From: Patrice Farmer <xfilesforever2012@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:38:02 -0400
Subject: I Feel Betrayed by Trycee
Source: direct


I Feel Betrayed

by Trycee

Timeline: Season 8 between episodes after Dead Alive, starting from 
Three Words and ending before Vienen when Mulder makes a simple 
statement of acknowledgement of the baby.

Rated G

Disclaimer: I do not own the X-Files, it is owned by Chris Carter. 
This is written for fun not profit.

Description: Mulder's feelings after he is escourted home by a 
pregnant Scully. This takes Place between episodes: Three Words - 
Mulder's return home from the hospital, Empedocles - Scully is 
hospitalized before Vienen/Mulder's Firing. ANGST! This was a 
difficult time for M and S, so be prepared.



Why did I return from death if this is what I return too? The woman 
that I've loved since the day I met her, the one who has been my 
partner in life, my lover and my friend is pregnant and I've been 
dead. I'm confused, I'm angered, there's a eruption inside me...I want 
to yell, I want to beat my fist against the wall, I want to thrash out 
at everyone around me but I can't...I'm too in shock and I'm afraid 
that if I show her my innermost emotions it may frighten her and her 
unborn baby. I see the tears in her eyes...normally I would go to her 
immediately and try to wipe away her tears but I don't think HE would 
appreciate it, whoever HE is! How could she? How could she replace me 
so soon? And if she didn't...whose baby is it? Was it a donation from 
a stranger or was it the guy in the hospital, the guy that kept coming 
into my room to look in on her but would leave just as quickly as if 
he didn't want to face me yet...He seemed to hover over her. I 
recognize the look in his eyes...its the same I used to have for her 
and her alone...a look of a man in love. He could never look at her 
that way if it wasn't his child she were pregnant with, would he?

I 'd rather be dead than have this as my reality!l My worst nightmare 
has happened...Scully has moved on without me. It was always my dream 
to give her the baby she always wanted. We tried nearly two years ago 
when we were still just friends and nothing happened. Scully was 
devastated but I told her not to give up on a miracle...and like my 
return from the grave, she is pregnant and that's a miracle in itself. 
.I want to be happy for her but I'm too bitter...I'm too 
devastated...I feel betrayed.

The tears in her eyes...She was so happy to bring me home...she even 
cleaned my apartment but I don't think she understands how it feels 
for me. I was dead...gone...where I was I'm not quite sure...one 
moment I'm making love to her before my trip to Oregon and then 
Skinner's with me walking in the woods and the next I wake up in a 
hospital room like countless times before...I see the worry in her 
eyes but when she gets up, my breath is caught into my throat. She's 
pregnant...very pregnant...and who is the guy who keeps ducking into 
my room more than once to look after her?

My heart is broken...stomped on...I do know she still loves me, I can 
see it in her eyes. Maybe he was there to comfort her. Maybe its some 
college kids donation for cash that has made her dreams come true. I 
didn't want to see her cry as she left...I wanted to question her...I 
wanted to shake her and scream at her, "How could you!', but I 
couldn't...This is bringing up the whole issue of Ed Jerse and Eddie 
Van Blunht back to me though I know she never slept with Jerse and she 
thought she was about to kiss the real me when she was about to kiss 
Eddie Van Blundht but right now...all of that is bubbling up to the 
surface right now...I'm alive...and yet the woman I love has moved on 
without me somehow...She's beautiful pregnant just as I always knew 
she would be...except I can't match the excitement in her eyes because 
its not mine. How can I go back to being her friend after all we've 
shared, after all we've loved? I can't...I can't...

One minute she's mine...kissing me goodbye, the worry for my safety 
evident in the tenseness of her naked body as we embrace at my 
apartment right before Skinner knocks on my door. She hides away in my 
bedroom but when Skinner opens my apartment door I notice her coat and 
purse are lying on the table by my door. I could see the look in 
Skinner's face as if he got the confirmation he needed that we were 
lovers. I smiled shyly and then ducked my head down and follow him 
out, closing the door behind me. He never mentioned it the entire trip 
though I know he knew she was there. You could smell the scent of 
Scully even through the closed bedroom. As soon as we got to Oregon, 
we walked into the forest and I just remember seeing lights...red 
ones...and then I wake up to her touch as I lie in the hospital 
room...and she's not mine any more...How can this be?

"I prayed a lot...," she said, looking at me with pure elation. "And 
my prayers have been answered."

I looked over to the noticeable bulge of her stomach and I tried to 
convey some type of happiness for her, the best I could...I was 
disoriented and I felt like I didn't know her anymore.

"In more ways than one," I tried to smile.

She looked down at her stomach and said, "Yeah..."

"I'm happy for you," I lied.

She looked surprised.

"I think I know...how much that means to you...", I said trying not to 
let the bile travel up my throat as I had said it.

"Mulder...", she said, as if she didn't know what to say. A single 
tear trailed down her cheek as she looked incrediously at me. The last 
thing I needed to hear was, "Mulder, I thought you were dead so I 
moved on..."

I cut her off and looked away.."I'm sorry...", I said shaking my head 
as I sat on my desk. "I don't mean to be cold or ungrateful...it's 
just...I have no ideal where I fit in...right now..."

I looked over to her and there was a look I couldn't read. Her face 
was almost stoic but there was pain behind her eyes. I shook my head 
trying to figure it out but I couldn't "I just...ah...I'm having a 
little trouble...processing...everything," I said with a slight 
chuckle as I turned my head back towards the lamp on my desk.

I could feel her staring at me, her breathing was heavy. What could I 
do? Was I able to comfort her any more or was it HIS job now? After 
she left, making a quick beeline for the door giving me a quick excuse 
that she had somewhere else to be...I could see her wiping her eyes 
and I wanted to run after her and tell her I was sorry...Sorry for 
ever leaving her...Sorry for the tone I had but I couldn't...I just 
couldn't...I was too hurt.

Before plopping down on my couch, alone, I headed for the kitchen. I 
noticed she'd bought me a few things to eat but other than that, I 
could see she had begun packing up my silverware and plates. I still 
had my microwave but nothing else was out showing that someone alive 
occupied the space. I grabbed the cold pizza box she'd obviously 
purchased for me and then headed for my couch. I dumped the pizza box 
and an ice tea she'd made onto the coffee table and then headed for my 
bedroom to explore. Some of my things were packed up and rearranged 
but I could easily find my way around. I wondered why she still kept 
my apartment, she could've use the refund on the place for her 
baby...I mean...it was paid for...I paid for the year not monthly 
since my parents had left me quite a large sum of money. I had sold 
both of their houses and bought a hideaway under an alias for me and 
Scully if we ever had to run in the backwoods in Virginia but now the 
thought of that place seemed more like a dream just like the present. 
Where the hell was I? Who was I? The scars on my face told me and 
chest told me I had just had an ordeal...I remember sitting in a 
strange chair and screaming Scully's name...but those flashes came and 
went and then I was standing around in my bathroom looking around as 
if it were a memory instead of reality.

I made my way back to the couch and after eating a slice I tossed the 
box back into the fridge and downed the ice tea. After that I just 
sat...no television blaring...no nothing...just silence as I tried to 
come to grips with my new reality...I had just returned from the 
grave...like Lazarus or Jesus Christ...though I'm far from a saint, 
aren't I? I'm just...I'm just lost...How could she? Is what I keep 
thinking. I reached for the phone...determined to scream the words out 
at her if I had too but the there was no dial tone. I guess I'll have 
to wait. I don't have a FBI issued cellphone any more...I'm sure I was 
legally declared dead so I officially don't exist right now..All of 
this was hard to take in. For me...It was just a day...One lousy day 
but for everyone else, life has gone on at record speed. I sat there 
all night, my mind reeling until there's a knock at the door. I don't 
move and then I hear her use her key and she enters but she's not 
alone, Skinner is there too.

I was trying to act like I had not a care in the world as I sat 
slouched on my couch, my feet resting on my coffee table. They're both 
staring at me and Scully speaks first. "You didn't change? Did you sit 
here all night, Mulder?"

I shrugged my shoulders. 'Its no longer your concern, Scully', I 
wanted to say...but I hold my tongue. Skinner decides to tell me about 
Kersh's plans for me.

"Kersh wants to put me behind a desk? That is not what Kersh wants.", 
I say.

Scully rolls her eyes. "No, I think Kersh wants you to quit, Mulder," 
she says as she walks over to the couch and lowers herself near me but 
there's still a very noticeable gap between us like they're never was 
before.

I noticed that Skinner had his eyes on Scully the whole time as if he 
were worried about her. Perhaps he was worried about her being near 
me. I'm not crazy, Walter...I'm just a guy that lost everything he 
ever had in his life, including the woman he loved just to be dumped 
back into this apartment alive again and for what?...

"It's more than that," I hear him say."He wants to punish you, to hurt 
you.

I keep my eyes on him at first. "And you by putting you in this 
position. And Agent Scully, for not giving up on me.," I say looking 
dead at her. I know she notices the use of 'Agent Scully' verses 
Scully. Agent Scully is what she is now to me...there can't be any 
other way. Her head dropped slightly at the use of her title but I 
continue. "Truth is, this is a bullet that was fired about eight years 
ago. It's a magic bullet that's been going round and round and right 
now it seems poised to hit me right in the back of the head."

Scully turns nervously to me, her belly obviously making her 
uncomfortable. "Well, I think the question is, Mulder, are we going to 
sit here and let this happen?"

'We?', I wanted to say but I bit the words back. "Scully, you're going 
to give birth in a couple months. You can talk as tough as you like 
but you know and I know and they know that in a little while you're 
going to have more important things than whether or not the X-Files 
remains open.

