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Betty got an eyeful the next morning, having helped Maggie roll down the street towards home. Getting her in the house, she went in search of the intrepid duo to let them know Maggie was back. Looking through the backdoor, she expected to find the pair eating at the patio table or maybe Mulder mowing the lawn.
Instead, she found them fast asleep, having returned to the hammock, bare limbs tangled, Scully’s naked hips residing comfortably on top of Mulder, his hand splayed across her back, cheekbone to chest, hair draped across collarbone, satisfied smile on Mulder’s face, arm hanging off the edge.
Not a stitch of covering in sight.
She really ought to discretely wake them up, given Scully’s backside would be sunburned in the very near future if she left them like this. Wondering just how to carry out such a delicate procedure, she first went back in the house, shushing Maggie, “so, they’re out back in the hammock and for lack of propriety, they are …” she really should be more embarrassed by this, “well, naked. Do you have a towel or blanket I can put over them because, from where I stood, it looks like your daughter is going to have a very uncomfortable sunburn very quickly.”
Maggie, not sure whether to laugh or be mortified, pointed towards the linen closet in the hall, “there are some spare beach towels in there, if you wouldn’t mind.”
Betty, amusement growing, “back in a minute. Would you like to come out and watch them wake up the minute the towel hits them?”
She was a terrible mother, “actually, yes, I kind of would.”
Helping Maggie to the door, Betty then went back out, stealing across the wood, prepping and finally releasing the towel across the bodies.
Scully didn’t even move.
Mulder managed to lift his head, then, taking in towel, friend and future relative, squinted in the bright sun, looking at the pair of older women, “morning.”
“That was very anti-climactic.” Betty gave him a smile, “but I guess it would have been worse if you’d both fallen out of the hammock.”
Mulder grinned, “that happened earlier. Not fun … well … at first anyways.”
Betty shook her head.
Maggie shook her head, then, “whenever you two wake up, come inside. I’m going to make some sandwiches.”
Of course, this penetrated Scully’s unconscious brain and lifting herself from Mulder, she looked at him through a veil of hair, “sandwiches?”
Chuckling, he pulled the towel closer around her, “your stomach is my favorite part of you right now. Come on, Maggie is making lunch.”
“Maggie? Mom? You mean mom is here?” Taking in her surroundings with a speed that made her hair spin, she spied her mother, “oh, God, really?”
“Yes, dear, really.”
“Kill me now, please. Swiftly if possible but dead, buried and gone.”
Betty loved the Scully household, “let me go get you another towel.”
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Lunch really should have been more awkward for him but once Mulder had pajama pants back on, he couldn’t keep the grin off his face given the amount of red Scully remained throughout the meal. Betty had happily disappeared to the yarn store, leaving them absolutely no buffer, which Mulder found highly amusing, Scully incredibly terrible. Once plates were clean and ice tea drank, she finally cracked, “yes, we had sex on the back porch last night. Yes, you found us naked and asleep in the hammock. Yes, I am sitting at the kitchen table eating roast beef and provolone sandwiches with my future husband and my mother who saw my bare ass in the sun. Yes, it was embarrassing but can we just move on?”
Mulder put his head on the table, shoulders shaking in laughter, “cut right to that chase, Scully.”
Maggie just looked at her daughter, “future husband?”
Scully simply leaned on Mulder’s vibrating shoulder, “yeah, I was thinking that I’m going to marry Mulder one of these days, might be a few years from now but still, eventually, I’m going to marry him.”
Reaching over to pat Mulder’s arm, “welcome to the family, Fox.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
With a shining smile at her daughter, “we should probably start cooking for dinner tonight. We have a full house, plus Walter.”
“That’s it? That’s your reaction to me telling you I’m getting married?”
“Dear, I’ve been waiting for this for years and expecting it for months. It’s not as much of a surprise as you might think.”
Scully sat back in her chair, faux grumpy look on her face, “can nothing surprise you anymore?”
“Well, I was a little shocked to find you on the back porch this morning but even that, not really that Earth shaking.”
Mulder outright guffawed, booming laugh echoing across the kitchen as Scully finally grinned, “we’ll keep trying, how’s that?”
“Fair enough and good luck. Now, I was thinking pasta salads, some type of meat, jello and light desserts. What do you think?”