From: dreamland_1013@hotmail.com
Date: 24 Sep 2003 10:24:23 -0700
Subject: [atxc-pi] NEW: Hopelessly Romantic (1/1) (0/5)
Source: atxc
 
Title: Hopelessly Romantic (1/1) 
Author: MeGgiE_42 
Author Email: dreamland_1013@hotmail.com 
Status: NEW - Standalone 
Size: 132k 
Rating: PG-13 
Archive at Gossamer: *NO ARCHIVE* at Gossamer/Ephemeral 
Category: Story , Romance, Friendship, Humor, Angst 
Keywords: None 
Pairings: Mulder/Scully friendship and romance 
Spoilers: Everything up to and including Season 8. :) 

Summary: A little bit of everything, a lot a bit of shippyness. ;) 
 
Part 1
Please see part 0 (template) for warnings and summary.

Title: Hopelessly Romantic (Part 1/2)

Author: MeGgiE42

Rating: PG-13ish

Spoilers: Um, let's just say everything up through 

season 8

Category: MSR (Warning-shippiness ahead! :P) a little bit of humor,
little bit of angst, some fluff, a sort-of X-file, familyfic...lets
just say a little bit of everything (just to be on safe side :-)

Dislcaimer: Not mine, wish they were, anything and everything XF
belongs to CC and 1013, I'm just another phile fulfilling my shippy
dreams...*G*

Author's notes: It took me over a year to write this fic, but I can
say I'm pleased with the results. ;) Please drop me a line if you have
a chance! Happy reading!!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Mulder quickly glanced at his watch. He would have to hurry if he
wanted to get home before Scully did. After picking up the stuffed
teddy bear William had accidentally dropped, Mulder went over the list
in his head: Candles-check. Scully's favorite bubble bath-check.  The
list went on. Good, he thought only a quick stop at Baby Gap and they
were finished.

"Come on Will, let's us guys go pick out some 'manly clothes' for
tonight." Mulder laughed as the baby yawned. "Don't worry I promise I
won't take as long as mommy!" he whispered, referring to the countless
hours he had spent trailing after Scully store after store in search
of the perfect baby outfit.

Although he would never admit it, he rather enjoyed shopping with
Scully.  He loved that look on her face when she had finally found the
little grey t-shirt that she had been looking for all day.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

42 minutes and five shopping bags later, Mulder and a sleepy William
were on their way home. He hadn't intended on buying so much. He
couldn't help it that his son was so cute. Jenny, the lady working the
cash register, was no help either.

Oh well, Scully would be pleased.

Closing the front door, Mulder glanced at the clock. Good, still an
hour before Scully got home. Quickly Mulder went to work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

56 minutes later...

Finally he was finished. And with four minutes to spare! Carefully he
made one quick check to make sure everything was in place.

Quickly slipping something into his pocket, Mulder picked up William
just as the door opened.

Scully opened the door and was greeted with the most amazingly,
breathtaking sight she had ever seen. There, in a haze of classical
music stood Mulder handsomely clad in a recently pressed tuxedo.

In his left hand he held a dozen red roses. In the other arm, was
William-dressed in a matching tuxedo complete with a small rose
carefully taped below the small pocket.

"I didn't want to take the chance with pins," Mulder smiled following
her gaze. "Scotch tape, it works magic."

"Mulder-" Scully said deeply touched.

"Shh," he said handing her the roses and taking her hand, "first
follow me."

Curious, Scully obeyed. She was slightly surprised when Mulder stopped
in from of the bathroom door. Scully raised her eyebrow in a
questioning look.

"According to a few neighbors there's been some 'unexplained
phenomena' going on in there." The corner of Mulder's mouth turned up
as his eyes took on that playful look. "Maybe you should check it out
G-women."

Shaking her head, Scully turned the knob, only to be greeted by a
second amazing sight. Lining the bathtub and window sill was a
beautiful array of candles. Their bright light bounced around the
comfortable blackness they engulfed, illuminating the inviting bubble
bath.

"Mulder I-" gently Mulder put a finger to her lips.

"Relax first. Talk later." He grinned giving her forehead a kiss.
Shaking her head, Scully turned and closed the door, knowing she was
defeated. A nice bubble bath was just what she needed to soothe her
aching joints.

A half an hour later, Scully let out a contented sigh as she 
wrapped herself in the soft bathrobe Mulder had left folded 
neatly by the door. After putting on her slippers, another 
'Mulder-gift', she began blowing out the nearly thirty candles 
lining her bathroom. 'Where had Mulder found them all?' She 
hadn't realized she had that many. A few of them she hadn't 
seen for a long time. Come to think of it, many of them she 
had never seen before. 

Scanning the room, her eyes fell on a rather large candle she 
knew she had never seen before. Walking over to get a closer 
look, Scully picked it up. It was in the shape of an alien's 
head. The light from the flame seemed to radiate from the top 
of the grey-not green-head. Scully couldn't help but laugh. 
'This has GOT to be a conspiracy' she thought. 

She was about to put it down when she realized there was 
something taped to the back. Turning the candle around Scully 
found another very 'Mulder-like' object taped to the back of 
the alien. Arranged carefully in the shape of a heart were 
eight very large sunflower seeds. In its middle was a note 
written in Mulder's handwriting, it said: 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

'Kitchen' 

Curious, Scully quickly blew out the remaining candles and 
proceeded to the kitchen, little Grey in hand. She was halfway 
there when Mulder appeared in the doorway. 

"Madam, your dinner awaits you," he bowed grinning towards the 
table. Scully raised an eyebrow following his gesture. Stepping 
through the door she stopped short, almost causing Mulder to run 
into her. The kitchen had been transformed from its everyday 
demeanor into an elegant dream. A black lace tablecloth laid 
spread across the table. In its center stood a single red rose. 
Across from each other, were two plates filled with a fresh 
Cesar salad. 

"Mulder where did all this come from?" Scully asked fingering 
the black lace. 

"The, uh, tablecloth belonged to my mother, and I found the 
china on the top shelf of the cabinet." Mulder said pointing 
shyly. 

"It's up so high I guess I just kind of forgot they were up
there..." she trailed off, "Mulder this is amazing." 

He took her hand and led her to her seat. "Unfortunately 
William will not be joining us, seeing as how it is way past 
his bedtime." Mulder grinned, "But he said to tell you good 
night." 

They finished the rest of the meal in comfortable silence. 
Once during the main course (pasta) Mulder reached over to 
wipe some sauce from Scully's chin. The gesture seemed 
somehow oddly familiar to her. 

"Wow Mulder, I've got to hand it to you; I didn't know you
were such a great cook." 

"I told you Scully, Oprah. Lots and lots of Oprah." She 
laughed as he added, "And a little help from Mrs. Scully." 

"Come on," he said taking her hand. 

"Where are we going?" 

"You'll see," he said a sly look on his face. 

Leading her to the living room, Mulder changed the song. 
"Scully?" He held out a hand. He didn't need to finish his 
sentence as she fell comfortably into his warm embrace. 
Laying her head on his shoulder, Scully closed her eyes and 
listened to the words of the song. 

'Tomorrow morning if you wake up 
and the sun does not appear. 
I-I-I, I will be here. 
If in the dark we loose sight of love, 
hold my hand and have no fear. 
'Cause I-I-I, I will be here' 

As the chorus started, she realized just how perfect this 
was. How much she never wanted to leave his arms. 

'I will be here, when you feel like being quiet 
when you need to speak your mind, I will listen. 
And I will be here when the laughter turns to cryin' 
through the winning, losing, tryin' 
We'll be together. 
Cause I will be here' 

Mulder closed his eyes letting himself sink into the moment. 

'Tomorrow morning if you wake up, and the future is unclear 
hold my hand and have no fear. Cause I-I-I, I will be here. 
As sure as seasons are made for change, 
our lifetimes are made for years. 
So I-I-I, I will be here. 

I will be here, and you can cry on my shoulder 
when the new tells us we're older, 
I will hold you. 
And I will be here, 
to watch you grow in beauty, 
and tell you all the things you are to me, 
I will be here.' 

As the last few chords sounded, Mulder was the first to pull 
back, "Scully, there's something I have to tell you." 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Regretfully, Scully let go. "Mulder, what is it?" At Mulder's 
pause, Scully looked concerned, "Mulder?" 

He took a deep breath and began, "Scully, you've been here 
for me through more than either of us could have ever imagined. 
I just wanted to thank you." He paused for a second, "and tell 
you that you mean more to me than anything else in this world." 
He smiled, gently touching her face and added, "or any other 
world for that matter!" 

At this Scully couldn't help but laugh. 

"And no matter what life throws at us, I *promise* that I will 
*always* be here for you." Mulder finished, tears in his eyes. 
"You and William are my all...my life." 

Scully could not hold it back any longer; she let the tears 
flow freely. 

"Mulder," she paused staring deeply into his beautiful hazel 
eyes. What she saw there took her breath away.  It was a look 
of complete trust. One of deep devotion and total love. It was 
a look she knew well. It was the same way she looked at Mulder. 
Funny how she had never really noticed it until now. 

"Mulder," she repeated, "I feel the same way. We've both 
been through so much..." her voice caught and she paused 
for a second before continuing, "But in the end, through 
all our losses, we've gained the one true thing that really 
matters..." 

"Each other." Mulder finished the sentence for her, grinning 
through tear-stained eyes. He held up their entwined hands, 
giving hers a soft kiss. 

"There's just one more thing," he said lowering their grasp. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What is it, Mulder?" she asked, her eyes sparkling. 

"Over eight years ago when you first walked into my office 
I thought you were going to hold me back, to try and stop me 
from finding my sister. Then case after case, through seven 
years of aliens and governments plots, you changed me. You 
made me a whole person. You saved me not only from the FBI, 
but from myself. And day after day you kept me going, you were 
my reason for waking up. I realize now if it wasn't for you 
and Will I would have no reason to get out of bed in the morning. 
I would be a lonely, alien-obsessed nutcase if you hadn't kept 
me sane. You were with me though everything. As many times as 
they shut down the X-Files, you worked just as hard to reopen 
them. I just want you to know that I love you." 

"Oh, Mulder, I love you to. I always have," she replied with 
tears in her eyes. 

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, velvet box. 
"Dana Katherine Scully, will you marry me?" 

"Oh, Mulder..." she paused with a sweet smile on her face. 
The suspense was killing him. "Of course I will!" 

He picked her and swung her around. When he put her down, he 
kissed her lovingly. She kissed him back, grabbed his hand 
and led him towards the bedroom. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They were halfway there, when Scully stopped- noticing the, 
now familiar, candle sitting on the coffee table. "I just 
have to ask you something first." 

Mulder looked at her with a somewhat confused/scared look 
on his face. ~Please don't let her say she's changed her 
mind~ 

"Where in the world did you get that?" He laughed, half 
out of relief and half out of amusement. 

"I abducted him." Mulder said deadpan. They both burst out 
laughing. Suddenly he put his arms around her waist, giving 
her a nice big kiss on the lips. "Did I ever tell you how 
beautiful you look?" 

"Mulder, I'm in a bathrobe!" 

"I know, what's your point?" He grinned, arms still 
wrapped around her in a loving embrace. 

"Mulder, did I ever tell you how incredible you are?" She 
smiled kissing him back. Instead of answering her, Mulder 
picked her up and continued towards the bedroom, when 
suddenly there was a noise... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was coming from William's room. 

They rushed to the door and opened it. William was still 
in his crib and nothing seemed out of place. He was still 
asleep so it couldn't have been anything loud or he would 
have awoken. They walked back to the bedroom, satisfied that 
is was nothing. They had no sooner shut the door, and they 
heard it again. They ran out and they saw the shadow of 
a person in William's room. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder lunged at the figure, hitting it with full force. The 
two fell in a heap on the floor. Scully ran to William's crib. 
After making sure he was fine, she turned back to Mulder and 
the intruder. 

In the dark, Mulder couldn't tell who it was. Scully turned on 
the light, and Mulder turned the struggling figure to face him. 

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Mulder yelled angrily 
at the man in front of him. Somehow he looked strangely familiar. 
Now that he thought about it, he kind of looked like- 

"Charlie?" Scully ran over, getting a closer look at the man 
Mulder had pinned. 

"What?" Mulder asked confused. 

"Mulder, this is my other brother, Charlie." She said offering 
him a hand. Confused she turned to her brother, "What are you 
doing here?" 

"I-I was just coming to offer my congratulations, and see for 
myself, but-" he stopped turning towards man standing 
protectively next to his sister, "You must be Mulder. I've 
heard a lot about you." He held out his hand, "nice to meet you." 

Shaking Charlie's hand, Mulder smiled, "I'm sorry about 
the whole tackle thing." 

"No problem," Charlie grinned, "It's nice to know my sister 
has someone so loyal to watch her back. She wasn't kidding 
either!" He rubbed his shoulder. 

"Like I said, I'm really sorry. In our line of work you 
always have to on guard." Mulder apologized. 

"No harm done," Charlie smiled at the two of them, "I don't 
blame you with everything you guys have been through!" 

"Charlie, how did you get in here?" Scully asked taking 
Mulder's hand. 

"The door was unlocked," Charlie paused glancing towards 
his sister's movement, "I knocked, but no one answered. I 
figured you were probably asleep, so I was just going to 
peak a look at my nephew and then leave this." He pointed to 
a beautifully wrapped gift in the corner. "I should probably 
go now." He turned to pick up his fallen coat. Charlie gave 
Scully a hug, and shook Mulder's hand. "I'll be staying with 
mom, so we'll probably see you soon." With that he moved 
towards the door. "Nice meeting you Mulder. Bye sis, call me 
in the morning." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They stood there for a while starting at the door after 
Charlie had left. 

"What is it?" Mulder asked, reading Scully's expression. He 
could see the 'Scully-wheels' turning. 

"What?" Scully asked, absentmindedly. 

"You just had that look in your eyes." He kissed her hand. 

"What look?" Scully smiled. 

"That 'there-has-got-to-be-an-rational-explanation-here' 
look," he laughed, "but I don't see why, I haven't said 
anything pertaining to work since, oh yesterday." 
She laughed shaking her head, "It's nothing. I was just 
surprised to see Charlie." 

"Ah, the invisible brother isn't so invisible." Mulder 
grinned. 

"We haven't seen each other in over eight years. I was 
e-mailing him for a while, but after we went back to 
Oregon... " Scully trailed off, not wanting to bring back 
the painful memories. 

"Well, at least I seem to have hit it off with him better 
that Bill." Mulder said lightening the mood. He knew how 
hard it was for her to think about it. He hated himself 
every time he had to see her face when she remembered his 
abduction. When she hurt, he hurt a thousand times more. 
All he wanted to do was make her happy. No matter what 
happened, he was never going to leave her side again. 

Scully laughed. Leave it to Mulder to find a way to 
cheer her up. She was so lucky to have him back. He was 
here, and she was never going to let him leave her sight 
again. 

"Well, anyway," she said taking Mulder's other hand, 
"where were we?" 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
He kissed her right hand. "Were we here or..." He then 
kissed her lips, "or here?" 

