" "Mulder?" "I just need to get something." Gesturing with his head - "Go on." She stood in the doorway, dumbfounded. "You need to get something from my apartment?" "My watch says you've got just enough time to get to the car before the next contraction hits. Go, already." =============== He was standing over her, leaning against the car, staring. She noticed him as the contraction began to wane. Rolling out of the parking lot, he laid a book on her knee. It was a history of the IWW - Industrial Workers of the World. It was one of those strange Mulder things. She had never had even the most vague idea why, years ago, he had given it to her. For his birthday, no less. Very bizarre. And she had never managed to make it through the prologue. For Pete's sake - did he want her to read it now? "Don't go straight to the hospital. I need to pick a few things up at the store." Then the next contraction hit. When the pain began to slow, she saw that she was holding his hand. She gave it a quick squeeze and let go. "Turn to page 141." He was smiling coyly, obviously very pleased with himself, obviously very pleased that she was puzzled. It was a black and white photograph, dated 1950. In it, a husband and wife stood in field of what looked like cotton. There were five children, all girls, lined up in front of them. They looked clean, cared for, but slightly frayed around the edges. "Some labor organizers?" "And?" She frowned. She looked closer. Someone, Mulder presumably, had penciled each girl's name lightly, but clearly, down her chest. Emma Goldman Hersch, Rosa Luxemborg Hersch, Jo Hillstrom Hersch, Marteena Hersch, Robnett Hersch. "Mulder?" She looked his way. He was drumming on the steering wheel, being no Help whatsoever. He was being so fucking secretive. She found herself simultaneously irritated and intrigued. "Mulder, what am I supposed to be seeing?" He smiled and bit his bottom lip. "LOOK at it, Scully." She narrowed her eyes. {Okay, I'll play} Husband and wife - both tall, tanned, stringy, even. Their faces were somewhat similar; low, prominent brows, high, prominent cheek bones, small, nearly slanted eyes. She looked at the names - Aaron and Judy Hersch. Vaguely familiar. She tried to recall a class at Georgetown on 20th Century labor movements. If she was remembering right, Hersch had been a minor figure, something of a crackpot, even for the Wobblies. A fact she could have gotten, she now saw, from reading the opposite page. "A small-time far-left labor organizer and his family. I'm looking at this because...?" Mulder pulled into the grocery store parking lot as she started to contract again. He reached for her hand, held it, squinted at his watch. The contractions were getting further apart, which seemed wrong. But maybe that was normal, early on. Scully had relaxed and was making her neck pop. He took that as a sign, squeezed her hand lightly and hopped out of the car. "My mom is the second to last." And he slammed the door. Scully blinked. Well, she hadn't been expecting that. She looked at the picture again. The resemblance was clear, now, but not eerie. Aaron Hersch stood with his head tilted, a cigarette in one hand, and was looking slightly...bemused. And it was suddenly very clear where Mulder had gotten his nose. He opened her door and extended his hand. She took it. "You're telling me Teena Mulder was a red diaper baby?" "Marteena Hersch," he nodded. She raised an eyebrow. "Hence your occasional use of the name 'Marty?'" He'd wondered if she was going to catch that. "Guilty," he shrugged. She thought it was creepy. She could not imagine using her father's name to buy porn. But then, if he didn't do something to creep her out every once in a while, he wouldn't be Mulder. She shrugged inwardly. "Did you know them?" Another shrug. "Two weeks in Brooklyn every summer. Kind of a reverse 'fresh air program' - The Hersch Family 'City Stench' prograaam." Scully couldn't decide what to ask him next. Finally, her exasperation got the better of her. "You've been waiting all these years for me to put this together from two paragraphs and an old photo?" "Not my fault you're slow." In response, she cuffed him on the shoulder, not gently. * * * * * * Two sets of contractions later, they were nearly out of the grocery store. She stared at the cart, checking items off mentally: Bottled water. Newborn diapers. Tiny socks. Sanitary pads. She held up an impossibly tiny t-shirt. "How's this to come home in?" Mulder looked dubious. "Scully, that's supposed to be a shirt for a human? That's a...a mouseshirt." "It's a baby shirt, Mulder." "My baby is not going to fit that shirt." "'Your' baby isn't? Oh really?" "Oh really." She narrowed her eyes. "What do you know about babies?" "Next to nothing." "Remind me to mark this down on the calendar." She dropped the shirt into the cart. "Want