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TITLE: The Genesis Project: Nothing Bad Happened Today
AUTHOR: aRcaDIaNFall$ 
FEEDBACK: as always, is welcomed, cherished and framed at
arcadianfalls@yahoo.com.au. 
RATING: PG-13 
SPOILERS: 
CLASSIFICATION: SRA 
DISTRIBUTION: Ask me first, please.
SUMMARY: Part of The Genesis Project series. A day.
DISCLAIMER: Yeah yeah, we all know it by now.
AUTHORS NOTE: This fic swaps character POVs. 
Please ignore any typos, etc. I whipped this up today and haven't done a proof read with fresh eyes. 
**FOR MORE NOTES PLEASE SEE END. 


The Genesis Project:
Nothing Bad Happened Today (1/1)
by arcadianfalls


THE MORNING

It snowed overnight. Erin must have wandered out early because I found her asleep by 
the window when I went to put the coffeemaker on. She had dragged a chair over and was 
twisted up in her rug, chin lolling on the sill, Monkey dangling from her outstretched 
hand. She was slightly blocked up because of a cold and her snoring was noisier than 
ever.

Scully was still asleep when I got out of the shower. She was spreadeagled under the 
covers, face down. I stood in the doorway, towelling my hair dry.

"Mornin' sunshine."

She let out a murmur, shifting under the covers and then lifting her head. "Yeah, I'm 
up."

Hannah was awake in her crib, sitting up, studiously turning the pages of one of her 
story books. She had a firm grip on the book, and her dark eyes flitted across the 
pages, taking it all in. 

She looked up as I entered, and smiled at me, showing her new two top teeth. That made 
four.

She let the book drop and crawled to the side of the cot, pulling herself up to a 
standing wobble. I lifted her up and she reached out for my nose, tweaking it with her 
tiny fingers and a grin. She had always been such a quiet, watchful baby, but now she 
was becoming cheekier. She had darker colouring than Erin, who took after Scully, and 
as much as I cherished them both, I felt a powerful biological connection to Hannah. 

I smiled broadly at her. "Yeah, you're so funny. How about some breakfast?"

Astrid had slept on the covers, arms dangling over the edge of the top bunk. Wading 
through the sea of Erin's toys and bedclothes and Astrid's various craft projects, I 
tugged the curtains open, letting the early light in, then went over to shake her 
awake.

"Time to get up, Astrid."

She groaned and turned her face away, pulling one of her stuffed animals to cover her 
head. 

"It's seven."

A mumbled response that I guessed to be "Ten more minutes."

"You were late yesterday, Mom had to give you a lift to school."

She raised her head, scrubbing at her eyes, and then smiled sheepishly at me through 
her knotted hair. "But I like when Mom drives us to school."

Josh had woken and was out with Hannah, feeding her breakfast. She had a fistful of 
soggy toast and her spillproof milk cup in the other hand.

"Morning buddy."

"Hi Daddy."

He was still in his pyjamas. He'd always been such a slight child, and still was, but 
now at least he seemed a healthier weight than he had been for a long time. 

"You want to do some baseball practice tonight? We can work on your pitching."

A nod. He padded barefoot into the kitchen and started to pull out cereal for Astrid, 
Erin and himself.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?" I poured coffee into two mugs. They were handpainted by Astrid at school, 
covered with large spotches, dribbles and streaks of bright colour. She was still a big 
Jackson Pollock fan.

"Do you think euthanasia is unfair?"

"Unfair in what way?"

"When you ask somebody to kill you or to help you to kill yourself, it's a huge burden 
you're placing on them."

"It is."

"Do you think that's fair to that person?"

"Is it fair being the executioner in a death-row prison? The guy who gives the lethal 
injection or throws the switch? I don't know. I guess the answer in those cases is that 
somebody has to do it."

"Do they?"

I drew a breath, thinking of the suffering I had seen.

"I don't know, Joshie," I said finally. "If somebody is in excruciating pain and 
they're dying..."

"What's the harm in just upping the morphine until they drift away," he finished for me 
quietly.

I was quiet for a minute, watching him as he chewed on his lip. It was difficult to 
tell with Josh sometimes, if he was just pondering issues or if for some reason the 
ethical dilemma was bothering him personally. Watching him, I was fairly sure it was 
the former, so I wasn't so much concerned, just impressed as always by the depth of his 
thoughts.

