text version
Title: Molly
Author: Devin
Email: franny122004@gmail.com
Website: http://dancing-through-life.com/
Rating: PG
Category: SAR
Keywords: MSR, Babyfic, AU
Spoilers: nada
Summary: Never apologize.
Disclaimer: Did you know that I have no claim over
these characters whatsoever? Well, a few are mine
but most of them belong to CC, Fox, DD, GA, and
lots of other people.
Author's Note: The story takes place 13 months
after 'The Beach', Scully was two months along in
that story. Might want to read that one first for
this to make sense. This was written for
xfsafeharbor's challenge. Thanks to Cathey for the
beta.
March 1999
Scully stood by her best friend in front of the
beautifully decorated alter, trying to keep her
attention on what the priest was saying, but her
eyes kept being drawn to the happy, if not
unlikely, couple.
Ellen couldn't keep her eyes off Marcus's face,
and Marcus was having a similar problem. To look
at them now you wouldn't know that they hated each
other in high school. Scully remembered being so
disappointed when Ellen and her date had decided
to go with another group than the one she and
Marcus were going with.
They had met again at the High School reunion
which Scully had been unable to attend because she
was in the hospital giving birth to Molly.
At the thought of her daughter, her eyes strayed
from the couple for the first time since the
ceremony had started to the bride's side of the
chapel. After little searching her eyes locked
with Mulder's, who was holding their baby girl. He
gave her a smile and, though it was barely a curve
of his lips, warmth from the pit of her stomach
spread throughout her entire body.
She returned his smile and turned back just in
time to see a dopey expression plastered onto
Marcus's face as he said, "I do."
***
It wasn't possible to feel more out of place than
Mulder felt at that moment. He was sitting in a
room filled with strangers; he barely knew the
bride, had met the groom once, and the only people
he did know, his partner and his daughter, were
not in the room because it was lunch time for
Molly.
Most of the guests were now on the dance floor,
which saved him from trying to find common points
of interest to talk about. He looked at his watch
for the millionth time but was distracted from
reading the digits by a light tug on his pant leg.
He looked up and saw nothing but empty space, so
he looked down and was met with the sight of a
little boy with a gapped smile, tousled hair, and
a bow tie that he had obviously worked very hard
to unclip in his hand.
"Hey buddy," Mulder said and knelt down in front
of him so that they were closer to being eye to
eye.
"Could you help me tie my shoe?" the boy asked
with a little lisp. He lifted his leg to show
Mulder his untied shoe but being only two, lost
his balance and fell backward, his eyes
immediately filling with tears.
Mulder sat down next to him and pulled him onto
his lap and patted his back comfortingly. "Hey
buddy, its okay. Let's see what we can do about
these pesky shoelaces." He tied his shoes and then
stood him back up. The gapped smile was back on
the boy's face. "Where are your parents?"
"Daddy go bye bye. Mommy over there," he pointed
in the general vicinity of the dance floor.
Mulder was about to suggest that they go looking
for her when a voice behind him asked, "Michael?
Isn't Trent supposed to be watching you?"
It wasn't that she was there that surprised him.
What did was that the little boy seemed to
recognize the voice just as well as he did.
"Dana," Michael cried and ran, kind of, over to
her and latched onto her leg, in affect hugging
her.
Scully laughed and, after handing Molly to Mulder,
who had just stood up, picked Michael up.
"Hello my baby Romeo." She then proceeded to
exaggeratedly kiss all over his face until he was
squealing and laughing with delight. She pulled
back and smiled down at him. Michael smiled back
and tucked his head in the crook of her neck.
Finally, Scully looked up and met Mulder's
slightly amused gaze. "So you met Ellen's younger
son and my little godson."
"I did indeed. And you fed my little girl here?
"She's fed and ready for her daddy to carry her
around while she falls asleep."
***
Realizing that Molly wasn't going to last much
longer, they went to find someone who could watch
Michael and to say goodbye to people. The first
people they found were Ellen's parents. They
gladly took over the care of Michael but wouldn't
let them go immediately.
"Wasn't it a beautiful ceremony?" Ellen's mom
gushed.
"It was perfect."
Ellen's father nodded in agreement and gesture to
Mulder and Molly, "And who are these two?"
"This is Fox Mulder and this," she lightly ran her
hand over Molly's downy soft head, "is our
daughter, Molly Jeannette Mulder."
Ellen's mother immediately began to coo over the
quickly fading baby. "Oh, she's so adorable. When
was she born?"
"September 22."
"Dana, why didn't you tell us you got married?"
she admonished.
"I didn't."
The smile disappeared from the old couple's faces
and the man's filled with disappointment and
anger. "You mean to tell me you had this child
illegitimately? My God, your father must be
turning over in his grave. How could you do that
to your mother? Even if you weren't going to spare
a thought for your own soul you could have at
least thought of her." Throughout his tirade his
voice had gotten continually louder and he more
than likely would have continued if a fist hadn't
connected with his jaw and sent him stumbling
backward.
Scully hadn't seen it coming either. She had just
stood there, her mouth agape as she listened to a
man she had known since she was 15 spout these
hateful things.
