Title: Adventures in Babysitting
Author: Langleigh
E-mail: Langleigh75@cs.com
Category: SR
Keywords: Charliefic, Reyesfic, Charlie/Reyes Romance 
Spoilers: Nothing Important Happened Today I & II , whatever else I 
feel like 
Ratings: PG/PG13
Disclaimers: The X-Files, and all characters shown or mentioned 
therein, belong to Chris Carter, 1013 and FOX. 
Archiving: Ephemeral, Gossamer, XFMU, DWLR, Charliefic Archive, Azar-
-anywhere you wish to put it, Auburnished (for Open_R_Eyes) and my 
own site. Anywhere else MUST ASK me for archiving permission.
Summary: While babysitting for Dana, Monica Reyes meets the youngest 
Scully sib. 
Feedback: Please send positive feedback and constructive criticism 
to Langleigh75@cs.com. 
Author's Notes: I'm submitting this to the Charliefic Archive's Fic 
Challenge, but the idea actually started brew a little while ago. 
I'm just using the Challenge as a facilitator. ;-) Need to find 
out about the fic challenge? Go here: 
http://www.geocities.com/charliefic/

And thanks to Azar for the beta reading. :-) 


"Adventures in Babysitting"
Part 1: First Impressions

"Okay," Dana Scully said as she handed her son, William, over to 
Monica Reyes. "His diapers and clothes are in my bedroom," here she 
pointed to the door she'd just exited a few moments before with 
William in her arms. "As is his bassinet... but you can move that 
out here if you need to." She paused, waiting for Reyes to 
acknowledge what she'd said. The other woman smiled and nodded. "I 
expressed enough milk to last him the rest of the night," Scully went 
on. "I just hope I don't leak on the way to airport." This comment 
was accompanied by a wry smile. "Everyone talks about how great 
mother's milk is for your child, but they always fail to mention the 
simplest drawbacks." Again Reyes smiled. "Anyway, feel free to help 
yourself to anything in my refrigerator, and Monica--"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again for watching William tonight."

"It's no problem, Dana, really. I'm just honored you asked me. 
Besides, I love kids."

"Yeah, well... I just hope he isn't too much of an handful. " Scully 
replied with less certainty. Then she turned her attention to her 
son and her voice grew soft and warm. "Be a good boy for Auntie 
Monica, sweet Willie," she cooed, kissing the boy on the top of his 
head. 

"Bye!" she said as she headed out the door. 

Monica Reyes laughed as she watched her friend go. Then she looked 
down at the child in her arms. "Well, I guess it's just you and me, 
huh, Will?" The baby boy gurgled happily in reply. 

~x~x~x~x~

Monica had just put William in his bassinet when her cell phone began 
to vibrate. "Monica Reyes," she answered it. 

"It's me," Scully's voice informed her. "I'm going to be a little 
late... my brother's plane was delayed. Is that okay with you?" 
Scully sounded worried. 

"It's fine, Dana. Will is asleep and I'm just going to sit down and 
watch some tv."

"Oh... TV, huh?"

"Yeah, and if nothing good's on, I thought I saw some videos on you 
shelves. Would you mind if I pawed through them?"

"Sure, no problem. Kiss Willie for me, and tell him Mommy will be 
home soon." With that, Scully was gone and Monica put her phone 
away. 

A few minutes later, she was channel surfing. In the next room, 
Scully's son lay gurgling in his bed--no longer asleep--while the 
mobile above his bed spun slowly of its own volition. 

The squeaking, however, drew Monica's attention. She set the remote 
aside and went to investigate. When she saw the little boy waving at 
his mobile while it made another slow rotation, she had to chuckle. 
Scully had said he was special, but Monica certainly hadn't expected 
this. 

"You like that don't you, little guy?" she asked, leaning over the 
bassinet. She was about to pick him up, when a knock came at the 
door. "Sorry, Willie," she said, smoothing his hair. "I'd better go 
see who that is." 

As she crossed the room, there was another rap at the door. "I'm 
coming, I'm coming," Monica muttered under her breath. She peered 
through the peephole and was greeted with the sight of a strangely 
familiar looking redheaded man. He knocked again, and this time 
called out tentatively, "Dana? Are you there?"

Monica wondered who it could be and what he wanted with Scully. She 
made sure the security chain was latched and opened the door 
hesitantly.

"Dana?" the man asked as the door opened. 

"No... " Monica told him. "She's out right now." She eyed him more 
closely. Something about him looked so damned familiar, but she 
couldn't put her finger on it. 

The man sighed. "She must have already gone to the airport, huh?"

"Yeah... how'd you know that?" 

"She was supposed to pick me up," he said, chuckling to himself. 

"Charlie???" Monica was surprised. She opened the door a little 
more until the chain was pulled tight and straight. In the apartment 
behind her, baby William began to cry.

"Is that my nephew?" the stranger asked. "I'd love to see him..." he 
took a step closer to the door. 

"Hold it," Monica said. "How do I know you're really Dana's little 
brother?" There had been too many weird things happening lately, and 
Monica knew better than to let a total stranger near little Willie. 
For all she knew, this guy could be an alien replacement sent to take 
the boy away. 