"I think we were right here." She kissed his lips back. 

"That's what I thought." 

************************ 

Mulder was awakened at 2 o'clock by a fussy William. He 
rolled out of bed and said tiredly to a still asleep Scully, 
"I'll get him." He realized she wasn't awake and went quickly 
to William's room before he woke her up. 

He pick the small child up and carried him to the kitchen 
where he heated up a bottle of milk. When Mulder tried to 
give him the bottle he wouldn't take it. 

"Come on, buddy." 

William just looked at him like ~Where's my mom?~ 

"Please take your bottle, I don't want to wake your mom up." 

Almost as if he understood William took he bottle and cooed 
happily. 

"Thanks, Will. You mommy's really tired." Mulder smiled to 
himself think of the night before. It was perfect. He loved 
her so much. 

He put William back down and went back to bed. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amused, Scully watched as Mulder desperately tried not to 
wake her up. Slowly and cautiously he picked his way through 
the various pieces of clothing that littered the usually 
spotless bedroom. He finally made it to the bed and sat down. 

"Morning poopyhead," Scully smiled sleepily. 

Startled Mulder jumped up, tripping over his shoe that lie 
on the floor beneath him. Regaining his composure, he sat 
down next to her. "Morning yourself, honeybunch." he 
emphasized the last word, letting it linger on his tongue 
for a few seconds, then grinned. "Sleep well?" he asked 
leaning down to give her a kiss. 

Scully grinned and kissed him back, "Just spooned up and 
fell asleep like little baby cats." 

Mulder raised an eyebrow, "next thing you know we'll be 
hearing muddy footprints, and be bombarded by your 
'friendly neighbors'." He laughed and crawled over to the 
other side of the bed. 

Scully sighed contentedly; resting in the arms of the man 
she loved. Everything was just so perfect. So right. 

Mulder held her close, nestling his head in the soft red 
of her hair. He could not believe that he could be so lucky. 
To have this amazing women- his partner, best friend, and 
soon to be wife- laying here next to him. She had stayed 
with it through it all. No matter how insane or ridiculous 
his theories got. How horrible, difficult, or just plain 
out weird, things became, she had stayed with him through 
it all. He loved her more than words could describe, and 
vowed to never let anything bad happen to her again. 

As she slowly drifted off to sleep, Scully smiled thinking 
of everything that had happened in the last two days. Through 
all they had been through, for as long as she had wanted to 
tell him so badly how she felt, things were now perfect. 
Wrapped in Mulder, with Will sleeping peacefully in the room 
next to them, Scully was happy just being, just existing in 
this perfect moment. 

Mulder planted a soft kiss on the nape of her neck. There 
was only one thing to think about now... plans for the 
wedding... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They had different views on the wedding. Scully wanted a 
big, traditional Catholic wedding in a church, where as 
Mulder wanted a small, private wedding on the beach in 
Martha's Vineyard with only the closest friends and family. 
It was the one thing that they disagreed on. 

Mulder got up as Scully fell back to sleep and went into the 
living room, grabbing his wallet off the bedside table on his 
way in. He sat down on he couch and pulled a picture out of 
his wallet. It was a picture of Samantha. He thought about 
how if it weren't for her being abducted he never would have
met Scully, and his life would be so very different. He felt 
guilty, almost as if he was glad all of it had happened. He 
had spent so long trying to find her, he never noticed how 
much Scully meant to him until after he found out the truth 
about Samantha. 

As he set there, his head in his hands, Scully slowly opened 
the bedroom door. She looked out and saw him with tears in 
his eyes. Her eyes fell on the picture lying next to him. She 
caught her breath. Samantha. She knew how much he would have 
wanted her to be a part of all this. Instead, all he could do 
was imagine that she was. 

She went over and gave him a comforting hug. He looked at her 
with an eternally grateful look in his eyes. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder took one last glance at the worn photo before placing 
it back into his wallet. They sat there in silence for a few 
seconds before she spoke, "Mulder," she said softly placed 
her hand on his, "I wish she could be here too." She wished 
all of Mulder's family could be there. Scully knew how much 
his mother would have loved to see her only son finally settle 
down and live something approaching a normal life. She would 
have been proud. 

Mulder smiled faintly. He knew that Scully really meant it. 
The search for Samantha had become just as much Scully's quest 
as it had been his the day she stepped foot in that office. 

Scully gave him another comforting hug. She pulled back, 
placing her forehead on his. A gesture he had done more times 
than she could remember. She knew how reassuring it always was 
for her. It meant that no matter what happened he was always 
there for her, and they would get through whatever it was that
life had decided to throw at them this time. 

After a few minutes, Mulder took a deep breath and gave her a 
genuine smile. Scully's heart leapt. Even after eight years, 
all that they had been through, and now even being engaged, 
that smile brought more joy and comfort to her that anything 
else in the world. 

He took her face in his hands and gave her a soft kiss, "Now," 
he said with a glint in his eye, "how are we going to tell 
Bill?"... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully groaned, causing Mulder to laugh. 

"I never even thought about his reaction!" 

Mulder thought for a moment before he asked, "How old is 
Matthew now?" 

Scully looked surprised that Mulder remembered about her 
nephew and laughed. "I honestly don't remember. I feel 
terrible! I guess he would be about 4 or so." 

They set there laughing for a moment, then Mulder stood 
up and walked to Will's room. The child was still sleeping
peacefully.  He walked back over and sat down on the couch. 
He put his arms around her waist and she laid back on his 
stomach. She felt so safe, so protected, like nothing bad 
could ever happen. She decided there was no reason to tell 
him about her dream. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They lay for a long time. Mulder with his arms wrapped 
lovingly and protectively around her. Scully with her 
head resting contentedly on his chest. 

The dream had been so real. She hadn't even known it was 
a dream until she had awakened as Mulder went to 
check on Will. It had been of Samantha and Will. 

In her dream she and Mulder had been asleep in bed, 
Scully wrapped in Mulder's arms-just as it had been when 
she had fallen asleep that night. Suddenly there was a 
loud noise and both she and Mulder awoke, startled. 

The dream continued with Mulder telling her that he would 
check it out, and not to worry. Of course she had refused 
to be left in bed, following him towards the source of the 
sound. It had come from Will's bedroom. 

Taking his gun off the dresser, Mulder would slowly creep 
towards the baby's room. 

Just the thought of what, or who, it was in there with their 
son had left Scully's heart racing, even after she had woke up. 

They would get to the door, and Mulder would slowly push it 
open. The normally comforting *creeeeeaaaak* of the wooden 
door seemed dangerous and forewarning this time. 

At this point Scully thought how much her dream resembled 
that night, when Charlie had pulled his surprise visit. 
Maybe that was what brought on the dream... 

They would finally get the door open, by this time Scully 
had her gun poised and ready too. Mulder held up his hand, 
motioning for her to wait while he made sure it was clear. 
She could hear her heart pounding in her ear. Just as 
Mulder stepped through the door Scully caught a glimpse 
of a figure as it lunged at him. 

"MULDER!" she screamed as the figure came down on him 
with a loud *thud*. 

As she looked up there was a flash of lightening (funny, 
she hadn't even realized that it was raining...) and as 
she watched a face appeared for a brief second flashing 
across the window frame. She took in a sharp breath. Until 
now she had not realized whom the face had belonged to. But 
now it was unmistakable, it had been Samantha- and it 
appeared as if she was trying to tell her something... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Scully, what is it?" gently, Mulder laid a hand 
on her cheek. 

With a start, Scully was brought back to the present. 
He had noticed that she had a strange, almost painful 
look on her face. 

"What? Oh, nothing..." she replied snuggling closer to 
her partner. 

"Come on now," Mulder looked doubtful, "I know that 
look Scully, and it never means 'nothing'." He smiled 
prompting her to elaborate. 

"No really Mulder," she smiled hoping that it would 
convince him it really was nothing that was that 
important. "I was just thinking...you know about the 
wedding," she lied. 

There was no reason to get Mulder upset about a silly 
dream. When she thought about it, there was really no 
reason that SHE should be upset. But then again... 
Mulder's words came back to her in a flood of memories. 

He had once said that dreams were only answers to 
questions  we hadn't yet figured out how to ask... 

"Oh, why? Have you finally decided that MY idea about 
an outdoor wedding is better than yours?" Mulder teased, 
hoping to get her spirits up. "Or where you just thinking 
about the wedding NIGHT?" He wagged his eyebrows at her. 

Scully hit him playfully with a couch pillow and laughed. 
Leave it up to Mulder to always make her feel better. 

"Why Agent Scully," he gasped in mock astonishment 
pretending to be deathly injured by the two-foot sack 
of stuffing. 

"We are going to have to hold you here to keep those 
violent impulses of yours under control!" With that he 
grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to the floor, 
planting a big wet kiss on her lips. 

"You better watch out Mulder," Scully laughed, "I might 
have to send Bill after you." 

Mulder stared back in utter horror, shuddering at the 
thought of her big brother. 

Scully laughed again, patting him reassuringly on the 
head, "Don't worry, I wouldn't be THAT evil to you!" 
She grinned. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind the image of Samantha 
still lingered... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She fought the urge to laugh at Mulder's skepticism at 
her not Bill after him. She was still thinking about 
the dream when his voice interrupted her thoughts. 

"Why do you think Bill hates me so much?" 

She was about to say that Bill didn't hate him, but then 
decided against it. He did seem to hate Mulder. "I think... 
I think it's because after my dad died he seemed to want to 
carry on his job of pushing me to do what was right, what 
they thought was best for me. I mean, my father was so upset 
when I decided to go into the FBI and gave up my career in 
medicine, he thought it was the end of the world. I was his 
little Starbuck, his favorite. I mean, I know he tried not 
to show favorites, but I knew it and so did my siblings. He 
always wanted what was best for me, and I think Bill is just 
trying to do the same." 

"What would your dad think of us, I mean us as in me and you 
together, not as Agents Mulder and Scully?" 

She had tears in her eyes as she replied, "He would be so 
proud that I finally found the life I always wanted, with 
a man that he knows will treat me as good as, if not better 
than, he did. That would be enough for him. That's all he 
ever wanted." 

This was the first time they had really ever talked about 
her father. She was glad to get it out. She knew everything 
about Mulder's life, or what she thought was everything. Now 
he knew more about her. She knew he would be proud of his 
little Starbuck. Yet something was still wrong..... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder wished Scully's father could be there. 

He knew how much it would have meant, to both of them, to 
have Ahab walk his little Starbuck down the isle. 

He noticed that she seemed to be thinking about something. 
Her brow wrinkled, deep in thought. 

"C'mon Scully," Mulder teased, holding up the pillow she 
had thrown at him, "don't make me beat it out of you." 

"Mulder REALLY, it's nothing," she said exasperated. 

She jumped up taking his hand, "Let's go check on William." 

Mulder grinned and took her hand. 'I wonder what's bothering
 her' the thought to himself. 'Oh well, it must not be 
anything too bad. Otherwise she would have told me by 
now...right?' 

Suddenly thoughts of Scully's cancer flooded into his mind 
causing him to stop, jerking Scully back with him. 

"Mulder?" Scully looked at him concerned, "Are you ok?" 
She felt his forehead for a temperature. He seemed normal. 

"Oh, sorry Scully," He said realizing that he had pulled 
her back when he had stopped walking. 

"I...it's just that." he paused, "I just have to know...
the thing you keep telling me is just 'nothing'? The 
cancer it's not..." He swallowed hard. 

Quickly, Scully stopped him, "No! I mean, no. Mulder it's 
not anything like that!" She saw the look of relief flood 
Mulder's face. 

"It was just a dream," she put a reassuring hand on his 
shoulder. 

'What was I thinking?' she scolded herself, 'I should 
have told him. I feel terrible.'

"A dream?" Mulder asked letting out a relieved sigh. 

"Yeah, oh Mulder I feel awful, I shouldn't have made 
you worry." 

"That's Ok." He didn't care what it was, as long as it 
wasn't news that Scully's cancer had returned. 

Mulder leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips. 
She smiled- she was SO in love with this man. The dream 
was probably nothing. She guessed that it had just been 
brought on by all the excitement the night before. 

"C'mon," he grinned, "let's go check on the little guy." 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They quietly opened the door to Will's room so as not 
to wake him. Their attempt was quiet unsuccessful though. 
As soon as he heard the door creak, his lip quivered and 
he let out a wail. Scully walked over to him and picked 
him up. The child stopped crying almost instantly. Mulder 
walked up behind Scully, put his arms around her waist and 
looked over her shoulder at the little boy in her arms. A 
small smile appeared on Mulder's face as he looked at his 
new family. He, unlike Scully, had never wanted to settle 
down and have kids. Now he couldn't imagine his life any 
different. The problem was he knew that Scully wanted more 
children, as did he. ~We got a miracle once, maybe we can 
get another one.~ 

(Continued in part 2)
 
Part 2
See part 0 for header information.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully noticed his smile and grinned back. 

"Well, you've definitely got your fathers temper," She 
grinned giving Will a soft kiss on his fuzzy little head. 

"Yeah," Mulder put a finger to Will's tiny cheek adding, 
"Lonely and complaining, until you come into the room and 
make everything better again." 

Scully shook her head, "Yep, always have to be checking 
up on my boys, can't let them get lonely and complain-y 
now can I?" She grinned. 

She knew that Mulder had not really ever wanted to have 
kids or settle down with a family. But now the look in 
his eyes seemed to tell her different. ~At least she hoped~ 

She had wanted so badly to have children of her own... 
and to have them with Mulder made it a million times better. 
~Maybe after the wedding they could...no that was probably 
too much to hope for. But just maybe...~ 

The sound of Will's "baby snoring" brought her out of her 
daydreaming. 

"Here let me," Mulder said taking the tiny bundle from her 
arms and kissing her on the cheek. 

She handed Will to Mulder, taking in the perfect sight. 
She loved it when he held him. It was obvious that, 
although he thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, he 
wasn't *quite* comfortable yet.  Somehow, though, Scully 
new that what it took to be a daddy Mulder had without a 
doubt. It was as if he was made to be one, he was born 
with it. She could tell with a little more hands on 
experience, he would soon be a pro. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She giggled at the thought. ~Mulder, the man who chases 
after aliens, a baby-pro.~ 

Mulder noticed her grin and asked, "What's so funny?" 

"I can just see you with five little kids running around 
and....." She went into a fit of giggles. 

"Oh, having de'javou are we?" 

She looked confused for a minute and then just smiled. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder grinned at the thought. Five little Mulder/Scully 
clones running around. ~Wouldn't Bill love that~ 

Checking one last time to make sure Will was fast asleep, 
Mulder took Scully's hand and led her into the bedroom. 

Glancing at the clock, Scully realized that it was almost 
5 a.m. It's a good thing that today was Saturday. She 
wouldn't have to go in to work until Monday. 

Sitting Scully down on the bed Mulder whispered, "stay 
here, I'll be right back." 