"Da!" Hannah had thrown her cup to the ground. I picked it up, the sides sticky with 
milk, and offered it to her. She took a sip, then held it back out to me. Turning back 
to Joshie, I found that he'd slipped out of the kitchen. 

A waft of perfume, and the clipping of Scully's heels on the kitchen tiles. We had a 
meeting in the morning, and a day in the office planned, so she was wearing a skirt, 
quite a rarity. I held out her coffee, taking the opportunity to appreciate the shine 
of her freshly blowdried hair, the gloss of her lips, the crisp white shirt and black 
pinstripe skirt and jacket. She'd been taking advantage of our quieter schedule to 
visit the gym once or twice a week - not that I'd ever thought her body was anything to 
complain about - and she was more toned and energetic. And sexy. My God, it felt like 
not a single day had passed since those early years, somehow. 

"Thanks Mulder," as she took the mug. She went to take a sip, then hesitated, cocking 
an eyebrow and smiling slightly. "What?"

I grinned at her. "Nothing."

Astrid ran in clad in her bathrobe, grabbed the bowl of dry cereal that Josh had poured 
for her, then ran out again.

"Astrid!" Scully called out after her. "No food the bathroom!" 

"I have to straighten my hair!" was the answer that bounced back along the corridor. 

No food in the bathroom was the newest rule. A bagel left in there yesterday had 
disintegrated when I accidently tossed it in the bath with Erin and Hannah along with 
all the plastic water toys.

A tug at Scully's sleeve. Erin had woken with all the noise and stood sleepily at 
Scully's side, still trailing the blanket and stuffed toy. "Mommeeee, Monkey's hungry."

"What do we say, Erin? It's 'Can I have my breakfast, please'."

She was very articulate but still stuck to the baby phrases unless prompted otherwise, 
in which case she ran together the words making it almost impossible to tell what she 
was asking.

"Can-I-have-my-breakfast, please?"

"Cereal?"

"Yes."

"Milk on your cereal?"

"No."

"Orange or apple juice?"

"Both."

Scully passed me the breakfast bowl and plastic cup and I put them on Erin's small 
table for her. "Sit down, Monkey."

She obeyed, dragging the blanket with her, carefully sitting Monkey in the second 
chair. I leaned over to push her chair in and somehow she managed to sneeze on me. 

"Oh... Erin!"

She giggled, pointing to my shirt. "Boogers."

Without missing a beat Scully tossed me the tissue box. I scrubbed half heartedly at 
the sticky patch on my dark shirt. "It's going to leave a mark."

"Go get another shirt." She poked her head around the corner and called out, "Josh, 
Astrid, you've got ten minutes."

I changed Hannah's diaper and put her in some overalls, then raided the wardrobe for a 
clean shirt. Scully came in as I was buttoning it up. "Where are the notes for the 
meeting?"

"Which ones?"

"On the Johnson case."

"They should be next to my laptop."

"They're not."

"Check Erin's drawing table."

My half full mug of coffee was lukewarm. I gulped it down, watching as Scully sorted 
through Erin's papers, pulling out the ones we needed for the meeting. They were all 
colourfully decorated with squiggles and half formed letters, but fortunately Erin was 
fussy about her drawing and only coloured on the blank backs of the pages.

I pulled a yoghurt out of the refridgerator for Scully and then started pulling out 
things to make the kids lunches.

"I don't want any more muffin bars!" Astrid yelled from the bathroom as if reading my 
mind. "They're full of fat!"

"Daddy, more?" Erin was beside me, holding up her empty cereal bowl. I grabbed the 
cereal packet and one-handedly tipped it, and the cereal slid out, pouring into the 
bowl and overflowing onto the floor before I could stop it. 

"Daddy!! Too much!"

"Yeah, I know, I know." I took the bowl from her and tipped half of the cereal onto the 
top of her small table, then putting the half-full bowl back on the kitchen counter, 
feeling the cereal crunch under my shoes. "Sit down, Monkey."

I heard Scully's heels on the tiles again and reached for the tie I'd been planning to 
wear. "Does this match?"

Scully glanced at it. "It'll do." She stapled the scribbled pages together and lay them 
on the countertop. "Don't forget them." She grabbed her yoghurt and a spoon, managing 
only to get one spoonful down before she saw the time.

"Erin, come on, we need to get you dressed."

Josh came out in his school uniform, shoes and socks in hand, and sat down next to 
Hannah, who I'd put back in the high chair with a rusk. She smiled, offering it to him. 

