From: "huneeb 99" Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 20:26:23 -0500 Subject: The Name Game by huneeb99 Source: direct Title: The Name Game (1/1) Author: huneeb99 E-mail: ievenmademyparentscallmemulder@hotmail.com (yep, that's really my e-mail addy!) Feedback: Will be eaten up with a spoon, but flames burn the roof of my mouth. Distribution: Please! Rating: PG Classification: S, MSR, slight songfic Spoilers: Season 8, up through Per Manum Summary: What should they name the little bundle of joy? Author's Notes: I would like to thank my insomnia, a snow day, and my muse for helping me finish my first fic ever (not that I haven't started quite a few...). On the off chance that Emily reads this, are you wearing pants? Oh, as for the story, the asterisks indicate a change in character point of view. In case you couldn't figure it out. Disclaimer: Not mine, but if they were, I'd be a hell of a lot nicer to them than their current owners, CC and 20th Century Fox, are. Although I do like this delicious new plot twist the evil monkey god CC has created for us. They actually belong to him, although he's a terribly abusive father. They also belong to DD's whiny ass and GA's wonderfully talented one. "That doesn't hurt, right?" Mulder looked so concerned I wanted to laugh. "No, it tickles." Mulder stood next to me, mouth agape, hazel eyes wide in what I could only interpret as either awe or disgust, as Dr. Shaw squirted the cold gel on my belly. She flicked on the ultrasound machine and touched the instrument to my distended stomach. *Thump Thump* *Thump Thump* Dr. Shaw spoke. "It's a girl." ************************* Scully was curled up at the end of her couch. I myself couldn't settle down. "Let me get you something to drink." "Milk, please? And then will you settle down and have a seat?" I grinned at her and went into the kitchen. I grabbed the carton of milk and a glass for Scully and a can of Sprite for myself and rejoined my partner in the living room. "Milk for ze lady," I sneered in my best fake French accent, pouring the milk into the glass and handing it to her. "Merci, garcon," Scully replied with a smile. A smile. I've seen Scully smile more in the past four months than I've seen her smile in the previous eight years. I wish I'd been here for the first three months. She's going to be a beautiful mother. "Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Sit!" "Yes, ma'am." I made myself comfy at the other end of the couch, slipping my battered Nikes off and putting my feet up on the coffee table. Scully smiled at me again, and we sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. "Oooh, she just kicked me! Feel this, Mulder." Scully leaned over, bridging the gap between us, and took my hand. She placed it on her stomach and left her hand over it. *Heaven. I am in heaven,* I thought. Then the baby moved. *Our baby.* "Mulder?" "Yeah?" "Close your mouth. You look like you've just been mooned by Gary Shandling." "I'm sorry, it's just... Wow." Scully smiled at me again. I moved my hand away from Scully's midsection but remained close to her on the couch. "I don't know how I got so lucky." "I'm the lucky one, Mulder. I honestly cannot thank you enough for this. What you've sacrificed for me... Everything anyone has ever done for me does not add up to one-one hundredth of what you've done." "Well, it's not like I'm not getting anything out of this deal." Scully looked at me quizzically. "I get to be a father. I get to be part of another life... and, as cheesy as it sounds, I get to see you smile, Scully. I love your smile." Scully tilted her head and looked at me with a warmth in her eyes that I'd only seen a few scattered times before. She look at me like that when I went to find the Queen Anne. I'd told her then how I felt about her. She looked at me like that right after I kissed her on New Year's. But neither time was quite like this. Both times I'd watched the look slide off her face, replaced by the almost steely blue Scully eyes I was used to. This look, however, wasn't going anywhere. "There is no one else like you in this world, Mulder. No one else would do this for someone and then thank them. You deserve the praise. You deserve the thanks. Thank you for finding your way back. Thank you for holding on. Thank you for doing everything that you've done for me." * Don't thank me, Scully. I got it taken away from you. Don't thank me for giving it back.* "It's snowing." In my silence, Scully had turned her attention towards the window. "Look at that. It's really coming down hard. Do you need anything? I should make a grocery run for you before you're snowed in." "It's okay, Mulder, I have plenty of food." More comfortable silence. We stare out the window at the accumulating snow. "Hey, Scully?" "Yeah?" "I know it's your prerogative, but have you thought about names?" "I'd actually thought about boy's names, but I hadn't gotten to the girl's names yet. I want something unique. Nothing dowdy. I'm open to suggestions. It's your choice too." "Jennifer? Amy? Katie?" "Too generic, I think. Shouldn't such a unique kid have a unique name? Something like Abigail or Chloe," I said. "Abigail just becomes Abby, and that's a standard. Chloe is too New Age-y. How about Anne or Julie?" "Anne is too dowdy and Julie is too trendy." "What were you going to name a boy?" Mulder inquired. "Well, I'd thought about Joseph William." "What about the feminine form of Joseph?" "Josephine? I like it. It's not too trendy, but it's not out of the blue either." "It's a song." "What?" "It's the name of a song by the Wallflowers." "Sing it to me." "Oh, Scully, I don't think you want to hear that." I shook my head in protest, but I knew I was lost when she smiled that warm grin at me. "Pretty please?" "Okay, but remember: you asked for it. Here goes nothing. 