anything, Mulder?" In his turn, he threw in three packages. She smirked. "Oh, sunflower seeds. I would never have guessed." Suddenly, he was nervously shifting from one foot to the other. He, man of a million little nervous tics, seemed bent on displaying them all before they got out of the express lane. Did he want to kiss her? Run away? Did he even know? Finally, he spoke. "So, how long do you think this is going to take anyway?" She laughed. She laughed until she had to wipe the tears from her eyes, though it wasn't all that funny. "I wish I knew." He was starting to look pissed off. "Less than a week?" "Much less," she nodded. "The doctors won't let it go on for more than 24 hours." His face was softening. What an asshole. It wasn't like any of this was happening to him. When was he going to stop being an asshole? He groaned inwardly. "24 hours from...when?" "Twenty four hours from when my water broke." In both their minds, they were naked in her bed again, shivering in orgasm. Suddenly, his lips reached down to hers. She strained upwards. He was kissing her badly again. She took his face in her hands, pushed their mouths together until it hurt. They were interrupted by the clerk clearing his throat and a line of staring shoppers. "Okay," Scully popped her neck again, "get me a bacon cheeseburger and take me to the hospital." "Aye aye, Captain." He grinned wildly. "Anything else?" "Pay the man, dear." "Dear?" Scully, a little shocked at herself, just shrugged. The clerk was nonplussed, but being called "dear" had given Mulder an erection so intense he felt dizzy. He pursed his lips and tried to brush against Scully as subtly as possible while retrieving his wallet. She rolled her eyes. End 01/02 ========================= 02/02 Back in the car. Again. Scully felt like she had spent all her time with Mulder in the damn car. His hand brushed his erection absent mindedly. Yup. Still there. Scully was wondering how many erections she had pointedly ignored in the car, how many she hadn't noticed. Maybe she didn't want to know. He was starting to relax. He could cope. Just because things hadn't gone the way he planned didn't mean he had to totally freak out. They could talk in the car just as easily as they could in the bed. Easier, maybe. "You know, Scully," - for a moment, somewhere in the back of his head, he wanted them to be Fox and Dana, but was afraid to say it - "we never really talk." "Mulder, we never do anything but talk." "But not today." "Point taken. And see where it got us?" She was smiling, but soon she yawned. "So, where do we go from here?" "Ask me anything, Dana Scully." It was as close to saying the first name alone as he could muster. Suddenly, the desire to call her anything other than 'Scully" seemed achingly stupid to him. "Okay. How many partners have you had?" He stared at his hands. "Eight." "Eight?" She sounded surprised. "Really? What happened? Everybody ask for a transfer?" He was staring, wide eyed. "What?" They had both completely misunderstood each other. Yet again. She could not stop herself from laughing. In between giggles, she managed short articulate bursts. "I'd heard rumors . . . Reggie Perdue...wasn't your first." She cupped her head in her hands. "Oh." He was shaking his head and swallowing hard. "I have had four FBI partners." "Thank you." She wiped her eyes. She had laughed more on this car ride than she had laughed in the past seven years. She guessed all the orgasms had shaken something loose. "Who was the one before Lamana?" "Dr. Sam Rodriguez." "And here I thought I was your first doctor." "He was short and Catholic, too." "Must be fate." "Yup." "He get sick of you?" "Not that I know of." Mulder stuck a pantomime gun in his mouth. "Ate his gun." The way he said made it sound like a poor culinary choice rather than suicide. Scully let slip a small sad "oh." Would everything she say today manage to hurt him somehow? She flipped on the radio. It was tuned to a college station coming out of Annapolis. Someone was singing in a squawky voice. "Heaven Oh Heaven...On Mars" --she turned the dial. A low male voicee:: "With some one like you I could spend my lifetime trying to be hurt Feel like a king and a wounded bird all at one time completely out of my mind over someone like you" She changed it again. Was anything ever going to be easy with them? Wait - had she just passed Elvis? Mulder liked Elvis. In fact, it was the only music she knew for sure he liked . Okay. Houston, we have achieved Elvis. "Are you lonesome tonight? They drove in silence for awhile before she decided to try again. "Tell me about your grandparents." "Aaron Hersch was born Aaron Herschel Levy in or about 1900 in a schtetel in Northern Lithuania. He came to the US in 1915 alone, having left his family over religious differences." "Not like that." Scully snorted. "You sound like you're talking