~Hmm...I wonder what he's up to now~ 

"I was meaning to do this sooner," Mulder said entering the 
room carrying a tray full of orange juice, pancakes, and 
strawberries, "But we were uh, kinda interrupted." He 
grinned setting the tray on her lap. 

"Now is there any thing else I could get for you this 
morning ma'am," he spoke with a fake French accent. "Coffee 
perhaps? Tea?" 

Scully laughed and shook her head. "All I need is right 
here." Lifting the tray up, Scully scooted over and patted 
the bed beside her.  Mulder raised an eyebrow in mock 
astonishment and, still pretending to be French said, 
"Why miss, I believe my boss would not look to fondly on 
such a-" 

Scully interrupted him, by grabbing his arm and planting a 
soft kiss on his lips, adding with a grin, "I really don't 
think this is any of Skinner's business." 

Mulder burst out laughing at the sight of their boss's face 
if he were to walk in at this very moment. He sat down next 
to Scully, as she gave him a mouthful of strawberries and 
pancake. 

They sat in bed finishing their breakfast for the next half 
hour. Mulder with his arm lovingly wrapped around his 
fianc's waist. 

~Fianc~ Mulder couldn't believe it was true. He had never 
imagined that this would be a word he could use to describe 
Scully.  He couldn't wait until he could call her his *wife*. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

~It's hard to believe.~ Scully thought, wiping some 
strawberry sauce off of Mulder's face. ~In a few weeks, 
Mulder would officially be all hers.~ 

"Mulder?" Suddenly she realized that they hadn't set a 
date. For that matter they hadn't even told anybody yet! 

"Hmm?" he asked, to engrossed in licking strawberry off
of her finger to really pay much attention. 

"We should really get up." She laughed as he pouted and 
pretended to be sad. 

"Do we really have to Scully? Couldn't we just sleep 
until the wedding?" He teased. 

"We could, except we don't know when the wedding is yet." 
She countered back. "C'mon, I'll call Mom and invite them 
over for dinner tonight." 

As Mulder got up, he took the tray with him heading to 
the kitchen. 

Scully caught the look on his face and laughed, "And yes 
Mulder, Bill will have to be here too." He pretended to 
cry as she added, "Unfortunately he is my brother, and 
no matter how much I deny it I do still love him." 

Mulder cleaned off the tray and placed the dishes in the 
dishwasher before coming up behind her. "He may be your 
brother, but your *my* Scully, and he's not going to ruin 
our wedding." 

"Don't worry Mulder, I won't let him." She smiled before 
adding, "and I know my mom won't either!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Scully, I think we're overlooking one very important thing."
Mulder paused, then added, "when and where are we going to 
have this wedding?" 

Scully seemed to ponder this for a moment, "Well...when do 
you-" 

"As soon as possible!" Mulder didn't even give her a chance to 
finish.  Scully laughed at the look on his face. The look that 
quite plainly said I'm-not-giving-you-time-to-change-your-mind. 

"OK, well, time off won't be a problem, with my maternity leave, 
and your, well, you know, so it would probably be best to do it 
right away. Now the only question is where?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After much thought and a gallon of double fudge chocolate 
chunk ice cream, Mulder and Scully finally came to an 
agreement about the wedding. 

They compromised, deciding to have the wedding at Scully's 
church, and invite all that they wanted to. This was 
decided upon after Scully, and pretty soon Mulder, knew 
that Scully's mom would want to invite many of her friends 
to finally see her youngest daughter settle down with that 
"cute partner of hers" they always saw. 

Then, to make things fair, the reception would be held on 
the beach at Martha's Vineyard with only the closest friends 
and family. It was a little...different, but hey, Mulder 
and Scully were expected to have a "different" kind of 
wedding, right? 

Mulder let out a sigh. "I didn't know planning 
a wedding could be so..." 

"Fattening?" Scully interrupted, laughing as she held out 
the empty carton of ice cream. 

Suddenly they heard a noise from the Will's room indicating 
that the baby was awake, and was going to be awake for a 
while. 

"C'mon," Mulder said taking her hand and leading the way, 
"let's go get the little guy ready and then go pick up a 
few things at the store for tonight's 'dinner party'." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They walked into Will's room and Scully picked him up. 
She got him dressed while Mulder looked at her with sad 
eyes. "Are you going to dress me too, Scully?" 

She looked over at him and laughed. "Only if you're good." 

"We'll, then I guess I'd better dress myself," he reluctantly 
headed for the bedroom. 

************************ 

Seven hours, two grocery stores, and a mall later they 
returned home with their arms full of shopping bags. They 
had to make just the right meal to smooth things over will 
with Bill, but they didn't want to make things too perfect 
or they knew something was up as soon as they walked in. 

They put Will into bed for his nap, and started setting 
everything up. They decided to make lasagna and garlic 
bread with a salad. They finished making supper and setting 
the table right at seven o'clock right before the knock on 
the door announcing the arrival of Scully's family. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Taking a deep breath, Scully went to answer the door. 
'It's now or never.' she thought as her hand turned the knob. 

"Dana," Maggie Scully embraced her daughter with a warm hug, 
"It's so nice to see you." She paused, stepping into the room 
before adding a little too quietly, "We haven't seen much of 
you since William was born." 

Scully sighed. "Mom I-" She felt like a teenager who had just 
been caught sneaking back into the house after curfew. "I've 
just been really busy." she finished. 

Just as she had finished welcoming Bill, and was just about to 
give Charlie a hug, Mulder walked in. He was clad jeans and a 
dark gray sweater that looked very comfortable. Scully thought 
he looked great. They had decided not to dress to formally, or 
else her family would know what was up. 

"Fox," Mrs. Scully gave him a warm hug, smiling "It's so nice 
to see you again." 

"And as always," Mulder said, giving her his trademark grin and 
hugging her back, "it a pleasure to see you Mrs. Scully." 

She laughed, "Fox, you can call me Maggie you know." 

Mulder grinned shyly, as he noticed Bill glaring at him from the 
doorway. "Ok...Maggie" Mrs. Scully laughed again. 

'Leave it to Mulder' Scully thought, 'nobody can resist that 
charm!'

Her smile faded as she noticed Bill glaring at Mulder from 
the doorway. He hadn't said anything since Mulder had entered 
the room.  Forcing herself to ignore him, she invited everyone 
in. 

"Agent Mulder," Charlie offered a warm handshake. "It's 
nice to see you again." 

Mulder shook his hand offering a friendly smile. 'At least 
ONE of Scully's brothers liked him.' He wished Charlie was 
the one who lived close instead of Bill. 

"So," Maggie said sitting herself on the couch, "where's my 
grandson?" 

Scully laughed, "I'll go get him. I think he just woke up." 
Motioning for everyone to take a seat, she went to go get Will.
As she passed Mulder, she sent him a message with her eyes. 'Just 
ignore Bill. My mom and Charlie already love you! Just relax and 
have a good time.' 

With that she smiled and, while she was sure nobody was looking, 
blew him a kiss, which he grinned and pretended to stick in his 
pocket 'in case of emergency'. 

He turned around to sit on the couch. As he sat chatting politely 
with Scully's mom and younger brother, he could feel the hard eyes 
of her older one boring into him. Bill still had not said anything. 
Uncomfortable, Mulder wished Scully would hurry. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"There's my boy!" Maggie held up her arms as Scully walked in 
with a sleepy Will, who was gurgling sleepily. She placed the 
baby in her mom's lap. 

"Hey there buddy," Charlie bent down next to his mom to get a 
closer look at his new nephew. He glanced up at his sister and 
winked. "I didn't get a very good look at you the first time I 
was here." 

William seemed to enjoy all the attention and cooed happily. 

"He's got your smile Fox," Mrs. Scully said happily to Mulder. 

Mulder grinned, and then added teasingly, "at least it wasn't 
my nose!" 

They laughed. Everyone that is, but Bill, who gave Mulder a 
scornful look. Scully caught his eye and gave him a warning 
glance. He caught it and looked away, walking over to his 
nephew. 

As much as Bill hated the fact that this baby was the result 
of his sister and *that* man-no he didn't want to think about 
it- Will was his nephew and he loved him. He did have to admit 
that the baby was incredibly cute. 

"Hey there Will," Bill hovered next to his mom getting a 
better look at the baby. 
Will started to cry. 

'That's my boy!' Mulder thought secretly grinning to himself. 

Scully rubbed William's back soothingly, "He's just hungry," 
The baby settled down to a sniffle. Scully gave Bill an 
apologetic look, "I can't believe how much he can eat!  He 
acts like he hasn't eaten anything since 6:00 this morning." 

"And all that was, was half of a cream cheese beagle." Mulder 
leaned in saying it so that only Scully could hear him. 

She grinned and added so that only he could hear, "and it 
wasn't even real cream cheese. It was light cream cheese." 
She paused then added, "Don't get me started Mulder." 

"That's a good idea," Charlie said jumping up from the floor. 
"So sis, what's for dinner?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Lasagna," She said walking into the bedroom to feed Will. 
Over her shoulder she added, "Mulder, why don't you go ahead 
and serve everybody the salad, I'll be there in a minute." With 
that, she closed the bedroom door. 

She felt bad about leaving Mulder to deal with Bill by himself. 
But, she didn't exactly feel comfortable nursing Will in front 
of Bill. She knew he would have felt uncomfortable about it too. 
Not because of the whole 'nursing' thing. He had a son- he knew 
how it worked. She just didn't want him glaring at Mulder the 
whole time. 

"Ok, everyone, to the kitchen!" Mulder turned to Mrs. Scully, 
"Ma'am, please allow me." With that he bowed, pretending to be 
a waiter escorting her to the table. 

Maggie Scully laughed and took his arm. Playing along she added, 
"Why thank you kind sir." 

Mulder grinned. 'So far so good.' 

Bill looked disgusted. How could his mother like Mulder so 
much? It was just his luck. With her and his sister around, 
there was nothing he could do but pretend he wasn't there. 
Even Charlie seemed to becoming friends with him, great. 
Just great. 

Mulder had just finished serving the salad when Scully walked 
in. Grinning at her, he pulled out her chair and helped her 
to her seat. 

"Such a gentleman." Mrs. Scully smiled, taking a sip of wine. 

"Yeah, what's up with that Mulder?" Charlie asked, jokingly 
adding, "You're making me look bad, you know!" With that he 
handed his mom the garlic bread. 

"All those years of FBI training, and traveling around meeting 
all kinds of weird people." Mulder laughed, "they've gotta be 
good for something!" 

"Yeah right Mulder." Scully laughed, "They teach etiquette 
and proper manners in FBI training." 

He looked at her innocently, "Why agent Scully, don't tell 
me *you* missed that day!" 

Scully gave him *the* look, and he laughed before she could 
say anything. Before handing her her salad, he kissed her 
hand and said, "made specially for you miss. By order of 
the cook." 

Scully blushed, noticing her mother's pleased look, and 
Bills scorn. To keep the mood light she replied, "I doubt 
you learned *that* at Quantico." 

They all laughed, and Mulder sat down to his own place at 
the table. While no one was looking, he slipped his hand 
into Scully's giving it a squeeze. ~Don't worry everything's 
going great. We'll tell them after dessert.~ 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"He did not have buck teeth!" Scully was laughing so hard 
her sides hurt. 

"He did." Mulder whispered to the rest of Scully's family, 
"she's just going through denial." 

Scully playfully punched Mulder in the arm. 

"Owww!" he pretended like it really hurt, rubbing his "sore" 
arm. 

They had just finished dessert, and things seemed to be 
going pretty well. Even Bill seemed to be somewhat enjoying 
it-although he told himself that it was just for Dana's sake, 
nothing more, nothing less. 

************************************************************ 

Mrs. Scully was just finishing up the dishes (which she had 
insisted she do) when Scully stood up and suggested that 
everyone move to the living room. "Where it was more comfortable." 

Mulder could tell she was nervous. He gave her a reassuring 
smile reminding her that he was here, and everything was 
going to go perfect.  ~Whether Bill likes it or not~ he added 
to himself. 

Maggie Scully took a seat on the couch next to her daughter 
and Mulder. She noticed that Dana was fidgeting like she used
to do when she was a little girl and had something she had to 
tell her parents, but wasn't quite sure how to do it. 

"Honey, what is it?" Scully looked at her mom and realized 
that she had been fidgeting. This was a sure sign to her 
mother that something was up. Scully knew that it was now 
or never.  She took a deep breath, glanced at Mulder, and 
started in. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well," she cleared her throat; "You all know that Mulder 
and I have know each other for a very long time." She paused 
for a second taking his hand, "He's been there for me through 
more than you guys will ever know. I trust him with my life...
and, I love him." 

Mulder was just about to say the same, when suddenly Bill burst 
out yelling. 

"You! You son of a-" he was lunging at Mulder with full force. 

Stunned, Mulder jumped back to defend himself. But he didn't have 
to. 

Scully was speechless, she was just about to give Bill a piece of 
her mind when the unthinkable happened. 

"WILLIAM CHESTER SCULLY!" Scully had never seen her mom so furious, 
"You lay one hand on Fox and I swear, I will disown you!!" 

The room froze in stunned silence. Mulder couldn't believe his ears. 
Scully's *mom* was defending him? He was almost to baffled to 
silently laugh at Bills middle name *Chester*?? 

They sat frozen for what seemed like an eternity. Scully and Charlie 
stared at their mother in disbelief. Silently they were both 
surprisingly pleased. Mulder sat dumbfounded waiting for what would 
happen next. 

Bill just stood there, his mouth hanging open. She hadn't used his 
full name since he was a kid. After a few moments, he regained his 
composure and mumbled an apology. "Mom, I-I don't know what came 
over me.... I, I'm sorry." 

Maggie Scully looked her son straight in the eyes, "If you're father 
were here, I don't even want to *think* about what he would say. It 
is not me you need to be apologizing to." She gave him a stern look, 
motioning to Mulder and Scully. 

"But mom that man is-" Scully couldn't believe her ears; Bill was 
actually trying to defend himself after what had just happened? She 
was furious!  She was about to open her mouth when her mother once 
again cut into the conversation. 

"That man." She came up next to Mulder, "Is the best thing that's 
ever happened to Dana." She laid a protective hand on her daughter. 
"And not you, or anyone else on this planet is going to do *anything* 
to ruin what they have together! I am sick and tired of having to 
listen to you grumble every time Dana invites us over, because you 
know Fox is going to be here! It stops here, do you understand me?" 
She paused calming down, "Now I think you owe *everybody* an apology." 

Again the room was silent. Charlie sat uncomfortably in a chair in 
the corner. He wouldn't look his brother in the eye. Even though he
had just met Mulder, he could tell that what he and his sister had 
together was special. What Bill did was just unacceptable, brother 
or no. 

Finally regaining from his dazed state, Mulder moved next to Scully, 
putting an arm protectively around her waist. She looked like she was 
going to cry.  The anger welled inside like a bomb ready to go off. 
Scully had gone to too much trouble to have Bill go and ruin it all 
like this. No. He wasn't going to let that happen. He was debating 
whether or not to say something, when Bill finally spoke. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Dana how can you just go and-" three Scully *looks* (and a very 
nasty warning glare from Mulder) hit him with full force. Mulder 
could see where Scully got *the* look from, it seemed it was genetic. 