She drops her eyes for a second and then looks over to Skinner.

"They're not closing the X-Files. Kersh aims to keep them open with 
Agent Doggett running them," Skinner said.

"Agent who?", I said turning to face her.

Scully wouldn't look at me at first but then she started speaking and 
her gaze returned to me. "I've had a partner for the last several 
months. He was assigned to help me find you. "

I stare at her for a few minutes. 'So that's the guy...her 
partner...the hover-er...the guy that snuck in an took my place...How 
long did it take, Scully? You can't be no more than four months 
pregnant...tops...You can't be no more or less than that, you're 
petite even in pregnancy...Two months, Scully? Was it desperation? Was 
it satisfying a need? Was he your comfort when I was gone? I wanted to 
scream at her but what seemed like an eternity to me only took a 
fraction of a second in real-time as I stared at her. She looked 
nervous...very nervous as she fidgeted around.

"Mission accomplished!", I meant that in more than one way. "Does he 
know what he's doing at all, this guy?" I turned my gaze back at her.

Skinner looked at me. "About the paranormal? Not much."

"I see. Then maybe the question is not who fired this magic bullet, 
but whether or not it was a lone gunman."

I smiled at that, trying to remain unfazed but when she turned to face 
me, she had the nerve to defend the bastard.

"Agent Doggett is above reproach, Mulder. He's being maneuvered just 
like you."

That's his name, Scully? Doggett. My anger welled up in me as I stared 
at her. "Well, good. At least he's maneuverable," I say as I yank 
myself up from the couch angrily and walk into my bedroom. I can't see 
her anymore but I can still see Skinner.

"Where are you going?", he asks me.

"I'm going to get dressed. For the first time I feel like getting back 
to work."

They wait for me to shower and dress and then we all head down to 
there cars. Normally I would ride with Scully but I didn't know where 
my car was and so I opted to ride with Skinner. He looked surprised 
and Scully looked hurt but I wasn't done...I wanted to meet this Agent 
Doggett and see who it was that took my place so quickly in the 
X-Files as her partner, taking away my life's work, ending up in her 
arms.

I was so tempted to ask Skinner who the father of Scully's baby was 
but I thought that would be too personal to ask him and so I kept my 
mouth shut. He looked at me several times out of the corner of his 
eyes but we both said nothing. After he parked in the Hoover Parking 
structure, Scully joined us but she wouldn't look at me. Her head was 
cast down slightly and she stood closer to Skinner as they both looked 
at me, knowing where I would head...down to the X-Files though I guess 
I should report to my new A.D and my desk but Skinner and Scully had a 
meeting to attend at the FBI Task Force Briefing Room and so I was 
left to my own devices. Scully gave me a look that conveyed, No 
Mischief Mulder...but right now, it mattered very little what she 
wanted from me. I took the stairs and was surprised to find the office 
door closed and so I opened it with my key and walked in. It looked 
nearly the same but there were a few changes. My name plate is still 
on the desk but its been pushed aside just as I have been. I expected 
Agent Doggett to stroll in at any moment and I wasn't exactly sure if 
my emotions wouldn't take over when I did see him. I searched through 
my desk and found one of my old cell phones in my desk and so I turned 
it on and noticed a few recent phone calls from Scully. I tried to 
dial out but this must have been one of my busted cell phones. It did 
let me text though, I was grateful at least for that. I sent a text 
telling her to message me when they were done and then I went about 
looking through the files to see what occurred in the last few months 
since my disappearance and subsequent death six months before.

Out of all the years I've had this office, I never felt more alone in 
here searching through files as I did now. Even with Scully's 
abduction, I still clung to the hope that I would one day find her, 
but now I knew she belonged to someone else and that hurt me more than 
words could say. I swallowed hard and tried to focus on the 
files...but it didn't feel like the office belonged to me any more. I 
might as well be a ghost because I felt a connection to the space but 
someone else was now occupying it. I pushed that thought out of my 
head as well...Focus, Mulder...Focus...But Scully and Skinner's 
meeting lasted a lot longer than I expected and so I text her, "Where 
is everybody? Come on Down. Mulder."

As far as I'm concerned this is still my office, my life's work, 
whether Kersh wants to pull me off of it and send me to some desk like 
a Jerry-new agent or not. I pulled out the photo of Samantha and put 
it on my desk and put my feet up, making myself comfortable. I 
searched the photo of the abductees I'd been found dead amongst when 
Scully and Skinner walk into the office. I put on my best fake smile.

"Hey," I say as they walk in.

"Mulder...," Scully said with a tone.

"Who says you can't go home again? "

"What are you doing here?"

"What's it look like?", I say harshly. What, am I not welcomed in my 
own office anymore?

"It looks like you want to give them real ammunition to use on you, 
that's what it looks like."

I lean back in my chair and try to sound light hearted. "Hey, I am 
just down here visiting my buds."

I then focus on Scully. "Where is this Agent Doggett anyway? What kind 
of hours does he keep?"

Scully looks firmly at me. "Please, you do not want to stir that up 
right now."



I'm very curious now. "Why?"

" Because we have a manhunt in progress and I want Agent Doggett 
running it."

I pick up the photo in my hand and let it sway in my hand a little. 
"Anything to do with this? This Absalom abductee class picture?"

"Yes... It does. Why?", Scully asks, scanning the photo.

" Because I noticed that the man who was shot on the White House lawn 
is one of the men in that photograph. Top right hand corner. In 
profile. Howard Salt, if I'm not mistaken."

"He's right," she said, turning to Skinner. "You're right," she said 
slightly annoyed.

"Consider that a freebie. The next one's going to cost you.," I say 
looking at Skinner.

They're both standing very close., a little too close for my comfort, 
I think.

"Why? What else do you know?", Skinner asks me. I shrug my shoulders. 
"Oh, I don't know anything. But you know me, I got a real big hunch. 
This Howard Salt was a multiple alien abductee, worked for the U.S. 
Census Bureau. Wanted to get word to the President, unspecified 
grievances. What do you want to bet those grievances were?"

"You think he knew something?", Scully asks.

"I think they killed him for it," I answer.

Skinner seemed annoyed as well. "The man jumped the White House fence. 
He had a gun."

"Once again, I'm a betting man. I'm betting he had more than that," I 
say as I lean back into my chair and swivel it slightly.

"Mulder, you make it sound like this was a conspiracy.

I turn to focus on her. "Ooh. There's that word again."

"You're being paranoid, Mulder. Even for you."

I focus completely on Scully and if we were ever connected psychically 
like we were she should know I'm speaking directly to her. "Do you 
want to hear something really paranoid? The FBI gets its way, there's 
going to be nobody down here to ask the paranoid questions. Nobody to 
find those faces in those photographs. Surely not this Agent Doggett." 
She looks stunned as I round the desk and walk out the office, I don't 
have time for this.

Everyone knows I have a temper...Skinner knows it, my parents knew but 
Scully... Scully was the one that knew me the most even before we 
became lovers she knew my moods, she knew to just wait things out with 
me. I rarely directed my anger towards her but it was bubbling out 
like a volcanic eruption right now and I needed to calm myself down 
before I exploded on her.

I am surprised though that she's following me into the Evidence Room. 
What do you want, Scully? I want to say, What, are you scared I'll get 
in trouble? No one's even here...it's nearly 10 at night...I've done 
this countless times without you!

She doesn't say anything as she follows me. I walk slowly for her to 
catch up to me though I'm still in the lead. I expect to her a lecture 
and I'm not disappointed. She stood at the doorway, glancing back into 
the hall as I made my way through the room.

"Mulder, I know you know this, but if anything leaves this room you 
could be in violation of the law," she says.

"Really? When I was dead I was hoping maybe they changed the rules."

"Mulder, just being here could be used by Kersh as cause for 
dismissal."

I turn to look at her still standing in the doorway. "Then why don't 
you shut the door so he doesn't find out."

Scully glances again at the hallway and then closes the door. I find 
what I'm looking for and use a knife to start cutting the plastic off 
of a stack of boxes. Scully decides to walk over to me. "I just don't 
know what you're hoping to find in Howard Salt's personal effects."

"Neither do I, really. But maybe it's like Howard Salt's picture. I'll 
know it when I see it," I say as I open the box. This is probably the 
first time she's stood so close to me since the hospital.

"So you'll risk the consequences even though there may be nothing 
here?" I glance at her but I don't stop rummaging through the box. 
"You don't get it, do you, Scully? The man shot at the White House, 
the prison escapee, there's something bubbling to the surface here. I 
want to know what it is."

"Mulder, you've been through an ordeal that defies all logical 
explanation. How can you think that these two men have the answers 
when they defy all standard of credibility?" I concentrate on the 
files and then notice a laptop, I pull it out and open it up but I 
turn to look down at her, my face stern.

"Since when has an X-File not defied a certain standard of 
credibility? At least that's the way it used to work." I stare at her 
for a few minutes and she looks wounded. But I continue. "Look, 
Scully, I need to make sense of what happened to me. So that I can 
stop it. Because if I can't stop it, it could happen to anyone. It 
could happen to you. And who's to say it's going to stop there?"

"Mulder, if you go down the X-Files will go down, too. I mean, 
theoretically, they could put you in prison for what you're doing 
here."

I shrug it all off. "Yeah, well, compared to where I just was, prison 
would be a Princess cruise."

Scully sighs and then turns to walk over to the door. But I see 
something on the laptop. "Ho. Hey. What the hell is this?"

Scully stops in her tracks, obviously she was debating whether to stay 
or leave. "The entire hard drive is taken up with this. Ten gigabytes 
of memory." She turned and walked back over to me to look at the hard 
drive.

"It's been encrypted," she notices.