about a case." His eyes twinkled. "Aren't I? How do we become what we become? How much of us is shaped by our own lives and how much is shaped by the lives of those who have gone before us?" It was his turn to snort. "Family dysfunction - the biggest x-file of them all." She decided to stop him before his roll picked up momentum. "New question. Did he have a nickname for you ?" "A nickname?" "You know - Scout, Buddy. Starbuck - something like that?" Mulder looked bemused, just like the man in the photo. "'Trust Fund.'" "Your grandfather called you 'Trust Fund?'" He nodded, grinning insanely. "So what did Aaron and..." - she looked down at the book - "Judy Hersch think about Bill Mulder?" "Judy Nachman, actually. They were never married. Although it would have been expedient and kept the kids out of state custody a couple of times. Kept her from testifying against him in front of HUAC, too." He shrugged philosophically. "In the immortal words of Aaron Hersch 'I have yet to witness a wedding ceremony without a renewed sense of horror at the social insistence that two individuals become one, and that one is the husband'." Scully rolled her eyes. "What? Got a hankerin' after civil death, Scully?" "Not particularly." She sincerely hoped that was not his idea of a proposal. "But you didn't answer the question" "I sincerely doubt my mother could have found someone less appealing to her parents." Scully blinked up at him. He could see a contraction coming and leaned in close to hear what she was saying through pretty white teeth. "Eugene McCarthy?" He laughed so hard he almost lost control of the car. When her breathing returned to normal, he glanced at his watch before returning to his previously derailed train of thought. "It's fascinating, though, Scully. Each generation struggling to undo the life's work of the last: You and I fighting diligently to bring down the conspiracy my father was a part of; my mother trying to have the Ozzie and Harriet life her own parents mocked and rejected. I understand that Hersch's father was a rabbi." She raised an eyebrow and gave a thoughtful purse to her lips. "Were Judy and Aaron religious at all?" "My grandfather made a deliberate point of having a ham and cheese sandwich at noon every Yom Kippur." "And Judy?" "Judy claimed to be an atheist, but she kept kosher in a kind of nominal way and observed the High Holy Days." "That doesn't make any sense." She sounded like she was on a case, now, too. "Maybe if you understand her reasoning," he cleared his throat "'Our people have not survived oppression, pogroms, slavery, wars, and our own stupidity for me to stop being Jewish just because I know God is a sham' Thus spake Judy Nachman." "Alright, I'll buy that. She believed in continuity. I respect that." "You remind me of her...sometimes." "Yeah?" "Yeah" "That's good?" He nodded. "I am genuinely touched, Mulder, I really am." She furrowed her brow. "You know, I'd like to meet your family." He groaned inwardly. Things were changing and there was no way to apply the brakes. The baby would probably have changed everything anyway, but now that they had had sex it was pointless to try to stop it, it was like trying to turn a pickle back into a cucumber. It wasn't that he regretted getting what he had pined for for years. No way. But things were hard enough for him already. Some days, it was all he could do to go 24 hours without looking like a moron. Now, shit, he couldn't seem to pull himself together, and Scully couldn't seem to stop laughing. She pointed out the window -- "Burgers, ahoy!" She was so gorgeous. The Pregnant Goddess. He was such a loser. Big L, little o, little s, little e, little r. Loser. Mulder. Loser. Same difference. **************** "MMMMMMM!" Scully was having her own little orgy with a bacon double cheese burger. Somehow, she had gotten mustard on the tip of her nose and for some reason he could not explain, he found it terribly sexy. As in terribly. As in terrible. As in 'I'm taking her to the hospital to give birth to my child and all I can think of is getting back into her pussy.' He wished there was some inconspicuous way to get himself arrested, or maybe wiped off the face of the Earth. She was about a third of her way through her burger when she spoke. "So which side of your family did you like the best growing up?" "I know this may be difficult for you to believe, but growing up in a staid New England community, I was, perhaps, not the most popular kid around. I would even go so far as to say that some members of my patronymic grouping considered me a little...over the top." Doing her best imitation of astonishment, Dana Scully nodded. "You don't say?" "Incredible, isn't it?" "Something like that. Must have been before you read Dale Carnegie." "ANYWAY! When I was with my mom's family, I was just one more clown in the funny car. That's