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The zoo on Saturday was an experience. Ellie got to deal with Maggie and Mulder and Scully got to deal with five kids hopped on sugar and kangaroos, pandas and penguins. It was a sight to behold and by the end of the day, Mulder was torn between buying the stuffed koala or the platypus.
For himself.
Scully quietly ushered him out of the giftshop empty-handed, steering him towards the children who were sitting half-asleep on a bench by the exit, “but I wanted to get one of them. My fish need something to stare at aside from each other.”
“Your fish don’t care. They forget where they are every three seconds. It would probably scare them every time they turned around.”
He hadn’t thought of that and complied, slipping his hands under Betsy’s arms to pick her up, flopping her nodding head against his shoulder gently, “good point. No scaring the fishes.”
Lord, he needed a nap. She gave the kids until they started the car to be asleep and knowing she would be driving, she gave Mulder until they hit cruising speed before he slipped into his own concrete coma. Jake took her hand, “I’m tired, Aunt Dana. When are we going to be able to transport to the car, like in Star Trek?”
“Hopefully sooner than later, Mr. Jake and even more hopefully, transporters will come with Scottish men to run them.”
Ears perking up, Mulder gave her a lear, “got a thing for the Scottish brogue, huh?”
Winking at him, “although I bet you in a kilt would work just as well.”
Sam, stumbling and sleepy, took hold of Hannah’s hand as they came to the parking lot entrance, “you can’t wear underwears, Uncle Mudler, if you’re gonna wear a kilt.”
“Would make summer a lot cooler probably.”
Sam wrinkled his nose and Betsy picked up her head enough to interject, “everybody needs underwears, Uncle Mudler. Mine say ‘Tuesday’ today.”
“But it’s Saturday, kid.”
Head back down, buried in neck, “it’s okay. My underwears don’t care.”
Mulder was forced to hug her tighter, amused by smallness and sleepy honesty, “I’m glad they don’t. I have on my Wednesday socks.”
He felt her smile.
&&&&&&&&
True to her predictions, they were all asleep by the first major cross street, Scully relishing the silence, then realizing she missed their voices, a small ache in her heart at the thought of them going home on Thursday. Reaching absently over for Mulder’s hand, she toyed with his thumb, wondering if he’d miss them too or he’d be glad to have peace and quiet back to hunt his aliens and bitch at the world. Hoping for a little bit of both, she guided them home through traffic and heat, the radio low, the air cool.
&&&&&&&
Sunday was spent under the sprinklers, homemade plastic tarp slip and slide occupying the afternoon, ruining the lawn and grass stains spreading from neck to toe. None of them had laughed that much in a long time, especially when they cajoled Aunt Dana to take a run, soaking her with buckets of water first and creating a slight panic when she slid not on the plastic but across the mud, face-first, legs akimbo, fingers bending, wrists twisting. In the end, however, after that moment of ‘holy shit, am I broken or dead’, she popped up, arms in the air, throwing a ta-da to the world before slipping right back down on her butt.
Mulder had to hose her off.
He enjoyed it a little too much.
Once she was dry again, she disappeared to the kitchen and returned to the deck laden with mounds of vegetables to grill and fat pieces of chicken breast, plump and marinating for future consumption. At one point, grill hot and veggies well-seasoned, Mulder hovering too close, receiving a random swat on the rear end to shoo him away, mushrooms stolen before retreat, wiggling eyebrows aimed at her before un-surreptitiously slipping Toby the accosted vegetable. Wondering whether to yell at him, she watched Toby smile up at her partner, his very own ten-foot tall food-ninja, with heroic adoration.
She gave Mulder another mushroom and part of a pepper instead.
He passed them along to his four-year old friend and received an even bigger smile.
&&&&&&&&&
Everyone, dried, stuffed and relaxed, spread across the yard, some reading in the hammock, one coloring at the picnic table, others simply lying there, watching bugs or chasing ants with blades of grass. Mulder looked out at them, then nudged Scully with his elbow, “Do you think the kids would like a tour of the FBI? See where we work? Maybe take them through the labs and the monitoring area?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
Scully shifted, looking out at the playing group, “hey, guys?”
All stopped but Sam answered, “yeah?”
“Would you like to go with Uncle Mudler tomorrow and see the FBI building?”
The resounding ‘yes’ made her smile.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
“Are you sure you want to take them all? I mean, that’s five kids to keep track of, including a borderline ‘shiny things, I’m running away’ four-year-old who occasionally forgets he has to use the bathroom.”
Settled on the pullout, resting his hand on her hip, “have some faith, woman. I’ve wrangled five fish before, I can’t imagine this will be any more difficult than that.”
“Well, now you’re just scaring me.”
About to reach for her phone to text Betty or Janet toto take Maggie to her appointment the next day so she could go along and assist, Mulder read her mind and pulled her back by the elbow, “I’m joking. There were at least 10 fish and we’ll be fine. It’ll be fun. Scare the children straight before they even have a chance to think about going crooked.”
This did not alleviate her anxiety but the voice quietly calling down the stairs did, “Uncle Mudler, do I have to wear a suit? I didn’t bring one. Will they still let me in?”
“Jake?”
“Yeah?”
“Tell Sam he doesn’t need a suit. Just some clean clothes and fresh, minty breath.”
Sam called down next, “how did you know I was up here?”
“Mudler-sense. Go back to bed.”
Scully decided they’d be fine tomorrow and kissing first his right cheek, then his mouth, “Mudler-sense. How did I ever get along without you?”
“Wit. Charm. Smarts. Beauty. Big scary personality in little itty-bitty body. Fists of steel …” Running out of steam, he shrugged, “’cause you’re totally awesome, man.”
“Mulder …”
“Oh, yeah, and you can surf like nobody’s business.”
“I like how that’s my final selling point.”
“Love you, Agent Scully.”
“Love you back, Agent Mudler.”