"Mm," I say as I flip it over and remove the hard drive. I've got a 
plan.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to book myself on that Princess cruise."

"I'll book it for you," she says snatching the hard drive from me. I 
smile slightly because that part hadn't changed, she was still on my 
side. I cover up the box and follow her out of the room.

It's late and I follow her to the X-Files office. I hadn't eaten all 
day and I'm surprised to find that she had ordered a sandwich for me 
and placed it along with a bottle of ice tea in the little fridge we 
keep. She hands it to me along with something for herself, I guess the 
baby is hungry and she eats at the desk while I sit uncomfortably in 
where she used to sit, at least, when we were still partners. We don't 
speak, I know she can't leave and I don't have a ride as of yet so I'm 
sticking around, plus she has the hard drive so I need to be patient. 
An hour turns into two and she's asleep on the desk and I'm watching 
her.

The phone rings and she sits up and answers, "Scully! Yes sir, he's 
still here...Okay...", she says and then hangs up. "Skinner wants to 
see you..."



"You think he knows?", I ask her.

"I don't know...", she says standing up and heading for the bathroom. 
"I'll know where you want to take this," she said, touching the 
hard-drive in her coat jacket. "When you're done with Skinner, I'll 
take you home. Your car should be parked there for you by then. I'll 
have the Gunmen meet me at my apartment in the morning..."

Under normal circumstances I'd tell her no, you're too tired, I'll 
make sure your home first...but instead I just watched as she waited 
for me to say something more and then she turned and walked out, 
heading for the ladies room. I got up, leaving my suit jacket on the 
chair and went up to Skinner's office.

"Sir," I say as I enter his office. I see an older but attractive guy, 
he's definitely Scully's type, he's a little roughed up.

"Agent Mulder," Skinner began but I cut him off.



"Is this John Doggett?", I say approaching him. "You Agent Doggett?"

He has a big wide fucking smile on his face outstretching his hand 
like we're friends. We're not friends you son-of-a-bitch! I push him 
down back into his seat. He looks shocked.

"I hope you're not commending him as a hero for what he did!", I yell.

"Agent Mulder, back off," Skinner says as he grabs me and pushes me 
away from him but I'm fuming.

"In this thing, 'cause he's not," I continue.

"Back off! I'm not about to referee a boxing match.", Skinner places 
his shoulder in front of me as if he were a barrier between us.

The son-of-a-bitch looks like a deer caught in a headlights. What, you 
think I wouldn't be pissed that you stole the love of my life and then 
took the X-Files from me?

"Just what's the problem here?", he wants to know.

"The problem?"... I want to ram my fist down your throat, I think to 
myself. "You occupy an office that used to be devoted to finding the 
truth and now you're busy burying it. That's the problem!", I explode.

"Whoa, you must've got your wires crossed somewhere, Agent Mulder."

"You got that man killed!", I scream.

"I got him killed?", he questions me in a thick New York accent.

"Because of what he knew. What he was going to expose!", I continue to 
yell.

"You see this, Agent Mulder?," he says, pointing to the wound on his 
cheek.

"I see you sitting there, Agent Doggett! That's good enough for me!", 
I said pointing at him.

I give one last look to Skinner and then turn to walk out the door. I 
made my way back down to the X-Files and snatch up my suit jacket and 
Scully rises up from beyond the desk. "What happened?", she questions 
me.

"Nothing," I tell her. "Let's go..."



I didn't sleep a wink that night again. I got up and showered and 
dressed in a suit. I was pleased to see my car had been parked for me 
outside in my old parking spot. I knew Scully had made all the 
arrangements including having my house phone turned back on. I drove 
over to her apartment building, it looked the same as usual but I saw 
the Gunmen's van parked out front and I knew they must be in there.

I knocked and was greeted with Froehike's munchkin-looking ass. He 
smiles at me and I smile back.

"You know, it's really not fair. You've been dead for six months and 
you still look better than me. But not by much," he says as he hugs me 
tightly around the waist.

I laugh and hug him back. I've missed them. I knew they couldn't visit 
me in the hospital with all the FBI agents and doctors who were trying 
to explain my sudden re-admittance to life and so I was happy to see 
them. I chuckle a little. They at least hadn't changed.

"Melvin. I'd be a whole lot happier to see you if you'd just take your 
hands off my ass."

Froehike suddenly notices what he's been gripping. "Sorry."

Suddenly I'm bombarded with Byer's and Langley. It's good to see them.

"I think it goes without saying that we're all, uh, tremendously 
relieved.", Byers said shaking my hand.

"And not just because we got big questions about your involvement in a 
certain ... blessed event," Langley said, glancing over to Scully.

Say what? I look over to Scully confused. She glances at me quickly 
but turns her head away and then acts like they've said nothing. What 
do they mean, my involvement? What are they saying? She didn't tell 
them that it was Agent Doggett's baby or someone else's baby...I've 
been dead.

"So much for playing a hunch, Mulder," she says nervously. "The, uh, 
Gunmen were able to decrypt the data that you found on Howard Salt's 
hard drive. It was a series of file directories that were downloaded 
the day that he died."

"Downloaded from where?"

Langley answered. "The FSC, the Federal Statistics Center."

"A government information bank used by the U.S. Census Bureau where 
your Mr. H. Salt worked," Byers adds.

I look at them all. "All right, what are you waiting for, boys? Get 
cracking."

"Unless you think we're all idiots, it's only Langly who's the idiot," 
Froehike states.

Langley looks insulted. "Don't make like it's my hacking skills. I've 
never seen such a radical counterdefensive."

Scully ignores them. "Fifteen minutes after Howard Salt was shot at 
the White House, firewalls went up on every data bank at that very 
facility."

"Well,", I ask."Why do that?"

Both Froehike and Scully look at eachother and I smile. "Because I'm 
right. Because they would kill to protect what's in those files."

"Unless you got a password we don't see any way short of that of 
getting a hold of this data," Byers says matter-of-factly.

"And the thing is, even if you have a pass code you still have to 
break into the FSC just to use it," Langley says looking them all 
over. "We all agree, you're going to have to let this one go."

My feathers began to ruffle. I'm not use to the word no. "Oh. I see."

The Gunmen all look nervous and I look directly over to the Princess. 
"Somebody's been doing a little campaigning for her cause," I snap.



Scully looks stung. She looks away from me.

"Well, just remember, boys, this is America. Just because you get more 
votes doesn't mean you win," I say looking directly at her.

She looks at me and our eyes lock for a moment. She turns and says, 
"Excuse me," and heads for her bedroom.

All three Gunmen are staring at me but my eyes are on her as she 
closes the bedroom door quietly behind her. I turn back to see the 
looks on their faces, looks of utter disgust.

"You can be a real prick sometimes," Froehike says point blank to me.

I cross my arm and nod. "Yeah, that maybe...but I need to know from 
you guys...Is this damn Agent Doggett the father? Did he and Scully 
get together after I disappeared."

All three Gunmen looked at me with their mouths gaped open. "Is that 
what you think?", Byers asked.

"BIG PRICK!", Langley added.

"SUPER PRICK!", Froehike countered.

"Stop with the names, fellas..."

"Its your baby you ass!", Froehike said, shaking his head in 
disbelief.

I stumbled back a few feet. My baby? "But...But...how?", I stuttered. 
I think the room began to spin.

"She fainted the day you went missing..."

"I have to admit, I suspected that she was," Byers added. "I'd never 
see her faint before...but she was worried you were the one in 
danger."

"They kept her in the hospital and ran several tests," Froehike added. 
"We stayed with her for awhile. The doctor went in and told her she 
was indeed pregnant and when they came out, she was in shock..."

I plopped down at Scully's table. "That's why she was sick in 
Oregon...why she was cold and dizzy..."

"She told us first...She wanted to know how it was possible, if they 
had manipulated her...We went to work right away to find out," Langley 
added. "We stole a sample of her blood."

"And?", I spit out.

"And nothing," Byers added. "We never could find anything..."

"The day you went missing," Froehike looked up at me. "She was already 
a month pregnant."

A few tears welled up in my eyes but I turned my head from the guys. 
Langley patted my back. "You better go talk to her...We're leaving," 
he said, as the guys packed up their things and quickly left.

I sat there a few minutes more trying to let it all sink in. It was my 
baby! Scully was pregnant with my baby! I stood up and I didn't even 
knock, I just opened the bedroom door and found her crying into her 
pillow trying to muffle the sound. She didn't notice I was there until 
I placed a hand on her back and she jumped up quickly but then turned 
her head away from me.

"Why didn't you tell me?", I said, turning her chin back to face me.

"Why should I have too?", she said, wiping a few stray tears from her 
face. "You thought I was pregnant by someone else?", she said, 
searching my eyes.

"Scully," I said, as I knelt down in front of her. Tears welled up in 
her eyes and she began to weep openly.

Oh God, Scully..."The last thing I remembered was making love to you 
right before the trip and going to Oregon with Skinner...then waking 
up and you're like four or five months pregnant..."

"I'm seven months pregnant," she said, shaking her head and looking 
off towards the wall. "I can't believe you thought that...", she said, 
crushed.

I didn't know what to say or do. "Scully...I..."

"All I wanted was you back, Mulder...so I could tell you," she said, 
turning to look me directly in the eyes. I would curl up to your 
shirts at night, wishing I could tell you about your child...What in 
the world would make you think I would rush off and be with another 
man?"

Great...I don't have an explanation that made sense right now...it did 
before but not right now. "Agent Doggett...", I began.

She glared at me. "How could you think I would be with him?", she 
said, pulling back from me. "It took us 7 years before we admitted we 
loved eachother...you think I would jump in the sack with him a month 
or two after your gone?", she said in a whisper.