This time is was Charlie's turn to have a whack at Bill. "Jeez Bill 
just give it up already!" Scully's younger brother threw his arms 
in the air letting out an exasperated sigh, "Dana's happy, isn't 
that all that should matter?! She has a son, *our nephew*, that 
nobody thought was possible, and best of all she's got Mulder! A 
guy who-even though I know I'm the one who knows the least about 
him- I can tell loves her!" 

Scully was touched and surprised at Charlie's outburst. It was 
true that he didn't know Mulder very well, but it was obvious that 
he had instantly befriended him. 

Mulder was just about to open his mouth a second time when Scully 
finally spoke up. 

"Everybody just stop it!" She sat down and this time Mulder was 
sure she was going to cry. Quietly she said, "I didn't mean for 
any of this to happen. This was supposed to go perfect, with 
everybody happy. Instead of yelling at each other we'd be sitting 
around discussing what kind of flowers we should order for the 
reception." 

It was too much, she couldn't take it any more, Scully broke down 
and started crying, right there in front of Bill and everyone.  
Quickly Mulder wrapped his arms around her in comfort. He wished 
he could just make Bill disappear. If it weren't for him, none of 
this would have happened. 

For a few short minutes, they were the only ones in the room, 
oblivious to three startled stares sent in their direction. 

Even though she had no reason to, Mrs. Scully felt awful. "Dana, 
honey, come here," Scully looked up from her place in Mulder's 
arms, "I'm so sorry." 

"Mom," Scully smiled tearfully, "it isn't your fault.  You don't 
need to apologize." 

"Dana's right," Bill took a step, "I should be." 

They all stared doubtfully in his direction. Seeing his sister, 
the only one he had left, who never let her guard down even in 
the worst situations, break down and cry right in front of him 
broke his heart. 

"Dana," he took a cautious step forward, noting Mulder's arm as 
it slipped protectively around Scully's waist. "I'm so sorry." 
He paused edging closer to give her a hug. "I really don't know 
what came over me." 

"I mean it. I'm really sorry." a pause, "I guess after dad died, 
I just felt like it was my duty to watch over you." He glanced at 
Mulder who still looked skeptical. "Protect you." 

Mulder snorted at the irony of it all. He thought about the time 
that Scully had been going through her cancer. Bill was the one 
who didn't want to try anything. He wanted to just "sit passively
back and watch the family tragedy unfold." If Bill truly felt like 
that he wouldn't have done any of this to begin with. 

Scully accepted his apology, and watched as he turned to face 
Mulder. 

"Mulder," he sighed and held out his hand and Mulder shook it. 

"I know you hate me." Mulder said lowering his gaze, "and you have 
a right to after all I've made your sister go through..." 

"Mulder no," Scully interrupted, "he has absolutely no right to 
treat you like this." She took a stand next to him facing her 
brother. 

"But," Mulder grinned at Scully letting her know that he was 
definitely NOT going to let Bill get off that easy as he added, 
"I love her more than anything in this world. And like it or not 
Bill," he emphasized his middle name, "*Chester* Scully," 

Scully had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing,
she knew how much Bill hated his middle name. 

"I'm marrying her whether you like it or not." He said it 
matter-of-factly. And with that he pulled Scully into his 
arms and, with her entire family watching, gave her a long 
passionate kiss. 

Maggie and Charlie laughed as Bill just stood there with a 
dumbfounded look on his face. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Why you-" This time, Bill didn't care what his mother said, 
he lunged full force at Mulder.  Luckily, Mulder had seen it 
coming and, with Scully still in his arms, jumped back just 
in time. 

Misjudging Mulder's fast reaction, Bill tripped over the coffee 
table and fell full force smack into to the cream colored carpet 
with a loud, "umpf."  Just as he was about to get up and try 
again, he was interrupted by a very loud noise.  He turned 
towards the noise and glared at his brother who was laughing so 
hard he was crying. 

"Oh, oh!" Charlie couldn't stop laughing long enough to finish 
his sentence. 

Mulder and Scully, who had been to busy trying to avoid 
"the wrath of Bill" to really enjoy his downfall, suddenly 
burst out laughing too.  Maggie, who was trying her hardest 
not to, couldn't help but join in the fun. 

"So this is what goes on when I'm not around." 

Still giggling, Scully turned towards the figure standing 
in the open doorway. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Sir!" Scully looked surprised, "I thought you said you 
were going out of town a couple of weeks for a conference."  
Skinner entered the room and gave her a hug. "It got 
cancelled." He smiled, shaking Mulder's hand. 

"Mr. Skinner," Maggie extended a warm handshake, 
"it's nice to see you again." 

After introducing Skinner to her brothers, she 
invited him to sit down. 

"So, what brings you here?" Mulder asked, hoping it 
wasn't anything to do with work. He was as surprised 
as Scully to see the assistant director. 

"Just this." Skinner handed him a folder. "I found it 
under my door this morning when I came in. My secretary 
said she hadn't seen anyone come in." He paused before 
adding; "I figured you would be over here, so I tried 
here first." 

Mulder looked curious, "What is it?" 

"I don't know," Skinner was looking at Bill with a 
funny look on his face. Bill was rubbing his head and 
scowling. "I didn't open it." He glanced at the folder, 
and then added, "seeing as how it had your name on it." 

Mulder hadn't noticed it until Skinner had said 
something. Written in small block letters across the 
front of the manila envelope was Mulder's name. 

"Why was is under your door then?" Scully asked confused. 

"I don't know." was all that Skinner said, eying the 
overturned coffee table. 

He turned to Scully. "Whoever it was probably put it 
under my door because they knew you wouldn't be in 
your office." 

Charlie and Bill, who was still sore, sat down as Mrs. 
Scully offered to make some coffee.   Mulder sat down 
and opened the envelope as Scully sat down next to him. 

"Mulder?" Scully knew something was wrong as she 
watched as Mulder's face grew pale. In a concerned 
voice, she asked, "Mulder, what is it?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At first Mulder didn't say anything.  Charlie sat 
uncomfortably on the other side of the room feeling 
that he was intruding on something very personal. 
Eventually he decided that his mother needed help 
with the coffee. Bill got up and headed toward the 
bathroom, he was not in the mood for more aliens and 
ufos.  

After a few minutes, Mulder regained his composer and 
handed Scully the small stack of photos that he held. 
Scully was speechless. They were pictures of Samantha. 
Only she was definitely more than eight years old. 

"Mulder, there's got to be some mistake." Scully spoke 
in a soft voice. She couldn't believe her eyes. There 
were pictures of Samantha at the beach, playing outside, 
and one of her at a birthday party which was obviously 
her own.  Scully counted the candles on the cake. 
"Mulder, according to this picture she's 14 here." 

Mulder spoke in a very soft voice. "And in this one." 
He picked up the photo with one hand, and rubbed the 
bridge of his nose with the other. The picture was of 
Samantha and a boy. "She seems to be having a fun time 
with the Smoking Man's son." he paused before adding, 
"Agent Spender." 

"What?" Skinner finally spoke up, "What are you 
talking about?" 

"See for yourself," Mulder handed him the photo. 

Skinner took it. Even though he was only a teenager, 
there was no question that the picture was of Jeffery 
Spender. 

"I don't understand," the assistant director gave the 
picture back to Mulder, "After all your years of 
searching, why would anyone slip these under my door 
now? And besides, I thought you said that she was...
dead" Skinner didn't like drudging up the past. 

"Maybe she's not." Scully remembered her dream. 
She couldn't believe this was happening. Not now. 
Not after all that Mulder had been through. He was 
finally free from all that pain this had caused, 
and now it was happening all over again. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Scully what do you mean?" Mulder was confused. This 
didn't sound like the Scully he knew. 

For a minute, Scully sat still, trying to figure out 
what all this meant. She didn't know why she had just 
said that. She of all people knew that she was not 
one to go claiming that people were back from the dead.  
But lately her scientific background had been put to 
the test.  Ever since Mulder had been abducted, 
everything had gone crazy. It was like an endless bad 
dream that repeated over and over again, until you woke 
up sweaty and shaking. She didn't know what to believe 
any more.

"Scully?" Skinner had begun to get used to Scully 
being the one to suggest such a thing- while Mulder 
was gone. But now that he was back, it was just...
wrong. 

Scully began to tell them of her dream. She was just 
to the part were she woke up, when a crying William 
interrupted her. 

"Oh, excuse me," She got up to retrieve her, now 
very much awake, son. 

"I'll get him." Mulder said standing up and placing 
his hand on the small of her back. Then grinning, 
he added, "Besides, you've got to have him all day. 
Now's my turn." 

As she watched Mulder leave, Scully sat back down 
sighing. Skinner picked up on her mood and felt the 
same way.  Mulder had already been through enough.
He deserves closure just like anyone. They thought 
they had finally shut the door on this case once and 
for all. Unfortunately this door had broken hinges. 
Every time you think you've finally gotten the thing 
shut, something runs into it forcing it open again. 
Did it ever end? 

Bill, back from his incredibly long trip to the 
bathroom, snuck into the living room hoping to go 
unnoticed. 

"Bill." He was almost to the kitchen, when Scully 
stopped him. He was surprised she was even speaking 
to him anymore. It must be because her boss was in 
the room.  Wincing, he turned around to face her. 

"I believe you've met Assistant Director Skinner." 
Scully said blandly. 

"I think the last time I saw you, we were standing 
around a hospital bed." Bill said sarcastically. 
"Your Dana's boss right? Well, it's nice to meet 
you again." With that he continued on into the 
kitchen. 

"What's his problem?" Skinner asked as he left. 

"He just had a fight with the coffee table," Scully 
couldn't help but laugh, "and it seems he lost." 

"Oh, I see." Skinner knew how much Scully's other 
brother hated Mulder. Something was bound to happen 
when they were in the same room. 

Mulder re-entered the room, William in arms, "It 
seems he wasn't enjoying the fact that the party 
was going on without him." Mulder teased. Scully 
thought it was odd that Mulder would just drop the 
subject of his sister like that, but didn't press 
any further. 

"Hey there little guy," Skinner said walking over 
to get a better look. 

"Here, want to hold him?" Mulder started to hand 
over his son. 

(Continued in part 3)
 
Part 3
See part 0 for header information.


"Uh, no, I mean-" Scully laughed at the A.D.'s look 
of horror as Mulder handed over the squirming baby. 
"I'm not really good with kids." 

Mulder laughed and handed Will over to Scully. As he 
sat down, his face changed back to the grim look it 
was before. 

There was silence until he spoke again, "She was 14." 

"What?" Skinner asked quietly. 

Scully knew what Mulder was thinking about. The 
diary. In the last entry, Samantha was only about 
14 years old. They explained it to Skinner. 

"So the pictures were taken before she was...taken."
Mulder finished, referring to the day he finally found 
his sister. He remembered the starlight. As much as he 
wanted his sister to be alive, he was happy when 
everything had finally been closed.   It was over, he 
was finally free. He did not want to go back to the 
nightmare. Not now, not while everything was going so 
well.  They had Will, and he had just asked Scully to 
marry him. All he wanted right now was sitting right 
in front of him. It was all he needed, and he had promised 
her that he would not let *anything* get in their way. 
Even if that anything turned out to be Samantha... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Skinner was about to excuse himself to let Mulder and 
Scully get back to their guests, when he stopped short- 
noticing the ring on Scully's finger.  Seeing the look 
on his face, Scully followed his gaze and bit her lip 
to keep from laughing. 

They had been so busy talking about the pictures that 
they had forgotten to explain to Skinner why it was 
her family was there anyway. 

"Um, sir I think there's something we need to tell you." 
Scully began, eying Mulder. 

He was about to say something, when the rest of 
Scully's family walked in. 

"Here we go," Maggie entered carrying a tray of coffee, 
followed by Charlie, a plate of cookies, and Bill. 
"Sorry it took so long, I couldn't find your coffee 
dear." She set the tray down and smiled at her daughter. 

"Mom you didn't have to do that," Scully started to 
get up. 

"It was my pleasure," her mom replied. Just then she 
noticed the strange expression on Skinner's face. 
His eyes looked like they were going to pop right 
out of his head. "Mr. Skinner are you alright?" 

Mulder laughed, "I think there's something kind of 
important that we failed to mention." 

He then turned back to Scully, putting his arm 
around her. "Sir, Scully and I have finally decided 
that, since we spend so much time together anyway, 
we might as well save on rent and gas money and go 
ahead and get married." He ducked out of the way 
before Scully could hit him. The rest of the room, 
minus Bill, laughed. 

"Well it's about time!" Skinner smiled at his two 
best agents who had, over the course of 8 years, 
become two of his best friends. 

"That is exactly what I've been thinking." Mrs. 
Scully said teasingly. 

Mulder leaned over and kissed Mrs. Scully on the 
cheek, surprising everybody. "I guess that means 
we have your blessings?" He grinned. 

"Of course you do!" She laughed giving him a hug. 
"I would be honored to have you as a Son-in-law!" 

Bill groaned, now he'd actually have to be related 
to that guy. 

Everyone exchanged hugs and congratulations while Will 
cooed happily.  Finally, after what seemed like hours, 
Mulder and Scully said goodbye to everyone, and said 
they promised to call in the morning. 

"Phew!" Scully sighed, leaning against the closed door. 
"I'm glad that's over with." 

"Yeah I think things went pretty good." Mulder grinned 
as she gave him *the* look. "I mean after Bill decided 
to attack the coffee table that is."  Scully laughed. 
She had to admit, that the rest of the night had gone 
by fairly well. 

"C'mon," Mulder, now holding a sleepy Will in his arms, 
put his arm around her waist. "It's late, we should get 
some sleep."  Resting her head on his shoulder, she 
sighed again. She was exhausted.  They stood there for 
a while, Mulder with his arm around her, and Will in his 
arms. These were the times that he wished could last 
forever.  To his dismay, Scully finally pulled back and, 
yawing, headed off to the bedroom for a good night's sleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was two in the morning when Mulder was awakened 
by the soft cries of William in the next room. 
Glancing in Scully's direction, he noted that she 
was still asleep. 

As quietly as possible, Mulder slipped his arm out 
from underneath her, where it had protectively stayed 
all night. She stirred, but didn't wake up. He went 
to go check on his crying son. 

The moonlight shone through the window of Will's room 
illuminating the small doll he had given Scully a few 
weeks before Will was born.  The doll had belonged to
his sister. His mother had given it to her for her 
sixth birthday. It had belonged to her when she was 
a little girl.  He had wanted to give Scully something 
really special that she would always remember, the doll 
was the first thing that had come to mind. Its tiny face 
smiled back from the rocking chair where it lay carefully 
surrounded by a soft white blanket, waiting to be played 
with. 

Focusing on the reason he had gotten up, Mulder walked 
over to the crib where his son lay. Will was now 
gurgling happily at the sight of his father. 

