Gossamer | Story: "Generations 30: Husbands, Wives and the Computer Monster" by Evenstar, Eowyn & MacspookyThe Gossamer Project Author - Title - Date - Spoilers - Crossovers - X-Files - Adventures - Stories - Vignettes Other stories by: Macspooky - Evenstar, Eowyn This is dedicated to our husband's who have provided so much of the material, willingly or not. HUMOR ALERT: If you can't stand a little fun being poked at the whole fanfic scene, read no further. Our flame proof suits are in the repair shop. Of course, we do love e-mail so feel free to contact macspooky@erols.com and Eowyn at 72620.3447@compuserve.com (or eowyn7@ix.netcom.com) I guess this is rated R for some language and adult situations. The story was finished on June 27, 1996. The X-files still belong to the same folks...CC, Fox, 1013, etc. and we are only borrowing it. We can only wish we got paid for it. Sigh. "Husbands, Wives and the Computer Monster" by Macspooky and Eowyn Sophia sat in Margaret's family room with her friend sipping coffee. All four of the babies toddled or crawled around. The room was thoroughly baby proofed and there wasn't much trouble they could get into unless they started fighting over a toy. The weather outside was dismal and they hadn't been able to take the kids to the park. "What's wrong, Meg?" asked Sophia. She had noticed that her friend didn't seem quite herself. Of course, with all the nonsense going on in her life it was no wonder. The feud between Missy and Dana was taking it's toll on everyone. Missy was the way she was, and that couldn't be helped, but Sophia knew that it was tearing Dana apart inside. It wasn't that she ever said anything. Sophia just knew these things. "Weather is depressing..." answered Margaret quickly. "Oh, I'd say it's more than that. You and Walter arguing over Melissa?" "Oddly enough, no. We are basically in agreement about that. It's nothing, Sophia.... I mean it's silly." "Well, if it's bothering you, it isn't silly," Sophia announced. "No... no... Patrick..." She caught Patrick with his hand raised to Will's out of the corner of her eye. "But it is. Walter is a good man... a wonderful man... a considerate lover..." Brenda glared at Little Fox for a moment as though she wanted to hit him. Meg shook a finger at the child. "But what..." "Well, he just doesn't understand. I mean... I have all this help. Aislinn helps me take care of the baby and Fran comes and cleans the house... I used to be involved in the Church a lot, but I don't quite like this local parish as much and well... I was starting to have fun with the computer and now Walter won't let me use it." "Why not?" she asked. "I don't know. He claims there is too much on it from work. He had one of the technicians from the FBI come out and do a bunch of upgrades to it and link it in with the government network. He was supposed to put in a separate pass word so that I could get on but didn't get around to it before he finished up for the day. Now Walter is saying that I'll have to wait until he can get around to buying me a separate system because he can't justify having the technician coming out just to do a separate pass word for me. And the systems he's talking about buying. He wants to get me an old used one that won't run all the new stuff. Thinks I should be able to make do with a 386. I asked him if he knew how slow they were and he said I'm only playing around and that it's a waste of time anyway..." she sighed, "But I liked surfing the net and I was learning how to use the e-mail..." Meg caught Fox trying to snatch a toy from Brenda who was hanging on to it with a stubbornness that reminded her of her younger daughter. "No, Fox.... Brenda had it first..." The baby cried for an instant then went on to the next thing. Wills and Patrick got in a tugging match over a stuffed animal. Sophia broke it up by distracting Wills. Heaven only knew, once Patrick had made up his mind about something, there was no distracting him. It was a trait he had come by honestly. "Well, Meg, maybe you can't use Walter's, but why wait on him... why not buy your own?" inquired Sophia. She had a little bit of a problem relating to the business of being a traditional woman and homemaker. She knew what she would have told Walter Skinner, but then again, she had never been foolish enough to get married, and she supposed that Meg did have a point when she said that in marriage you had to save the big guns for the big issues. "He claims it is too expensive and we can't afford it right now," said Meg. "Which is, of course, a crock of...." "Right, and so I told him. I also pointed out that Fox would get me one for my birthday and that Dana had even been hinting about it and that I'd turned them down." "Oooow. Low blow girlfriend." Sophia snickered at Meg. Meg snickered back. "Well that shut him up about the cost and the old systems..." "So what now?" "Now he's pricing and trying to decide on what type we want. He keeps talking about all the new stuff coming out and how maybe we should wait until this or that comes out and the new higher speed modem and new chip with the faster clock speed and not to forget the CD roms and... It's either we should wait and get the new stuff or wait till the new stuff comes out so that the prices on the older stuff with drop. Maybe next month or at least by Christmas but I figure that when that time rolls around there will be something new due out in six weeks. And all this stuff about chips and mega whatsit is way beyond me and I keep telling him all I want is a fast modem lots of memory and a good e-mail and word processing program with a spell check. And he comes back with what about this and that and I..." "I get the picture, dear. The world of buyer's regret in advance. Affects a lot of people when they are buying a computer because with technology changing so fast there is always something new and better over the horizon. I still remember one computer teacher telling me that the 386 should be sufficient to run all the stuff coming out for at least five years. Poor man was sorely disappointed when it didn't even survive two years." "Sounds like