#for cat

The two dreamers collided on an Oak Bluffs beach where Mulder rode his bike an hour each way every day to watch the beleaguered shoot. He didn’t care about filmmaking, shark attacks, or trying to catch a glimpse of Richard Dreyfuss, but he was desperate to escape the house in Chilmark.

For a boy in aching need of distraction, the schadenfreude of the Jaws set provided a welcome relief. One day, a platform towing two pneumatically powered prop sharks capsized and Mulder watched as a team of divers was sent to retrieve it. He sneered at the hubris of the Hollywood people who came to the murky North Atlantic and expected her to behave. As cameramen stopped take after take to wipe the sea salt from their equipment, Mulder felt vindicated knowing he wasn’t the only one to feel thwarted by larger forces beyond his control. 

The tale takes on a different shape five decades later when he tells it to his 7-year-old daughter. From the backseat, Kat laughs along to his stories of the faux sharks’ neoprene skin bloating and distorting as they took on water. She has her mother’s giggle, although she’s more generous with it than Scully. He might not have to work as hard to get Kat to erupt in uncontrollable laughter but they both see this as a good sign—they’ve managed to raise their daughter in relative safety, keeping her shielded from the horrors of the world they know all too well.

They’re en route to the Vineyard, the first time he’s been in years. It was his suggestion. Kat, a self-proclaimed future marine biologist, had already explored all the Virginia beaches in driving distance. While other kids’ interests pivot weekly from trains to unicorns to outer space to ponies, Kat has remained steadfast in her passion for all things oceanic ever since she could talk. 

Scully was rightfully hesitant about him returning to this place of so much pain he assured her it would be alright. And now, heading north along I-95 as it hugs the Long Island Sound, he thinks it just might be. 

***

With her father’s persistence, Kat convinces her mother to let them go see Jaws at the island drive-in. Any fears Scully has of the film terrorizing Kat evaporate when the girl immediately debunks its initial premise—”Great white sharks don’t eat humans”—then drifts off to sleep before the third act. 

They’re sprawled out on a bedsheet, purloined from the rental cottage, next to their car. Scully sits in the vee between Mulder’s outspread legs watching Kat sleep curled up in a ball at her feet.

“I guess we don’t have to worry about shark nightmares,” Mulder whispers in her ear, gravelled monotone plucking at her heartstring. 

“Guess not,” she shakes her head against his chest. “Any chance we’ll catch a cameo of a young Fox Mulder wandering the streets of Amity?

“Nah,” he says, bringing a hand to stroke her hair. “The town scenes were all filmed in Menemsha in May before school let out.” 

“Menemsha,” she repeats. She loves how these names roll off his tongue. Quonochontaug. Aquinnah. Nashawahkamuk. 

She feels him tugging at her to turn around. “C’mere,” he whispers.

Facing him now, she leans in to kiss him. He tastes like buttered popcorn. The drive-in is crowded with locals and tourists alike celebrating the film’s 50th anniversary, but marooned on their bedsheet in the dark she feels as if it’s just the three of them. Their lips part and she kisses the bridge of his nose softly.

“Thank you for bringing us here,” she says. “It’s a beautiful place.” 

“It is,” he replies, and she knows he means it. Together they are reclaiming the Vineyard, the site of his primal trauma becoming the birthplace of new memories.

Scully turns back around to face Kat’s slumbering form, feeling Mulder’s arms wrap around her. On screen, a shark explodes. But here, on their own island, a wound heals. 

***

On their last night of vacation, they stay at the beach until the setting sun starts dancing on the ocean. Scully watches from their towel as her insatiable daughter laughs, running in and out of the surf, the gentle waves lapping at Kat’s feet before receding back into the depths. Mulder stands a foot behind Kat, giving her freedom to play while keeping her in arm’s reach, ready to swoop in if an errant current knocks her off her balance.

“You’re so lucky you got to grow up here,” Scully hears Kat say to Mulder, looking up at her father in awe. “You could come to the beach every day.” 

“It was nice,” she hears him reply. Kat wouldn’t notice the slightest crack in his voice, the brief betrayal of their current happiness, but Scully notices. She sees him smile, too, though. A real smile. 

“But we can come here anytime you want,” he tells Kat.

- He wouldn’t tell you where you were going at first, just that to not wear anything too fancy, as you’re gonna have to have to hike a bit, and to maybe wear a swimsuit.

- he picked you up pretty early so you two can do everything he had planned before nightfall. He instantly smiles when he sees you, he gets out and opens the door for you.

-feeling the breeze in your hair going down the coast, getting excited at seeing the water from where you’re sitting. He would absolutely have his hand on the inside of your thigh, both of you singing along to whatever song is on the radio at the time.

-You get to the picnic spot, and are breathless at the view in font of you. Sitting in the grass, looking out at the beach and ocean below you, it’s the perfect spot and Magnum now owes Higgy more than he usually does.

- As you eat your picnic and share a bottle of wine, you begin to talk about your friends, jobs, hobbies, anything and everything under the sun. 

- While you two are talking, you both somehow migrated to cuddling together on the picnic blanket, with you lying in between his legs, your head leaning on his chest and his arms are wrapped around you. 

-Going down to the beach near the cliff and running amuck, splashing water all over each other and play wrestling in the sand

- making out in the sand afterwards, kissing Thomas nice and slow and teasing the shit out of him

- once you two get up, though, an evening walk on the beach, hand-in-hand, putting your head on his shoulder at times and watching the sunset in the distance.

-eventually you two make it to the Ferrari, and you both feel like there was just a little more magic in the air. Y’know, that feeling where your heart feels like it’s going to burst because you’re so happy and everything feels okay? that feeling.

- He drives you home, walks you up to your door, and kisses you good night ;like a gentleman, even though there’s nothing gentle about what he wants to do to you