TITLE - One Second
AUTHOR - KillTheBee@aol.com
RATING - G
CLASSIFICATION -
KEYWORDS -
SPOILERS -
ARCHIVE - SURE! Just let me know and send me the link
FEEDBACK - duh, it's like pineapple pizza, a must have KillTheBee@aol.com
DISCLAIMER - NOT MINE DAGGUMMIT!!!
AUTHORS NOTE - In response to a fanfic challenge where Mulder or Scully has to take on a godchild when the parents die. it's not great because I kept forgetting where I left off....hehehehe
Mulder sat quietly at his desk in the dank and dreary office below all others. Scully was quietly filling out mounds of paper work in her area across from him. Taking a moment to himself, he leaned back in his chair, put the pen down and thought for a second. His thinking in Scully's direction gave her the feeling of having someone watching her, so she removed her glasses and turned around.
"What?" she asked.
Mulder shook his head, "Sorry," he sat up again. "Just thinking."
"About what?"
Scully was an inquisitive person, meddling and getting the answers no one thought they were giving.
"Nothing really," he told her. "I just needed a break for a second."
Before Scully could come up with a response, she stood up to answer the ringing phone. "It's for you," she told him and handed it to him, sitting back down and returning to her paperwork in an effort to leave the office a little earlier than usual and spend her Friday night relaxing.
The silence and sudden break in Mulder's tone of voice gave Scully the notion that something was wrong, so she turned around as he hung up. By the time she opened her mouth, Mulder was grabbing his jacket of the coat hanger and walking out the door.
Scully jumped up and jogged out to the hallway where Mulder was adjusting his coat on himself, "Mulder?" she called. "Mulder, wait."
She caught up and he stopped, turned around but made no effort to make eye contact.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Mulder seemed like he was containing a large fit of anger inside and that his silence was the only thing keeping it in. Scully knew this, she always did, but she was always prepared for it to spill out on her, knowing that he wasn't angry at her, but at something else and he needed to release it.
He finally told her, "I have to go down to the station and pick up my goddaughter."
Scully's eyes widened, "What?"
"Her parents were friends of mine a while ago," Mulder muttered as he hung his head down low. "When she was born we were pretty close. I don't think they ever really knew what kind of person I was when I wasn't away from work."
Mulder's hand found his forehead as he rubbed deeply trying to block away all of his thoughts that seemed to have been thrown unexpectedly into a blender and turned on high. His mind swirled in a jumble of confusion and mixed emotions.
"Let me go with you," Scully said as she saw his mental state written on his face.
"No, Scully, really I can--"
"No, Mulder. Not this time. I'm not letting you go alone," Scully placed her hand on his arm to turn him around and walk towards the elevator.
The elevator to the parking garage seemed longer than ever, like it lingered on the minute in time it took to rise to the 1st floor. He stood in the corner with his eyes closed and looking up at the bright ceiling of the newly installed elevator.
When they arrived at the murky, dimly lit garage, they got off the elevator and walked to Scully's car. Scully hopped in the driver's seat and Mulder in the passanger and drove off.
"Are you going to be OK?" Scully asked Mulder when he wouldn't say anything.
"I think so," he told her quietly.
Scully thought for a minute, then asked, "How old is she?"
Mulder's mouth curved into a small grin as he thought of the little girl, "2...she's 2 now."
Scully thought of a tiny 2 year old in Mulder's custody. It wasn't as much of an impossible thought as she'd once believed.
"I wonder if she understands," Mulder muttered.
"What do you mean?" Scully responded.
"I wonder if she knows what's going on. If she knows she'll never see her parents again, or her home or any of her toys. That the life she knew doesn't exist anymore."
Scully couldn't come up with the answer to that one, and she would never try to. All she could do was focus on the road ahead and drive. The police station came up on them quicker than expected, so Scully made a quick turn and parked the car. Mulder jumped out and walked through the tall doors with the police precinct number printed in gold at the top. He looked frantically around, Scully coming up behind him.
"There she is," Mulder said more to himself than to anyone.
He walked over to her, Scully following behind. She was sitting in a wooden chair with a pink backpack dangling from her fingers. Her feet didn't reach the floor, and the expression on her face showed boredom more than anything. Mulder hesitated to go forward, so Scully stepped out in front of him and proceeded to the girl.
She knelt down in front of her, "Hi," she said at first. "My name is Dana," as she saw Mulder approach behind her, she said, "and you know who this is, don't you?"
She looked up at Mulder then nodded like she recognized him, knew him, and it went no further.
"I work with him. I came with him to take you home," Scully told in her best soothing manner.
The cop behind the desk finally said, "Are you Mr. Mulder?"
Mulder's attention went from Scully who was trying to explain all that was going on to the little girl in the chair to the heavyset female cop wearing sunglasses indoors. "Yeah, that's me."
"Alright, I need you to sign a few things and then she's yours," the woman seemed a little more on the masculine side as she spoke.
She handed him the clipboard with blank forms on it to be filled out. His face asked the question, giving him the answer, "Fill those out and you won't have to go through the courts to get custody."
Mulder sat down in another chair further from the desk to begin filling things out. Scully was still talking to the child, "What's your name?" she asked.
The little girl's voice was soft, "Casey."
"Casey," Scully repeated. "Well, Casey, is there anything you want to know?"
"Where's my mommy and daddy?" she asked urgently, her eyebrows creasing.
Casey was wearing a headband that let her straight bangs lay neatly on her forehead. She had a sweater on and a pair of jeans with a comfortable pair of sneakers. Scully looked at the girl decked out in homely clothes no doubt chosen by her proud mother and found herself unable to answer her question straightly. Her eyes were stinging with tears for the little girl who couldn't understand.
"They're in Heaven, sweetheart," Scully said with a quiver in her voice.
"They're gone?" Casey asked surprised.
Scully nodded, trying to bring a smile to her face.
"Forever? My mommy and daddy are gone forever?" Casey's voice was getting a little more urgent and scared.
"Yes," Scully said, still working on her failing smile.
"Why?" Casey begged. "What did I do? Did I make mommy and daddy mad so they wanted to leave?"
"No," Scully's voice became stern in hopes of setting the girl straight. "No, Casey. This is not your fault at ALL. You had nothing to do with this."
"So what happened?" a single tear came to the girls eyes, rolling down her smooth cheek.
From what little Scully had gathered, they'd been in a car accident somewhere. "They were in the car," Scully began as she kept working on her composure. "And their car hit another on accident. God decided he wanted your mommy and daddy to come live with him."
Though Scully was speaking simply, Casey wasn't grasping the concept of death, "Why didn't they take me with them?"
"Because you weren't there," Scully said. "God wants you to live here on Earth a little longer."
There was silence, Casey seemed utterly confused and didn't know what to do or to say, so Scully spoke again, "But your mommy and daddy are always with you. They're in here," Scully tapped the child's chest with her finger. "In your heart. And they're always watching down from Heaven for you. They still love you."
Casey's mouth quivered, "So you're my new mommy now?"
Scully was speechless, at this point she realized she may have gone to school for a long time, may have earned tons of degrees and graduated on top, but no amount of schooling could prepare anyone for something like this.
Mulder had handed over the paperwork and perched his hands on his hips as he looked at Scully who was dumbfounded and confused. He began walking towards her as she took Casey in her arms and stood up.
"Are you ready?" Scully asked Mulder as she saw him.
"Yeah, I think so," he stated and began the walk to the car, taking Casey's bag in his hand.
Mulder opened the back door to the car so Scully could put her in and buckle her up, then he closed it and got in on his side up front, Scully doing the same.
They pulled up in front of Mulder's building nearly 20 minutes later. Scully asked, "Do you want me to come in?" as Mulder got Casey out of the car.
"Yeah," he said, walking towards his door.
When they got in, it was nearly 7:30pm, so he asked if Casey was hungry. Her response was "no". Then he suggested she go to bed, to which she easily agreed.
Mulder took her into his room and tucked her in his own bed, told her things would work out OK in the end, shut off the lights, and returned to Scully in the living room.
He sat down on the couch that he planned on spending much more time on and buried his face in his hands.
Scully watched with pain in her heart to see Mulder so confused and upset. She rose from the arm chair and sat herself back down next to Mulder on the couch. He didn't move until she draped her arm around his back and pulled him close to him.
"It's OK, Mulder," she told him. "You don't have to do this alone."
Mulder thought for a while and thought of a 2 year old girl. There was no doubt she'd call him "dad" or something along those lines, but he wondered what she'd call Scully. Would she assume she was her mother? Would she think that Scully was her mother, but her parents weren't married? Would she wonder why she didn't have a mother? Would she be confused?
"I know what you're thinking," Scully told him. "And it's OK to wonder about that. But for now she doesn't know you're her father and she doesn't know that I'm not her mother. She doesn't know much of anything right now."
"But she's going to want to know in the future...and that's what I don't know how to deal with."
"But I'll still be here," Scully told him. "You won't be explaining alone."
He forced a smile and let her take him into her loving arms.
"She IS an intellegent little girl, though," she began. "So I don't believe the time she asks will be too far off."
"Thought so..." he mumbled.
* * * * *
Scully had gone to her mother's house the night before since there wasn't any place for her to sleep at Mulder's. She'd promised to show up the next morning right away with some of her clothes as a kid.
"Mom," Scully had said when she opened the door.
"Dana, what's wrong? Why are you here?" when Scully heard her say this, she felt a different sense of things; she asked herself why her mom had to feel worry and dispair each time she saw her.
"Nothing's wrong, really..." her voice trailed off as her mom let her in. "Some of Mulder's old friend's died in a car accident and they left behind a 2 year old daughter."
Scully's mom was almost astonished, "Don't tell me you want to adopt this child?"
"No," Scully smiled awkwardly. "No. She's Mulder's godchild, he's taking her. I came to see if you had any of my old clothes...or any of Melissa's."
Mrs. Scully nodded, "Yeah."
They spent the night sifting through boxes of saved clothes. Scully thought about Casey's new wardrobe - she'd have plenty of fancy clothes, most common clothes weren't saved.
The next morning when Scully left, she thanked her mother and tossed the clothes in her car. She banged on Mulder's door with a pile of clothes in her hands.
When he opened it, she said, "You have ANY idea how hard it was to get up here?"
He let out a small chuckle and took some of the clothes from Scully's arms then kicking the door shut.
"Where's Casey?" Scully asked.
"In the bathroom insisting that she can brush her own teeth," Mulder told her.
"You better get her to let you do it before they rot off," Scully said seriously.
"Nah," he responded. "I already did it. I think I outsmarted her there. I told her I didn't do a good job so she should finish."
"Oh..." Scully said. "Lying to her already."
"I wouldn't say that...."
"What would you say?" Scully pushed.
"Well..." he shrugged.
"Lying's the easy way out," Scully told him. "You have to tell her the facts, and it's harder that way, but it's the best way."
He gave up when Casey came bouncing down the hallway with her toothbrush in hand. "Morning," Scully said. "I've got some clothes for you."
Casey took a look at the pile and stared at it with an expression that read "I've got to wear all that?".
"I'll take her to try them on," Scully said.
Scully took her back into Mulder's room with a few outfits that matched the weather, "Do you like these?"
Casey nodded.
"Let's try them on then," Scully said. "Can I help you do that?"
She nodded again. They spent nearly a half hour trying different ones on and bringing her out each time to show Mulder and ask his opinion which, of course, didn't really matter in the long run. It took nearly an hour to get through the whole mound.
"Just don't grow," Mulder told Casey when they found a final product for her to wear for the day. Hoping she'd stay the same height and weight in order to fit into the same clothes the next season.
"Mulder," Scully said. "You DO have to get her some new clothes. These are just to last until you or I can make it out to get her some."
"I'll leave that up to you," he said, getting up from the chair. "I need something to eat. Anyone else hungry?"
Casey and Scully looked at him with a funky expression on their faces and shook their heads "no".
They sat around Mulder's apartment for most of the day, but when evening rolled around, Scully decided she should help Mulder make dinner, get Casey's clothes put away and go back home.
"I don't need your help," Mulder whined when Scully offered to help cook dinner.
"Fine," she retorted and left the kitchen, leaving the cooking up to him. She walked past the couch to the back of the apartment and realized that there was only one bedroom.
"Mulder?" she called.
"Yeah?" he responded.
"Where has Casey been sleeping?" he asked.
