From: char@chaffin.com   
      
   Happy Valentine's Day!   
      
      
   "I'VE GOT A HEART-ON FOR YOU"	   
   by:  Char Chaffin   
   Rating:  R   
   Category:  MSR, married with kid, humor   
      
   DEDICATION:  Valentine's Day fic - with Red Speedos - for all you   
   lovers!   
      
   Thanks to:  Tess, for beta, thumbs up, general enthusiasm and   
   much cheerleading!   
      
   Summary:  Valentine's Day... Gotta love it!   
      
      
   "I've Got a Heart-On for You"   
      
      
   All day long I've been whistling, tapping my foot - twiddling   
   pencils and flipping papers.  Guess you could say I'm a little   
   impatient for work to be over.  I force myself not to stare at my   
   watch - I turn my face away from the clock on the wall.   
      
   Then I steal a peek anyhow - and groan aloud.  It's only eleven   
   o'clock.  I've got six hours before I can leave.   
      
   Well, hell.   
      
   There's a surprise waiting for me at home, you see.  I don't know   
   all the specifics, but I only care that this surprise centers around   
   Valentine's Day, my lover, and hopefully, chocolate.  Truly, what   
   more could anyone ask for?   
      
   In a way, I'm glad I was the one who got stuck working today.  It   
   could so easily have been me, staying home with William.  Of course,   
   I wouldn't have minded a bit.  I adore any second of time I get to   
   spend with my son.  He's teething heavily now, which makes for some   
   cranky nights - but I don't mind walking the floor with him, not at   
   all.  When I think of the chances that I'd never get to hold him,   
   much less nurture him - or soothe his teething aches... I don't mind   
   those sleepless nights a bit.   
      
   I unsuccessfully resist the urge to peek at the clock.   
      
   Eleven-forty.   
      
   Shit and damnation.  This day is going to last forever.   
      
   It's my own fault.  I volunteered to stay in the office when I could   
   have been the one home.  With Willy so miserable today - and running   
   a slight fever from his sore gums - one of us had to be home.  But if   
   I'd stayed, I'd be missing out on some of the evening's festivities -   
   for there's no way my partner could plan a romantic Valentine's Day   
   evening at work, with all the ingredients for that evening at home   
   and obviously not accessible.  At least that's what I am assuming -   
   and granted, I am assuming a hell of a lot...   
      
   Twelve-thirteen.  Damn long, dragging day...   
      
   I tried to pry forth information this morning.  I'd put on my best   
   sad-face... I was pathetic, I really was.  And not a morsel of   
   budging, for all of my efforts -   
      
   "Come on.  I'd tell you -"   
      
   "Yeah, right.  Famous last words, I'm sure.  It's none of your   
   business, Partner.  Here, go change Willy."   
      
   I got a screeching boy thrust at me.  Muttering under my breath, I'd   
   lugged our son to the nursery and cleaned up one hell of a mess of   
   last night's carrots and peas.  William gnawed on his fist and   
   squirmed around, a lot - enough to smear the nasty concoction   
   everywhere.  By the time I got that second mess cleaned up, I was   
   running late - and I had still not cracked the code, so to speak -   
   still didn't know 'The Plan.'   
      
   I had turned one final time, as I walked out the door; one last   
   attempt to find out - as I'd kissed Will's little cheek and then   
   pressed a scorching open-mouthed kiss onto his father's tongue, I'd   
   murmured enticingly, "Mulder... tell me what you're planning..."   
      
   His only response was to nip at my bottom lip once, and toss me out   
   the door with a firm hand and equally firm reply.   
      
   "No way, Scully - now go to work."   
      
   ********   
      
   One-ten.  I drain the last dregs of a warm Coke, and toy with my   
   laptop mouse.  On the monitor is an elaborate spreadsheet, created by   
   Kimberly in a sweet-but-misguided attempt to assist us with our   
   yearly audit.  Wisely, she handed me the file on diskette and after a   
   few instructions on how to use it, made herself scarce - no doubt   
   terrified that I'd persuade her to sit down in the basement and give   
   me a tutorial.   
      
   The spreadsheet will be a lot of help to us once I begin plugging in   
   numbers and adjusting some of the formulas.  I haven't done it, yet.   
   Truthfully I haven't done a blessed thing, yet.  Well, that's not   
   entirely true.   I checked my email.  Sent a note to Bill and Tara.   
   Spoke to my mother on the phone.  Actually, I sort of grilled Mom, on   
   the phone... I figured she may know what her son-in-law was up to -   
      
   "Mom, what's on the agenda tonight?"  So innocent the question.  I   
   was hoping the innocuous query would trip her up - maybe she'd let it   
   slip.   
      
   "Dana, I'm not telling you what Fox has planned.  Even if I knew I   
   wouldn't tell you.  I swear you never change - even as a child you   
   couldn't stand not knowing a surprise."   
      
   The note of reprimand in her voice was tempered with enough   
   affection that I smiled into the mouthpiece.  I knew Mom most likely   
   had not been apprised of Mulder's plans, other than possibly when to   
   expect William and his enormous diaper bag - but it never hurt to   
   ask...   
      
   "What about Will, Mom?"   
      
   I could almost hear the grin in her voice when she replied.  "What   
   about him?  Nice boy.  A little small for his age.  Loves his pureed   
   carrots."   
      
   I sent a long-suffering sigh into the phone.  "I meant, what about   
   William and tonight, Mom - are you taking him?"   
      
   My mother can be infuriatingly vague when it serves her purpose.   
   "Gee, I don't know, Dear.  Why don't you ask Fox?"   
      
   Grumble...   
      
   Three minutes later, I gave up.  I put down the phone and slumped   
   back in my chair, temporarily defeated.  And now I ask myself why I   
   just can't wait until tonight, to find out 'The Plan.'   
      
   Because I may be a Mulder, albeit a new one, by marriage - but I'm a   
   Scully, by blood.  I carry within me a long lineage of equally-   
   curious - no, downright nosy - Scullys who could never stand to be   
   left in the dark about things such as Christmas gifts, or birthday   
   parties -   
      
   Or Valentine's Day festivities.   
      
   This is really our first V-Day together as spouses - as well as   
   anything else, I suppose.  When we were partners and friends we never   
   celebrated the day.  We skirted around it in a complicated ballet of   
   vague non-acknowledgment.  To give voice to such a romantic holiday   
   would be to get into cards, possibly chocolate hearts - and yes,   
   those things can be shared by friends but Mulder and I walked such a   
   thin line, for so long. We never bought cards or candy; we never   
   acknowledged.   
      
   Little wonder my Scully curiosity is out of control on this so-   
   romantic day.   
      
   After Mulder and I at last "got together," so to speak - and "became   
   a couple" - a whole new world of holidays opened up for us.   
   Especially with a child, each one has new meaning.  Each day promises   
   to be so blessedly normal.  Thanksgiving was like that.  So was   
   Christmas and New Years' - even Martin Luther King's birthday felt   
   different...   
      
   Is it five o'clock yet?   
      
   *******   
      
   Much later in the evening I am going to chastise myself severely for   
   speeding home the way I did.  I'll probably yell at myself for giving   
   Skinner some truly hokey reason why I had to leave work early.  I saw   
   the look in those be-spectacled eyes of his - I knew he wasn't buying   
   it.  Hell, I can't even remember what I said to him.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)