Bending over and picking Will up; Mulder rocked him 
silently, swaying back in forth in hopes that he 
would go back to sleep.  After twenty minutes of 
endless rocking, Mulder sighed giving up on the hope 
that Will would go to sleep any time soon. He walked 
over to the rocking chair and sat down, moving the doll 
and blanket to his lap.  He sat humming quietly. Will 
in one arm, and the doll in the other.  

His own humming, and the slow, rhythmic back and forth 
motion of the rocking chair made Mulder yawn. Soon he 
could feel himself drifting off to the sound of the 
mixed breathing of both he and William. Before he could 
stop himself, Mulder was fast asleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Waking up to a Mulder-less bed, Scully yawned and got 
up. She sniffed...no he wasn't making breakfast. Where 
was he? 

She went to check on Will. 

Maybe Mulder had decided to pursue the pictures of 
Samantha after all. She was just about to call 
Skinner to see if Mulder was there, when she stopped 
in Will's doorway. 

The scene before her was picture perfect. Snoring 
quietly, a path of drool trailing down his chin, he 
looked absolutely adorable. And Will was pretty cute 
too. 

Scully chuckled at the sight. 

Mulder was sleeping soundly in an awkward position 
in the corner rocking chair. Tucked safely in his 
arms, was Will and the doll he had given her that 
belonged to his mother.  Wrapped around all three, 
was the white blanket that Scully usually kept on 
the chair. It was there in case of midnight feedings, 
or "emergencies". 

~Where's the camera when you need one~ she thought,
as she took note to tell Mulder that she wasn't the 
only one who drooled. 

She smiled, shaking her head, and turned to go make 
breakfast. 

Scully was almost out of the room, when Mulder's 
voice startled her. "Mornin' sunshine." Scully 
could hear the smile in his voice and turned back 
around. 

"Mornin' yourself," She smiled and kissed him lightly. 
"Looks like you two had a long night." 

"Yeah, Will really knows how to have a good time." He 
grinned, "Woke me up at 2 this morning so he could 
show me."  Mulder groaned and sat up, untangling himself 
from the uncomfortable position he was in. 

"I'm sorry," Scully laughed as Mulder stretched his 
legs, "You should have woken me up." 

"Naw," he yawned, "you needed a good nights sleep." 
He paused before adding, "Plus we had a good time, 
didn't we buddy?"  Will, who was now awake, cooed 
happily. 

"Guys stuff," Mulder grinned again. 

"Oh, I see." Scully picked Will up and gave him a 
kiss on the cheek. "I don't know if I want you 
teaching him all *your* 'guy stuff' Mulder." She 
teased adding, "At least not until he's older." 

Mulder enjoyed seeing Scully in such a good mood. 
He was glad that last night was over.  He put the 
blanket and doll back in its place, and headed after 
Scully. In the direction of the kitchen. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour and a dozen eggs later- Mulder had insisted 
on making breakfast, and he seemed to have a little 
trouble with the eggs- Mulder and Scully sat lazily 
enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning. 

Scully glanced over the mess on the counter. She had 
tried to insist that she made breakfast, after his 
breakfast in bed and all-nighter yesterday, but Mulder 
kept insisting and she finally just gave up and let him. 

Eggshells and various posts and pans littered the 
counter, making it look like the set of a cooking 
show...and a messy one at that.  Scully sighed. 
She didn't even know that she owned that many 
cooking utensils until now! It was funny how Mulder 
seemed to have a knack at finding things-things that
supposedly belonged to her-which Scully herself had
not seen in over eight years.  She thought about the 
candles and smiled, wondering if maybe next time she 
would end up with some new alien-shaped skillet or pot. 
Mulder noticed her smile, and asked what she was 
thinking about. 

Scully laughed, "I just never thought of you as the 
cooking type." 

"Yeah, well, after 30 years a person starts to get 
sick of the same old take out every night." Mulder 
grinned adding, "Although if it weren't for you 
Scully, I'd probably be eating it for another 30."  
At this, even Will seemed to be amused. Mulder and 
Scully looked over at the gurgling baby who was 
happily failing both arms and legs about. 

"Well," Scully glanced at the phone as Mulder 
promised he would clean up his mess. "I should 
probably call mom and tell her that we'll be over 
sometime today to discuss wedding arrangements."  
She stopped, realizing that Mulder wasn't paying 
any attention to her, as he was to busy playing 
airplane with Will. Although Will was too young 
to truly enjoy the game, Mulder seemed to fully 
enjoying himself. 

Scully just rolled her eyes, mumbling to herself,
"Mulder, you never cease to amaze me." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three hours later Mulder was finally done cleaning 
up his mess in the kitchen. Flopping down on the 
couch next to Scully and Will, Mulder let out an 
exaggerated sigh. "Next time we go to the store 
remind me to by some Poptarts." 

They both laughed as she leaned in and gave him 
a soft kiss. Scully snuggled closer to Mulder on 
the couch, Will in arms. 

Mulder grinned and put both his arms around 
Scully and Will, thinking ~how could I 
possible be this lucky?~ 

It was amazing how perfect she fit, nestling 
her head under Mulder's chin. 

They lie there for a long time just enjoying each 
other's presence. Scully felt so safe...so loved.  
When the phone rang, she groaned not wanting to 
get up. 

"I'd tell you to just let the machine get it," 
Mulder mumbled into the top of her head, "but 
it's probably your mom, and if you don't answer 
pretty soon, she'll have both your brothers and 
Skinner over hear to make sure everything's all 
right." 

She let out a sigh, knowing that Mulder was 
right, and carefully handed Will over as she 
headed out to stop the annoying ring. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully picked the phone up off the receiver and 
said hello. 

She heard nothing but rasp breathing on the 
other end. 

"Hello?" 

There was a soft click on the other end telling 
her that the caller had hung up. 

"Who was it?" Mulder asked, still concentrating 
on Will. 

"No one." She couldn't get over the familiar 
sound of the caller's rasp breathing. She shook 
it off, deciding she was being overly paranoid. 
She curled back up in Mulder's arms and slowly 
drifted off to sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Twenty minutes later, Scully awoke to another 
annoying phone call. 

"I got it!" Mulder yelled from the kitchen, where 
he was grabbing a new bag of sunflower seeds. 
Glancing at her watch, Scully realized that it
was probably her mom calling to see when they 
were coming over. 

Back in the kitchen, Mulder grabbed the phone, 
"Mul-uh, Hello?" He grabbed a pair of scissors 
to open the bag that was not cooperating very 
well. 

There was no answer. 

He asked again, "Hello?" He was greeting only 
with the monotonous pulse of a dial tone. 
Shrugging, he hung up and popped a handful of 
seeds into his mouth. 

"Who was it?" Scully appeared in the doorway 
yawning. She couldn't believe how sleepy she was. 
She had had a good night's sleep and a nap, and 
she was still tired! 

"Wrong number?" Mulder worked the seeds in his 
mouth, while picking up a small stuffed bear 
that Will had throw from his place on the blanket. 

Scully remembered the strange call earlier that 
morning. The sound of familiar breathing echoed 
in her ears. Shaking it off, she went to pick up 
Will. 

"How's my guy?" Scully gave Will a gentle kiss on 
his fuzzy little head. 

"Oh I'm doing pretty good," Mulder's voice came 
from behind her. "A little hungry, but other 
that that..." He trailed off, popping some more 
sunflower seeds in his mouth. 

Scully rolled her eyes, "We should probably call 
my mom and tell her we'll be over sometime tonight." 

She grabbed the pone, and punched in the number,
after a few rings Mrs. Scully picked up the phone. 

"Hi mom, it's me," After exchanging hellos, 
Scully asked, "Mom did you call earlier today?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"No, honey, I just got in from reading the 
paper outside on the deck. Why?" 

"Oh, no reason." Secretly, she was worried. 
~Who could it have been?~ she thought to herself. 
She went on with conversation with her mother, 
mostly about the wedding. They got talking about 
bride's maids and things like that. Then came up 
the question of who would walk her down the aisle. 

"Well, traditionally, it should be Bill, but 
after last night I'm not so sure. It could be 
Charlie, but that might make Bill feel bad." 
Maggie Scully's voice indicated though that 
after what happened last night she really didn't 
care what Bill thought.  Scully pondered for a 
few seconds before replying. "Yes, I suppose 
Charlie. I was thinking about Skinner, but he 
is going to be the best man." 

"What about ushers?" 

"Oh, three of Mulder's friends are going to be 
the ushers." Her thoughts turned to the Lone 
Gunmen. Byers she could see in a suit because he 
always wore one. But about the other two.... she 
just laughed at the thought.  They ended the 
conversation and Scully hung up. 

She hadn't hung the phone up but about a minute 
ago when it rang again. She expected it to be 
her mother, but it wasn't. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully motioned to Mulder to pick up the other 
line. 

"Who is it?" Mulder asked, thinking it was 
Scully's mom again. Scully waved her hand 
motioning him to be quiet. 

They sat silently, each with a phone pressed to 
their ear.  Mulder grabbed his cell phone and 
began punching in the familiar number. Whispering 
into the cell, while holding the cordless far 
enough away, Mulder said, "Hi Danny, it's Mulder...
yeah thanks...I'd like to trace a call...Scully's 
home number." After reciting the number, which he 
would know in his sleep, Mulder waited. 

Scully was about to hang up when a chill ran down 
her spine. In place of the heavy breathing from 
before, was something far worse. Heard faintly, 
almost inaudible in the background, was the soft 
music of a baby's lullaby.  Her pulse quickened, 
and she held her breath. The normally happy jingle 
of London Bridges, seemed eerily dangerous in the 
endless expanse of distance between them and the 
caller. It was as if he or she was taunting them, 
daring them to find out who was on the other end. 

Suddenly the music stopped. There were a few minutes 
of nothing but silence, soon replaced by the beeping 
of an emotionless dial tone. 

Mulder hung up the cordless. Into his cell he said, 
"Thanks Danny...you too." 

Mulder looked at Scully. 

Scully looked at Mulder. 

After a few seconds, he said, "They got a trace." He 
paused before adding, "you'll never believe where 
it came from though." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully held her breath. "Where?" 

"My old house, in Martha's Vineyard. The one that 
Samantha was taken from." Mulder had tears in his 
eyes. No one had been to that house in so long. 

"Oh, Mulder." Scully walked up to him and put her 
arms around him. 

He wiped the tears from his eyes as he said, "I have 
to go see who's there. They may not be there when I 
get there but I can get fingerprints, something. We 
can't let this go on." 

Scully decided she needed to tell him about her dream. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She sat down next to him and took his hand. "Mulder 
there's something that I should have told you before." 
She paused then continued to tell him about her dream.  
When she was done, Mulder sat and stared still trying 
to hold back his tears. He had vowed that nothing would 
get in the way of what he had with Scully. 

~It's not fair.~ Scully thought giving Mulder a 
comforting hug.  Everything was finally going their 
way. They were supposed to be discussing wedding plans, 
not whether or not he should leave to find out who this 
mysterious caller was. 

They sat, Mulder in Scully's arms for a while. 
Finally Scully took a deep breath. 

"Well Mulder, we should call my mom." How many times 
had she said that over the course of the day?

He looked confused for a minute. 

She tried to give him a comforting smile, "We're 
going to need somebody to watch Will while we go 
to Martha's Vineyard, right?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He gave her a hug, realizing how much she didn't 
want to go, but was doing it all for him. 

"I promise you, Scully, nothing is going to come 
between us, even if that nothing is Samantha." 

"But you deserve closure, the truth about her." 

"It's not worth losing you and Will. That was so 
long ago. I've finally come to terms with losing 
her, I don't know if I could go through with the 
pain that might come from finding her. You're my 
life now, Scully." 

She went over and sat in his lap, her arms around 
his neck, and looked in his eyes with tears in hers. 
She knew how much he was giving up, all of it for 
her and Will. Finding Samantha had been his whole 
life, and to give that up for her was like he was 
giving her more than the earth and the heavens. It 
was the best thing he could give her. 

He continued, "The only reason I am going up there 
is to put a stop to these calls, not to find my 
sister." He knew the sacrifice he was making, but 
it was worth it. He wanted a normal life, well, as 
normal of a life as you could get with having been 
part in a government conspiracy. He wanted to spend 
it with Scully. 

She uncurled herself from his loving embrace and 
went to call her mom. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Charlie picked up on the second ring. 

"Hey Charlie," they exchanged hellos, and then 
Scully asked, "Is mom there?" 

"Um, yeah hold on." Charlie left the phone and 
was replaced by his mother a few minutes later. 

"Dana, I'm surprised you called, we were 
expecting you in a few hours." Mrs. Scully 
sounded pleased anyway. 

Scully hesitated a few seconds, "Mom, we're 
not going to able to make it tonight." She 
paused, "at least not Mulder and I." 

"Honey what do you mean?" Scully's mom sounded 
concerned, "has something happened?" 

"Something's come up." She glanced over at 
Mulder still sitting on the couch. He was now 
holding Will. "Mulder and I have to go out of 
town for a while, and we were wondering if," 
she swallowed hard. She didn't want to leave 
Will as much as Mulder did, but they had no 
other choice. "If you could watch Will for us 
while we're gone." 

Mulder came up beside her and put a comforting 
arm around her. He knew how hard it was for her 
to leave Will, he felt the same way. 

"Well, sure honey," Mrs. Scully was still 
confused, "you know we'd love to have him." 

"Thanks mom." Scully leaned in to Mulder's 
embrace. 

"Just promise me you'll be careful." the 
mother's instinct in Mrs. Scully kicked in. 

Mulder motioned for Scully to hand him the phone. 

"Mrs. Scully?" Mulder handed Will over to Scully. 

"Fox?" Maggie was surprised. 

"Yeah, um, I just wanted to tell you that nothing 
bad will happen to Dana." He paused and glanced 
at Scully adding, "I promise." 

"I know you do Fox." Mrs. Scully smiled, "Knowing 
that you'll be with her makes me feel better."  
They finished the conversation, with Mulder 
saying that they would be by in a little while 
to drop Will off. 

After hanging up the phone, Mulder put his arms 
around Scully and Will. Nothing was going to 
happen to either of them while he was around. 
They were his everything, his life.  He reached 
down and planted a soft kiss on Will's little 
head, and then repeated the gesture on Scully.

"Don't worry," he spoke softly, "we'll be back 
discussing how to get Langly and Frohike in a 
suit in no time."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Which reminds me........." Mulder jumped up 
and grabbed the phone. 

"Lone Gunmen." 

"Hey Frohike, it's Mulder." 

"Oh, hey man." 

"I've got what's going to be some disappointing 
news for you." 

In the background, Frohike heard Scully laughed. 

"Sorry, to tell you, buddy, but Scully and I 
are getting married." 

"What?!? She chose you over me!?! What....." 
At this point Mulder was holding the phone 
away from his ear so he missed the next few 
words, which probably was a good thing. In a 
few moments Langly and Byers had wrestled the 
phone away from him. 

On the other end Langly was out of breath asking, 
"What the heck did you say to him??" 

"That Scully and I are getting married. And he 
didn't even hear the rest. Actually, to save 
my own hearing, I should probably give this 
piece next information to Byers first and let 
him relay it to you." 