"Scully...I...", I said, trying to form some coherent words but I 
couldn't. I could see I had slapped her in the face. "I wasn't 
sure...", I stammered. "I thought maybe a donation...You have to see 
it from my side...It's like the world went on without me..."

"I knew when you said you were happy for me in the apartment that you 
didn't want me or the baby any more Mulder," she said, her face 
hardening. "As far as I'm concerned...it's my baby..."

"Scully, I DO want you...That's all I've ever wanted...", I said 
trying to touch her arm but she pulled away. "Scully! I'm 
sorry...Maybe you don't understand...but the world seemed to move on 
without me and I could only go by what I remembered and I remembered 
you with a flat stomach...How was I to know you were pregnant before I 
was taken...You've...ah...You've gotta give a chance here..."

Scully shook her head. "My baby and I are fine...Get out Mulder!"

"No," I said, "Look we've got a lot to talk about..."

"No we don't," she said, looking at me. "We have nothing more to 
say..."

"Yes, we do!", I said, standing up. "You've told your family I'm the 
father?"

"Yes of course they know," she said, looking at me and shaking her 
head.

"Look, I need to take care of you and the baby, Scully...", I said, 
reaching for her but she pulled away.

"I said, MY Baby and I are fine!", she yelled.

I backed up a bit and shook my head, trying to form words but none 
came. She waited for me to speak again and when I didn't she pointed 
to the bedroom door. "Get out Mulder!"

I walked over to the door and turned to look back at her once more, I 
was determined for us to talk this out so I closed her door and then 
returned to the table. I wasn't going anywhere.

I stood up from the table and walked over to the door again, my hand 
poised on the knob but her cries stopped me from entering. Once again 
I had caused Scully pain and I wasn't sure how I would fix it this 
time. Instead of barging back in, I decided to give her some space and 
so I opened the spare room door. It was still filled with a bed I'd 
slept in on more than one occasion, I knew there had to be a few 
things of mine stored away there like clothes...I looked around and 
sure enough I found a few of my t-shirts on the bed as if she'd slept 
there recently. Maybe this was where she took her naps, I knew that 
pregnant women often took naps but beyond that, I didn't know much. I 
looked into the closest, there were a few baby items but not many, not 
even a crib that needed to be assembled. I knew that she nor her 
mother could lift something like that. Maybe the reason she hadn't 
bought one was because I hadn't been there to help her, I thought 
guiltily. If I could change the past I would, Scully, I thought to 
myself. But I will be here for you and the baby.

I spotted something in the bag and I could see from the receipt that 
it was bought recently since I returned from the dead. It was a tiny 
baby bib with the words, "Mommy's Angel and Daddy's Headache" on it. I 
touched it and smiled as a few stray tears fell down my face. I looked 
at it one last time and then put it away. I turned to look back at the 
room and I knew what I would be working on. It was my duty as the DAD. 
I left the words sink in a little further...I was going to be a DAD 
and that seemed so unreal. I always wanted to be...It was always my 
fantasy to have Scully bare my child but it was something that had 
been shot down over two years ago and I had resigned myself to never 
thinking about it again. But now, our little miracle was gonna happen 
in less than two months...Whoa.

I closed the door back and returned to the table. I got online and 
messaged the boys that I needed to tweak Plan B. They replied that 
they'd already figured that and had already started working on Plan B. 
I needed to make sure Scully and the baby were well cared for and that 
the baby was added to all of my plans. An hour had gone by and I was 
engrossed in pregnancy information when I heard the bedroom door open 
and Scully came out and was startled when she saw me sitting at the 
table. "Mulder!", she said, with a jump. "I told you to get out."

I could tell from her voice that she was tired and that she had cried 
herself to sleep and had just woken up. I stood up and grabbed for her 
hand but she snatched it away and gave me a cold stare. I knew I 
deserved it.

"Scully, we need to talk...and I'm not leaving until we do!"

Her shoulders sunk down a little and she grabbed an apple out of the 
fridge along with a bottle of water and then sat down across from me 
leaving an empty chair in between us. I sat back down as well and 
stared over to her trying to figure out what I wanted to say. "Scully, 
I'm so sorry...I...", I said, looking at her with desperation in my 
eyes. "I wish you could understand from my point of view...It felt 
like a day had passed for me, Scully...nothing more...Like some bad 
special effects version of the Time Machine..."



Great, I'm using old movies to convey my feelings to the one woman in 
the world I can't live without. Scully raises an eyebrow but she says 
nothing so I continue. "I knew it wasn't love, Scully...I knew you 
still loved me...but I thought maybe since you lost me, you tried IVF 
again or you were taken advantage of in your time of need or...It 
happens, you know. Grief...there's statistics that show that there are 
men that take advantage of women at funerals..."

She looks at me coldly. "So now you think I was so distraught that I 
fell for someone's affections towards me?", she said with her mouth 
gaped open.

I'm sinking fast. "NO, no...", I said, twisting my mouth. The more I 
tried to explain the more I was shooting myself in the foot. 
"Look...I'm sorry, Scully...I don't think you'll ever know how much! I 
woke up to you thinking that nothing had changed and then to find you 
pregnant and that I had been gone for six months...I was 
just...I...didn't think it could be mine...and I was wrong for that."

She was all cried out, I could tell. Her eyes were puffy and she had a 
distant look in her eyes.

"How can I explain what it was like?", I sighed.

"I think I understand a little," she said in a small voice.

"You do?", I said, surprised.

"Yes," she nodded. "I was abducted too, Mulder...I was gone for three 
months too, as you know. When I came back I was heavier, with larger 
breasts..."

"I remember!", I said a little too eagerly.

She frowned at me and I silently cursed myself again. SHUT UP MULDER!

"Then when I found out Emily was mine," she said, looking down at her 
hands resting on the table. "It was like I was in a dream world for a 
very long time after that."

I nodded. "That's exactly how I felt...I'll take the blame for it all, 
Scully, everything! But to be fair...you didn't tell me either...Its 
been three days..."

She looked up at me surprised and then her eyes darted down. "I know 
now I should have just told you but when you said you were happy for 
me and that you didn't know where you fit in," she said, glancing back 
up at me. "I thought it was my mistake to think you would want to be 
in the baby's life."

"Not just the baby's life," I said.

We sat in silence for a few moments and then she said something so 
quietly I almost couldn't hear her. "I need time, Mulder," she said. 
"My feelings...I'm still hurt..."

I nodded again. I was good at that, hurting her. I needed to change 
the subject and fast. "I noticed there wasn't much as far as baby 
things..."

She looked up at me and then leaned back in her seat. "I'm having a 
baby shower soon...My mother's ideal."

"I'll take care of the room...I'll take the bed down and paint it and 
buy the crib...Just pick it out and I'll take care of the rest..."

She looked at me hard. "You don't have any money right now, 
Mulder...You had all of your money given to me...Don't worry I haven't 
touched it."

"Why not?", I said. "It was meant for you...You are my benefactor, 
Scully."

"I'll return it to you," she said, twirling the apple around on the 
table.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Scully...You and the baby are my 
responsibility...I'm gonna take care of you."

I could see the hurt still registered in her eyes. I continued trying 
to reach her, let her know that I would be there, I would. "I've 
already put Plan B into place...The guys are working on it."

"Plan B?"

"My parents left me quite a sum, Scully. I broke the money up to be 
issued to you in increments."

Her blue eyes bulged for a second but then it dissipated. "That's 
not..."

"Yes it is," I said firmly. "I know your hurt right now, Scully, and 
this may be your baby right now but once its born it's our baby...You 
understand?"

She looked at me and our eyes locked and she knew then that I would 
not relent on this. She nodded her head and looked down.

"What did you say about who the father is at work?", I was curious.

She looked up and a slight smile graced her lips for a split second. 
"I didn't say...but I'm pretty sure with all the rumors..."

"The ones that ended up being true!", I smiled.

"Yeah," she said, keeping her eyes glued to her hands. "I'm sure 
Skinner knows but he never asked me..."

"What about this Agent Doggett?"

She glanced up at me and I saw the hurt return to her eyes. "He never 
asked...he only asked why I didn't tell him I was pregnant...I wanted 
to keep it a secret for as long as possible...I still want some things 
kept a secret."

"Like what?"

Scully looked at me then. "I'm afraid if they find out that I am 
pregnant by my partner that they'll use it against us."

"Scully, they've had bets on us for years before we even knew we liked 
each other, let alone that we were in love with each other..."

"Mulder, we were partners...They're already trying to push you out of 
the X-Files and if they find out that your the father, they could take 
me off of it as well...and right now I'm the only one that is 
connected to it and dedicated to it the way you were..."

I knew it to be true but I didn't think her interest in the X-Files 
would last longer than just a few weeks, not after the baby came. "So, 
you want me to pretend I'm not the dad?"

She could see the hurt in my eyes, I felt crushed but I knew she was 
the one still working on the X-Files and I needed her to be there if 
we were ever to get any answers. She was now my only link.

"We know the truth," she said, quietly.

'Yeah we do...", I said, looking down.

"Just for a little while," she said, her eyes swollen and sad. "It's 
no one elses business, Mulder, but our own."

"I can do that," I sighed. "But not forever, Scully."

"Okay," she said quietly. "I think the baby's hungry...", she said, 
leaving the apple on the table and glancing into the fridge. "I've 
been craving lasagna and pizza," she said, glancing over to me.

"The pizza is just like me...", I smiled and looked over to her.

She was standing by the fridge and I stood up and tried to hold her in 
my arms but she was rigid and resisted at first but then I felt her 
relax in my arms for a split second. Her stomach was hard and I could 
feel a slight kick against my side and then she pulled away. "I need 
time, Mulder...", she said, with a tear in her eye.