"You want anything different for lunch today, Josh?" I asked, laying out the sandwich 
bread.

He shook his head.

"I want ham with peanut butter," Astrid called out.

I raised an eyebrow at the choice.

"Doesn't peanut butter have a high fat content?" Josh asked innocently.

"I heard that!" Astrid shouted.

Scully came back with Erin fully dressed, sitting her down as she combed through the 
unruly red curls. I slid the yoghurt across the countertop to her, knowing that she was 
likely to forget it otherwise.

Josh was tying his shoelaces. I finished wrapping his and Astrid's sandwiches - ham and 
peanut butter for Astrid, plain peanut butter for Josh - and tossed them in the 
lunchbags.

Astrid had only straightened half of her hair and refused to leave the apartment until 
it was done. "You'll miss the bus, Astrid."

"Mommy, I can't go out like this, I look stupid!"

I grabbed Erin and Hannah's backpacks, checking that there was an ample supply of extra 
clothes in each. Erin was potty training, and as clever as she was she was also very 
impatient and easily distracted. There were still a lot of accidents.

"I'll take Erin and Hannah to Jacqueline's, you drop the kids at school. We're not due 
at the meeting til nine, there's plenty of time."

Scully finished Erin's hair and let her down to the floor, crouching to talk to her at 
eye level. "Daddy's taking you to Duckie's, so I'll see you tonight, okay, Monkey?"

"See you tonight," Erin echoed dutifully, giving Scully a kiss on the nose. She ran 
over to me, and I helped her slide the Tigger backpack onto her back.

I collected Hannah from the high chair, avoiding the soggy rusk and sticky fingers, 
then reached for the car keys and the stapled files we needed for the meeting.

A kiss for Scully. "See you at the office."

"Yup. Don't forget the Johnson file!"

Already halfway out the door with Hannah in my arms and Erin in toe, I waved it above 
my head without turning back, calling after myself. "Skinner's at nine. Be there."



THE OFFICE

Mulder wasn't at work when I got there. I checked our office first, then headed 
upstairs to see if he'd gone up ahead to Skinners, but he hadn't shown up there either. 
I called his cellular.

"Yeah, I'm in the car."

"Mulder, we're meeting with Skinner in two minutes. Where are you?"

"Hannah did a bit of regurgitating of her breakfast when I dropped them off. I had to 
go home and change again."

"Where are you?"

"Be there in ten."

I went into see Skinner alone. We weren't under fire about anything, it was only a 
review of some of our recent cases, and I felt perfectly capable of handling the 
meeting myself.

Mulder came in late, taking the seat next to me. He was wearing a simple white shirt 
and the blue tie the kids gave him two Christmases ago. He ran a hand through his hair 
and I smiled slightly, seeing the hints of grey. I'd always loved his dark hair, but I 
was surprised how little the sign of age bothered me. It must have been my lifelong 
attraction to older men.

We ran Skinner through some of the details of cases we'd been consulted on, then went 
over our most recent case, the mysterious disappearance of a prominent senator, Trent 
Johnson. Skinner smiled when Mulder produced the notes, rejecting the offer to keep the 
documents for his files. 

"You can run me off another copy. Keep those ones for your refridgerator."

We were filing in the office, trying to put together an updated, more comprehensive 
cross-index of all our case files. Well, I was filing. Mulder was sitting at his desk 
with a stack of Fortean Times, Paranormal News and other magazines guaranteed to keep 
him well engrossed for hours. Occasionally he would pull out a page and do a web search 
or make notes to investigate further, but mostly he was just soaking it all up. It was 
a rare opportunity we had to be in the office with nothing pressing to do, so I let him 
be, content to make the most of a slower paced day.

"Hey Scully, do you think these look like human bite marks?"

A magazine was pushed in my face. I pulled back a bit, studying the grainy black and 
white image. "What is it?"

"The right side of a human torso found dumped in the woods."

"Just a torso?"

"Yup."

"Those bites could be anything, Mulder. It's impossible to tell with this image. Does 
it say how the body was dismembered?"

"Crudely hacked off, apparently."

"Then you're more than likely looking at a body that's been dismembered to avoid 
identification, with the body parts probably scattered in several locations nearby, and 
this along the side is most likely done by rats or wild animals."

"So you're ruling out cannibalism."

"I would say so."

"What if they ate the head and the limbs?"

I wasn't quite sure how to handle that, so I just shrugged. He played with his lower 
lip, pondering. "I'll google it."


