Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 11:44:11 -0700 From: MacSpooky Subject: Another story "Beautiful Boy" Hello everyone. We have a genuine Xfile on our hands. Many years ago shortly before he was killed, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono wrote and recorded a song for their son "Beautiful Boy." His name was Sean, the same name as my eldest. I was given a copy of the recording and have memories of rocking him to that song, singing along with the recording. Eighteen years later, our very own SciNut heard the song for the first time and immediately thought of "Generations" and me. She sent me a copy of the lyrics and a brief description of a scene she envisioned when she heard it. Telepathy? Coincidence? Guess that depends upon whether you ask Mulder or Scully! Anyway, this little story is dedicated to Karen Enriquez, our own indomitable publisher, and Sean....my beautiful boy now grown into a fine young man. I usually don't use any but the briefest references to songs in my stories, but here I am going to make an exception. Please bear with me. Xfiles of course is still owned by Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen, Fox et. al. I thank them once again for the loan and there is no infringement on anyone's copyrights intended. This story was finished on May 4, 1996. All comments, flames, etc. can be sent to macspooky@erols.com. "Beautiful Boy" by Macspooky Dana heard the words when she entered the house and crept up the stairs. She had made a quick trip to the store to purchase disposable diapers, her husband, of course having forgotten to pick them up on the way home from work. She sighed. She was so annoyed with him. She felt a cold coming on and hadn't wanted to go out into the rain, but he had whined that he was tired so she had left him in a huff with the children. What was wrong with her anyway? Why did she always give in when he started acting like a spoiled ten year old? After the way he had treated her when they had gotten back from Arizona she had sworn she wouldn't give into him again. Close your eyes, have no fear. The monster is gone. He's on the run and your daddy is here. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy The bags of diapers in her hands, Dana approached their bedroom quietly. Fox had a fire lit in the fireplace to remove the sudden unseasonable chill that had arrived that day. The bed was turned back, and the room was toasty and dry. Brenda was asleep in the infant seat near his feet, but he held Patrick in his arms in her grandmother's old rocking chair and gazed down at his little boy with adoration. The child was awake, his dark hair sticking up at all sorts of odd angles, his tiny fist resting against Fox's bare chest. Before you go to sleep say a little prayer. Every day in every way, is getting better and better. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Fox didn't know his wife was there of course, or he would have stopped singing. She hadn't been very kind to him before she had gone out. Suddenly she was sorry. Sniffles or not, she was at this moment glad she had left him with her, their little boy. Anger melted away to be replaced by deep abiding love. Out on the ocean sailing away I can hardly wait to see you come of age. But I guess we'll both just have to to be patient...'cause it's a long way to go, a hard row to hoe. Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Before you go to sleep say a little prayer. Every day in every way, is getting better and better. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy Darling, darling, darling darling boy. Dana smiled ever so slightly and forgave Fox all his transgressions as he took the back of two fingers and ever so gently caressed his now sleeping little boy's hair. "I love you, Patrick....I'll always love you, and no matter what road you choose, I'll always be proud of you," whispered the man softly, unaware that he was being observed. "I wish I knew some of those beautiful lullabies that your mother sings, but you'll have to settle for a Beatle from me. I'm a Beatles kind of guy." Cuddling his baby a little tighter, Fox put his head back and closed his eyes. Dana saw a smile cross his face and tiptoed away leaving him to his happy thoughts, a smile playing about her own lips as she went to the kitchen to make dinner. And they were happy thoughts. Fox thought briefly about how inconsiderate he had been in forgetting the diapers, but he would apologize and she would forgive him. They had established that after Phoenix, that they would always find a way to forgive each other, and it had only been a small transgression after all...not bringing home diapers. His thoughts turned to the recent past, to the time Dana had been pregnant, before he knew and loved his babies as real people, a time when they had been only a dream. The smile widened as he remembered........ He felt like a real idiot getting out of the Mustang in the hospital parking lot with a woman who was the size of a hippopotamus, not that he didn't love her more than life. That's not what mustangs were for. They were for putting the woman in the condition that made her that big......No, that wasn't fair. It wasn't the way Dana looked. It was the damned pillows he was carrying. It screamed LA MAZE. Hey, world, I made this woman pregnant and now I have to sit through these stupid classes where she learns how to breath and do what comes naturally. "Dana.....do we have to do this...." he complained. "That stupid breathing stuff can't really help and you are a doctor. You know all about baby stuff anyway." "Fox Mulder," she glared putting her hand on what was left of her hip, "I may not be the hot little brunette you were thinking about when you bought this tacky car, but you put me in the family way and now like it or not, you are going to learn to be my labor coach." "Right, and now the whole world knows it. I mean can you say it a little louder?" "I don't have to. The whole world knew it when you stepped out of the car with those pillows in your hand...." she snickered and as they both burst out laughing, he slipped his arm around her and headed to the door where they promptly ran into Skinner and his wife. Walter didn't look too happy either. "You try to get out of an MG carrying a basketball inside," Meg was muttering as she shoved a pair of pillows into his hand as well. "You'd be slow too. Late indeed.." "Et tu, Mulder?" asked Skinner. "Gonna play, gotta pay...." he grinned. " It would seem that we have both signed up for the same class." "Well, isn't that just dandy?" Walter was wondering if things could possibly get worse. The last person he wanted to share this LaMaze class with was Fox Mulder. Suddenly another flaming red head approached, more pregnant