Walter. So he never seems to have time to actually go out shopping for a computer and that's what I don't understand," sighed Margaret. "He's a wonderful generous man with a mental thing about the computer." "Okay....well, you can't use his and you can't buy one without him and he never seems to want to get around to it," she said thinking out loud. Suddenly Sophia's eyes lit up with glee. "So, we'll work around the so called bosse's orders and we'll build one...." "What do you mean build one? I wouldn't know where to start..." said Meg. She couldn't help but chuckle about Sophie's 'so called boss' observation. "I was just getting the hang of net surfing...." "But I do know where to start....." she grinned. "Meg, my dear friend, when a frontal assault in the battle of the sexes is not possible, it becomes time to wage guerilla warfare and don't tell me you haven't done it before because every woman has. We'll go shopping Saturday morning... and don't worry about getting the latest technology. I've got a few connections and I'll get you parts that aren't even out on the street yet. The companies ship to certain users early for some test runs." "Yeah..." said Meg thoughtfully. "You know, that's not a bad idea..." Somehow Brenda had zoomed in on her cup of coffee which was fortunately no longer hot. "No... no Bren..." she said snatching the cup away quickly. "We'll go shopping..." Margaret laughed suddenly. "I wonder what Dana would say if Fox ever told her she couldn't do something." "The thought is too frightening to contemplate," laughed Sophia. "I've seen your daughter in action." Walter was kind of disappointed when Margaret said that she and Sophia had arranged to go shopping. Still, he supposed he shouldn't complain. Aislinn wasn't doing anything and had agreed to take Little Fox to the park with Melissa and Wills and that would give him the entire morning to sit around and catch up on newspapers and magazines. It wasn't quite the same as spending the morning making love to his wife, but he'd done that the night before anyway. Besides, Margaret had made him his favorite waffles for breakfast and shopping might take her mind off the fact that she was annoyed because he didn't want her to use his computer. He knew that upset her, but she simply didn't know enough about it and he was afraid she might accidently send a file to someone over the e-mail. He had nightmares now that they were on the government LAN of her hitting the wrong button and sending one of those raunchy stories he had heard about to the Director or even the President. Explaining that his wife wasn't very computer literate and had made a mistake was not something he wanted to do. Walter was also afraid that Meg might run into some weirdos on the net and reveal somehow who she was. These days, you couldn't be too careful, or so he told himself. A netsurfing wife could place herself in danger... he worked at convincing himself. Besides if the members of the UFO Chasers newsgroup ever got a line on who he was and what he did for a living... And worse yet just who the hell he supervised. He shuddered at the thought. He supposed that he'd eventually have to buy her a computer of her own. If he didn't it had become apparent that Dana or Fox would... Meg had already threatened to ask for one for Christmas. He was well aware that Fox would joyfully buy a computer for Meg. One with every bell and whistle that he could find. Fox had purchased himself exactly two things with his money, a house, for Dana and a sports car, for himself, the rest he simply let sit. Well, he apparently was playing the stock market some and much to everybody's surprise was quite good at it. They shared the same investment firm and his friend who owned it had said that he'd hire Mr. Mulder in a minute to manage accounts. He'd managed to achieve over a twentyfive percent return on his investments. Walter wasn't in the least surprised but he was a bit worried about Christmas. The Mulder's didn't spend much on themselves but the set of real pearls that they'd bought Meg must have cost a pretty penny. Something about a childhood memory of Scully's and a dream of Meg's. Fox had something in mind as a Christmas present for the Skinner's but he'd been nervous about it and wouldn't even tell Dana. Walter knew that William Mulder's guilt had prevented him from accepting any presents from his son once Samantha had disappeared. It was the SOB's own guilt about the role he'd played in her abduction that had caused him to refuse presents. 'Course the bastard hadn't bothered to explain that to Fox... so for over twenty years Mulder had thought it was because his father blamed him for her being taken. He'd been both angry and devastated when he'd learned the truth. Still it hadn't hurt his relationship with Skinner, in the end maybe it had strengthened it. Fox knew that Walter would never betray him like that, shut him out and keep the truth from him. Mulder and he had grown close over the last couple of years and now Fox thought of him as a father and Walter had the feeling that Fox was going to be making up for twenty years of not getting to buy presents in one fell swoop. Walter had thought about it alot and had decided to do his best to swallow his pride and accept whatever present Mulder chose to buy... but from the guilty and nervous look his son got every time Christmas was mentioned Skinner was betting it was going to be a doozy. at least that's what he told himself. This was much preferable than admitting that he liked it better when Meg stayed in his presence reading a book or working on a needlepoint or something harmless like that. Rather than off in a room playing on the computer. Everyone knew, of course, that Walter Skinner was no male chauvinist. As Meg got ready to leave he turned to her and caught her around the waist briefly. "Okay," he said, "you two have a good time, and don't worry about money. Buy anything you want... okay..." "Okay," she grinned kissing his cheek and slipping away from him, "I promise...." He turned his attention back to the sport's section he had been looking at, trying to convince