The Park, Saturday afternoon

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully had taken her laptop outside -- it was cold, but too pretty to stay inside when there was wifi to be had. Typing away on one of the park benches, she considered whether a run out to the Cove would be a good idea for later.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

[for Scully spawn, but open for all your park needs too.]

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[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

There was a little boy, chasing ducks. Or being chased by a flamingo. One or the other.

At some point he turned around saw Scully, and yelled, "MOM! WATCH!" And proceeded to run away from the flamingo, around and around another park bench.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully looked up, briefly, and frowned at the spectacle. Then looked around for the boy's mother.

Not seeing anyone, she frowned again. What if the flamingo caught the little boy? Did flamingos bite?

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

No, but they did poke, and whap little boys on the head with their wings when they caught them. "OW. MOMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Mommy would show him. She was awesome like that. "HEEELLLLP!"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Okay, that was enough, even if he had been bothering the birds. Scully put her computer down and marched over, waving her arms and jacket at the flamingo. "Back to the pond with you. He's little. C'mon. Move it!"

The flamingo expressed its opinion on that, loudly, fluttering its wings.

"Shoo!"

It shoo'd, finally, and Scully sighed, turning back to the little boy. "You shouldn't tease them like that."

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

"I was just playin'," William said, scuffing his feet. "Mommy, can we go get cocoa? With marshmallows?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"Um..." Scully stared at the little boy; three, maybe four, but definitely old enough to know his own mother, for pete's sake. "I'm not your Mommy, sweetheart. Why do you think I am?"

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

"You're Mommy, and you're silly," William said, giggling. "Mommy, where's Daddy? Is he at the FBI?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully stared.

What the... "Honey? Can you tell me your name?"

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

"WILLIAM FINN SCULLY!" He shouted loudly, then snickered. "Daddy has a different name, why? We should make him be Scully!"

[glacial-kidlets.livejournal.com]

Della had wandered away from the group of children still clustered around the Gate or whatever that had brought them here. She was still very lost and confused; had she gone to another Territory? Or another Realm, even? This was too colorful and bright for Hell, but maybe Terreille? She didn't know much about it, even though Kaeleer and Terreille had opened their borders again after the war.

Circling the park, Della had been drawn to the sounds of laughing and yelling. There was an older female on a bench, perhaps she could offer Della some information? Reaching up to clutch her Summersky Jewel, she quietly walked over to her. "'Scuse me," she said politely. "Could you tell me what District and Territory I'm in, please?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully looked up from her computer, and blinked at the little girl in front of her. Her voice automatically softened more than usual. "Are you lost?" Had the Island done something? Had the little girl wandered in from some other world? "You're on Fandom Island. In Maryland, in the United States of America." District and territory... that sounded very vaguely familiar.

[glacial-kidlets.livejournal.com]

"I don't know any of those places," Della fretted. "Are they in Kaeleer? Close to Glacia?"

Her geography was getting better, now that Aunt-Lady Karla had fancy tutors coming in to teach her, but those didn't sound even the least bit familiar.

"Or the Keep, perhaps? I'm very lost and my guardian will be worried about me," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, though a slight waver had snuck in towards the end there.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully saw the jewel now, and that with those place names was familiar enough for her to figure it out. Poor little kid. What had happened, that she'd ended up so far from home?

"I think I know someone who can help you get home, sweetie. She's from Glacia, and she goes to school on this island," she said, keeping her voice even and calm. "This is a safe place, there's nothing to be afraid of here. My name's Dana Scully. What's yours?"

[glacial-kidlets.livejournal.com]

"Della," Della said softly, dropping a quick curtsy. "Pleased to meet you, Lady Scully. I'm from Glacia, too."

She'd said this was an island. Perhaps the island that used to belong to the Dark Council?

...She'd leave off any comments about this being a safe place. Even now, a year or so after the war had ended, Della was still a bit wary.

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely from Karla's world. William was now pretending to be an airplane, zooming by, and Scully was fighting a huge amount of cognitive dissonance.

"Let me just call her, real quick, and see if she can't come here," Dana said, pulling out her phone and dialing Karla's number. The little girl seemed too upset, even though she was handling it well, to just take her somewhere without confirmation first.

*ring*

[glacial_queen]

It took Karla a minute or two to hear her phone ringing over the various crying-talking-giggling-shouting children that had invaded her room. They were at...six, at her last count? Though only four of them were currently claiming her as a mother, thank the Darkness.

"Hello?" she asked, sounding just the sliiiiightest bit frazzled as she answered her phone. "And please speak up. There's a lot of background noise for you to fight again--Nommy! Do not pull your sister's hair! Any of them!"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

She almost hated to do this to Karla, but another look at Della's trying-to-be-brave face, and Scully steeled herself. "Hi, it's Scully. I don't know exactly what's going on, but there's a little girl from Glacia here in the park. She's very worried and it sounds like she's never been away from home, she's never heard of here, so I told her I'd call you."

She looked over as William started to climb up on the bench, and prepare to leap off the back. She made a grab for his arm, and held him in place. "Is this normal, Karla? Little kids just showing up?"

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

Bruce had two children in tow when he spotted one of the redheads he had been watching out for. "Dana!" he called out. "I have something for you."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Dana had by now checked her phone messages (http://showmetheproof.livejournal.com/2161.html?thread=73841) and been trying not to hyperventilate about (a) having another child, and (b) having said child wander out of a police station. Good grief.

So this wasn't as unwelcome as it could've been. Only... "Which one?" she asked anxiously, looking from the little boy to the little girl. "And how did you find them?"

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"The girl. And they found me," Bruce said. "Don't let her have a puppy."

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

"Daddeeeeee," Melinda complained, then skipped over to give her mom a hug. "Hi, Mommy. You weren't in your room at the school!" She pointed at the redheaded little boy. "Who's he?"

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

She and Bruce. Bruce and she...? OW. Scully blinked a great deal, returned the hug, and absently said, "That's your brother William. He's three. And what's your name, sweetheart?"

[scullyscions.livejournal.com]

"Melinda Wayne Scully," Melinda said, confused. Bruce having taken this much more in stride now had her looking as puzzled as Scully. "Is this more Science, again? Is Aunt Claudia around?"

Yes, there was a connection between those thoughts.

[willbethenight.livejournal.com]

"I tried to explain alternate universes," Bruce explained to Scully. "Yes, science."

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

"That would do it," she said, then, "Aunt Claudia? Donovan? She's around somewhere. And no, I don't think she did this. It just kind of... happened." She glanced over at the little boy. "And your name is...?"