The man seemed startled. "Well... ummm..." he floundered for a bit 
and stuck a hand inside his jacket. Monica tensed, fearing a gun and 
wishing her own wasn't on Scully's coffee table. She let a sigh of 
relief when his hand withdrew from the jacket with nothing more than 
a man's wallet. "My driver's license," he offered, handing the 
wallet over to her. 

Monica took wallet and examined the driver's license. It looked 
authentic, but then, most ID's could easily be faked in this age of 
computer technology. 

"Turn around," she said, handing the wallet back to him. 

"Huh?" 

"Can you turn around please?" she asked a little more nicely this 
time. She hated having to do this. The guy was good-looking as 
hell, and if he did turn out to be Scully's brother, this would 
definitely make a bad first impression. "And back up towards me." 
She was a little surprised when he followed her directions.

"Okay," he said. "but I don't see what for."

"I just have to see something," she replied, feeling the back of his 
neck. No bumps, spikes or anything out of the ordinary presented 
itself to her touch... except for the goose bumps that rose on his 
skin at the near-intimacy of her touch. "Sorry," she muttered. She 
felt herself begin to blush and was thankful that he couldn't see it.

From inside the apartment, William's screaming was becoming too 
insistent too ignore. 

"Maybe you should just go check on little Willie," he told her. 
Monica nodded, shutting the door in his face. She was halfway to 
William's bassinet when it dawned on her that the stranger had known 
exactly what Dana called her son. 

"What do you think, little guy?" she asked as she changed his 
diaper. "Is that handsome man outside your uncle?" 

~x~x~x~x~

"Monica?" Dana Scully's voice filled the apartment. 

Monica turned to see her friend standing behind her... and standing 
behind her friend was the redheaded stranger. 

"Why did I come home to find my baby brother sitting outside my 
door?" her voice sounded stern, but it also held a note of laughter.

"I... I..." Monica fumbled with a good excuse. 

"It's okay, sis," the man now *known* to be Charlie Scully said. "I 
kind of surprised her by showing up unannounced. Given the 
circumstances, I would think less of her if she'd just opened the 
door." Then he grinned broadly. "However, I would *love* to know 
why she checked the back of my neck."

Scully fixed Charlie with a shocked look. "She didn't? You didn't."

"I'm sorry, Dana, I had to make sure he wasn't... well... I mean, 
with all that's happened lately." She turned to Charlie. "I'm 
sorry. That must have made for one hell of a first impression." 

Charlie began to laugh. "Well, it sure is one hell of an ice 
breaker," he said, smiling. 

Reyes smiled back at him. "Then, you don't think I'm a freak?" 

"No more a freak than Mulder and I liked him," Charlie quipped. "But 
I wouldn't go so far as to ask Mulder to dinner."

"And you are asking me?" Reyes asked. 

"Yeah, if you'll accept," Charlie replied. He grinned at his 
sister. "I like her. She's... unique." 

Scully laughed. "Yeah, that's one way of putting it."

~x~x~x~x~

Part 2: Dinner and a Movie

Nervous wasn't the word for what Monica Reyes was feeling when she 
showed up at Dana Scully's apartment. It went beyond nervous. The 
last time she'd been here she'd made a fool of herself by making 
Charlie Scully wait out in the hall for his sister to return. It 
wasn't one of her more shining moments. 

And yet... he'd still asked her out, she reasoned as she knocked on 
the door.

A minute or two later, the door opened to reveal Charlie' warm, 
friendly face. Monica felt an instant twinge of regret. She should 
have known to trust him before, she scolded herself. Gotta love 
hindsight; it's always 20-20. 

"Hey!" Charlie greeted her with a smile. "Come on in." 

He was dressed casually in a black tee shirt and blue jeans. Tight 
blue jeans, she noted as she followed him into the apartment. Dana's 
brother has a cute ass, she thought, her lips turning up into a 
smile, secretive smile. If Charlie Scully noticed her checking him 
out, he didn't show it. 

"I just tried calling you," he said, "but I couldn't get you on your 
cell phone."

"I.." Monica blushed, partially from the silliness of her only answer 
and partially because this man had tried to call her. "I... kind of 
let the battery go dead." 

"Kind of?" Charlie repeated with a quirky smile that she couldn't 
help but mirror. "That doesn't happen often, does it?" 

"I wish I could say no," she told him, and was surprised at how 
comfortable he made her. "Why'd you call?"

Now it was Charlie's turn to blush, and he did--turning a brilliant 
shade of red. "Well... it's about tonight. I was calling to ask if 
you could take a rain check." His voice was pained and his 
expression sheepish. "Dana has to work late tonight and she asked me 
to watch Will for her." 

"Oh... Oh! That explains the clothes..." her voice trailed off as 
she scanned his ensemble one more time. 

"Yeah... I was wondering when you'd notice I was a little 
underdressed for the restaurant." He sounded more than a little 
disappointed. 