By this point Frohike had calmed down enough to 
have told Byers, so when Byers picked up the phone 
the first words out of his mouth were, "It's about 
time!" 

"Actually, there's more. We want you three to be 
our ushers." 

"Of course we will!" He sounded absolutely 
ecstatic about the prospect of getting to wear 
a tux. 

"Great, that's what I was hoping for. Tell the 
other two that they don't get a choice, you 
already accepted for them." 

"Now I see why you wanted to tell me." Then 
under his breath he added, "Good idea." 

Mulder gave him instructions of what to do while 
they were gone they ended the conversation with 
Byers saying, "And don't worry, I'll get them 
into tuxes." You could hear the protests already 
forming in the background.  Mulder laughed as 
they hung up and turned to Scully. 

"I have to report to you that little Melvin is 
a little upset with our engagement," Mulder said 
with a grin. 

Scully just laughed. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Well, hopefully he isn't too devastated." She 
laughed at the thought, "I don't want to add to 
our list of midnight phone calls." 

Mulder grinned, "Oh I'm sure he'll get over it," 
he wrapped his arms around her again, whispering 
in her ear, "Especially when he finds out that 
he's finally getting my video collection." 

Scully glanced up at Mulder skeptically. 

"I know I won't be needing it anymore." he 
grinned playfully adding, "Of course, I'll have 
to go over all of them again just to make sure 
that there's nothing important on any of them." 

"Like alien autopsies?" Scully smirked. 

"Like alien autopsies." Mulder repeated, a blank 
look on his face. 

"Riiight." Scully nodded. 

"No, seriously Scully," Mulder put on his best 
"really" face and continued, "I accidentally 
forgot to label the tape before I lost it." He 
paused before adding, "And I don't intend to 
just throw away my $29.95 that easily." 

Scully just rolled her eyes. "Well, we should 
go get Will ready to go over to my moms." 

"Yeah," Mulder was serious, "the sooner we leave 
the better." 

Scully went to go get Will, when Mulder's voice 
stopped her. 

"Oh and Scully?" She turned around. "What I 
said about not needing my tapes anymore?" He 
grinned slyly. "I wasn't kidding." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She laughed, causing Will, who was now in her 
arms, to laugh, too. 

As she was gathering up his things, she came 
across the doll that had been Samantha's when 
she was young. She just stared at it for a 
minute, thinking about her new life. Finally, 
instead of packing it with Will's things, she 
decided to take it with her. Maybe it had some 
connection to the whole thing. 

She suddenly stopped, trying to think back. 
She didn't know what she was trying to remember, 
but she knew it was something important. After 
a while she realized what she was it was. As a 
child, Samantha's favorite song had been London 
Bridges. 

~Oh my gosh. This isn't happening.~ She was 
trying to think of who the caller might have 
been, but now she knew it had to be someone 
how was close to Samantha. Someone who knew 
Mulder would remember that London Bridges was 
Samantha's favorite lullaby. It was a good 
thing Mulder had been talking to Danny at the 
time. She also realized she almost told him 
about the music, but something stopped her. Her 
own repressed memory had kept her from mentioning 
it. 

Now all she had to do was decide to tell Mulder 
about the song. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She quickly finished packing the rest of Will's 
things, and went to see how Mulder was coming 
along. 

He was sitting on the couch trying to put on 
Will's little shoes. 

"C'mon little man," Mulder laughed as Will 
kicked, avoiding the annoying shoe his daddy 
was trying desperately to put on. "Work with 
me here." 

He glanced up at Scully as she walked into the 
room. Whispering to Will, he said, "You're 
making me look bad here." He grinned.  

Biting his tongue and sticking in out with a 
determined look on his face, Mulder finally 
threw his arms into the air. 

"Ta-da!" He bowed very proud of himself. 

Scully laughed and gave him a round of applause. 
"I'm impressed Mulder." 

He beamed picking his son up and planted a 
kiss on his cheek, whispering loud enough for 
Scully to hear, "thanks for not embarrassing me 
buddy." He grinned at her again. 

"Mulder I-" She was about to tell him about the 
music she had heard over the phone, but something
stopped her. She looked at his face. He seemed so 
happy. She didn't want to worry him further. 

"What?" Mulder stopped talking 'baby-talk' to 
Will, who seemed quite amused by this, and 
looked up. "Scully what is it?" 

"I, um, packed everything that Will's going to 
need until we get back." She said changing her 
mind about telling him about the lullaby. She 
smiled hoping that he wouldn't pick up on her 
hesitation. 

(Continued in part 4)

Part 4
See part 0 for header information.


Luckily, Mulder was too busy getting back into 
his 'conversation' with Will to notice. 

He looked up again, "You didn't forget his 
blanky did you?" Mulder said referring to the 
blanket that Will had become quite attached to 
over the short time that he had been around. 

"Would I forget something so important as that?" 
Scully mocked astonishment as she took Will 
from Mulder's arms. 

"Of course not Scully," Mulder grinned taking 
the baby bag from her, "You remember everything." 

She rolled her eyes, glad that she chose not 
to mention the music. At least not yet... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When they got to the car, Scully put Will in 
his car seat while Mulder put the bags in the 
back. Noting that Scully's bag was partially 
unzipped he reached to zip it up all the way. 
Then he saw the doll. 

~Why is she bringing it with her?~ He didn't 
know whether or not to ask her about it. May be 
it was just because they were going to the house 
where Samantha had grown up, that it may make 
her feel closer to his sister, whom she'd never 
known, but heard so much about. He didn't know 
what it was, but seeing it made it much harder 
to give his sister up. ~I've got my own family 
now, I can't dwell on the past, she's gone,~ he 
scolded himself. He went up and got in the 
driver's seat. 

"Everybody ready?" he asked, looking back at 
Will then over at Scully. She nodded as he 
pulled out onto the road. 

On the drive to Mrs. Scully's house they were
unusually quiet, both had their minds on Samantha. 
Scully knew she had to tell him about the music, 
she just didn't know when, if she didn't say it 
at the right time, he might just break. She knew 
he was close. The truth was, the phone calls had 
started to worry him more than they did her after
the trace back to his childhood home. She knew it
was killing him to give up on Samantha after all 
of it. He finally had closure, but the wounds 
hadn't completely healed. Now they were being 
opened again and she didn't know if he could 
handle it. With everything that had been going 
on, he was emotionally unstable. She knew this 
not only as a doctor, but as his fianc She 
believe him when he told her that he wouldn't 
let anything come between, even Samantha. She 
knew he would try his best to keep his promise to 
her, but she didn't know if it was possible. She 
just had to have faith, she told herself. Faith 
in Mulder, in their relationship, and in 
everything they'd been through. She knew that 
they would get through it all, they always did, 
but she didn't know if they would get through 
it before he got hurt again. 

When they finally arrived at Mrs. Scully's house, 
they hadn't said two words since they had left 
home. Finally, as they were walking up the 
sidewalk, Mulder asked her, "Are you sure you 
want to do this Scully? There is so much at 
stake, but none of it is worth that much. Not
so much that I would risk losing you and Will." 

She smiled at his thoughtfulness as she 
answered, "Yes, Mulder, I do." 

Hand in hand, with Will in Scully's arm 
and bag's in Mulder's, they rang the doorbell. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Mulder there's something-" Scully was cut 
off as Maggie Scully opened the door. They 
were greeted with a hugs and hellos, as she 
motioned for them to come in. 

Mulder glanced at Scully. ~What is it?~ 

~Nothing~ she smiled wanly ~I'll tell you 
later~ 

He gave her a smile telling her that he 
understood, and hugged Mrs. Scully back. 

"I think we got everything." Mulder started 
untangling himself from the various bags 
stuff full of the necessities one needs 
when caring for a baby. "Be prepared." he 
laughed, "We're movin' in!" 

At this point, Charlie walked in munching 
on a freshly baked brownie. "Here," he 
popped the last remnants of the chocolate 
dessert in his mouth and wiped off his 
hands, "let me get that." 

Grateful for the offer, Mulder handed Charlie 
a few bags. 

"You weren't kidding about moving in!" Charlie 
huffed, "what'd you do, pack his entire room?" 

"Close," Scully glanced at Mulder, who was 
trying to keep the diaper bag from spilling 
its contents into a messy pile on the floor. 
She turned to her mom, "Thanks for doing 
this mom." She paused lowering her gaze, 
"I'm not sure how long we're going to be 
gone." 

"You know we always love to have him." Maggie 
smiled at her daughter gently lifting her 
chin to look her in the eyes. "Honey, you 
promise me you'll be careful...that you'll 
be home soon?" 

Scully nodded, and Mulder once again assured 
Mrs. Scully that nothing bad was going to 
happen while they were gone. 

Making sure her family had both their cell 
phone numbers, Scully and Mulder went to tell 
their son goodbye one last time before they 
were off. 

Scully held Will in her arms, softly kissing 
his tiny head. She wanted more than ever to 
take him with them, but she knew that it wasn't 
an option. 

Mulder put his arm around her, giving her a 
reassuring squeeze. ~It's going to be ok, I 
promise.~ 

~I know Mulder, it's just...hard~ 

Mulder bent down giving his son a quick kiss. 
"You be good now. Don't give your grandma and 
uncles a bad time." Mrs. Scully and Charlie 
laughed. 

They stood there a few more seconds trying to 
convince themselves that it was just a little 
trip to stop these calls. That they would be 
back in no time, and *finally* discussing plans 
for the wedding. 

Looking into Scully's expression, Mulder knew 
how she felt. They couldn't kid themselves. 
This wasn't just some "little trip". This 
could end up effecting their lives more than 
they could ever imagine. 

~Are you sure you really want to do this~ 

Scully nodded barely perceptible. ~Yeah, I'm
sure.~ 

~Ok then, let's go. The sooner we leave, 
the sooner we get back~ 

They said their final goodbyes, and with one 
last look at Will, headed out the door. 

Once outside, Mulder turned to her, "Now what 
was it you wanted to tell me Scully?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She shivered, though she wasn't cold. She 
looked at him and said, "I'll tell you in 
the car." 

He glanced at her oddly. Deciding it was 
nothing she shrugged it off. 

Once they were in the car, he put the keys 
in the ignition and went to start it, but 
Scully grabbed his hand. 

"What is it?" he asked. 

She wouldn't look in his eyes, instead she 
looked at their entwined fingers. "It's 
about the phone call the other day." 

He knew she didn't want to tell him. For 
whatever reason, he knew she didn't to tell 
him. And he was afraid of what she had to say. 
He knew that Scully tone. 

"In the background the tune London Bridge was 
playing, but is was distorted, almost warning." 
She couldn't look at his face, it hurt her too 
much to see him in pain. 

Mulder looked confused, then, making the 
connection, his whole body shook with sobs. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She didn't know how to comfort him. All she 
wanted to do was make his hurt go away, but 
she didn't know how to do that. It was killing 
her inside, to see him like that. Then, for 
lack of knowing what to do, she held him in 
her arms like a baby. He welcomed her embrace, 
clinging to her. 

After about ten minutes, he moved away and 
turned the key in the ignition. The engine 
sprang to life, and he pulled out of the 
driveway. 

"Say something, Mulder." 

Still saying nothing, he drove into town 
and stopped in an empty parking lot. Climbing 
out of his seat, he moved toward her. She 
moved to the side of her seat, so he could 
sit down, then she climb in his lap. He put 
his arms around her waist, holding her protectively. 
He buried his head in her shoulder, crying again. She 
put her hands around his neck, holding him close. 

Finally, he looked up. 

"Talk to me, Mulder." 

"What do you want me to say? That now that I 
finally found everything I've ever wanted, and
looked beyond the past that I've dwelled on for 
twenty-five years, all the work getting over it 
has suddenly turned to nothing! Is that what you 
want me to say?" His voice was gruff, almost angry. 

She pulled away from him, tears in her eyes. All 
she was trying to do was help. 

"Scully, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to 
come out like that." 

"Just drive, Mulder." 

Quietly, he moved back to his seat and did 
as he was told. 

"Scully, I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me." 
It was the first words either of them had said 
since they pulled out of the parking lot and
hour ago. 

He didn't need for her to be mad at him. The 
silence was killing him. 

"I'm not mad at you Mulder, I'm just hurt." 

"I never, ever meant to hurt you. I just 
didn't know how else to say it." 

Tears welled up in his eyes again. He couldn't
drive like that, so he pulled onto the side of 
the road. Using his sleeve as tissue, he wiped 
his eyes dry and looked over at Scully. He was 
surprised to see tears in her eyes too. Once 
again he climbed into her seat and resumed the 
position he was in earlier, Scully in his lap, 
his arms around her waist. He tilted her chin so 
she was looking into his eyes. 

"You know I would never intentionally do 
anything, to hurt you. I'm don't know how 
else to say I'm sorry." She could hear the 
tears in his voice. 

"I understand, Mulder, I was upset too." 

"I love you, Scully." 

"I love you, too." 

With that, she kissed his lips gently. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He looked up into her eyes and smiled gratefully. 

Her heart melted, to see him smile like that. 
To know that she could make him smile like that 
meant so much to her. He went without smiling 
for so long after Samantha disappeared, he 
hadn't genuinely smiled again until he met her. 

"OK, we'd better get going." Sadly she pulled 
away from his protective grip and let him get
up. 

He tried to start the car, but the engine 
wouldn't turn over. 

"What now?" Mulder stared at the hood, trying 
to will it to start again. Unfortunately it 
didn't work. 

Scully laughed at the frustrated look on his 
face. "Open the hood Mulder," she said as she 
got out of the car. 

Looking baffled, he did as she had said 
and got out, too. "Scully, I have a 
confession, I know nothing about cars. 
At all." 

She laughed as she replied, "Yes, Mulder, 
I know." 

She stared at the engine intently, then 
looked up at his confused expression. 
"Just because you don't know anything 
about cars doesn't mean I don't. I had two 
brother, remember? I had more fun with them 
than I did playing house with Missy." 

Looking sheepish, Mulder replied, "So, 
what's wrong with it?" 

"Well, it looks like the fuel injector is 
plugged up. I have a feeling that we're going 
to be here for a while." 

Looking confused, Mulder commented, "OK, the 
most know about cars is that when you turn the 
key, it starts, well, in most cases. What does 
whatever you just said mean?" 

"It's just that most likely we'll have to 
order a new one. And considering the we are 
in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania it 
might take a while." 

"I knew we should have flown!" 

"Hey, you were the one that decided it would 
be nice for us to drive so we could have the 
time alone!" 

"Yeah, well, it is nice for us to spend the 
time alone together. I guess I should 
probably call a garage and get a tow truck 
out here." 

"Ok, I'll try to figure out where we are 
and find us a hotel. Now I wish I hadn't 
had my eyes closed, I know how you are with 
directions. No telling where we are." 
Laughing, he put through his call to roadside 
assistance. 

************************ 

"Ok," Scully started, shutting her cell phone, "Ok, 
we are in Lebanon, Pennsylvania and there is a motel 
right next to the service station you called. I guess
we'll be staying there for tonight." 

