TITLE: Uncle, Uncle: Sac Fly AUTHOR: jeri E-MAIL: jerbearxf@hotmail.com WEBSITE: http://www.themajestic3.com/jeri RATING: PG13 CATEGORY: VR KEYWORDS: OtherPOV, MSR SPOILERS: Existence ARCHIVE: Ephemeral/Gossamer - yes Keep the Faith/Enigmatic Dr. - yes Legacy/Touchstone - yes Doggett House/SWLD/XFMU - yes Others - with permission STARTED: May 30, 2001 FINISHED: May 30, 2001 SUMMARY: I took him out to the ballgame. I took him out with a crowd. I bought him peanuts and crackerjacks. But boy did I hope that I'd one day get back. He didn't "root root root" for this home team. He thought if they'd win it'd be a shame. I've got one, two, three strikes till I'm out, at the old ballgame. **DISCLAIMER: I don't need them on a permanent basis; Chris is a right good owner of these people. NOTE: This is the highly-anticipated *snort* sequel to "Uncle, Uncle", which can be found at the following URL: http://www.themajestic3.com/uncle Dedicated to those who made me do it: Denise, Shmee, Amanda, Char, Brie, and Cat. Blame them. ^*^*^ I should have guessed that he's a fuckin' Yankees fan. Still, gotta give him points for getting excited about the game anyway. I guess any baseball is better than none at all. In order to keep my truce, I decided to stay pretty quiet during the game. I didn't speak unless spoken to, and that allowed me to make some pretty interesting observations about this FBI group. I know my way around the military, but a bureaucracy is totally different it seems. Not counting Dana and William, Mulder is most comfortable with Walter, his old boss. You'd never think they used to have the superior-subordinate relationship if you didn't know. Though he still calls him Skinner, with an occasional "sir" sprinkled around by habit. Despite their previous relationship, these two seem to be pretty much equal, and they don't go AlphaMale on each other. Mulder's relationships with John and Monica, however, are not quite as easygoing. I gather that he hasn't known them that long, although they seem to be longtime friends. I felt that Mulder and John *were* still AlphaMaleing a bit, probably because John took over for Mulder in the Bureau. I remember when a friend of mine got demoted due to behavior problems and I took over his duties, he blamed me for a while. Mulder seems to have a nice respect for Monica. Apparently she's open to the weird shit he believes in -- Dana was right, she is a lot like Melissa. And they tell me that she was the person who delivered William. Hey, anyone who can deliver a baby out in the middle of Bumfuck, USA without any medical supplies earns a Gold Star in my book. John, Walter, and Monica all seem to get along pretty well, considering Walter's got the superiority of the three. But he and John are both ex-Marines, so I guess that counts for something. I try not to hold that against them; hell, they could be Army. Dana seems pretty friendly with those three as well. She and Walter seem oddly close...I almost wonder if she sees him as a father-figure, but then he treats her with too much respect for that to be true. I think, though I'll never mention this to anyone (except Tara, of course), that the poor guy's got a major crush on Dana. No, it's deeper than that. I can tell that he loves her, and I wonder if he'd risk being *in love* with her if Mulder weren't in the picture. Dana and John have a nice friendship based on mutual respect that's really obvious to anyone with half a brain. I can't help but wish that she'd met this guy before Mulder; John knows how to treat a woman right, I can just feel it. But there's this...aura, to use a MissyTerm, of sadness around him that's especially evident whenever conversation turns to little William. I'm dying to know the story behind it, but I'm not stupid enough to ask about it. In Monica Dana seems to have found a good, old-fashioned girlfriend. When those two fuss over William...sheesh. I think Dana's more open to this woman than she ever was to Missy, and I bet Dana's trying to make up for the sister who she blames herself for losing. I'm happy that she's found someone to be sisterly with again, but at the same time I cringe every time I see them slip into GirlfriendMode. It should be Missy, damnit. All these relationships are fascinating in their simple complexity. I know there's a lot more beneath the surface that I'm ignorant to, by the innocent reason that I'm not a part of their group. But the most interesting relationship is that between my sister and Mulder. I've known, in my head, that they love each other. And I've seen small bits of this before. When Dana was dying of cancer, I could see that it was killing Mulder as well. When Mulder died, Dana's grief was immeasurable. And the fact that they made a child told me volumes as well. But to see them together...seeing them together allowed my heart to realize what my head had been saying all along. They don't show their love in the normal ways; they aren't very physically demonstrative. This whole weekend I've never once seen them kiss or hold hands or anything else. It's more intangible. I can't believe I'm saying this again, but they've got this aura around them. When they have a conversation, their voices drop and they move their heads closer so they can hear. And I swear, I could bring a whole fuckin' circus in front of them...and they wouldn't even notice. Then, every so often, he'll push a few strands of hair away from her face, or send her a look from across the room, and the air seems to vibrate with unspoken words. I find myself wondering if they've ever actually *said* the words "I love you" to each other. And then there's William. I know about MommyRadar and DaddyRadar. I live with it with Matthew. I know when my boy's not feeling good or when he's hungry, and even on the ships I can tell when he's having a bad day. But Dana and Mulder's radar is...spooky. On the rare occasion that they let him out of their sight, which is only when he's taking a nap, they can tell the exact second he wakes up. In fact, they know when he's just *starting* to wake up, and so they're ready with a bottle or new diaper before he's awake enough to start crying. I don't know if it's because he *is* their life now, or there's something else at work. I don't think I want to know. At the moment, the Orioles are up by two runs in the top of the ninth, and it seems that this game's going to be over in the next ten minutes, so we've begun to get ready to leave. Dana and Monica are hitting the bathrooms before the crowds really get heavy, and so Mulder's stuck with gathering together all of William's things while he maintains a fierce lock on the child. It's not really working. "Mulder, let me take him while you pack up." The man looks at me as if I've grown a second head. Okay, this is starting to tick me off. I've been in town, staying at their apartment, since Friday, and not *once* have I gotten to hold my nephew. They've had no problem handing him over to Walter or Monica or John, but for some reason I've been blacklisted. Time to stop this nonsense. "Mulder...come on! This is stupid, and you know it! He's my nephew, I'm not going to hurt him." He continues to look at me suspiciously, so I turn away, looking back out into the field, then drop my head into my hands. A few moments pass, then I feel a hand over my neck. I sit up quickly and turn; I'm surprised to see John at my left, pulling his hand away. "Bill, I know you don't mean any harm," he says in his odd, half-Southern, half-New York accent, "but if you knew half the crap Scully and Mulder went through to have that baby, you wouldn't blame them for being over-protective. If you want to prove yourself to them, let them poke at your neck." I raise my eyebrow in skepticism, and he smiles a little bit. "I know it sounds bizarre, but trust me. They *want* to trust you. Hell, they *need* to trust you. You're their family for cryin' out loud. But you're Navy, a military man. They hardly ever see you, and you're away on tours for long periods of time. Just let them see your neck, and everything will be fine." With that, he nods and turns away to gather his trash and belongings. When Dana and Monica get back, the game has ended (O's win 6-4, to my delight) and the spectators begin to take their leave of Camden Yards. We head out to the parking lot, where we split up, as John, Walter and Monica came in a separate car. John nods at me, reminding me of what he says I have to do if I ever want to really get to know my newest nephew. Sometimes, a batter's gotta hit a sac fly to move the guy on first into scoring position. Sure, that'll get him out, but for the good of the team it must be done. John seems to be sending me the signal for a sac fly. For the good of my family, it must be done. THE END ^*^*^ ULTIMATELY UNIMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTES: It has been noted by the deceptively quiet Shmee that when I write these characters they become obsessed with baseball. I must admit that this seems to be true. But it's all DD's fault. With lines like "hips before hands" in my head, how can I *not* use that to my full and complete advantage? I knew you'd understand :) Oh, and to Brie, Smurf and Rorie: this score's for you ;) 4 out of 5 doctors say expressing your enjoyment of a fanfic to its author increases your life expectancy 23-23.8 years. The other doctor was killed by Cancerman before we could ask him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~