Mom called just before midday. "Just checking you're still coming on Saturday."

"We'll be there, Mom. Baseball finishes at two, so we should be there by four at the 
latest."

"Is Astrid still vegetarian?"

"No, she's a carnivore again."

I was sitting on the floor with the bottom drawer to the filing cabinet open beside me 
and a heavy stack of files on my lap when Mulder asked, "Do you want me to go get 
lunch?"

I gazed around the dim, crowded office. "No, let's go out for something. Can you give 
me a hand with these files?"


We got a call in the afternoon about a homocide in Georgetown, a thirty year old 
Caucasian male with no apparent cause of death. I had been requested to perform the 
autopsy, or as the officer who contacted us put it, "take a quick poke around and see 
if you can figure it out for us".

Mulder dropped me off then took off to the crime scene to poke around there. I was in 
the morgue by half past two. Pathology had been my training but the role had always 
felt too limited. Being able to use my knowledge and experience within the wider 
context of a case was always infinitely more satisfying, and there was a certain ease 
and familiarity in the procedure making incisions, weighing the organs, taking tissue 
samples.

The liver was fatty. Probably a heavy drinker. The lungs were pink, a non-smoker. 
Everything else was roughly normal. 

I passed the body onto the on-staff medical examiner, submitted the tissue samples to 
the histology lab and was on my way to get changed out of the scrubs when Mulder found 
me.

"What did you find?"

"He was a heavy drinker. Not much aside from that. I've sent samples to the lab. How 
was the crime scene?"

"Nothing unexplainable there."

"I don't think this is one of ours, Mulder."

"Nope," he agreed. He indicated the scrubs. "Break from filing, right?"

"*I* got a break from filing," I corrected him. "You weren't doing any in the first 
place."


A quarter to six when we arrived at the clinic to pick up the kids. We stopped in at 
Jacqueline's office first, finding her sitting at her desk, frowning at the computer 
screen and tapping keys.

"Knock knock."

She looked up, face brightening. "Hey, Dana, Fox, thank God you're here, this new 
database software is killing me."

"Busy day?"

"Not really. Just trying to get up and running on the new system. Either Mark's some 
kind of genius whose intellect is on a completely superior plane to my own, or... I 
don't know. What about you - busy?"

"Nope, quiet day." Mulder was standing half behind me, and his hand dropped to the 
small of my back, fingers running along the top of my skirt. I'd seen that look in his 
eye this morning, and I knew the mood that he was in. It didn't bother me. The 
attention was flattering.

Jacqueline tapped a couple of keys and then reached to switch off her monitor. "I'll 
deal with that tomorrow. Let's go grab the kids."

Daycare shut at six, and the rest of the parents had collected their children already. 
Hannah and Noah were sitting on Hallee's lap, listening intently to a story. Erin was 
running around in a tulle fairy skirt, with a pair of fluffy tiger print ears on her 
head and a matching elasticized tail hanging from her waist. She saw us and flew at us, 
trying to embrace Mulder and Jacqueline and I all at once. Jacqueline picked her up, 
giving her a cuddle, then Erin launched herself at Mulder. 

Often I envied Jacqueline, knowing she was able at any time of the day to come down the 
hall and see Noah, but I appreciated at least that she was always cuddling Erin and 
Hannah as well. It was good for them to have somebody they knew, so close.
Hannah, having seen us, was reaching out to Mulder. I didn't mind that she was a 
Daddy's girl. After all, so had I been. And I saw how much that closeness meant to 
Mulder. 

We got together their bags and craft for the day. Jacqueline was playing with Noah, 
pretending to tip him upsidedown, and he was giggling, loving it.

I told Jacqueline that we were heading home and she nodded. "Yeah, me too. I told Ebs 
I'd be home by six."



THE NIGHT

Astrid launched at us soon as we walked in the door.

"Mommy, I got an A on my physics exam!"

That was Astrid. She struggled with physics sometimes, and she'd been studying hard for 
this exam. She and Scully had been sitting up late some nights going over the textbook 
together.

"And Andrea said I could come ice-skating with them on Saturday night. Can I, please, 
please, please Mommy?"

"We're going to Grandmas for dinner on Saturday."

"But I want to go ice-skating!"

I saw Scully thinking about it. "We'll talk about it."

Astrid spent another ten minutes or so following us around the house as we unpacked and 
started on dinner, telling us about her day, her friends, and the plans she was 
endlessly making. Only when she finally ran out of things to say and ran off to catch a 
documentary on TV did Josh get a chance.