himself that she hadn't had a rather predatory look in her eye as she made that promise. He heard the door open and close. Alas, he thought, he was alone... an entire morning of peace and quiet... He started out to read the paper but then he decided to play around with computer just to make certain that everything was where it belonged. "No," said Sophia, "we have to drive to Silver Spring. There is a guy there I deal with all the time. He is reliable and will give us the best price.... Also has the newest hardware." "But wouldn't closer be better, Sophia? The traffic in Silver Spring is a nightmare on Saturday...." "It will be worth it. I promise you, Margaret. Besides, there is a great Chinese restaurant out that way where we can have lunch in peace with no babies." Margaret found a place to park... eventually... and watched as Sophia fed quarters into the meter. "Don't know where they think they are gonna squeeze that new mega mall..." muttered the woman. "Okay, let's go." Margaret was completely overwhelmed the moment she walked into the store. Walter's technobabble had been bad enough, this was even worse. There were computers everywhere... new computers, used computers... PC's... computer's with cute pictures of apples on them..... "Sid around?" asked Sophia. "In the back," said the clerk pointing with his thumb. "You know he's always here for you....." Sophia took her to a back room which was covered in shelves containing boxes all of which contained intimidating looking electronic doo dads... like something out of a Sci Fi movie... thought Meg. Computers sat in pieces all over the place. She wondered if they would ever really get put back together. "Hiya, Crystal Gazer... whaddya think is wrong with this baby?" asked a balding middle aged man when they had entered. "Gotta be the motherboard right? Most expensive problem that can go wrong..." laughed Sophia. "Ah... Sophie... Sophie... Sophie... you know I don't work that way..." he smirked. "Then it must be warranty work," she laughed. "I'm going to build another machine. Let's talk turkey..." Margaret was introduced and watched quietly. "You want a tower case or a desktop model, Meg?" asked Sophia. Then she explained the difference. Meg had to think about that. She decided on a mini tower. Then they got started on motherboards. "You know better than to try to shove a piece of shit like this off on me," Sophia laughed looking at the mother board. "You know I have to be able to snap out the CPU and replace it, and you must be dreaming if you think I'm gonna take one where the battery is soldered on..." "Just making sure you are still alert, woman of my dreams. I'll let you have this one for $200..." "This is Crystal Gazer you are talking to babe. I'll give you $140 for it and not a penny more." Margaret watched astounded as the two of them played the game and more and more parts got thrown into a shopping bag. The funny part of it was, they were both playing. Sophia knew exactly what she wanted and what she would pay and Sid knew it, but they seemed to enjoy each other's company. Finally they got to CD's rom drives and Sophia announced that that would be all for the day. "What about a monitor?" "I have an extra at home for now." "How do you expect me to make any money?" "From me," she laughed, "I don't. We'll save that for the suckers out there." The woman pointed to the shop outside which was now filling with customers. "Just ring this all up and my friend here is going to put it on her charge card." "You mean this isn't even for you?" "Nope...." she grinned. "This is my nephew's mother-in-law." "Oh, you mean the Spooky one?" "The one and only...." The sale complete, the two women headed back to the car. "Wherever did you learn all that stuff, Sophia?" asked Margaret. "I mean..." "It always came easily Margaret," she grinned. "Fox takes after me, you see. Some women had babies. I learned how to build computers and various other things." She put the stuff in the trunk of the car. "I'm starving. Let's go get something to eat." They went to a Chinese restaurant where Sophia surprised her by ordering in Chinese. Margaret looked at her friend thoughtfully and wondered if there was anything the woman couldn't do. Melissa thought she was a ding bat, so did Walter for that matter. Well, Meg wasn't about to say otherwise. If Sophia wanted the world to think she was a ditz brain, that was okay. Margaret sensed that she had her reasons, and that the only reason the woman revealed the other side of her personality to her was because she was a trusted friend, a trust that she would never betray. Besides Walter would figure it out eventually or more likely Fox would tell him. Walter discovered that before he had changed his password AGAIN, his wife had bookmarked a few things on the net service. Curiosity got the better of him and he clicked his mouse button. Hmm... bulletin boards about the show "UFO Chasers." He rolled his eyes. Some people really needed a life and the last thing he wanted to hear about was "UFO Chasers." Somehow, he had ended up fielding three phone calls that had got past the "guard" from people asking if there was really a pair of agents who chased UFO's and when he had denied it, they had told him it was a lie cause they had seen it in a tabloid. Poor Angela had born the brunt of his annoyance. Well, that's what she got for going to lunch. Hmm... beyond bulletin boards... stories... archives and archives of stories where people with nothing else to do wrote their own episodes. NC17... well, he had to take a look at that. Mulder had told him there was some raunchy stuff out there. He soon found himself engrossed. He hoped that Meg hadn't found any of this stuff. It was pretty... well descriptive... and the one about the male agent having an affair with the FBI Assistant Director... well, that one hadn't left anything to the imagination. In fact, it had made him squirm. Strangely, he found himself being glad for some reason that Fox Mulder was happily married with two kids. All this stuff seemed to have been filtered through a computer organization with some strange