The agony etched on her face was the last straw
for Mulder and he lashed out at the source of her
pain. He threw a sharp right and didn't even wince
at the contact. He would have followed it up with
a few choice words against the man, had Scully not
grabbed his arm, asked him to stop with one
pleading look, and reminded him of Molly who was
now wide awake in his arms. Mulder nodded slightly
in assent but continued to glare at Ellen's
father.
Scully made a hasty apology to some of the people
whose attention had been drawn by the scene and
got her family out of there before more could come
of the uncomfortable situation.
***
The ride home was as uncomfortable, if not more
so, than the wedding. Neither had spoken since
they got in the car and the monotony of the drive
had put Molly to sleep so they didn't have her
baby talk and gurgling to fill the silence.
Mulder was staring straight ahead, his only
glances to the rear and side-view mirrors, fists
clenching and unclenching on the wheel to release
some of the leftover adrenaline. At one point he
had reached to turn on the radio, but thought
better of it.
He didn't have to look at Scully to know how she
would be sitting. She would be looking out the
passenger window, body rigid with suppressed
anger, as close to her door as possible, either
subconsciously or consciously putting space
between them.
This half hour drive was going to seem like an
eternity.
"Did you even think about it before you did it?"
"Yeah I thought about it. Thought about whether I
should punch him in the face or the gut."
"Damn it Mulder. It was my best friend's wedding.
You can't just hit her father."
"I didn't 'just hit her father'. Were you even
listening to what that man was saying to you?
About you? About our daughter?"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw her turn
around and moved his head slightly to meet her
eyes.
Instead of the loud, angry response he expected he
got a quiet almost sorrowful one. "Of course I did
but it's not the first or the last time something
like that will be said."
"What are you talking about?"
"It's nothing Mulder. It doesn't matter," with
that she turned back towards the window.
Suppressing a groan of frustration Mulder took the
first exit they came across and pulled into a
nearly abandoned Wendy's parking lot. "It's not
nothing and we both know it. What were you talking
about? Does this have something to do with why
you've stopped going to mass?"
The way her shoulders went rigid told him that
he'd hit the nail on the head. "I didn't think you
noticed."
"You didn't think I'd notice when you suddenly had
more Sundays free?" he asked incredulously.
Sighing she amended her statement, "I was hoping
you wouldn't."
"What happened, Scully?" he cupped her face and
turned it towards him.
"I was supposed to go to confession and apologize
for having Molly outside of marriage."
"And you didn't?"
Her eyes flashed in anger. "I refuse to apologize
for our daughter. To act like she was a mistake. A
wrong turn."
"So you just stopped going?"
"I just stopped going."
They were silent for a minute, both lost in their
own thoughts. "We could get married," he suggested
suddenly.
She looked at him shocked and then started
laughing. She reached up to stroke her fingers
down the side of his face. "I love you," she
kissed him, a light brush of lips, "but no. We
can't get married."
"Why not?"
"We can't do it because of outside pressure."
"You know that's not it."
"Can you honestly tell me that if what happened
today hadn't you would still have proposed? At
this moment?" He didn't have to answer, they both
knew the truth. "Let's go home."
***
For the next week Scully pretended that the
'incident' didn't bother her, and Mulder pretended
that he didn't know that it really did bother her.
One night, after he had walked up and down the
small hallways of her apartment to get Molly to
fall asleep and finally succeeded after 20
minutes, he had found her sitting on her couch
staring down at her cross as if it had all the
answers to the universe but was refusing to share
them with her. That night "Operation Cheer Up
Scully" was put into action.
***
He had started out simple so he wouldn't clue her
in immediately. A rose placed on her desk,
Superstars of the Super Bowl Volume 2, and a night
to themselves for the first time since Molly was
born were spread sporadically throughout a month.
Then came the 'I'm going to make you laugh if it,
or you, kills me' phase. This included a
ridiculous case file consisting of stoned
teenagers being talked to by chickens and a
singing telegram sung by the worst Elvis
impersonator this side of Vegas.
He had another phase worked out in his head but
was prevented from following through with it.
***
"An Elvis impersonator Mulder?" Scully asked the
second he walked into her apartment from picking
Molly up at Mrs. Scully's house.
He barely tapped down a laugh at her dubious
expression. "What? You didn't like him? I can go
find another one."
She held up a hand as he went to scour the yellow
pages. "Not necessary. Really." She took Molly out
of his arms and began whispering questions to her
about her time at Grandma's. "So you want to tell
me why you felt I was in need of a singing
telegram, besides making the neighbors question
our sanity further."
He shrugged noncommittally. "You seemed in need of
a pick-me-up and-"
She cut him off with a singing out a brief fanfare
that could have belonged to any Saturday morning
cartoon hero. "Dun duna nah, Mulder to the
rescue."
"I would have worn my cape but it's at the
drycleaners."
She pulled him down to the couch next to her a
kissed him hard. "Thanks." She pulled back
slightly so that she could position Molly
comfortably while she fed her. Still looking down
Molly, she said softly, "So, I was thinking of
going to church tomorrow. You and Molly want to
come too? We can go to the beach afterwards."
"Sure, as long as we're not apologizing for...
anything."
They were both looking at Molly intently now as
she finished eating and let out a huge yawn. She
began to suck her thumb until Scully pulled it out
of her mouth and replaced it with a pacifier.
"Never."
The End
Required Elements:
1) Mulder to the rescue fic- check
2) A wedding- check
3) A singing telegram- check
4) A small child named Molly- check