'I feel pretty good I feel all right And I've been thinkin' maybe I could spend the night I know you've been sad I know I've been bad But if you'd let me Make you ribbons from a paper bag Josephine You're so good to me And I know It ain't easy Josephine You're so sweet You must taste just like sugar and tangerines.' " "Is there more?" Scully looked entranced. I felt my face redden. "Yeah, but I don't remember it," I lied. "Try? Please?" I sighed and sang her the rest of the song. " 'I won't make a sound Sleep on the ground When you wake I will Drive you into town I missed your smile Your schoolgirl style But I never had much fun Maybe the very first mile Don't you know I watched you walkin' home from school Your friends on the old playgrounds You never looked so down Won't you come and help me with these cuts of mine? I've disconnected my heart And cut myself on the wires Josephine I know I was wrong I knew all along But I got so far from my home I never thought I'd be so lonesome.' " When I finished and looked up, Scully was gazing out the window with watery eyes. My first thought was to panic. ************************* "Scully, what's wrong?" "I'm fine, Mulder." My usual flippant reply. Mulder didn't speak for a few moments after that, and I turned to look at him. He looked crestfallen, like someone had just stolen his puppy. Or like he'd just received the patented Scully 'leave me alone, I don't need you' reply. "I should go." "Oh, Mulder, no." I moved closer to him on the couch and took his hand. "It was just a beautiful song. I think it's the perfect name." Mulder visibly relaxed at that. "Do you know any other songs?" Mulder looked at me with an inquiring expression. "We still need a middle name." "Great, then here we go again. Rebecca? Angela?" "No. I think it should be one syllable. Something simple." "Lynne? Lane? Liz?" "No... no... no..." I giggled. "Scully, I've got it." "What?" "Faith." Perfect. Mulder, as usual, was perfect. When he wasn't busy being a terribly flawed human being, his imperfections were making him perfect. "It's perfect, Mulder. Josephine Faith." "It's amazing." Mulder was the amazing one. Before the pregnancy, when I was just trying, he was there for every step. That he even agreed in the first place blew me away. I underestimated this man. His hope, his beliefs... His love. And now I'm having our child, and he's everything a child could wish for in a father. "Mulder? Can I tell you something?" "Anything." "You're going to be a beautiful father." *Because you're already a beautiful person*, I thought. Mulder turned his head slowly towards me. "You don't know what that means, coming from you, Scully." I smiled at him. "Do that again," he insisted. "Do what?" "Smile." I smiled at my partner, my friend... my Mulder. I looked into his eyes and what I found there left me breathless. Mulder turned away from me before I could take my eyes off him. He refocused his gaze out the window. "It's really coming down out there, Scully. I should go now if I ever expect to get home." "Stay, Mulder." ************************* "Are you sure, Scully? "Positive. I'm not letting you drive home in that." I hoped my face didn't fall. Every part of me had been hoping she had some hidden reason for keeping me here. I guess maybe my face did fall, because next thing I knew, Scully was leaning in toward me, an indescribable look in her eyes. And then she kissed me. It was soft and sweet, the climax of eight years of tension, touching, and even occasional kissing. But there was something behind this kiss that I'd never felt before. Love. ************************* I'm not really sure what I was thinking. His face just fell the second I told him I wasn't going to let him drive home. I guess my motives were not as obvious as I had intended for them to be. So I kissed him. And I was airborne. ************************* When she pulled away from me, I wanted nothing more than to grab the back of her head, pull her lips to mine and kiss her again, but I hesitated. Was it just my imagination? Was it a thank you? Was I reading too much into things, as usual? ************************* Apparently, in order for Mulder to understand your intentions, you have to hit him with them like a sledgehammer. "Mulder?" "I'm sorry." "What? For what?" "I shouldn't have done that." "Don't be ridiculous, I did it. And I enjoyed it. Mulder, I'm sorry I haven't been very forthcoming with you in the past. I have a confession." ************************* *As long as she's not in love with Skinner.* ************************* "I love you. I should have told you a long time ago. I should have said 'I love you too' after you found the Queen Anne. I should have told you on New Year's. I should have told you after that cretin wrote a book about me and said I was already in love. I should have told you that it was with you." ************************* *Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Everything I'd ever hoped for.* "Jesus, Scully, you know I love you." I leaned in and kissed her again, and it was even better than the first time. It was honey and air and the only woman I'd ever loved. *Do it, Mulder. Take the plunge. You may never get this chance again.* "Hey, Scully? This is either too fast or way too slow, but I was wondering: what do you think about 'Josephine Faith Mulder'?" Scully tilted her head and looked at me with a hint of a smile. "Marry me, Scully." ************************* It snowed all night. ************************* THE END =) Love it? Hate it? Want a sequel? Please let me know. My self-esteem is riding on it. Member, OBSSE "It begins where it ends: In nothingness. A nightmare born from deepest fears, coming to me unguarded, whispering images unlocked from time and distance. A soul unbound-- touched by others but never held, on a course charted by some unseen hand, the journey ahead promising no more than my past reflected back upon me until I reach the end, facing a Truth I can no longer deny. Alone. As ever." "There are more worlds than the one you can hold in your hand."