initials via a person calling him or herself SpaceNut. Jeez, one of these stories had thirtysomething parts to it. UFO Chasers, the Next Ten Generations Series... Hmm... and one of the parts was 16 chapters long. Sheesh... this Macweirdy broad must need a job or something... desperately. What the hell was this? She had a team of co-writers too! More strange screen names... one after a Shakespeare character but grossly misspelled... another from Tolkien... Hmm... most were married. Bet their husband's never got dinner on time. He had ghastly visions of no meals, neglected kids and wives muttering just one more page dear, I want to finish this story then I'll be right there. Ultimately culminating in "not tonight dear, I have a headache" from sitting in front of the computer all day. What was this comment about hubby would like to thank all you inspiring NC-17 writers... he hadn't had it so good in years... hadn't had what so good? Well, he hoped his wife was more well balanced than to get involved in nonsense like this. If she did, he would have to put his foot down. On who he wasn't sure, but he just knew he would have to put it down somewhere. He chose not to think about the fact that it could very well end up being his own other foot. Okay... he clicked on back to where he had started... Photo galleries? Very interesting. He clicked on the Sally Selkirk photo gallery and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. There she was, a blond bombshell in a sexy dress revealing a great deal of cleavage... He scrolled down a little further. "Click here to enlarge photo...." Hmm... the actress appeared in a very low cut black bra... Down a little further he discovered that she had starred in a porno movie and he got the full frontal view of Sally Selkirk. He liked it. He liked it a lot! He downloaded this one and saved it. He also sent a copy to Fox's e-mail at the office. He didn't think Dana read it. He sure hoped not. Once he had seen all he shouldn't be seeing of Sally, who was a real blond in fact, he found himself clicking on the Weird Winters Gallery. Oh, Brother. Oh, God... he sure hoped that his wife hadn't found this. Seems the old Weirdo had actually starred in a porno movie with the Selkirk actress... Click here for a video clip.... Oh, jeez.... is that where Meg had learned about...? This left nothing to the imagination... absolutely nothing, made all the more apparent by the slowness of his computer which prolonged every motion. Was it possible that this was the net surfing his wife had been doing? He noticed that there was a book mark for "Murder She Wrote" his wife's favorite show, although she seemed to enjoy UFO Chasers as well. He heaved a sigh of relief. That was probably where she had really spent her time. He told himself he really should get off the computer and go read the newspaper, but there were just a few more video clips to watch... He felt himself growing warm as he clicked away on his mouse. Walter heard the door open and quickly exited his internet account. It wouldn't do for him to be caught watching THOSE film clips. Meg walked in the door with two shopping bags in hand and set them down. "Hi, honey," she smiled at him. "Hi, yourself," he said looking at his watch. If he was right, he just had enough time to get her up to the bedroom before Aislinn brought Little Fox back for his nap. "What's wrong? Am I late for something?" she asked. "Yeah...Yeah.... uh... you need to do something for me." "What, dear?" "Relieve me of a serious case of blue balls...." She laughed out loud. "Been surfing the porno archives on the Net, huh, lover boy?" she laughed aloud. Taking his hand she led him up to the bedroom and locked the door. "Walter, you are really adorable when you blush." "Yeah, right," he muttered. He realized that he might as well have been caught in the act, and that if he didn't do this quickly, he might just be... by the nanny... and he'd be doing more than just looking too. End Part 1 From math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.coast.net!news- res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!hunter.p remier.net!news1.erols.com!news Mon Jul 22 10:39:23 1996 Article: 21636 of alt.tv.x-files.creative Path: math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.coast.net!news- res.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!hunter.p remier.net!news1.erols.com!news From: MacSpooky Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: Generations:Husbands Wives & the Computer Monster 2/2 Eowyn & Macspooky Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 21:49:44 -0700 Organization: A poorly-installed InterNetNews site Lines: 487 Message-ID: <31F1B6E8.522D@mail.erols.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dam-as10s08.erols.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (Win16; I) Content-Disposition: inline; filename="COMP02.TXT" Status: RO All Disclaimers still apply. E-mail all comments to macspooky@erols.com or Eowyn at 72620@compuserve.com (or eowyn7@ix.netcom.com). "Husband, Wives and the Computer Monster" by Eowyn and Macspooky Chapter 2 Meg never did tell him what she had bought, and Walter never thought to question her. He half expected her to appear in a new nightgown one night that week, or perhaps to see a new suit on Little Fox. In any event, she had stopped bugging him about the computer so he decided to leave well enough alone. Hopefully, she had forgotten about it or decided it wasn't worth nagging about. She did indicate that she might want to use the top of his large desk one morning, so he had merely nodded his approval and gone off to work. With luck she had taken up origami or was going to string beads or something like that. He headed off to work content in the knowledge that his wife had the homefront under control.... more or less.... and delighted with his current domestic situation. The man put in a long hard day. He had to schedule a meeting with Mulder for going on a wild goose chase by himself and not using Both to back him up. Mulder, of course, had not been in the least contrite. The man never was. "You know, Mulder, you