"Okay," I said, backing up. "What do you think were having, Scully?"

I saw a bright sparkle in her eye at my mentioning of 'we'.

"It feels like a boy to me," she said with a slight smile creeping 
into the corners of her mouth. "But, I won't know for sure...until..."

"Right...", I nodded. "You want me to go pick up the food?", I said, 
trying very hard as hard as I could at this point.

"That's okay," she said, as she picked up the phone. "I'm craving 
lasagna...besides, I can't let Franco miss an opportunity to hit on 
me..."

I knew it was a joke, a sly Scully-joke but I just looked at her for a 
few minutes. She looked up at me innocently but she saw I didn't take 
it the way she intended but I quickly smiled down at her. "You are 
beautiful," I said.

She didn't smile instead she picked up the phone and dialed the 
number. She ordered enough for us both, I noticed, along with salad 
and bread sticks. I didn't like the way she was laughing with 
Franco...Who the hell was this Franco guy anyway? I'm sure I'd find 
out the minute the food was brought back. When she hung up the phone, 
she noticed I was still standing as if my feet were stuck in place to 
the floor. "You...You want me to run you up to..."

"The Italian deli up the street," she said. "No, I'll catch a 
cab...it's not a problem..."

"But my car is right outside..."

"No...its a quick trip," she said, putting her coat on and grabbing 
for her purse.

She came back to the table and gathered the house keys. She looked at 
the front door and then to the back door in the kitchen.

"You need help with the stairs?", I said, trying to be helpful.

"No," she shrugged.

"Would the side door be easier?", I said, already heading to open it 
but I noticed she didn't follow me.

"I haven't used that door since my dad died," she said, looking up at 
me.

I nodded and then saw her turn towards the front door. "I'm having a 
little trouble with the steps," she said quietly.

"I can help you, Scully..."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'll take the side door in the 
lobby. No steps...", she smiled quickly. "I'll be back in a 
second...", she said, walking out and not looking back.

I sat back down and sat there a moment thinking back over to what had 
just happened between us. I knew I needed to fix this. I understood 
her reasons for us keeping my identity as the father a secret but it 
still hurt a little. But then again, she was dealing with this for six 
months without me and so I just needed to tow the line. I sat back at 
the table and not five minutes later, she came back in a little 
startled, looking upset.

"Scully, what are you doing back? Did something just happen?", I ask.

She looks at me and I see a tear in her eye and she fidgets for a 
second. "I'm, um... I'm not exactly sure I should tell you, Mulder."

I know then that its information. She somehow just got information. 
"Scully, if you know something that can get us moving forward again, 
you need to tell me."

I see her eyes are watery and her face is flushed as if she's afraid 
for me. She just stands there a moment and I approach her. "Tell me, 
Scully!", I demand. "

Agent Doggett...", she began. "He knows the code...Three words...Fight 
the Future."

"Well good, let's go," I say, reaching for my coat.

"Mulder!", she says and I stop in my tracks. "They could kill you," 
she says quietly. "Or put you in prison...Do you think this is the 
right thing to do, right now?", she says, touching her stomach.

I'm torn...I was just given some vital information but I know she is 
afraid, afraid that she just got me back and then I'll put myself in 
danger leaving her alone again to raise the baby. "Come with me," I 
tell her, looking down into her moist eyes.

"No," she says, shaking her head.

"Please...", I beg. "I'll have the Gunmen get me in and this way your 
not sitting here worrying about me..."

I know she'll worry anyway but I don't mention it. "Please Scully..."

"We have a child to think of," she said, closing her eyes.

"I won't do anything stupid, Scully...And I won't pull you into 
anything else I promise...but I really could use your help..."

I'm relentless, Scully knows this. And as cocky as it sounds, Scully 
has never refused me though there are times she should have. But I 
know I was being selfish, but I just needed her with me...I needed her 
near. She nodded her head and I called the guys telling them to 'lace 
up' and they knew exactly what that meant. While I was on the phone, I 
didn't notice that Scully was on her cell phone as well calling 
Skinner. We walked out and I drove us to a spot where we met up with 
the Gunmen. Our destination was Crystal City, Virginia for the FSC 
Building, the Federal Statistics Center, to break in and see what was 
the secret the government would kill for.

Scully is silent our entire trip to FSC. The only time she looks at me 
is when I step out the car and ask her to get behind the wheel and 
keep it running. We exchange glances and I can see the worry in her 
eyes but she doesn't say anything even as she climbs into the driver 
seat. I stand outside the window and look at her but she doesn't turn 
to look back at me. I turn and walk away, she already knows her job as 
lookout, there's nothing more to be said, she knows I won't turn away 
right now but I feel like a jackass for causing her more worry. I know 
that can't be good for the baby. I got into the facility pretty easily 
thanks to the guys, and once inside I had just entered the code when 
Doggett suddenly appears. He 'was a fly on the wall', I tell the 
fellas as he pounds on the door. He shoots the window and shatters the 
glass, screaming for me to get out of there. I don't trust him, I 
don't like him, I know nothing about him. And despite the fact that I 
hated him for thinking that he was with Scully, I knew that wasn't 
true now but I still hated the guy for taking over the X-Files and 
hiding the truth. He was one of them as far as I was concerned. When 
the data was blocked and I couldn't send it out or even email it, the 
guys helped us hide in the ceiling tiles. It felt like an eternity 
hiding up in there until we were cleared to get down and escape. He 
ran to his car and I ran to Scully.

The ride back was tortuous. Never have Scully and I had this much lag 
time between conversations. I was scared to say anything to her 
because she might cry or scream at me and neither of them I could take 
right now. I brought her back home but I didn't leave. I knew she 
expected me too but I didn't. I brought her in and she walked straight 
to her bedroom and closed the door. I sank down on her couch and 
listen for any sounds. I didn't hear any but I didn't sleep much that 
night. I was a royal fuck-up sometimes and I really needed to make 
things better for her and the baby. In the morning, Scully went to 
work but I was still on medical leave from my miraculous recovery from 
death and though I still hadn't checked in with my new A.D. and desk, 
I decided taking down the bed in the baby's room would be better. I 
put her bed into storage along with the rest of the things that she 
wouldn't need for awhile and I hit the hardware store, trying to 
pretend like I knew what I was doing. Fortunately, a few guys at the 
hardware store showed me how to paint a wall and sold me everything I 
ever needed to accomplish the task. In no time I had painted the 
baby's room a nice white with a hint of blue, if it were a girl I 
could always repaint it. And so I left it freshly painted but not 
before leaving a baby catalog with furniture and a note saying,

" Pick out a set Scully, I'll be back in the morning,

M."

The next day when I arrived she had circled a crib set and I purchased 
it and had it delivered by the time she arrived home. We weren't 
exactly around each other, I stayed away, giving her some time but I 
did manage to get the room together and I could see she was 
appreciative. The more I did the more things were falling back into 
place between us. Scully was starting to relax around me and the old 
Scully was returning along with her beautiful smile and sense of 
humor. I really missed that. I managed to search through my mother's 
things and find something that meant something to me and Sam and so I 
had it wrapped up. I wanted my baby to have it and I knew it would 
look nice in the baby's new room.

I had managed to stay out of trouble for an entire week while still on 
leave and I was determined to show Scully I could be a good father. I 
had a lot to prove because I wasn't really sure if I would be, but I 
could only try. I knocked on Scully's door and she opened it with a 
slight frown on her face. Her eyes were lit which betrayed the little 
pouty frown she was trying to portray. She looked absolutely stunning 
dressed in a blue maternity pajamas and a robe. My heart skipped a 
beat at the sight of her.

"Mulder?", she said, feigning that little half frown acting 
disappointed.

"What?", I said, as I looked at her, my head was swimming...I love 
her, I love her, I kept thinking.

I had my package hidden behind my back.

"I was just about to jump in the shower but I was waiting for the 
pizza man," she said, looking so small and fragile.

"You got something going on with the pizza man I should know about?," 
I teased.

"The pizza man?," she said, playfully.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong but you just said you were waiting for 
the pizza man to jump in the shower," I said looking purposely 
confused.

"No, what I mean was the pizza man's usually late, and so...", she 
said, noticing that it was a joke and then smiled at me and 
sighed."You want to come in?"

"Thank you," I say still hiding the package. She turns to head towards 
the bathroom.

"I feel like I'm stuck in an episode of Mad About You."

I hide the package behind the couch cushions. "Well, uh, yeah, but 
small technicality. Mad About You was about a married couple and we 
just work together."

Ouch, that statement stung my own ears but I had a role to play and 
why not rehearse it with her.

"Yeah, well, you know what I'm talking about," she said from a far.

"I do, I do. What-what I'm trying to say is that, uh... we have no 
good reliable information on this man. I mean, what I am saying is the 
pizza man..."

Scully walks back right up to me and I point down to the bundle of 
joy. "... is not above suspicion."

"Ah, I see," she said, looking down at her stomach.

That was probably not the best joke after what we just went through 
but I had a smile on my face letting her know it was a joke. She then 
looked up at me and I keep glancing over to the couch, trying to give 
her a silent hint. She looks over to the not-so-hidden package and her 
eyes light up. "Is that for me?", she asks excitedly.

"Yeah," I say.

She reaches over for the package. "Nice package!"

"Thank you," I say, I can't keep my eyes off of her.

"What's the occasion?," she asks with a smile.

"Oh, uh, I was going through some stuff after my mother died and, um, 
it's just an old family keepsake...", I say, looking down into her 
eyes. "And I wanted you to have it."

"Well, I'm touched." I swear theres a connection radiating between us. 
I can feel it. The knock at the door breaks it though.

"Little Caesar, I presume?", I say as I look at her one last time 
before turning to open the door.