"Hummm.... Just like old times." 

"Well, not exactly like old time, now we are in the 
same room." He wagged his eyebrows at her as he 
kissed her lips playfully. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully laughed, causing their lips to part. "And 
this time it's not because of a flying cow." 

It was Mulder's turn to laugh. It felt good to 
laugh after all the tears he had shed over the 
past few hours. 

Scully was glad that Mulder seemed to be in a 
better mood, although she knew that things would 
only be getting worse once they finally got to 
his old house. That is *if* they ever got there. 

Taking Mulder's hand, she sat down on the hood 
of the car, pulling him down with her. She 
shivered in the cold of the night's air. 

Mulder noticed Scully was shivering and pulled 
her into his lap wrapping his arms protectively 
around her, just as he had twice already since 
they had left her mom's house. 

"You know the rational thing to do here," Mulder 
teased, "would be to get back into the car until 
the tow truck gets here." 

"Since when are you the one to suggest a rational 
explanation?" Scully laughed. 

"It was just a suggestion." He shrugged, "but 
if you want to stay out here in this cold night 
air, who am I to deprive you of your desire?" 

Scully rolled her eyes, and laid her head 
comfortably on his shoulder. She tried not 
to think about the events that had unfolded 
earlier in the evening. She wanted more that 
anything for this to be over. Seeing Mulder 
like that had ripped into the very depths of 
her heart. Sighing, she snuggled closer to 
Mulder taking in his warmth. 

With Scully in his arms Mulder lay back onto the 
windshield, hugging her closer. They lie gazing 
at the stars, Scully in Mulder's arms, for a long 
time. 

It was Mulder who broke the silence, "I love you 
Scully." He pulled her closer, lowering his chin 
to the softness of her hair. 

She had completely forgiven him for the events 
earlier, but she could tell that he still felt 
bad. She turned, as much as she cold still in 
his embrace to face him, "I love you too Mulder." 

It was so peaceful, and Scully felt so protected 
wrapped in Mulder's loving embrace. She was enjoying 
it so much that didn't hear the car when it pulled up. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They were awaken from their trance with the 
beeping of a horn. Looking up, they jumped 
off the hood of the car, and walked up to the
window of the tow truck. 

After the formalities, the truck driver said, 
"The car behind your will take you to your 
motel. Right before we came I made a call to 
our part supplier. Since you said you were in 
a hurry, he said he could most likely get 
anything you need here by tomorrow, with a few 
exceptions." 

"Thank you very much," Mulder replied, placing 
his hand on Scully's shoulder and guiding her 
to the car. 

Once they were in the car Scully said, "You 
know what? This is our chance to really be 
alone before the wedding." 

"Very true, Scully. I'm sorry it won't be more 
romantic. You know my choice in motels." 

"Well, romance is what you make it." 

"What are you suggesting Agent Scully?" He 
looked interested in what she had to say. 

"Well, it was very comfortable on the car there 
with you a few minutes ago, maybe we could 
sleep outside, you know, under the stars." 

He looked intrigued. "I would love to, Scully, 
but what would we sleep in, or on?" 

"Well, ever since we were stranded in the woods 
in Florida and your suggestion about keeping 
warm, haven't we always carried a sleeping bag 
in the trunk of the car?" 

He laughed. "OK, we'll walk over to the garage 
when the truck gets there and sleep out behind 
the room. But one part of that theory won't work 
because we'll be in public." 

"Humm... Good point, but oh well, we'll make due." 
She grabbed his hand and placed her head on his 
shoulder, smiling.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Instead of going straight to the motel, they 
followed the tow truck to the garage. Once making 
sure that their car would be ready to pick up the 
next day, Mulder and Scully went to get the sleeping 
bag from the trunk. 

The mechanic gave them a confused expression. 

"She insists that I sleep outside." Mulder had 
to keep from laughing when he saw the man's face. 

"We changed our minds," Scully said giving the 
mechanic an apologetic smile, 

"We're gonna try roughing it for the night." 

"Oh," The man, who's name turned out to be Mike, 
looked relieved. "A night under the stars huh?" 

Mulder and Scully nodded. 

"Well, in that case," Mike stuck the wrench he 
was holding in his back pocket. "We could just 
have the car drop you guys off at the campsite. 
It's just a few miles from the motel." 

Scully looked at Mulder remembering their knack 
of finding bad things in the forest. 

~This time's different~ Mulder grinned. ~No 
mothmen or little green bugs.~ 

~Yet~ Scully rolled her eyes and grinned, ~At 
least this time, we won't have to wait for it 
to rain sleeping bags~ 

"Sure why not?" Mulder grabbed the sleeping bag 
and Scully's hand and walked toward the car. 

After thanking Mike and making arrangements for 
a car to be sent the next afternoon, Mulder and 
Scully left for the campsite. 

********************************* 

Mulder thanked the driver and, sleeping bag in 
hand, put his arm around Scully's waist. 

"Well Agent Scully, I suggest we find somewhere 
to set up camp." Mulder grinned leaning down to 
give her a kiss. 

Scully smiled, "It shouldn't be to hard to find, 
now that we're actually camping out her on purpose." 

"And in an actual designated campsite." He laughed. 

Placing his hand on it's place at the small of her 
back, he led her to a clearing surrounded by trees 
that was right next to a small stream. 

"How's this?" He laid down the sleeping bag in the 
center. 

"Mulder, it's beautiful." Glancing at the sky Scully 
sighed. Finally things seemed to be going their way. 

Mulder opened the sleeping bag and laid down. 
Grinning, he offered Scully a hand. 

She settled down next to him and cuddled close. It 
was amazing how perfectly they fit, Scully spooned 
up in Mulder's arms. 

They lie there for a good ten minutes saying nothing. 
Just enjoying the view, and each other's embrace. 

Finally it was Mulder who broke the silence. 

"Jeremiah was a bullfrog." 

Scully burst out laughing. 

Mulder ignored her and continued, "Was a good friend 
of mine." 

She was laughing so hard she was crying. She couldn't 
believe how sweet Mulder was. 

"Never understood a single word he said," Mulder 
kissed her neck, which only made Scully laugh 
harder, "But I helped him drink his wine." 

Scully turned over trying to regain her composure. 
"Mulder, you never cease to amaze me." With that she 
took his face in her hands and kissed him. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Slowly pulling away, Mulder said, "I love you, Scully.
You know, even though in the past week I've said that 
so many times, I still can't get use to saying it. 
I mean, I waited so long to say those words like this, 
so passionately, so full of love. I just love saying it, 
and hearing you say it." 

"Mulder, I love you too." In the past week she had 
seen a totally new side of Mulder, a passionate, loving 
side, something she'd been waiting to see for so long. 
He was such a deep person, though it was something he 
usually didn't show. She loved that about him. But now 
that she thought about it, she loved everything about 
him. 

She pulled him closer to him, trying to get warm. 
Slowly, the feel of his hot breath on her face 
lulled her off to sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully had fallen asleep over an hour ago, and Mulder 
concentrated on the rhythmic sound of her breathing. He 
loved just watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful, so 
content, so... Scully. He realized that it was all that he 
needed to be content himself. Just to be here with her in 
his arms. 

Suddenly a memory flashed through his mind and he laughed 
out loud. Holmen Hardt- *the* weatherman's voice echoed 
through his mind. 

"I've seen how you two gaze at one another." 

He grinned to himself when he remembered his own response, 
thinking ~I guess I was wrong. I really *do* gaze at 
Scully.~ 

At the sound of Mulder's laughter, Scully stirred in 
her sleep and snuggled closer. Even in the dark Mulder 
could see the grin on her face. Even in her sleep 
Mulder's voice made her smile. 

****************** 

Scully awoke with a start, heart racing and drenched in 
sweat. She was breathing hard, and it took her a while 
to realize that it had just been a dream. 
Mulder jumped awake. 

"Scully!" Mulder tried to move but was pinned down by the 
weight of the sleeping bag. It took him a while to realize 
where he was. He struggled to get his bearings. 

The sound of his voice calmed her nerves, but Scully was 
still shaking. 

Fully awake, Mulder took her in his arms, "Shhh, Scully 
it's ok. It was just a dream. I'm here." 

~She hadn't said anything...had she?~ At least Scully didn't 
remember saying anything. 

Mulder answered her question, "You were crying out in your 
sleep." He held her closer and caressed her face. 
Scully closed her eyes, letting herself fall back into 
Mulder's embrace. The dream had seemed so real. What 
little she could remember about it quickly vanished at the 
sound of Mulder's voice. 

"Scully?" 

"Yeah?" He still had his arms protectively around her, 
tucking the sleeping bag closer. 

"You ok now?" He mumbled into the top of her head. 

She looked up smiling. "I am now." 

Kissing her softly, he grinned. "You want me to sing you 
another lullaby?" 

She laughed, "That's ok Mulder, I think one a night is enough 
for me." Mulder laughed, and after a few more moments of 
stargazing, they both drifted back to sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The next thing Mulder remembered was being woken up 
by Scully's sweet kisses all over his neck. ~What a 
way to wake up,~ he thought. 

Still acting like he was asleep, he laid there, so 
she wouldn't stop. Then after about a minute, he 
tilted her chin up and kissed her lips. Surprisingly, 
she let out a soft giggle. 

"What's so funny?" Mulder asked, faking a hurt look. 

"It's just the night we were in Florida, I thought 
about being able to do this. It's like some type of 
dej vu, only it was something I thought of consciously." 
She giggled again. "You know, back then I never would have 
thought that it would have ever actually happen. I mean, 
I hoped that it would, but I never thought that anything 
romantic would ever happen between us. We are both so 
stubborn that I thought that we would admit that we loved 
the other one, not in this way. But then again I never 
thought that it was possible that I could have a child, 
and we got Will. Two amazing miracles that I never thought 
could or would ever happen." 

"I've always loved you, Scully. Not necessarily romantically 
as we are now, no that wasn't until I brought you the flowers 
that I took from the guy with the broken leg, but as my best 
friend. Every since the night you had the mosquito bites on 
your back and you came to my motel room. The night that I 
first told you about Samantha. I realized you were my first 
real best friend. That night I just felt so close to you, I 
knew there was something special about our relationship, maybe 
it was because you had the courage to come into my hotel room 
almost naked on our first assignment together." He chuckled at 
the memory and she playfully slapped him hand in the sleeping 
bag, then grabbed it, and held it against her stomach. 

"You know what Mulder, to be honest, I thought you were a 
total nutcase until a couple of years ago. I mean, beyond 
help psychotic. The first time I thought about you as in a 
lover was when the Gunmen and I pulled you off that ship in 
the Pacific and you were lying in your hospital bed, and you 
told me you loved me. Don't get me wrong, I've always found 
you very, very attractive, and at times downright sexy, 
but I thought it was just a crush based on looks. Now I 
realized that you've been my first real best friend, too. 
And I've heard friends make the best lovers." She smiled 
and kissed him again. 

"I agree." Suddenly, his stomach grumbled. "You know 
what? I'm hungry. Why don't we get up and go take 
showers and change, the go get some breakfast." 

Sighing, Scully got up and picked up their bags off 
the ground. They walked up to the campground information 
desk, and asked for directions to the bath houses. 

A very country voice, too country for Pennsylvania, 
answered, "They're up on top of that there hill," he 
said, indicating a large building on the other side 
of the camp ground. "I warn you, there won't be very 
much hot water, probably just about enough for one 
shower. Even with ya'll being the only customers in 
the place for the past few days. The water heater is 
almost shot and we haven't replaced it, basically 
because the place will pro'aly be going belly-up in 
a few weeks if we don't get more customers." 

"Thank you, sir," Scully said politely as she 
and Mulder left. 

"Did you hear what he said Scully?" Mulder looked 
pleased at the thought of not enough hot water. 

"Yes, Mulder I did," she replied exasperated. "He 
said there was only enough hot water for one shower." 

"And that we are the only one's in the whole place." 

She started to see his point. "Are you suggesting 
what I think you are?" She looked pleased at his idea. 

"Yes, I am. I don't see why one shower should be a 
problem, do you?" 

"No, actually, I think it would be better than two." 
Smiling, she took his hand and they made the long 
trek up the hill. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The bathhouse was surprisingly clean as far as 
campground bathhouses go. It reminded Scully of 
the time they had had to be "cleansed" of all 
"possible toxins" after Diana Fowley and her herd 
of quarantine troops had busted down Mulder's door 
and taken Cassandra Spender. She shuttered at the 
thought. 

Mulder seemed to read her mind. "At least this time 
we won't have to wear those fashionable way-too-
short-and-uncomfortable-government-issue-clothes 
afterward." He grinned, and wagging his eyebrows, 
motioned for her to step in. 

"Welcome to my humble abode. A place where all 
your dreams come true." 

Scully laughed, "I don't know," she teased, 
"I have some pretty amazing dreams." 

Mulder laughed, "Well, I'll try to do my best. 
Although I do have to warn you, I sometimes 
tend to sing in the shower." 

Scully faked a horrified gasp, "You Mulder? 
I never would have guessed." 

(Continued in part 5)

Part 5
See part 0 for header information.


"I know, who would of thought?" He said 
matter-of-factly turning on the hot water. 
Scully laughed again kissing him softly, 
"Hmmm, must be an X-file." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The warm water on her back felt wonderful. 
Scully rubbed her neck, sore from a night 
of sleeping on 'nature's mattress'. 

Noticing her gesture, Mulder moved closer 
and began gently massaging Scully's back. 
She groaned in pleasure as he worked over 
her soar muscles. The methodic padding 
of the warm water made it even better. 

Mulder grinned, "I think she likes." 

Scully sighed closing her eyes. "Like? Mulder 
you are amazing, you know how much I love your 
massages." 

He stopped for a second to pour some shampoo 
into his hand then continued. He massaged her 
scalp, greatly enjoying every minute of it. 
Scully was so relaxed she could have easily 
fallen asleep right then and there. 

~This is the life.~ She sighed again turning 
towards him. 

"Come on Mulder, turn around." 

He looked confused for a second then laughed 
as she said, "You slept on the same bumpy ground 
as I did, I'm sure your back would thank me." 
She grinned adding with a sly smile, "You didn't 
really think I'd let you get away with all the 
fun now did you?" 

Giving in, he turned for his turn to be massaged. The 
feel of Scully's small fingers working it's way magic 
on his sore muscles made him groan too. 

"See Mulder, I told you." 

He sighed, "Ahhh... Scully?" 

"Yeah?" She started in on the shampoo, having to stand 
on her tiptoes to reach the top of his head. 

"I think I'm feeling a song coming on." He grinned 
turning his head to see her expression. 

She laughed, pulling his face closer to hers just 
inched from her lips. "Well then, I guess I'll just 
have to put an end to that now won't I?" With that 
she lessened the space in between them with a soft 
kiss, making it impossible for the oncoming song to 
escape. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour, and no more hot water, later Mulder and Scully 
walked hand in hand into the nearest restaurant that 
they could find. It was a cute little bed and breakfast 
just off the campground simply called Granny's Home 
Cookin'. 