what Aaron used to say whenever there was a new baby in the family - 'One more clown for the funny car.'" "You already have the shoes." "At least my feet reach the pedals." "When's the last time you were all together?" "When Judy died in '89." "Did any one say the traditional Prayer for the Dead?" He looked at her sideways. "Nope. It was strictly bake and shake." "Excuse me?" "Cremation, followed by the traditional sprinkling of the ashes at Coney Island." She put her hand on his thigh like it had just happened. "Of course, my mother didn't go." "Are you in contact with any of them now?" He shrugged. "Sporadic letters, mostly. The occasional call." There was a pause. "Mulder, could we go to New York when the baby's born? I want to meet your family. The ones who are like you." "Or we could send out the ugliest birth announcement we can find." "I want to see them." "Why Scully? They all look like me and you've seen me plenty." She rolled her eyes "You keep doing that and they'll stick," he muttered, pushing half a bacon double cheese burger into his mouth. "Just who are you ashamed of?" He replied with a strangling noise and eyes wide. "Who are you ashamed of? Them, or me?" "Scully," he swallowed hard. "Myself." Scully was caught somewhere between derision and amusement. "Since when?" "What will happen when you find out I'm not the smartest one?" He was telling the truth. Or at least, she knew, he was telling it to the best of his understanding. She didn't laugh though she wanted to, but she wondered how he could be so dense. It was as if some part of him had been caught holding its breath since he'd lost his sister. For years, he had been trying to stay twelve years old, trying not to let time pass without her. Mulder had wanted to find Sam so they could finish growing up together. {Hey let's go finish that game of Stratego!} But it was too late for that - Mulder had left that part of himself too far behind to have it suddenly catch up with the rest of the world. She sighed, followed by a whisper. "Yo, Spooky." "You were addressing me, Doc Ice?" Inside her head, she was whispering {nobody's called me that in years. You know what they call me now? Mrs. Spooky.} "I just realized I haven't called anyone." "You mean to alert them of the imminent arrival of the Spooklet?" She nodded. "The Icicle." "Baby Doc?" She released a coughing sort of laugh. "I'm not officially on leave 'til next week. Someone should really call Skinner...and my mother." She was panting and shaking again. Mulder held her hand. After a pause - a long pause, Mulder noted, - she went on. "And the Stooges...they helped me so much when you were...gone." "What? Iggy Pop's band is playing hospital gigs, now?" She smirked, and he wanted to kiss her. More than that. He wanted to make out with her, here, now, in the car. In the hospital parking garage. In labor. Shit, he was hopeless. "Don't you have Trig homework to finish?" Scully was mocking him yet again. He must have said it out loud. 'Make out'? He sounded like a fucking teenager. He wanted to pound his head against one of the concrete support pylons in the parking garage. But she climbed into his lap, anyway, awkward as it was, and he wanted to ask her if she still had her old Catholic school uniform. She could not take anymore bad kissing. She was going to have to show him, teach him, how to do it right. The very idea turned her on. Of course, she couldn't put it that way to him. Ever. Unless she never wanted to have sex with him again, which, now that she thought about it, she did want to do. So she ran her lips up his throat. "Let me . . . drive. You just lie back and think of England." She ran her lips over his. Dry, barely touching at all, then adding the barest flickering of wet tongue tasting strongly of bacon cheese burger. From there, she went to long, slow, wet, and unhurried, and Fox Mulder came in his pants. He sobbed without tears and she held him. She shook and he held her. She did her funny breathing. Scully's contractions were getting regular again. He was beginning to think he might survive having his dreams come true. He cleaned himself up with some of the baby wipes she had bought. Of course, he now looked like he had pissed in his pants instead of come in them. "I'm thinking of a poem, Scully," he whispered in her ear as she snuggled against his chest. "But these maneuverings to avoid The touching of hands These shifts to keep the eyes employed On objects, more or less neutral (As honor, for the time being, commands) Will hardly prevent their downfall Stronger medicines are needed Already, they find None of their stratagems have succeeded Nor would have, no Not had their eyes been stricken blind Hands cut off at the elbow" "What's that from?" She sounded vaguely dazed. He unlocked the car door. "Love's Stratagems - Donald Justice. 