| Dana Scully banged around in her kitchen, frustrated. William was teething. She's spent hours cooking a special birthday dinner for Mulder, and she had no idea where he was. She held her screaming baby and felt like throwing a modest screaming fit herself. The idea of Mulder becoming a private investigator had seemed so logical at first. He had such an impressive background. Surely he would be able to attract clients. What Mulder attracted were weirdos. He checked out every UFO sighting. When his computer buddies insisted that they had corrected the flaws in their crop circle program he went back to England to test the new predictions. Of course nothing happened. He went to a little town outside Atlanta to check out the energy levels at a supposedly haunted old telephone building. "Why would a ghost haunt a telephone building, Mulder?" "Maybe he's trying to communicate. He should go haunt the Atlanta Braves...they need all the help they can get this year." "You know I don't keep up with baseball, Mulder." "How can you not like baseball? It's unamerican." "It's too illogical for me. No man with four balls should be able to walk," She had said snidely. He'd laughed, kissed her forehead, patted the baby and gone. None of these clients paid him. He's sold his parents summer home and all the furniture he'd had in storage from his Mom and Dad's places to finance his agency. Dana crooned to her fussy baby, all the while thinking about the way things should have been. She thought having William would settle Mulder down. She thought they'd get married, and finally start to live a normal life, and he was still chasing the next big thing. She couldn't even count on him to babysit. Her mother watched William three days a week while she went in to the office. She spent most of her time helping Monica with paperwork. John Doggett was military neat, his reports always correctly done and on time, but Monica, as sweet and kind and empathetic as she was, was a total ditz. Dana didn't know how Doggett kept his sanity, but he was always unfailingly kind and gentle with women. Monica had been there for him when his son had died, and he would never treat her too harshly, no matter how many times she goofed up travel plans, misplaced paperwork, or regaled him with new age ideas. Skinner had Monica in his office at least once a week, however, and Dana hoped he wouldn't fire her. Dana could very easily picture what type of husband and father John Doggett had been. He was so steady, so reliable, so unafraid of expressing his feelings. When Dana went in to the Bureau, his concern for her was touching. "Can I take your coat?" "Can I bring you back some lunch?" "How are you doing?" Dana thought about Doggett and sighed. He was such a good looking man. His eyes were deep blue and expressive. He was tall without being too tall, and solid without being heavy. He had an air of maturity around him that was very soothing. Dear, sweet John Doggett! She drew so much strength from his friendship. Dana had to shake her head to clear her thoughts. If Mulder had been able to show her half the consideration Doggett did, she would have been satisfied with her life. The doorbell rang. Thank God, thought Dana. Mulder's back. He must have forgotten his key again. |