than either of their wives, with two pillows in her hand. "Think things just got worse, Wally," said Mulder reading the older man's thoughts just as Melissa arrived on the scene. "Have any of you seen Chuck?" she demanded imperiously by way of a greeting. "Hello to you too, Melissa..." said Fox. Walter had wanted to, but decided he didn't want to pay the price. Steam promptly started to come out of Melissa's ears. "Damn men anyway.....I guess we all signed up for the same class....Well, this is just great. Chuck probably won't even remember to come and then I'll be stuck with one of you two clowns for a labor coach...." Then as if remembering herself, she hugged her mother. "Hi, mom....Hi Dana....." "Hi, Lis," smiled her younger sister. They all turned and went into the door. "But it's a nun......" wailed Fox a little louder than he had intended as the teacher walked in the door in her habit with a stethoscope hanging around her neck dragging a projector behind her.. "So?" asked Dana swatting him. "What the hell do nun's know about having babies?" demanded Walter. "Hush and show some respect..." said Margaret. "I've got it on good authority that she's the best." "What authority is this?" smirked Fox. "God's," replied Melissa wondering how the hell she'd gotten herself into this situation. Taking La Maze classes with your mother.....jeez.... Mulder and Skinner snickered as Margaret gave her eldest daughter a dirty look. "Good Evening," said the five foot two inch dynamo looking over her latest batch of parents to be. The group in the corner had immediately brought themselves to her attention. Honest to God, it looked like a mother, real black Irish, with two flaming redheaded daughters, and only two men. Well, these days you saw everything....judge not and all that...."My name is Sister Cecelia, and if the two gentlemen in the corner will stop looking at me as though I were and EBE who just landed instead of a Bride of Christ, we can get on with the class. And why don't you begin by introducing yourselves?" This, she thought, might be fun. The tall one with the thick hair muttered something unintelligible..." "What was that? Could you please speak up so that we can all hear?" she asked again. "He said that we are Fox and Dana Mulder," said Dana making sure the whole world knew his name was Fox. "Uh.....Walter and Margaret Skinner...." managed Walt. "Melissa McNeeley. My husband is....oh here he comes now....Charles...." "Chuck.." he said quickly giving Lis a peck on the cheek...."Uh....sorry I'm late....." "Probably what got you kicked out of Catholic school in the first place Mr. McNeeley...." said the sister. "Uh....not exactly...." he muttered as everyone chuckled. "How the hell did she know about that?" "She's an EBE...." snickered Mulder. Dana pinched him....again. So, for the next 45 minutes Sister Cecelia lectured on everything they had already read in the books anyway, and when she wasn't lecturing, the women were huffing and puffing up a storm while drawing large circles on their stomachs with their fingers. Fox looked around. Everyone looked so damned serious. Hell, his wife was huffing and puffing away as though this was the most important thing she had ever done in her life. Double hell, she was huffing and puffing harder than she'd been when he'd put the kid in her. He was bored. Chuck fidgeted as his wife drew circles on her stomach. This was very dull. It would be one thing if he could breath for her but....well...this was kind of pointless. Walter rolled his eyes. Jeez. This was Meg's seventh kid for God sake. When it came, it would probably pop. Truth was, Margaret wasn't huffing and puffing as hard as the rest of them. She was really only here so he could get the stupid certificate so that he could be in the delivery room with her. He zoned out only to be brought back to reality by the feel of something hitting him across the back. Jeez....Mulder had walloped him with the pillow. Well, that demanded retaliation. "Cut it out," he whispered fiercely hitting Mulder back. Chuck grinned. Now this was just his style and he couldn't really stand his father-in-law anyway...or the other guy for that matter. Not only did he suspect that Missy had the hots for Mulder deep down in her heart, but they both represented authority and authority was no fun. He walloped Walter as well. Walter thought it was Mulder and struck back with increased force which, of course, Mulder doubled on his next retaliation, and suddenly the air was filled with white feathers. They were flying all over the place covering the room in what appeared to be falling snow. Dana, Meg and Melissa sat there flabbergasted, mouths hanging open, mid-puff.....or was it huff....Chuck was all innocence. "I think it is time we took a fifteen minute break," said Sister Cecelia sweetly, "Please be back at 8:00 sharp." With that she marched herself over to Walter and Fox and reached up grabbing the two of them by the ear lobe. The fact that she was shorter than Scully didn't stop her. The fact that Fox's side arm had become visible didn't deter her. She dragged the two men to the closet. "I taught eighth grade for ten years before I became a nurse...." she informed the two of them as their wives tiptoed out of the room. "I can spot the class wise asses a mile away." She released them and opened a closet, pulled out two brooms and a dustpan. "Clean it up. Every single feather. You have 15 minutes, and you'd better do it right the first time." "Yes, Ma'am," muttered Fox.... "That is Sister Cecelia to you Dog...or Gopher or whatever the hell your name was. Now get started!" Fox and Walter snickered in the parking lot. In their hands they had a certificate saying that they were entitled to be in the delivery room with their wives. Sister Cecelia had not wanted them back. Chuck, who had managed not to get caught, had to stay, and that alone had been worth the hell they were going to have to pay from their wives when they got home. Fox opened his eyes. So many memories.....and, he realized suddenly, no longer only painful ones....but happy memories....family memories, things he could tall Samantha when he found her. Someday he would tell Wally Wolf that story too....maybe when he was in the eighth grade...yeah....wouldn't that be perfect timing? He got to his feet and placed Patrick in the crib, and then with a kiss laid Brenda in there beside him. Covering them with their little blankets, he crept down stairs to the smell of something delicious cooking. "Dana....." he said tentatively as she looked away from the pot she was stirring. "I'm sorry, Dana..." He opened his arms as she came to him and gathered her into them holding her tightly. "It's okay," she said softly wrapping her arms around him, "Beautiful boy..." Finis.