From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org
Date: 2 Nov 2001 02:25:44 -0000
Subject: Man to Man Talk VI by Girlie_girl7
Source: direct

Reply To: FoxfireX@hotmail.com



Title: Man to Man Talk VI
Author: Girlie_Girl7
Date: 11-01-01
Rating:G
Summary: Mulder continues his chat with his son.
Spoilers: If you know who William is then there are no spoilers.
Post: Anywhere that doesn't cost me a dime.
Disclaimers: I don't own them but M&S should be considered 
National Treasures.
Notes: To FoxfireX for the usual help and Beckysrose my comadre 
in baby fic reading.


A car pulls up outside a building. Out steps a tall, lanky, 
brown haired man. He surveys the parking lot in a professional
manner, looking at the building, then back into the car and 
then back at the building once more. 
He pauses, then seeming to have made up his mind, he pops 
the trunk lid and locks the car doors, thrusting the keys 
into his pocket. He strides around the trunk and lifts out 
a basket of laundry, carrying it into the building. He returns 
and looks into the rear side window and he seems satisfied with 
what he sees. He then moves back to the trunk and brings out 
another basket of laundry along with laundry products, balancing
the basket on his knee, he closes the trunk lid. He takes this 
basket into the building. Dashing back out he retrieves his keys 
from his jeans pocket and leans into the open rear door bringing
out a baby carrier.


         
        ~Fox Mulder is doing the laundry~


Mulder brings the baby carrier into the laundromat and places
it on a table. He removes the blanket from the carrier and rubs
the baby's head as Will blinks at him.

Several young women are folding clothes. They glance over at 
Mulder and Will but Mulder is too consumed by his son to
even notice them.

"Hey buddy, looks like you and me get to do the laundry." Will 
sneezes and is surprised. 

"Here now, we'll have none of that." Mulder pulls out 
a hankerchief and rubs Will's nose with it. Will resists.
"I know it's tender buddy but we have to clean you up. 
Too bad you can't blow yet." Mulder whispers to the baby.

Mulder moves Will to a table in front of a bank of empty 
washers. "You stay here while I get the laundry."

Mulder goes to the door to retrieve the two baskets he
had sat down earlier. Returning, he places the powdered
bleach on the table along with the fabric softener. He next
places the bottle of soap on the table beside Will.

Will is fascinated by the bright orange plastic jug of 
soap. He reaches for it.

"Easy there Will, you're a little young to be drinking. 
I didn't try to drink laundry soap until I was five." 
Mulder grins as he places the bottle out of Will's grasp.

Will goes back to rubbing his nose with his fist.

Mulder pulls over a laundry cart and dumps both baskets into it.

"Okay Will this can't be too tough. I've washed clothes before,
not yours or moms but clothes are clothes right?" Mulder looks 
over at Will.

Will kicks his foot and squirms in the carrier.

"Hang on buddy. Let me get these loaded and we'll play."

Will arches' his back and growls.

Mulder grins at Will, "You act more like your mother everyday."

Ruffling his hair, Mulder looks over the pile of clothes. "Will, 
this can't be too difficult if we just use our heads. We just need 
a system. Let's divide the laundry by size."

Mulder opens a washer lid, "This one is for the large clothes." 
He moves to the next washer, "This one is for the medium clothes." 
Opening a third washer he says, "And this one is for the small 
clothes. That's your stuff Will but soon you'll be up to
the medium size load." 

Into the 'large clothes' washer he puts shirts, jeans, and the bath 
towels. He next puts pajamas, shorts and kitchen towels in the
'medium clothes' washer. Last but not least he puts the socks, 
underwear, Will's clothes, wash cloths and pot holders into the 
'small clothes' load. Lifting up Scully's red satin bra 
Mulder sighs, "This is my favorite." He tosses it into the
'small load' washer. Next comes the soap. Mulder reads the 
bottle, carefully
measuring the exact amount for each load. He reads the
powdered bleach box and says, "Will this stuff has to go in
after we add the water so we better get these babies going!"

Mulder reaches into his front pocket and pulls out a twenty
dollar bill. "Come on Will, let's get some change."
He grabs the handle of the carrier and he and Will take 
off for the change machine.

A young woman is folding her clothes on the table next 
to the machine.
Mulder glances over at her as she looks up and smiles.
"Hi, how you doing." Mulder grins at her.

"I'm fine. Is that your kid?" She asks.

"Yeah, he is. At least that's what his mother tells me."

The woman giggles.

Mulder blushes. "No really, he's all mine."

The woman leans over to talk to Will as Mulder gets
his coins from the machine.

"He's so cute! What's his name?"

"Will, William, we call him Will." Mulder says.

Will squirms in his carrier.

"He doesn't like to just sit anymore."

The woman tugs at Will's shoe and laughs, 
"Nice Nikes Will!"

"He prefers Nikes 'cause they fit comfortably in
his mouth." Mulder replies.

The woman laughs, "Well Will, it's been nice meeting you."
She shakes Will's tiny hand as he tries to put her finger 
in his mouth.

Just then it dawns on Mulder."Damn, I mean darn I left 
his stuff in the car."

"I'll watch him for you if you want to go get it."

"Umm," Mulder hesitates, "Okay, I'll be right back."

Mulder sprints out the door. The woman watches Mulder leave.
"Hey Will you've got a very protective and sexy daddy. 
Your mother is one lucky woman."
Will jabbers away at her.

"Yes she is!" She repeats.

Mulder races back into the laundromat. "Thanks 
for watching him."

"Oh it was my pleasure."
Mulder picks up the carrier.

The woman grabs her laundry basket and heads for the
door. Just before she leaves she says over her shoulder,
"See you Will."
Mulder looks up at her and waves.

"See Will you're a babe magnet but lets not tell your mom."

Mulder feeds quarters into each machine and sets the dials. 
After the third washer starts he grabs the bleach.
"Mom says I have to add this to your clothes, so we'll put 
this in the 'small load', " Mulder says  pouring in the
proper amount.

"All that's left is to add the softener. Since we like our 
clothes soft we'll add it to every washer." Mulder reads
the bottle. "Humm, we don't have one of those little ball
things to put this stuff in so we'll have to remember to
add this later. That will be your job." Mulder smiles at Will.

Will's had just about enough of this sitting in the
carrier and he starts to turn red and bawl.
"Easy does it son." Mulder says as he unbuckles Will and
lifts him from the carrier. Mulder rubs his thumbs across
the little boys cheeks to dry them. He pulls out his 
hankerchief again and rubs Wills' nose or tries to as Will
shakes his head trying to avoid the dreaded hankie.

Will lays his head on Mulders chest and chews on his fist, 
his legs are splayed across Mulder stomach.
"You want a bottle Will?" Mulder asks as he fishes the 
bottle out of the diaper bag. He pops off the cap and 
moves Will to his left arm, cradling him.
"Here you go. Cheers!" Mulder says as he feeds Will.

Mulder moves around the laundromat as Will drifts off to 
sleep in his arms. He reads the bulletin board and is 
tempted to take down the phone number of a man with 
puppies for sale but he thinks better of it.

An old woman, dressed in worn clothes is sitting in the 
corner watching Mulder, he walks over to her. "Hi, how 
you doing?" He smiles at her.

She perks up. "Just fine." She cranes her neck to look at Will.

Mulder bends down so she can see him better.

She looks Will over and smiles. "He's quite a nice looking boy."

"Thanks" Mulder replies,"He looks like his mother."

"Is he your first?"

"Yeah and hopefully not our last."

"Children shouldn't be raised alone."

I know." Mulder replies sadly.

"You an only child?"

"No, but my sister was taken from us when she was
only 8, we never got her back."

"Oh my! You never got her back?"

"No, but after all these years of looking I'm finally 
convinced she's gone."

"I'm so sorry."

"Me too," Mulder says as he rubs his fingers across Will's 
eye brows. "But having him makes it a lot easier."

"I'm sure it does."

The woman touches Will's long fingers as they flex. "I 
don't know," she says, "I think he looks like you."

"You do?" Mulder grins.

"Yes, he'll be quite the looker when he gets older."
The woman starts to get up; Mulder helps her. 

"Thank you son," She says,"I need to catch my bus."

"Nice talking to you."

She turns back to him. "I'm here every Thursday.

Mulder smiles, "I'll remember that."

Mulder returns to the washers just as the final rinse
cycle starts. "Will you forgot to remind me to put the 
softener in," he quietly says to the baby as he kisses
his head.  Gently placing Will in the carrier, Will jumps
slightly, going from his fathers warm arms to the cold 
carrier, but he doesn't wake.

Mulder grabs the softener and starts to add it to all
the washers, as he finishes he hears Will stirring.

The baby is awake and not happy. He sneezes and rubs his
runny nose. His eyes are beginning to water and he's cranky.
Mulder scoops Will up with his large hands. Will's downy 
soft red hair is matted and damp on the back of his head.
"You're awake and you're wet." Mulder says as he pats
Will's wet bottom. He quickly spreads out a blanket 
and changes Will's diaper. He's gotten much better 
at it lately. At least they don't fall off anymore.

The washers suddenly stop. The only noise is the soft 
back ground music drifting through the empty building.
Mulder puts Will back into his carrier and places him
on top of a washer as he takes the laundry from each machine,
heaping it in the cart.

Grabbing Will's carrier, he moves his cart to the dryers.
He opens the doors and stuffs the clothes in each dryer, 
feeding the machines' quarters as he goes. Soon all three 
dryers are tumbling.

Will gets cranky again but seems to like to watch the  
dryer spin. "You like that?" Mulder says. He puts Will's 
carrier into the cart and moves cart to the front of the dryer.
Will is fascinated by the whirling colors in front of him 
as the heat radiating off the machine warms him.

Just then Mulder's cellphone rings. He unclips it from his hip.
"Mulder."

<Hey Mulder it's me. How's it going?>

"Oh we're fine Scully, Will loves riding in the dryer."

<MULDER!>

"I'm just kidding." Mulder chuckles.

<For the sake of your manhood you better be!>

"He's fine Scully. He's watching the dryers tumble."

<Are you coming home soon?>

"As soon as we can. I'll bring dinner if you want."

<No that's okay, I'll make something.>

"Scully, you just want to get your hands on your son as
 soon as possible, don't you." Mulder teases her.

<Yes but I was also thinking of his father.>

"We'll be home as soon as we can." Mulder grins.

<Okay, I'll see you then.>

Mulder puts his cell away.

Just then the door bursts open and in runs Frohike
and Langley. Frohike quickly dumps a duffle bag of
clothes into the nearest washer as Langley stuffs 
quarters into it. Frohike slams the lid.
"Hey guys!" Mulder yells.

"Not now!" Frohike yells back.
The sound of tires squealing is heard as Byers pulls 
up in the van. Frohike and Langley take off for the
door. Langley yells over his shoulder, "Later dude!"
leaving the building and jumping into the van as it 
screams down the street.

"That was weird, even for them."

Mulder looks over to see Will softly sleeping, 
scrunched down in his carrier. "You're just like your
mother, she could sleep anywhere too."

Just then a dryer stops. Mulder moves over to check it. 
All the clothes are dry.
He gently places Will's carrier on the table, 
the baby stirs but he doesn't wake. Mulder places 
the laundry into the cart as the second and third 
dryers stop. He pulls these clothes out. Will yawns 
and is awake.
"Hey buddy, you coming to?" Mulder says to his son.

"Will we can fold these clothes here or we can get home
to your mother and fold them there. "It's your call buddy."
Will stretches out taut and puckers up to squawl.
"Okay, okay we'll head home."
Mulder grabs the laundry baskets and shoves the clothes 
into them. He pulls out a pink satin bra.
"Humm, I don't remember this one." He scruggs putting 
it in the basket.Placing the two baskets in the
cart he grabs Will's carrier and makes his way toward the door.
Sitting the carrier on the counter he grabs the baby
blanket and covers Will with it. Will's not happy and 
grabs the blanket. "Now, you need to be covered Will. 
You're catching a cold." Will is not amused. Mulder 
covers him up once more. He grabs the diaper bag and 
the carrier and heads for the door.
 
He moves across the parking lot and fishes his keys 
from his pocket, dropping the diaper bag on the floor 
in the back he buckles Will's carrier in.
Mulder jumps in the front and starts the car. He brings 
it around to the laundromat door, leaving the car running,
he opens the trunk. He races into the laundromat and brings 
out the baskets of clothes, setting them into the trunk. He
slams the lid and jumps into the front seat of the car.

Mulder looks over to Will, "You want to know what the
best part of doing the laundry is Will? Going back home
to your mother."
With that Will pulls' the blanket off his face again.
  

                         ~The End~