"Well..." Monica began, not wanting to cancel their date anymore than 
Charlie seemed to. She glanced past him to the open bedroom door 
where she could see William playing with the mobile above his 
bassinet. "I could always stay and help you with Willie," she 
offered. 

"Wouldn't that be breaking some iron-clad rule of babysitting? No 
members of the opposite sex allowed?" Charlie grinned at her, 
obviously liking the prospect. 

She laughed. "Does that mean I can stay?"

"Sure... I'm game," Charlie replied. "But only if I get to check 
your neck first." 

~x~x~x~x~

Monica watched as Charlie lay William down in his bassinet, stilling 
humming the last refrain of the lullaby he'd used to whisk the tot 
off to dream land. "Sleep well, Willie," he whispered, leaning in to 
kiss the boy good-night. Monica was impressed.

"You have a way with kids," she told him in a hushed voice.

Charlie's face clouded a little. "I have two of my own," he replied, 
moving away from the bedroom door. "Not that I get to see them much 
anymore." 

"Oh?"

"Their mother and I divorced some time ago. She..." he sighed. "She 
couldn't handle the nomadic military life I chose." 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Monica said, touching him gently on the shoulder.

Charlie shrugged. "We married young anyway. I'm surprised it lasted 
as long as it did." 

Monica only nodded, feeling a little sorry she'd asked, but also 
feeling more sorry for the depth of love he obviously had for the 
children he rarely saw. 

In an awkward moment, they both fell silent. 

"So... what now?" Charlie asked, breaking the silence. They were, 
after all, virtually alone. 

"Movie?" Monica suggested, indicating to the movies on Scully's TV 
stand. 

"Why not," Charlie replied. They both knelt down beside the stand, 
looking through the titles. 

"What's this?" Charlie queried suddenly, pulling a VHS tape from the 
back of the shelf. It was in a clear rental case. Charlie pulled 
two similar movies from the back of the shelf. "These can't my 
Dana's," he said.

"What?" Monica peered over his shoulder at the titles. " 'Naughty!
Naughty!Naughty!'? 'Babes in Bikinis'? 'Super Sluts'?" she read them 
off in disbelief. 

The two of them looked at each other, and their eyes met. "Mulder!" 
They said in unison, and then they both broke out laughing.

"Did you know Agent Mulder?" she asked when their laughter died away.

"I never met him, if that's what you mean," he answered. "But Dana's 
letters told me a lot more about him than I probably ever wanted to 
know." He laughed again and Monica realized that she loved the sound 
of his voice. It had a lyrical sound that was pleasant and 
warm. "Let's put these back," he said, meaning the movies, which he 
shoved back where he'd found them--hidden behind everything else. 

They finally settled on a movie--a cute romantic comedy 
called "Return to Me"--and settled in on the couch to watch it. 

Somewhere in between Bob's date from Hell and finding out that Grace 
had received his dead wife's heart, they'd managed to snuggle close 
to one another--Charlie's arm draped around Monica's shoulders. 
Monica couldn't believe how right it felt. It was a feeling she'd 
been missing in her life for a long time now. She felt a true 
connection to this man. It was almost as if... 

"Monica? Hey! Earth to Monica..." Charlie nudged her, shaking her 
out of deep thought.

"Sorry... I..." she flummoxed. 

"Want me to repeat it?" Charlie grinned at her. Monica nodded, 
grateful that he hadn't been offended; it must have seemed like she 
was ignoring him.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go out for ice cream after Dana 
gets home?"

"Ice cream?" she asked. 

"Yeah, I know... how juvenile does that sound? But I just kind of 
have a craving for Chunky Monkey, and--"

"That's my favorite!" she interrupted him suddenly. 

"That a yes?" Charlie asked, and, of course, that *was* the answer.

~x~x~x~x~

Later that night, Monica Reyes and Charlie Scully sat on the hood of 
her car, watching the stars and sharing a pint of Chunky Monkey ice 
cream. 

"Look!" Monica exclaimed, pointing. "A shooting star!" She sat up a 
little to get a better look. "Did you see it?" she asked, but when 
she turned, Charlie wasn't looking at the sky. He was staring at her 
with a thoughtful intensity that was almost out of character for the 
man she'd spent the majority of the night with. "What?" she queried.

"You... ah... have a little ice cream on your face," he told her. 
Monica wiped at her face. "No," Charlie said. "You've missed it. 
Let me..." his voice was soft and low as he leaned towards her. But 
instead of wiping away the phantom ice cream, he kissed her. 

The kiss was as light and playful as the man administering it, and 
Monica found herself responding to it, her senses thrilling to the 
way his lips tickled and teased her own.

"Wow..." they breathed as one when the kiss finally ended. 

Still a little stunned, Monica fumbled for something else to 
say. "I'm sorry I checked your neck the other day," she finally 
said. It made no sense, but her thoughts were too jumbled. 

"That's okay," Charlie laughed. "But someday, I'm going to make you 
tell me why you did." Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed 
her again. 

*fin*

Read my other Reyes fic and more at ReyesRomances:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~mystwaysfanfic/ReyesRomances/index.html