I look the guy up and down and then I turn giving her my best fake 
accusatory glare. She sighs, she knows my game.

"Hi...," she says shyly to the pizza guy. "Just, uh, give it to the 
man with the funny look on his face," she says with a slight smile as 
she plops down on the couch, the package still in her hands.

"Yeah, it's $29.08."

Ouch, Only in D.C would a $12 pizza cost $29.08. I pull out my wallet. 
"$29.08? What'd she get on it, a tank of gas?"

I hear Scully gasp and I turn towards her. "Scully?"

She doesn't say anything as she grips her stomach.

"Scully!", I say panicking. I race over to her and turn to the idiot 
pizza guy whose still standing there. "Call 911!', I scream out.

"Scully," I say, as I see the panicked look in her eyes. "Its 
okay,it'll be okay," I say over and over. Where the hell is that 
ambulance?

It was all a blur but I was right there as they were wheeling her into 
the Washington Medical Center. Scully's eyes were closed and I was 
very scared at this point. I heard the nurses voice before I saw her.

"That Scully? Dana? She's got what? Abdominal pains?", the E.R. Nurse 
screamed out.

"Her doctor is Dr. Speake," I yelled.

"Oh, he's been called," she said.

"She!", I correct her harshly.

"Who are you? The husband?"

"No," I said numbly.

"Then you wait outside," she said, leaving me there as the double 
doors closed behind her.

What? No, no...I need to tell them I'm the father. And that's when I 
see Doggett heading my way and I know I can't say anything now.

"Agent Mulder, what happened?", he says looking worried.

What the fuck are you doing here, I wanted to say. "How'd you find 
out?", I asked, not so nicely.

"I was dropping something off. The landlord told me."

The nurse comes back out and turns to Doggett. "Are you the husband?," 
she asks him.

My jaw tightened.

"Me?", he says in shock.

He looks at me and I'm trying my best not to show my anger right now.

"No," he answers her. He looks at me as if he's suddenly suspicious as 
to the reason I'm with her.

My phone rings. "Excuse me," I say and step away.

I can see a doctor walk out to join the nurse and they're both talking 
with Doggett and there's a sudden flash of anger settling within me. 
What right does he have to talk with her doctor's, I want to say but I 
don't.

I speak into the phone. "Mulder."

"Special Agent Fox Mulder?," a woman asks.

"Speaking."

"Agent Mulder, my name is Monica Reyes. We never met. Not since you've 
been alive, I should say."

"Who?", I ask, glancing over to Doggett and the medical staffers just 
chatting away.

"Special Agent Reyes. I know this is out of the blue, but I have a 
case I need your help on. It involves a certain phenomenon."

"I can't help you, Agent Reyes, for so many reasons," I say. Dammit I 
don't have time for this. "I think you should contact Agent Doggett at 
the X-Files."

"I can't call Agent Doggett because it involves him."

I look again at them all talking and I'm on edge. I need to get this 
woman off the phone.

"I'm in New Orleans, but I can be in DC in a few hours. It's 
important, Agent Mulder. Very,"

I think about it for a moment. Fine, you fly in if you want to but 
hell, I've got more important things to think about...

"Call me when you get here," I hang up just as Doggett finishes 
talking with the staff. I walk over to him.

"They're telling us not to worry. They're running some tests."

I nod but I still don't trust the guy. I wonder what information this 
Agent Reyes has on him and I just wish he'd get the hell out of here 
so I could be with Scully. This is my child and its hard, very hard 
pretending that its not especially at times like this.

A few nurses figured we were blocking the hallway, I guess, so they 
guided Doggett and me to a waiting room. I sat down and buried my head 
in my hand. I didn't want him looking at me, questioning me. He was 
too close for comfort as far as I was concerned. Why was he still 
around? This was between me and Scully, this is what we did together 
as partners, not him and her, I wanted to say to him, but I gripped my 
forehead instead, praying to whatever God was out there they'd spare 
her life and my unborn child's. I didn't realize how much time went 
passed, it was going at a snails pace. I recognized Skinner's shoes as 
he stood in front of me. I looked up and he could see I was highly 
distraught. He placed a hand on my shoulder but I jumped up instead 
with my fist clenched, pacing the floor of the small waiting area. He 
watched me for a few minutes and then turned to Doggett, asking if 
there was any news. He shook his head no. Doggett looked at Skinner 
with a questioning glance. I recognized it, it was the, 'Is he a loose 
Canon?", type of look. Skinner didn't acknowledge him instead he 
turned to look at me. "I've got a meeting to attend...", he said, 
speaking to me. "Keep me informed, I'll be back...", he said.

Doggett stood up and looked over to me too. "I'll be back too...At 
least one of us should stay here."

I turned quickly to glare at him but Skinner was shaking his head 
slightly, letting me know not to do anything to fly off the handle or 
he would take me down. I bit my lip. "Of course...", I said, 
swallowing hard. "Of course I'll stay with her."

Doggett nodded and then turned to head towards the door. Skinner 
looked at me as if he knew I was sinking deep behind my cool exterior. 
I nodded to him and he nodded back and then he turned to walk with 
Doggett out the door. The E.R. Nurse would appear periodically in the 
distance but she never approached me. I decided to look for a 
different nurse that I hadn't screamed at earlier. I found a young 
fresh-face nurse and told her I needed to see Dana Scully.

She looked at me. "Are you the husband?"

I slammed my fist against the wall. "NO, I am Not! But I NEED to see 
her and find out about ou...", I slipped. "About the baby..."

She recognized my little slip and nodded. "I can get you in," she 
smiled.

I calmed down a little and followed her to Scully's room. Maggie was 
in there and she immediately hugged me tightly. "Fox," she said, 
looking at me stunned at the fact that I was indeed alive after she 
and Scully had buried me and that I had managed to slip past the 
warden, the E.R. Nurse who was preventing me from being at Scully's 
side.

The nurse turned and shut the door back and I looked over at Scully 
and my heart sank. She was on oxygen and I could see several monitors 
beeping in time.

"She's fine," Maggie said, softly.

"And the baby?", I said, with a tear in my eye.

"The baby's fine too...", she said, standing over her daughter. "The 
baby's a fighter like you...", she said, wiping at her own tears.

I nodded and placed an arm around her small shoulders. "You go on over 
to Scully's apartment and get some sleep. I'll be here...", I said. "I 
know its too far for you to drive back to your place...and a hotel is 
out of the question."

She nodded and then bent down over her daughter and kissed her cheeks. 
"I'll be back Dana...", she said, and turned and grabbed up her purse. 
I looked at her for a brief moment and I knew what she was telling me, 
"Take care of her for me..."

I nodded and she walked out the door. I ran my fingers over Scully's 
scalp, pushing the hair out of her face. I wanted to touch her stomach 
to see if the baby were in fact okay but I felt like I was violating 
Scully somehow and I would never do that. I pulled up the chair and 
held her hand for an hour before I was busted by the warden. She 
walked in with this look on her face like, "Didn't I tell you only 
immediate family?"

"I'm going...", I said, before she could speak.

I bent over and kissed Scully on the cheek. "I'll be back..."

I turned and walked out before the nurse could give me her look. If I 
hadn't promised I would've just told her it was my baby but I knew 
Doggett and Skinner might get the message and Scully would be furious 
because it could jeopardize our future together and the X-Files, so I 
left her in the room and headed back to the waiting room when I got 
the phone call. Monica Reyes was already at FBI Headquarters. I headed 
for my car instead.

I walk into the records office and I see a tall brunette, standing on 
a stepladder going through the records.

"Agent Mulder."



"Agent Reyes?", I asked.

She had a file in her hands when she came down to the floor and shook 
my hand.

" You're taller than I thought. "

I'm not amused. "You keep on alluding to a time that we've met and I 
don't remember."



"I was there when they found you in the woods. You were... "

She paused and nodded. Dead, is the unspoken word.



"Uh... Yeah. I'm not surprised you don't remember," she says a little 
in awe of my return from the grave.

"Yeah. Um, I-I have somewhere I have to be ... if we could cut to the 
chase," I say, trying to hurry this along. You pulled me away from 
Scully, I'm thinking.

"As I said before, it involves Agent Doggett ... the death his son. I 
don't know if you're familiar at all with that case."

I'm sorry for him but that still doesn't make me like him any 
better."No, I'm not at all familiar with Agent Doggett."

She hands me the file and I see a rather cute, blonde haired kid on 
the photo. I scan it quickly.

I can't even imagine... , I think to myself.

"I-I wasn't aware of this. You were the lead investigator?", I ask.

"Once it fell to the FBI. Agent Doggett was with the NYPD at the time. 
We worked it together. We never caught the killer. It was the hardest 
case I've ever had. As in 
stealing-into-the-bathroom-to-cry-my-eyes-out kind of hard. I can't 
begin to imagine what it was like for John," she said, breathing 
heavily. "I couldn't bear to put him through this again, but if it 
means we could catch his son's killer... I just can't go to him until 
I know if what I saw means anything."

Obviously there was more to the story, a reason she wanted to hide 
this from him.

"You said this case involves some kind of phenomenon?"

"I don't know if it was a psychic experience or what, but when we 
found his son, I had a vision. It was as if for just a moment... The 
body was changed."

"Changed? Into what?"

"Ashes. It looked like ashes. The thing of it is Agent Doggett told me 
he saw it, too ...although he spent the last few years convincing 
himself he didn't, that even if he did, it didn't mean anything."

"What do you think it means?"

She was intriguing, this woman who believed but my heart just wasn't 
in it right now. Scully was all I could think about.

"I can't shake the feeling that it's a clue, that it could somehow 
point to who's responsible, if only I let it. And now I've seen it 
again. A thousand miles from here, a seemingly unrelated case and I've 
had the same vision. There has to be a reason for it, a reason it's 
happening now."