can be a real pain in the ass sometimes," he said. He thought about that briefly, his mind turning to the Weird Winters fanfic he had read. "No, never mind... the last thing I'm going to let you do is be a pain in my ass... Next time, take Bothrington with you. That's a direct order... got it?" "But, Mr. Skinner, Sir... I was at a KKK cross burning..." "What do you mean a KKK cross burning? What the hell were you doing at a cross burning, Mulder?" "There were rumors that several members had been abducted by aliens... and Scully was busy doing autopsies..." "Out..." ordered Skinner, "Out of here right now and don't do that again or you'll wish YOU'D been abducted by aliens and I'm not talking ET here. You go with backup or you don't go. Got it? Now leave." "Gee, Angela," said Fox on the way out.... "I thought I was doing good by not taking Both to the cross burning..." "Yes, well Agent Mulder, he's been in a snit all week. Seems some people got his e-mail addy and have been deluging him with questions about the real UFO chasers..." "Well, I guess that explains it..." snickered Fox. He decided he had better tell the LGM to stop their pranks.... Fox snickered again remembering the picture that had greeted him in his e-mail first thing Monday morning... From Skinner! No less. Scully had almost caught him on that, so the gunmen had seemed like a good idea. He still hadn't gotten around to asking Walter where he'd gotten that picture... "Just be glad your office is in the basement, Agent Mulder," she sighed. "It's been like a war zone out here..." When Walter got home that night, Meg informed him over dinner that she was attending a special Novena at the church. Well, he would have preferred that she stay home, but what the heck, you couldn't very well deny your wife the right to go to Church and pray. That wouldn't be fair, and besides, she had told him that it would only last an hour and that Missy was actually attending with her. That had made her so happy that he smiled at her and kissed her goodbye. He suddenly remembered that he had two bills that he had forgotten to pay so he picked up his Little Fox and went up to the office to get them out of his desk. He couldn't believe his eyes. His desk... his nice neat orderly desk had been turned into a microchip plant. There, neatly laid out was what he thought had to be a motherboard and what appeared to be every kind of computer part ever invented all neatly stored in anti-static jackets. Neatly labeled containers held screws and jumper switches. A manual that must have been 1,000 pages long lay open on the chair. A monitor sat on the floor near a mini-tower/power supply, and there seemed to be cables everywhere... Shit! So much for bead stringing... so much for origami... so much for domestic bliss. Well, from the looks of things, she would never get the thing to WORK... never... Margaret was a housewife, a wonderful traditional wife and mother... She had always seemed happy in her role... well, until she had been introduced to the computer. Then he remembered something his son-in-law had said. "Aunt Sophia made herself a millionaire telling fortunes using a computer she built..." Oh, God... Sophia was Meg's closest friend and ally. He had been outmaneuvered. He had been out foxed by the Fox's flesh and blood. There was going to be no more procrastinating and putting things off. He stared at HIS desk top... a modem so god damn fast they weren't even supposed to be out yet, how the hell did she get one... a 6 speed CD ROM, and memory... oh, lord... 32 mgs of ram sat there with expansion slots for more... and a 200 mghertz pentium CPU... and what the hell was this... a scanner... oh jeez... she'd even gotten a damned scanner... and somehow a printer had found its way in the door... a color lazerjet! Hell, he used an old black and white dot matrix... He stared wide eyed. Then suddenly, to his horror, or perhaps to his glee, the little Fox escaped his grip accidently and with one swoop of his little arm sent parts flying all over the floor. "Uh... oh...." he thought, but a part of him couldn't help but smile. Maybe she only thought she'd out maneuvered him... He reached for his bills and his check book. Meg would realize the futility of this with little kids around when she saw the mess and give up her idea. He would adopt the printer and the scanner. He might be able to keep her from becoming a Net addict after all! Well, he'd better make his way back downstairs. He would just pretend that he hadn't seen any of this and wait for it to go away. Besides, it was almost time for Little Fox to go to bed and he needed to be read to. "Not to worry, Meg...." said Sophia observing the mess the next morning. Somehow they had gotten all the babies asleep at one time. "We'll just pick it up and lay it out again and if anything is broken we'll exchange it." "Uh... okay...." said Margaret dubiously. She had thought Walter looked guilty about something when she'd gotten home from the Novena with Missy the night before. He had made her a decaf cappucino and even washed up the cups afterwards. Now she knew why. "I... hope this is worth it..." Margaret was wondering if this was going to cause too much domestic difficulty. "It'll be worth it, Meg," said Sophia. "Besides, you didn't think I'd go into this without a backup plan to save the situation did you?