"I got a prize for my oil paintings. The miniatures."

"A school prize?"

"No. State-wide."

"Oh, Joshie.." Scully hugged him. "You're incredible, you know that? We're so proud of 
you."

Grinning broadly, I gave him a high five. He smiled shyly, then slipped away quietly, 
but I knew how much it meant to him, and to us. Despite his brilliance, it was always 
struggle for Josh. 


Josh and I headed down the road to the park after dinner. We were only a few doors down 
from the apartment block when Astrid came running after us, piggybacking Erin.

"Mommy said we could come too."

Astrid was a strong hitter and had a good pitching arm, but mostly on nights like this 
she and Erin loved just playing chasings around and wrestling on the grass under the 
fluorescent lights.

Given how quietly he always tried to exist, I always worried a little when I tried to 
coach Josh that he was only there because he felt pressured. It was just like Josh to 
agree to something because he didn't want to disappoint.

"No, he likes baseball, Daddy," Astrid reassured me one day. "He likes when you go and 
throw balls n' stuff. Don't worry that he's quiet, that's just Josh."

I gave Josh some pointers on his pitching and we practiced for a while, then Astrid 
called Josh to join in some running game she and Erin were playing. The three of them 
were spreadeagled and out of breath on the grass when a shadow was thrown on the field. 
I turned, surprised to see Scully, Hannah on her hip.

"What are you doing here?"

"It's not too cold out, I thought we'd come for a walk. You don't want us missing out 
on all the fun, do you?"

Hannah reached out to me and Scully handed her over. I smiled at my little girl as she 
started probing my face, watching me with those dark, curious eyes.

Scully surveyed the kids, smiling, hands on hips. "They should sleep well tonight."

I called Astrid over, and passed Hannah to her, then I grabbed the baseball bat and 
tossed it to Scully.

"Batter up, Scully."

She smiled widely. "Really?"

"Yup. You remember how it's done?"

"I learned from the best."


A slow, comfortable walk back to the apartment, Scully and I side by side with Erin 
sleepy against my shoulder, Hannah in Scully's arms. The kids were just ahead, still 
running on adrenalin.

Scully pauses. "Look at the stars. The sky is so clear tonight."

"Twinkle twinkle," Erin murmured, half-asleep.


Erin and Hannah into bed first, Josh and Astrid fighting over the basin as they brushed 
their teeth. Pyjamas on, yawning. 

Josh already in his bed, lamp on and book open on his lap. He only discovered my copy 
of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park yesterday, and he's already halfway through.

"Don't read for too long, okay?"

"I won't," he promises, not looking up from the page.

Erin is firmly tucked into the lower bunk. She's out like a light. I brush the red hair 
away from her flushed face. She's still blocked up and snoring loudly. Astrid can't 
complain, she snores too.

"Night Daddy." Astrid leans over the edge of the bunk to peck my cheek. I pull the 
covers over her. "Mom will be in in a minute to say good night."

A yawn and a nod. "See you in the morning."

I take over with Hannah while Scully says goodnight to the others. She's sucking 
sleepily away at a bottle of warmed formula. Her eyelids droop and the bottle starts to 
slip from her hands, then she shakes herself awake, trying to finish it. She manages 
somehow, but she's sound asleep by the time she's down in the cot. 

A quick shower before bed. Once again, I'm standing at the bedroom door, towelling my 
hair dry as I watch Scully. She's in her pyjamas already, pulling the covers back. She 
sees me and smiles.

"Hey."

"Hey," I answer her.

She moves over to where I am, reaching for the lightswitch. The room is dark, there's 
just the moonlight coming through the window.

She stands facing me, and stretching on tip-toes, she kisses me, and she takes me by 
the hand.


fin.


What, you didn't believe the title? Oh, yea of little faith!!!
Yes, I know it's been a while, folks. I didn't really have any intention of continuing 
this series, at least in large installments, but I recently made the mistake of 
starting to reread one of my earlier TGP installments, and then I read the one after, 
and so on, and so on. And generally came to the impression that it's all been a bit 
angsty. While I know we all love our MSR with lashings of angst, I thought as a little 
gift (if there are any readers still left out there, otherwise, happy birthday to moi!) 
I would give the poor family a break and just let them live normal lives.

And what can I say - I miss them all!

arc :)

20/11/04
arcadianfalls@yahoo.com.au