I made a quick call to the hospital and they told me they'd check in 
on Scully. The nurse came back and said that she was still sleeping 
and that Doggett was just there and that we needed to follow Hospital 
rules, last warning. What's he doing there?

I hung out a little bit in the records room while Agent Reyes went and 
did whatever the hell she was doing, I didn't know and didn't care. I 
decided I'd learned enough about Agent Doggett for the night and I 
walked out of the records office with his son's file in my hands, when 
Doggett grabs my jacket and slams me violently against the wall.

"Hey, Hey!" I yell.

The son-of-a-bitch is surprisingly strong for a guy a few years older 
than me. He looks furious and I'm quite shocked, plus my back didn't 
feel to good being slammed against the wall.

"You stay out of my life!," he screamed at me loudly.

"Take it easy!", I say.

"You stay out of my business!", he says.

Wow, this guy has lost it. "Take it easy, Agent Doggett."

"You want to get something on me, you ask for it!", he says still 
yelling at me loudly. " I don't want to get calls about you going 
behind my back! You got that straight?"

What the fuck? It's late at night, who the hell called him?

" I don't want anything on you. I was asked to look into this file."

"Who asked you?"

God, my eardrums are gonna rupture!

"Agent Doggett. What are you doing? "

Where did she come from?, I wonder. But he releases me and I'm happy 
she was suddenly there. The look on his face though isn't friendly to 
her or me. He snatches Luke's file from my hands.

"Is this you? Is this you looking into this?"

"Yes. I asked Agent Mulder."

"You asked him what? There's nothing in there for him to bother with."

He still looks like a volcano erupting. "Why don't you just calm down, 
Agent Doggett and let her explain the connection to you."

" The connection? To what? "

"I was going to tell you, John," she says trying to calm him but it's 
not working. " I was in New Orleans on a case- a shooting."

Something that I saw connected back to Luke. A vision.

"Not this again. You're not going to make something out of nothing."

"Bob Harvey. Does that name mean something or nothing to you?"

"Bob Harvey was a suspect in the death of my son. We questioned him 
but then we realized he wasn't our man."

"Agent Mulder pointed it out. Bob Harvey was killed last night in a 
car crash fleeing the police near a shooting in New Orleans. He died 
in front of the building where the shooting occurred."

"What's the connection?"

I'm not sure myself. "That's it," I say still pressed against the 
wall.

"That's it? "

"And then there was the vision."

"No, there's no connection. I don't care what you saw, you leave it 
alone," he demands from her and then he turns on me, pointing a finger 
in my face. "And you leave it the hell alone."

Fine, whatever! You psychotic son-of-a-bitch...

He looks as if he wanted to call her a traitor or something and then 
he walks off with the file in his hand. She walks over to me. "I know 
there is something here."

I chuckle a little. For that piece of work? He needs medication. 
"Good," I say and walk off leaving her there. I've got someone I need 
to see.

The night shift is more lax when it comes to the Hospital rules and so 
I sat at Scully's side almost the entire night until Mrs. Scully came 
back in. She wasn't surprised in the least to see me there.

"Go get you something to eat, Fox...rest...I'll be here a while..."

I smile. "She's been sleep the entire time I've been here," I say. 
"They have her medicated. I don't even think she knew I was here..."

She smiled. "Get some rest...", she said, quietly, more like a command 
that a suggestion.

I nodded. "I've got work to do," I said, and then took one last look 
at Scully before heading out the door. I got home and showered and 
grabbed a piece of toast before heading out to the office. It was 6 
a.m and I wanted to get a jump on the files before angry-faced Doggett 
threw me out of there. I sat back behind my old desk and rummaged 
through a few files that I knew so well. About an hour in, I could 
hear a few clanking of heels and I looked up to see Agent Reyes 
walking in. I've got my feet up on my desk as usual and I'm chewing on 
my pencil, there's not a speck of sunflower seeds in this office any 
more so I needed to chew on something.

"Agent Mulder?", she says surprised. " I was looking for Agent 
Doggett."

"Well, that'd make sense. It's not my office anymore but old habits 
die hard.", I said, putting my feet down.

"What are those?", she asks.

"Cases involving images like you described. People close to crimes who 
experience visions of death disassociated from reality."

"And what did you find?"

"Absolutely nothing. These visions are so random as to have absolutely 
no significance to the cases they're supposed to pertain to."

"You're wrong," she says defensively.

I got a kick out of that since I'm generally referred to as an 
'expert' in Paranormal phenomenon but I don't mention it to her.

"I think I know these files," I say simply.

"And I know what I saw. There's a reason these things are happening. 
There is something at work here, and it all began with the man killed 
in the car crash- Bob Harvey."

" I think that's a coincidence. I think that life is full of them. "

"And full of patterns... things we see, but can't comprehend. You 
believe that. Why can't you believe this? "



Hmmm...that sounds like someone I know intimately from birth. "I think 
there's an opening coming up in this office soon. You might want to 
apply."

"Is that why you won't help him?"

I close the file and look at her briefly. Honestly, helping the guy 
isn't the top of my priority list right now. " I have a, uh, sick 
friend in the hospital and, uh, I think I should go see her."

I hand her the files and I put on my coat and head for the hallway.

"I hope she gets well. This office down here needs at least one person 
with an open mind.

I turn and walk back again. This Agent Reyes is relentless. "You'll 
say anything, won't you?"

"Only when I think I'm right."

I chuckle to myself. Maybe I can step away from the X-Files with 
someone like her apart of it, I think to myself as I head towards the 
hospital to see Scully.

Maggie had gone to the hospital cafeteria when I got there and so 
Warden E.R. Nurse wouldn't let me see her. I had to wait until Maggie 
came back and then she asked the Warden if it were okay if I saw her 
briefly. The Warden agreed to 5 minutes. I was beginning to think I 
could only slip in and see Scully at night. I kissed her cheek as 
Maggie watched me and I ran my hand over Scully's small but strong 
arm. "Has she been awake?", I ask her.

"Not for long," she sighed. "They're keeping her medicated so she's 
not experiencing any pain. They'll be monitoring her for a few days."

I nodded but suddenly I got a call from Agent Reyes. After speaking to 
her briefly, I turned to Maggie. "I've got to go to South 
Carolina...but I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay...But it would be better if you could be close by...", she said, 
sternly.

"I will...none of them know that I'm the...", I said, pausing for a 
moment, feeling suddenly embarrassed in front of Maggie. "That I'm the 
dad..."

"I know...", she said quietly. "And I know why...but that makes it 
harder for you to be there for her."

"I know...but she's worried about our jobs...", I told her. "And so 
for right now...until the baby comes or she decides if she's gonna 
stay on with the X-Files or if she's gonna return to teaching at 
Quantico, we have to keep it this way."

Maggie glanced over to her daughter sleeping peacefully. "I 
understand...I don't like it...but I understand...", she sighed. "I've 
got to get some rest..."

"You go...", I said. "She's only sleeping right now any way..."

Maggie touched my arm briefly as if to say she was glad I was here and 
I watched her leave. I kissed Scully on the cheek again. "I'll be back 
soon," I said, as I turned to take my leave. I had a long nearly 8 
hour drive ahead of me.

I reached Spartanburg in the morning and caught up with Agent Reyes 
who'd also called Agent Doggett to come as well. I thought I'd wait 
for him near the police car since the area was sectioned off after 
finding the body of a woman. Agent Doggett arrived near eleven o'clock 
and he took one look at me as he was climbing up the slightly steep 
hill. "What am I doing here?"

You know the woman better than I do, I thought. "Been asking myself 
that same question, Agent Doggett. But it seems the tenacious Agent 
Reyes does not want to let go of this one."

"Of what?", he asks.

I don't answer him, I just lead him over to the crime scene.

"She's got a murder victim out here, a woman found shot. She thinks 
it's probably the same man who killed those two people down in New 
Orleans- this Jeb Dukes."

"What does she want from me?", he asks confused.

"She wants to know if you see it, too. What she's been seeing."

"I told you, there's no connection," he isn't as gruff as he was after 
slamming me against the wall but I can see it was still bothering him, 
my involvement in his son's case.

"Agent Doggett," Reyes says turning towards him as she stands in a 
semi-circle with a group of officers who make way for Doggett.

I watch them until Doggett walks back over closer to where I was still 
standing.

"You're just afraid to go there," Reyes calls after him.

I like her gumption but I don't think pissing him off would be wise. 
"Whoo," I say, directed to Reyes. "You just keep shooting till you hit 
something, don't you? ",

She ignores me of course.

"You'd rather blind yourself to the connections, but I can't."

"You keep talking about these connections. Connections to what? To 
who?", he says.

"What if this is a thread of evil ... connecting through time through 
men, through opportunity, connecting back to you. In India, in Africa, 
in Iran, in the Middle East, in the Far East. Most of the world, they 
take it as a given. They see evil in death the way other people see 
God in a rose."

I butt in. "I saw Elvis in a potato chip once. "

She glances over to me and I guess my sense of humor wasn't 
appreciated. "You know what I'm talking about," she states to me.

"Yes, I do. I do. ," I say turning to look at Doggett. "But if this 
man doesn't see it, he doesn't see it, right?"

He wouldn't see a stick if it were shoved up his ass, I think. They 
both ignore me and I think my time spent with these lovely Agents is 
done. I've got a very long ride ahead of me to get back to someone 
very important.

By the time I got to the hospital it was almost 3:30 in the morning. 
The warden would be coming on duty in four hours but that gave me four 
solid hours to be with Scully without her breathing down my neck. I 
opened the door and peered into her room. "You awake?", I ask from the 
door.