An elderly women, that reminded Scully of her grandma, 
greeted them at the door with a friendly smile. 

"Welcome to Granny's," she led the way to a small table 
in the corner. They sat down and she handed them menus, 
"The only place you can get real come cooked food within 
100 miles." 

Mulder grinned, "Sounds good to me." 

"My name is Dorothy," She smiled warmly folding her hands. 
"If there's anything else you need don't hesitate to ask." 

They thanked Dorothy before she hustled back to kitchen. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh, my, everything looks so good, I don't know what to 
order." Scully was staring at the menu intently. 

>From behind her she heard Dorothy's voice shout from 
the kitchen, "I recommend the biscuits and gravy, 
they're the cook's specialty." 

Laughing, she said to Mulder, "I think I've decided then." 

Mulder was still debating when Dorothy reappeared. 

"What will 'ya have, sweetie?" she asked, directing her 
question at Scully. 

"The biscuits and gravy with milk, please," was her reply, 
handing back the menu. 

"And what for the husband?" she asked, turning to Mulder. 

He blushed and replied, "I'll have the same, please." 

As she returned to the kitchen Scully said to Mulder, 
"See, I bet people have thought we were married for years, 
and just never said anything." 

"Yeah," he said, with a half sigh. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully laughed, "Don't look so disappointed." 

"I'm not disappointed that people think we're married 
Scully," Mulder picked up his fork and started playing 
with it, "It's just that all that time everyone else 
thought that we were married, we never got to have any 
of the fun that comes with it." He pretended to be sad, 
sighing forlornly. 

Scully laughed again, "Well Mulder, you don't have to 
worry about that now. And in a few weeks we won't have 
to worry about people *thinking* we're married," She 
smiled placing her hand on his. 

"Cause we will be." He finished her sentence grinning. 

~How can I be so lucky?~ Mulder gave her hand a squeeze. 

~Mulder, you're not the only lucky one.~ Scully looked 
into his eyes. 

~I love you Scully~ Mulder looked like he was going to 
start laughing. ~I *love* saying that!~ 

~You didn't say it~ 

~Ok, I love *thinking* it!~ 

Scully laughed out loud. ~I love you too Mulder.~ 

They sat there, hand in hand, reading each other's 
thoughts. They didn't even notice Dorothy as she 
brought out there food. 

"Sorry to interrupt ya." Dorothy set down the plates. 

Mulder and Scully let go to make room for the food. 

"Thanks," Scully smiled. 

"Mmmm," Mulder gave Dorothy his trademark grin, "Just 
like grandma used to make it." 

"You eat up now," Dorothy laughed, giving Mulder's hand 
a grandmotherly pat. She turned spoke to both of them, 
"I just wanted to tell y'all that you two make a very 
cute couple." 

Scully blushed, "Thank you very much." 

Dorothy smiled again, then hustled back to the kitchen. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Scully grinned, picking up her fork and talking a big 
whiff of the plate in front of her. Her mouth watered 
as she said, "See Mulder." 

"Yeah," Mulder placed his napkin on his lap, "I heard." 
He grinned adding in a voice that very much resembled 
Dorothy's, "We make a very nice couple." 

She laughed taking a bite. "You know Mulder," she 
gestured towards him with her fork, "If you ever had 
to go undercover as an old lady-" 

Scully was interrupted by the sound of Mulder choking 
on a mouthful of biscuits and gravy. 

"What!?" He managed to squeak out without flinging 
the contents of his mouth over the table and into 
her lap. 

He was pounding on his chest coughing, still trying 
to recover her first statement, as Scully let out an 
amused snort. "I was just going to say that you had 
the voice down pat." 

Mulder, recovered from his traumatic experience of 
flashes of him in an "old lady suit", deadpanned, "I 
really don't think that there are many old lady's out 
there with the name 'Mulder'." 

"Well," Scully laughed, "I doubt that there are many 
old lady's with the name 'Fox' either." 

"Well," Mulder grinned, deciding to play along, "For 
the sake of argument." 

"Of course," Scully cut in. 

He ignored her and continued, "Seeing as how we are 
under cover, my name would have to be something like," 
He thought for a second before adding, "Muldrina." 

It was Scully's turn to choke. "Muldrina huh?" 

"Yeah," Mulder put another forkful into his mouth 
chewing away quietly, "Has a nice ring to it don't 
you think...Muldriiinaaa" 

Scully just rolled her eyes, "I'm sorry I brought it 
up." 

They finished their meal in comfortable silence. 

Every so often Scully would glance up and just shake 
her head silently chuckling to herself. Mulder would 
then give her an innocent look pretending that he had 
absolutely no idea what she was so amused about. 

Finally they were done eating and went up to pay. 

"It's on the house." Dorothy smiled, "We don't get many 
folks around here, especially those on their honeymoon." 

Mulder and Scully exchanged confused glances. 

Seeing their expressions, Dorothy blushed, "The first 
time I saw you two I figured that you must have been 
married for years, the way you seem to be able to talk 
without actually using words. But then after seeing the 
way you two act around each other, I just assumed..." 

"It's ok," Scully smiled. 

"Happens all the time." Mulder grinned putting his 
arm around Scully's waist. 

"Well," Dorothy fluttered her hand in front of her, 
"Y'all er sure to keep confusing us more, I'm sure."
She smiled at Scully and Mulder. "I wish you both the 
best." 

"Thank you." They said in unison. 

Mulder began to hand her the check. 

"Oh no," Dorothy shook her head, "Like I said, it's 
on the house. I may be old, but I still know true love 
when I see it." She glanced at Mulder's arm protectively 
around Scully's waist. "And seeing the love you two have 
for one another has brought joy to this old heart once 
again." She paused sighing, "You don't see that much 
anymore these days. Y'all deserve it. No no no-" She 
waved away Mulder's hand as he once again tried to pay. 
"You have a nice day now ya hear?" With that she grinned 
and turned to go back to the kitchen. 

Mulder sighed defeated. 

Scully joined him. "Well, so much for that!" She turned 
toward the door. 

"Not quite," Mulder gave her a sly grin as he took the 
check and tucked it safely into the pocket of Dorothy's 
apron, which she had left near the cash register. "Ok, now 
we can go." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

They turned and walked put of the diner. 

"That was really sweet of her," Scully said smiling at 
Mulder. 

"Yes, it was." He smiled at her, pulling his grip around 
her tighter. 

"What do we do now?" she asked, looking around. 

"Well, they said they'd have the car delivered to our 
campground, and I figure it will be a while before they 
get it there. We really don't have anything to do, we 
have no car, no other clothes, other that the one's that 
we've been wearing all night, and no idea where we are." 
He glanced at her expression. She was trying to figure out 
what they could do. 

Finally she had an idea. 

"Well, we could always go and get a motel room, even 
thought we won't be there tonight. We could, um, spend 
the afternoon it." She glanced at him slyly. 

He grinned at her cleverness. 

"What do you say?" She really didn't have to ask, but 
she did anyway. 

As an answer, he took her hand in his, his other arm 
still around her back and led her toward the motel. 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"And for how many days will y'all be stayin' with us?" 
The lady behind the front desk drawled, looking up from 
the novel she had been reading. 

Scully glanced at Mulder. 

He grinned, "Just for tonight." 

The lady (whose nameplate read, "Lola") typed the 
information into the computer, 

"Enjoy your stay." Her tone expressed her boredom with 
her job, as handed them the key. 

"Thank you." Scully said politely, as Mulder picked up 
the key. 

"Will you need any help with your luggage?" Lola glanced 
around, giving them a confused expression at their lack 
of suitcases or duffle bags. 

"Um, no that won't be necessary," Mulder flashed a smile 
and turned toward the lobby, steering Scully away with 
his hand at the small of her back. 

Lola shrugged and returned to her book. 

*********** 

Mulder unlocked the door and stepped back for Scully 
to enter. 

It was a quaint little room with only one king-size bed 
taking up most of the room. The sunlight shone through 
the window, making the burgundy and forest green 
curtains seem brighter. 

Mulder stepped into the room shutting the door behind 
him. 

"So Scully," He came up behind her wrapping his arms 
around her waist "We've got the entire afternoon," Mulder 
grinned, and kissed the back of her neck whispering into 
her ear, "Just what are we going to do to pass the time?" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Humm..... I'm sure, *kiss* we can find *kiss kiss* 
something, *kiss* don't you think?" 

"Yeah, I don't *kiss* think that will *kiss kiss* be 
a problem." 

Suddenly Mulder's cell phone rang. 

"Leave *kiss* it." 

"But it *kiss kiss* be your mom." 

Sighing, she pulled away. He had a point. It could be 
something about Will. 

"Hello?" 

"Mr. Mulder." It wasn't a question. 

"Who is this?" He knew the voice sounded familiar, but 
he didn't know from where. 

"That is of no importance. I have some information 
that would prove to be very valuable to you." 

Scully was tugging on his sleeve, not very happy about 
getting interrupted. 

"What kind of information?" ~Is it a trap?~ he asked 
himself. 

"Information about your sister." 

Suddenly, the man had his whole attention. "What 
about her?" 

"Just beware, Mr. Mulder. Beware of the trap you are 
walking straight into." 

The line went dead. 

"What's the matter? Who was that?" She was concerned 
at the look of pain on his face. 

He shook it off, he didn't need to worry Scully. 
"Nothing, just a prank call." 

She sighed heavily. "OK, so where were we?" 

He kissed her passionately. "I think we were about 
here." 

"I think so too." Her voice was deep and passionate. 

Then it hit him. The man on the phone sounded like 
"X"! ~But "X" is dead,~ he thought to himself. 

He turned back to Scully, giving her his full 
attention. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

2 hours later... 

*knock knock knock* 

Scully groaned and snuggled closer to Mulder, head 
on his chest and arms wrapped lovingly around his 
waist. 

"Just ignore them, maybe they'll go away." She 
yawned pulling the covers closer. 

Mulder grinned, tightening his grip around her. 
"As much as I'd love to, we should probably get 
that." 

"Why?" Still groggy from trying to wake up, Scully 
was not quite comprehending what he was saying. 

"Because if we don't call your mom soon to tell her 
that we made it to Martha's Vineyard, she'll not 
only send Skinner and the FBI," He shuttered as he 
finished his sentence, "But Bill too." 

Scully laughed, now fully awake, "Well, we can't 
have that now can we?" 

Planting a quick kiss on the top of her head, Mulder 
got up to answer the door... 
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He threw on a pair of pants and walked to the door.
Looking through it peep hole, Mulder saw a young 
black man he didn't recognize. He stood there for 
a minute, think about the phone call he had received 
earlier in the day. ~No, there couldn't be a 
connection.~ 

Then he noticed the manila envelope in his hand. 
Maybe there was a connection. 

Cautiously, he opened the door. 

"Mr. Mulder?" 

"Yes?" 

"Hello, we spoke earlier." There was a pause and 
I confused look from Mulder. 

~How did he know where Scully and I were?!?~ he 
asked himself. 

Noting the look of confusion, he went on, "About 
bring your car here instead of the campground?" 

Suddenly it made sense. It was the man from the 
service station. 

"Oh, of course." He had forgotten that he had 
called when he and Scully checked into the hotel 
and asked for them to bring the car there after 
all. 

"I need you to sign here," he said, indicating 
the paper he had pulled out of the envelope. 

Mulder signed, and shut the door. Slipping off his 
jeans, he got back into bed. Scully shivered because 
of the cold air that hit her body as he pulled back 
the covers. He pulled her close, cradling her small, 
delicate body. Slowly, they both drifted back to 
sleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mulder blinked, trying to ward off the sleep in his 
eyes. Yawning he glanced at Scully and, seeing that 
she was still asleep, glanced at the clock, 1:26. 
The small red light in the corner indicated that it
was still the afternoon. Luckily for them, they hadn't 
slept away the *entire* day. 

Mulder grinned. ~And what a day it's been.~ 

He focused his attention back on Scully as she slept 
peacefully. Mulder was glad that she had finally been 
able to get some sleep. It was something that seemed 
impossible for her the past few days, ever since the 
dreams had started. 

As Scully slept, Mulder's mind drifted- something it 
often tended to do when he was lying in bed enjoying 
one of his favorite pastimes: Scully watching. 

He cherished those moments when she was laying next 
to him, sound asleep. Those were the times that he 
could just enjoy watching her face and the expressions 
it contained with the rise and fall of each breath... 
without the interruption of everyday life. 

He smiled thinking of Will, and how he was doing at 
his grandma's house. He thought of Samantha, and this 
whole strange ideal that had come up. 

Allowing his mind to drift further, he remembered the 
day that he and Scully had met, how he had accused her 
of being sent to "spy on him".  At this Mulder laughed 
out loud, causing Scully to stir in her sleep. 

~How far *that* was from the truth~ He grinned again, 
adjusting his arm to a more comfortable position around 
Scully's waist. She let out a sigh, unconsciously 
snuggling closer. 

Mulder's mind wondered to the time after his run in with 
the Bermuda Triangle when he had told Scully he loved her. 
The corners of his mouth curved into a grin, thinking of 
her reaction to their first "kiss". He thought of the 
presents on Christmas, after their night spent in that 
haunted house, and how much fun it was teaching her to 
play baseball...just spending time together not doing 
something work-related for once. 

Suddenly his heart was consumed with pleasure as he 
realized that from now on all times spent with Scully 
would be like that. Now there wouldn't have to be excuses 
like "very early (or very late) birthday presents" or a 
convenient holiday to hide behind. They had finally 
stopped being so stubborn and given in to the truth. And 
he was very glad that they had. 

As the 2, 5, and 9 on the clock were replaced with a 3 
and two 0's, Mulder decided that they had better get up, 
suddenly remembering what they were doing here in the first 
place...

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

After getting dressed, Mulder moved as quietly as he 
could to open the door. He had decided to let Scully 
sleep for as long as possible, while he went to go 
check out and get the car. His hand was in the process 
of turning the doorknob as the phone rang. 
Hearing the phone ring brought Scully out of her 
peaceful slumber. Reaching out with her eyes still 
closed, she fumbled to find the receiver. 

~That's funny~ She wrinkled her brow ~the phone was 
not in it's usual place by the bed.~ 

Thinking that it must be her cell phone, Scully struggled 
to open her eyes. The bright light from the window quickly 
halted the process making it impossible for her to see much 
of anything. 

Quickly Mulder went to her side, noticing her confusion. 

"Don't worry," he grabbed the receiver as she began to 
regain her eyesight, "I got it." He smiled putting the 
phone to his ear. "Hello?" 

Finally realizing where she was, Scully yawned glancing 
at the clock. She couldn't believe how late it was. No 
wonder they were getting phone calls. Everybody was 
probably wondering where they were! 

"Hello?" Scully noted the look of worry on Mulder's face 
as he repeated the question. "Hello? Is anybody there?..." 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dun dun duuuuuun! Have to read part 2 to find out 
what happens! And let me tell you, a LOT happens...:P 
~MeGgiE~




### The End ###