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, Walter's computer isn't going to last much longer. It's obsolete and it has problems. If the situation gets too tense, you can always turn on your feminine wiles and tell him that you asked me to help you build this wonderful computer just for him... while I'm in the john losing my lunch...." she added dryly, "and praising someone or something that I never got married...." Margaret laughed out loud. "You are absolutely brilliant, Sophia. I'm glad you are my friend and not my enemy." "Smart woman," replied Sophia enigmatically. Ever so carefully the two women began to pick up pieces. "Now, Margaret," said Sophia, "here we have the power supply....see...200 Watt...." She connected it and plugged in putting a strap around her wrist and another around Margaret's and attaching them both to the chassis. "Static strap," she explained. "It grounds you." "So we don't electrocute ourselves?" asked Meg. "No," she laughed, "so we don't electrocute the computer." A technical explanation followed as Sophia guided her friend through the process of placing and connecting the interface card. It wasn't long before Margaret found herself engrossed in the world of microprocessors, interface cables and jumper switches, a place where she never thought she would be. She found that she liked it... a lot. The two women finally came up for air. "Is that Patrick I hear crying?" asked Meg. "It usually is," replied Sophie..."just like his father... a real sound sleeper..." The two women exchanged smiles and unsnapped. "I'll go get him," said Meg. "Okay... I'll straighten up. Give me a call when you have some free time and we'll do some more work." "Uh oh....." thought Walter looking at his desk. He had felt guilty, so he hadn't been able to refuse when she had told him she would need it for a few more days. He gazed at the partially finished computer. It looked pretty darn good to him. It was beginning to look as though maybe they would get this thing up and running after all. The worst of it was that his old 486 was starting to make strange snap crackle pop noises, and it had rebooted on him several times when he had been surfing the... working on files last night. Maybe, he thought, he shouldn't have procrastinated quite so much. If he had just bought the damned system she had wanted, he would have the use of it when his died eventually and would still have his desk clear to work on. He found himself feeling deeply distressed. All that money spent when they could have gotten something more than adequate for her pre-made on sale in Better Buy....and now she was using his work space. Annie had never questioned him or gone around his word like this. Why couldn't his wife simply have listened to him? He sighed. Yeah, Annie never would have done anything like this. Annie had followed him blindly wherever he had lead for as long as she could until she had died. That thought gave him a pang. Annoyed as he was, he was glad Margaret was made of sterner stuff. She was a survivor, a strong woman. He loved her inspite of his annoyance. Lunch with Skinner was normally a treat for Fox Mulder but he wasn't looking forward to it today. His boss had just yelled at him the day before about going without backup. He'd taken it with his normal savior faire, meaning in one ear and out the other but when he'd gotten a call from Angela saying that the AD wanted to have lunch with him if he was free, Mulder had squirmed. He'd almost turned it down but in the end they arranged to meet at one thirty for a late meal. Skinner to Mulder he could blissfully ignore but if Walter was worrying about Fox, well... Fox sighed. Sometimes it had been easier before he had come to respect and care for Walter. He saw his boss making his way to the table and decided to take the lead. The AD sat down, ordered a drink and what he wanted for lunch. When they were alone Fox spoke. "I'm sorry. I really do try but my only other choice was Colton and I could just see him in with that crew. Preppy would have gone over as bad as black." "So how did you know?" "What, that you were worried?" Walter nodded. "Saw it in your eyes as I left and realized that I'd taken your reprimand like water on a duck's back. Guess I realized then that you wouldn't let it go." "I know it's hard for you, Fox. But the last year you've won a lot more battles than you've lost and that's making our opponents nervous. You've got to learn to regard every case, no matter how harmless it appears, as a potential trap." "And I thought I was paranoid before..." "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. I just want you to take care, son." Walter briefly squeezed Fox's hand. "None of us want to have to learn to live without you." Fox hung his head. He found it hard to cope with just how much he realized Dana, Walter and Mom cared. He looked up into Walter's face and replied. "I know, Dad, and I'm really trying." Smiling back Walter replied. "I know you are but I just like to remind you every now and then." Fox returned his smile and decided to change the subject. "So, Walt, think you might be getting another son-in-law soon?" At Skinner's puzzled look Fox couldn't resist the glee he felt, breaking the news to his boss would almost make up for how nauseous the news had made him feel." "Melissa is dating again." Walter looked at Fox. His agent was entirely too happy. "Okay, Mulder, give. I can see you're just dying to tell me." "Tom Colton has been pumping Dana and I for information all week and they've been out at least twice. He's very smitten." The sick look on Walter's face was too delicious for words. Fox loved it, he really loved it. "That ass kiss..." Skinner's voice faded off. Mulder worked for him and he really shouldn't say things like that about another agent. Especially one that Fox occasionally worked with. Mulder looked like a grinning pumpkin. "I see you know the person I mean." "Mulder..." "Don't worry, Dad, I do know when to keep my mouth shut. Believe it or not. It's nice to know that my feelings are shared. The idea of Colton at family gatherings is not one I relish either. So you going to let him call you dad?" The idea of being called dad by Tom Colton made Skinner want to barf. "Over my dead body," He replied. At the vehemence in his own voice Walter looked guiltily up to see Fox's reaction. Fox had a huge smile on his face and Walter could tell that his words had pleased his son in law. Walt smiled back. Lunch came shortly and the subject changed to work and towards the end of the meal computers. "I meant to thank you for that little picture you sent." Walter grinned. "Ran across it net surfing on Saturday and thought you'd enjoy it." "Yeah, well next time give me some kind of warning... Came within about fifteen seconds of Scully getting an eye full as well." "Don't worry, Fox. Next time I'll send her the one of