1958." "I've heard that some where before. Read it, maybe?" She cocked her head, thinking. "The Hotel New Hampshire - John Irving, Henry Robbins Press, 1981." "That's the one about the boy who's in love with his sister?" "Ding ding ding!! - Tell the lady what she wins." ======================== With a familiarity born of too many bedside vigils, Mulder flicked on the TV reflexively. Shit! He half expected the baby to shriek awake. No harm no foul, it seemed; the boy's deep, even breaths continued. Clearly, he had inherited his mother's knack for sleeping. He pressed channel. Oprah. No. Juice-a- Matic. Maybe. Touched By An Angel. Maybe after his lobotomy. Saved By The Bell. No, but only because someone might come in and catch him either being a tasteless imbecile or a dirty old man. Next. News. No. No obsessing over the news. John Wayne. hhhhhmmmm. Juice-a-Matic. John Wayne. Juice-A-Matic. Okay. John Wayne. The Duke bellowed from the screen, his color flickering ominously. "I aim to kill you in one minute, or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?" Out of nowhere, Scully spoke up groggily. "I call that bold talk for a one eyed fat man." Scully was frowning at Mulder, her eyes, slits, her cheeks a mass of spidery broken corpuscles. Honestly, she'd looked better after Antarctica. So it was firm evidence of the true depths of his depravity that he was turned on. Mercifully, she fell back into her heavily- medicated slumber as soon as he lowered the volume. It was going to be a long six weeks before he could have sex with her again. If then. Get over it, buddy. Mulder sat nuzzling his baby boy. Poor thing. He looked like . . .what? A mouse. An ugly, red, long, skinny mouse with a shock of orange hair. An ugly, red, long, skinny mouse with clown hair. Mulder was sure he could recognize the beginnings of a huge honking nose. Poor baby. He held him closer, spread one tiny hand open and kissed each fingertip. "Love you, Scully." He kissed the little wrinkled forehead. He supposed he would be 'Scully', wouldn't he? He felt lightheaded to realize they had never talked about names, first or last. He was clutching the baby to his chest, staring at the floor, when a pair of thick soled white shoes came to a stop in front of him. "Mr. Scully?" He looked up dumbly. "You are Mr. Scully, aren't you?" For a moment, he sat with his mouth open trying to decide what to say. Finally he, stammered, "We. . .we aren't married." The nurse looked very bored by the news. "But you ARE the father." It was not a question. Of course that poor ugly baby was his, looked just like him painted in all Scully's colors. He nodded. He was the father. Oh shit! He was THE FATHER. The nurse went on "And there are a lot of people out there who want to see the baby." "Of course." He stood, pulling his suit to some rough semblance of order with one hand, then gingerly doing the same for the baby, smoothing out his 'mouse shirt', wrapping him up carefully in the blanket Scully had brought in her bag. Once again, he rolled it over in his mind {Scully, you know everything, and I am just a dumb pretender. Big Idiot} "Okay, Duvalier, it's show time!" *********************************************** In the waiting room, the first person he saw was Bill Scully, and his heart sank. Within seconds, however, he was surrounded. Skinner, Byers, Langly, Frohike, Tara, Mrs. Scully and Bill hanging back a little bit, looking like he wanted to punch Mulder in the face. Good, Mulder thought. You just stay back there, Bill. Where to start? What to say? He looked at Maggie. "Would you like to hold him?" "Oh Fox, I'd love to!" and he was in her arms. Suddenly, Fox Mulder felt both fifty pounds lighter, and strangely empty. Skinner hugged him. Walter Skinner? Okay, that was weird. Byers cleared his throat repeatedly and said nothing, while Langly and Frohike took turns punching him in the arm. He was beginning to feel giddy, when he heard Bill Scully's voice behind him. "You've got a family now, asshole. Better start acting like it." Mulder spun around and grinned broadly. "I intend to." And it was true. He didn't know what possessed him to stick out his hand. Bill stared at him a full two minutes before he shook it, both rough and grim. "See that you do. We love her." "What a coincidence," Mulder replied. "Me, too." He was completely expecting it when Bill punched him in the face. It was fine with him. He had it coming, after all. Bill Scully as the instrument of fate. Byers was pulling Mulder to his feet, when he was suddenly flanked by the other two Gunmen. "Much as we hate to mar this joyous occasion-," Frohike began. "-a package arrived at our offices for you," Langly concluded. Mulder's brows rose. "A package?" "A video." Byers finally spoke. "It's from the Smoker." End Not a Perfect World 02/02 :~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~: