Fox Mulder | Not a Green Man (basementman) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2015-12-26 16:24:00 |
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Fox Mulder opened eyes in a darkened room and moved, and then promptly wished he hadn't done so. He'd managed to fall asleep in a semi-awkward position and his neck was reminding him of this fact with a loud enough protest that he half wondered that it wasn't waking the sleeping toddler in the toddler bed next to him. That was, ultimately, part of the problem. The bed was large enough for him to rest his head on the mattress next to his son, but not large enough for him to stretch out alongside his won so that when he inevitably fell asleep trying to get William to sleep, that he wouldn't have permanent aches from having done so. Carefully he disentangled himself from his son, and he tiptoed out of the room, biting back a curse as he stubbed his toe on and nearly tripped over what was probably William's rocking horse. He should have had William clean before he put him to sleep, but the boy had already been overly excited and irritable and it had already been nearly 9pm which felt like an incredibly late time to put William to bed at. Perhaps it felt later in comparison to the very prompt and punctual bedtimes he felt as if Scully had always managed. Had she? Or was it just his perception that he was doing this whole parenting thing way worse on his own than he'd been doing with Scully? He wasn't certain there was any reality where that perception couldn't be at least partially based on reality. It was difficult to remember all of the things. He'd find himself snapping, and William in tears, because 1pm had crept up on them and he'd not realized the time, and they were both hungry and exhausted. He'd eaten more pizza and Chinese than anyone of his age ought to eat in one month, but they were coming up on a month without Scully and they had more or less seemed to have survived. He pulled the door closed behind him and stretched the kinks out of his neck and turned to survey the rest of the apartment. They'd managed a tree before Scully had left, but Mulder realized he didn't really know where she'd stored the ornaments. And the tree itself was getting brittle. Perhaps tomorrow he'd figure that out, and how to get it down. Right now he headed for the kitchen, pulled out a beer, looked at the clock on the microwave and promptly wished he hadn't, and then moved to the living room. The television came on with a click of a remote, and Mulder laid down on the sofa, pulling one of the throw blankets up over him. He had to pull himself back to a seated position to move one of the cartons of Chinese to the other edge of the coffee table so he could see the television with a direct line of sight. It was low, almost too low to hear, but Mulder only really wanted the visual distraction anyway. It had been almost a month since Scully had been taken back and somehow - despite the mess in the living room, and the topsy-turvy bedtimes, and the fact that he'd gone a week forgetting to give William a bath, and had been late to work twice while he tried to get all of the things in the bag for daycare, and had forgotten diapers in the bag for daycare three times - somehow they'd made it through. Maybe even William was doing okay. The single parenting thing wasn't the most fun Mulder had ever had in his entire life, but - His attention was distracted by Scully on the television. Older, lighter hair, but still his Scully. Or maybe not. The advertisements for the new season were somewhat unclear and Mulder frowned, watching the thirty seconds until it was gone. No, single parenting wasn't the most fun Mulder had ever had in his entire life, but he had his son with him - something this future him didn't have - and he couldn't begin to be sorry for that. He reached for the remote and began flipping through. There would be something terrible and ridiculous on at this hour and he'd find it, and he'd watch it, and he'd fall asleep until William woke him up... and if he was really lucky - if there were miracles - that might even be close to 6 o'clock. |