Weird Winters that I found." "Don't you dare. She might think she's missing something. And do you have the address of the Selkirk one?" "Got it bookmarked. Remind me to e it to you." Here Walter sighed and looked a bit upset. "Out with it, Dad, something else is bugging you." "I went into my office night before last and found computer parts everywhere. Meg is building her own computer. Guess she got tired of waiting for me to go out and buy one. She and Sophia spent over two thousand dollars and parts are everywhere. You should see the printer and the scanner they got. A scanner for Pete's sake! Heaven only knows what else they bought and if they can get it running. Sheesh... women?" Fox was watching Walter wondering how to break the news gently. He had heard his aunt talk and realized that she was helping mom because for some reason Walter was being stubborn. Fox had thought about buying Mom a computer but something told him that it wasn't the money that was the problem with Walter and so he'd decided to stay out of it. Course then he'd gone and been really stupid in what he'd ordered Mom and Walter for Christmas. Walter was probably going to have his hide but then he knew it was something that his dad really wanted and wouldn't splurge on for himself. He knew that Walter wasn't a chauvinist when it came to the younger generation... his respect for Scully and her work was proof of that. But he realized that his father in law didn't have quite the same high opinion of the older generation of women... He sighed and Walter looked up. They knew each other too well. Walter realized that Fox was reluctant to tell him something. "Give, Mulder." "Give what?" "Whatever it is that you think I'm being dense about." "I never said that you..." "You didn't have too, your face says it all. We know each other too well. So where am I being a dope?" "You're not being a dope, you're just allowing outward appearances to interfere with your judgement." "About?" "The computer." "Fox, Meg doesn't know..." "But Mom isn't the one building it. Aunt Sophia's doing it and teaching Mom how." "So?" Mulder looked away for a few seconds and then stared Walter hard in the face. "My aunt is at least as bright as I am. She has two doctorates, that I know of, and probably was one of the early designers of the first PC's, from things she's let slip and what I can remember from living with her around that time. You're letting your judgment be affected by the image she projects rather than the real person. She built my system, and from a few of the things Mom has said, the system that they are building would probably be the envy of anyone in the Bureau. I'm willing to bet that you have 'puter envy by the end of the first week of mom's being up and running. I'm also willing to bet that Aunt Sophia could program rings around any of our Bureau people." Walter Skinner sat back flabbergasted. That thought shocked him even more, Suddenly Fox's questions made a great deal of sense. As usual Mulder had gotten right to the heart of the matter. He had, he realized, been jealous of the computer and of the fact that she could have another life outside of her life with him. He sighed and confessed to Fox. "Damn it, Fox, that means that I'll never get to spend time with Meg." "I wondered if that might be what this was about? Had the same problem with Scully when we got our new system. We got a second one and hooked them both up in the same room so that we could play together and be together when we worked. You ever tried Doom...? oh well, never mind... Tell mom how you feel, Walt, I'm sure you can work something out." Walter nodded. As usual Fox had given him a lot to think about. He threw back his head and laughed suddenly. "What?" asked Fox. "It could be classified as a new form of adultery," he chuckled. "Once upon a time a bored housewife might have had an affair with the milkman. Now it's the computer." "Uh....I hate to break the bad news to you, Walter, but it isn't quite the same. Aunt Sophia is good, but there are certain problems that not even SHE has been able to solve with a computer system." The day had been long but not too hard and lunch with Fox a welcome break. He'd like to have lunch with his son-in-law every day that they were both free but knew that the talk that would stir up would only cause Mulder more grief. They were already referring to Fox behind their backs as the AD's fair haired boy. Screw them, Mulder could run rings around all of them and Walter liked his companionship. It was nice having a friend without an ax to grind, for a change, and he wasn't about to give the friendship up, no matter what the gossips had to say about preferential treatment. Walter let himself in to find a pot roast simmering slowly on the stove, Little Fox asleep in the play pen and no sign of his wife. He sighed. He knew where she would be, in the study with the damn computer. Fox's words echoed in his head. But that was easier said than done. For one thing it made him feel silly. Not to mention that he felt selfish wanting her to be with him all the time. Trouble was he'd been alone, without a real family, for so very long that now that he had a wife and a couple of sons he wanted to enjoy it. He liked having Fox to talk to, to be open with, not to have to have the barriers constantly in place. And Little Fox... every time the kid smiled or laughed at him he just melted. And Margaret, his Meg, a certain smile or word from her made him feel like an awkward sixteen year old. Now if he could get the nerve up to admit that he wanted her to be near him. He sighed... He headed down the hall to his study. Standing in the door he watched her face as she typed on the keyboard, she was obviously enjoying herself. "I see you two got it up and running." She smiled one of her special radiant smiles up at him. "Hi, dear. Yup... it's good to go. You wouldn't believe how fast this modem is. 