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It was drizzling outside – just the occasional May showers where you can smell the earth and feel the cool breeze that the wind blows. It was peaceful and calm. But that was not the case for the Scully-Mulder household that night.
Little William, who was only a few weeks old, was still adjusting to the outside world, and that includes his sleep schedule. Although, the past few nights had been good, tonight was not one of them. He was screaming at the top of his lungs – ‘He’s giving yodellers a run for their money, Scully.’ – His father said, which earned him a glare from his mother who was desperately trying to soothe him.
“Shhh, it’s okay, sweetheart,” Scully cooed, as she bounced the baby in her arms. “It’s okay, no need to cry. Mommy’s here, shhh.”
William, however, was not having any of it and continued to cry. Scully looked at Mulder with desperation in her eyes. Not needed to be told twice, or to be told at all for the matter, he took the baby from her and attempted to soothe the child.
“Okay, buddy, Daddy’s here. It’s okay, it’s okay,” he tells the baby. “Shhh, none of that.” He whispered, as he propped William on his shoulder and rubbed circles on his back.
William quieted for a moment and even resorted to shove his tiny fist on his mouth for comfort, and that gave his parents some relief, but the quiet was cut short when a branch from a tree outside hit the window, then the crying began again. This time, louder than ever. Both parents looked like they were close to tearing the hair off of their heads.
Mulder immediately bounced and rubbed, and soothed and cooed at the baby, but it seemed like none of his attempts were working as William continued to scream. Scully then took the baby from him and tried her own attempts, but then again, it wasn’t working. She looked at Mulder as her eyes began to water; hearing her baby cry, especially for no reason and them not knowing the reason, made her want to join in on the crying as well.
“He’s not hungry, he’s not wet,” Scully began, her voice wobbling. “I know he’s tired, it’s past his bedtime, but he just won’t stop crying, Mulder.” She whimpered out, tears already rolling down her face.
Mulder pulled her in for a hug with the crying baby between them, “Alright, it’s okay. We’ll figure this out,” he tells her. “Why don’t we go to the living room?” He suggested and in return, Scully nodded her head.
He took the baby from her and wiped away the tears on her face before taking her hand and leading them to the living room.
“Here, sit down on the couch,” he says, as he guides her to sit, “And you snuggle with the little guy while I turn the TV on, okay?” He hands her the baby who immediately curled himself to her chest. The crying was starting to slowly cease, but she was nervous Hurricane William would start screaming again.
Mulder turned the TV on and lowered the volume almost to the level where it seemed like the voices were humming.
He sat down beside his two loves and watched as Scully rubbed the baby’s back. It looked like the soft humming from the TV and the soothing rubs were calming William down, which was a good sign.
A couple minutes later, the crying has completely ceased and has reduced to whimpers and hiccups. Mulder smiled at the sight – the love of his life and their little miracle. While Scully was occupied with the baby, whispering sweet words to the little one’s ear this time, Mulder quietly grabbed the camera that was sitting on the small table beside the couch.
They’ve been keeping the camera close for William’s everyday milestones and for some random happenings that Mulder takes when he thinks Scully doesn’t notice.
Camera in hand, Mulder waited for the right moment to capture something beautiful. A little sigh was heard from the baby that made Scully look up to Mulder. With that, he whispered ‘smile’ to her, which she gave him a small one, and quickly snapped a photo. Scully just shook her head and leaned down to press a kiss on the baby’s head, at the same time inhaling the fresh, powdery, baby smell that he had.
When the photo finished developing, Mulder looked at it with a smile on his face. Scully looked tired and sleepy, but there was something in her eyes, even though they seemed a little red from crying – her eyes seemed like it was telling whoever was looking at the photo that she was happy, really happy and content.
“Do I look good?” Scully asked with a tiny glint in her eyes as she tried to take a peek of the photo.
“Of course you do. You always look beautiful.” He tells her as he showed her the photo. She let out a small snort with a smile on her face and carefully scooted next to him. He wraps an arm around her shoulders and watches as she carefully adjusted the now sleeping baby in her arms; securing the little one.
“He’s finally sleeping, huh?” Mulder says, as he softly ran a hand on the baby’s downy head. “The TV always does the trick.”
“Yeah, finally.” Scully tiredly replied as she let out a yawn. She laid her head on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh and closed her eyes.
“I love you, Scully. Both of you.” He tells her.
Scully opened her eyes for a bit and craned her neck to meet his eyes, “I love you, too. So does the little guy.”
Mulder leans in to kiss her then William’s head before settling back and decided to join his little family and rest his eyes as well. The sound of the TV humming and drizzling rain outside soothed the three of them, finally.
*photo that Mulder took:
