Title: Heavenly Author: RM >lebontrager@iname.com< Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to CC, 1013, and Fox. No fringe is intended. Summary: This is gotta be a bunch of crap, but I felt guilty for leaving it on my disk for so long and not posting it....sorry. ~~~~ Heavenly ~~~~ "Heavenly shades of night are falling It's twilight time Out of the mist your voice is calling It's twilight time Red-purple curtains mark the end of day I love you my darling here at twilight time" --"Twilight Time" The Platters ~~~~ It was just starting to get dark when Dana Scully made her way to his apartment door, frowning at the hesitant call she'd received from Mulder. She heard music drifting from his place, and she knocked loudly on the door, calling his name to make sure he knew she was there. The door opened slowly and her eyes drifted downwards, noting the messy living room just beyond the little boy clutching the door knob. Scully glanced back to the front of the door, eyeing the '42' and the shredded place where a bullet had chipped his frame long ago. "Hello?" she asked, looking back to the child. His dark tightly curled hair, olive skin, and thin trembling fingers made her eyes soften. She sqautted down next to him, her mind slowly registering the gentle strains of an early fifties group, and the squalling of an infant in the background. "Who you?" the boy asked, tugging on her lapels to get her attention. "Hm, I'm Dana Scully. Who are you?" "Mario!" Mulder's voice rocketted through the small apartment, and the sounds of crying grew closer as Scully perched there. Mario rolled his eyes and nodded. "It's Mario. . ." Scully winked at him. "I caught that." Mulder blanched when he saw her in the doorway, then sighed with a kind of relief. "You have to help me, Scully. I don't know what to do!" Scully pushed inside the room and shut the door behind her. She eyed him for a moment, enjoying the upper hand, then gave in, knowing he didn't usually turn to her so easily. Mario grabbed her hand and pulled her to the couch. "You play with me, and he can play with Marie." Scully glanced over to Mulder, smiling. "Sounds good to me." Mulder's eyes went wide and he shook his head. "No. No. Scully. . ." Realizing she had tortured him enough already, Scully turned back to Mario, giving the boy a small hug. "Let me help out Mulder first. Then we can play." He grumbled a bit, but shrugged his shoulders, used to being foisted off on others or overlooked since his baby sister had entered the world. Scully took the little girl from Mulder's weakening grip and placed the child to her shoulder, shushing her with the soothing motion of her hand and gentle words. Mulder shook his head in awe. "How do you do that?" "Confidence, Mulder." He sighed and glanced over to Mario, watching the little boy run his Matchbox cars over the leather couch, then torpedo them in the air with mouth noises. Scully managed to get the baby to calm somewhat, but she was still fussy. "Has she gotten anything to eat lately?" Mulder licked his lips. "Uh. . .I think so." Scully rolled her eyes. "When?" "My cousin said she fed her before she dropped her off with me." Sighing loudly, Scully shook her head at him, amazed at how little he knew about taking care of babies. Granted, Scully didn't know everything either, and her medical classes may have given her some background, but she figured there were things that ought to be common knowledge. Like the fact that giving the kids lunch and dinner might have been a good idea. "Where's her food?" Mulder shrugged. "She has a diaper bag somewhere in the kitchen though." Mario jumped up from his games with a guilty look. "Oops. . .I was supposed to tell you. Our lunch and dinner is in the Tupperware. . .the blue Tupperware." Mulder glared at him for a long moment, then closed his eyes. Scully was already heading for the kitchen, Mario hot on her heels and clutching a red car. ~~~~ Marie was sleeping on Mulder's bed, surrounded by all the pillows they could find so that she wouldn't roll off the bed. Mario was in the kitchen watching Scully wash dishes with MUlder drying, pretending he was interested, but not able to keep his eyes on his toy cars. "Mulder. . .why didn't you call me earlier?" Scully had been surprised when Mulder had revealed his plans for the weekend to her, explaining that his cousin and her husband had to fly to Mexico for his father's funeral. They didn't want the kids exposed to the messy side of death, plus they needed a bit of a vacation. Mulder had sort of been pressured into this by his mother, who was too weak herself to help. His aunt and uncle had died years ago, and the only family still left was basically him. But he hadn't seen nor spoken to his cousin since Sam's disappearance, and never thought to change that. They considered him to be unstable. Or so he thought. "The funny thing is. . .I thought I could handle this." Scully smiled. "You nearly did. You just forgot some things." Mulder groaned. "Like lunch and dinner. Good job I'm doing. Sheesh, if I ever have kids, Scully, take them away from me. I'm gonna kill 'em." She felt an odd thrill knowing he still wanted her around when he was having those kids, even if he'd moved on and had a family. It also made her sorrowful. Mulder noticed, surprising himself and her by recognizing his mistake. "Sorry. . ." he whispered, touching her elbow. She couldn't have kids and here he was being an insensitive prick. . . "Hey!" came a sharp voice. Scully looked up from the soapy dish water and over at Mario, winking at Mulder when the man rolled his eyes. "You gonna play with me or not?" he said, hands on his hips. Scully looked down at the dishes. "Sure, Mulder can finish on his own, right?" Mulder grimaced, but Mario hooted, as if he thought it was the funniest thing in the world. "Uncle Buck don't know how to do dishes, Miss Dana." Mario smiled sweetly at her and she grinned back. "Call me Dana, sweetie. And what's Uncle Buck?" Her words incited a peal of laughter and Mulder groaned, his voice more like a growl than anything else. "I show you. We can watch it together." "Watch what?" Mario led her relentlessly forward, pulling her to the living room where he turned on the television and pushed play in the VCR. Once again, Scully was amazed at how much little kids could understand technical things, like VCRs, microwaves, and computers, when they'd only been around for such a short time. Even *she* had trouble recording things with her stupid VCR. Mulder hurried and washed and dried the last of the dishes, then sunk into the couch beside her just as the previews blackened from the screen. Uncle Buck turned out to be a character in a movie, where the parents have to go out of town because of a family illness, and only the black sheep brother can baby-sit while they're away. She found the similarities between John Candy and Mulder to be physically nonexistent, but the hilarious situations were remarkably alike. On screen, Uncle Buck tried to establish control, but was hated and mistreated, while no one had the simple faith in him to make it right. His upset girlfriend thinks he's cheating on her, but comes to help when she realizes the truth, while Buck slowly understands that he wants to have a family. Mario fell asleep halfway through, his head pillowed in Mulder's lap, and his feet in Scully's, but they continued to watch the amusing movie until the end credits scrolled up the screen. Mulder turned to her with an apology and a pained expression. "My cousin, Amy, told Mario it would be like Uncle Buck, cause he hates being away from his parents and she knew that his favorite movie would be some comfort to him." "So he's calling you Uncle Buck?" Mulder grimaced and nodded. "That's cute Mulder." Sighing, Mulder raised a hand to awkwardly lay it on Mario's shoulder. "Gee. . .if I'd known kids made me cute, Scully, I'd have wrestled them away from Amy long ago." She shook her head and looked down at the four year old boy sleeping soundly. "Do you need me to stay over tonight, help you the rest of the weekend?" He looked so grateful, she wondered if he was going to cry. "I would really really appreciate that." "Well, let's get this kid into pajamas." Mulder nodded and gathered the boy into his arms, grunting at the dead weight, but standing smoothly and starting forward. "Where's he going to sleep?" Mulder motioned for her to follow him and when she got to his bedroom, she found a pallet on the floor, the Star Wars sleeping bag still looking new and unfaded. "Is that yours or his?" she whispered, gesturing to the bedding. He threw her a dirty look. "Mine's in the closet, Scully. There's no way I'm letting a four year old sleep in it." He was teasing, but part of his face was looking at her as if she should already know that. Although, his really was in the closet. Scully pulled the light yellow blanket up around Marie, then tucked it closely around her tiny fists, smiling and stroking her cheek. The girl stirred but did not wake. She pulled off Mario's shoes and socks, then his jeans as Mulder held him, trying to get his sleeping form to cooperate. He was heavy when so heavily asleep, and neither she nor Mulder could wake him fully. Mario kept brushing them away like annoying flies, not even bothering to open his eyes. When he was secure in Star Wars pajamas, the kind with feet and snaps to connect the shirt and pants, he moved suddenly and turned right to them. "Love ya, Uncle Buck," he murmured, then drifted away. Scully smiled softly and watched Mulder sit back on his heels and watch the little boy. Then he leaned over and kissed the child's forehead. "I love you too, Mario." ~~~~ end adios RM