'Course ya can't really take advantage of it's full potential because the internet provider is still only at twentyeight eight but it beats the heck out of the fourteen four that you have." Meg winced. That had come out sounding a bit too much like rubbing it in which she hadn't intended to do. Oh, hell, who was she kidding. Yes she had. Trying to show some interest in what she was doing, he asked, "So, are you writing a story for that creative group?" "Heavens no... I'm not brave enough for that... yet. Although, there was this interesting challenge about an elevator and Weird Winters and his partner. No I'm answering my e mail... I've got some internet friends that were worried about me when I dropped off the face of the earth." "For heavens sake you haven't told anyone that your husband is the supervisor of the real agents that UFO Chasers is based on, have you?" Meg laughed delightedly, "No, dear, the most that any of my internet friends know is that my husband works for the government. Considering some of the stories out there I didn't think it'd be wise to tell them that you were bald and supervised the real Z-files, only that they were called X-files in reality." "That's a relief. At least you showed some sense there." Meg gritted her teeth... sometimes men could be so patronizing. "I have plenty of sense and I've been taking care of myself and my kids for a good long time." He decided an organized retreat was in order after that remark. "Well I'll leave you to your computer. Are you going to have dinner in here or will you join me later?" Hearing the hurt and sadness in his voice Meg suddenly realized what the problem had been all along. Looking at her watch she realized that Aislinn wouldn't be back from class for at least another hour and Missy was dining out with that nice young man from the bureau, and more importantly had taken Wills along. Meg walked to the door and peaked down the hall. JF was still sound asleep. Walter turned and started to leave but Meg caught his arm. She leaned up against him with her body and pushed him against the door frame. Walter felt himself getting suddenly warm. "Meg?" "No one's due back for over an hour dear." She kissed him on the mouth. "You want to go upstairs?" He asked. Getting lucky right before dinner was a new experience. His hopes fell when she replied. "Not really." He sighed to himself, He gulped when her hands came up and she started to slowly loosen his tie. She took her time with it and kept him pinned to the door frame while she did it. "Meg?" "I don't want to leave JF down here by himself dear." She explained as if that explained everything. She couldn't have in mind what he thought she had in mind. Could she? God he hoped so, but he was too old to make out on his office couch or floor, wasn't he? When he felt her hands stray down below his belt he groaned. Then he noticed that she was talking. "You know the computer can be very educational, Walter." "It can?" That couldn't be his voice squeaking like that. "Oh yes. You know..." Here she leaned up and whispered in his ear. His eyes got wide. "You learned that...?" He asked startled. She grinned and nodded. "And you know what else I learned, just today as a matter of fact, and I want you to help me try it out." Here she leaned up and whispered in his ear again. Walter Skinner gulped and felt his knees buckle. He tried swallowing again but he'd definitely lost his voice. Meg just smiled as she pulled him away from the door frame and shoved him down onto the couch in his study. "I have my doubts about that description I just read and I want you to help me do an experiment to see if that position is really possible, and as enjoyable as they claim. You don't mind. Do you, dear?" Shaking his head no he suddenly realized what that comment about hubby's thanks meant. The last comment Meg whispered in his ear before silence reigned was, "Don't worry, lover, you're much sexier than any ole computer." Walter's last thoughts were that computers and couches were good... yeah, very good. As usual, Meg had outdone herself with the pot roast. He was glad to see there would be leftovers for sandwiches tomorrow since he doubted he'd be able to get out to lunch. He sighed and sat back for a moment looking at her. He had to admit that he was feeling distinctly mellow inspite of the twinges he was feeling in his back as a result of their little experiment. Hell, he'd sneak upstairs later and grab a couple of aspirin. It had been worth it! "I'll bring coffee into the den," she smiled. "I'll help..." He piped in. "Oh, that's okay. You just go and relax. Around about now, your back ought to be letting you know that you aren't 20 anymore." She laughed aloud. "I guess you can't really practice everything preached on the internet...." he thought... He merely muttered something about his back being just fine thank you and didn't argue leaving the kitchen quickly. She joined him in a little while, even supplying the aspirin, a fact that his ego refused to let him acknowledge, not stop him from taking them, but not acknowledge either... Then, sitting beside him, she picked up a book. "Prince George College catalog," she announced. "I know the tuition will be a bit higher because we are District residents, but I enjoyed building that computer so darn much, I'm going to enroll and learn how to program it. Maybe I'll even become a certified repair tech..." Walter Skinner rolled his eyes. The genie had been unleashed from the bottle. Nothing was ever going to put it back again. "I think that is a wonderful idea," he said slipping an arm around her and kissing her cheek. Margaret thought it rather sweet of him to concede defeat so graciously. Bill would have sulked for a week. Somehow she knew she was going to have to pay for this victory, but with an evil grin, she decided that she would cross that bridge when she came to it. And that the internet provided excellent instructions on various payment methods. The End. The Gossamer Project Author - Title - Date - Spoilers - Crossovers - X-Files - Adventures - Stories - Vignettes Other stories by: Macspooky - Evenstar, Eowyn Please let us know if the site is not working properly. Set story display preferences. Do not archive stories elsewhere without permission from the author(s). See the Gossamer policies for more information.