"Yeah," she says opening her eyes and looking at me.

I have to admit she is the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen, tubes 
and monitors and all. I walk in and notice her hand protectively 
covering her stomach.

"What did the doctor say?", I ask, eyeing her pudge.

"That I had a partial abruption. Which means that my placenta started 
to tear away from the uterine wall. They're going to need to monitor 
me for awhile."

Okay, I don't know what that means..."But you're going to be fine?"

"Yeah," she smiles at me and then the baby must've kicked because her 
full attention went straight to her abdomen.

I couldn't help myself, I needed to touch, I needed to feel for 
myself. I rested my hand on top and there were several mighty strong 
kicks in there. I couldn't believe it, that's my baby in there. I 
looked at her with pure joy and wonderment. How did we get this lucky? 
She looks so happy when she looks at me touching her stomach. I think 
she's wanted me to do that the entire pregnancy but I was gone for 
most of it. I think I just made a little Scully fantasy come 
true...another one that it is.

"Where have you been?," she asks.

I don't want to break this contact but I know I have too. "I've 
actually been out in the field with Agent Doggett and this, um, female 
Agent from New Orleans."

"Agent Reyes,"

I'm surprised that Scully knew her. "Yeah," I answer.

"I like her," she tells me.

I chuckle at that. She was definitely not the type I'd ever see Scully 
hanging out with. "You're nothing at all alike."

"Well, then neither are you and I.," she says and I can hear a hint of 
love in her voice. The first time I've heard it since I was the one 
laying in the bed just a week and a half before. "So this is a case 
you're working on?"

"Yeah. Actually, one that involves Agent Doggett's son, the son who 
died."

"Yeah, he's never talked to me about him, but I know something. Are 
you able to help him at all?", she asks sleepily.

Help him out the door, maybe, I think. "You can't help a man who can't 
help himself."

"He's worth the effort, Mulder," she says looking intently at me.

I nod a little. Maybe...I 
can...try...to...get...to...know...him...maybe...?

"He came to see me...", she says looking up at me.

"He did?"

"Yeah, he was just standing here...Kind of dazed...", she says through 
unfocused eyes.

"That didn't creep you out any?", I ask.

"Well, for a moment...I expected to see you here...", she sighed.

"I have been here..."

She focused harder on me. "You have?"

"Yes...me and your mom. But they keep throwing me out because I'm not 
your husband..."

Scully looks guilty. "I'm sorry, Mulder, I know it would be easier if 
we just told them...but..."

"I know...but the night shift lets me sit in here with you all 
night...You were just too sleepy to know I was here..."

"Okay...", she said with a yawn.

That triggered a yawn from me as well. I plopped down on the chair and 
pulled it up closer and laid my hand back on Scully's stomach. "This 
baby's a fighter..."

"Yes," she smiled to me. "A survivor."

I nodded and then kissed her hand. "I love you Scully," I whisper.

"I love you too...", she said before falling back asleep.

I was able to rest peacefully in the chair alongside her. I woke up in 
the morning to find Maggie standing with the Warden and the Warden 
nodded to me. I was surprised. Either Maggie had said something or the 
staff figured out who I was to her or they just got tired of trying to 
kick me out, I'm not sure but even the Warden E.R. Nurse left me 
alone. I hadn't showered or eaten anything but Maggie brought me a 
sandwich and an ice tea, Scully must've told her it was my favorite. I 
thanked her and she hugged me letting me know she was heading back to 
Scully's apartment. I spent the rest of the day watching over Scully, 
only getting up when nature called. When I entered back into the room 
though I was surprised to see Agent Doggett standing there staring 
over at her while she slept peacefully and it ruffled my fur, I have 
to admit. I didn't know the guy that well to have him standing over 
her like that.

"Agent Doggett...," I said with a tone. I nodded towards the hall 
letting him know I wanted him out of there.

He gave me this look that could cut steel but I had to let him know 
she was off limits. If we were gorilla's I'd be stomping around right 
now and beating my chest, letting the other males know that this was 
my territory. But being that we were humans, I did what I needed to 
do. I closed her door, crossed my arms and stood in front of the door 
protectively. Doggett stood across the hall from me, obviously getting 
the message.

"She just fell back to sleep," I tell him, an air of 'back the hell 
off', in my tone.

"I just wanted to check to see how she's doing," he replied, noticing 
my stance and ducking his head slightly. "Anyways, I'm here with this 
other thing. We, uh, we caught this killer, Jeb Dukes. He's in the 
ICU. He may not make it."

'He's worth the effort, Mulder', she had said. Okay, Scully, this is 
my one and only attempt to reach out to the guy.

"And now you're wondering if there really was a connection," he gives 
me a look that tells me he's heard stories about Ole Spooky. "You 
know, when I, uh... I first came to work at the FBI, I worked at 
Violent Crimes, and I saw, I saw the worst of humanity. I saw monsters 
and I wondered how they became that way, how these men became so evil. 
I know there were psychological explanations- victims of their 
environment, victims of their parents- but the scientific explanations 
were never truly satisfying. And I began to think about evil like, 
like a disease. You know, that it goes from man to man or age to age. 
Most of us walk around thinking we're incapable of any acts of evil 
and we are. You know, we can stifle that momentary urge to kill or to 
hurt. We have some kind of immunity to it. But I think it's possible 
that there's... an occurrence in somebody's life, a tragedy or a loss 
that leaves them vulnerable, hurts their immunity to evil, and all of 
a sudden at that point in their lives when they're weakened, they're 
open to evil and they can become evil."

"If that were true, then what you're saying is... is that this man we 
wheeled in here tonight is infected with evil, the same evil that 
killed my son. You really believe that, Agent Mulder?"

"Uh, I'm not really a good test for questions like that. I'll believe 
almost anything, you know, but the, uh... the pisser is you may never 
know. It may be like Agent Reyes says. It could be random and 
meaningless- who it affects, who it goes to."

"What if it isn't?"

"Well, then you'd be seeing something that I don't, Agent Doggett."

He nods to me and then walks off and I lean against the door. This 
Male Gorilla has won the battle.

I heard from Agent Reyes herself that she'd been attacked and that 
Agent Doggett had rescued her. Reyes came to visit Scully the next day 
and she was banged up against the side of her head. Apparently this 
evil had jumped from the suspects dead body into the sister who 
attacked Reyes, or so it's Reyes theory. Yeah, I think that opening 
could be filled pretty easily with her in it, I think to myself. I 
noticed Doggett didn't try to come back to see her but when he did, he 
stayed out of room. I was personally grateful for that. Scully though 
was worried about Reyes and John but I tried to reassure her that they 
could make it just fine on their own.

Scully was released a few days later and Maggie decided to leave 
Scully in my very capable hands. That's the one thing we were always 
good at, taking care of each other. Maggie also told me how grateful 
she was that I'd fixed up the baby's room.

"We need to have the baby shower," she announced.

Scully rolled her eyes as she sat in her bedroom resting with the both 
of us hovering around her.

"Mom," Scully said, looking annoyed. "I don't exactly have any 
girlfriends any more...", she said, not looking at me.

I already knew that I was her only friend and she were mine.

"I'll invite a few women from church, " Maggie said. "Maybe Jill and 
Tara could come?"



Scully smiled and then shot me a look that read, 'I don't want a bunch 
of people in my house,' and I chuckled.

Maggie had made enough food for her pregnant daughter to last past the 
next two months left of our pregnancy, I noticed, and so she kissed 
Scully good bye and hugged me tightly before setting off for her own 
home. I had other plans though, I wanted us to pick up where we left 
off before the hospital intervention. I still wanted Scully to open 
the gift we'd both forgotten about until we returned home to find the 
house spotless from Maggie, though it was spotless already from 
Scully, and to find the gift still waiting on the couch. When Maggie 
had left, I let Scully rest the entire night and day, but then I told 
her I'd be back and so I went to pick up a pizza. I had moved the gift 
out of her reach on purpose but when I came back I put the pizza on 
the coffee table and went to grab the gift and a few plates while she 
sat on the sofa, holding her stomach protectively as she always did. I 
put the gift behind her and I fidgeted around and she couldn't see me 
but she tried to follow my movements anyway.

"Mulder, you never fail to surprise me," she said.

Good, I always want to surprise you Scully.

"I just wish I felt like eating it right now."

"That's cool," I say. "We can just wait for the cheese to congeal and 
eat it later."

I sit down close to her and put the plates down on the table next to 
the open pizza loaded with toppings. I can see this isn't her type of 
pizza at all. "You miss your regular pizza man, don't you?"

She pouts a little, jokingly. "Yes. That's okay. He's coming by 
later," she says suggestively.



This time I'm cut off guard by the joke. But she looks at me and 
laughs and I laugh back. I reach behind me and pull out the present I 
had waiting to give her again. "I bet you forgot about that, didn't 
you?"

"No, I didn't, actually. I thought about it a lot while I was lying in 
my hospital bed wondering what on earth you could have given me. "

I watch as she opened it.

"And?", I ask impatiently.

."Oh, my god," she says looking stunned. "Oh, Mulder," she said, 
looking lovingly at the rag doll.

"Is it what you imagined?"

"Not even close," she giggled.

Finally a gift she wants, I pat myself mentally on the back.

I lean over and look at the doll carefully.

"Oh, my, that's the wrong doll, actually."

She giggled and swiped me with the doll. "But then that's the other 
gift that you gave me, Mulder."

I am frozen. Did she mean the baby or something else? "Courage... to 
believe. And I hope that's a gift I can pass on."

I looked down at the miracle we had hoped for and we both smiled. She 
touched the doll's face affectionately and I watched her with awe. 
This woman and this baby were my gifts.

THE END

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