"My room," he said.
"Where are you sleeping?"
"The couch," he said nonchalantly.
Scully let out a sigh, "Mulder, she needs her own room," she said as she walked back out to the kitchen.
"Well, I don't really HAVE another room. And I like my apartment, I don't want to move."
"She can't keep sleeping in your room...and she can't sleep on the couch her whole life," she told him.
"I know that," he told her.
"So what were you planning on doing about it?"
"I don't know."
Scully let out a frustrated sigh and left the kitchen once again. She looked around for an empty closet or somewhere to put Casey's clothes. "Mulder?" she called again as she saw an empty chest.
"What?" he replied somewhat aggrivated.
"Can we put Casey's clothes in this chest? It's empty."
"Go ahead," he called back.
Scully began filling the drawers with clothes that brought back many memories as a child, or a tiny stain that wasn't barely visible to anyone but her. Casey walked in breaking her of her trance, "Can I help?"
She thought for a second, "Sure, hand me that right there." Scully pointed to a blank white t-shirt which Casey picked up right away and handed to her.
Casey got sidetracked to a plain sweater that had a knit on it. She put it up to herself and said, "This is pretty."
"My mom made that for me when I was a little girl," Scully explained. "But she said that you can have it now."
"Really?" she asked.
"Really."
Casey put it on over the dress she was wearing. She sat down in the mound of clothes, looking almost exhausted, although it hadn't been a busy day, she'd been awake for quite some time. It was nearly 8:00PM and Mulder had just begun making dinner. By the look of exhaustion on her face, Scully doubted she'd stay awake until it was done.
She let Casey lounge in the pile of clothes while she folded and stored the ones around her. When she was finished that, she went to ask Casey to get up so she could put the ones below her away when she realized she was asleep. Mulder arrived in the doorway with three plates, pulling Scully's eyes away from the sleeping beauty below her. Mulder had taken a little too long to cook dinner obviously, and he let out a slight pout when he saw her asleep.
"I'll put her in bed and we can eat," he put the plates down on top of the bureau and gently picked his new daughter up. By this time it was 8:30, and no one could really blame her for falling asleep. She hadn't had a nap or anything yet she'd been so good through the whole day.
Scully watched intently as he tucked her in and placed a kiss on her forehead. This gave her faith that Mulder would eventually do alright on his own.
"Alright, let's eat," he said, handing Scully a plate, then taking his and Casey's.
They ate their small meal and Scully returned to putting away the clothes. When she was finished, she said, "I should go."
He nodded, "Thanks."
She smiled and got up, "Your welcome."
They looked at each other for a moment until Scully heard a small whimper, "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
She waited a second until she heard it again, "That. There. That noise."
He remained silent for a moment, "What is that?"
It was so faint it was barely audible, but suddenly Scully's maternal instincts kicked in, "Casey."
They bother began walking to her bed and found her with her face buried in the pillows.
"Casey?" Scully asked. "Casey, what's wrong?"
Scully sat down next to her and watched as Casey turned over. In a second after seeing Scully, Casey went straight into her arms. "Mommy..." she whimpered. "Mommy don't go..."
Scully was speechless. All she could do was hold her close and try to console her. Scully didn't know how to explain that her mother was already gone, but not because she wanted to leave.
"Casey," Scully said. "Your mommy's in Heaven right now."
"I know," she breathed.
"She can't come back...you can see her when it's time for you to go there."
She nodded. Mulder wanted to stop Scully, he knew what Casey was saying that Scully was blinded by.
"Scully..." Mulder whispered.
She looked up.
"She's talking about you."
Scully's eyes widened, water began to rise to the surface but forced back by pride.
"I'm not going anywhere," Scully told Casey.
"Don't go, Mommy," Casey repeated.
"Ssh," Scully soothed. "I'm not. Why don't we try to go back to sleep."
She nodded and laid back down with a gentle nudge from Scully. Once Casey was down, Scully laid down next to her. They both closed their eyes, but after a few seconds, Scully could feel Mulder's eyes on them, and she outstretched her hand and waited for the feel of his hand in hers. He laid down on the other side of Casey, Scully's hand in his, falling asleep and in the greatest love of all, and it was all compacted into one tiny second.
THE END